Quality of Life and Trucking??

Oh ok. LOL

Ya, after being the kid picked on, to working with SEALs on beachead....
getting shot at....
having our boat take a dive without us....
watching a revolt without the ability to do anything....
going through a divorce that was 6 figures and still lose....
Having my ex abandoned me and my daughter for a year.....
ex come back to fight for custody after being abandunded....
losing custady of daughter only becouse I am a man....
losing a career, 2 cars, 1 Harley, big screen, in said divorce....
coming home from Hawaii with only a suit case....
Get my child support maxed out at 60% but taxed a full 30% (90% gone).....

Ya, I don't really get bothered when I have to sit at Walmart DC for more then two hours. HAHA I enjoy a book. ROFL

 

wholey mother load wc5b you have been through absolutely everything!well happy late vetrans day

 

There is a lot of rules out there, and you have to meet every one of them. A lot of the stuff can be found here. http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/truck/driver/hos/hos-faqs.asp Aside from a few exceptions, the basics is you can drive up to 11 hours a day. You must come off the road NO MATTER if you have not driving the 11 hours or not after the 14th hour of coming on duty. You must have 10 hours off duty before you can reset these rules. In addition you must not "work" (not just drive) more then 70 hours in 8 days. If you need to reset the 70 hour rule, you must come off duty for 34 hours. The problem that happens, is if you drive 11 hours (counting ON duty NOT driving) every day, you will begin to hit your 70 hours on or about the 6th day. Then it chases you like crazy. Everyday past that you will be restricted to only the hours of driving that fell off from the 8th day before. So, lets say you sat back and enjoyed to much time, or you have a real tight load. You drive 5 days full tilt. On the 6th and 7th day, you may find your log telling you that you can only drive 3 to 5 hours. But your Fleet Manager has a really good load for you. You pretty much have to turn it down and shut down. Thats why I try to log about 9 or so hours a day. It allows me some flex room for just about anything that is thrown at me. This is easy to say, but sometimes not so easy to do. I am just saying, if I can, I do.

As for going on a tangent, about your question....

You can split it with a break, yes. Thats how it is designed. 11 hours of driving with breaks for meals and inspection checks. Hypothetically you could take a 5 hour nap in there, but there is meals and inspections and daily stuff like that too, so more like 3 hours. hehe. I just drive the 9 and get it over with, with maybe a lunch in there somewhere. Its a pretty comfortable day.

 

crunchy - keep in mind you are only hearing how over the road guys rate their quality of life...

there are hundreds of different ways to use a cdl out here...

some of us are home everyday - some are home every other day - some weekly - some monthly some live like gypsies...

you need to find what is really important to you - what you value as your "quality of life" factor and then find a job that matches your needs...


to just settle for an over the road job with swift - and then valuate the industry would not only be unfair to yourself - but really kill your ability to see all your options...


you do not have to start out with a freightliner and a sleepercab...

(too many myths out there in truckerland)

 

do you do this before or after delivery? Companies allow this?

 

in my OTR days I used to bobtail like crazy... walmart once a week - and as many scenic tours as possible...

you have to get crafty - but it is possible...


hell I bobtailed to the top of mt st helens overlook...

park ranger asked me to leave - but it was really pretty

 

Sure, but its almost always DURING a load. Its the only time when YOU control the schedule. Normally its a rat race inbetween loads to get it picked up.

 

CRUNCHYKNEES has started a very promising discussion here. I am seriously looking into changing careers. I am going into this decision with my eyes wide open. I don't really have a hankering to be a truckstop meal only or fastfood kind of driver. I want more variety than that. If I may, I have a question for you experienced guys.

I, like WC, am divorced, not custody of my 14 y/o son except for a few weeks in the summer. Not married, nor do I want to be.

Do any of the "usual" companies (the ones that I would get my training and a job through) allow you to alter your normal driving schedule to a more regional drive while I have my son for the summer? You know, so I can have more home-time with him during our time together. Not necessarily a local schedule, just something a little different than the other 10 months of the year.

Or would I just end up telling them to get bent when my dispatcher does not cooperate?

This had been a very helpful post so far and you guys with some miles under your belt have no idea how insightful your input is to those of us seriously thinking about joining you.

 

That would almost entirely be up to the company you are running for. A lot of companies do have regional running options along with full lower 48. They did that to get guys home more often. Personally I love running lower 48. I can't see why a company would not work with you to do that. I would bring it up as an issue when talking to the dispatcher however before making a move. Some companies just don't have the ability, and some just don't care. There should be plenty that can work something out. WSE use to run me toward my daughter in San Diego and then Savannah anytime a load posted going to the area. Most companies are human. Its all about you scratch mine I scratch yours, so just don't complain to much and turn down loads all the time and you should be pretty flexible.