[Graymist]

I can't speak about the US, as I'm not from there....I live in Canada. I would strongly urge you to try your luck in Canada, especially in the province of Alberta, where, due to the oil patch, the economy is simply booming. Also, in places like Edmonton & Calgary, you won't even have to drive longhaul....you can do city-driving and get paid an entry-level wage of 18-20 bucks an hour, with lots of overtime available, and also the fact that you can sleep at home every night. Even a small town like Grande Prairie has lots of trucking jobs.

But if you really wish to make lots of money ( and I do mean lots !!) the place to go to is Fort McMurray, which is about 450km north east of Edmonton....that's where the oilsands are, and the big oil refineries like Suncor and Syncrude. To give you an idea, while the standard pay for a McDonalds job flipping burgers, is about 8-9 bucks an hour, in Fort Mac it's 15 bucks an hour for the same job....and they still can't find employees !!! The biggest problem in Fort Mac, however, is finding a place to live....just a room will cost you about 700-800 bucks, if you're lucky enough to find one in the first place.

For someone with your level of experience, and also given the fact that you're accustomed to driving in Arctic-like conditions which is what prevails here for 3-4 months of the year with temperatures of -20 to -30 celsius & the snow & ice, you also might want to try your luck in oil-patch trucking, where both the pay and the hours are monstrous. For eg. a picker truck operator gets paid between 30-45 bucks an hour, with an average working day of 12-15 hours : or, if you don't mind getting a bit dirty, you could drive a vac truck or a hydrovac for about 25 bucks an hour.....or even a water truck to the rigs for about 300 bucks a day ( not even a tractor trailer....just a body job ). FYI, 1 CDN $ = 89 cents US.

Hope this gives you some idea. Cheers !!