Husband and Wife R&L 2021

In our last 24hrs of running the truck was stopped for about 2 and half to 3hrs. Which means the truck ran about 21hrs. Those three hours were for breaks, food, and fuel and 30 mins was for relaying with another driver.

As for sleeping you eventually get used to it or you don't. Not everyone is suited for teaming and that's fine. Trust is probably the most important thing. You have to trust that your partner won't get you killed haha. If I did team with my wife I 100% know I could never do it. She's the only person I trust.

The first week of sleeping is rough, but eventually you get used to the movement. And some things you may never get used too. I'm good when the truck is moving however, when the truck stops I am wide awake because it usually means my wife is getting out for bathroom etc. But some people say they sleep through it all, how someone can sleep through a hook/unhooking is beyond me..but my wife sure as hell can.

 

I drove team with my brother once before. Me and a buddy left Estes we both were solo extraboard over there. We both used bottom bunk. We used top for storage. When it's your turn to sleep we laid out a blanket over 4inched of memory foam. Slept on a blanket basically as a sheet. When you got up you put your stuff up and Lysol the bed and walls for the next guy.

We ran dedicated. So we did 2am-2pm.

We started in Nashville at 6pm Sunday night. I drove from 6pm to 2am and made it to the first pilot in oklahoma. 540 miles. Instead of taking a 30 we swapped there at 2am. He drove to albuquerque which was 720 miles. We showered there. I drove to Hesperia CA 700 miles. He drove from Hesperia to LA we swapped out loads. I then went to bed and he continued to Orland CA. Shower time and switch. I drove to Tacoma. We swapped and he drove to Arlington WA swapped loads and made it to mountain home Idaho. We showered swapped and I made it to Cheyenne. Swapped and he made it to KSC. Then swapped and we made it hour away and showered. I made it to ATL. We swapped I laid down for 3 hours and Friday morning 3am we were back in Nashville.

It sucked. Truck stayed moving 24-7. If you don't you don't make $. A normal week we grossed $2450. I took home 1760.

When we ran wild we kept same 2-2 schedule and just never stopped. I don't miss it and since my wife graduated I'll NEVER do it again

 

Absolutely not. You never get used to it. There is a few rare guys out there. They can sleep anywhere. If your one of them awesome I guess it don't matter. But most dudes no way. End of week your so exhausted and ready to quit. Benadryl. Take 3. It helped me sleep. If a bump took your head off the pillow and woke you it was easy roll over fall back asleep.

Keep a schedule. Don't run your 14 out and keep rotating. We did 2-2 no matter what. If one dude sat in a accident for 6 hours we still swapped when it was time. Helps with the sleeping schedule.

RL will take non husband and wife teams and sometimes they will match. If you don't know the guy it's not going to work. I left Nov 1 last year and my buddy is on his 3rd team partner. We did it 2 years with 0 issues. If you don't know them for get it.

Your going to want to stab your wife after enough days in that box. Imagine a guy you don't know. Your clean and he is not. F that.

We never stopped at truck stops except shower. We also never took our 30 but ramps. When a guy had go pee we stopped on ramp peed off ramp and rolled again. It sucks

 

So do you feel pressured to limit your bathroom breaks? Or are you and your wife pretty laid back about doing what you both need to do as far as bathroom breaks/stretching the legs goes?

I know I usually try to get out and stretch my legs every 3 hours and use the bathroom, only stopping for about 5-7 minutes. Obviously if I'm dropping/hooking or fueling then that'll count as getting out of the truck too. I would think if you're teaming with somebody, I guess you probably want to discuss things like this and what your routine will be before committing to driving as a team.

I know if I ever ran team that I would want to make sure that mine and my teammates health were still a priority. But with some of the things that I read about team drivers it seems health sometimes takes a backseat to constantly keep the truck moving. But again since it's you and your wife I'm sure you guys look after each other more than what strangers do.

 

That sounds rough man. I'm assuming you teamed instead of driving solo just to save a lot of money, but with an "end goal" in mind, right? Whether that end goal was waiting on your wife to graduate or saving X amount of dollars, you didn't plan on team driving until retirement did you?

Do you think not getting proper sleep for 1 or 2 years (or however long you team drove) impacted your health negatively long term? I know other people don't get much sleep for various reasons (newborn kids, long hours in an office or blue collared job, etc. etc.). But the way you described trying to sleep it sounds like 4 hours of sleep in a non moving truck is better than 8 hours of sleep in a moving truck.

That money sounds so good though. I'm guessing there aren't many team drivers who drive team their whole careers based on how you described it, and that most team drivers drive for 5 years or less to just save as much money as possible before switching back to being a solo driver.

 

I mean there is definitely pressure to keep the door closed and keep moving. But if I feel I need to stop and stretch, or use the bathroom I am going to do so. And if any company tells you that you can't then that isn't the type of place you want to be.

And yes being on the same page is a must, if you like to stop alot but your team mate is a door closed and pull over and pee in jugs kinda driver you'll definitely have an issue. Especially if one puts up more miles or one drops and hooks more. That causes an issue with alot of teams. Sometimes it works out that way. One week it will feel like one driver does all the driving and hooking. Whole the other one doesn't. You gotta look at the big picture and most of the time the work load evens out as long as both drivers are working hard.

 

What about those cameras, I know you guys mentioned the cameras only face outwards but that they can see your reflection through the windshield. Obviously cell phones are a no touch policy but do they allow blue tooth? Are you allowed to turn the radio station, drink a water or something, and eat something easy like a pack of crackers or chewy bar or something? Or is it strict both hands on the wheel at all times, no snacks, no drinks and no radio/bluetooth?

 

During the safety meeting they mentioned eating and drinking as distracted driving. But I highly doubt they enforce that. And yeah you can still operate stereo and climate controls. The steering wheel has radio controls on it. So that's definitely a plus!

 

That would be ridiculous to get calls from safety or to get fired for eating small snack items or having something to drink while driving. I need to drink water throughout the day otherwise I get a headache and I generally feel worse if I don't keep hydrated. Though that said I time when I drink the water so I'll be able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone, like when fueling or dropping/hooking I'll use the bathroom then since I'll be out of the truck anyways.

Anyways thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Keep us all updated on yours and the misses progress! I hope you guys have a good experience with R&L and make a bunch of money!

 

I ran team with a buddy. My wife would never drive a truck lol. I did it just to keep the 100k salary just until she graduated. Nah the sleep thing didn't impact me. I don't really sleep much anyway. Maybe 5 hours if I'm lucky.

The bathroom thing it was just easier. Waste a lot of time stopping. Plus if he's asleep and I gotta pee. I don't wanna wake him up getting off making all those turns bouncing through parking lots. Easier hit a ramp piss off dolly. If I'm trying make it to a certain spot I don't loose time for guy in bunk piss off dolly. When we left we kept the door closed because we were trying to get back home ASAP. We didn't wanna be out there.

They never bothered me about camera. Touching phone. Drinking , changing songs, playing with gps, I never once got bothered. I once and while got videos for following close or running a few stop signs on a off ramp in idaho in middle of no where. They showed me video I said ok and that was end of it.

RL is pretty laid back to be honest. Hard for them to get teams so they don't really bother you too much. They are pretty good place for a guy wants run team. Only thing make them top notch is if they paid what the other guys paid teams.