Employee/company drivers drive the company's truck. The company pays for maintenance and fuel.
Owner Ops and Lease Ops own or lease their own truck and have to pay for fuel and other expenses.
Company drivers make anywhere from $60k-80k, maybe more on the top end of the bell curve depending on speciality, market, luck. Owners it varies wildly but usually in the 6 digits, but then they have expenses and usually end up around or a bit more than company drivers total. But they also assume all the risk.
But we also work 6+ days without break (some don't ever have days off until they go home), are away from home weeks and months at a time, have super long days, and get no overtime or wait pay.
Somewhere in the middle. I certainly saw a lot of the landscape, spent some times in small towns around the country on my off days, and met some people.
But certainly didn't get a great feel of the culture a lot of the time.
I had a similar experience traveling for work. My first job out of college required traveling to lots of customer locations. I was excited to see the country. Turns out I got to visit a lot of airports and conference rooms.
Loads of jobs would be fun like this, if you ignore there is fierce competition leading to loads of scheduling pressure, bad pay, no benefits, existential fears, health implications...
I guess those professions really would be nice if you're already set for life and just do it for fun, taking only the best jobs, only doing it for 6-8 hours a day max and have days off... generally not giving too much of a fuck.
That's van trailer work, and it is bullshit. Reefers and van and grocery hauling is exactly what you said. Flatdeck, wide load, grain hauling, fertilizer, etc, there's very little to none of this. Farmers want their seed and fertilizer delivered before spring, and what they are selling delivered sometime this winter. Pays better too. Dealerships just want their cars delivered undamaged, if they're a day late, no one cares. Days off are mandated, although you may not be home for them, true enough. I lived in a truck for 4 years and found myself able to write out a check for my house.
Its the worst. You're constantly sandwiched between employers who expect you to be on the road for a full 13 hours, and police who will slap you with huge fines or take your license if you work over those 13 hours.
Every slow car in front of you or delay at a depot compounds into a stress that eats away at you. Which side is going to win out today? Are the cops going to take my license, or is the company going to sack me for not making my delivery on time?