First Week Out

First week out, missed a few turns, got in some tight spots, learned not to update eta to right on the money; especially with this habit of missing turns.

Enjoying it so far. Just got to stay positive and take my time.

That first week or so solo being out all kinds of stuff. I went through, among other things: dead batteries, show up in a day the distribution center is closed, left myself "on duty" when I should have been sleeper (that just eats up your time clocks!). You'll get it all ironed out soon.

First week out, missed a few turns, got in some tight spots, learned not to update eta to right on the money; especially with this habit of missing turns.

Enjoying it so far. Just got to stay positive and take my time.

This is what has always been preached here on TT, expect the unexpected. As you have already figured out, setting your ETA with just enough time to make it can and will come back to haunt you.

The way I was taught to run my run is use 50 MPH average for your drive. Then if you get into any kind of a delay (and you have been able to maintain 55+) will have already built a cushion of time into your ETA.

Just a thought for you going forward.

Ernie

Every place I rolled up to was closed last Saturday, still got paid for miles but just makes you feel you got nothing accomplished that day.

Figure ETAs by miles x 1.1 / 50 = hours rounded to next whole number.

My problem was rolling them back because I was, what I thought, ahead.

Every place I rolled up to was closed last Saturday, still got paid for miles but just makes you feel you got nothing accomplished that day.

Figure ETAs by miles x 1.1 / 50 = hours rounded to next whole number.

My problem was rolling them back because I was, what I thought, ahead.

Take your miles you need to cover, divide by 50 will give you the needed hours of drive time required. Then figure in your needed 10 hour breaks, fueling, 30 minute breaks, etc to come up with the time you need to complete the assignment.

Example, you have 40 mile dead head, 836 miles driving. That equates to be a total mileage for the trip 876. Take 876/50 = 17.52 hours of drive time. Round that up to an even 18 hours drive time. Now figure in waiting time for loading, fueling, breaks, traffic delays, time zone crossings. The list goes on. Say your appointment time for loading is 1845 on Tuesday and your delivery is Thursday at 1400. That gives you Wednesday & part of Thursday to get the run completed. Plenty of time if you use your time wisely.

Ernie

If you have a Qualcomm GPS, here's a way to learn travel time estimates.

Set your destination. On the bottom row of the display, just left of the green satellite dish icon, is an eye icon. Press it to get the trip overview.

On the right side if this screen, at the top, is the total miles and an estimated drive time. Calculate miles ÷ hours. That's the average mph according to QC. Use that for your own estimating. That average changes, depending on how much interstate vs. two-lane you have to do.

Fun fact: that little zig-zag icon in the top right shows the whole route on a map. You can zoom in & pan around.

Oh, those missed turns and tight spots!!! I've given myself some heart-attack moments for sure!

I have learned to get past the feeling of "GO! HAVE TO GO NOW!" when a new preplan comes in. It's well worth whatever extra time it takes to look everything up on Google Maps, and Google Earth, so you will have an idea of what's coming.

One of my school instructors liked to say "If, at the end of the day, you haven't hit anything, and nobody got hurt, then it was a good day." Good thing to reflect on at the end of a trying day.