My Prime TNT Progress Updates

04/14/22

This load is getting off to a rough start.

Robert was driving when we arrived at our Loc 01 at 16:08 CDT. Sent in arrived location macro. I checked in at Shipping office. Told to park and wait until called to dock. Our appointment time is 20:30 CDT.

I go to bed in SB by 17:00.

Robert finally gets docked at 23:06 CDT.

I wake up at 02:00. We are still sitting in the dock not loaded.

Have been receiving reefer alarm messages about low fuel all night long. (I just filled the reefer tank and it only took 15.4 gals to fill. The gauge has been on 1/2 tank since we picked it up.)

Some confusion about the load and reefer set up. Finally told that it will be ice cream set on Misc Frozen at -20F. I go change the setting.

Finally get loaded and we are ready to depart at 03:38 CDT with me driving.

We changed our fuel route from Des Moines to take us to our Springfield, MO Terminal. Will fuel there, get the trailer reefer fuel tank sensor checked and take care of personal business.

It is 565 miles to Springfield terminal from where I sit now after fueling the reefer. It is 04:45 CDT. Will start driving in a few minutes.

Dennis;

Patience is a virtue. YOU, sir .. in my book, are a SAINT.

Best always, thank you!

~ Anne ~

ps: I'm almost getting claustrophobic, following your diary with intense detail, as you share!

One of my favorite diaries so far. Albeit an older one Turtles is one of the best reads on the site.

04/14/22 continues

George B. - thanks for the compliment. Turtles’ diary was the first that I read last year. It is a classic all time favorite.

Prior to starting my drive after filling the reefer tank, I received instructions from a Road Assist tech on how to by-pass the reefer fuel sensor that we suspect is bad.

I get out into the 13F windchill in a short sleeved shirt (too lazy to grab my coat). It took me 3 minutes to get it done. So now I’m a reefer tech!

I drove for 5.5 hours total drive line time before stopping for my 30+ minutes break at the State Line Conoco just into Missouri on I-35.

The drive has been tense with sustained crosswinds of 25-27 mph blowing W to E. One gust just south of Des Moines pushed me into the left lane! Fortunately no traffic around me.

G-Town has shared a wind chart before to know when to shut down. I need to find it again to save into an easy to access photo album. Robert does not have a chart.

I have 277 miles to Springfield which is ~5 hours at my average speed today of 54.8 mph.

It is 11:00 CDT now, time to roll on!

G'Town's and Mt. Matt's!

Peace, good sir!

~ Anne ~

ps: I hear ya, George B. !! Dennis passed up Turtle....today! (IMHPPO!)

Great! Thanks Anne for the chart.

Saw this Amish man today at my 30 min DOT break site that was just a few hundred feet inside Iowa. Usually see the buggies.

Robert woke up during my break. I asked him about driving in wind. His response was “drive to your safe speed”. Meaning go slower if I feel safer at my limited experience level. He said that he feels better handling in wind going faster (65 mph) for him.

I had been running at 60-62.

As I approached Kansas City, the wind speed dropped to ~15 mph with a more SW to NE vector. This made driving more comfortable.

Robert asked me to stop at a Love’s on I-49 just south side of KC. Stocking up on drinks and food.

I’m sitting in line off duty.

I have 131 miles to go with 2h 55m drive time available. I should make it in 2.5 hours, so will be another close clock race on MO7 and US13 at slower speeds.

Three cow girls had this trailer of horses and Longhorn cattle at the stop. Not sure it shows up.

Time to roll again

PS Robert decided to drive from here, which is a good thing. This will put us back on our shift schedule of me driving Midnight to Noon.

It is 14:12 CDT as we get Big Mama rolling again.

My stats for the day are 459 miles in 8h 4m. My average speed was 56.9 mph.

My 70 clock is in good shape with 26h 39m available after my drive today. My coming recaps are about 7 hrs tonight and 9 hrs tomorrow night.

An overnight stay at Millennium terminal will give me a chance to shower and eat some good food. Will get my TWIC card activated in the morning.

We have plenty of time on Thursday to get to Clarksville, AR by 17:45 CDT. Can only arrive at a Walmart DC one hour early.

I suppose ya’ll figured out that there will be some detention time pay for Robert from our Loc 01 live load. We were there ~13.5 hours!

In this case a good thing that our loads tend to have plenty of time on them to make appointment times relative to the distance to travel running as a team truck. Might be tighter as a solo driver.

I asked Robert how to run as a solo Company driver to ensure that I’ll make the 2,500+ miles per week. His advice was to plan on driving 9-9.5 hrs per day, keeping the non-driving on duty time to a minimum (~15 mins, maybe 30 on some days). He says that you will not run out your 70 clock doing this from his experience. There will be shorter driving days dealing with customers, break downs, etc.

Assuming an average speed of 55 mph in a Prime truck, that gets you roughly 495-525 miles per day on a good day.

In a perfect world could run 3,465-3,675 miles a week! We know that won’t happen because of daily events like sitting at a customer for 13.5 hours!

I’ve read other posts on this topic of how many weekly or monthly miles is a reasonable target for a rookie. One experienced driver echoed what Robert said. He runs daily on recaps, plans for ~9 hrs driving daily and consistently averages over 3,000 miles weekly.

Time will tell what I can achieve after honing my skills over my rookie year.

A few final thoughts on this topic. Old School and Brett have suggested looking at your mileage over a longer time average such as monthly or yearly to take into account all events like days off (not paid), vacation (paid), etc.

So, reasonable ranges are 10,000 to 13,000 miles per month or 120,000 to 156,000 miles yearly.

Just arrived at the Prime Inc mothership at 16:30. Time to shutdown for awhile.