Unless you drive a dedicated run all the time, there will not really be such a thing as an average trip, but I am going to give you an account of a trip that is typical of the ones I haul. This trip started and ended in Pipestone, Minnesota, and consisted of delivering four loads of boats. Due to the nature of boat-hauling, there are more empty miles than would be encountered in most other areas of trucking. A day-by-day description of the trip follows:
October 14, 1995: Depart Pipestone at 6:00 p.m.; drive 3.75 hours to Council Bluffs, Iowa; take a short break; drive 1.5 hours to Coming, Missouri; spend the night. 304 miles for the day.
October 15, 1995: Depart Coming at 9:00 a.m.; drive 2.5 hours to Peculiar, Missouri; have lunch; drive 4.25 hours to Harrisonville, Arkansas; take a break; drive 2.5 hours to Little Rock, Arkansas; spend the night waiting to unload. 494 miles for the day.
October 16, 1995: Unload in Little Rock for two hours; drive 3.75 hours to Fort Smith, Arkansas; have lunch; drive 2.25 hours to Big Cabin, Oklahoma; fuel the truck; drive .75 hours to Miami, Oklahoma; layover the night waiting to load for Fort Myers, Florida 358 miles for the day.
October 17, 1995: Depart Miami at noon after truck is loaded; drive 3 hours to Fort Smith, Arkansas; take a break; drive 3.5 hours to Palestine, Arkansas; eat supper; drive 3.25 hours to Gu-Win, Alabama; spend the night. 593 miles for the day.
October 18, 1995: Depart Gu-Win at 7:30 a.m.; drive 2.25 hours to Calera, Alabama; take a short break; drive 3.75 hours to Marianne, Florida; fuel up and eat lunch; drive 3.75 hours to Ocala, Florida; take 8-hour break from 7:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. 561 miles for the day.
October 19, 1995: Depart Ocala at 3:30 a.m.; drive 3.5 hours to Fort Myers, Florida; unload for 3 hours; drive 2.5 hours to San Antonio, Florida; eat lunch; drive 3.5 hours to Valdosta, Georgia; layover the night to see where the next load is going. 579 miles for the day.
October 20, 1995: Find out from dispatch that next load is from Topeka, Indiana, to Miamisburg, Ohio; start deadheading to Topeka at 9:45 a.m.; drive 2.75 hours to Jackson, Georgia; fuel up and eat lunch; drive 3.5 hours to Monteagle, Tennessee; take a break; drive 3.25 hours to Sonora, Kentucky; spend the night. 584 miles for the day.
October 21, 1995: Depart Sonora at 8:45 a.m.; drive 2.75 hours to Greenwood, Indiana; have lunch; drive 3.5 hours to Goshen, Indiana; layover the rest of the day and all of the next day waiting to load on Monday morning. 322 miles for the day.
October 23, 1995: Drive .5 hours from Goshen to Topeka, Indiana; spend 3 hours loading; drive 4.25 hours to Miamisburg, Ohio; unload for 1.5 hours; drive 3.5 hours to Angola, Indiana; layover the night to load at Topeka again for Appleton, Wisconsin. 414 miles for the day.
October 24,1995: Drive .75 hours from Angola to Topeka; load for 4 hours; drive 2 hours to Lake Station, Indiana; fuel up and eat; drive 4.75 hours to Appleton, Wisconsin; spend the night waiting to unload. 386 miles for the day.
October 25,1995: Unload for 2 hours; drive 2.5 hours to Tomah, Wisconsin; eat lunch; drive 2.25 hours to Austin, Minnesota; take a break; drive 3.25 hours to Pipestone, Minnesota; end of trip. 454 miles for the day.
Even though this is a typical trip, any aspect of it could and probably would be different on the next trip. It might be necessary to run more miles in less time, or there might be even more layovers. Instead of being approximately 12 days in duration, the next trip might be 2 days or 20 days in length. As the old saying goes, the only thing constant is change.
