If your group is planning on traveling interstate, you will have trouble communicating on any CB you will purchase from an electronics store. The truckers have their rigs boosted so much that as soon as they start talking, you will be drowned out and no one will hear you.
Were you trying to talk on the same channel as the truckers? In my Jeep club, we are always talking on our CBs traveling down the interstates to our wheel'n destinations. No doubt the truckers are running boosted signals, but we've never had a problem with it. Maybe your radio is out of tune, or the crystals are wearing out?