First post woot!
I hope to make this a blog about my second stint in the OTR sector of the Truck Driving career.
A little history is in order I suppose.
I originally began trucking in January of 1992 after bailing from the state of California to the State of Iowa where my family was originally from. Sioux City Iowa to be exact.
It was always my intention to make Truck Driving my career choice as long as I can remember. I had lost my job and lost my drivers license in California while acting as a bit of a F#$%up. My license was suspended after getting into an accident without insurance coverage. Since I worked in the automotive field a drivers license was mandatory. I eventually could no longer afford to make car payments because I could not find a job. So I parked my car at the curb one night with the keys in it after being told the repo man was a coming. They did , and I was at complete rock bottom at the age of 25.
My parents were planning to leave the state and move to Iowa where they originally hailed from , but not for another year. They had vehicles to move and I talked them into allowing me to take one of them and drive to Iowa ahead of them , like right now. I had cousins and aunts and uncles there and they all offered me help to get my feet under me and a chance at a new beginning. That is what I did , took off and drove a little car all the way to Iowa and began living with a cousin. I was lucky enough to be able to walk into the Iowa Drivers license bureau and get a drivers license immediately without question by turning in my California copy. I got a job the very next day, folding blue jeans at a local factory.
My heart was a bit broken when I learned the local community college was no longer offering a Truck Driving course due to lack of interest. Crushed is more like it. I eventually left the blue jean factory and got a job as a security officer patrolling the down town sky walks lol. Then one day in the paper I saw an ad about free training to drive a truck and a job to go with it. This was in 1991 and a few years before the advent of CDL mills and all of that. I jumped on the phone and expressed my interest they send a huge package in the mail including an application. I quickly filled it out and was filled again with hope. I went back to patrolling the local sky walks every day and eventually got a job at a big trucking company here in town to work in the wash bay. Months and months passed and I never heard a thing from the company I applied to. IT was about 6 months later that I finally got a phone call that I had been accepted. I had all but forgotten about them truthfully,
I spent 6 weeks in their company school at Midwest Coast Transport in Sioux Falls SD and was never charged a cent. Upon graduation and obtaining my CDL I was introduced to my new boss , an Owner Operator with 5 trucks leased on there. MCT trained free of charge drivers for their Owner operators and I found out this is the man who placed the original ad in the paper I saw way back when. After schooling for 6 weeks and getting my CDL I was then to become a Student Driver. I had to run with a Trainer for 50,000 miles before actually being qualified to run Solo. I was payed 8 cents a mile for those 50k miles ran with a trainer. it was rough. They were an outstanding company to work for however and as you can see I was very well trained and free of charge.
I spent 10 years OTR driving in the lower 48 and eventually decided to go local and be home every day for once. I am single and had not even met anyone really since leaving California and figured I better try to make some sort of life around home for once. I spent the next 8 years driving locally and always had a desire to return to the "open road". It is just something that gets in your blood is how I would describe it. I was never really happy to be local and always wanted my previous "freedom" back.
Well I finally did it and have obtained a Job with a great company here in North West Iowa at Heyl Truck Lines based in Akron Iowa. I have spent my first month out on the road again and feel right back at home again. I plan to document my travels and post pictures etc of this OTR Take 2. I am completely new to blogging but have always wanted to give it a whirl and hope it might become something that people might actually read. I was inspired by the numerous other Trucking Blogs and their various styles of updating and providing information. I hope to one day be as good as they are in the Blogging world.
As of right now I am on a 2 week leave due to having been Selected for Jury Duty. That is about the worst kind of thing to have happen to an OTR driver who loves being "out there" running miles and all of my attempts at getting out of it have been shot down. My Company is very understanding about it and kudos to them. While updates may be sparse until I am released from Jury duty I would hope to update each day once I am released.
Thank you for checking me out and please stop back soon.
