Life As An Oil Rig Driver!

Alright buddy. I wish the best for you! Since you'll be making some dough, make sure you buy yourself an authentic Steelers jersey, not a replica - you can afford it. Where that black & gold proudly and you'll be treated well.

I have one thing to say to that.. as i die hard Arizona Cardinals fan. I would die before i put that jersey on. Aint no way.. i still cant get over that last Superbowl.. dont even get me started. I hate the Steelers. so much. hahahahahahahaha

Bro, you're not off to a good start.

Items im bringing with me:

Steal toe boots

Normal shoes and flip flops for showering

4 pairs of jeans

underwear, socks

Normal toiletries

Towel

Shirts (Good working shirts carhartt brand.)

sweatshirt.. just in case. dont hate im from AZ.

Gloves

sleeping bag

pillow

sheets

Cell phone

laptop w/ hard drive full of downloaded movies/shows. (Are they legal downloads? no comment.)

Kindle paper white (If you love to read this is the best purchase you will EVER make.)

All the cords needed to Charge that crap via a truck.

And just because Guyjax was so set on all drivers needing this item.. BABY WIPES!!

Rand Mcnally trucker GPS

The year old version of the Mcnally trucker atlas.. 20 bucks verse 70. ill live with a year old version.

Pens, scratch paper and a log book. im sure my company will provide a log book.. but you never know. would hate for them to throw me the keys then have to go buy a log book before i do anything.

O.. im also bringing a fork knife and spoon.

I think this is all im bringing.. hopefully i can survive. hahaha

On the Log Book thing, read the regs on Oil Field waiting time, if the truck is considered oil field special built, then you log on line 5, waiting time, which dosn't go against your hours of service, 14 hours still counts and 10 hours off is required, but you won't blow thru your 70 in 4 1/2 days. but be carefull, if the Tanker can carry anything, then you can't use this exception and might get in trouble ************

sweatshirt.. just in case. dont hate im from AZ.

Hey Max I totally get that one! My 3 kids moved to Phoenix and every time my daughter comes home she makes sure she has warm clothes to wear, even in the summer! Of course it cracks us up because we are sweating like crazy and she has on long pants and a sweat shirt or jacket! A man has to do what a man has to do!

Well.. here I am sitting in a company truck at a TA off of exit #173 on highway 80 east of Pittsburgh. Let me explain how I got here.

Well yesterday the 28th of july I hopped on a plane for pitsburgh, PA. Arrived in PA at 5 that evening where someone from the company was waiting for me. They put me in a hotel for the night. Actually wasn't a half bad hotel. Anyways he told me to be ready at 10am the next day and he would pick me up and take me to my truck. So he picked me up but we had to run around for an hour or 2. No big deal. We eventually went to a store so I could get some things the oil riggs require you to wear. Hard hat a whatever fire suit a gas mask and so on. After this it was probably an hour long drive to get to where my truck was. We picked up the truck and I Bob tailed about 150 miles to get to this TA. So i guess they trust me enough as a brand new driver to let me run solo for a bit. Let's just say I'm glad the weigh station let me through. Because I had no idea what was going on. I just followed the guy in front of me. Hahahaha

Anyways tomorrow is when the real training begins. There training goes like this: I have my own truck but I just follow the guys truck who is training me. Which I'm fine with. I actually might like that better than having him in the seat next to me. I also like it because I will get paid like a normal driver. Not a training rate.

I wasn't going to tell you all my pay... but o well. I think I should just to let you all know what tots like out here. If I am avalible to run I get 250 dollars a day rather I get a load or not (Sand). For every load I run I get 75 plus that. So if I run 3 loads. I would get paid 475 bucks for that day.

Problem with sand is its never consistent. I could sit for 2 days without a load or I could get 25 loads in a week. The nice thing is that if I'm available I get a minimum of 250 a day.

So when your day is over your going to take your truck to the TA and sleep there? Can't wait to hear more about your adventures once you actually start working. Sounds like a good job. $250 a day just to show up and $75 for each load. If they have enough sand you should be able to make $600 a day.

How did you get your CDL? and Hi nice to meet you, I am from pittsburgh

How did you get your CDL? and Hi nice to meet you, I am from pittsburgh

I got it with a private school down in Phoenix Arizona

Cool stuff Max. I have had some interest in driving for the oil companies. I look forward to more updates.

My day thus far: 4am woke up. Breakfast, clothes, bathroom.. all that good stuff. (Since PA is 3 hours ahead of my home state AZ it was really like waking up at 1am for me.)

430 pre trip and fuel 5am hit road. 7am arrive at loading location. 815am leave loading location. 915am arrive at oil rig site. After about 45min finally get the ok to go up the hill. It's narrow dirt roads all the way up and back down. So they can only send trucks in one direction. 11ish? (Sorry time just gets jumbled) I get up the hill and back in to unload. Me and my trainer get seperated. So I'm left all alone never having unloaded a sand truck. Let the guy who was directing know that me and my trainer got seperated so I don't know what I'm doing. He basically gives me a look that says "screw you" and walks away.

So I'm left with having no idea how to unload this truck. There are like 10 different valves to move so I was totally lost. So i went to the driver next to me said I was new and had no idea what to do. I must have had God watching over me today because this guy was more then happy to help me out. He showed me how to do it how to monitor gauges how to open the valves when to open the next valve and so on. He kept on checking up on me to! He would check his truck then come back over and check my truck. So if by chance the man driving a blue truck on July 30th who helped a poor young bearded kid who had no idea. I thank you with all my heart. It was a good 45 min before my trainer got up there so I would have probably stood there and acted busy if I didn't get it figured out.

Which brings me to my next point.. why are some people so stupid? Like clearly I didn't know what I was doing and the first guy just stared at me and walked away. It's his job to move trucks in and out. You would think he would help me but nope.. he didnt. O well.

This is definitely going to help me in the future. Instead of basicly saying screw you to a fellow truck driver especially if they are a rookie. I will go out of my way to help them out. I was literally lost until that fellow driver came by and helped me. Maybe it's just because I was born a helper. But hey.. I'm getting the hang of it now guys :)