Texas, Take 5

DATELINE: MARSHALL, TX. Today we started our fifth trip to southern Texas (Bruce has a regular route down here.) He picked me up at the hotel at 11:30 last night and we bobtailed (drove with the cab only, no trailer attached) to our pickup site in Tipp City about 9 miles up the road. There we hooked up an empty trailer to haul down to Brownsville for loading. After Bruce hooked up, I took over the wheel to begin the drive down at just about midnight. (All times in these posts will be in Eastern time.)

An aside about "the hotel" I mentioned above: USA Truck puts up its drivers waiting for their assignments at a Howard Johnson's hotel in Vandalia. Wave as you drive by at about mile marker 60 on I-75; it's on the east side of the highway. But back to our story.

We seem to be following our usual script on this trip. I start out and drive the overnight hours to somewhere near Memphis, TN. Bruce then relieves me and drives across Arkansas and into northeastern Texas, often to right here in Marshall. We're parked in a Wal-Mart lot that we've stopped at every single time so far, even though I haven't always taken over the driving here. I don't know what Bruce does here, but I'm usually asleep when he stops, and by the time I wake up to check out the situation, he's outta' the truck and disappeared. So I then put on my shoes (and coat if it's chilly) and amble into the store to use the facilities and grab a sandwich from the deli if it's about time for my driving shift to start. Today we're making really good time, and at the time we stopped I still needed 2 more hours of legal break before I can start driving again. I don't know if Bruce is planning on staying here that long, but we have been parked here for as long as 1-1/2 hours before (and I still don't know what for).

This might be a good time to briefly explain the Department of Transportation's (DOT's) regulations regarding driving hours for commercial drivers. They have 4 basic stipulations:
1. 11-Hour Rule: A driver can drive no more than 11 hours during any shift before s/he must take a 10-hour break before s/he can drive again.
2. 14-Hour Rule: Once a driver comes on duty, s/he can only work 14 hours--whether driving or doing any other work activity--before s/he must take a 10-hour
break before s/he can drive again. (S/he can work beyond 14 hours, but s/he must take the break before driving again.)
3. 70-Hour Rule: A driver can only work (all on-duty time, whether driving or not) 70 hours in any 8-day period.
4: 34-Hour Restart: If a driver takes 34 consecutive hours off, his/her 70-hour counter restarts.
Simple enough, no? Now back to our story again.

I was planning on sleeping some more during this stop, but I kept composing this post in my head, so I gave in to actually type it up. Anyway, I was explaining our normal "script" for this south Texas run before I sidetracked. After Bruce's (daytime) shift into NE Texas, I run overnight down US-59 to Victoria (100-ish miles south of Houston), then down US-77 to Brownsville. By then, morning is usually breaking (or broken fully, as it was last time) and I pull into a small truck stop in town. Bruce then takes over and drives to our 2 pickup sites for loading while I sleep (or check e-mail while the truck's not moving and bouncing around). After we're all loaded up, Bruce starts the trek back north along 77 to 59. Somewhere north of Houston he'll use up his 11 hours and I'll get back behind the wheel and drive through the dark back to somewhere past (east of) Memphis, where Bruce will take back over and finish the drive back to Vandalia.

Well, this post is getting lengthy, so I'll stop here for today. I hope it's enlightening to you. We're still in the Wal-Mart lot after 1-1/4 hours, and still no sign of Bruce. So I'll check my e-mail. Hope all is well with you, and keep on truckin'.