Quote Originally Posted by JohnTRourke View Post
you need 160 hours (IIRC) which is basically 3.5 weeks to get it (per law).
Is that new? Damn, I shoulda kept mine even though I wasn't using it.
I drove locally and it was okay. Traffic is a flat out bitch in a big rig and this was in Phoenix which IMHO is a helluva lot easier to get around in than Denver. I made a couple OTR trips to Texas a few to California, plus I delivered some fire trucks from South Dakota to Az.
OTR was not as cool as I thought it would be. Scale house operators are flat out asshole's, especially in Raton N.M., Cops can be a PIA, and I freaking HATE truck stops now. Just the smell of them makes me want to vomit and now, even when on vacation I try to avoid them.
Also, there's nothing worse than driving on I-10 east of El Paso with no rest stop in sight and having to piss so damn bad your eye's are going to explode out of your head! Breakdown's are a consideration too like others have mentioned. Our step deck trailers ate tires like no other. I blew one out in El Paso and was stuck at a truck stop for 4 hours waiting for a new one. That cuts into your day.
Anyway's, I started out with a small towing company and we worked our way up into buying flatbed rollbacks and step deck dove tail rigs. We hauled construction equipment for the local rental companies. It's up to you, but you may want to look at towing companies and construction rental companies. It's possible you could work your way up through them and get a CDL and the best part is you're local.

Good luck to you.