re: I drive a semi truck. Ask me anything.

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have an irrational fear of scary bridges. I start sweating and my arse puckers up while I’m death gripping the steering wheel. Pulling a boat across the Huey P bridge does it to me everytime.

I often wonder how big rig drivers could do that shite without having a damn stroke.

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I used to be nervous crossing bridges alot. You get used to it. I used to first just go slow and have your imaginary blinders on. Dont think about what's over the side or how high. Lake Charles bridge, Port Arthur , beltway 8 south off 10 in Houston area are pretty intense. That bridge is still under construction, very high and narrow because both lanes are being use while other side are being built and kinda scary.

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Pilot/Flying J?

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Some of them charge for parking so this why I go to Loves(free parking) or Petro.

T/A and flying J/Pilot charge for parking.

Why is Atlanta not considered your worst place to drive through?

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Tell your buddies to stop taking my short cuts in Wyoming on two lane desolate highways.

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i don't travel north of i20 for the most part just into west columbia sometimes then back. Screw the mountains and screw the winter snow. I hate hills much less mountians

I just want to say, thank you for this thread. You have answered just about every serious question (and some not) even with quotes so readers can keep up.

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BET,
Are there any regulations or other items created by the federal government that you think should be removed in order to make trucking more efficient and better optimized for all parties?

I've heard there are fitness and health issues for truckers due to lack of time (and place) to exercise, poor availability of healthy food, etc. Do you think this is a problem and what solutions do you see for it, if so?

Should logs and restrictions on work/rest cycles remain in effect, be abolished, or be altered? If altered, how so?

Thanks

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as far a regulations by the feds, I really don't look into all that unless it's brought up by company policy to be inserviced on. I surely hope that 80k limit on weight doesn't increase of which I heard it could go to 100k. Screw that. I want these feds behind a desk to pull something 40k/60k/80k weight and see if they think it's totally safe. Truckers have a serious responsibility to pull those weights. You have to factor everything from following distance and what weather situations cause that distance to increase or decrease. Speed , terrain etc. Truckers are bouncing these hazards right off their heads and driving as safely as possible. It's really insanity when you think about it. Coupled with making sure all your equipment/parts/engine are all working fine.

We have alot of inservices on health/food/exercises in general. It is a problem. I'm considered obese I guess at 5"11 208 lbs but in mirror i look good because i do workout 3 days a week. Our company at every terminal has a full gym. The terminals are all over the country and literally like small cities. They have everything just about. That's not the case with other companies but. I do see Truckers at truck stops using the gym, walking around parking lot with their women and doing push ups and shite on side of their trucks actually. I use the hunter gatherers diet. Carbs and trucking are not your friend. Every stop I make inside my workflow using entails double drop n hook and sometimes triple drop and hook. Possibly also sweeping out your trailer depending(thats a dam job). Your gonna get plenty of exercise doing these things. So you get to move around too. I'm a dedicated driver not otr where I make stops everyday sometimes 2 stops. It is easy to have poor health and physical habits on this type of job.


I think they should be. All truckers have got to rest for at least 10 hours after an 14hrs to do 11hrs of driving work day. I'm trying to do 8-9.5 hrs driving only if I can. Some want to hustle more some are patient. I think more companies should adopt our way of doing logging electronically because I've been with 2 other companies and their logging is terrible. Ours is state of the art. We got rid of personal conveyance. I didn't like that but too many people were abusing it. PC is good to have on weekends when you away or almost to a destination and ur running out of time. Or your out of time for that day and your at a truck stop and you need to run to Walmart to get items, you can't cause you have no personal conveyance.

This is why "teams" have become big across America because the truck keeps moving.

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How much money you make?

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last yr I made 91k rougly. 4 yrs experience roughly.

New driver can make anywhere from 50k to 70k depending on what company you work for. Excellent health insurance, dental and vision. 401k and other benefits to. Deductible on health insurance is only 1200.

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How many times has a nice young lady decided to brighten your day with some titties while passing you

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last yr I made 91k rougly. 4 yrs experience roughly.

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How many hours do you work? Are you paid hourly, mileage, etc? How much of your work time is out of state/on the road? I once had a neighbor who drove a truck for walmart and he once told me he made about the same as you and he was home almost every night.

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What are the disadvantages of being an owner operator? Is the equipment simply too high of a barrier to buy your own rig? Do you prefer working for an outfit over owning your own equipment?

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to be an owner operator you have to become an LLC basically. You.have to purchase a good truck with a good warranty. I couldnt imagine buying used although alot of people do. Pay a note. Develop a list of clients that are reliable. There is an app that lists several conpanies and there loads available going where, how much pay and such. You pick or however its done. Run for these guys. Have bank account/credit card. Insurance is a mfer but you make alot. You have a fuel expenses and you have to put money aside for maintenance and repair and then pay yourself. After all that a good well managed owner operator can bank 150-200k. Many owner ops out there that make 12k a week and higher. You have to run it like a business and be strict. We have owner ops that run for my company I drive for and they even are trainers on top of that. They make 6 figures easy. Upper 100s.