Millis OTR journal

I guess what was throwing me off was that this trainers driving style is pretty much the opposite of what the class trainer was telling us. After hearing from others here, maybe it's not that unusual. Whatever though I'll deal and work it out.

 

I'm confused about the duty clock and going off and on duty. Doesn't the 14 hours start when you go on duty with no way to stop that clock from ticking? I'm sure this will be taught in training, right? But, I've been reading a lot and still confused how the DUTY hours work. I understand that you get 70 hours (sometimes I hear 70 driving, other times I hear 70 duty hours...), 14 on-duty clock reset with a 10 hour break. In that 14 hour window you can drive 11, with a 30 minute break before 8 hours. So what does going on and off duty do. Does it stop that 14 hour clock? Or is the 14 hour limit separate from the duty clock and going off and on saves the 70?

Here's what I'm imagining it as: You start the 14 hour clock let's say at 0500, that clock expires at 1900 no matter what unless you start a 10 hour break. Now in that 14 hours lets say I only log 10 hours duty time because of going off-duty, with that last hour ending right at the 14 hour time limit. So I've only use 10 of my 70 hours and that's why logging on and off is used? I just haven't seemed to find a clear explanation anywhere about how it works in practice in all the blogs and videos I watched. Sorry for the long-winded question.

Anyway, the plans are starting to take a little more shape. I'm more than likely coming back home to America at the end of June. I doubt my wife's immigration stuff will be finished by then, but maybe she'll come along on her travel visa and have a vacation over 4th of July, hit up Summerfest in Milwaukee, etc. Then I'll have to hit the DMV, get the CDL permit and get my DOT physical right? And at some point, probably from China, I have to get in contact with Millis and sign up for school at Richfield. So, I'm hoping July/August, though I would love to get a little time in the truck with a trainer when winter rolls around.

Can't wait until I'm back in a country with only crappy drivers, not complete off-the-grid insane drivers. Ugh, night-driving is awful here with all those extremely bright LED high-beam lights coming at you.

 

Haha! I made it. 3 hours, 4 minutes over, but I made it. New personal daily mileage record of 686.6 miles.

Going back out Monday is going to be gravy. All I have to do all day is drive and park. No loading, no unloading, or anything. I'd much rather take home freight rather than sit and wait for a load and then rush out to get it when I go back out.

 

Yep, mix it up a little bit. Give and take, ya know?

 

Your 14 hour clock keeps ticking until you've had a 10 hour break, or actually an 8 hour break if your're doing split sleeper birth but that confused the matter. But the simple version is 14 hours after you've logged on duty you cannot legally drive again until you've had a 10 hour break.

Good thing is that the ELD in the Qualcomm makes it easy to keep track of all of your clocks.

As for your on duty but not driving, there's certain events where you have to show on duty time on your logs. Loading, unloading, fueling, DOT inspections, drug tests, etc. Your trainer if he's worth a durn will go over all of that with you.

 

Straps are $20 each so not terrible. Can't remember the prices for load locks.

I need to find a cheap source for those straps and keep some handy and make me some extra cash. I'm a bit if a gadget geek and that habit gets expensive. Falling down the GoPro rabbit hole now. Eris help me.

 

What I'm asking, out of curiosity to understand what you guys are talking about better, is how the on and off duty is related to the 14 hour clock. As I seem to be picking up, the 14 hour clock has nothing to do with on and off duty after that initial going on duty to start the 14 hour clock. Once that clock starts it keeps going until the 8-10 hour break. So why go on and off duty during that 14-hours? Does that affect the 70-hour clock?

Yah, I hope I get a trainer worth a durn, but I want to understand the concepts beforehand to know how things are supposed to work and when things are a trick to massage the rules.

 

Yeah that 14 keeps ticking until either 14 hours has passed or you've spent 8 straight hours in sleeper berth.