I love night driving too!
I wake up about noon and work until about 4 or 5 am!

 

Even though I hate winter driving, which I am sure I am not alone, it is easier than driving during the day for the most part. It is a matter of adjustment and what you feel comfortable driving in. I pretty much only drove nights.

The only exception to this is the roads that are known to be bad. Then I would find a place to park and camp out for the night. I am not sure what others consider a bad road, but US97 which runs through Oregon is the one road that I would not drive at night during the winter as the roads get really bad. As a comparison, I don't mind driving up and over Cabbage/Meecham on my way into Idaho as the road is clear from other drivers, yeah the snow sucks, but it's part of the job.

As far as Per Dium... Well, I did that with Swift, and I lost money on it. For example if I made $.29/mi, They would give me $.19/Mile Taxed, and then they would give me $.08/mi Per Dium, which means for every mile I drove Swift was making $.02/mi off of me as a fee for doing it. I would talk to an accountant before diving into it.

It may work for you and the company you work for, but, for me it did not.

 

I always opted out of the per diem program with Swift myself, so unlike you, I can't say how it ended up in the end. All I do know is, I got a very nice refund from Uncle Sam at the end of the year, and it made my taxes easy enough to figure out without paying someone else to do them. I did hear from quite a few friends still driving up at Swift that per diem hurt them for the time they took it - but unfortunately, most drivers didn't realize they could opt out of the program via the qualcomm.

 

I don't like night driving unless I absolutly have to, otherwise I'm up at 5:00 a.m., pre-tripped by 5:30 a.m., and shut down by 6:00 p.m.

 

I love driving at night, nobody to bother me.

 

US 97 is that te road that runs from weed ca. to biggs junction or. ??? did that in the snow at night while working for FFE, my hands hurt from the death grip I had on the wheel that night, another road was hwy 12 from missoula mt going to lewiston id. going over Lolo Pass, did that at night in the fog and snow, man another night of hands of death... another road I tried was was us 93 going north from southern idaho into missoula, had early mornin drops and ran that at night in the rain, couldn,t see the road at all and had several deer jump out to test my braking skills, never hit anything in roadway but that night was another test for sure, I doon,t mind hwy 95 south from lewiston to I-84 , thats a road I drive alot now with the company I am with, and it was just a few nights ago and the road was still snowy and the wind blowing and its dark out there in the forest. I would prefer to stick to major freeways if starting out as a night driver, I am sure alot of these backwoods hwys are not good even for us who do like to drive at night... just takes time and always watch the road and grip that wheel.... slap my back, 13 months Solo OTR with no wrecks or animal killing.... just like the mailman, rain sleet and snow has not stopped me either... still learn to drive daylight first is my advice

 

US97 Runs from Weed California to the Canadian Border. As far as Lolo goes, Swift had made it clear to all drivers that they are banned from using it. The one that I really love is White Bird. It's something like 7 miles of 6% and it is pretty much a straight run down. I have gone up it, when I was really wet behind the ears and screwed my shifitng up, had to start out in 2nd, and took the hill @25 for arounf 60% because I could not get enough speed up.

The only animals I have killed, luckily, is a white owl, and a racoon. Neither one saw me coming.

 

yeah I thought 97 was the road I took, done it a few times in the dark and YES on banning lolo pass, that road is a test for sure, made me think "Why in the hell am I here" hehehehe anyone likes that road? , I say try it in the dark on a foggy night with 2 feet of snow on the road, yeah I did and its the last time I ever want to go over that mountain, maybe is a car yeah but a 53 footer, hell no......never again hehehehe well okay I would but I am a bit crazy... hehehehehe yeah I am thinking about going swift, there terminal is like right were I live, so I am thhinking about being that man in blue... shhhhhh.. donn,t tell know one though , imagine what will happen on here if they all found out, i would have to come up with a new screen name and start over hhehehehehe so shhhhh....

 

I can drive up until about 1am... then I am ready for the hay. Night is for sleeping. I have a difficult time sleeping during daylight hours. Even when I'm home I'm not one to take a nap during the day.

I usually try to get up by 4am and rolling by 5am in order to shut down at a decent hour and finding a decent parking slot. A decent parking spot for me is one that is close to a grassy area (for my dog's needs) and one that allows me a decent shot of the WiFi antenna. :wink:

 

Per diem is a topic all in it's own. I know that there is at least one thread on this site that offers a pretty indepth discussion on the topic. A search will reveal it.

It is all in the eye of the beholder. I chose per diem and in my case (as well as a lot of other drivers) it worked out better than non-per diem. Most people's gripes are that it benefits the company and not the driver. Of course, it benefits the company, if it didn't they wouldn't offer it... In a lot of cases it can benefit the driver as well. Plus if you take it and it does not use up all of the allowable deduction (which is something like 70% of $52/day) you can still deduct the remaining amount on your taxes. It's a lot like choosing how many deductions you want on your weekly pay. If you choose zero then claim 6 kids at the end of the year you will get a bigger return. If you choose all 6 weekly, you will get a bigger check every week, but your return will be smaller. Do you want it now spread out week to week or do you want one big check in February? It's ususally not the evil that some drivers make it out to be. Do your homework and decide what works best for you...

As for night driving sometimes it can be easier and parking spots are easier to find in the daytime, but I'm an early riser myself. I prefer start as early as possible and shutdown as early as possible. Parking spots aren't usually too tough to find if you're pullin in the T/S about 6 PM or so. Push it till 10 PM - Midnight and you will probably have a tough time.