Going back OTR with Crete

Opti-idle. That combined with the espar heater, you really never have to worry about staying in compliance

 

I've heard of opti-idle. How does it work? And how effective is it at keeping the truck cool?

 

It works pretty good. You have 2 separate controls in the bunk, one for opti-idle & one for espar heater. You turn on the opti-idle after parked you just turn on the cruise & a light for opti-idel will show up on the dash. Go back to the bunk & set the temp you want and in the summer, when the temp inside gets down to your set point, the truck will shut down until the temp gets up to 4 or 7 degrees above your set point (that variation is adjustable) and the truck will automatically start again until it gets back down to the set point. It takes some getting used to, 1st time the truck fires up when your half asleep you'll probably jump out of bed. When using the espar heater it works the same way except the truck will hardly ever fire up, maybe once or twice per night

 

I take it the idling the truck does when opti-idle is on doesn’t count against you?

 

I’m thinking about going to Crete. Haven’t decided on Reefer or dry van yet. I like the longer lengths of haul that come with reefer, I like the West Coast, and I live in Florida where dry van freight, unless things have changed in the last decade, is difficult to come by. On the other hand, dry van doesn’t have any of the headaches that come with reefer, there’s substantially more drop and hook, and the deliveries and pick ups tend to have windows rather than set appts, which I love. I’ve heard much more negativity about the reefer side than the dry side, as well. I’m torn. I don’t know enough about the company to know which division would be better.

 

It does count against you & it does idle quite a bit when it's hot. This Tuesday will make 11 years being here & you really don't need to be that concerned with idling too much. Just use the opti-idle & espar heater & you'll be fine. That idle policy was created & enforced for people who don't care.

 

I highly recommend dry van. I know several people who switched over to the dry van side & you won't see them volunteering to go back. We do go to Florida but not much farther down than Orlando. Most stuff going on down gets put on a rail in Jacksonville, they just started doing that a few years ago.

 

Do Crete’s dry van pickups and deliveries have delivery windows or set appts? Celadon’s dry van side had windows but sometimes had appts.

 

Both. We do get a lot of windows. Load I'm on now had a pickup time 0700-1700 today & delivers Sunday with a 24 hour window.