How do you guys drive coast to coast, what is your routine?

Lots of fuel and a funnel in the floor.

 

I like to pace myself. I look at how long the run is and split it up based on the time allotted. Example, I did a run that was 1700 loaded miles. It was 300 deadhead . It picked up on a Friday and was scheduled for the wee hours Tuesday morning. You got 4 days with 2000 total miles. That ain't but 500 a day. I'd drive about 250 each day, take a break do the other 250. I'd follow that same routine for the duration of the run. That way, there's no burnout.

 

Every 3-4 hours. That either means I'm at the receiver or back at the yard Lol. Coffee intake depends weather i stop or not in between

 

Run 6-7 hours stop for the 30 then run another 4 ish hours. I will run right up to the 11 hr drive limit if I am confident I will find parking. It helps running out west and starting early about 2am. 750+ mile days are easily achieved that way.

 

It depends on when I can deliver

If I know I can run across the country and make delivery early on a Friday AM Vs sitting the weekend until Monday then I don’t care about the fuel and run a little faster and get up as early as possible since getting reloaded on Friday instead of Monday allows me to make a few extra grand and I can usually run slower once reloaded for the weekend

If I load either midweek or on Friday and have plenty of time to make delivery from A to B then I run a little slower and maybe take more breaks or I run harder if it makes sense and if it will allow a restart if I’m pushing the clock

 

I probably posted this in another thread but, here it is.
Back in my chicken hauling daze I would leave either Alabama or Florida to California I was loaded by 1430 Friday and had to be downtown LA Monday at 0500.
I would just drive for around 4-5 hours, take a walk around and if I got tired pull over and take a nap. Around midnight I would sleep for a few hours, eat a sit down breakfast and do it again.
Get to Cabazon California around 1800 Sunday have a steak dinner sleep until 2300, get across the Banning scales before they opened and slip into LA.
Piece of cake!

 

Drive untill I have to pee ... Somedays that's 4 hours, somedays it 1.

 

In the "Good Ole Days" of Paper Logs (Comic Books, Coloring Books, Double Books), well let's just say there were some creative Drivers who mighta-maybe-sumtyms "bent the rules".

NEVER actually Drove Coast To Coast but just being IN California is close enough and Phoenix, AZ is on California Time, go figure. In Essence, if it happened, I went theoretically, Coast To Coast, sorta.

The following may very well have happened yet may justa ben a hallucination.
Either way it was One Trip starting on a Friday morning, about 10A in the Piedmont-Triad of N.C., and by Sunday local time 1430, I was in Phoenix, AZ., at Receiver/Shipper, including Fuel, Naps, Food, Breaks, Traffic, and not going over 75 m.p.h., that is IF it actually happened.
That Trip: I-85S to Hotlanta, then I-20W to DFW Airport area, then I-10W to Phoenix by 1430 local time Sunday. A lot of B.C. Powders, Extra Boost Truck Stop Coffee (before STOK coffee Caffeine Booster) as well Mountain Dew to give some "extra strength" headaches.

Company Owner, for example, considered the Piedmont-Triad, NC to DFW Airport, a Leisurely Drive.
Of course he liked extra sugary Coffee (think Coca-Cola Syrup) as well Pepsi-Cola, sometimes mixed.

Unloaded, Reloaded same place, same day, headed back to DFW Airport area, arrived Monday P.M..maybe.
Onto I-30E to I-40E to I-155N to I-57N to the Windy. Wednesday. Where it gets hazy, if it happened.
Drop To Louisville, KY., then up to Cleveland, then Philadelphia, By Friday P.M.
Log Books, yes 2, were spot on, that is if it was real.
Maybe no Louisville, or maybe mental divergence.
Saturday told to Dead-Head to Base = Truth LIES In The Beholder. Roughly 5,000 some miles that week was ONCE and enuf, maybe.
Kept track of the Hallucination (Was It Live Or Memorex?) but lost those notes some years back.

Could not nor would not try today unless a TEAM and I ain't nevah bin Team material.
Tried Team Driving twice.
When I started Driving and near the End. 1st time = Fun. 2nd Time = Tragic.
- - - - - -
Thanks fer Yer Tym. CHEERS!!

 

Coast to coast is more like 2400 to 2800 miles. I can do it in 4 days if all the stars line up, but I never schedule a coast to coast trip for less than 5 whole days.

Map out your cheapest fuel stops early in the trip because you may lose cell service for a while out west. If you have a discount card you'll be amazed at the difference between even discounted prices.

Start looking for your trip(s) back before you even start your trip out. Good paying freight west to east pops up all the time but gets covered pretty quick so you have to keep watching it.

Get the major truck stop apps and familiarize yourself with reserved parking. You will want to drive into the night sometimes and that's the only way to be certain you can park somewhere.

Going through Wyoming, if the two passes are open and you have hours, then go on across. Don't wait.

I stop to fuel, to do a 30, to sleep, and to pee. Other than that I don't stop. Why would I? Time is life.

 

What the hell does running hard have to do with the load pay. It is your style of work. I'll be seventy five in October and it's still my style. KEEP THE LEFT DOOR CLOSED