How to calculate my ETA?

I don’t mean to complicate things, but the 30 minute break doesn’t need to be a factor. If you time it all just right, the 30 minute break can be satisfied when you are sitting in the dock getting loaded. Or if you take 30 minutes to get fuel (I don’t take that long but some people do), there’s your 30 minute break. As for getting fuel, do you have an assigned fuel stop? Can you get fuel at the same place you stop for your 10?

My point is, if you make a special stop for all these little things, that adds a lot of time to your trip.

 

I figure myself on 12 hours for 600 miles, I shoot for 650 if everything allows. From there I figure myself on a 12 hour break, unless I’m trying to make a really tight appointment and start about 2 hours earlier every day.

 

Yeah, parking at a rest area, then going 15 miles to a truckstop amd getting coffee and 1 hr down the road to get fuel, then 3 hrs down the road to get another coffee or snack, thats the kind of thing that wastes time.

Realistically youll only have traveled 250 miles at most and you will have eaten a good 5.5-6 hrs of your day compared with say stopping at a truck stop for your 10, fuel and coffee with pretrip, could only have used 4.5 hrs for the same miles.

I shoot for but dont always hit 2 convienience stops max a day and try and combine those with fueling, 1 load and unload in the mix. Still gives me plenty of time to hit restrooms etc but doesn't cost my clock as badly

 

This calculator works great for me, be sure to use the "optional entries'
https://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/drive-time-calculator.html

 

If it's easy coast. 50 mph plus fuel stops, 30 minute break, ect...

If Midwest 55 or 60 mph. But Atlanta or Chicagoland, change the calculation.

 

OP, remember that the 'estimate' is what your dispatch uses to attempt to pre-plan your next move.
I would us 50 mph [I'm east coast] when facing busy highways and city-center bound traffic plus breaks until you get used to actually running enough trips to revise your guestimated averate speed.

Most important is to realize then you encounter something that will affect your GTA [guestimated time of arival] is the necessity to communicate effectively with your dispatch, .

I started out 44 years ago and spent long hours waiting for that one guy to call in the days of payphones.

Today there are pleanty of ways to communicate early/late so dispatch can adjust their plans with out being a nudge.

If your cautious guestimate makes you early you might turn into the solution to that hot load that was just dropped in their lap making you the hero of the hour IF they know you are running early.

 

Three decades out here, and total miles divided by 50 mph with 45 minutes added has always worked well for me, east or west, governed or ungoverned it never seems to matter much

 

Don't forget to add your 10s.

 

If your driving in the same time zone such as Eastern Standard time that would be a major factor to the arrival time because it varies when crossing time zones. Also speed avg. (I like to use 60 mph average) so with a break, fueling etc. Factor in 1 hr plus another 30 minute break when waking up and possible traffic variables I would say that your earliest ETA is 6:30 am the next morning.

 

With me, I usually have a specific appointment to get unloaded. So, I'll assume they are gonna take 4 to 5 hours to get me unloaded and if I'll need a 10 afterward and base my ETA on that.