Last Tuesday I round-tripped New Orleans from Houston.
I got my paperwork, hooked up and pre-tripped (1 hour) and left Houston, stopped at the state line and at the Love's at the 151 on I-10 (15 minutes each), 5.5 total hours driving to Gentilly in east New Orleans for a drop and hook (30 minutes on-site). Right back onto I-10 back west, where I again stopped at the 151 and the state line (15 minutes each). I got back into town at our drop yard (5.25 hours driving), dropped the trailer (15 minutes) and drove back to the terminal (15 minutes) and did my post-trip (15 minutes). 710 miles, 11 hours driving/3 hours on duty. 64.54 mph average.
That is driving HARD in a 70mph truck with NO accidents, NO slowdowns, NO rush hours, 3 scale pull-throughs, NO lunch, with a simple drop and hook. I also either rounded up or down to the nearest 15 minutes.
You can NOT do that every day legally. Whoever said he averaged 4500 miles a week last year is full of $#!+.
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Contrast that with today- To Corpus Christi Naval Air Station for a live load and back. 565 miles with a live load, fueling the truck, pre-trip and post-trip, a one hour break, and two 15 minute stops for en-route inspections. I averaged 60.47mph down there before the butt-crack of dawn and 56 mph back. The ONLY difference between down there and back was a train in Odem and a little traffic between Hwy 6 and the loop in Houston.
So, same 70mph truck, same hard running, and a 8+ mph swing in average speed because of trivial delays.
I have averaged well under 50mph before. The best I ever averaged was 66mph from Missouri down to Texas, and I was going 70 across 65mph Arkansas.
Again, you just can't do it, neither SAFELY nor LEGALLY.
-p.
(edited to correct a typo)
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