Profile For Davy A.

I'm at that DC a lot, never had that problem. I'm currently at the wally world dc in sparks. The entire office goes to lunch and doesn't come back until 1 am. Past my window. I called dispatch and made sure they documented my arrival so we don't get a late.

Interesting that this discussion came up. My ELD has been malfunctioning, it failed to connect properly and although it showed me as SB, I woke up to find it in drive still for 14 hours, leaving me showing as in violation. On the technical side of it, when it's GPS module in it can't reconcile the location, it assumes that it's being driven. The final choice that I made after calling all parties and protocol was to note every event in the device and switch to paper logs until I accomplished a 10 hour, provided the unit was functioning. I then scanned copies of the paper logs into the unit as pdfs so that in the event of an audit they were present.

I say choice because one could have chosen to reset right there until they were showing as in compliance. The point is that I log what I do and do what I log, weather it's paper or ELD. I think the safer choice would be to reset there, but I think I took a reasonably safe path as well.

A further complication is that it shaved 14 hours off my 70. I'll have 1 hour left on the corrupted log tomorrow when I deliver. I'm going to take a 34 at that point because I want to minimalize any potential issues past what has happened rather than continuing to force events showing as violations.

Our ELD's have massive amounts of issues, especially with their docking systems. In this case, the device was in error. The driveline cant be edited at all, its perceived to be infallible. I'm extremely dilligent with mine, but sometimes electronics fail. I actually kind of enjoy filling out paper logs in the aspect of it really gives you an understanding of your clocks and time, also it reminds me of drafting architectural papers, I like clean lines.

There are many days with multiple appointments that I wish we could stop our 14 more than with the split berth. I also think that the sleep guidelines we take as standard are designed for only one type of circadian rhythm. There are many of us that work nights, swing and have vastly different sleep patterns.

There are also plenty of studies that clearly show an increase in fatigued driving and drivers in too much of a hurry crashing because they are forced to accommodate the ever-present 14 hour after it was implemented. Where in a natural work day, drivers could stop and rest frequently without having the pressure of the 14 hour.

My guess is that driving into colder weather was the cause. When nearing 0⁰, tire pressure can be difficult to maintain, so if you were parked for a while and it was cold, it's possible that the bead was loosened without you being able to tell during pre-trip. Weight of the truck while bouncing on the road can then lead to an air leak, which then causes a flat tire. It's not a blowout because it was the tire coming off the rim, essentially the opposite of what is commonly seen in summer months with tire blowouts from increased pressure.

Nope. A big a$$ nail, probably at the shipper. Repair guy said it probably held for a while but went all the way in and was actually inside the tire. Made him a pot of coffee. He appreciated it.

I'm currently sitting on the side of I 25 with a flat driver's side steer. It blew, but not a blow out. I heard it blow and immediate put on my hazards, got over when lanes were clear, inspected. Put out my safety triangles (which took me a while to figure out how to unfold without breaking). Called dispatch as I'm on a hot load relay exchange, for which the other driver is going to be 4 hours late to the rendezvous point anyway, (slightly irritated at that. 2 times in a row now).

Roads are clear even though it's cold (12 degrees). I was doing 65, didn't feel any oddity with the steering, I actually didn't know i blew it, just knew something with air just went. So no panic, again though I think it's just luck saving my bacon.

I didn't see anything out of the ordinary during pre trip, new steers, less than 20k on them. Pressure was ok. Aside from that, I've been seeing lots of posts from drivers with accidents that have varying lengths of experience. We had 4 accidents from my terminal this week. I've got enough experience to feel comfortable in most situations and that makes me uncomfortable. I don't want to get over confident, complacent and over do it.

What's the solution? I just am sticking with my fundamentals for now and really concentrating on the basics. How have you experienced folks gotten through this phase? I feel like it's the terrible twos and I don't want a turn in the barrel.

I always check before I go. I can't stress it enough with the weather in mountain states. Especially with Colorado, Wyoming and the like. A week in advance. Our modeling on storms is accurate enough to know.

I've turned down loads that were potentially money makers in regions because the forecast showed a high likelihood of adverse weather.

In this most recent closure of Wyoming, my terminal had was loads going through there. I declined it. I just turned down two going over 70. Instead I opted for a night relay over Raton pass and back, which will be clear. It's 500 mile round trip, gets me miles at a higher pay rate safely.

I ask every time and clarify that I will be getting layover pay if I'm sitting for any length of time. I think it's hard to ask beforehand because we think they might say no. But if they value your judgment in being safe they will accommodate you.

I'm assuming that you're doing OTR or at least regional. There are a ton of large national carriers that will happily hire a safe reliable experienced driver even if you live in a remote area.

I had -11 over Raton pass Sunday night. Roads were clear to but as soon as I got down the northern side, it was freezing fog and ice. I pulled into a rest stop at 3 am praying there was a spot. I slid on the off ramp a bit but was able to get it parked.

We have an account with blue beacon, I just have to call it In. Most of the time I just pay and get reimbursed because I run nights a lot. It's not specifically listed but I try to contain it to twice a month. I'll go more if I'm at dirt lots and mud holes. I just call and let them know

Depending on your gps, I have a garmin, and android. Set the configuration on the phone to allow audio but not calls. I run my phone audio through the radio but calls disabled and the reverse on my headset, so it only does calls. To recap: headset, calls and contacts. Truck radio audio and contacts, no calls. GPS is contacts only, no calls no audio.

As far as trucks merging, I've learned to look way ahead and allow a huge space in front of me. Anticipate high volume of traffic on some ramps like around Truck stops, rest areas, dcs. Yes, traffic in the road way has the right of way, but sometimes it's a convoluted mess. If you can see what's on the ramp long before you get to the ramp, it will help. As you get more experienced, your field of view and peripheral vision will expand. Practicing looking way ahead and checking side areas early will help.

Davy, off topic but how do they load hay into a dry van.?

For loading they use an end loader with a forklift attachment and just push the bails back on themselves. For unloading they have a portable ramp and use forklifts. I've also had them load like that too. Also for round bales they have an attachment Luke for Grabbing paper rolls.

Interesting thst this came up. I was parked at the reciever yesterday. A dairy farm in riverside thst I delivered hay to. I had went down to a scale and came back.

I was doing my paper work in the truck, parked in their driveway. A car came shooting off the main road, jumped a gully, took out the fence and smashed into the building. It took a diagonal line directly into where my truck had been, I had backed up a few feet to let a forklift driver go by.

It happed no more than 5 feet from me. Shocking to say the least. Driver got out, said he fallen asleep. He hit the building doing about 60 or so. Destroyed the car, he was completely unharmed.

The farm hands asked me to leave. It was on private property, and they were closing up for the day. I left them my name and contact info and left.

I have indeed a lot of experience with tickets unfortunately. Although only one in a CMV, and the officer never submitted it. Theres no record of it at all. Luck of the Irish. I got a lawyer on that one, cost me 450.00. Obviously, get a quality lawyer to help.

It's not so much that they will get you off the ticket, although if there is administrative errors, it may be possible. Its simply a reduction in points which in turn reduces the speed.

It's also critical on how the state lists the citation on your record. Some give the actual speed while others list 10 to 15 over. Also, some states list the citation, not the adjudicated offense (the final result). In which case, it's a battle to get it corrected. I've had several tickets over the years that still had the original speed the officer assumed I was driving at, not the adjudicated speed.

If the lawyer has experience, they can work around the anti masking. There is some things that can be done, but not much.

Last speeding ticket I had was in the Vette, allegedly for 19 over. Officer wrote it for 9 over. I paid 650.00 to my lawyer. They got the ticket and citation completely removed, not adjudicated. No evidence of the stop at all. I paid an additional 100 dollars to a youth charity. Again luck played an important part, not a good strategy in life.

I had a lot of luck more than anything with the tickets I had prior to getting hired by Knight. But my record was clean of speeding tickets in the previous 3 years miraculously by the time I did get hired.

The biggest advice I could say is don't speed no matter what, err on the cautious side, it almost kept me from this career and cost me tens of thousands of dollars in fines and fees as well as a few visits to the jailhouse over the years.

Suboxone has one purpose and only one purpose. It is used to cut withdrawal from opiates. It was originally intended as a short term taper off alternative to methadone. If you are taking subs, it indicates that you have an addiction issue, that long term suboxone use is just transference of substances, it's not genuine clean time.

Yes. By all means, you should be off of subs if you want to be clean. The addiction is the elephant in the room that you're not addressing. There are a variety of programs and peer support groups available to help. Many people go on to live healthy happy lives completely drug free with support and treatment that doesn't involve other substances.

As was said, trucking may not be the best fit for a person with a history of recent suicide attempts and other mental illnesses.

I've never high hooked, nor have I ever hit anything. I know plenty of million mile drivers whom have never had an accident. So no, not all drivers have accidents.

Plenty of good advice here, but it's up to you whether you take the advice.

Show that you take responsibility for your actions with an employer by not not justifying and making excuses. Own the mistake and take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again in the future.

If not, if it's the poles fault, or the cliffs fault or some other excuse, you're not going to get hired, especially in today's market. There's too many other responsible, safe reliable drivers out there that will be happy to have your job.

Have 42k in the box of hay right now 36 bales. They used and an end loader with a fork attached instead of a bucket. Big operation.

intrigued, but not sure how to translate : "Have 42k in the box of hay right now 36 bales."

what exactly does this mean?

$42,000 worth of hay in a barn?

42000 pounds. 36 big bales. It's a dry van. I haul hay about once a month for this supplier. They ship it on flat beds, dry van and refers, although it would make a mess of a refer trailer.

Have 42k in the box of hay right now 36 bales. They used and an end loader with a fork attached instead of a bucket. Big operation.

This almost belongs in the eye candy thread. It's just outside of Jerome AZ

There's a lot to balance out more than just cpm, and it's a person decision. On one hand I could say it seems low but ultimately the question is are you making enough money to justify staying for the other reasons you stated you like it there.

For me personally, coming up on 2 years, I constantly contemplate seeking more. Our bonus structure ranges between. 01 to .08 cpm. I usually average .57 cpm on full months. But, I know how to max my potential earnings daily, weekly and monthly. I consistently perform safely and reliably so that I get maximum miles. The only thing that holds me back is me. If I choose to I can work more and thus generate more money.

It's a long way of asking, are ypu producing all that you can at your present rate? If so, and it's not enough, then perhaps it's time to look elsewhere. Also comes to mind, can you ask for more money?

Hopefully this doesn't sound snide, but I would think trip planning includes checking not just weather on your route but in the whole region you will be in as well as national trends for the week.

Any time I've gotten into weather was because I made a judgment call on running or not, and I chose to run despite the risks. It usually doesn't happen because I dive into multiple sources of forecasts and models and am very conservative in making the choice.

I've gotten caught in traffic unexpectedly, but again, with a CB, and multiple gps and an atlas, if I had to, I could alternate routes. If it's too bad, I'll just park early, use split berth, somewhere and communicate with my DM on it, reschedule if needed.

Yes, I took off quite a bit of time. 5 days were paid vacation. (They gave me a grand for that).

Hey Davy,

For my knowledge (probably a dumb newbie question) in reading your post, am I correct to say you took 55 days total of home time in 2022? Thanks man!

P.S> - Awesome year BTW!! Congrats!!

I did a hair bit over 71k. I also took over 55 days off.

Went to Cancun Mexico twice, took 10 days off and cruised US 50 and 66 out to the coast in an old mustang. I went to several ghost towns, truck museums. Haunted hotels including the St James in Cimarron NM (still has bullet holes in the ceiling of the saloon from Doc Holiday and Wyatt Erp). The Stanley hotel (the Shining), Jerome AZ, cripple creek CO, Deadwood. Traveled a lot, relaxed a lot. And many more crazy fun adventures.

I'm shooting for less time off this year but am doing 10 days in Romania and Germany, and probably Cancun again too. Kind of locked in on those.

I'm coming up on 200k miles, will get another raise at 250k. I'd like to see me still have a gratuitous amount of time off yet keep it short enough to hit 80 to 85k. I think it's doable as I keep growing more efficient and experienced.

Odd thing is that from 05/21 to 05/22 I posted a bit over 80k. But that had a bunch of bonuses in it from starting in 21. And 22 had a lot of time off after July. I also went through some personal difficulties that definitely slowed my pace but I got through them and am stronger as a result.

Not a day goes by that I'm not grateful for this community here.

I did a hair bit over 71k. I also took over 55 days off.

Went to Cancun Mexico twice, took 10 days off and cruised US 50 and 66 out to the coast in an old mustang. I went to several ghost towns, truck museums. Haunted hotels including the St James in Cimarron NM (still has bullet holes in the ceiling of the saloon from Doc Holiday and Wyatt Erp). The Stanley hotel (the Shining), Jerome AZ, cripple creek CO, Deadwood. Traveled a lot, relaxed a lot. And many more crazy fun adventures.

I'm shooting for less time off this year but am doing 10 days in Romania and Germany, and probably Cancun again too. Kind of locked in on those.

I'm coming up on 200k miles, will get another raise at 250k. I'd like to see me still have a gratuitous amount of time off yet keep it short enough to hit 80 to 85k. I think it's doable as I keep growing more efficient and experienced.

Odd thing is that from 05/21 to 05/22 I posted a bit over 80k. But that had a bunch of bonuses in it from starting in 21. And 22 had a lot of time off after July. I also went through some personal difficulties that definitely slowed my pace but I got through them and am stronger as a result.

Not a day goes by that I'm not grateful for this community here.