Avoiding Night Hauling....?

"I was hoping for a blue truck. Red doesn't really fit my style."

 

This is the right way to approach a trucking career. Generally speaking, if I have hours available to drive and miles to go, then I drive. It's a principle I drilled into my trainees when I was with Swift.

The other principle is to be able to untether yourself from truck stops. If you can ENJOY a night parked under the stars in the middle of nowhere, you can maximize your driving TODAY.

I do choose to shut down early when it makes sense. For example, driving north on I-35 approaching Dallas/FW mid afternoon with a load that needs to deliver in OKC tomorrow morning. Do I waste my hours crawling in stop and go or shut down in Hillsboro? I elect to shut down, have a nice steak dinner, and then start up in the wee hours to fly through DFW and be parked in my customers yard before OKC rush hour. Far more relaxing.

 

How do you manage sleeping in hot weather during the day?

 

If you want to run daytime only choose Flatbed or Lease Purchase. Those guys are solar powered and choose how to run their own owner operator business.

 

Idle.

 

I idle and have good AC....front window curtains closed and no problem.
I was in 103 degree heat last week and slept fine...it was probably 65 in the truck.

 

I struggle sleeping at home because I can't get the central air as cold as I have it in the truck.

 

I like to idle if the temp is over 65. But I can sleep no problem as long as I keep it below 80. There are days that just flat out suck tho. I can't lie and say the heat doesn't bother me

 

New Mexico has open range, where the county road runs straight thru pastures. Ranchers will dump feed square in the middle of the pavement at night time. Crazy. And if you kill one of his cows, it will cost you thousands. Fun times in the oilfield.