Trip Planning Tutorial

This post is not intended for you experienced drivers. I am posting this for the newbies and the wannabe’s. I am well aware that experienced drivers can and do take liberties with the spirit if not the letter of the law that is the Hours of Service Regulations. I prefer to have those inexperienced drivers follow those regulations religiously. At least until they get comfortable with commercial driving during the first couple of months. If they can avoid accidents, they will have plenty of time to learn how to "creatively" do their logbooks.
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. The following example while done in Microsoft Word will give you an idea of what your spreadsheet should ultimately look like. While it does not include the 70 hour / 60 hour or 14 hour rule specifically, it gives you the general idea of what you can create. It ain’t perfect but at least it is a starting point. The Enroutes used under trip planning are basically tire and safety checks that under the FMCSR [federal motor carrier safety regulations] that you are supposed to be doing every 3 hours.
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. ......................STARTS .ENDS
.ROUTE... STATE... EXIT ...EXIT ...MILES ...........TRIP PLANNING
. ..........................................................Listed trip mile
. ..........................................................Max. miles (Listedmiles * 1.1)
. ..........................................................Hrs driving (max miles / 50)
. ..........................................................Enroutes (Hrs driving / 3)
. ..........................................................Hrs Enroute (Enroutes *0.25)
. ..........................................................Already used hours on-duty
. ..........................................................Subtotal hrs (Hrs driving+
. .......................................................... already used)
........................................................... Dot breaks (Subtotal Hrs /10)
. ..........................................................Hrs Dot (Dot breaks * 10)
. ....................................................................REQUIRED HOURS
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. ..........................................................Meals (Hrs driving * ???)
. ..........................................................Showers (Hrs driving / ???)
. ..........................................................Hrs showers (Showers * ???)
. ...................................................................PERSONAL HOURS
. ....................................................................FINAL TOTAL HOURS

Note: Using Office 98.​

To change the margins in Microsoft Excel press File, Page Setup and Margins. Set the top margin to 2inches and the left, right and bottom margins to 0.25". You can also centered the sheet horizontally and vertically.
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Next click on the tab titled "Sheet". Make sure gridlines is checked. Then press OK.
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In order to print the gridlines correctly, enter one space in the lowest right corner of the sheet and press Enter to display all of the gridlines.
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Before printing the spreadsheet use File and Print Preview to see how it will look before you print it out.
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You can create your own grid display in the top 2 inches of margin if you cutout and tape a portion of a logbook graph and then make copies.

 

Simplifying the complicated a bit. My perspective.

First step: Figure out your routing
Most drivers have there routes determined by there dispatch, I can pick my own route. I always look at the route given to me and only change from it for the following reasons.
a.) Can I improve on it.
b.) Does it take me on road I dont like (I-70 grand juction to Denver
with heavy load).
c.) Is there something I want to see going another way
d.) Is there something like bad weather heavy traffic ets. I can avoid
by choosing a route of my own.
e.) Scenic route: big part of why I got into trucking. If I have the
time and it wont hurt me, I will always drive the little county and
state roads over the interstates. I have to take a bit of xtra time
to reasearch weights an hights but 2 me well worth it.

Second step, factor in all the things on your route that will slow you down.
Look at your routing and add in the extra time where its needed so you dont end up late and so all delays that come up are planned for not unexpected. I look at big cities and from experience I know how much time I will loose driving threw each one, even a new driver can come pretty close, experience just adds refinement. A lot of times I will make the decision on the fly to take a loop or shoot threw a city. Experience helps here as well. Time of day, looking at the traffic, hitting the local radio for a minut or so, turning on the cb for a minut or so. Weather effects your routing and times as well. A quick 30 second glance at any weather station thats on a display at any truck stop will let you know if further research is needed on your route. Internet on your I-phone app is easiest way to research it further.

Third step, figuring out my Hours of Service available and times I will drive Apx times and places I will rest.

When I was new this was the hard part for me, gets easier with time, now my brain just does it automatically without me even thinking about it. I know what all my recap/rollover hours are in my head for the next few days ahead, I glance at my logs at the end of my shift the new numbers are just automatically factored in and adjusted. These are the hours assuming I havent had a 34hr restart in last 8 days i can legally drive for each day. When I started I had to wright it down on a notebook page. Ecample: 1/23 8hrs on 70, 1/24 9hrs coming back, 1/25 11hrs coming back ets. Figure out the time I would drive, expected miles for that time based on possible delays (experience will refighn it to almost an exact science), and the time I had available and would drive the next day. I would do this before I even got the trip. I would know my trip top to bottom, how much extra time I had so I could maby plan something fun along my trip. If I would be short on time, so I could explain it to my dispatch almost immediately.

Always plan to run like hell till you are close to your shipper unless you have enough time for the delay you took pluss 4 hrs.

Sounds kinda screwey, so I will give an example. I am running from Montana to San Diego. I got plenty of hours and I want to stop in vegas for say 4hrs. Unless I have it planned so my 10hr rest will fall when I am close to Vegas, I will pass on it unless I can trip plan so that even with the extended break in vegas I can still arrive at my receiver in San Diego 4hrs early for redundancy purposes. A late load is almost the same as a wreck in most trucking companies eyes, never take chances. Always see vegas later. Getting a new job much harder than finding a route threw vegas.


Basic example of my trip plan:

I am half hour from shipper which I pickup at 07:00mtn. I know that I have about 5 hrs drive from shipper to big city. I will plan to shut down after 4 hrs drive time without stopping the truck once for any reason, look at my gps, used to use fuel guide before gps, to see what truck stops or rest areas are about 200miles from the shipper, I know at noon there will be parking at all of them, not sweating it. Start driving at around midnight fly threw the city, dont take loop becouse I know this city and that at 01:00 I can fly threw there, no prob. I run like hell till bout 09:00 the next day. I got my recap hours back at midnight so now I am good as far as being able to pull full 10hr shifts. Taking the break early actually gave me more time to run, not only that the time I do run will be faster with less traffic, shorter routes, and less weigh stations to hit, only drawback is dealing with the shift changes on the fly, at first constantly changing shifts especially on the fly is a reall bear, massive fatigue but over time your brain adjust to the point where it is the same mentally for you as if you working a standard 9-5 everyday. When I grab fuel always glance at the display TV's at the truck stop to see if any storms are around my next days drive if so I will use my I-phone to see if I need to adjust. Very very simple. In my head I have already figured my drive times and Apx. miles for each shift, when I will arive preferably close to a full clock so I can pick up another load after my delivery. ets. Very simple.

 

Is there a "thank the thread" button?

Thank you, posters!