THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE - DFO gets a truck and hops on Schneider's IC Choice Program

From I30 exit 44 to I40 exit 180, there wasn't even room for me to make my own spot. The whole way up here there were tons of trucks on ramps and on the side of the interstate. Just a bad night/place to be driving late last night.

 

That's typical. Another reason why I try not to drive past 6-7 pm. Have to trip plan better. Ie stopping further away then u planned.

 

That's what my dbl said. I started looking for a spot to park when I had 2 hours of driving left. I did what I thought was the best thing to do, and what you and my dbl said I shoulda done. It just didn't work last night. Simple as that.

 

Another site loaded with truck stop info, +more:

http://www.allstays.com/c/truck-stop-locations.htm

 

having an idea of where you're going to shut down or get staged is a part of the trip plan. At least a rough idea. As you described it before , it didnt sound to me like this was the case?

dont sweat it. Chalk it up to the learning curve. Just remember this area next time if circumstances are similar. I think given how the weather has been recently, alot of those guys were going to be running north. Running into that storm that blew through the area yesterday. Better to park it than run ice storm.

We got they both of it overnight. Snow first then changed over to freezing rain.

 

Yeah you did the right thing...only thing that scares me about running over is that whole drunk driver deal...lol

 

And yeah fyi...i live in that area, try and hit one of those sex shops normally they have parking that time of morning

 

Or a Walmart. But back on topic, we've veered of topic. Hey dfo did you avoid the snow

 

maybe we didnt , eggo might have just told us DFO's secret parking places.

 

Wow.....I go away for a couple of days, and you guys get all wound up........LOL.....ok, so here goes.....Starting in no particular order, but the first one was the last issue

1. It is rare that I don't know where I'm going to park when I leave out in the morning. Google maps is your friend. Type in the pick up or delivery address and then click on "search nearby". You'll have to train your laptop, but if you have your cookies running (or whatever) after you type in 'truckstop' once, you'll have it forever. Bring up the satellite view, and you'll know exactly what you're getting into before you go and what it looks like and how to get in and out.

2. IF, as was today, your plans don't work out the way you thought they might (spending unaccounted time hunting trailers or waiting to get loaded / unloaded), I use DAT Truckers Services on my android. I'm not going to go into great detail about all the stuff it will do, but suffice it to say, it will find a truck stop for you within 120 miles of where you are. Try it, you'll like it. The 'Next Exit' book sux in my opinion as I own one. It's really geared more for the RV'ing crowd than the trucking community.

3. Load pay and fuel cutoff are supposed to be at the same time. My experience is that if you deliver a load after 5 or 6 on Monday night, you won't see it on this week's check. However, if you buy fuel up to midnight in Monday night, you will see that on the current week's settlement.

BUT........that said, in my opinion based on personal experience, the worst thing you can do is deliver a load at noon or so on Monday and then sit in a truckstop all day because you're runnin' a sweet week and you don't want to buy any more fuel. At least buy enough to make the day productive. Hey, $120 worth of fuel will run you the rest of the day.

4. Always try to book loads over the weekend if possible......normal people don't work Saturday and Sunday. However, there are accounts that are pretty much 24/7/365. Most of those you'll find in big cities. On the other hand, one of the things I harp on a lot is, don't book a load somewhere unless you know how you're gonna get out.....simple as that.......do that, and it will fix most of your weekend load problems.

5. Last but not least, Moose and I finally have something we can agree on (however, I did appreciate the comment DFO made about if Moose don't do it, then you're probably doing it wrong....hehehehe.....felt that way myself a time or two).....BUT, that said, I'm totally solar powered. I'm 53 and that must make Moose about 63 ('cause he's crankier than I am), and guys, the hard truth is you just don't see as well as you did at 20 or 30. Like Dirty Harry said one time, "A man's got to know his limitations". And the same goes for driving. I'm up at 5 and roll at 5:30. I keep the left door closed and have no problem running 500 or 600 miles in a day. I never hunt for a place to park at night and I never park on the road / on ramp. The other upside is that I get to see interesting things during the day......can't really see much at night besides neon and white lines at night. But I got to see 2 goats gettin' it on the other day.....and man, that speaks a lot for driving during the day...I think anyway. And like Atrucker, I can't sleep during the day. Maybe catch a nap occasionally, but 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep; no. And also like he said, you do a week of 2,3,4,5 hours of daytime sleep, and you'll be a whole different kinda person come Friday. But, to each his own. As far as I'm concerned, the only person I care about sleeping properly is me.......everybody else can do what they do.

Welcome Captain.....and hidey ho DFO, Moose, Atrucker and the rest!!