Good night from...

Looks like he has his 5th wheel all the way forward ....

12 fricken days off ... finally got my truck out of the dealer. Lathrop BT lot. Lookin' for work headin' east.

 

Hmmmmm..thats scottied67 and my supersecret special hidey hole....how did u find it?..Beautiful area around there..one of my favs...

 

Ht...+2.5 weeks...trip to philippines...see my lovergirl...I miss her so much....work hard to go there...worth it!

 

Bentleyville, PA on I70 near the PA/WV state line. Yesterday was a day of firsts as a L/O.

I was expecting to bt to Jonestown to get the truck numbers and the rest of the decals put on but tried mac30 to see if it was working. Got a sweet 9K load of guitar strings tcalled at Avenel going to the Indinapolis area, 766 miles and an ultra light trailer as well.

Got to Jonestown and they handed me the decals but said they would put them on if I wanted to wait a day. The QC has no sound so I decided to move on to the Columbus terminal instead. Also discovered my airhorn doesn't work when I was all alone in the first long tunnel and couldn't blow the horn. Bummer!

I like being able to go faster a lot. Even though I got zippy for the fun of it a few times, I kept it at 65mph and have gotten 8.6mpg so far. I also need to get the clutch checked at Columbus because downshifting after running for awhile the shifter hangs in gear way too tight.

For my fuel, I had to wait until I got to Jonestown (new red Comdata card).and put in enough to get to Columbus where I calculate ($gal x fsc - fuel tax, right?) fuel is the same price. I didn't want to buy any extra fuel on a Wednesday or is fuel calculated on the settlement for the entire trip, regardless what day its purchased?

Time to roll. More later.
Frank

 

Frank, the fuel is figured on the trip. If load Tuesday and del on Thursday, then can fill up. Also one thing that I learned the hard way. Had a pplan accepted on a Wednesday, and got fuel before I was actually dispatched. The fuel went on the previous trip.

 

It has the new "advanced aero package", something you only see on late 2012 & 2013 Cascadias. The fairings behind and below the cab extend about 4 inches further back. The tanks fill from behind the cab, a major improvement over the side fill.

 

Frank,

The "REAL" price of fuel is the pump price MINUS the fuel tax.
Example: Calif $4.00 a gallon-$.435 tax = $3.565 a gallon, AZ $3.80 a gallon-$.26 tax = $3.54 a gallon.

You will find a lot of places where the price right across the border is exactly the same (competition) but because of the difference in fuel tax makes the "REAL" price is very different. I suggest you make up a fuel tax chart and put it somewhere easy/quick to find. Mine is taped inside my clipboard-BOL box. I got the up to date taxes from the O/O portal.

Next thing you need is a way to research fuel prices. When I do not buy my fuel from Swift terminals I almost always buy it from Pilot/Flying J. I can use their AP on my smart phone to search fuel prices up to 250 miles away. I bought 160 gallons today at the Memphis terminal @ $3.836 a gallon, lowest street price I could find nearby was $4.059. I saved nearly $36.00! When I only want 50 gallons (something I do ALOT) I always buy it on the street, the price difference between the street & Swift is almost never enough to make up for the shower.

Hope this helps.

 

Not quite. I found the spot where I hit 34K on the drives and 12K on the steers at the same time and leave it there for heavy loads. Yes, it's forward of centered between the tandems, but the closer you get the traler to the back of the cab the better your MPG. For light loads I can go even further forward. I recently picked up 1/2 MPG by moving it from my "heavy" spot all the way forward with only 8K in the box. Well worth the effort.

 

hah which area?> i personally like the Ta there idk why but its always easy to find parking there

 

sittin at home for a quick 34 before headin to denver. so have a question on the fuel... does it come out of every weeks settlement or right when u fuel?