The Adventures Of Daniel B.

Actually I forgot about those Brett. Some of our OCs have wash bays. When I am at one of those OCs... I wash my truck when I arrive, before I go shower, after I go shower, before I sleep, and when I wake up lol. They are not the best wash bays to be honest, but I've never waited in line, and after doing 5 or 6 washes the truck is clean-ish.

My boyfriend drives for R. C. Moore and they require drivers to frequently wash their trucks. They expect the trucks to be immaculate. They have great wash bays and fortunately there's never a wait. There's 2 or 3 bays which each fit 2 trucks at the terminal in Scarborough ME. I believe they don't reimburse drivers for normal truck washes unfortunately. Although it may be different for the long haul drivers. My bf is at his terminl once a week so he has access to the wash bays but it might be different for those who aren't at a terminal as often.

Melton isn't as anal about it as TMC, but they have a national account so that every 3 weeks we are eligible to get our truck washed. My problem is remembering when the last time I washed it and with the current winter weather you couldn't keep it clean if you wanted to. But, when I have the time and there is a Blue Beacon available, I get the old girl a bath.

11/26

Current Load: Joppa, MD to Reno, NV - 2600 miles. Total weight is 71,000.

Yesterday I fell asleep at 1800. Today I woke up at 0300 after 9 straight hours of sleep never waking up. I felt great! I planned on driving at 0500 so I tried to go back to sleep. Couldn't sleep so I decided to just start my day.

I started did a 9 minute pretrip inspection and started driving at 0330. I was at our terminal so I had to bobtail to my trailer and hook up to it. I drove for a few hours and stopped at a pilot in Nevada. I immediately went in and it smelled disgusting. I couldn't even breathe because of the strong smoke smell. I hate these casinos in truck stops, it ruins the place in my opinion.

I wanted to get a subway sandwich but then decided that I ultimately didnt want to risk eating from here. This place smells like **** and I would rather play it safe and eat the food in my truck. I don't want to arrive home sick from contaminated food. That place just gave me a bad vibe.

I continue driving then stop again. I honestly forget where I stopped my second time. I'm getting old.

Anyways, I drove to my fuel stop at the pilot in Fernley. Like always, the fuel lanes are jammed. I saw a homeless man on the corner asking for money. I bought him a meal at wendys. A few moments later I glanced to my right and saw him walking. I looked further and he was walking to his home. I walked to him and caught up to him halfway to his home.

This homeless man was living in a tent with three other homeless people. And these guys were legitimately homeless, they weren't travelers who ran out of fuel. I bought this man a meal, then while handing it to him I find out be has others with him. I felt like crap to buy a guy a sandwich with fries and a drink. That's not exactly shareable and doesn't feed 3. I would have gotten a pizza if I knew. Dammit. I asked him if he wanted me to buy all of them a hamburger but he said that its fine, they will all 3 split the meal. How in the world do you split a hamburger 3 ways. I've never shared a hamburger in my life, and definitely never even thought about splitting it with two others.

I'm going to be completely honest. This man really brought out my emotions. But that wasn't the worst part. I got into a chat for 5 minutes with him. I asked him how he manages to survive in the cold winter here and he told me that everyday him and his buddies huddle up to stay warm by using each others body heat. He told me that yesterday it got so cold that he started to get hypervermia, he said he got very dizzy and was about to pass out and was shivering uncontrollably.

I don't know if meeting this man was my destiny to realize how lucky I have it. Maybe God was trying to tell me something. But this man really impacted me today. I struggled to tell my wife about it because it just really made me emotional.

I was thinking about it all day long. It's jaw dropping just how lucky we have it. Just how blessed I am, even when things aren't going my way I'm still blessed. I've never lived in a tent, I never even came close to hypervermia, I was never ok to split a hamburger 3 ways.

Almost flipping over because of a tornado and talking with a man who hasn't had a turkey in who knows how long, this Thanksgiving will be extra special. I am and will be a lot more thankful than the average person this year. From all the people I've met and all the bad situations I've been in. I'm just thankful to be healthy and happy with life. Today was eye opening because of the people I meet in my travels.

I took a nice shower. This shower was extra sweet. I fueled for 10 minutes and then drove the last 40 miles to my delivery location.

The Qualcomm said the place has on-site parking. Wrong. I arrived and asked them if they can take me early. Like always, it's by appointments only. So I drove 1 mile from the facility and parked at a Shell in Reno, NV.

Tomorrow I will wake up at 0300 and drive to my delivery.

Tomorrow will be a very short day. After my delivery I'm driving to Stockton to drop the trailer and then bobtailing home. I talked with my best friend today and he has tomorrow off. So I'm going to take him on the trip with me. So ill stop at Sacramento to pick him up and then we'll go to Stockton to drop the trailer, and then bobtail back home. He's pretty excited about it. I'm just happy to see a friend finally!

Remember when I started this thread my goal from the start to the end was to do at least 5500 miles. Well, I accomplished that. I counted from the day I started to today and I did roughly 6,000 miles. My goal was 5500. Through all of the struggles I've gone through I didnt do so bad. My last 7 days I did 3250 miles.

Today I worked for 10 hours and 3 minutes with 9 hours and 21 minutes of that being driving. I drove for a total of 534 miles today. I started my shift at 0330 and ended at 1430. At the end of my shift I spent two hours cleaning every inch of the trucks interior. I reorganized every cabinet so that everything will be ready when I come back for my last month on the road.

Daniel your last post was very moving.....You are a awesome YOUNG man...And yes sir I agree we are truly blessed in this life. I'm very happy to hear you will definetly be home with the family for Thanksgiving. I will be going out today with my trainer. I'll get on when I can the next couple weeks. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.....

11/27

Current Load: Joppa, MD to Reno, NV - 2600 miles. Total weight is 71,000.

I woke up at 0300 and arrived at my delivery an hour early in hopes of them accepting me so I can go home sooner. Well, like always with refrigerated, they only accept deliveries at the exact appointment time. So I wait an hour. A few minutes before 0430 a dock worker comes out to get my paperwork. He asks me how many pallets I have and I tell him 146. He wasn't too happy about that haha.

I broke the seal as instructed and put it in the back of the trailer. I backed up the trailer to the dock door slowly. The pallets were to the last inch of the trailer and were up to the roof, I was extra slow and careful just in case. The unloader told me it'll take an hour to do but I have my doubts about that.

While parked I cleaned my windows, mirrors and windshield.

I got my BoL back and am now heading to Sacramento to pick up my friend then we road trip to Stockton to drop the trailer. Then I show him just how powerful trucks are without a trailer. I park at walmart and he drives me home in his Prius. My wife is working and can't pick me up. And she told me not to see her at work because she's going to cry. She comes home at 1700. I can't wait to finally see her, it's been almost 7 weeks. I don't know how she puts up with me and my career. I love that girl more than anything.

Things to do while at home:

Get laptop fixed

Wash all clothes and bedding

Torture the cat

Get a life temporarily

See family and friends

Give my folks their presents.

I bought my friend a knife that looks like a gun. But when you pull the trigger a knife comes out of it. It's pretty badass. I bought my wife's mom a big jar of organic, natural tea with the beeswax in the middle, I bought it from SC. I bought my wife candles, a strawberry shaped ceramic pot for plants, and a bumper sticker that says "I heart belongs to a truck driver". I bought my wife's friend Iowa Buckeyes accessories from Iowa. He's a huge fan and they always order it online but this time it's special because it was bought from the state not on a website, plus I deliver it for free.

I really can't wait to go home. I only have about 240 miles to do today. Ill be going over donners empty so it'll be nice to not worry about my gear or weight.

Well, this concludes my day to day journal. I will probably continue it after hometime. We'll see.

I just wanted to clarify something for those of you who are learning about life on the road from Daniels Diary. Here's a quote from an earlier portion of his chronicles.

I aim to work 9 hours per day. That way I'm able to put up numbers in the 500's daily but at the same time keep on driving and not be forced to take a 34 hour reset because my recaps are too inconsistent or too low coming back.

Everyone had their own way of how they like to manage their days. Me and Old School strongly disagree with each other on this. I prefer making my hours perfectly even in an attempt to keep driving everyday. Old school prefers to run as hard as possible and deliver as fast as possible in hopes that they'll accept his delivery before his appointment time, that way he can move onto another load.

Both work. It's really up to you on how you want to do it.

This is not necessarily a philosophical difference in the way we do things. What I mean is that Daniel doesn't mean that one of us is right and one of us is wrong, and he makes that clear. But there are differences in the type of freight we haul, and therefore big differences in the management of our time. I encouraged Daniel to go with Central when he first started because they could put the miles on him if he proved himself capable. And I think he will agree that they certainly have been doing that.

He has much stricter delivery appointments than I do, that is the nature of the refrigerated freight business.

I woke up at 0300 and arrived at my delivery an hour early in hopes of them accepting me so I can go home sooner. Well, like always with refrigerated, they only accept deliveries at the exact appointment time. So I wait an hour.

There is what I'm talking about. With refrigerated freight you are much less likely to be able to get in early, they just have too many trucks scheduled ahead of you and you're dealing with perishable goods so it just works better to have everyone being close to their appointments. I can do everything in my power to get there early and they will probably be glad to see me. Yesterday I finished a 2700 mile run and managed to get it in a day early. No questions asked, and they had me unloaded in about thirty minutes. When I send in my "empty call" macro the qualcomm explodes with messages. My next load assignment is 1500 miles. Now I've been dispatched 4200 miles for this week! I can't do it all in my allotment of 70 hours, but it does help me keep my weekly averages up near 3,000 miles. Had I taken my time on the first load, this load would have been taken by someone else. If there is a great load available my dispatcher will hand it to me because he understands that I will get it done.

Bottom line is learn what works best for you in your given situation. Sometimes this depends on your freight, the weather, how you're feeling, or a whole host of legitimate reasons. Refrigerated freight is typically one of the types of cargo that will help you get the most miles if you're up to it. I talk to a lot of flat-bedders that just don't get it. They can't understand why they aren't making more money. In this business you measure out your own success. It's completely in your power to do well or to do poorly. I started out making a paltry CPM rate, but was still making good solid paychecks. Please don't pick your first company based on the starting pay. If you are doing a great job you will make decent money no matter where you go. If you aren't cut from the type of cloth that the true American Truck Driver is from you will not be happy even a .48 CPM.

Thanks Daniel for all the insights, we are all enjoying the ride!

Home for Thanksgiving?

If I remember correctly..........wait that might be my "Oldtimerzs"......or is it?

Oh, wait! I know this guy who was eating with this truck driver at a Huddle House and the one driver said something to the other driver about being ......what was that???....Special? And doing Great things! The other driver said something like, " don't scare me?".....

Hmmmmmmm!

Happy Thanksgiving Daniel. Thank you for a wonderful ADVENTURE!

Old School, that was a great post. We both did a day to day documentary but there is some obvious differences in our days. I hope we gave everyone a true in-depth description of our lives and the advantages and disadvantages that come with what you're hauling. You're was fantastic.

Tracey, miss talking to you. Just don't scare me anymore

Have a great thanksgiving everyone.

Daniel,

Thanks for all the helpful information/insights this thread covered. Reading your experiences provided an idea of what drivers-to-be, like me, will deal with once on the road.

Glad you got home for Thanksgiving. Enjoy your holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.