Downtime

Most people are asking me if I have run into any snow in my job as a truck driver. The answer is yes… yes I have. My location is the Petro in Kingdom City, MO. I stopped here last night to get some rest and decided to stay here all day today since there’s about 5 inches of snow on the ground. My load does not deliver until Monday morning and it is only 280 miles away, so I figured I would just sit tight today and let the road improve.

Another advantage to this strategy is that I will get a 34 hour restart. You see, truckers have three clocks they must live by. The first two clocks are the 11 hour and 14 hour clocks. Each driver can drive 11 hours, but those hours must be contained within a period of 14 consecutive hours. And each 14 hour period must be separated by a 10 hour rest period. For example, if I were to get up at 6:00am and start driving, I would have until 8:00pm in which I could work. At 8:00pm I must stop for at least 10 hours whether I want to or not. Within that period I can only drive 11 of the hours and the rest of the hours are used for inspections and breaks. You do not have to drive for 11 hours or use up the whole 14 hours if you do not wish. But you do need the 10 hours rest period to reset the 14 hour clock.

The third clock is the 70 hour clock. Drivers cannot drive for more than 70 hours in 8 days. For example, if I took the total number of hours I had driven for the past 7 days and it came to 65 hours, then today I would only be able to drive 5 hours regardless of the 11 hour and 14 hour clocks. But the 70 hour clock can be reset to zero by going off duty for a period of 34 hours.

So the plan is to sit here until tomorrow morning and then my 70 hour clock will be zeroed. I’m using the time to work on my blog, watch some movies, and just generally not worry about anything. It is a well deserved break after 32 consecutive days of being on the road. As a comparison, imagine living at your place of employment for 32 days without being able to visit family or friends. Oh, and your place of work only has an outhouse for a bathroom.

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