I'd like to hear some team drivers stories about the way it can mess with your mind that a lot of non-drivers and solo drivers may not know about. Here's my two:

My partner and I were doing the 5 on 5 off shift. No one had to drive too long that way and it worked out great except...I sleep on my side. Sometimes after my driving shift, I would hop in the sleeper, pull the curtains to darken it, and fall asleep on my side facing the front of the truck.

Later I would come awake instantly and in a panic with the sensation of the truck rolling backwards! Did my partner run off and forget to set the brakes!?!? Is this thing about to roll backwards over a railroad track and be imploded by a train!?!? I toss of my blanket and begin clawing at the curtains to get to the parking brakes on the dash! The curtains! where are they?!?! I can't get them open and they are stiff and won't move! My damned blanket is in league with the curtains and is wrapping itself around my arms and face to prevent me from escaping! Then there is a bright light from behind me....WTF? who turned on the sleeper dome light? I'm alone in here.

Then I came to my senses. I had rolled over in my sleep and was facing the rear of the truck (causing the illusion of rolling backward) and was clawing at the back of the sleeper, not the curtains on the front. My partner was up there happily driving along, forward no less, when he heard me pitching a fit back there and pulled open the curtain (the bright light from behind). He had a nice laugh at me, but about 3 days later, he came rolling out of the sleeper, with a THUD, grasping at the brakes as I was driving and I had to push him away while he came to HIS senses!

Another thing I did constantly was to wake up in a panic in the sleeper grabbing for the wheel thinking, "Oh ****, I've fallen asleep at the wheel...and I'm BLIND!" When you drive/sleep drive/sleep drive/sleep drive/sleep drive/sleep without much in between, it seriously begins to mess with your mind!

Now it may sound funny, but this stuff is really pretty dangerous. When you wake up like that, it seems very real to you, and you are fighting the stupor and grogginess of sleep to move quickly trying to save your life. Imagine driving through a narrow construction site, on a curve, when someone suddenly comes screaming from behind you, hell bent on locking up your brakes and you must fight them off while driving for about 6 seconds until they realize where they are and that they are not about to die horribly. Team drivers, are zombies! Never really asleep. Never really awake.

I did it once to help a O/O out and besides i wanted to drive his truck, it was my first year of driving and all i had done was local jobs. He had a decked out 359 Pete with one of those reversed overdrive trannys, i had drove some different trucks at the grain elevator i worked at and thought i had it going on, but when i got behind the wheel of this thing looking down that long hood and being out on the road, it was quite intimidating, especially with him sitting there watching me. He knew i was pretty green, he coached me on the shifting and i had a bad habit of riding the right edge of the road, once he told me were to put that big chrome swan on the road i was alright with staying in the middle of the lane. Neither one of us slept very good, i had never slept in a truck before and he really didn't trust my driving. Once we got to the turn i pretty much had the hang of it and the trip back was alot better. I learned alot on that trip, but i've never teamed since and have no desire to do it again. We had alot of laughs out of that trip when he would come in to pick up his loads and i drove that truck otr some when he was semi retired. Solo!

Never had trouble sleeping soundly. I tell my wife its my lifetime clear conscience. We ran team on 5 and 5. Only thrill I ever had was waking up once, east of Mojave,CA, sitting still, engine idling. Thought about it. We did not go. Looked out the cabover Macks windshield in front of me and saw we on the side of a two lane highway. Looked across cab thru drivers door mirror and along side trailer. No buddy. Must be on ditch side communing with nature. Raised up some and looked out door mirror on passenger side. No buddy. Must have missed him going across rear of trailer or front of tractor as I swapped mirrors. Wait and see.
Hah. Here comes a car. CHP car. Comes up to us and make a smart U turn and parks behind trailer. Puzzled. No red light on. In a moment CHP moves out into road and goes away. My buddy comes along the roadside and climbs up. Where had he been? Caught speeding and stopped, escorted to the JUDGE, paid fine, got receipt and delivered back roadside while I slept.
I asked him to leave me note next time....

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Bye Y'all

I have woke up at home, after taking a nap, I start running around the house going omg oh no I am late for work I am late for work, or I have missed it all together.Then finally realize it is only 7:00 at night??? I myself have found that this can happen when I was burned out, and needed a break! Maybee you need some time away from the truck all together. Just a suggestion.

Ya and things will blow over on the seashores of old Mexico

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I used to do things like that when I was a lot younger. Wake up at 3 am and miss read the clock. Scramble around to go start chores and begin to wonder why it was still so dark. Look at clock again and slap fore head.

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I was running team hauling new furniture from NC to Ca. in a cabover '79 IH. Not the one in my pictures, but a shorter wheelbase truck similar to mine. After two days of stops and a garage visit we end up in Bakersville. My co-driver says he is feeling very sick, and has to go to bed. I go into the truckstop and call in. I am informed that we must pick up a load of grapes to be delivered to the farmers market in Columbia SC at 7:00 AM Monday morning.

This would be OK except, my co-driver is sick, there are about eight pickups between where we were in Bakersville and Modesto, and I am worn out from delivering furniture for two days. I head out to every barn in three counties picking up one kind of grapes here and another there. I thought there were only two kinds of grapes, red and white, but apparently I am mistaken.

I finally get the reefer loaded around 6:00 PM and head back down 99. I make it to the Ontario 76 (yea, I know about Tehachapi, but I went down the Grapevine), and my co-driver is still too sick to get up. I can't move another foot, so I settle in for a good nights sleep across the doghouse of the International Inn.

I wake up the next morning and find my driver is somewhat better, so we hit the road, as it is now noon eastern time Saturday, the national speed limit is 55, and this truck will only run 74 topped out.
I drive as far as I can, then he takes over and does the same. We forget log books and just run as far as we can each time, as we were too worn out to make 10 each anyway.

Sunday night just past Atlanta we are so tired we are running 2 and 2, and having a hard time doing that. We were doing better earlier, but nothing sleeps in a spring ride cabover pulling a front heavy reefer through Mississippi across 20. My face was raw from shaking back and forth against the pillow case. You old timers will know exactly what I am talking about.

I went to bed for my two hour "sleep" break, only to be awoke in what seems like 10 minutes, thinking "I actually went to sleep for a change, but man am I tired".

I take us on into Columbia, and somehow get there 10 minutes before the appointment time. I find my dock and back in, only there is no one there to unload us. A little over an hour later some one shows up, checks out the grapes, and unloads us. It is now around lunch time.

I decide to drive part way home, so I head out toward the interstate and turn on the radio. At the station break the announcer gives the weather and time. I glance up at the overhead clock and notice about two hours difference. I'm thinking "we're not in Central or Mtn. time still, what is going on here". I say something to my co-driver as to which station we are listening to, as the time don't seem right, and the truck clock always keeps good time.

Mr. smarty pants starts laughing, and finally my tired and muddled mind comprehends what he is saying. The night before, instead of him driving two on and two off like I was, he would drive one and set the clock forward one hour. When he could keep from laughing he informed me he did this twice.

I thought those were the fastest two hour sleep periods I had ever encountered. I wanted to kick his butt, but I felt too dumb for falling for his trick, plus I figured out why no one was at the farmers market to unload us. We were two hours early.

I know what you are talking about running team. I ran team with my father in the late 90's til he was forced to retire with a bad lung and heart. We were picking up lettuce and heading for Greencastle PA and he got sick. This stuff was booked HOTTER THAN HELL dispatch instructions came across with the password for the engine computer that tell you anything. He gets sick but wehave the same name except for middle intails so I told him I would run as long as possible but he would have to spell me for a little sleep. Needless to say I think I got out of the seat 2 times for 6 hours total that run but we logged it legal as hell.

Now Jan of 98 is another story him and I got put on a dedicated run that month Madison WI to Fullerton CA reload right there and southern route back to Aurora IL then back to Madison AS FAST AS POSSIBLE. We hit the shop every week for a grease first week next week was an oil change. He ran the logs I just signed mine after he filled it out since he was an OILD SCHOOL Driver End of the month in for our second oil change of the month and the owner of the company asked to see our logbooks I gave him the Gorillas we had a stuffed gorilla we gave him a logbook that month so we never were out of hours 210 hour for 8 days Never run out. we ran over 36K paid that month would have hit 40K but was sent home after getting nailed. We ran like that because the head dispatcher said to my dad we were the worst team he had seen. After that month we never had an issue with him.

Quexos your a wee bit excitable aren't cha

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I am a Camaro Girl because IROC!

You have unlimited chances to go too slow, but only one to go too fast.

i just did a team run , it wasent to bad, i slept fine, i got over 7hrs of solid sleep

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-Ed

I ran team for a little while and it wasn't too bad.

I never had issues with sleeping while the truck was moving except a few places on I5 and W Memphis/Memphis and of course Chicago lol. My partner though was one of the guys who would wake up, kick the bloody hell out of the sleeper and scream because he thought he had fallen asleep at the wheel and it was rather amusing if I do say so myself.

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Tank surge on a curvy road trumps coffee any day of the week.