With the last eleven days flying by, I was assigned a load that took me east of Wisconsin, but the hours were not there. Sometimes, there seems to be so much to figure out, and when you are close to the end of your day.  That might explain the hurdle I am trying to overcome, when it comes to that concept of “Switching Gears” (when the truck isn’t running, it is the ten wheeled office). It is not that I took on too much, but another concept I call “A work in Progress”. For the professional driver, keeping focus on the responsibilities of when the truck is moving, the paperwork, and that hours of service, anything done one “line 1 (off duty)” should involve resting, or leisure. Taking a 34 hour break is the best time to take on little tasks and projects. Trying to do any more than records keeping is a daunting task. Keeping things within a fifteen minute task or activity would be suitable in the two hour period of a ten hour break, even if that. Those two hours are basically to cleanup, wash up, and eat.

I continue to improve on that, when it comes to not waiting for the truck to rest for that ten hour break, with the occasional scanning of the paperwork. When I try to add onto the daily routine and try to incorporate it, the expectations fall short. I think what I am trying to say is that the 100 day countdown will have to be done offline with thoughts of the day, or intentions, and wait for another 34 hour break to catch up. It has to start out as a hobby. Yesterday (Day 90) was a good example. While finishing a delivery, a preplanned load came to me, with a second listed after it. Typically this is good, because it means they try to keep you going. The first thing that came to mind was what I start focusing on is whether I had the hours coming to me. For a time in the past, I really got good at doing what I call “rolling Recaps”. This ids where the 70 hour rule has a driver count the last eight days back (starting with the present day), and add the total hours for each day. You can never go over 70 Hours total from these eight days. When a driver counts back to the eighth day, that is how many hours of that day can be counted on for the next day (the ninth day). No need to teach this to the reader, except to show that a driver has to plan his next planned load around available hours he/she has.

I was able to accept the first pre planned load, but not the second. It turns out that over the Memorial day weekend, I drove to where I was going to deliver, and then had the day to myself. I used it to catch up on the Blog. So, I drove five and a half hours, and then, had a zero hour day afterwards. Typically, if a driver is going to sit for over 24 hours, they decide to just sit out another ten hours (34 Hour break achieved), which “resets the 70 hour rule, meaning on the next day you start counting the hours of that day, and for the next eight days, giving you a new starting point, and a zero hour balance. By the federal regulations, a driver can use the 34 hour rule once a week. I try to keep the truck moving, so by balancing out the hours (I let them know I wish to work only eight to eleven hours a day), every day after my eighth day comes back as the total number of hours I can work tomorrow. That’s what I call the “rolling recaps”, and I can go three weeks straight before informing them that I am taking another 34 hour break. I made that my own requirement, since in the past, working beyond that was leading to exhaustion.

Because of Memorial Day weekend, and the way I ran the load, I was not able to reset my hours, and that five and a half hours came back, with the zero hours the next day, and the second preplan needed 16 hours to run from one customer to another. And, it was a good paying load [sigh]. I don’t know if I was upset with not being able to do it, but it had me call for a thirty four hour restart, in the middle of a work week no less. So, here I sit for the next two days, using it to catch up on everything, cleaning the truck, and do laundry (another task not done on a ten hour break).

It also gives me a chance to do a little preplanning myself. In less than three months, I have to plan on where the truck will switch ownership, and how to approach my new independent role in the workforce. The vision is not what is expected, especially with the door opening to me as an Owner-Operator.  In contradiction to the truck, my thoughts have been how to return back to my own business plan…as an Independent Contractor in the I.T. field, and my own business plan originating as a how to course. Maybe I set the idea of switching gears to an unreachable agenda. Maybe it should not be when the truck shuts off, but when the truck will sit for more than a day. Well, time to back up my files, and work on another aspect of this blog site, or another blog.