How long do you stay out

I dont get why. Night driving is easier. When i go solo i am going to drive nights exclusively. About 8PM to 6AM would be ideal for me. Driving at night is peaceful and by 6AM there should be spots at truck stops because early birds leaving.

 

3 months.... 1 week off

 

I used to do 3-4 weeks out then 5-6 days off.... longest was 5 weeks. but I changed jobs....

Now I’m home every weekend and once during the week... most weeks...
Sometimes I’ll do a NC to CA and back. That’s about 8-9 days and I’ll take off 3 days after that.

 

While I agree with you that 8pm - 6 AM is way less traffic and better flow, and yes, if you can do it, run nights exclusively, you can find places to park at 6AM.

But, a lot of stops (live loads) run from 6am - 3 or 4 pm...some are later, but generally speaking, 7-3 are prime hours. If you are drop and hook, OK, different story.

I can see why rookies prefer days. Night driving is hard to see...and this time of year, weather can fool with you, drive into fog, freezing rain...headlights glare, it can be un-nerving.

I just could never get my body clock to work in reverse, I like to get up about 8 am, be rolling by 9 and knock off around 10-11 pm.

 

I am an O/O....I DID have an '07 KW...it was beautiful, W900L...Cummins ISX 565 that produced 600 hp, 18 speed, I bought it from the original owner with 230K on it, it was beautiful and like brand new inside!

I sold it last year and bought a '96 Intl 9200 Eagle with a newer Det 12.7 and rebuilt 13 speed. The exact setup I wanted. No emissions, no ELD.

I actually had someone just earlier today giving me crap about my 12.7, tell me I was not doing my part to "save the planet" and that I was a detriment to the environment because I refuse to "get with the program".

Nobody has ever said that to me. Not sure how anyone else feels about it. I got called a lot of things and the accusations from this guy was absurd.

He was GLAD for emissions, ELD's and welcomed even MORE govt intervention. Not sure what he was smoking. From what I read, the OOIDA, ATA, etc ALL agree with me on this.

I'm not here to kill the planet, and, I really don't think my 12.7 is causing irreparable harm. I firmly believe that the EPA created an entire economy based on false data and scare tactics. Frankly, even if global warming is fact, the pollution we create in this country PALES in comparison to what goes in in Mexico, China and India, and, until we get THOSE countries to change there ways, all the EPA restrictions we do won't amount to a hill of beans in comparison to the pollution they are causing.

As for the ELD, it isn't my goal to go out and abuse the HOS rules so I can make a few hundred dollars more driving more than 11 hours a day. The reason I hate ELD's is, I'll be darned if, because I went 1 minute over on my hours, I'm paying fines, have my insurance rates skyrocket, points on my safety scores and worse, lose my authority or worse, my life because I had no choice but to park on an off ramp. I don't need a nanny telling me when to shut down. I know where I need to get to by when and, I want to be in control of where I feel it is safe to shut it down for the night. Not some computer.

OK, I'll get off my soap box now!!!

 

In an ELD’s defense, a little trip planning goes a long ways. That’s a broken sorry excuse imo. I’m all for paper logs, but come on. That’s just ridiculous

 

I don't stay out much past 4-5 days. Usually back to the yard every other night.

Been living Full Time in the truck the last 5 months though.

Every day is a new idea to make it more livable backed by a shopping mission followed by the next night doing a Remodel.

 

Trip planning?

How long have you been driving truck? Where do you go?

You obviously never got stuck anywhere for hours because:

A. The load wasn't ready to go
B. An unforeseeable repair needed to be done to your truck
C. A mutli-car accident happened up front and the DOT decided to shut down the road to investigate and leave you on it
D. A snow storm turned your 8 hour journey into a 14 hour one
E. An Ice storm in the south.

Shall I go on? In my OWN humble opinion???