[devildice]

Originally Posted by steelhauler2007

Hey DD,any idea where you will load out of when you leave the house? Alot of times I will pick up in Seguin (re bar) or Eagle Pass (coils).Enjoy your weekend.

I have no idea so I could not even guess where or what I might load. Guess we'll see here in a few days :wink:

[garyavp]

chief, could you give me a blow by blow description of a day. I know you roll at 4am, how long do you roll before a break? how long. lunch? shut down? just would like to get a glimpse of a day in the life. thanks

[rjallen]

Originally Posted by garyavp

chief, could you give me a blow by blow description of a day. I know you roll at 4am, how long do you roll before a break? how long. lunch? shut down? just would like to get a glimpse of a day in the life. thanks

Good idea :P

I would like to hear about this too.!

Rick

[devildice]

Originally Posted by garyavp

chief, could you give me a blow by blow description of a day. I know you roll at 4am, how long do you roll before a break? how long. lunch? shut down? just would like to get a glimpse of a day in the life. thanks

Well I do not always start at 4am, it all depends on where I am and how far I have to go. But a "typical" day for ME, is once I wake up at whatever designated time, I get cleaned up, brew a pot of coffee, update my log book and if time permits, jump on the internet and see what's going on in the world, then off I go.

The only time I generally stop is for fuel. But I try to plan my fuel stops for when I shut down. Other than that I do not stop for lunch or anything else. Again, this all depends on where I am and how far I have to go. I try to make all my deliveries at least a day early, but this is just me.

There have been times when I only had 300-500 miles to go and all day to get there......(one time had 350 miles to run in a weekend) in a case like that I may stop a couple of times to sight see or just take a break.

The way I run is strickly what I like to do and NOT because Davis or anyone else says I have to. In fact, Davis gives you more than enough time to deliver as the day you load does not count and they dispatch you at 500 miles per day.

My personal preference is that when I am running, I like to "keep the left door shut".

[garyavp]

once agan, thanks for the info. Actually staring to feel like is going to be a good fit for me.

[devildice]

Originally Posted by garyavp

once agan, thanks for the info. Actually staring to feel like is going to be a good fit for me.

You're welcome.....I too felt it was and IS a good fit for me.

[dewercs2]

Hey Devildice,

Man Time sure does fly when your at home...
I was out of service in stockton, CA. They had me DH home 440 miles. I got home around 7:30 and unloaded the truck into my wifes Tahoe. My wife kept asking if I still wanted rolled tacos from the for dinner. I was going through withdrawls of no mexican food for 2 months.

I too jumped on the scale and found that I had lost a few pounds.

I was away from driving for 8 days but still working... Damn Honey Do list was long... I was still doing stuff up until 7pm the night before I was to leave in the AM.

When I called in on Tuesday AM to find out what I was to pick up I was told Um, Well it's a bunch of stuff, its an irrigation place that is moving to Idaho from CA.

I lleft home at 5:30am and drove over to Tustin, CA. I was there at 7:40am. They started to load me with junk... old oil covered machinery, fittings in crates, open crates with metal sticking out etc...

I was watching these guys load me real close. The loader tried to put on 3 machines that had casters on them. I watched as the first one went on and then said how am I suppose to keep that from rolling off the truck? The loader told me that they had sent out another truck yesterday with machines on wheels and that driver didn't say anything. I told this guy sorry he needed to put the stuff on pallets and band them to the pallet. This guy was pissed and said that he had been loading trucks for 20 years including Davis trucks and he was never told he had to do this. I told him Oh well, pallet or it stays here..... around noon the loaders broke for lunch and then came back 45 minutes later... As a pallet when on I was strapping down. These guys had to look at each pallet or machine and try to figure out how to load onto the truck using as little room as possible so they could load more...

I was there dealing with this until 5:30pm.... I had it tarped and bungied in about 30 minutes with the help of one of the guys there.

I had to scale out down the street and then figured why get on L.A freeways (5, 55, 91 and 15) during rush hour so back to the place I was loaded at and went back off duty.

That was a long night.... I stopped in Barstow at 11:15pm

I still have the oil and coolant leak.... Getting up and driving through Vegas was fun, not... I had to stop a few times to let the truck cool down. I stopped in Parowan, UT for fuel had dinner and took a shower. I then headed for Salt Lake City and got there around 11:30pm. My days are running so damn long....

I ended my drop this afternoon in American Falls, Idaho and was off and running to Twin Falls. I have a metal shipping container chained and strapped on the trailer now. I'm going to Seattle, Washington. I have to call for routing in the AM. I was told to load and then shut down at the truck stop down the street. I was really wanting to keep driving and try to make Boise tonight but what the heck I'll shut it down early. This is my first time running with a container so I'm being careful. the container is kinda heavy 48,680lbs but the real problem is that it's tall.... so slow it will be going. I'll have to listen to the warning bells going off for the next few days. 8)

I hope to be in Missoula sometime next week to get this truck fixed. :?:
Damn... I just realized there isn't a spell check on here.....!

take care... see ya when I see ya....

374T

[devildice]

Originally Posted by dewercs2

Hey Devildice,

Man Time sure does fly when your at home...
I was out of service in stockton, CA. They had me DH home 440 miles. I got home around 7:30 and unloaded the truck into my wifes Tahoe. My wife kept asking if I still wanted rolled tacos from the for dinner. I was going through withdrawls of no mexican food for 2 months.

I too jumped on the scale and found that I had lost a few pounds.

I was away from driving for 8 days but still working... Damn Honey Do list was long... I was still doing stuff up until 7pm the night before I was to leave in the AM.

When I called in on Tuesday AM to find out what I was to pick up I was told Um, Well it's a bunch of stuff, its an irrigation place that is moving to Idaho from CA.

I lleft home at 5:30am and drove over to Tustin, CA. I was there at 7:40am. They started to load me with junk... old oil covered machinery, fittings in crates, open crates with metal sticking out etc...

I was watching these guys load me real close. The loader tried to put on 3 machines that had casters on them. I watched as the first one went on and then said how am I suppose to keep that from rolling off the truck? The loader told me that they had sent out another truck yesterday with machines on wheels and that driver didn't say anything. I told this guy sorry he needed to put the stuff on pallets and band them to the pallet. This guy was pissed and said that he had been loading trucks for 20 years including Davis trucks and he was never told he had to do this. I told him Oh well, pallet or it stays here..... around noon the loaders broke for lunch and then came back 45 minutes later... As a pallet when on I was strapping down. These guys had to look at each pallet or machine and try to figure out how to load onto the truck using as little room as possible so they could load more...

I was there dealing with this until 5:30pm.... I had it tarped and bungied in about 30 minutes with the help of one of the guys there.

I had to scale out down the street and then figured why get on L.A freeways (5, 55, 91 and 15) during rush hour so back to the place I was loaded at and went back off duty.

That was a long night.... I stopped in Barstow at 11:15pm

I still have the oil and coolant leak.... Getting up and driving through Vegas was fun, not... I had to stop a few times to let the truck cool down. I stopped in Parowan, UT for fuel had dinner and took a shower. I then headed for Salt Lake City and got there around 11:30pm. My days are running so damn long....

I ended my drop this afternoon in American Falls, Idaho and was off and running to Twin Falls. I have a metal shipping container chained and strapped on the trailer now. I'm going to Seattle, Washington. I have to call for routing in the AM. I was told to load and then shut down at the truck stop down the street. I was really wanting to keep driving and try to make Boise tonight but what the heck I'll shut it down early. This is my first time running with a container so I'm being careful. the container is kinda heavy 48,680lbs but the real problem is that it's tall.... so slow it will be going. I'll have to listen to the warning bells going off for the next few days. 8)

I hope to be in Missoula sometime next week to get this truck fixed. :?:
Damn... I just realized there isn't a spell check on here.....!

take care... see ya when I see ya....

374T

Yes time is sure flying by. Here it is Saturday already and it feels like I just got home. I did manage to get my business taken care of concerning my retirement and that is a relief and a ton of weight off my shoulders.

I manage to get my truck outfitted with all my stuff (been running on what little I brought to training) and even built a self at the foot of my bunk to hold my microwave and coffee pot :wink:

Then the rest of the time I have been knocking out that "Honey-Do" list one item at a time. As I feel like I am making headway on the list, I look at it again and I swear it grew :lol: :lol:

Couple of more items to take care of today and then I get to completely rest and relax on Sunday (yeah right) On a side but twisted note, I am starting to feel like I am going through withdrawls and need to get back on the road....... :shock:

Glad to hear you are not letting these loaders control the situation. I had a simular situation a while back where I told the loader I did not like the way the load was placed and asked him if he could rearrange it a certian way. Well he got an attitude and expressed that he always loads flatbeds this way and no one ever had a problem with it. I said well, I am not every flatbed and it either gets re-arranged or it comes off completely. I said all this in the nicest possible way and explained to him why I thought it needed to be changed. He wasn't too happy about it, but eventually went ahead and did as I requested.

Not to scare you, but you know that one roll over Davis had was a driver haul one of those containers to Seattle. I know I don't need to tell ya', but take it easy around those curves.

Hope they get that truck fixed for you soon. Knock on wood, mine has been running great so far. Only problem I have at the moment is that the heating element in the passanger side mirror is not working. Get some mositure on it and it's usless to me. I am going to attempt to put "Rain-X" on it and see if it makes a difference.

Anyways, bee safe out there driver and I'll see ya' when I see ya' :wink:

[truckerpreacher]

Hey DD
As a former driver I also enjoy tyour post. You have had some great adventures in such a short time of driving. Sounds like Davis is an alright company. Be safe, looking forward to more through your writings.

[steelhauler2007]

Bad news DD, the honey do lists never gets any shorter.So your getting withdrawals already.That happens. Maybe eventually your wife can go with you.Mine does on occasion.Particularly during the fall to see the trees changing colors.Hope you had a great time off.