Profile For Joe B.

I've been driving Class A trucks for over 9 years. I have doubles/triples, hazmat, and tanker endorsements. I've driven tankers loaded with HCl acid, liquified nitrogen, overweight, oversize, drop axles, flatbeds, lowboys, specialized, whatever.... I have experience with overwidth equipment with escorts, special permits, etc. I've worked in places where most drivers would soil themselves to even think a truck could get into. I've had to have two D9 dozers pull me out of some of the mud holes I've been in in the oilfield, but one way or another, I've always gotten the job done. I have no felonies, no tickets, and no accidents in the last 9 years as a commercial driver.

My failing, apparently, is that I have mostly driven day cabs, and haven't had a sleeper, since there's something special about "OTR" expereience. I don't understand why all of you are so much better drivers than I am, but I am humbly asking your help now. What should I do, and where should I go to get a decent job in the long-haul trucking industry with 9 years experience but by being a dumbass who has no applicable OTR experience, only useless "local" experience? I don't expect the top pay in the industry or anything like that, but I will not spend thousands of dollars to go back to a driving school where I'm more qualified to be an instructor than a student. I just see over and over again"OTR", "OTR", "OTR"...but there is a MUCH bigger world out there than just OTR. I'm by no means the best driver in the world, but I have the experience to drive circles around most OTR drivers out there.

I'm tired of being dirty and covered in grease and oil and mud all the time, and being expected to push the limits of human endurance using the oilfield exemptions to the FMCSR to drive at any time of the day or night. I want something a little calmer and more regulated, even if it means less pay. What should I do? Where should I go to get into the world of OTR?

And, for anyone iterested....you can double your pay by going into oilfield trucking as opposed to OTR. You need to be willing to get your hands dirty and step out of the cab of your truck on occasion, or often, but they WILL pay you well for it. You will be pushed to the limits of what is legally allowed, and beyond, you'll be dirty, tired, and probably yelled at by some high-school drop-out idiot, but you'll have opportunities to make craploads of money. The drop in oil prices recently has slowed the demand for oilfield positions, but don't be fooled: The price of oil WILL go up again, and the demand for oilfield drivers will also go up.