How often do you actually drive 11 hours/day?

On a good day to the north I'll drive 932 miles @ a speed of 60mph.

 

Never....I run local lol

 

I didn't say anything negative about any of them. I'm just pointing out that the easiest part about trucking, no matter what kind of wagon you pull, is the driving. Everyone has their way of driving, their own routine. I don't drive 11 hours a day, because it normally takes me a day to load my wagon. However, when it's time to drive, I will punch out maximum drive time and maximum miles, 700to near 800 miles.

In order to be a solid, driver, you have to be able to drive. And I'm not talking about one day. I'm talking about every day. You see people talking about getting a job where they're home on the weekends. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Guess what you have to do Monday through Friday if you want to be home on the weekend? You have to be able to put the hammer down 5 days straight! I'm not saying that you have to run like a demon for 5 days, you have to have the ability to run like a demon 5 days. Everyone can't do this.

Everyone has seen and heard about the bullhaulers and the produce guys. Maximum miles in minimum time. Hard living. Hard core driver, souped up large car. What about the mail carriers? They have an extremely tight schedule to MAINTAIN. Bad weather? As long as the road is open, they're going for it. Sure no one has to run as hard as the old school hands anymore, but even so, in order to be good at this business, and make good money, you are going to have that toughness, that stamina it takes to run with consistency.

A race car driver has to be able to run consistent fast laps. A trucker has to be able to operate a big rig, and put down consistent miles. Lots of time, we have people that come in and ask if we think they should try their hand at trucking. They then tell about the last road trip to grandma's house and how they enjoyed driving. Well, would they enjoy driving 300 miles to grandmas and back home, round trip EVERY DAY? Sounds tedious and mind numbing, doesn't it? Well, a trucker can do it, day in and day out, week in and week out, year in and year out. There's a big difference in what we do compared to what the general public does on their annual trip to grandma's.

 

Earlier in this thread Lipton1 posted that he drove 11 PLUS his pre trip and post trip. Sorry fellow pre , post, fueling,etc are on duty not driving and count for your 11.

 

they start your 14, they count on your 70, but they do not count on your 11 hours drive time.

 

I drive my 11 fairly regularly. I've been fortunate to have mostly direct accounts most of the summer. They pay well but you have to often bust your arse to keep them happy. I haven't driven a weekend for a long time so its worth it to me.

 

That's nothing. There's a guy on TTR who claimed to have driven 30 hours straight once. 30 x 60MPH = 1800 miles

 

Back in the day when I ran dedicated drop and hook on the same routes, I' usually average 10-11 hours of drive time per day. Wasn't all that hard, since I knew where all the good parking was and could manage my time down to the quarter hour in most cases. But again, that was running dedicated with drop and hook at both ends. Easiest job in trucking, I swear!

 

Dang Triplesix, that post pumped me up.

 

sounds like somebody needs to go back to school..