Companies That Offer True OTR Driving

Looking to be pointed in the right direction of a company that truly does long haul OTR. I prefer to stay out 1-2 months at a time. Currently drive for US Xpress and they have treated me well but seem to keep me regional. I know that's a perk to some but I want to see the country. I get the miles but it's usually a pick up or delivery once a day. Keeping me in the same region until home time where I would start over.

Is there a company that upon request will get to drive coast to coast? There's still many states I haven't seen yet. I know a load from New York to California is not common but isn't it possible to get high mile loads where you get to put in a good 10 hours driving without dealing with loading on a daily basis? I heard heartland express does all 48 but hoping to hear of others to compare. As always, thanks again for this site.

1 year OTR experience.

Refrigerated companies often have longer runs. When I pulled reefer for Swift, I saw 45 states. Pulling dry van for them was much more short haul, and regional feeling.

When my nephew was with Steven's Transport, he did indeed drive coast to coast. He says they treated him very well and only left to go into business with my brother in law (his uncle). I believe Prime also has very long refer runs. My company has "network fleet" which is home every other week and while we're primarily Midwest Regional , we do go everywhere except western 11, but if one of our customers needs a load going to Arizona or Utah, for example, they'll send a driver and get a broker load back haul. I often get 1200 mile runs, but that's not the norm for West Side.

I know with Werner, they do offer 48 state otr and regional selections for drivers. I know when I was "Eastern Regional" I only spent 1 day out of 2 weeks in the eastern region. I think that it has to do with the board your on, and if they like to keep the longer runs for team drivers. If you have a good relationship with your FM/DM/Load planner, you can talk to them and let them know what your desires are, and they will try to accommodate your wishes. May be a lot of shorter runs, but when you prove yourself, they may give you longer trips... I know I averaged 600-800 miles a load, but I had a really good track record of on time performance, and I was willing to take almost all loads they wanted to throw at me...

Chris

Reefer is your ticket to those long runs. Try Pride Transport out of SLC. Trade off is dealing with the grocery warehouses....you'll spend a lot of time at them.

Looking to be pointed in the right direction of a company that truly does long haul OTR. I prefer to stay out 1-2 months at a time. Currently drive for US Xpress and they have treated me well but seem to keep me regional. I know that's a perk to some but I want to see the country. I get the miles but it's usually a pick up or delivery once a day. Keeping me in the same region until home time where I would start over.

Is there a company that upon request will get to drive coast to coast? There's still many states I haven't seen yet. I know a load from New York to California is not common but isn't it possible to get high mile loads where you get to put in a good 10 hours driving without dealing with loading on a daily basis? I heard heartland express does all 48 but hoping to hear of others to compare. As always, thanks again for this site.

1 year OTR experience.

You can try H. O. Wolding. We have freight that goes west. TBH, to get freight going any further west than the plain states will involve taking a load from either Neenah, WI or Cherokee, AL to Bellemont, AZ. Then you usually get a load going to one of the west coast states. Followed by either a return trip to Bellemont or a brokered load going to Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Illinois.

I am parked in Las Vegas for the night as I write this.

As it has been mentioned, reefer fleets usually have the long haul runs more so than other types of freight. But keep in mind that it also depends on how your dispatch works as to how often (if at all) you get to go coast to coast. You may have to take several short runs to make it, but it can be done depending on how your carrier works it's loads.

I drive for Prime and get to go west quite often (but again that depends on your dispatch). An example of what I mean, recently I picked up a load in Laurel MD and took it to Bakersfield CA as a solo driver. Now that doesn't happen all that often, but it again depends on how much time you have to get from 1 location to the other.

But if you decide to try switching to a different carrier, don't expect that something like that will happen immediately (because it probably won't). So give this some thought and ask questions of your current carrier, then make your decision as to make a move to another carrier or not.

Ernie

As it has been mentioned, reefer fleets usually have the long haul runs more so than other types of freight. But keep in mind that it also depends on how your dispatch works as to how often (if at all) you get to go coast to coast.

I drive for Prime and get to go west quite often (but again that depends on your dispatch).

Ernie

Also drive for Prime and can confirm the above. My dispatcher told me up front that he prefers to keep his solo trucks in the eatern half of the country. They will occasionally get sent West, but usually not any further west than Denver. The team trucks handle the western states freight as they can go coast to coast and back inside a week.

When I was teaming we'd routinely get long loads all over the states. When you woke up you didn't just wonder what state you were in, you wondered what time zone you were in. Within a few short months I had been to 44 of the 48 mainland states.

Now as a solo driver my dispatcher has me banging out single day runs. This past week I had 4 single day runs and 1 three day run. 3300 total miles dispatched. I've been mostly in the East.

Every dispatcher runs their fleet their own way...

Matthew, I have a few questions.

How often do you request to be home?

Have you had an open honest discussion with your fleet manager about your desire to move about the country more?

If you are requesting to go home fairly frequently, that could be hindering you from getting dispatched on longer loads. It sounds like you are running well, but if you switch companies that could all be interrupted until you establish yourself with the new company.

Much of our freight these days is regionalized, but that doesn't mean you can't hit the lower 48. Your dispatcher needs to fully understand what it is that you are wanting. I would have a sit down meeting with my dispatcher and tell him what you want. He will either say he can't do it, or he will commit to making an effort to keep you on board by trying to help you with it. This is where being a Top Tier Driver can really benefit you. Usually a really desirable driver will be able to get some strings pulled on his behalf.

Most drivers choose to just look for greener pastures when they are dissatisfied, but it's almost always best to have a serious conversation with your dispatcher first before moving on to some other company. I think just about any reputable company who has a great driver needing some help with an issue like this will do what they can to help out.

I'm with Knight Transportation, and just this week after two days into a 2,280 mile run, I got preplanned on my next trip... 2,398 miles. That's over Five Thousand Miles this week!

CFI will run you all over and into Canada. I was trained by them and have been driving with them for one year now. The only states I haven't been to yet are Montana, North and South Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. We haul dry van and can run as hard as you want. When you go home you can take as many days as you want.