How To Get Those Miles

Wow! That is one great DM!! That is what I truly believe, treat them right and if they don't treat you right in return, it would then be time to find a new company who will treat you right and respect the fact that you are not a complainer! There should be more drivers like you, who just do their job and take the good with the bad and deal with it.... Keep on truckin' and safe travels!

Personally, I despise running on recaps. I hate being more boxed in than I already am, and with recaps that's exactly what you are: boxed in, limited to the same number of hours you drove 8 days ago.

I would much rather have the freedom to drive a full 11 hours each day. Then you can knock out those occasional 600 mile runs in one day instead of two. Or a 1200 mile run in 2 days instead of 3. And so on...

In the world of flatbedding in particular, it behooves you to try and cram as many pickups and deliveries as possible into the time period between 7am Monday and 5pm Friday.

And I greatly enjoy having a full day off after a week of hard work. I feel like I've earned it, and I can get a lot more done that way than if I only have a couple extra hours off each day.

I don't plant to do distance running, but today I started near Charlotte NC and made it to Memphis. QC says 10h 59m, 610.2 miles.

Getting home is a big motivator!

If you get nailed by a camera in an Illinois construction zone, you deserve it. They park the photo vans in the most conspicuous place with a big sign on the back with the speed limit and a giant "Your Speed is xx" sign below it. You can see it miles away.

If you're that inattentive, you deserve the ticket. And there are only 4 for the entire state - I've only seen them 3 times in the 8 years I've lived in Illinois.

It is a good system, however we did lose 3 drivers last month due to speeding citations. Interestingly, we received a fleet message the other day regarding Illinois. . All the road construction with the signs saying "speed photo enforced"? Yup that's how we lost those drivers when they received citations speeding in construction zones caught by photo enforcement. Me.. I'd have fought that tooth and nail, but I'm one of THOSE drivers with the huge lineup behind them in road construction, because I don't generally speed in construction zones.

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Uh oh. I sped in those zones yesterday on i88. There were no workers and I was trying to somewhat appease the a-holes behind me. Crap.

If i need to, I'll drive until the QC shows I have about an hour drive time left. I have planned several truck stops I could stop at, so after ten hours I head for the best one. If I know I'm going to get to a place I know has a spot for me (terminals, some of Swift's customers have parking areas) I can drive out my last minutes.

I rarely use "chain" truck stops for my 10 hour break. They are usually crowded by the early evening. Since I have a regional account, I am more familiar with the truck stops than I would with national driving. I have found several non chain stops which are nice, clean, and almost always have plenty of spaces even late at night. Make your choices, and build your own list.

This is such a good point. At some of those smaller truck stops you're almost guaranteed a spot anytime! I've also gotten into the habit of calling the receiver to ask if they've got truck parking. If they do I can take my 8 or 10 hr break there and sometimes end up being unloaded before I was even scheduled to be there.

Personally, I despise running on recaps. I hate being more boxed in than I already am, and with recaps that's exactly what you are: boxed in, limited to the same number of hours you drove 8 days ago.

I would much rather have the freedom to drive a full 11 hours each day. Then you can knock out those occasional 600 mile runs in one day instead of two. Or a 1200 mile run in 2 days instead of 3. And so on...

In the world of flatbedding in particular, it behooves you to try and cram as many pickups and deliveries as possible into the time period between 7am Monday and 5pm Friday.

And I greatly enjoy having a full day off after a week of hard work. I feel like I've earned it, and I can get a lot more done that way than if I only have a couple extra hours off each day.

I think this is really my issue with more miles in one day. I can understand the dedicated routes and weekends off. But I run 7 days a week. So if I run 300.miles a day that's 2100 miles and 400 miles a day is 2800. I'm happy with that lol. I just looked and I ran a couple days this week over 500 and a couple days under 300... still totalled 2900 this week. Plus I had "easy"days in there lol