The journey begins - purchased a truck.

Remember I've got the back door on the sleeper - as much as I use chains, I'm trying to get by with that step box.

 

Thanks. Yes, the cracks would develop around the bolt holes.

That's the second repair - The first at my mechanic, what I had in mind and what it translated to didn't match. So, the machine shop figured I'd have a better chance with aluminum angle bolted to the sides as well as through bolted to the frame rails.

I saw a 'WLL' of 400lbs or so on the Merrit box - 10 chains and binders probably comes close, and the additional 200lbs of human stepping on the bottom rung pushes it a bit far.

 

The one thing I hadn't spent any $$ on so far with the truck was a decent radio. The previous owner had cut off the co-ax running through the mirror mounts and slung one out the quarter light, with a dirty old Wilson antenna.

My Galaxy 77 was old and retired, to a Cobra 29 that was so-so - main problem was the antenna.

So - Knoxville Petro - Keith - took the time, and I helped run the co-ax (pretty much tear down the entire door card and guts) and installed a better set-up, and threw a Ranger 35ABCD alphabet soup 10 meter in for giggles.



And an antenna that lights up when you key up - oooooooh - how exciting!



Anyway - now it'll get out 7 miles to another good radio, easy 2-3 miles to an average radio.

This way - when the escorts turn up with substandard radio gear, I'll stand a better chance of hearing them, before firing them.

Anyway - $865 total well spent (or so I tell myself).

 

So - here we are, a third of the year gone already.

22,609 miles

$82,923

$3.67/TTT all miles. There's a little fudge in there to the tune of about 10 cpm, because the other trailer revenue gets piled into the total figure.

48/52 % Expense/Profit.

Certainly the best year so far for rate per mile, and on track with last years revenue figure.

$20,030 in maintenance so far, $17,000 to the mechanic for the transmission/turbo/manifold etc in January, another $1600 the other week for front spring hangers/pins/U-bolts etc. Admittedly, I'm spending a bunch on 'maintenance' - but we don't have any depreciation left on equipment, so I may as well fix and upgrade my way through the truck to shed some revenue.

There's been a little lull in work this last few weeks, and I see the general board rates are so-so for flat in my area, though I'm much pickier now than when I started. I set my load alerts at $3.50 on the board in a 300 mile radius, and they slowly ping during the day - but mainly cut and paste stuff from the internet load boards.

The problem with good paying freight is that it robs the motivation from me to pursue work I once was happy with. It's a mental thing I guess. Perhaps akin to a gamblers addiction.

I've been helping a friend out with a little van operation he's trying to get going. A couple of direct customers, he's at the 60 day mark on authority so things are improving a little, but he's had a tough run with the truck, and the driver he's got employed. Gretchen is processing payroll for him, I'm on speed dial to play "what's wrong with the truck today?" - up to and including having him out in the shop changing oil, fixing lights and pressure washing the poor old truck. And a 'mobile call out' the other week for a loss of air pressure . . . and I'm no mechanic by any stretch. Anyways - I can see from his perspective how tough the van gig is right now. And - how important it is to spec equipment, pre-purchase check, and financially prepare before jumping in.

Back to the load board - or maybe just bypass that - it's 40 minutes till 'brown time'.

 

Now I've caught up a little - we sit and wait till @Old Man pops his head in the door dragging sacks of cash and his pockets stuffed with tickets to cruise boats. . . .

The closer I get to the line - the further away he shifts the goal posts.