Have you ever wanted to hit the road in a Big Rig?

[TonyK]

So not much as changed since October 1999 when we left. We lived at Portland Ctr, 2nd and Harrison, from 2/99 to 10/99 and before that in Beaverton @ 185th and Walker, behind the old Albertson's store.

Traffic was horrible, cost of fuel and housing through the roof and going any where an exercise in frustration. 217 was a moving parking lot during rush hour, which is why I worked 6:30 to 3:30. But let me get out at 3:45 and it became a MUCH longer commute.

The advice about living and working on the same side of the river is one I've taken with me else where. It has been very good advice.

My wife's memory is tricky and while I miss the beauty of the place, I don't miss the high taxes, the housing issues and because of her visual problems we would have to live near transit so housing cost go through the roof.

JB, thanks for your description of Portland, OR. It matches mine in most respects based on reading the online rags. A crumbling infrastructure, bickering between the elected officials and no one wanting to do the right thing to move forward. I read about more crime now than I did when we lived there, especially around the transit centers which is where my wife would be.

[Ballen Photo]

I've often thought it would be fun to hit the road in a big truck, but life happened, so that idea went out the window.
DAMN Warren! That's a sweet Volvo! Nice to see your images of the reality of it too.
-Bruce

[TonyK]

Life went to H3!! last week and I've still not recovered. The feelings of betrayal are still very strong and trust is now lost and broken.

Oh any job can stink. It depends on the work environment, your co-workers and finally the job being done.

In my case, the people who made my life HELL when I started are now gone. The last one left a week ago without much notice. Other people who created a stressful environment have also left, probably because this is no longer a start-up company but part of a larger, more established (notice I did not say Mature) company.

[Cimager]

Life went to H3!! last week and I've still not recovered. The feelings of betrayal are still very strong and trust is now lost and broken.

Oh any job can stink. It depends on the work environment, your co-workers and finally the job being done.

In my case, the people who made my life HELL when I started are now gone. The last one left a week ago without much notice. Other people who created a stressful environment have also left, probably because this is no longer a start-up company but part of a larger, more established (notice I did not say Mature) company.

I have found that in the work environment today trust is a very rare thing. So many times the person you think you can trust ends up stabbing you in the back to either get promotion, save their own skin or try to make brownie points. That's probably one of the few good things about driving a big rig. You're pretty much out there on your own. Yes you still have to deal with dispatchers and the places you deliver to but inbetween you're on the road and by your self. Well somewhat by yourself. You still have to deal with the crazy cars and bikers ( not mentioning a particular biker on here. ). Maybe that's why I still do it. Oh and another point about trucking or commercial drivers license. Boss was talking today that for regular drivers like you all drunk driving is what .07 well for commercial drivers it's .04 even if you're not working. Friend of her's got stopped in his car on a day off. Tested .04 had a choice 2 yrs in jail or 2 yrs. loss of license. That's complete license not just trucking. Glad I don't drink. LOL

[TonyK]

That bites. Its understandable for it to be .04 while on the job BUT off the job they should be treated like any other driver.

That's just like the law that makes most state employees, at least Oklahoma, secondary citizens because we cannot participate in the political process on our own time. Just putting signs up in yards could have gotten us in trouble at one time.