Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

That hit the nail squarely on da head....

 

Thank you for all that great advice, sir, I really appreciate you taking the time to reply.

 

The proper response to this is notice of where I'm parking the truck and clearing it the #### out. That's a company that'll kill you and I'm #### happy to say I couldn't see our Safety folks pulling that crap.

 

You have to take it 30 minutes before bed and use it every night for about a week before it will really help. I use it every night. Helps a lot.

 

I also have sleeping tablets on my truck but don't dare take one unless I'm doing a reset as I get completely knocked out and doubt I would be fit to drive after only a 10hr break. Never have an issue with melatonin though.

 

Lordy. Speaking of parking, last night I had a genuine Ordeal(tm) trying to get into a spot here at this TA outside of Gainesville, GA.

It's one of those older truck stops, with the parking lot designed for 63' long tractor-trailer combos instead of 72' long tractor-trailer combos. You can park, but it's tight. And made more challenging by the fact that you have the occasional guy not backed all the way in, or the occasional lowboy who's even longer than 72', etc.

Normally, in this kind of situation, I'll give it a shot a few times by myself. But If I can't get it smoothly, I'll bail on the spot and try to find an easier one.

But last night, there was a fellow Abilene driver there to help! Bonus! He'd gotten parked and brought his flashlight over and tried to help guide me in.

Our first attempted spot was just too tight, both in terms of clearance on the sides by the trucks parked on either side, and by the clearance on my side as I tried to straighten out the tractor. After 10 minutes of trying, I said "Nope, let's try another spot." He said "There's a spot down here that's got two slots side-by-side. Should be easy to get into there."

And it probably would have been, except that to get into the spot, I had to maneuver around a truck which was not fully backed in to his own spot. He was out about a 1/4 tractor length further than anybody else. If he'd been pulled all the way back, I coulda made it. But he wasn't, and again it proved tricky to accomplish. Some of you old hands could've probably done it, but I just didn't feel like I could get a good angle around the dude, and so again, after about 10 minutes of blocking traffic to no avail, I bailed on the spot and tried a different spot further down.

THIS spot looked promising. Was near the end of the row, so it looked like I had plenty of clearance to straighten my tractor. And I got a good angle on it and got the ### end of my trailer in the slot. Hard part is over!

Okay, time to make a few minor adjustments. And that's when everything went straight to the crapper. Because as it turned out, after making a few "Pull up a few feet, back up a few feet" trying to straighten out the trailer, it became apparent that I couldn't. There was no way I was going to get the trailer straight into the slot without hitting something first. But thanks to the small adjustments, I also couldn't get back out either to start over. I was well and truly bollixed.

To make a long story short, I was stuck there for over 40 minutes, completely blocking traffic. At one point I had about 7 other drivers all standing around my truck trying to help me. get backed in. (And all with their own opinions of what I needed to do to get backed in.) Getting me backed into the spot required waking up TWO of my fellow drivers who were parked for the night already, and asking them to move their trucks so that I could get mine in the slot without hitting them.

Absolute nightmare. Just goes to show that I still have a lot to learn about backing up. Keep an eye out on YouTube. I'm sure someone recorded the whole thing.

 

Yeah, this is my take on it.

I also suffer the same inability to nap during the day as @dinosaurjr. If I lay down at, say, 1:00pm, and try to nap, it's just not going to happen. I'm gonna lay there wide awake for hours. And I'm impervious to benadryl and sominex and the like, so those aren't a solution. Sometimes they'll affect me, but most of the time they won't. And even when they do affect me, I'll only sleep a couple of hours before waking back up. These folks who can sleep all day and drive all night after driving all day and sleeping all night the day before? That ain't me.

So if I'm trying to drive overnight, what will eventually happen is that, long about 3 in the morning, I will start blacking out behind the wheel. They call them "microsleep" episodes. Brain just shuts off for a few seconds as it tries to fall asleep despite my desires otherwise. It'll happen over and over again. This is not a state you want to be in when you're operating a commercial motor vehicle that weighs 17 tons empty and up to 40 tons loaded. The only cure for it? Get some sleep.

And then I have a choice. I can try to muscle through it and be a big, tough, macho truck driver who always makes his deliveries on time, but at a significant risk of injuring or killing myself or someone else, or I can pull over and take a nap and let the load be late.

My feeling: The late fee Abilene has to pay for me not showing up on time is just a few hundred dollars, while hospital and repair bills for me getting into an accident could run into the tens of thousands. So just from a purely financial perspective, it's better for them if I pull over and nap.

Fortunately, I have not yet had to make this choice. I don't get overnight runs often, and the few I've gotten have had enough time on 'em to allow me at least 2 hours to nap. But if I'm ever put into a position where I have to choose between "blacking out behind the wheel of a multi-ton commercial motor vehicle in order to get to an appointment on time" or "taking a nap and getting to the appointment late", I'm gonna pick "late" every time.

If that means I'm not a "real" trucker, so be it. Being a real trucker is small consolation to my kids if I'm dead.

 

Ahhh ... the age old question of OTR drivers. How to deal with the 24 hour "rotating sleep cycle". That's why I say... "In trucking, There is no day & night, Only dark & light".

The answer to this depends solely on the individual. How much sleep do you need? If you're the type that requires a full 8 hours (or, unbelievable to me, more in some cases??) OTR will "probably" be a tough nut for you. I only require 3 to 4 hours so rotating around the clock several times in a 2 to 3 week period is quite doable. (In fact the 10 hour break is a real pain for me) lol

How well do you function without "that" specific amount? That's all about knowing your limits. By your post it seems you do. Like most I imagine, I can push myself beyond the "time" I should go to sleep but I know when to say when. I will not push beyond that.

Are you the type that can "cat nap" or fall asleep anytime you lay down? I cannot. I sleep my 3 to 4 and wake up ready to go. If I stop before I need it again, I have to keep myself up until I need it. If I don't need it, I can't simply lay down and sleep. (That's why the 10 hour break is a pain)

Other than coffee which I've drank all my life, I don't subscribe to the use of "outside" substances to either sleep or stay awake. (Not judging or condemning those that do). It's a health thing for me. The body naturally produces the hormone Melatonin to prompt natural sleep. But it also produces the opposite. About an hour before you're supposed to wake up, PER levels rise along with your body temperature and blood pressure. To prepare for the stress of waking, your body releases a ####tail of stress hormones like cortisol and others. Gradually, your sleep becomes lighter and lighter.

Over time, upsetting that balance can cause the body to produce too much of that ####tail. This can make sleeping when needed even harder and, not as quality (or deep) as it should be.

To your specific question ... "does anyone have any advice on how to sleep during the day when you have already slept the night before?" ... The answer is pretty simple. Keep yourself from sleeping the night before. Do it as naturally as you can. A cup of coffee, (I don't do the fake energy drinks. That stuff will kill you!), walking around, engaging the mind in activity etc... etc...

If you're the right type by answering the questions above for yourself, the "rotating" around the clock will become easier over time. It's what we call building driver's endurance.

 

Ok, so this one is going going kind of Bla. The 2 stops in Vegas actually turned into 1. After looking at the first stop on Google and talking with the owner of the business while sitting at that lovely rest area in CO @runningman0661 suggested, we determined there was no way this truck was getting to that office building. Aside from it being tucked in the middle of a cluster of other small buildings with little more than alleyways between them (I had two 1000 lb pallets for him), he had no dock or forklift so even a street side wasn't going to work. I sent a message about it all that night (Sunday) and hit the bunk.

About an hour out of Vegas Monday morning I get hold of the planner and he tells me that both drops 1 & 2 are now going to the second drop's location (8 miles from the first). Ok, that's cool. Unfortunately, I had planned for a 10am unload of the first and the second place now getting both, couldn't take me until 1pm. So I sat and killed 3 hours and then delivered. Made it to Whisky Petes yesterday with about 12 minutes left on my 14.

The third drop (which is HP for a crew), is in Bakersfield CA but not until 9pm tonight. The last drop is in Santa Clara for 8am Wednesday morning. So, while there would have been time (Had I known all this upfront) for a reset, the deliveries make it impossible. So I sit here on the NV CA border waiting to run 4 hours to Bakersfield, deliver and then run 4 more hours to Santa Clara and then sit overnight (somewhere?) to drop that in the morning.

Were we just talking about rotating sleep schedules? ... lol

 

I know we're kind of past the training talk here but I wanted to add my thoughts. Since I have all this time on my hands ..... ... lol

I read the posts from all of you on it and I agree with about everything said. Two folks (who aren't a couple lol) in a sardine can for "any" length of time sucks? Yep! Poor trainers VS good ones? Happens everyday. Saw a post in here saying "they wish they had John as a trainer". You couldn't get any better in my humble opinion.

But, and this what kills me about about his last trailer jockey, if you get a good trainer like John (and there are others), the "training" doesn't stop once you get out of the truck. Had his last guy stuck to it and just did his job, he'd have found this out.

Now other than the QC, electronic logs and some company policy, I didn't really need any training on just driving the truck or doing the job. I only needed to get back in one after 4 years out to get back on the road. But here's the thing. Not only did I pay attention and learn a lot of his vast experience while on his truck for almost 3 weeks, but I learn new things from him everyday. (Hey, even John can't stuff 39 years on the road into a couple weeks or months ) ... lol

That VAST experience keeps teaching me new things like the best places to find parking at various times of day or night. Procedures and tips for handling the various types of freight we haul. And just a wealth of other knowledge that makes the job a bit easier and more enjoyable to do.

Now maybe it's because we became friends pretty quick after meeting (although I really don't think that's it. John's a professional and I believe he'd help any of his trainees this way if they stuck around ), but even when I don't ask any questions he has my back out here. Like this trip I'm currently on. All I did was tell him (in the course of our everyday BS on the phone) what it was and where it's going. Next thing I know he's mapping better routes, suggesting parking, who to call and what to say if any problems arise ... etc ... etc.

My first driving job right out of CDL school had no "in the truck with a trainer" at all. Just a 10 day orientation that you either passed and got a truck. Or failed and got a bus ticket home. I wanted it that way. Everything else? You learned on the road, on your own and at times, some tips from drivers who were there longer than you.

Being able to compare the two scenarios, in my opinion, there are distinct advantages to having a GOOD, knowledgeable trainer show you the ropes out here. Advantages I would say for most, are well worth the discomfort and inconvenience of sharing a truck. That will pass. The knowledge gained lasts a lifetime.

Thanks buddy ... for everything!