Truck Driving School, Day 6 (trip planning)

Day 6

Today turned out to be much more challenging than I had anticipated. The two chapters we covered in the classroom were 'Hours Of Service' and 'Trip Planning;' while I had spent countless hours studying the HOS chapters found in The High Road Training Program, I had not spent any time 'trip planning.' The text covered all of the reasons for the HOS rules & regulations, as well as the economical & efficiency benefits of proper trip planning, and we then got to put our knowledge to practice by planning trips using a load as it might appear coming through the Qualcomm or whatever instrument is being used to capture new loads. This is where it got really fun.

The scenarios were not all that complicated... each trip we planned exhausted our 70hr week, and a 34hr reset was ordered before we were to begin planning our next load, so we did not have to rely on working with 'recap' hours to make the deliveries on time. Also, the 8/2 split sleeper birth was not covered in the class, so I felt if I had used that rule in my planning, which really wasn't necessary to deliver the hypothetical loads on time, it would have been perceived as 'showing off,' so I stuck to the concepts that the instructor taught to the whole class. 

My only real concern with today's lessons was the length of time it took me to pre-plan the trip; in one case I spent close to two hours performing the trip planning. I mentioned my concern to the instructor, that I was afraid I might spend two hours pre-planning a load when I should be driving, but he calmed me down saying that I'll soon learn the routes and that this was my first crack at it, that it'll take a fraction of the time in real life compared to the effort I'm putting into it right now. 

The High Road training paid off big time, as I was able to begin my trip planning immediately, while the others were still trying to grasp the concept of spending 10 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth after they had driven for 11 hours (remember, the 8/2 split sleeper berth had not been covered, even though that is an alternative to spending 10 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth). One of the students staying in the same hotel as I asked if I wouldn't mind giving him some help with all of it, so tonight we spent about 2 1/2 hrs. in my room working through the most involved trip we were given, me helping him to understand the concepts found in the Hours Of Service. I was more than happy to help; I feel as though I'm getting these small opportunities to 'pay it forward' in helping others understand what we're being taught, which I'm grateful to do, as I've been fortunate to learn from the experience and wisdom of Brett, the moderators, and everyone else who contributes their time this site.