TMC experience thus far.......

I

It only got better, drive 42 miles and sit 6.0 hours to load then start driving during rush hour up 95 and across the GW. What a day.

 

I had a north east of a week as well...I today told my fm to get me out of this dot-hours-of-service cancer of a place.

Dodged 95 north thru nyc with 84 east.... Not much help there. Took 6 hours to go 100 miles, but I'm preaching to the choir here.

Got a pre load out of Home Depot in CT heading to Hamburg ny near buffalo... Going to kiss the ground once in my normal freight lane

I marvel at some TMC drivers at Home Depot distributor today... Two just lollygaging and talking the whole time I was swapping out and strapping down....waste of time man... Once I pull out he was finally getting to work... To each his own, we are only the captain of our own truck but ####, lol...I curse Boston for stealing 7 hrs from me today... Now I still have a 3hour route just to drop off in the am. All good tho. I'm in a good mind set, hoping for a short bounce, quick load, and a short run to recover form the cancer of the north east

At a service plaza parked up... Appointment is not until 1pm...don't want to jump the gun too early and get there only to eat hours off this God ###### HOS bs waiting to unload. might chance it away, don't want to be out of hours tomarrow at like 3am lol

Dot will burn one day

 

I sat for 9 hours last Friday at Bloomfield waiting to unload and do trailer swap. Up all day and had to run all night for on time delivery to Buffalo, NY.

 

Like a boss man... Trucking to me, in the way we get on in it, is like a vampire. Sucking our life.

I woke up this morning and next to me was another TMC truck. On his door: one "million mile driver" I paused a moment and marveled... The way I see it mr. Annett owes him at least 6 million from stolen labor power.

I got to Bloomfield in the afternoon, thanks to boston the clock eater. I guess it was for the better cos my load was ready and I was in and out.

Atm I'm on the way to new castle Delaware with lumber out of Georgia pacific in PA...at toms travel truck stop.

Toona, ride safe !

 

I'm learning to cool my jets.

I also learned driving is the easy part... Loading and unloading are the hard part... I imagine each consignee I go to is Pearl Harbor with enemy japs dropping bombs: I just want to get the hell out lol

 

One of the things that time will teach you is how to pace yourself, according, of course, to where you are in the country and what you're pulling. Of course, we all get "taught" in the beginning to HUSTLE! HUSTLE! HUSTLE! USE ALL 14! PARK AT CONSIGNEE THE NIGHT BEFORE! GET EMPTY EARLY TO GET ON THE BOARD EARLY TO GET THE BETTER LOADS! and all that. The crazy thing is, if any of y'all are like me, you'll probably hustle harder your second year in just to prove to yourself just how hard you can run. But then comes year three...and if you stick it out that long (for have stuck it out that long), now you know for sure how the game is played. You know how to pace yourself. You know the routes like the back of your hand. You "know" well before you ever finish hooking those bungies if you can make it to the consignee that night based on your destination and where you have to go through. You can guesstimate what time you'll hit what place and what to expect. You know the quickest (or easiest) places to fuel and shower, and if you must overnight at a truck stop, you know the best ones to stop at. You learn little "tricks" (like showering early in the morning before everyone else gets up--that way you ain't waiting behind 10 or 11 people at 9, 10, 11 o'clock at night) to make your day easier. And the other thing about pacing yourself is this: it relieves...a LOT...of stress. How? Because you feel less of a need to "rush". And in trucking, that is paramount, because when you rush, that's when you run into problems. It also affects your temperament on the road--and that is way too crucial particularly when, as y'all are doing now, you find yourself in high-traffic zones, like Chicago (ugh!), Houston/Dallas/Austin/the rest of I-35, Texas, or...the northeast, where a calm mind and blood pressure is crucial to help you deal with all the chaos--and keep you from "making an angry maneuver" while driving that might put you in a compromising position.

It also makes the time pass by quicker, too.

 

Well said BUC! 100% spot on except for one thing, you didn't mention with all this knowledge we 3year + drivers have how quick all our plans go into the toilet thanks to the powers to be above us.

 

When I am parked with fresh hours and getca Bloomfield, or Westfield load I will not leave and start my clock until my ETA will be after 1200. That way the trailer will be waiting for you and you will not burn your time waiting on the trailer.

 

Yes, I did miss that part...and i meant to include it too.

So allow me to rectify this now: all of what I said previously involves planning. Even the best plans get wrecked by things/people yet unknown & unseen. The point, however, for the self-sustaining driver, is to put oneself in the best position to succeed (which involves all of what I and some others have said previously), while also understanding things won't go the way we plan and/or hope every time. How here's the real litmus test: what do you do, or how do you react, when things DON'T go "right"? When you done spent all that time and energy running your heart off only for a wreck to shut down the interstate--and you're in one of those zones where there are no exits for 10 miles, or any side streets to get around? Or you blow a tire? Or get to a shipper/consignee and they're taking FOREVER? (Or the load you're looking for/hoping to get just isn't there?) That's when you find out what you're really made of...your response to that is what will really determine how far you'll get in this business.

Here's what I've learned from 5 years in this game: learn to live to fight another day. Do that and you'll be amazed how much more at-ease your mind will be.