Trip Planning Question
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So I just had a delivery that was supposed to take four hours (3 and 51 minutes rounded up from GPS) and it took 6 hours because I took two hours to chain my first heavy haul truck. Ergo, my delivery was two hours late due to weather. Dispatch claims that that’s a valid excuse because “no load is worth my life” a sentiment we can all appreciate.
As for my question: I deadheaded back to my home terminal and am currently 3 hours into my sleeper berth status. I am dispatched on a load that picks up anywhere between 1500 and 2359 hours (3pm and midnight).
My next load delivers roughly 6 hours and 15 minutes away with one fairly predictable mountain pass in between. The weather forecast is nowhere near as severe as it was last night when J has to chain on traction tires required, but I don’t want to be late.
I shut down and post tripped to take my ten hour break at 1144. If my load delivers at 0400 (4am), and I want to be able to to have enough hours left after the six hour trip to backhaul or deadhead back to the terminal so I can be home by either tomorrow night or Saturday morning, would it be a better strategy for me to only take 8 hours in sleeper berth before doing the 6 hour 15 minute trip? I still had 2 and a half hours left on my 11 (14 was a little longer before I went to SB). Is it better to just take my full ten and risk being a little bit late again? 8:2 split sleeper still kind of breaks my brain to plan around for how many hours of 11 and 14 I gain from it in the time spent driving betwixt the 8 and the 2.
My wife and I are very eager for me to be home by tomorrow night or early Saturday morning, but I live 3 hours away by truck from the terminal and 5 hours away from the delivery point.
If you need to know specific cities for more variables, I don’t know how much I could share on a public forum without compromising the security of the load (not that I don’t trust the advice of all you lovely fine folk; rather, I’m simply a heck of an over thinker :) ).
Thank you for any advice you can give me from this rather vague Washington state related information.
Deadhead:
To drive with an empty trailer. After delivering your load you will deadhead to a shipper to pick up your next load.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Sleeper Berth:
The portion of the tractor behind the seats which acts as the "living space" for the driver. It generally contains a bed (or bunk beds), cabinets, lights, temperature control knobs, and 12 volt plugs for power.