Teaming and HOS. What arrangement works best?

As I am writing this my mouse has died and I am outside the Gun Lake Casino in Michigan and the black jack table is calling my name. So I skipped over some postings and this information may already be out there. Anyway,

The first thing you have to determine is what are you wanting to do as a team. Are you wanting to run run run and drop and hook or do you have live loads.

The run schedule is get in the truck and drive for eight hours do the safety break drive for 3 hours. This leaves you with the 30 minutes that you show for the pre and post trips. The next guy takes over then and does the same thing. His pre trip will start after you complete your post trip. Which is stupid, so you do your pre and post while you are fueling. That gives you a half hour for fueling. The key to this is to start driving at 1 AM the first day out. That way the second guy stops the truck at 1 AM on the 6th day and you take 24 hours off and the second guy starts driving at 5AM on the 7th day. You both have 34 hours off but it only takes the truck 24 hours.

That is how to maximize your work. But it isn't the key to teaming. The key to teaming is communication and also knowing when not to communicate. Teaming in a truck is like being in prison. Trust me I know. The bottom bunk does not have a good mattress. The top bunk cannot be used while driving down the road. You have to decide who sleeps where. Then there are little things that drive you crazy. You best friend is most likely a pig. You both stink. Showers are a time to relax and get away from each other. Take them often. I sleep as much as I can while teaming. If I am driving first, I encourage the other guy to sleep. Better that, then me shooting him. Carry a trash can and not just bags. Pee bottles are never placed in the can. You are responsible for your own body fluids. Pour them out on the grass or take them into a restroom and empty them. Do not throw them in public or private trash cans.

Decide on who gets which cabinets and try to limit the amount of stuff you carry. If you are going to do a 24 hour restart then do your washing then.

If something is bothering you, tell the person. It is hard to sleep while riding in the bunk so you are going to be cranky. Talk it out. Do not talk about women because it gets old. Only talk politics if you are a conservative because you don't want to sound dumb. Don't ever ever ever bad mouth another driver or the company as it will come back to bite you.
I know I said keep the truck clean but that has to be said over and over again. Things that don't bother you, like a wrapper or banana peel could really set some one off. Try a little tenderness.

And if you ride with me, please, please, don't act like you think I am some big movie star. You just have me confused with someone else. I did not play the banjo in Deliverance.