Trip Planning

Schneider=Midwest and East coast, and 75% paper loads.

 

Actually HELL YES.

We were governed at 63 and did LA to Avenel NJ regardless of weather and return twice weekly. Actual trip for about 2870 or so miles in 51 hours, give or take three. Stopping for 20 minutes one time for fuel each way. Sometimes twice.

If we were in say Ohio and needed to be in say Connecticut the next day, were there. It takes half a day to get out of Ohio. about 8 hours tor rest, another two to fuel and eat two meals and the rest of the second day we are there in CT without trouble.

If I was in CT I could be in Maryland (And did...) within 9 to 10 hours regardless of traffic. There were laws written by NJ forcing TT's to use the National Network so my "private" route which hardly has any traffic and stretches where you can let her run. was no longer legal.

It does not matter which city rush, with one exception. Washington DC. That one gets bypassed. Either 301 bridge or Tuscorora-Manasas. If Necessary we crossed at Falling Waters and run the two ridges into Frederick. That only takes two hours or less.

The reason I don't encourage US15 anymore is because Manassas learned to hate trucks in the form of a traffic judge enforcing 65 foot limit. So a regular tractor and 48 foot not a problem but when you get into 53's yes its a problem.

After a while of running you don't need to sit and go over everything. If I needed to leave little rock for say Frederick today I'll be there solo in the morning of Day three. Maybe the evening of Day two but not in a position to do anything pushing it (White Line Fever) West coast is 4 days 5 if Seattle. We usually did it in 4.

There are two eras in my lifetime the modern ELD which is really nothing more than a enforcement device brought on by decades of Logbook paper lipservice. Run three paperlogs and you never stopped for anything. Sleep is for next week. You could get from Yakima to Boston in 3 days instead of 6 but thats just about 3000 miles and a drug habit related to "Uppers" is necessary. Which is why some of the older songs from those days referred to it on west coast runs. I experimented with it in local mid atlantic states at 21 and it failed. Due to the daily idea you call into dispatch every hour on the hour waiting for a unknown set of instructions. By the time you are told to get to Baltimore overnight or somewhere else tomorrow, you have wasted precious "Awake time" and need sleep.

That is also part of planning. When we get up our bodies will work well for 16 hours give or take, then after that time you find it creates chemicals to push you to sleep at night which is what we are built for the very life we have.

Even today I am still dealing with the effects of no sleep. Literally no memory. I dont recall. Logs and journals said I did this that and other but no memory. I remember being on a icecream run from from cold storage to NE Baltimore where there is another Cold Storage which is a very good customer. I'll pull in late at night, go to bed, they knock on the door in the morning when ready. Usually I am rested. But once in a while they want that stuff that night. So no sleep they pull the load from trailer. I just need the bills for it. Then go out to the street and sleep.

In those days you were told to be in say... Pauls Valley OK on thursday after loading in Missouri with apples on Monday morning and here you are with the truck on today, sunday.

You will be there in Delivery at Pauls Valley no problem.

However.

Everyone shifted to appt times. they will tell you that you are not to come back with a new appt time for 5 days if you are late. Then bill your trucking company alot of money for being late. So they do the load for free essentially because you were late.

get going yer late already.

 

Average speed depends on where you run but in a 65 mph truck I usually average between 50 and 55.

 

I'm new and naive so it's likely that I just don't know what I'm looking at here but why does your driving time consistently say 12 hrs or more? Isn't that against the rules kind of by a lot? Again, I'm new and not even driving yet so this is probably something about the ELD read out I just don't understand like maybe you went across midnight or something?

 

I haven't read all of the replies to you question, but I hope someone has said to not overthink trip planning. You will spend the better part of a day covering trip planning during your orientation and you will be given different scenarios to practice with. You will ultimately be tested to allow the trainers to flesh-out what you may be unclear about. You should receive more practice while you are out on the road with your trainer. If he/she doesn't have you do a trip plan, speak-up as this is the best opportunity to develop good trip planning skills before you are out on your own.
Finally, when you get started on your own, you will be working with a 0-90 day DM or "driver manager" (I think that's what they're called) who will help you to plan. They know where the truck stops are, whether you can sleep at the shipper/consignee and how long it should take you to get to your destination. Use them as a resource, that's what they are there for. At first you will only get one assignment at a time, so you will not have multiple "stacked" dispatches that you need to plan. That may come later.
Bottom line is that trip planning is one of the easiest things you will be asked to do.
Concentrate on learning good backing skills and setting up to get the low side around corners safely. This is where I see most beginners struggle.
Good luck!

 

It may be showing Driving Time for the 24 hour day, not just Driving for the up to 11 maximum before Off-Duty or Sleeper. Drive 11, sleep 10, drive a bit more all on the same day.

 

For multi-day trips, I do rough calculations to get a preliminary ETA. For example it's a 2200 mile trip and I will start with a fresh 70.

Day 1 I start at 6 am, assume a drive of 10 hours, fuel + 30 minute break +1 hour for miscellaneous = 6pm end of day. Sleep 10 expect 600 miles behind me.

Day 2 Start 4 am, if going East, or sleep in for a 6 am start going West. Drive 10-11, fuel + 30 minute break + 1 hour for misc = 5pm - 7pm. Sleep 10, 1200 miles behind me.
Truck stops and truck parking get smaller or more scarce as you drive East, so you need to start as early as possible to be parked as early in the afternoon as possible. Going West it's pretty safe to just assume there will be open parking spaces near wherever your time runs out, especially if you are on the east side of the Rockies. The West coast cities are as limited on truck parking as the East coast cities.

Rinse & repeat until all miles finished. The days between loading and unloading are the days I assume nearly maximum Driving hours/miles. If I'm lucky I can sleep at the places I get fuel and shower. When that happens I try and fuel when I arrive, just before parking and sleeping so I can find any tire/truck problems before I go to bed instead of 10 minutes before I plan to start Driving the next morning. My rule of thumb is flat tire = 2 hour delay if I drive into the shop or 3 hour delay if I have to wait on the side of the road for a service truck. Sometimes it takes me longer to complete the payment for the repair at the shop as it takes to have the repair made.

 

Those are days when I'm in Canada. We get up to 13 hours drive time.