truck is walking over the road

Pace yourself. Prepare to swap sleep times day and night, naps at a moment's notice anywhere any time. Count your logbook hours not only for what is left today, but for the next 8 days as you start off against your 70 availble in OTR etc. As your 9th day comes around you should now have a recap of your last two days hours and so on. always make sure you can estimate your required trip delivery against your hours at about 40 mph average so if you send me from Little Rock to Atlanta with Apples I already know 11 hours will just get me to about 35 miles of Atlanta so what I would do is drive part to 100 miles or so, get the 8 hours sleeper and then it will be a new 11 - 14 hour day to deal with delivery of apples in Atlanta and reload return or new trip to say.. Freehold NJ from... eh.. state line Fla.

You will get used to it. It's a constant way of thinking that never quits.

Your dispatcher is God. But they hear one tiny word. "No" if you cannot legally make a delivery or pickup. They have either team drivers to get it or... reschedule around to when you are legal. Anti corection laws protect you. Document everything in a large journal book as you go. Name names too along with pay, trip numbers etc. Check your stubs. Follow up on missing pay if any and expenses like tolls.

Where possible. Work for companies drop and hook, it only takes 15 minutes or less and you are rolling. Have a company install a prepass or pike pass etc for all the road systems toll and bridges like GWB you will be crossing. Hunts Point food facility is a 25 dollar toll to enter so bring cash money.

I can go on, but fuel equals life and oppertunity. Keep it always full. Daily. I don't care if you have 1/3 used and 2/3 left. Go fill it. You might be going somewhere where there is no fuel for love or money 1500 miles tonight.

Pace yourself.You will be doing this at least a month. Don't go home and waste your pay sitting there. There are other things but also, check the weather daily, several times a day if not hourly. That way if you are heading into harms way you know what's up. Sometimes you read about possible flooding a week to 10 days before it happens somewhere, and it happens. Don't be the dummy trapped in it. work around it.

There is so much. You can roll a life time and never stop learning. That is good.

 

I had a truck that was all over the lane. I did just about everything you could think of..... I noticed that different trailers all the time were never level on the fifth wheel. Same side every time. I sold it a few months after, never dug any deeper

 

THAT is interesting.

Frame rail problems maybe? You really piqued my curiosity here.

 

Dispatch knows #### well after your first 8th day what your hours recap is. The problem is those ignormauses never spend time calculating a trip against the closest driver in their fleet who does have the hours to get it done. But durr hurr, they pick up the phone and call YOU, the closest chump with no hours and no bawls to say one little word "No" Problem solved.

Until you wise up and start saying what part of no dont you understand backed by a second sentance making reference to all those blessed enteries of your hourly recap, driver logs elogs and so on what value is that to the dumbarse dispatcher who makes no use of it at all? Hm,mmm?

Such converstations usually led to firing and yelling in my time. For a variety of reasons, usually insitutional and somewhat related to Im a dispatcher, you are JUST a drivah....