western 11 dry van vs 48 states reefer

Those 11 western states are awfully big...and if I had my ruthers staring out I'd never have gone east of the Mississippi. East coast sucks in a way that can't be properly conveyed in text. Then again, I always loved big long runs. Say from, LA to Nashville or something like that. Loved those runs, but they're becoming harder to find when you're part of a megacarrier- the dispatchers throw those to the teams.

I'm biased. I prefer the west coast to a very large degree.

Beautiful landscapes, beautiful women and good miles. How could a trucker want for more?

 

Depends on the carrier(s) I can tell you 11 western more often then not does not translate to more home time unless you live in Phoenix or Orange County and you may be forced to sit days and spend more time "at home" then you care to. PHX is a notorious black hole for drivers ... may go in, and are never seen or heard from again

 

If it were me, I'd go where ever the money is better.

 

I noticed that your profile says that you are a student.

Personally, I would go all 48 states plus Canada if you are able to get on with a company that delivers up there. You may want to get as much truck driving experience as possible under as many types of driving conditions as possible. You may also want to get to know as many different types of highways, (federal and state), routes, tunnels, mountains, valleys, and back roads as possible, all throughout the United States, and possibly Canada.

Good luck to you!

 

Boils down to what a driver prefers. I prefer 48 states.
Do you want solo or team driving. Some companies save their coast to coast runs for teams and some companies don't use teams so the solo driver gets to run coast to coast.

You mention reefers 48 states; Navajo does that with solo drivers. With that company you get experience many companies look for; 48 state/all weather/all terrain driving. Midwest-Coast Transport may be doing that also.

Some reefer companies run teams and just do coast to coast turnarounds back to back.

 

I ran 11 western for about 10 years, miles were always good, my hometime got through house sometimes 2x a week when lucky and generally was home every other weekend. Bad part of 11 western is the winter time those mountains can turn on you quickly.

Refer is is ok but allot more responsibility than dry van, constant noise from refer unit, if your going company then expect to run allot of the New England states, hometime works out to be about the same just not as often (meaning you could be out for 4 weeks and be off for 4 days). Also depending on where you live if needed to get home in a hurry, should be prepared to fly.

 

Drivers disappear in Phoenix ?

 

What I mean is, if you drive western, PHX is going to be a routine occurrence, and there is much more freight going into PHX then out and if your company doesn't bounce you out, many drivers have abandoned trucks there and took a bus or plane home after sitting for 2 and 3 days

 

ok, thanks for clearing that up.