When it's $1.48/mile versus .48/mile why not aspire to be an o/o?

Oh yeah, when I was younger I didn't think twice about pulling up stakes and moving on a whim, looking for that pie in the sky, grass is greener opportunity. Almost cost me my marriage.

However, the older I've gotten, that nomadic spirit has been driven out of me.

 

Yes it is..... I'm third generation Cali native. Moved up to WA 2 years ago. Could no longer see myself getting to my parents dream. Had to own up to chasing my dream. Funny thing is my mother passed at the end of the year. Me and my sister looked at each other and asked in unison "you want this house?" Neither one of us has any desire to move back..........

As far as staying west coast..... I like trees not desert/prairie... and prefer earthquakes and volcanoes to hurricanes and blizzards. That gets you down to west coast, or TN/KY. The last 2 I Looked at them pretty serious and just could not pull the trigger...

Van freight can pay well as @Scooter Jones points out. Was strong through Jan then fell back for Feb. Got agents calling me wondering WTF I am doing in the Midwest as my usual north bound freight is starting to ship again (had to run out for Lease renewal).

Most of the extra cost in Cali fuel is from their "Carbon Tax" implemented last year. works out to about $0.80 per gallon currently. So I fuel at the state line going in. Then, only splash enough to get back out.

Unfortunately I do not think it would be cost effective to change over to larger tanks or add an auxiliary tank on this truck at this time.

The advantage to running Cali (or the rest of the west coast states) is that since a good number of the owner ops are not coming out this way. And the Mega's do not do Haz or much specialized (trade show) van freight you can do pretty well in those arenas.......


p.s. flatbed rates still suck out here. No way I would try a platform in Cali.

 

Van Rates out here have definitely gotten better than they were a year ago for sure. I'm finally going back to work on Monday after taking over 3 weeks off. My round trip is booked. $4,300 for 1800 miles. Not earth shattering, however, I can more than survive on those numbers for my dry van on the I-5. I fully expect the numbers to start popping again this Spring too.

I'll be honest with you, my goal is try & run through November and then go back to work again in March or April of next year. We'll see how it goes

 

Yep start of last year I was getting about $3k (Booked freight value) L.A. basin to Seattle metro (1200 mile run). Second half into Jan was running for about $4k.

Purchased property in December with a funky mobile on it. Figuring to buy an R.V. and move onto it before April. Trying to spend long weekends up there getting stuff ready for destruction/Construction. I fully understand avoiding running in the winter months for more rewarding ventures.

 

I run with my own numbers.

 

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I watched a segment on HGTV last week where Chip & Joanna Gaines remodeled this old double decker house boat for his friend. The transformation was amazing.

 

The Columbian Cartel works best

I use brokers, shippers, whatever it takes to get a decent paying load that meets my needs and parameters, when I want to run & where I want to run.

There's a lot of freedom running with my own numbers. I tried the lease on thing for a little awhile when I was deciding if I wanted to become an owner operator. After a few months, I cut my ties and went on my own in January 2016.