Central Refrigerated Truck Stop II

Thanks for the info, and the flashlight would be for work as well as smacking people lol. Didn't know about the necklace but you learn something new every day. Just trying to gauge the mood before I show up but yall seem pretty cool.

 

I make my own bio diesel for use in my pickup at home, it's a great cheap fuel for beating around town. But I hate running it in my big truck, it doesn't like it, this being said. A lot of the fuel we buy at truck stops now also contains bio, bio diesel causes the normal " green" fuel to look like OJ. Now my main point, bio diesel is terrible about drawing moisture and when it does it REALLY looks like OJ. Biodiesel is also washed with water to remove any residual glycerine or alcohol from the manufacturing process. If it does not get properly "dried" out before blending it can be a real mess. It's a great fuel but it has it's hang ups just like petro diesel and it is very possible in 20% or higher bio blends you'll have some water. Just a little FYI... A sticker on the pump will tell you the bio %. The higher the percentage the more my fuel mileage has suffered. I try to buy the B5 or straight petro when I can.

 

Obviously the numbers I gave are based on one month, and not necessarily what I will make the whole year. I have a couple of rather complex spreadsheets i wrote automate most of my calculations. I'm working on a cash basis right now, therefore cash in minus cash out = profit. Many people argue with this, but this is the way the IRS sees it when they decide how much money you owe them. Maintenance is .02/mi+$50/wk (weird way to figure it, but this is what central recommends). The truck is under warrantee so major repairs should be mostly covered for the next 13 months. Down time costs money, but the expense of repairs can break you.

There's still things to learn. I can't say I know how winter will go, but my low personal expenses mean I can survive a pretty lean winter. My 12 cpm claim was based on august, so I'll post my numbers to show how that came to be.

Total miles 12533
Gross revenue $16447
Fixed costs 3427
Fuel cost 6927
Misc (scales etc) 136
Over Mileage 81 (not exact, dont have odo miles)
Maintenance 471 (put in maintenance act, no service yet)
Net cash flow +$5405 $.431/mile

To call this a business is a bit generous - its self employment. There's a lot of similarities, but businesses have to find customers, where as we are contractually bound to one client. That's a mixed bag. On the one hand I spend no time marketing my service (good), but if my one client encounters any problems, they hit me directly (risk). Before leasing I approximated numbers based on information my trainer gave me, based on leasing for a year.

 

Adra I have seen many women who like women as much as I do in the yard and out on the road. I even see rainbow stickers on trucks. No one bothers them as far as I can tell. Men I have not seen any, or at least none that are obvious about it. I think it is like anywhere no one cares as long as you don't try to "convert" them. Good luck in class. Have you made it to slc yet? I just got in 20 min ago.

 

Anyone at crswvc right now? I'll be here until 2200

 

I'm on the bus headed there now, I'm almost to okc. Should be in slc tomorrow night around 9. And I don't do converting lol I don't need my toaster. And thanks and I just saw my first central truck. Haven't seen any in Arkansas. Which while Arkansas is the state I'm headed out from its not my home. Any idea how often trucks go through the Olympia, wa area? I imagine pretty often since oly is on I-5 but just making sure

 

Dang it I would like to have met you. I am at hotel now.

 

Adra- I live in Yakima and I go up to the Seattle area a lot. I also delivered to Jonesboro a lot when I was on general fleet.

 

The fuel was the normal green of bio when I put it in. I always look. The shop manager is the one that thinks something was in it.
We took out some and put in a pan where we could see it, and it did not want to separate. And the oil was breaking down. I got both of my last 3 fills now off the same pumps at our yard.
Pumps 1 and 2 are from one tank, pump 3 and 4 are from another. He said that he knows he has some water in 1 and 2s tank. Not in 3 and 4. Which is the one that I used.
Whatever it was it broke down a 4 day old fuel filter into garbage. It fell apart when we took it out. Something was weird. We will look into it more on Tuesday when I hopefully get to a shop. I think someone put sugar water or some kind of soapy water in the tank. But now it is just trying to fix what damage it caused.

 

Look forward to meeting some of you i will be arriving in slc for training at 5pm today