I have decided to get back into trucking after being out of it for 9 years. I wold like to run regional, out of NE Ohio, to get a decent amount of hometime. Does anyone know of any decent paying or reputable companies to contact. My CDL is clean and I had one year over the road running expedited freight in 2001 and 2002. What is an acceptable rate to run for nowdays?

Your going to find that most if not all companies will want recent exp. Some will be willing to put you in a truck with a trainer for awhile (2-6 weeks) depending on your ability. Pay?? It's all over the board for someone starting out and that's where you are. I've talked to some newbies making .23cpm!! But most are some where around .30-something. Check out Crete in Columbus there good to me and start out in the high .30s and I think at one year pay about .41cpm I THINK!

It's going to be difficult to land somewhere and go right into regional, or even dedicated for that matter, without any 'recent' experience. 'Recent' being within the last 3 yrs for most companies. If you have previous OTR expereince, even though you've been off the road for 9 yrs, you'll find alot of companies will want to hire you....until they talk to their insurance carrier....usually after you fill out their 14 page application. The insurance industry owns the trucking industry and they'll want 'recent' experience regardless if you have a million OTR miles but have been off the road for awhile. You'll basically be starting over and will have to pay your dues before you land any kind of dedicated run. Might get lucky and get a regional run but you'll be starting at the low end of the totem pole. Ask me how I know. You can check with Gordon Trucking, they have regional runs and they will give you credit for past OTR experience no matter how far back, but you'll still need to roll out with a trainer for at least several weeks. You can thank the insurance companies for that requirement.
Best of luck to you!