Hell yeah brother!
Yesterday I left Dodge City, KS and drove 620 miles into IL. Today I finished IL, IN, OH, PA and shut down in NY. 710 MILES, MY BEST EVER FOR A DAY.
At the end of both days I felt terrific. I know I can’t do that on a steady basis, but boy, was it fun for the first time.
I was inspired by Laura who is a 700 mile veteran.
Yesterday I left Dodge City, KS and drove 620 miles into IL. Today I finished IL, IN, OH, PA and shut down in NY. 710 MILES, MY BEST EVER FOR A DAY.
At the end of both days I felt terrific. I know I can’t do that on a steady basis, but boy, was it fun for the first time.
I was inspired by Laura who is a 700 mile veteran.
As you can see, the 18th was the only day that I did over 700 miles. Actually that was a carryover of 28 miles from the 17th...so I did 723 on the 18th. The rest of the time especially the last 4 days had a lot of shutdowns because of hauling a 10,000 pound load and running about 55-60 mph most of the way across Western MO and Nebraska.
So sometimes I don't fast and steady. Plus I was running on recaps and only had 7.5 hour days for Friday and Saturday. Because I sat 27 hours Friday and Saturday I did gain a lot back, but the wind had other plans!
Laura
Having big days is fun and rewarding. Congratulations Bruce on your accomplishment!
As you improve at this you'll discover efficiencies and ways to maximize your useful hours. I run mostly on re-caps. I haven't taken a 34 hour break since my last home time five weeks ago. A 700 mile day is out of the question for me. A big day like that may be rewarding, but it doesn't improve your income if it's followed by two or three non-productive days.
Always keep the big picture in focus. Measure your success in blocks of time like months or quarters. You ought to be running about 130,000 miles per year. That's the kind of OTR driver that gets noticed.
My dispatcher called me just the other day to talk about this subject. He has around fifteen drivers. He told me I'm the only one who doesn't do 34 hour resets. I don't know the numbers, but he says I'm way out ahead of the other guys after just one quarter into this year. He said, "Everytime they take a day or two to reset their clock you gain six to seven hundred miles on them. Then they do it again the next week and your gaining on them steadily. You always have hours - it's amazing."
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.
And it"s easier to turn 700+ days, by driving nights. Less traffic and BS to deal with from more idiots driving dumb....And not wasting time, stopping too much, or too long.
I went out 5 days with a friend who needed a driver (team job) So I figured ok tax free money why refuse.
We ran Cali to NC with. Fed ex load. Then ran 1009 dead head miles for a "lil Debbie" load from western edge of Ark/OK back to Kingman, AZ.......1 night starting out I ran 743 miles. The rest were like 600-650s....I just got home today at 7 am after a 643 mile drive, and I was beat, after 5 days.
Sucky part, was we got to Ark. 14 hours early and the place was closed til 9 pm Saturday night. So we could a been home a lot sooner than 5th day lol.....He STILL drives weird, but does burn his clock up too.
Good job Bruce K, there will be plenty of times, you can break 700 miles just don't think on it so much lol Stay focused on safety and each load you do WTG
Always keep the big picture in focus. Measure your success in blocks of time like months or quarters. You ought to be running about 130,000 miles per year. That's the kind of OTR driver that gets noticed.
Howdy Old School!
When running containers to the Port of Oakland for my previous company, I ran recaps for 4 to 6 weeks before taking home time. Being a widow I needed to do home time to take care of things.
My current company kept me running steady even before I started this dedicated run. I was told by my company that last year I ran 132,716 PAID miles. My actual miles was over 138,000. They told me I was in the top five of the company and gave me a .03 cpm raise. I was going to see if I could better those miles, but with me selling three 1 acre lots shortly, I will be taking more time off so the government doesn't get any more money than they deserve. A dear friend that has talked me into taking more time off and enjoying life. He says I need to not run so hard, especially now. I'm beginning to listen better and start thinking of things I would like to do.
While I do like driving and will continue to drive, I can now pick and choose how I want to run. I talked with the company about more time off and they are willing to accommodate my time off.
Laura
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 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.
Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.
When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.
Right Laura, what's the point making all them Big Dolla's, to not take time off to enjoy life, and spend some....Doing what you wanna. So the Gov'ment don't get more of it lol
I've taken what I feel like is a ton of time off, but have put down over a hundred k for my first year from when I got hired.
My first year from going solo will be on track for about 115k to 120k depending on the next month.
I usually run on recaps for a couple weeks and then take some time off. Idk, I have my niche when I like to run and it works out well, but I'm really flexible. OS told me early on to think big picture and I do.
It is fun putting down high mileage days but I'm usually concentrating on the next load and the one after that.
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Yesterday I left Dodge City, KS and drove 620 miles into IL. Today I finished IL, IN, OH, PA and shut down in NY. 710 MILES, MY BEST EVER FOR A DAY.
At the end of both days I felt terrific. I know I can’t do that on a steady basis, but boy, was it fun for the first time.
I was inspired by Laura who is a 700 mile veteran.