Magnum ltd - fargo, nd

I heard possible snow flurries down there.

 

When I first started here, I did everything "balls to the walls". My 10 hour breaks were 10 hours. My 30 minute breaks were 30 minutes. My drive days were somewhere between 10:50 and 10:59. I got everywhere super early. I had my blinders on. I felt very productive and was certain I was "doing well".

Flash forward to today. I honestly feel kind of lazy. My breaks aren't so defined. I spread my trips out a bit more. 30 minute breaks sometimes turn into 2 hour breaks. I don't "do" 10:59 drive days so much anymore. So I had a hunch that I was possibly "not as good" as I was when I started.

So I just made a spreadsheet comparing the miles on each of my paychecks between 2016 and 2017.

I started in August 2016, so August through December is really the only data I have to compare with.

Turns out, I drove 8,204 MORE miles this year during this time period than I did last year.

My gut feeling was not only wrong... but very, very wrong. I guess I've become more efficient and not more lazy. Weird how actual numbers can turn that around. I'm glad I did that because I was starting to feel kind of down on myself hahaha.

 

Just picked up my new load from Michael's foods, got a crazy air leak. Took it to the mechanics and they are saying there is a hole in my red hose just under the fitting. Such an awesome day lol. Thank god for pre trip inspections.

 

Just another day in the life of being a trucker,

 

When you drop a trailer in the yard, is there anything we can do to reduce the likeliness the next driver will have to deal with frozen brakes?

I’m guessing wait a few minutes before setting the brakes, but I’m not sure how much good that would do, if any.

 

When it’s wet out, Pull down slightly on the Johnson bar for the last mile or so to dry and heat the brakes.

 

And waiting a bit before settling them does help, the newer trailers won’t suffer as much as the older ones with drum brakes.

 

Magnum started buy trailers with disk brakes?

 

I was told to set the brakes, wait 20-30 minutes, release and roll it a few feet and repeat 2-3 times. Doubt people will do it when in a rush. Another driver was saying give it a smack with a hammer and theyll release.

 

Starting with the 2017's.