Me, I like to read, watch a little TV, and mostly catch up on some much needed rest. I only had to do one or two re-sets on the road. After my dispatcher and I got to know each other and how I liked to run he knew by day 5 or 6 to start heading me home and I would do my re-set there.

 

I really don't mean to hijack this thread....but where do you do laundry? I have visions of my husband being on the road for 2 weeks and coming home with tons of laundry for me He's really a clean guy in regards to laundry & showering and will probably spend his days trying to figure out how to take a shower!

 

Most all of the larger truck-stops have washers and dryers. ( Pay per load of course ).

 

While on the subject of laundry:

In order to save money, and also because I like a specific detergent, I carried my own laundry soap. If you do this I suggest using a liquid as you do not have to worry about spills. Of most truck stops that have laundry facilities do sell soap, fabric softener, etc in the single use size, but it tends to be a bit pricey.

 

Good point Uturn. I try to buy as much stuff outside of truck stops as I can.

 

In all reality its about the same. your not getting more hours either way. I prefer not to do a restart while I'm on the road. I hate to sit. with that said there are times where you will sit and you can make it look like a restart. heck on a good run you can log it so you cover 800 miles and get a restart. but to do it legally the restart or 8.75 is 6 to one half dozen to the other.

 

I have a computer in the truck but in my case, if I have run out my hours it usually means I've spent too much time in this truck, so I get a hotel room, preferably one with a bar. Other than that, I catch up on some sleep.

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that when a US based driver is in Canada, the US rules are still in effect.

 

Some of us never take a reset on the road. Driving for a furniture manufacturer - and most other manufacturers - requires me to deliver my load and then head back home. So I'm never gone for more than about 3 days at a time. This week was typical; out on Sunday, back on Tuesday at noon, Then out on Wednesday and back maybe late Friday or early Saturday. Out again next Monday.
And some freight companies - McElroy, for one - have a policy that sends drivers home every weekend.

You would think that this "every weekend home" policy would result in making less money, but it doesn't. We make more than most drivers,

 

This is the gist of my contribution to the lengthy thread about managing hours of service that has now vanished. There was also a lot of other good information contributed by Crackaces, the original author of the thread.
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Managing the 70 hour rule – various strategies

I just have a few thoughts about different time management strategies. When I was in CDL school I wondered how soon a driver would run up against the 70 hour rule. This got me to doing the math to satisfy my curiosity. I created my own spreadsheet to add up the numbers on several different options over a 28 day 4 week period. Before we get started I would like to point out that the following examples are purely theoretical, and no endorsement is expressed or implied. Also please note that some figures have been rounded to make the example clearer.

First option: Run hard and take the 34 hour reset. Starting Day 1 and driving 11 hours, on duty not driving 2 hours per day (85% of duty time driving). This leaves 5 hours for the sixth day, so take the 34 hour reset half of day 6 and day 7. This gives 70 hours available again for the 8th day. Over 28 days this yields 236 driving hours and 44 on duty not driving hours. At an average of 50 miles per hour thats 11,800 miles per month. At $0.25 per mile thats $2,950 per month and $38,350 per year. (4 weeks times 13 equals 52)

Second option: Run easy and never run out of hours. Basically thats 8.75 hours on duty per day every day for the 28 day period. At the same 85% of on duty time driving as option one that leaves 7.5 hours of driving and 1.25 hours of on duty not driving per day. Over 28 days this yields 210 driving hours and 35 on duty not driving hours. At an average of 50 miles per hour thats 10,500 miles per month. At $0.25 per mile thats $2,625 per month and $34,125 per year. This may fool some people because the total hours for the past 8 days including today will always equal 70 but we must remember that the rule is not to EXCEED 70 hours in 8 days. To calculate how many hours we have available for tomorrow we add up how many hours on duty in the las 7 days including today and that number will equal 61.25 leaving 8.75 hours for the next day. This option is 88% as efficient in terms of income as option one but sacrafices hometime to do it.

Third option: 7 days on 2 off. Difficult because you have to manage your hours for seven days, and then you get a reset. Ten hours on duty per day, 8.5 driving, 1.5 on duty not driving. Over 28 days this yields 196 driving hours and 34 on duty not driving hours. At an average of 50 miles per hour thats 9,750 miles per month. At $0.25 per mile thats $2,437 per month and $31,687 per year.

In this purely mathmatical example you see that the continuous rolling theory is only 88% as efficient as the run hard and take your reset theory. Of course everyday is different and theory is usually the first casualty when dealing with the real world. To each his own.

I believe that my point most of all disproves the theory that you can make more money/miles by living in the truck 365 days a year vs. spending each weekend at home providing that you live near a freight lane that will get you home.