How do OTR drivers do it? Sitting for so long with no breaks?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by ad356, Apr 17, 2021.

  1. motocross25

    motocross25 Road Train Member

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  3. asphaltreptile311

    asphaltreptile311 Road Train Member

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    Anybody who is too stupid to use a piss jug probably shouldn't be near a truck. I haven't pulled the truck over to take a piss since cdl school. Stretching is something you get in the habit of between runs. On some days I'll run a full 7 hours before stopping.
     
  4. bad-luck

    bad-luck Road Train Member

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    If your butt is sore from sitting from a 1.5 drive, OTR is probly not for you.
     
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  5. slow.rider

    slow.rider Road Train Member

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    Could be something wrong with your seat or how it's positioned. If you've got it set to supertrucker lean back mode, try shifting it so it forces you to sit straight up instead. It might seem less comfortable yet keep your spine in alignment, allowing you to sit longer. Make sure to firm up the lower back setting too if it has one.
     
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  6. ad356

    ad356 Road Train Member

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    I dont normally stop anywhere. It's just a different type of trucking. I go to a farm and load milk, I drive to another farm load more milk, and repeat the process until I've loaded all of the farms on that load. When the trailer is loaded I go to the plant. I'm not stopping anywhere I shouldn't and I'm not wasting any time.

    It would take awhile for me to get used to long haul, if I ever did it. If I could, I would get a K restriction because I'm pretty content doing what I'm doing.
     
    slow.rider Thanks this.
  7. Dennixx

    Dennixx Road Train Member

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    It's one of the reasons I became a professional driver..
    You run, eat, sleep and everything else how you see fit.
    As long as you get where you need to be when you need to.. nothing else really matters.
     
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  8. ad356

    ad356 Road Train Member

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    I have a routine, I know where I'm going on a daily basis. I know where I should and should not be. I know my way around my local route. I'm not afraid to work hard and make excellent money, and I make no excuses. I know my farms and farmers, I treat them like my customers and give them 100%.

    Stressful? NOPE, I cant say it is. I see my 2 kids, my wife (of 19 years) and the home that I'm paying a mortgage on. Paying for a mortgage and living in the back of a truck seems illogical to me. I am able to maintain a normal martial marital relationship with my wife. I'm also home to do things like fix the cars, mow the lawn, fix things around the house, tend the garden in the summer, clean the pool, ect ect.

    The little bit I did drive OTR I found to be extremely lonely and miserable. It's not a job, it's a solitary lifestyle and not one that I'm comfortable with. The wife would call me with something wrong at the house and my response would be something along the lines of "what do you want me to do about it".

    My intentions when I went to trucking school was to haul milk locally. I had spent 5 years as a dairy plant reciever, I knew the industry. It's what I've set out to do, and I'm making excellent money doing it.

    Driving OTR is impractical and would be very stressful for me. Different strokes for different folks. I do not consider myself a failure by not driving OTR.

    my question was how does one cope with bladder and sitting in one place for an extended period of time.

    Stressful? Nope, walton milk hauling fits me perfectly
     
  9. ad356

    ad356 Road Train Member

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    That's true for what I do too. No one holds my hand, no one scolds me if i show up late. I'm only hurting myself. I run efficiently because that's how I make money
     
  10. ad356

    ad356 Road Train Member

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    1.5 hours is perfect I get out and stretch about the time I feel I really need to do so
     
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  11. bryan21384

    bryan21384 Road Train Member

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    The way i see it, I've got a 14 hr clock... if I have to do 600 plus miles in day, why run so many miles at one time? I might do 200 miles at a time, and stretch...roughly 3 hrs of driving at a time. Now shorthauls, 300 or less, I'll just knock it out.
     
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