This page is about my new career in trucking. I will be out on-the-road for 3-4 weeks at a time and will update this page about once a month. As I travel across the country and Canada, I will be taking my days off in various locations in North America, visiting big cities and small towns, seeing the local attractions and writing a journal of my experiences in "Life on-the-Road."
Above is a picture I took of my first truck
Trucking and Miscellaneous Links
Trucking Forums
Truck Stops
Miscellaneous Stuff
Sirius Satellite Radio - the best thing since sliced bread. I love it.
DJ Brian's Trucking Journal
Journal Entries Nov2002-Mar2003 Apr2003 May2003 June2003 July2003 August/Sept2003
October 2003 November2003 thru April2004 Current
Current
Click on the picture thumbnail to get the full size picture (opens in a new window)
December 17, 2004- Never Say never. Well after being off the road for a little over 6 months and thinking I would never want to drive again , I am seriously considering going back to trucking. I have already been accepted at JB Hunt and Werner. I will let you know.
December 23, 2004- I'm going back to Werner and they've sent me a bus ticket to head to one of their terminals so I can go through orientation on Monday. I'm pretty much have all my stuff I'm taking packed up and I'm ready to go. I decided to go back to Werner since I already know where all their terminals and drop yards are and best of all, I wont have to worry about logging my days since Werner uses a paperless log through the Qualcomm.
March 10, 2005 I am running a regional dedicated account and I like it. Its a lot nicer than running 48 states because I get home every week and I get familiar with the runs I'm on (unlike with 48 states, I never knew what city or kind of shipper/consignee docks I would be going to). I'm constantly busy on the dedicated account so I'm never sitting idle not making money. I'm not going to continue with my journal since I don't have an internet connection while on the road but will keep my year's worth of journal up on the website for new readers.
March 01, 2006 I have moved back to the Phoenix area because I miss the sunshine and warmth. I just wasn't much of a winter wonderland type of person. Anyway I have been running daily runs with Werner Enterprises but finally told them I no longer wish to work for them. Like the few other drivers that have signed my guestbook, I dont like the low pay and how Werner Enterprises treated me. For instance, last week I was sick with the flu real bad so I stayed home for 2 days. When I called my dispatcher on the second day, he was threatening me that saying "you better be in that truck tomorrow and ready to work ". Now keep in mind that I have a good attendance record to begin with. In addition to that, I would show up for work each day at 4am which is my start time and I would have to end up waited 2-4 hours before starting the whole time not making any money. They really dont care if they waste drivers' time because drivers are paid by the mile. I bet if drivers were paid by the hour they would certainly make a concerted effort to get a driver working in a timely fashion. Today I told Werner I quit and now that I have my 2 years experience I shouldnt have any trouble finding a much better ,higher paying job.
March 07, 2006 I found a new driving job driving locally here in Phoenix. I will be paid by the hour and work 9am-6pm Monday thru Friday. I certainly couldn't ask for a better schedule. I'm glad I left Werner.
February 27, 2007 I'm back over the road doing long haul loads across the
country with another large trucking company. The local pick up and
delivery job was ok but I wasnt
advancing the way I needed to. Basically I was driving a small
box van and they werent putting me in a tractor-trailer combo and
as I was approaching a year there, I didnt want to lose all my tractor
trailer experience so I kinda had to make the change in companies.