Comments By Bulwinkle J. Moose

I've smoked weed and occasionally used other drugs since I was 16 and now I'm 54. I quit 3 months ago. I passed a DOT UA drug screen and have my med card. With CDL learners permit in hand ( thanks to high road ) I'm going to the DMV in 2 weeks to test out for a class c bus driving job. When the time has passed that I know I can pass a hair follicle test I'll start the path to becoming a class A driver. A new career in trucking and a fresh start in life is a welcomed blessing. Failing any sort of drug screening process will derail all my attempts at a career in trucking. I'm grateful to all who have shared their knowledge and encouragement about drug usage and how it pertains to the trucking industry and life in general.

I have a very strong work ethic. To get fired from a job is a terrible burden for me to deal with not to mention the safety aspect of being impaired while driving. Knowing that the DOT is going to be my accountability partner in keeping me on the straight and narrow and the fact that I have a huge amount of personal pride in getting the job done right are 2 huge factors in helping to turn my life around. Extra special thanks to the Man above.

B.J. Moose

Hey Pat,

Thanks for the input. I studied the HOS rules again. 10 hours of off duty time in my circumstance will be the most useful rule to keep the wheels turning and stay in compliance with HOS. The split sleeper rule for those that can take advantage of it is no doubt a very useful method to maximize your drive time.

You'll have to also consider how to mount the air duct(s) that will be pulling in the outside air and or exhausting it if you go with a dual vent system Check out the kits they have for this purpose.

Most portable ac units only have a single vent. They pull outside air into the ac unit thru a duct system and push it thru its cooling section. You would need to crack a window or keep a vent open so it could pull in the air supply. This makes them pretty inefficient since you're continually cooling the air you're pulling in from outside then blowing it back out again. They do make dual vent portables that eliminate this problem.

Something else to consider is powering the unit. If it pulls 8 amps @ 110 volts you'll need about 80 amps at 12 volts to invert its power needs. A 1500 watt inverter would be probably be needed to handle the surge current when you start it up.

Not shooting your idea down in the least. Because the truck is not a very large area to cool it may work out pretty good.

Another type of portable ac unit that does not use any air ducting would be an Evaporative Air Cooler. You basically pack the thing with water and or ice and the fan blows across it to cool the air. They pull a lot less amperage around 2 amps.

I wanted to put an ac unit in my sailboat so i've played around with the same idea you're thinking about. I settled on a window unit that i mounted in the hatchway leading down into the cabin. Something that's not very practical in your application.

The unit i have is about 5000 BTUs. In direct sunlight on a day in the 90's it has a hard time keeping the cabin cool. With no ac in this situation the cabin gets as hot as a car with the windows closed, well above 100 degrees. with the unit on it will bring down the temp to a bit less than the outside air. The decking of the boat is so hot that it will burn your bare feet and is flat so it is sucking up a lot of heat. During the night or on a partly sunny day it does have enough power to cool things down. A truck may not suck up as much heat but then again maybe it could be worse. The boat is white so i'm thinking it would not draw as much heat as something painted a darker color.

Best Buy has some pretty good reviews on both types of units. If you go thru with a setup of this sort keep us posted on the results.

I knew a guy at work that rigged up a tupperware container full of ice with a small fan on it and it actually worked pretty good to cool off his desk area in an office but about all it did was blow cold air in your face. who knows? maybe an ice chest rigged up in this matter might work.

Good luck!

Hey Rick,

Thanks for the clarification about the sleeping berth actually being on the vehicle. I don't think the healthcare facility operates under FMCSA guidelines since I'm currently driving for them with a class E chauffeur license carrying less than 15 passengers. I'm guessing the bus company doesn't require logs. It is a CDL driving position so I'll have to talk with them about how they are accounting for drivers time behind the wheel.

Here's a typical situation I'm trying to work out:

Company A is a motor carrier Company B is a Health Care Facility

I will not be bringing a bus home with either company and will be using a personal vehicle to travel to both companies. As I thought and you have confirmed personal vehicle travel would be considered off duty time.

On day #1 of the week I drive 8 hours for company A and clock out to drive home. Company B calls and wants me to drive for 4 hours. If I went straight over to company B and made the run I'd be 1 hour over the 11 hour limit.

So the question would be?

If I'm interpreting the sleeper berth rule correctly, Could I go home and sleep for 2 hours to extend my drive time in order to make the 4 hour run at company B ?

When the run at company B is complete I would have 8 hours of sleep at home, possibly even more. I think the high road log book training area stated that 11 hours of sleep gives you a complete new set of 14 on duty 11 drive time clocks.

I'm trying to develop a plan to get the maximum amount of drive time in any given day. Different runs will be popping up throughout the week at any given time so I need to be able to figure out if I can go on them or not.

This may be an odd question:

Would taking a pickup truck with a camper on the back to work be considered a sleeper? Company A runs several shifts so I could possibly crash out between shifts in the camper to extend my drive time. I'm almost 50 miles from the depot so in this circumstance its not practical for me to drive home to sleep.

I can hear everyone laughing at my situation which I'm totally OK with. This is life in the ozarks my friend. You have to do what ever you can to make some cash. I hope to be driving OTR class A sometime in February of 2017, right now I can't do it.

If I drive local can I go off duty at home and sleep to extend my hours of service?

I need to drive Class C as a bus driver for the time being before moving up to Class A

I'm assuming that even though I'm Class C and local I'd still be under HOS rules?

Since I'm less than 150 miles from home I shouldn't be required to keep a log book?

Should I document my hours just to cover my A**?

Would my travel time from my job(s) to home count as on duty time?

Both companies I'd be driving for operate on a 7 day per week schedule.

Old School,

44 years ago I was exactly like the kid you talked to. We used to RV all over the country with a trailer. Dad got a CB and I'd talk to the truckers. It was the coolest thing in the world for a 10 year old kid. Bulwinkle was my handle and still is to date. I eventually moved into amateur radio as an adult because of my interest in radios.

I remember buying a magazine called owner/operator at a truckstop and reading it as we went down the road checking out all the trucks on the highway thinking hey there's a white freight liner there goes a kenworth conventional. I'd see ads for jake brakes in the magazine then hearing truckers hit it as we went thru the mountains. Going over mount eagle and thinking about what would happen if they had to use an emergency ramp. Never missing an episode of movin on to see what would happen next to Sonny Pruitt.

Great story! Hitting the air horn for a kid must bring more happiness to the driver than the kid feels, lol

Channel 19 Citizen Band is much like channel 16 on VHF marine band better known as the hailing channel. Its primary purpose is to relay important information to other captains (drivers) and to make contact with them. Fortunately the coast guard monitors channel 16 and doesn't put up with the nonsense that goes on with CB better known as Chicken Band. If a vessel is sinking or someone goes over board ( a wreck or traffic jam ) vessels ( cars trucks etc ) know immediately whats going on. Qualcomm goggle traffic etc is not exactly real time. I'm talking seconds or minutes here. Say If I'm a boater in the immediate area ( or driver on land) I may actually be able to be of some assistance before the authorities arrive and make a difference in someones life. Hey good buddy your load is falling off the back of your trailer pull over versus goggle traffic has determined a traffic jam authorities say it was caused by a truck that dropped its load and caused a fatal crash.

Don't discount the value of CB radio communication just because its not the latest technological marvel. It's still a very effective means of communicating. It's also a great may to meet new friends and have an actual conversation with someone which is a dying art. Why don't we want to actually talk to each other anymore in this age. I don't get it.

CB Radio and trucking is hallowed ground not to be tread on. The 2 can't be separated without committing an act of treason. CW McCall would be mortified to be reading this thread. What's a jeep anyway without a 102 inch CB whip mounted to its side going down Black Bear Road, Nothing!

Just my 2 cents!

:-)

The guy at the Greyhound Station had apparently been hauled in for some sort of incident but was never charged with anything. He said it was about 10 years previous to him coming in for orientation. To me it sounded like the standard issue brought down to the station for questioning type situation. Is this the God's honest truth or not I can't really say. What stuck in my mind was that he continued to walk around the bus station ranting about it in a loud tone of voice so the whole crowd knew about it.

Would he be able to keep his cool once he started driving? My feeling was probably not. That's a judgement call on my part which was not the right thing to do. I think he did have the right to feel angry though at the way he had been treated.

My point is that instead of wasting everyone's time why wasn't the fine tooth comb background check done in the beginning when they felt the guy was a good candidate for the position?

Myself coming from the computer field when you apply for a new job you get put under the microscope and your shorts are checked for skid marks right away before they will even consider the next step. If you don't pass the first hurdle we're done everyone can move on now without being strung along.

I understand trucking and information technology are two separate industries. Treating people fairly isn't any different across both of these.

The company does save money by doing the mini background check first often at the expense of the candidate. I don't think that's right. It's also not right for the candidate to lie about something that they know will show on a background check. If you require no arrests great. If you require no convictions even better. Be upfront about it and don't try to intimidate me into a confession when I get to orientation. We are after all supposed to be and act like professionals aren't we?

It's really sad that America has come to a point where the companies have to do everything they can to weed out potential candidates for the few available positions when in the past they couldn't fill the ranks of the workforce and tried everything they could to get you hired.