Thanks, Lem, for the link to this thread.
Love the big trucks. Haven't driven in a couple years, looking at a 2000 Freightliner class 70 with custom body -- expeditor, car hauler type. Looking for a contract to justify the purchase.
Anyway, my old truck was a 1988 Pete 279, 425 cat, 15 spd Eaton. Smooth runner, loved the highway but set up for dump truck. Driving dump truck is great, you get to pull down power lines and stuff (did that once!). You can see my old purple pete at:
http://www.cougargulch.com/funpages/purplePeterbilt.php
Regarding over the road: Sure the pay is better but you are away from your family and if you are an owner/operator you've got to wait for your money and sometimes have to work on collections while you are trying to meet deadlines. But you get to see a lot of country. I enjoyed local dump truck work, which sometimes took me out of State. Often to Washington and sometimes to Montana.
Been gone for a while. Great to be back and see what's going on at the forum!