do you have to just sit in your truck during the 34

No it doesn't.

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/part/395.8?guidance
Question 26: If a driver is permitted to use a Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) for personal reasons, how must the driving time be recorded?

Guidance:

a driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work, time spent traveling from a driver’s home to his/her terminal (normal work reporting location), or from a driver’s terminal to his/her home, may be considered off-duty time. Similarly, time spent traveling short distances from a driver’s en route lodgings (such as en route terminals or motels) to restaurants in the vicinity of such lodgings may be considered off-duty time. The type of conveyance used from the terminal to the driver’s home, from the driver’s home to the terminal, or to restaurants in the vicinity of en route lodgings would not alter the situation unless the vehicle is laden. A driver may not operate a laden CMV as a personal conveyance. The driver who uses a motor carrier’s Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) for transportation home, and is subsequently called by the employing carrier and is then dispatched from home, would be on-duty from the time the driver leaves home.

A driver placed out of service for exceeding the requirements of the hours of service regulations may not drive a Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) to any location to obtain rest.

 

It's pretty clear that "laden" means under dispatch , whether you're loaded or empty and in route to loading or unloading;.... pulling an empty trailer to the area of my next load means laden. They don't make it clear whether taking a loaded trailer to your home is considered personal conveyance, but I wouldn't try calling it that unless it was clear that I was going the opposite direction of the load's destination to get to my house. I usually have enough hours to get home anyway, and after a reset it doesn't matter because I get my 70 back.
To the OP.....trucks get 5.5-7.2 mpg.....your company probably won't want you sight-seeing too much, regardless of the legality.

 

The VP of my company once told me "It's a commercial truck, not a winnebago for you to be driving all over the place sightseeing.

 

So you can make up your own definition if you want. The rest of us drivers that understand what laden means won't be driving loaded to the house.

 

Can not "advance" oneself...we off duty all the time on our time off '34' just make sure your not getting closer to receiver...

Be Safe Out There

Captain Dave

 

Okay with me...just explain that to DOT.

 

Better yet, carry a dictionary so DOT can look up the definition themselves. Saves starting an argument which is never a good thing to have with someone carrying a gun.

 

Could said unnamed company with red Big trucks and drivers who sit with that deer in the headlights look on their faces for their whole 34 hour re-set possibly be the Sons-0-Chester, out thar in Salt Lick?

 

If a driver is intoxicated in the truck and the engine is running he can be considered an "operator" of the vehicle and could be charged. At least that would be the law in North Carolina. Someone else mentioned about being on private property but in most locations, that would not work because would think most truck stops would be considered a "public vehicular area" and could still be charged. If engine is not running I don't think that being charged would hold up in court because would be hard to convince judge/jury of "operator" status that would be a required element of the offense. Can't always predict what a leo might do and would still have to go through the hassle of being charged however.

 

Wife and I will get a hotel and a rental car. Explore the city we're in. Done/seen so many things on 34 hour resets. God Bless Trucking !