HitchDaysShort answer
Find the first day of any hitch. Mark that day and the 13 days after it as work days, mark the next 14 as home days, and repeat. Each hitch starts 28 days after the last one, on the same day of the week, so once you know one first hitch day you can write the whole year by adding 28 days at a time.
What you need before you start
- One first hitch day you're sure of. The day your company counts as day 1 of a hitch, past or future. Last hitch's start date works fine.
- How your company counts the travel day. If you fly out on a Monday and start work Tuesday, is Monday day 1 or a day off? Ask once and write it down; it decides whether every date on your calendar is right.
- A paper calendar, a spreadsheet, or your phone.
Steps
Write down the first hitch day. Call it day 1. In the example below that is Tuesday, September 29, 2026.
Add 14 days for the first home day. Day 1 plus 14 is the first day home: Tuesday, October 13. The last day of the hitch is the day before, Monday, October 12.
Add 28 days for each next hitch. September 29 plus 28 is October 27, then November 24, then December 22. Never add 14 to get the next hitch; that lands you on a home day.
List the year. About 13 hitches fit in a year: 365 days divided by 28 is just over 13.
Color the days. Shade each hitch's 14 days one color and the 14 home days another. Most people use a dark color for work and a light one for home.
Check one date you already know. Pick a past crew change you remember and make sure it falls on the right square. If it is off by one, your day 1 was really the travel day or the day after it.
Worked example: a 14/14 from September 2026
First hitch day Tuesday, September 29, 2026. Every hitch starts on a Tuesday, because 28 days is exactly four weeks.
| On hitch (days 1 to 14) | Home (days 1 to 14) |
|---|---|
| Tue Sep 29 to Mon Oct 12 | Tue Oct 13 to Mon Oct 26 |
| Tue Oct 27 to Mon Nov 9 | Tue Nov 10 to Mon Nov 23 |
| Tue Nov 24 to Mon Dec 7 | Tue Dec 8 to Mon Dec 21 |
| Tue Dec 22 to Mon Jan 4, 2027 | Tue Jan 5, 2027 to Mon Jan 18, 2027 |
| Tue Jan 19, 2027 to Mon Feb 1, 2027 | Tue Feb 2, 2027 to Mon Feb 15, 2027 |
| Tue Feb 16, 2027 to Mon Mar 1, 2027 | Tue Mar 2, 2027 to Mon Mar 15, 2027 |
| Tue Mar 16, 2027 to Mon Mar 29, 2027 | Tue Mar 30, 2027 to Mon Apr 12, 2027 |
| Tue Apr 13, 2027 to Mon Apr 26, 2027 | Tue Apr 27, 2027 to Mon May 10, 2027 |
Reading it: Thanksgiving, November 26, is day 3 of a hitch. Christmas Day is day 4 of the hitch that starts December 22, and New Year's Day is day 11 of the same one. This is exactly the kind of thing the family wants to know in September, not on December 20.
A spreadsheet that colors the whole year
In Google Sheets or Excel, put the first hitch day in cell B1. In A2 type the same date, in A3 type =A2+1, and fill it down 365 rows. In B2 type:
=IF(MOD(A2-$B$1,28)<14,"Hitch","Home")
Fill it down, then add conditional formatting so "Hitch" cells are dark and "Home" cells are light. For the day of the stretch, put this in C2:
=IF(MOD(A2-$B$1,28)<14,MOD(A2-$B$1,28)+1,MOD(A2-$B$1,28)-13)
It works for dates before the first hitch day too, because MOD in both programs always returns a number from 0 to 27 here. For a different rotation, change 28 to the full cycle and 14 to your days on.
The same steps for other rotations
| Rotation | First home day | Next hitch |
|---|---|---|
| 28/28 | Day 1 + 28 | Day 1 + 56 |
| 2 and 1 (14/7) | Day 1 + 14 | Day 1 + 21 |
| 14/21 | Day 1 + 14 | Day 1 + 35 |
| 7/7 | Day 1 + 7 | Day 1 + 14 |
| 4 on 4 off | Day 1 + 4 | Day 1 + 8 (one weekday later each time) |
Common mistakes
- Calling the first hitch day day 0. If day 1 is September 29, day 14 is October 12, not October 13.
- Adding 14 to find the next hitch. The next hitch is 28 days after the last one started.
- Writing "the 13th to the 26th" for every month. Months are not four weeks long; the dates slide back two or three days each month.
- Mixing up the travel day. Decide once whether the crew change day is day 1 of the hitch or the last home day, and use the same rule every time.
- Not fixing it after a holdover. If you were held over and the rotation shifted, start the calendar again from the new first hitch day.
Questions about 14/14 calendars
Does a 14/14 rotation always start on the same day of the week?
Yes. The full cycle is 28 days, exactly four weeks, so if one hitch starts on a Tuesday every hitch does, until a holdover or a schedule change moves it.
How many hitches are there in a year on a 14/14?
13 hitch starts in most years, because 365 days divided by 28 is just over 13. If January 1 is a first hitch day, or January 2 in a leap year, that year has 14, the last one starting on December 30 or 31.
How many days a year do you work on a 14/14?
182 or 183 days in any calendar year, half the year. The rotation schedules guide compares it with 20/10, 28/14, 21/7, and the others.
What is the difference between 14/14 and 2 and 1?
14/14 is two weeks on and two weeks home. 2 and 1 is two weeks on and one week home, so you work about 243 days a year instead of 183, and the cycle is 21 days instead of 28.
Letting your phone do it
On iPhone you can make the Calendar app repeat a 14-day event every 28 days; the iPhone Calendar guide shows the settings. HitchDays, the app this site is for, does steps 2 to 5 for you: pick 14 and 14, say which day of the stretch today is, and the month is colored and the days until home are on the first screen. If the company moves a crew change, you move one date and the whole year follows. Or check your dates first in the rotation calculator, with this example filled in.