Gee, its been so long ago :lol: ... Your allowed what, 70 hours in 8 days?So, if you work EVERYDAY, to keep from running out of hours, you work an even 8.75 hours per day? Obviously, some days you will work more, and other days, you will work less, to keep from going over hours at the end of the week.

How often do you enjoy a reset away from home?

Believe it or not, even at cruising speed, do you know how many times I would have to stop for fuel? :shock: Then again, I could get it up to Mach, and hope to glide like a screaming lawn dart! :lol: :lol:

We had two pilots stop in for lunch one day. They were from Florida, and had come out to Nevada with the rest of the squadron for a det. They flew out in this.

http://www.air-and-space.com/2004082...axiing%20l.jpg

They stopped by our line for lunch and fuel before heading back to VA. They said it would take 2 days and 6 fuel stops to make it... :lol: :lol: :lol:


To be perfectly honoest, I have sat in the cockpit, and know how to do a few things, but I dont see keys, and I dont see a clutch pedal. I wouldnt know how to get the damn thing started!!! :lol: :lol: :sad:

But I would love to try. :twisted:

Speak for yourself. I drive truck and get paid for all docktime, breakdowns, fueling, traffic, DOT, etc. All the stuff you do for zilch.

I don't live in/for the truck, nor do I donate my time for free. Sightseeing? With the rise of discount airlines like Southwest Air, I can book a flight anywhere in the continental US on the cheap to visit relatives. Not wandering around a big city all alone saying "table for one" while my friends/family are at home.

Part of YOUR job, maybe.

I'm glad your company pays you for doing nothing.
You should be in a union.

Oh, so I gather you give that hourly detention money back to your employer after you've been sitting at a dock for more than 2 hours? Same deal with layover pay, right? After all, you're being paid to sleep, watch DVD's, and goof around for doing nothing. :roll:

As far as fueling the truck, PTI's, scaling loads, dropping/hooking trailers, washouts, etc, etc, etc, etc...these are SERVICES that you provide to your employer. Why would you do any of this for free?

Did you know that under SNI's HHG pay-scheme, you will end up driving a whole MONTH out of the year for FREE? Don't beleive me? Do the math and see for yourself. Again, this begs the question: WHY?

Oh that's right, I forgot. It's all "part of the job". :roll: LOL, the mentality of today's OTR truckers is simply amazing. No wonder the industry's in the mess it's in. That's why I'm not in that business any more. WAY too many FREEBIES!

Dude, buy a clue!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Its not a "freebie"... Thats why the company execs spends night home with the family, and when they are on the road, at the Embassy Suites, not the Motel 8... The drivers love their time so much that rather than accept hourly pay for some things, they want a $50 gift card from Sears, a major SNI customer, at Christmas.... You know, you gotta buy a new tool set for the truck with that.... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Not all hourly paying jobs are UNION. :roll:

It doesn't necessarily have to be an hourly job either. There are many jobs that pay mileage and hourly combined. It's just the coolie carriers have there flock brainwashed that more miles= more money and any extra work performed or sitting is part of the job. :lol: Hey, it's all figured into the mileage rate driver, just don't divide your hours worked into the amount on your pay and you will be alright.

:shock: :shock: :shock:
HIGHJACK ALERT :shock:


I too find the philosophical discussion about interesting but I really am interested in the ORIGINAL point of how much site seeing you can do on the road.


Looks like thats been lost

Sorry, little late to the party here but......

While in LA with my wife for a wedding, we saw a number of trucks down the Pacific Coast Highway in Newport and Huntington Beach in the State Park parking lots chilling out on the beach. If you've got a 34 hour restart, why not go sightseeing if your in an area to do that??

Here is what you can sightsee while laid over. Does this qualify as being back on topic and make you feel better?


http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l1...Snow-storm.jpg

:lol: :lol:

Sightseeing doesn't necessarily have to be done while laying over, there is much to see everyday.

Truck stop parking lots are also full of interesting scenery if you know where to look;

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...e_truckin3.jpg

As well as the sights of highway carnage caused by fellow truckers not paying attention,

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...er/bilde10.jpg

And who can forget the beautiful winter scenery one can see,

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...340wintqe5.jpg

Or the sights of dysfunctional drivers that lack basic math skills.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28.../bridge1-1.jpg

So True. Last month I drove ~40 miles for the entire MONTH and grossed ~$3200 as a LTL Combo driver who mostly works the dock.

I can understand straight mileage pay in a 100% drop & hook, longhaul scenario. As soon as you throw in shipper and receiver delays, dealing with railyards or container ports, going 50miles out of route for 25 gallons of fuel for the carriers mickey mouse fuel routing (Swift) etc it becomes a ripoff.

Golfhobo,
You are right.....there are times you can take the time to see the sites!! There are several car rental companies that will come pick you up..cheaper than Enterprise, too! Be sure to ask if they give CDL discounts since this saved us about $20 on a 2 day rental.

For hotel stays look at http://www2.corplodging.com/indexa.c...5&B=CID&A=7739 We usually paid half the price for a room. They charge you $5 for using this corp card but it is still worth it!! :D

A few places that we have been able to sitesee have been Hollywood CA ( the sign, Rodeo Drive, Walk of fame, etc ), Baltimore Harbor, and parked at a terminal in NJ and went into NYC.

We are no longer running OTR but still want to get to the GC as well....hopefully one day soon.

Hope you enjoy your trip...let us know how it went! :D

Okay..... I'm BACK!!! It was a BLAST!!! But, I've spent the day argueing with knotheads about politics, and now I'm too tired to tell my story! :lol:

If the thread isn't HIJACKED again by morning..... I'll be back to tell how it went, with an added bonus of the Pacific Ocean! :shock:

Geez! I can't believe they PAY me to do this stuff!!! :shock:

hey golf, all that sightseeing and I don't see where you took a sightseeing trip to the golf course.

Yeah, Gary.... you're RIGHT!! I'm a bit embarrassed!! One of the problems is that I drive TEAM, and the clubs take up alot of room. I'm planning on making a "travel bag" out of some PVC pipe (similar to an item I saw on TV once) with a cap over the top, that I can bungie strap to the back of my tractor. If I were a solo driver, you can BET I'd have gotten in some rounds by now!! :D

I HAVE been taking some notes though, on where to play when I get the chance. One place even advertises club rentals and truck parking! (Sydney, NE... I believe it was.)

For4Roses: I would love to take that walk in the sky sometime, but it is some 65 miles WEST of the Grand Canyon Village on the south rim. It's hard enough to get to some of these places, THAT one is way out at the end of some dirt roads, I believe! :shock:

Doghouse: Yeah, I remember that spot! Nice weed crop you had going there!! :shock: :wink: Just Kidding!! Seriously, where were you in relation to Red Lake or the Cinder Pit?? Or were you up closer to Spring Valley Wash or the old station at Valle??

Anyway.... about the trip: It was, well..... GRAND!!! Seeing the canyon on TV and in movies, just does NOT do it justice! It was AWESOME!!!

Someone on here suggested I take the Bright Angel Trail. :shock: Lucky for ME, that advice came too late and I'd already left out on my trip! :lol: You obviously don't realize I'm 51 years old and smoke WAY more cigarettes than I should!! :P

We DID walk along the RIM trail though, as far out as Hopi Point! Provided some really different views, and hopefully some good pictures! Taking the train really doesn't give you much time there, but I always wanted to take the train, so I DID! Next time, I'll see if I can clear it for the 100 miles or so out of route to just drag the trailer up there to Tusayin.

Funny thing, I stopped at the NEW Pilot at Bellemont (it replaced the older truckstop at exit 185,) and picked up this months copy of their "Challenge" magazine..... but didn't LOOK at it! A day or so later, I DID look, and there was an article on how truckers can take a sidetrip to see the Canyon! :evil: Anyway... they say there is an IMAX theater in Tusayin (6 miles south of the Village) that is very trucker friendly with parking. You have to take a cab from there, though, cuz big rigs aren't allowed in National Parks.

Next time, I'll see if I can do THAT, as it would give me more time at the Canyon. I'd love to take the mule ride to the canyon floor!!

So..... on THIS trip, I got in TWO episodes of sightseeing. Besides the Canyon, when I got to Salinas for my pickup, I had about 4.5 hours to wait before checking in at Dole in Marina (right on the beach.) So, I found a place to park the rig, and walked down a little trail and over the dunes onto the beach just north of Monterey. Took off my shoes and walked in the water for awhile!

I was excited to see (when I got back) that this thread was still on page 1 and had 4 pages of its own!! THEN.... I saw that it had been hijacked! Oh well..... :lol:

Time to start planning my NEXT "vacation." :wink: Gotta get some specifics on Mt. Rushmore! I hear you can drive a rig (or at least the Bob) right down to the best viewing spot! YeeHaw!!

That sucks, that they don't allow rigs in National Parks anymore. When I went to the Canyon, I was able to park ($12 for all day) in the lot right there about 100' from the South Rim. Gave me plenty of time to hike and take many a picture.

When I go home, I'll have to find the pics of me AND my rig there. You can see that little tower, that's right on the rim, in the background. I literally walked, ummm... let me not tell a lie, crawled up to the edge and took a few pics straight down. :shock: The wind was too bad to walk to the edge, AND worse yet, I had heard of those gusts taking many a people for a trip over the edge. :shock: So, yes, I crawled. :wink: :lol: :P

You WIMP!!!! :P :P

I saw a girl, couldn't have been over 10 yrs old, walk right out onto a rocky ledge not 10 inches from the edge!! Of course, I thought instantly that her parents must've been crazy or stupid! I'd NEVER have let MY child get that close to the edge! :shock: (My WIFE?? Sure!! :wink: )

As for trucks in Nat. Parks.... well.... that's what I read in the magazine article. Don't know for fact. If true, it's sad..... I was really hoping to get thru Yellowstone one day! :sad:

Gee, thanks, Sheepie! This thread was really a DUD without you hijacking it! :lol:

But, I don't know if you really got an answer to your question, so I'll give it a try.

Remember that I don't drive solo, and am not out for weeks at a time.

When I deliver a load in Portland, and have to deadhead (paid) to Yakima for a load the next day, that is certainly not a "layover." But, if I get there the next morning, and dispatch doesn't GET me a load out of there THAT day, and I have to sit for 24 hours at the "Jammer" with NO miles driven, then YEAH..... I want layover pay! I was ON TIME, in position for a load, and ready to drive! If my company can't get me a load that day, I should get SOME kind of pay.... REGARDLESS of what I do with my "unrequested" time off.

Most of the time, I sit in or near the truck all day waiting to SEE if I get a load. Legally.... I should be on line 4!! I'm not free to go do as I please, until they tell me to "fuggetaboudit!" :lol:

If I happen to get a 34 hour reset in the process, that only benefits my company! So, why shouldn't I get layover pay?

For those drivers who stay out for weeks at a time, IF they get "laid over" for a weekend (or anytime of the week) and they get a 34 hour reset, again this only benefits the company - and they are not at home (cuz you didn't or couldn't get them there.) Regardless of what they do with their OFFTIME, why shouldn't they get layover pay since it was YOUR scheduling requirements that put them out there??

If you don't want a driver to GET or NEED a 34 hr reset while on the road, then it is the dispatcher's job to keep him moving EVERY day, but not more than 8.75 hours per day! But, if you burn up his 70 rule getting a load delivered "just in time," and he has no CHOICE but to sit somewhere when he'd RATHER be driving..... why shouldn't he get layover pay?

If you want to look at it THIS way.... a driver is just another "resource" like your trucks are. If the truck is sitting for 34 hours somewhere, it most likely will be idling... costing you for fuel, and unless you paid cash for it, you are making payments on it whether it moves or not. So, it's all part of your "overhead," and SO IS THE DRIVER. Why should HE give you that TIME for free? He's obviously not on HOMETIME with his family. So, if he's "generally" babysitting your truck, waiting for a dispatch, positioned where you NEED the resource, what do you care what he does with his time off?

Now... if you want to send the company jet to fly him HOME for 34 hours to be with his family, and then BACK to work when and where you need him, then no.... I guess he doesn't deserve layover pay. But, as long as he is "out there" on the road, positioning your equipment where it is needed, he is doing a JOB for you. And it's a hard and sometimes lonely job. If he gets a chance to do a little sightseeing along the way to fill his time, what's it to YOU??

So, in all your years, you've never been sent to a convention or trucking show or whatever?? And they didn't have some side tours to take up some of your time? I pity you. MOST decent jobs DO! And it is the American Way!! It's a "perk!" Why shouldn't a trucker get a perk now and then?

Anyway, I hope that is some kind of an answer for you. Now.... how about letting us truckers, who are out here earning the money your compnany uses to pay your salary, get back to discussing how and where a driver can see a little country while DOING HIS JOB?? Okay? :wink:

Well.... sorry to say, Sheepie has "left the building" WITHOUT even attempting to answer my questions! Which were actually an answer to HIS question. So, I guess he didn't REALLY care about the subject, question or answer! BIG surprise!! :roll:

Anyway...... It's sightseeing time for ME again! I'm so sorry for those of you who can't or won't do it yourselves!

With approximately 60 hours to TEAM drive 2600 miles or so, I am finally going to see Mt. Rushmore!! YAY!!!!!

I'll have 4 hours or more to spare there, and as I understand it, you can bobtail right down to the viewpoint!

I'll drop my trailer wherever I can (I have both a kingpin lock and a gladhand lock,) and bobtail down to the site.

I STILL can't believe they PAY me to do this!

Anyone ELSE out there having some fun???

Golf, since you are in area check out the Minuteman Missile Silo National Park. Just opened last year and looks awesome.

http://www.nps.gov/mimi/

http://www.nps.gov/mimi/images/PR_001_1.jpg

http://www.nps.gov/mwr/pgalleryconte...0716141709.jpg
http://www.nps.gov/mimi/photosmultim...Door_Art_1.jpg

What do you thing I AM??? A TOURIST??? :lol: :lol:

Um.... I take it that OVERSIZED picture is YOU???? :shock:

Further comment reserved! :wink:

No not me. It wasn't oversized on the NPS website, but when I put the image link in, it came out huge.

Okay... since we've all SEEN it, and since it's not YOU.... how about DELETING it before I tell my story about Mt. Rushmore?? That way, we won't have to scroll back and forth all day! :wink:

Jeez... some people SURE can't take a HINT! :lol:

Wow it's about the sunsets and sightseeing. I never thought of that. I always figured that truck driving was a way to make money. No wonder I never logged any sleeper berth time in the 27 years I've been doing this.

If you are a newbie and you are going to drive OTR, do yourself a favor and don't do it. If you can't find a driving job that pays by the hour, get some other kind of job that pays hourly.

There is no money in OTR freight trucking. Never has been and probably never will be. But hey I guess if you are into it for sunsets and chrome do-dads, the only thing I can say is I hope you go broke fast and get out of this business. Some of us are trying to make money and all you are doing is messing things up.

Trucking is a business, not a lifestyle.

I drive solo. I go to the movies, horseback riding, fine dining, canoing, automotive racing events, aquariums, museums.... I have fun out on the road.

Taken care of Golf. Sorry it took awhile, hadn't checked this thread until now. :oops:

Thanks, Greg..... I guess BUMPING it to the top wasn't enough to get you to check it! :lol:

Heck.... NOW I've forgotten what I was gonna say! :shock:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Go figure! :P

Um.... you didn't actually B-E-L-I-E-V-E me, did you Greg??? :lol:

I'm just waiting for the "MOOD" to hit me again! I think I'm gonna go over to the truckstop and get a steak dinner and inhale some diesel fumes to get me "primed" first! :wink:

Friggin computers!! :twisted:

I truly believe what is important will get done.If you want to see the country you will if not then take a nap. i drank my way around the far east in the 70's in the Navy and don't have not a picture now. Not much chance of getting back so there went that chance. All I can say is get a camera and see America now while it is still out there.

I do not understand why all the new members, right after they sign up, go back and bring three year old threads back to life.

Some of us, when we first come on, do searches for areas of interest and add to them. How many times have you seen someone come on here and ask a question only to be referred by an oldtimer to a 3 year old thread or be told to "search" for something. Poor newbies just can't win either way they go.:lol:

As to the topic.....when I first started driving in the early 90's the wife and I locked up the house and spent a year on the road taking time off in areas we wished to see throughout the US and Canada...had a great time. She was a non-driving partner. We'd ask for time off but, instead of wanting to be routed through the house we'd give someplace else, pull into a truckstop nearby and rent a car for 2 to 5 days. After spending 20 years in the army and lots of time away from each other...it was a great time.

Having said that...nowadays I'm mostly by myself and only a couple times a year does the wifey come out with me. Nowadays it's one of the 11 grandkids. Just the other night my son, who lives in Alaska, asked me if I'd take his 2 boys (seperately) out with me for a week or two to see our country...my son evidently enjoyed the trips out with me more than I thought. Great places to see...and a great time for quality one on one time.

Just one of the many ways to make the job alot easier.

Only reason I'm mad at not being able to do it right now is the fact of being stuck in the same city for years.
At least when I was driving, I didn't have to worry about remaining in one place for too long.