The Fuel Hauler Thread

Oof. We're 68 pedal, 70 cruise out here. Granted we average 300-400 miles a night.

 

That's a reasonable setup in my opinion. I've got a KW now and it starts in 2nd empty and loaded, it's not necessarily driver friendly dealing with Charlotte traffic everyday.

 

Man you have definitely got me beat, but stuff like that creates good memories to look back on for sure. The worst place for me was Southeast Emulsion in Denton...

The bridge to walk onto your trailer had no railing or fall protection, and very flimsy.

Depending on the temperature or if nobody had loaded yet, the arm would be hardened into place, so you'll have to fight with it just to move let alone drop down into the trailer.

After that I would chain it off around the dome lid, and turn a wheel to open up the product flow. It would kick up like crazy when first starting up, but after that the loading process was smooth besides fighting through the smoke Morlife would cause while checking the level in the trailer with a flashlight... Nothing like running to turn everything off ASAP because you're about to overload lol.

Honestly, loading there opened my eyes to fuel hauling. I would watch these guys whip in open up the gate by themselves, look CLEAN, and load while having a computer stop everything for you! While I'm standing on a platform with a full face shield and coveralls splattered with asphalt all over it... I figured after that pulling a "bomb" as some would say wasn't such a bad idea lol.

I do miss my dual stack Mack though...

 

Talked intensely with a regional sleeper cab driver at the Loves in Lamar. He told me about the cameras and it would definitely be a discipline hard wiring to get into it(toss phone in bag, ready a 10-12 hour playlist of various downloadable content for each day,. etc). But no problem adapting to that despite the current company not having an anti-phone policy in place.


Apart from that tidbit, the only turn-off about the regional sleeper fuel position was that it was more of a "wherever they need help" kind of gig. Three weeks out and this guy is based out of north Texas, near the OK line. But he told me he was recently sent up to OR/WA the last round. I forgot to ask about the pay since time-off and running area is my only real concern. But I'm guessing for that sort of run, they pay you for the suffering.


That said, I'm going to keep dipping my stick in other spots. See what fits me best and if I can get it. For now though, just try to pace things with my current company and get some more exercise in. Even if it just completing 110 laps around the perimeter of the truck( two whole miles!!).

 

Fuel haulers don't have accidents.

They have disasters.



-- L

 

Exercise is good. Don't be one of those guys who eats their retirement fund and has to be pulled out of the truck straight into a body bag. To my knowledge all sleeper drivers are a dollar above the regions base pay. TX is 27-29, so he would be at 28. But he gets to work up to 84 hours per week, which is roughly 3k a week.

They get sent wherever they need help, so you'll get to see around quite a bit. If I was a single guy I'd totally do that, rack up my savings and retire within 15-20 years, easily doable if you stay away from debt.

As far as the phones go just get into bulding playlists habit now, because they don't play around. Several companies dont even allow you to use Bluetooth or headsets, some lower tier places you can get away with it.