A Week In The Life Of An OTR Driver.
Topic 19640 | Page 1
(Thanks for the bump)
There are a few others, but it's hard to do a search to find them as a group. I believe Old School did one. I found Daniel B's: A month of trucking with Daniel B.
That was absolutely awesome. I spent most of the afternoon reading that thread. Thanks for posting the link, I wasn't able to find it during my searches for some reason.
After reading both series of posts I'm impressed with how skillfully you both manage your hours of service clocks. Is that an acquired skill that takes a while to learn or something that you are taught in training?
Steak Eater, if you enjoy reading these types of things, I have done several of them in times past. Here's some links to three different times I documented my travels with my daughters out on the road. I mostly did them to give folks a picture into the life of being an over the road flat-bed driver, but even if you are not going to be doing flat-bed work I think you will find them entertaining and educational to some extent. Hope you enjoy reading them...
Over The Road:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
SteakEater, I chronicled one of my work days about a year ago. Not quite what you are looking for, but offers additional information to what has already been presented:
I'm grateful for the additional insight into this profession. Thanks to everyone that posted the threads detailing their day to day experiences. It has helped give me better insight into what the trucking lifestyle consists of.
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ErrolV posted a tremendously helpful series of messages about a week in the life of a dedicated route drive here:
A Week in the Life of ... ErrolV driving GP dedicated
The format he used showing actual hours he worked, hours of service per day, where he travelled, his mileage per day, where he stayed overnight / opportunity to eat, and an end week summary was tremendously helpful to me in getting a feel for the actual day-to-day expectations of this profession.
Are there any "week in the life of" posts or articles (at this site or elsewhere) that explain the OTR profession in a similar manner? I recognize there is no standard work week but I'd like to read a similar description of a week in the life of an OTR driver.
Dedicated Route:
A driver or carrier who transports cargo between regular, prescribed routes. Normally it means a driver will be dedicated to working for one particular customer like Walmart or Home Depot and they will only haul freight for that customer. You'll often hear drivers say something like, "I'm on the Walmart dedicated account."
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated