So many of these rules vary widely by state, but on a federally funded highway in any state if you are legal in your home state you are legal in their state (by law, it is one of the conditions the state agrees to for their federal funding).
The one area where Rich is consistently confusing is he replaces the concept of the CDL (which means the driver is generally a hired gun) with a Class A license .... Which means the driver can driver a combination (truck/trailer) of any weight.
I carry a class A exempt license, so I legally drive a 63,000 lb rig I own with air brakes etc. for personal use. And as Rich correctly points out is allows me to register my 48 ft Renegade/Freightliner as an RV (exempt from any weight catagories, and as Rich correctly points out, not allowed to be a commercial vehicle). No medical, no hours log, but pretty much all the other rules apply.
I would say that my Class A license will get me through 80% of all problems (that said, shear luck and common sense driving bats way over .500!).
I've thought about getting a CDL just to have it .... but hey I thought about getting my pilots license too, but somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico a couple of years ago I decided that I'd waited too long!
So as soon as work slows down a little, I may have to follow in Rich's footsteps on this one! The pre-trip inspection looks tough ... a walk around on an airplane is much easier (possibly because I never lost my fear for that thing killing me).