Routing/Mountains Question

Ok, I've been annoyed by this for the last two days. I have a load to Las Vegas. If I were doing the routing for the least miles and most freeway, I'd simply go I-80; I-76; I-70; I-15. But, here's the part that's bugging me. My routing has me going I-80 to I-76 to get fuel in Denver. Then, get this--they route me back up I-25 to hop back on I-80 to catch I-15. By my mapping software, they're putting me about 200 miles out-of-route by doing this. I get the feeling they did this because they'd prefer I take I-80 over the mountains instead of I-70. So, is I-70 that much worse that it's worth 200 miles out-of-route? I doubt I'm even going to be taking the load, but it's been bugging me. The conversation with my dispatcher will be the ultimate decision, I just want to know what you guys think about this.

On top of the 200 miles out-of-route, they only have me putting on enough fuel to cover about 250 miles--seems it'd be cheaper to just put on 25 gallons at a higher price somewhere up here on I-80. With the mountains, I don't think it'd even cover 200 miles. I've resent my routing request 2 times now.

 

Nah, the biggest question's always safety. The check doesn't do me any good if I'm not around to collect it.

Edit: Just to add on to the above--with Roehl they may pay you to take a longer route. However, if you don't take it, you won't get paid for miles not driven.

 

Well, this isn't a usual week. My other job began Spring Break, so I didn't need to be there for the week starting today. I asked Roehl to stay out two weeks, they said ok. So far, I've been running my ### off. I delivered one load a day early and let them know a bit in advance and they found a decent load for me after I emptied. Then I sent in a message saying a load to Florida would be much appreciated--so they sent me to Las Vegas. I don't have the hours to get it there on time (even the right day), and they were supposed to setup a relay with another driver but never did, so I'll see what happens in the morning.

When I left the house on 3/23, the odometer read 550565. Now it reads 553651 on 3/29. This is quite unusual--even for a national driver. It was just my week to not sit, I guess.

 

Yessir, that's the only reason I went 7/7. I just make sure to get my 34 in before I start my week in the truck.

 

It's my understanding it depends on which actual fleet (flat/van/national/regional/etc) you want to join, but for the others you need to be with the company 6 months before you can get on it. I think I read that here, actually.