Comments By Sambo

So, you were right not to take any pills from him. Know that if it was prescription, and you take a medicine not prescribed to you, it will be a failed drug test if you get caught. Also, even if they were not prescription, I would never take any kind of "power pills". Likely they were pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, commonly known as "mini thins". I can't be sure, might have been just caffeine pills, but, if they were mini thins, i would be curious how he got them, since pseudoeffedrine hydrochloride has been banned from being sold over the counter. Not to mention, if you take them enough, they can have adverse health implications.

If you picked up at 1pm, I assume you started your day at around noon? This would mean your 14 hour clock would have expired at 2am the next morning, so, provided you didn't use up your 11 hours of driving, that would have been the latest you could drive.

Remember, safety above all else. If you are too tired to drive, shut down.

As far as your trainer, make a call to your dm, explain the situation. I'm not advocating getting someone in trouble, but, your trainer should not be trying to get you to break the law, and he certainly should not be offering you pills. However, this needs to be fixed, because, how many times has he done this in the past, how many times will he continue to do it if allowed to go unchecked.

Do you run electronic logs? If so, you wouldn't have been able to run past your 14, unless he is having you drive on his login, which, again, is a no no. Paper logs is another story, but again, it is neither legal, nor safe.

I have to wonder how much fuel savings are really there. I know there is some, but how much, and at the risk of what safety.

They say for every mph you shave off, you gain .1mpg fuel economy. Here's the deal though, during the course of my day, I'm speeding up and slowing down constantly, almost entirely due to the fact that other vehicles (4 wheelers and 18 wheelers both) will pass and cut in front of me, sometime with no more than a car length gap.

In the case of trucks, they may be going only 2mph faster. This means I am having to either ride their bumper for the next 5 miles while they pull away, which isn't an option, or, tap the brake and slow down to open the gap. Even 4 wheelers, a lot of the time, are not going fast enough to open the gap in a safe amount of time. On a 65 mph stretch of freeway, it only accounts for a 3mph difference, and 8mph on a 70mph freeway. This means it is still taking 15 to 20 seconds or more to achieve the proper safe gap between vehicles. Again, more time than I am comfortable with to be following that close to a vehicle.

Then, in congested traffic, you end up being stuck in the right lane, because riding the second lane means you are impeding the faster traffic and that draws a lot of frustration from other drivers.

This constant slowing down and speeding up has to be a fuel economy killer, and presents a safety risk.

I know that these interactions will still happen at 70mph, but they would happen far less frequently, because, for the most part, you'd be able to keep up with the flow of traffic.

Then, on top of that, let's say you take a 62mph truck and turn it up to 70mph. Now this truck is doing approximately 80 to 90 more miles in a day, which would equate to possibly 500 to 600 more miles per week, up to 2400 miles per month. This could mean a potential 1 to 2 more loads per month, which would probably be enough to offset the cost of lost fuel economy, and, the driver makes more money as well. That's a win win.

I know its a company vehicle, and they set the rules, but I am curious if the fuel savings are really there. I have to think that they know what they are doing, and have studied the numbers, but, from my perspective, it doesn't make sense when you take into account the above factors.

Are the fuel savings really enough to offset the constant changing of speed and lost revenue of 2 more loads each month?

KLLM runs volvo vn780's from what I've seen. Nice!! Question, every KLLM truck I see says "leased to kllm" on the door. Are they a majority OO company?

I stopped in there yesterday for fuel, then took a 10 hour break there the day before that. Maybe they'll send me back down that way on my next load.

Gotta be honest, I'm about fed up with my garmin. It reboots on it's own, and when you try to do custom route shaping, it keeps wanting to revert back to the original route it found initially.

It does a decent job at routing and when you can get your custom route programmed, it's nice. I'm going to eventually go back with the rand McNally when I save enough to purchase one. Rand has a new 740 model which is the same price as the 730 model. Was going to get the tablet, but I've heard it doesn't get good reviews. I like the tablet version though because it has built in dash cam, and has the RM atlas built into the unit as well.

There really is no perfect systematic solution other than just ride the middle lane. I usually try not to do that though because of Colorado's law--"keep right except to pass." All it takes is an over-zealous cop to decide I absolutely must stay in the right lane, even though I'm trying to avoid a collision with merging traffic. And lots of other states don't allow trucks in the far left lane, so I'm forcing them to either stay behind me or pass on the right. So, personally, I've found it really helps to just slow down in cities in general. I turn off the cruise and go around 55 mph or less--seems to help avoid unpleasant encounters with kamikaze drivers.

But still, if there's a lot of traffic merging all at once, or if a truck is trying to merge, I'll get over if I can.

Like I said, no perfect solution... just do your best to cope with the chaos and not hit anything.

That's probably the most sensible thing, just slow down so all traffic is faster than you and let them all pass. Problem is, still, the merging traffic. Especially when you have 4 or 5 cars trying to enter the roadway at the same time. I usually just watch and slow down according to the cars that are ahead of me. If there are 5 cars coming on and 3 are ahead of me and 2 along side of me or to the rear, I'll slow enough to let the ahead cars in but the cars along side will have to slow down to get behind me. The only other option is to slow down enough to let all of them in, but doing so will cause more traffic backup.

And of course we all love when you can't get over because traffic has you pinned in the right lane and someone merging rides alongside you waiting for you to move. When they finally have to hit the brakes and fall in behind you, they get mad, mash the throttle to the floor, and whiz by you at 80 mph in the left lane with their middle finger out the window.

Of course it's like, "If you woulda hit the gas like that in the first place.......but noooo.....and now you're mad and your middle finger is covered with bugs."

Exactly! When did people start putting down the on ramp, and then hit the gas once they hit the freeway, it didn't used to be like that long ago. The on ramp is for acceleration, so get on with it.....

I wonder if it has to do with people trying to save fuel. Higher gas prices means people are afraid to mash the pedal?

Lol, yeah, that's unacceptable...to unload a trailer....at a distribution center!

Aside from proper diet and exercise, limiting stress on the body will help promote a better driving day.

Try to limit the exposure to stresses on the body. One of the things you can do to help is develop thick skin. There are things that will eat at you out here. Learn to not let them bother you. This is not to say that you should develop an apathetic attitude, but rather learn to take things in stride. Do the best that you can, but when problems arise, don't let yourself get bent out of shape by them. Stop and think through the problem, ask for help. At the end of the day, there is no problem that cant be fixed, and there is no load too important that you have to risk safety to do. Slow down and realize that mistakes will happen, it's how we deal with them and how we learn from them that matters.

Traffic got you frazzled? Tired of getting cut off and having to slow down all the time? Yes, it bothers me too, but, a change of perspective can actually make these situations better.

Trucker or 4 wheeler cuts you off, rather than getting upset, realize that by altering your speed and opening the gap is actually a testament to your being a safe and observant driver. This should make you feel some pride because it means you are doing it right. Flying off the handle on the cb isn't going to help anything but make the other driver mad too, and getting upset over it will increase stress on your body and mind. We just have to realize that creating an argument will not solve the problem, so why even start one. Just drive your truck safely and take pride that you are doing it better than the other guy. You can use this in many other situations as well.

There are some things worth getting upset at, and there are some that are not. Learn to weed out the emotional response to the things that are not worth it will help keep stress from building up.

Make sure to get enough sleep. Obviously, this is the biggest one for being alert and awake behind the wheel. Try to get enough sleep each night/day. Lack of sleep will cause you to be drowsy, and a continual lack of sleep can lead to a sleep deficit which can be hard to catch up on. When you do sleep, try to make the environment as comfortable as possible. Use AC and heater to keep the cab at optimal temperatures, and fans if necessary. I know some companies limit idle time but if you are not sleeping properly, this can be dangerous. This is why I think companies who do not provide apu units should not have restrictions on idle time. If you are not comfortable when sleeping, this means you are not getting quality sleep, and this can have dire consequences.

Also, best sleep is done in pitch black environment. Your sub conscious can pick up on light in the area and cause a reduction in the quality of sleep. As drivers, we sleep during all hours. This means trying to block out as much light as you can. Cab curtains, bunk curtains, maybe even a sleep mask for light blockage. Also, put your cell phone and other electronic devices in a place where if it lights up on it's own, you won't be able to see it.

Lastly, silence is golden. During the day, if you are the type that likes to listen to hard driving rock music, this can actually be a stress increase. Also, listening to political talk radio can increase stress. Loud music can cause you to have to focus harder on the road.

Sometimes, turning the radio off for awhile can help you relax and decompress. Myself, I like to turn to a classical station or ambient station if you have satellite radio. Calming music can help relieve stress and put you in a relaxed state and make your drive more enjoyable. Also, you can use audio books with a positive message. Just be cautious as some people tend to become too relaxed when listening to classical music and can become sleepy.

Basically, it's about finding balance. Treat your body well, eat right, exercise and limit stresses on your body, and it will lead to a happier and healthier drive.

This may not be for everyone, but it helps me, and it might be able to help you.

The road has many ups and downs. You are tired, lonely, miss your spouse and children. The weather isn't cooperating, AC is busted, appointment times are tight, and traffic is driving you crazy. It all feels like you are going to explode at times.

The key to managing all of this is to decompress whenever possible. By this, I mean, learn to relax whenever you have the opportunity. When you have down time, let it be down time and not time thinking about the job.

Being tense all the time, frustrated and angry will actually be counter productive. You tend to do better work when you are relaxed rather than uptight.

Again, when you have time off, learn to forget about the road and your career, and just enjoy the moment surrounding you.

But, what about those long weeks on the road? How to manage that? There are some things you can do to make life easier while out here, and they are quite simple.

Most of it has to do with treating your body right. Treat your body right and it will make life out here so much easier.

By this I mean a few things. Eating right can be difficult out here, but it can be done. Don't fall into the trap that you see a lot of drivers fall into by keeping a bag of chips, and a box of donuts next to your seat at all times, and that 100 ounce mug full of mountain dew all of the time. Too many carbs and too much sugar will cause weight gain and cause you to feel sluggish. Me, personally, I hate fighting sleep while trying to drive. It actually can get me angry because it's one of the worst feelings.

Yes, the sugar and mt dew may give you a pick me up, but when it wears off, it will cause you to be drowsy.

Eating healthy can help by managing weight and reduce the bad stuff going into your body. I like to keep trail mix and apples next to my seat, but don't over indulge. Just enough to keep your hunger at bay. Drink water and natural fruit juices instead of soda. If you want a little flavor, they sell things like water additives, such as Mio, that can help if you want a little flavor, but I wouldn't over use them, as the artificial sweeteners are not really good for you either, but can help when you need a change fro plain water.

Water intake can actually help speed up your metabolism, which can help with weight management, but also helps flush the body of toxins, which can help reduce the feeling of sluggishness. Only down side is that you may have to stop to urinate more often, but, that in itself can get you out of the truck to move around a little and keep the blood flowing.

When you have to stop for rest breaks, avoid truck stops if you can. Try to stop at a rest area. Not only can you get in and out more quickly, but you have less temptation to buy things, including food and sodas.

Coffee is also a good alternative to soda if you need caffeine, and there are many flavored creamers that can make that cup of Joe that much more enjoyable. Myself, I like the large coffe at pilot, with 2 to 3 sweet n low packets and some French vanilla creamer. Makes a good cup of coffee.

Instead of eating at the buffet, but things you can store in your truck. You can buy a thermoelectric cooler and store milk and vegetables, use storage containers to keep dry goods. Peanut butter, tuna, canned chicken breast, granola bars, instant oatmeal, and dry pack stew, spaghetti, chicken Alfredo are things that can be microwaved in the truck stop if you don't have a microwave in the truck. Just go easy on the dry pack foods as they contain a lot of sodium, but they can provide a quick meal that is easy on the budget, when needed.

Try to limit buffet meals and other truck stop foods to no more than twice a week. This will help keep you from over eating and keep you from eating things that are not good for you, and also help to keep your wallet from being drained.

Exercise can be done while on the truck, and it doesn't take much to do. Exercise promotes good blood flow and can help to keep you energized. I keep a workout band in the truck, some people use dumbells, whatever works for you.

Every other day, I'll do about 10 minutes of step exercises using the rear access step on truck, then, I'll do about 4 laps of walking around the truck parking area at a brisk pace. Then I'll come back to the truck and so curls and tricep extensions with my workout band. You can also wrap the band around the back of your seat, or a hand rail on your truck and do ab crunches.

Anything to keep the body moving and to try to ward off stagnation, and help keep your cardio up and your muscles active, will help keep you more alert in the seat of the truck.

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