BD69: The Owner Operator Chronicles

Ol' Panhandle got ahold of me tonight and suggested that I drop in and let y'all in on the goings on and I figured that wouldn't be a bad idea.
I did leave Morehouse after being unable to reach a suitable arrangement on the truck I had. It continued to cut out a cylinder and that absolutely mangled my fuel mileage. At the point it was suggested to me that I turn in the truck, go back to driving at company rates and start over again when a new batch of trucks came up for sale, I knew that all the money I had poured into the truck was wasted and I had no intention of throwing good money after bad buying anything with an ISX that had been run on bulk oil and extended drains...I've seen several of them filter through the shop that had spontaneously drained all the oil by way of a large hole in the block. So, I packed out and headed for home to do the real important job in front of me being the executor of my Dad's estate. I'll spare y'all the details of that, just suffice it to say it has been an emotionally draining experience. A few of the people in this thread know, I've spoken with them on a number of occasions and they have my enduring gratitude.

So, now I'm home, dealing with lawyers and stockbrokers and other assorted lowlifes who were necessary evils in closing an estate. After a couple weeks, I decided to go on a little golf outing with a few of my buddies. Awhile back, while pulling open deck for Gaines, I royally screwed up my Achilles tendon and ended up in a boot for 6 weeks or so trying to avoid surgery. On the second day of golfing my ankle started tightening up, the next morning I couldn't bear any weight on it at all. Back home to the doctor...4 days later, surgery to clean up scar tissue. Not much fun.

While recovering from this, I found another truck, the 379 got sold from underneath me, and cut a deal to buy it. I was on the shelf for a total of 7 weeks before I was in a soft boot and could start moving about under my own power. This time flew by with estate/wedding stuff...more on the wedding later. I knew a guy who knew a guy who was moving steel loads around South Carolina for really good rates and called him up and worked out a deal to pull his freight...slowly at first because I wasn't sure how the ankle was going to hold up, but these loads didn't require tarps, just 8-10 straps and go. Was making some really good money with very minimal expense so I bought a stepdeck to haul other types of loads, mostly equipment, come spring when construction really steps up again. I've applied for my own authority and it should be active in about three weeks but I plan to stick with what I'm doing for awhile to age the MC a little.

Guys, thers a hell of a lot more to it than that but those are the highlights, in time I'll be able to fill in the gaps a bit.

Also, and I'm really not sure why I'm responding to such nonsense, I quit smoking over a year ago so the whole dirty, cigarette ashes all over the place truck is a complete pile of...well, yall can figure that one out. Maybe they dropped someone else in it, I don't know and really don't care to awful much.

The wedding? Well, as of this moment, it's off. Truth be told I think she came to her senses.

And in case anyone is interested, this is the truck I bought. 2001 FLD with a 2000 S-60, 13 speed with 3.55 rears. She pulls great and I'm averaging 7.21 mpg with loads ranging in the 40-48k range. Uses next to no oil and pulls harder than any 12.7 should.

More later...

 

Thanks, Brother. Once I'm actually back at it full time I'll be updating more like I used to. I needed a little time to get this stuff behind me so I didn't turn the thread into some sort of soap opera.

 

Hope all of y'all are home for Christmas. I'm done until January 3rd when I'm going to ne taking a load to Missoula, Montana that nobody else wants to touch. 2307 miles at $2.95 per mile. Then I'll reload, head right back to Columbia, SC at the same rate and resume hauling steel around. Anyone who knows my history with weather, particularly snow, is probably shaking their head and figuring out my route out of Columbia and working out a way to stay at least 500 miles off my track. This would very likely be a good idea, but I do love that part of the country so I'm willing to give it a go.

More later...

 

You are so right...