Profile For Charles W.

Heck! Back in the day I only had truckers atlas and a pay phone. Than it was the Qualcomm, truckers atlas and a cell phone. Jamie it's been a while honestly. But GPS seems best. Was on a truck earlier this year (long story) no Qualcomm. Seemed like the GPS is 95% accurate or better. But seemed in certain areas the driver had better directions/ideas. But he knew the area. I'd take any of these anyday over a road atlas and cell phone. Lol. GPS is best though and yes the Qualcomm is based on what other drivers 'reported.' In those regards I found getting my own directions better about 50% of the time. Hope this helps even a little.

Lol. I will be here either way. Determined as I am to drive again. It may not be until I get stopped for the night or during a live load/unload. But I'll be here. Thanks much

Thank you guyjax and Starcar. I'm going to continue to press forward with the applications. I did one that'd go to various trucking companies and alert the recruiters. I think. Anyway it does ask about any failed drug test in the last 3 years to which I can honestly reply no. I am prepared however to divulge the bad or bad UA from 7+ years ago. I don't beat around the bush and I'll certainly not lie or otherwise try to cover up any negatives from my past. This gets people nowhere and quickly I might add. I don't want to get caught up in a situation where everything was going fine, but now I'm sitting in a TS 800 miles from home. Been there when I had the bad UA. Luckily for me I was only 120 miles from home. But over the years I heard countless stories of these sorts of things happening. That 120 miles was bad enough trust me. But an OO out of the kindness of his heart brung me to a TS in Des Moines. I was a very lucky man. And bless that driver. Anyway I already have my permit and am ready to go in that regard. Now it's a matter of who, so on and so forth will be willing to take me and hopefully it'll be a decent company and at a minimum have a tolerable working relationship. Again I want to thank everyone that's replied as all have helped greatly. Be safe out there and God bless.

Thank you guyjax. Kind of thought that may be the case. I'll continue to persue this and gather info. Which I still believe would be beneficial in the end for both parties. As to what happened all those years ago it's something that I'm more ashamed of or mad at myself if you will. Not embarassed as much as being ashamed or po'd at myself. I guess here goes. Before I tell people this I want it understood that I'm in no way trying to justify or otherwise make what happened ok. So here goes. Around the time I had to do a random. I was home for the holidays. Life was pretty sucky to say the least. Just family life (was on my 2nd marriage) was terrible. Instead of looking like I want to lay blame, justify, ect. I just want to clarify I made a bad choice. So when I got that Qualcomm to call safety I knew I was most likely done. I peed hot for weed. It took like 2 weeks, but yeah I was done. What an ignorant decision I know. Talking with the safety director he was dissapointed to say the least as we had interaction on several occasions and he seemily took a liking to me. But understandably I knew his hands were tied. He told me it'd most likely be about 5 years before I would be considered anywhere other than maybe a fly by night carrier. I totally messed up a good gig. Was with them for about 5 years. Was constantly praised on my driving. Was never late once for a pick up or delivery. New truck every year, ect. I pretty much had it made in those regards. I don't like this fact. But your right. Could this still come to harm me in my quest? There's no getting around the DAC. I know this as well. That being said am I wasting peoples time and mine? Is this salvagable or should I forget about it? My nephew has a Gov gig and is doing very well for himself. He thinks I could get restarted and get a year under my belt and go drive for who he does. Driving an armored semi. Anyway feel better getting this out there, even though I know some will have a dim view.

Thanks again. I will look into wel. Thank you Red Gator. Brett what is the address to do this application for the different companies that will tell me what I may need? The link seems to be broke. But think perhaps between talking to wel and getting my application out there would be best. And it would allow me to pick a company that'd best suit my needs. Example I don't like running the NE. As I suspect a lot of drivers don't. If I could stay at least out of NYC would be great. I'll not 'slam' the NE, but I cut my teeth early in my career the first time I drove. That being said we all have our reasons why, where, blah blah blah where we do and do not like/ want to run. Again thanks for the replies and they are very helpful. This is another reason I'm attracted to driving. Basically help is with in earshot if you will. Anyway if I could get that address it'd be much apreciated as I'm thinking will save time and hassles, ect. Be safe out there. Maybe cross paths one day, ya never know.

Thank you much. Time to do some research. Hopefully find a company that we can I guess complement each other. Looking forward to the road again. I'll stay in touch. As I can see I can make helpful comments to those that's never been in a truck or maybe don't know what to expect. I'm glad there's a possibility of being fast tracked. But it is crazy they think one forgets in a short period of time. Maybe some do? Sheesh as little as 6 months? Now I can understand 7 years. On the plus I haven't forgotten everything.

Ok! So here goes. I drove truck OTR, regional, local and city. So been there done that. Drove for well over 13 years. Got out of the truck under unfortunate circumstances. Yes my fault. Don't want to divulge at this time. Anywho. I almost immediate got a job dispatching gasoline/diesel tanker trucks for a local Cstore. Loved the job and was great at it. I should mention I was also a very decent, effective driver. It was a love/hate relationship with most of the time I absolutely loved driving and the freedoms it brung. Sorry to swing back and forth. But back to being out of the truck. While dispatching thinking I had the world by the gonads so to speak. Time came to renew my license and like an idiot I said 'nah f it I just get my regular license.' Now about 7 years later I want to drive again as I am tired of these little piddly jobs that think they're doing one a favor by paying them $10/hr and these are not permanent jobs. These jobs are contract or temp jobs. I know times have changed as I have a nephew that drives. From everything I'm 'seeing' I'll have to start over. Any tips? I live in the midwest. Call Iowa home. Is there any companies out there that has courses or whatever for someone that has drove been just been out of the truck too long? I can still drive a truck, remember shifting, turning, all of it like it was yesterday. I will say that I need to brush up on my backing.