Strange Dirty Jobs Or Seasonal Work For Adventurous Young Man?

Hello, I've got a Class A and did a year of OTR through Prime. Then I disappeared for 8 months doing dirtbag things. Worked as a hydroseeder/trucker when I came back to civilization for a winter before leaving to go do hippy volunteer things for 4 months. Now that I'm back on the market for paid compensation, I'm wondering what else is out there.

Considering going to North Dakota or something to learn how to do wireline work. Any other suggestions you may have? Doesn't have to involve a CDL and I'm somewhat of a masochist. I'm not getting married, not having children, and my retirement is already planned. So I'm free to go anywhere and not burdened by material things like a house. Only limited by credentials and experience for things like becoming a Smoke Jumper. Where can I go and be hired by my can-do attitude, physical fitness, and dependability for getting the job done well? I have a set standard for myself though - I either do it for free or at least $20/hour (matter of principle.)

If I find it to be enjoyable for multiple reasons, I wouldn't mind doing it for years as I am running out of random things I'd like to do before death. May finally go ahead and pull the trigger on the military next year since I've been putting it off for getting memories that I'm happy to die for. Your input is appreciated especially if your initial reaction is to dislike me so long as your talking points are rationally sound ;p

First thing that came to my mind was seasonal work at the ski resorts. Find one near a place you wanna be and go apply.

Don't dislike you; to each his own. You do sound privileged and entitled. I am wondering why you would come to this website, which obviously focuses on trucking, and ask advice of truckers on what you should do it… not trucking. I'm probably the only one or one of two, who's going to waste this much time on you… You're better off going to Dear Abby and/or a career counselor to find the help you seek. Time to stretch your mental ability, since you obviously have an abundance of physical ability.

I should have made my question more direct. But it looks like this will be a dead end thread for me anyway. For any other future truckers that might find this thread useful, there's more kinds of trucking than OTR , flatbed, intermodal , or dump trucks and stuff. You can seek out niche jobs that require a CDL but are not so well known.

Stuff like pumpdown wireline, hydroseeding, slickline, sweeper trucks, water hauling, sewage related, civilian contracting for military, and probably many more I don't know about. I personally prefer seasonal work that's fast-paced and pays well. Learning about how to get prevailing wages and maximize overtime gigs obviously doesn't hurt. What does hurt is not being able to negotiate salary. Getting a Class A does not mean you can't get cross-trained and use multiple skill sets in a specialized industry.

Hello, I've got a Class A and did a year of OTR through Prime. Then I disappeared for 8 months doing dirtbag things. Worked as a hydroseeder/trucker when I came back to civilization for a winter before leaving to go do hippy volunteer things for 4 months. Now that I'm back on the market for paid compensation, I'm wondering what else is out there.

Craig, you are an intriguing person, I will give you that. You did the right thing by staying at Prime like you did, and it seems as though that was a really big commitment for you to follow through on, given your history, and some of your comments. I applaud you for that! You seem to relish disappearing and then reappearing at the whim of some, unknown to us, impulse that moves you in unusual directions at times. That's not a criticism, just an observation.

For any other future truckers that might find this thread useful, there's more kinds of trucking than OTR , flatbed, intermodal , or dump trucks and stuff. You can seek out niche jobs that require a CDL but are not so well known.

Stuff like pumpdown wireline, hydroseeding, slickline, sweeper trucks, water hauling, sewage related, civilian contracting for military, and probably many more I don't know about. I personally prefer seasonal work that's fast-paced and pays well. Learning about how to get prevailing wages and maximize overtime gigs obviously doesn't hurt. What does hurt is not being able to negotiate salary.

You are absolutely correct in your statement that there are all types of jobs that one can get with a class A CDL. I even saw a job advertised the other day for a couple to travel around the country testing people's hearing at various industry locations. It required one of the people to have a CDL because it was a tractor/trailer mobile unit with the trailer being a type of facility with all kinds of testing equipment in it. Sort of a portable hearing lab on wheels. But there was no way for someone to land the job without that coveted CDL.

Here is the problem I see with your current approach to your driving career. While it is true that almost all sectors of the trucking business would say that there is a driver shortage, there are some unspoken caveats to that statement that most people don't seem to realize are in place. You see, you state that you are desirous of "seasonal work, that's fast paced, and pays well." That is fine, and that seems to be what you need so that you can follow your sudden impulses to come and go in and out of society as you wish, and when you please. But then you also want to be able to negotiate the best salary. It is a bad combination of desires that is usually going to not work out real well. Seasonal work does not typically go to the highest bidders, but rather to the type of persons who are desirous of seasonal work, and typically those folks are willing to settle for less. You are your own conundrum, but you probably already are aware of that. You seem to approach your jobs with a goal of helping you get to a certain desired level of funding so that you can then quit your job and disappear again. Then you want to rinse and repeat by unexpectedly showing up at the market place again, expecting someone to pay you premium wages and put you to work again for a little bit. Nobody builds a solid career on that plan, but then again you don't really seem to be looking for a solid career, but rather a way to finance your impulsive transitions into and out of regular society.

Having a CDL does not make you a bargaining chip that carries a lot of weight into the negotiating room. Having a good solid history of being a professional driver with a record that shows your credentials of safety, productivity, and continuity in the industry is where you are going to have some strong negotiating ability behind you. When a company is needing drivers, they are needing professional drivers who have got good solid credentials. Now they will usually accept drivers who don't have all the credentials they are looking for, but they aren't usually open to negotiating salary with them. It is a fallacy that believes that the CDL itself is a credential. It is a license only, and it doesn't carry any weight into a negotiation. A good solid track record is what gives a professional driver negotiating power.

You will find that coming and going in and out of the major trucking sector does not pan out to well. In fact that may be what you have already discovered, which is why you are trying to inform the newbies in our forum that there are other types of driving jobs available. How is that job search going anyway? You seem to be a resourceful individual, but I already know that you are not going to remain a successful driver with any of the major carriers while taking your sporadic approach to the career. You can't expect to make the top wages without the commitment that it requires. When you disappear for a time, you usually can't just step right back into place without going through some type of training period again. It is just the way things work out here. When you work against the system, you only make it more difficult on yourself.