Home For a Week After Our First Month on the Road

We arrived at home yesterday afternoon, after spending a little over four weeks on the road. (We left on Sunday, August 14th) I just thought I would say a little about our first trip out.

When we first went out, we were not sure when we would be coming home. Our fleet owner, Expediter Services, asks that we spend three weeks out / one week at home each month. We thought we would probably spend a little more than the three weeks out, and it turns out, we managed to do just that. We might have stayed out a little longer, but we were able to get a load that came pretty close to home (if you consider 250 miles away close!), so we decided it was time.

It was certainly a learning experience for both Judy and I. Both of us had somewhat of a notion of what life would be on the road, but I am not sure either of us knew exactly what to expect. Having seriously researched expediting over the last three years, I felt I had a pretty good idea what it was going to be like, but there were some surprises along the way.

Probably the most surprising thing to us was the lack of waiting on loads. Maybe it was just beginners luck, but we never sat more than 1 day waiting on a load, and in many cases, were predispatched on our next load, before we even were near our delivery. Talk to almost any expediter, and they will almost always say one of the hardest things is waiting on loads. At least this time out, we really didn't have much waiting time. In fact, there were a couple of times that we actually turned down loads, as we were just too tired to keep running.

Probably the hardest thing to get used to is trying to get enough sleep. Judy and I have tried to follow the advice of one of the expediting couples we have gotten to know about working in "shifts". As we are only allowed to drive a maximum of 11 hours a day (and all within a 14 hour window once you go on duty.) We have been trying to split the day in half, with Judy driving (or on duty) from 2am to 2pm, and me driving from 2pm to 2am. We are still trying to get used to this schedule. So far, we haven't been that successful, but I think the last few days in the truck worked out pretty well, so I guess it is something we will just have to get used to. Of course, being off for a week sort of throws a wrench in the schedule.

Also, trying to sleep in a moving truck takes some getting used to. Someone needs to invent a way to smooth out those bumpy roads! Much better ride than when my dad drove, but still, some of those bumps literally almost throw you out of the sleeper.

We hauled a total of 15 loads and managed to put a little over 12,000 miles on the truck, while traveling through parts of 21 states and 1 province in Canada. We were so close to the border in Laredo, TX that we could look across over into Mexico. We managed to miss all the the southeastern states, as well as all of the west. I think we crossed the Mississippi River well over 20 times (but more than 10 of those were in just one day!)

We drove through Toronto and New York City. Got to cross both the George Washington Bridge in NY and the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit. Probably one of my favorite places was the farmlands of north central Iowa. Very similar to what we have here in Ohio, but the farms were fewer and much farther between. Very peaceful. Also, the windmills farms they are putting up out on the plains are very impressive.

Spent about 3 days with the truck in the shop getting various things fixed and the oil changed. We also spent about a day and a half running from Hurricane Irene. We were about 12 hours ahead of the storm in New Jersey, but we managed to just get sprinkled on. We also took a little time off when we were just to tired to go on. In total, we were probably out of service for about 6 of the days we were out, with most of that, not by our choice.

Altogether, I think we had a pretty good initial month on the road. We are looking forward to getting back out there, but it is really nice to be at home and get to spend time with the family. Will be doing a little work on the truck for the rest of the week. There are several minor "issues" to work out, and it would be nice to get the truck washed and waxed. All in all, we are thankful we get time to spend home. We plan to go back into service sometime next Monday, Sept. 19