Hey guys. Let me give you a little background on where I come from first...I started trucking with Prime, did the team training ya know for 6 months. I loved that and had a blast. I then went solo and hated it. I thought it was Prime but I went solo with another company and I hated it too. Now I'm off the road doing doing a regular job...and I'm itching to go back in trucking. I can't stand not being on the road. I'm sure that many of you know that feeling. Crazy as some of you may think I am, I realized that I really enjoyed running team. I don't like being alone, I love the long cross-country runs and I love being in a different part of the country almost every day. I also know you can make good money doing this.
So, having explained all of that, I want to get back onto the road and run team. I don't want to go to Prime as you have to be there three months first solo and I don't want to deal with the lease crap. So I want to know what companies are good to team with...so far I've come up with CRST, Covenant, and Celadon. There might be others I haven't come up with yet. I know I want to be able to run between 5,000 to 6,000 miles per week, coast to coast. Safety is important and I want a company that will not force you to run illegal and will also give you the power to decide if it is safe to continue in bad weather. I know CRST does this but I don't know about the others. I do like Celadon's detention pay and the week off after every 30,000 miles, which would happen very quickly in teaming. Teaming can tend to burn you out and such a break would be refreshing. However I have heard that Celadon does not have much freight and that you sit a lot. Do Covenant and CRST pay detention pay? They all say they are mostly drop and hook (CRST gives 80 percent on website). Does this generally hold true? How does the process of selecting a team mate work? How do they work out hometime with both team members? I only need to be home every 3-4 weeks. Also, do they match you up with your smoking preference? This is important to me as I'm very allergic to cigarette smoke. I apprecaite any and all information that you might be able to share. I want to do my research carefully and not jump into something quickly. One final question...is there any difference running for Covenant's dry van division vs their reefer division? Also maybe you guys can suggest companies I haven't thought of. I look forward to your responses. Thanks a bunch.