Darkening Your Door Once Again!

Hi Everyone,

It's been a while! I figured I would pop back in and say 'hello.' I've gotten rather busy over the last year or so adjusting to my new trucking career, but it would be nice to connect with folks again.

A brief recounting of my story and an update, if you're interested: Trucking was a second (or third?) career for me, as I was a librarian for many years. About a year and a half ago, I went through the company-paid training at Wilson Logistics, earned my CDL , and became a driver with them. During that time, I kept in touch with a tanker company I was really interested in. After I had been trucking about 8 months, the tanker company offered me a job, and I made the leap.

I've been with the tanker company for a little over 13 months now. I'm loving it and making good money! And by "loving it," I mean that some days the job really kicks my *ss, but I figure a challenge is the best way to grow and keep it interesting. I like the variety of driving but also dealing with the loading and unloading (lots to know about pumps, pressure, flow, and problem-solving along the way). Most shippers and receivers for tankers are very cool and more efficient than those giant grocery warehouses I went to as a reefer driver. My company pays by the hour, so even if I am delayed at a tank wash, for instance, psychologically I like knowing I'm still on the clock. Lastly, my company has us do 34-hour resets every week rather than running recaps, so I appreciate having a day off each week and time to go out and explore (today I went to a sideshow museum and found a BBQ place here in Missouri, for instance).

I'm making good money and have made a huge improvement in my financial situation over the last year and half that I've been in trucking (paying off debt and saving money for retirement). I live in the truck and thus keep my expenses low (no mortgage/rent or utilities); I sold my car (no car payment, insurance, gas, repairs); and I changed my address to South Dakota (no state taxes). I'm a company driver and thus keep it simple: do work and get paid. My paycheck is my PAYcheck.

I've learned a ton over the past year and a half about life on the road, how to run my clock, working with shippers/receivers/dispatchers, being as self-sufficient with repairs, etc. as I can, backing skills, safe driving, etc. And I got my start from TruckingTruth and the community here, so thank you all!

--Matt

Hey Matt! Good to here from you again with a great report.

So, if you sold your car how do you get around when you can’t get your truck to where you need to go? Curious how you make the no-car thing work.

I also just changed my state of residence to SD. Did you use Your Best Address to do it?:

Don’t be such a stranger this time around!

Matt, glad to hear things worked out well for you. Is the tanker your running food grade? With the hourly pay are you running regional on a dedicated account or is it OTR? Glad to see you back.

I remember reading about your career transition as I was preparing for mine. Glad to see you're still enjoying it.

Thanks for thr replies!

BK: I tend to walk a lot of places and/or take Uber. For my time off, I'm often visiting either my daughter or my girlfriend, so I get rides with them. But I will walk 4 or 5 miles to get to something interesting on my breaks, as the exercise is good for me anyway.

I got my new address through Dakota Post, and they handle my mail: they will scan it so I can read something remotely or forward my mail when I'm going to be somewhere I can receive it. I receive an email and a scan of the envelope any and all mail I receive.

Nuts: We do food grade and chemicals. I run OTR but some folks with our company are more regional.