How soul-destroying is driving Northern Virginia I-95 in a truck?

It's not all that bad. Except on summer Sunday afternoons heading North out of Richmond...

 

Just a hair less than those idiots that live in Washington.

Washington state.

D.C. is a given aswell.....

 

You can't always do it but usually if you know how to manage your time, and your company has available freight at the right hours you can run mostly night shift

 

The dynamite truck overturned in the early 90's, maybe 1993 give or take a few. There seemed to be a tractor trailer overturned every week on the ramp from I-95 north to the outer loop of 695.

 

Dry van varies which is why I enjoyed it lost of drop and hooks. Reefer I hated it. Most appointments is always early morning and u and 100 more drivers are trying to get in the gate at the same time. I enjoy night driving especially thru Atlanta Dallas Nashville and DC(less traffic)

 

There is a reason for reefer that is always appt early morning.

The day time economy, mom and pop butchers, restaurants, institutions, caterers etc come in to buy the food in small lots according to need for the day.

You will have huge amounts of reefer traffic at the gates. It's pretty intense.

The worst situation for us occurred at Americold in Salinas CA, we sit there for two and half days to back in and get loaded. For free with FFE. That was when we started looking else where for employment and found McKesson of Memphis as a suitable reefer shipper. You go somewhere overnight, deliver in the morning at 7 am or so, reload and go right back to memphis. Best done as a team so you can roll through overnights all the time without accumulating problems with rest. The delivery and reloading happens within the hour, not even that. There is no waiting, gate problems or any of that. All the problems we ever hated in trucking as far as getting chains yanked around and being abused by the shipper or receivers (Easily solved by poisoning of the well in some small way to cause a situation where you are not invited back.)

 

I guess i got lucky when i was doing food service with a 48ft reefer and would have to grab a back haul on my way out of nyc or balt-dc. It seemed like i was loaded and on my way in 2 hours or less. I ran balt and nyc but mostly at night time so traffic was tolerable