BD69: The Owner Operator Chronicles

They were able to save it with a root canal and a crown. Feels so good now that that molar ain't booming with my heartbeat.

Good advice. I knew 84 was a mess from a buddy of mine locked down in Idaho a couple days ago. I love running out there, but this time of year can be tough with some seriously unpredictable weather.

 

Got up at 0500 to get ready to run down to Lori's, SC to put the Oregon load on. Needed coffee, can't believe that I let myself run out, so I grabbed the keys to head to the store...and found out I was flooded in. Been raining here steady to heavy for three straight days now and evidently the beavers have been busy down stream from me. Three years ago an anti trapping law was passed in my county and since then when it rains for a couple days somebody around these parts gets flooded, today it's my turn. I used to pocket $3-4000 a year trapping and skinning these stinking water rats, today they took their revenge and may have cost me a $7000 load. Got to wait a couple more hours to call the broker, who's in Medford, OR to see what we can work out. Otherwise, once they find and blow the dam, I'll just spend the next week running steel loads.

More later...

 

Cabarrus?? You live near the Rocky River?

 

Yep.

 

So I ended up giving the Oregon load up, not being sure when i would be able to move. First time i ever had to do that so there was some apprehension as i called the broker. He was very grateful for me letting him know in a timely manner and said he'd be glad to do business with me again anytime, so that worked out pretty well. I'm going to run steel next week unless something better pops up Monday. Merlo is starting to ove equipment out of their Fort Mill, SC facility so I plan to look into that later today with a contact I have there. Not sure if any of y'all are familiar with Merlo, if not, look them up, they make some pretty cool looking peices...or weird, depends on your personal opinion...lol.

More later...

 

How's your ankle doing, and the young trainee?

 

Ankle is good. Trainee, who I've taken to calling Work Monkey, is essentially running the deck without any assistance from me. I watch and check behind him of course, but he's taken to it like a duck to water. He's got his CDLP now and is working on his gear changing now in a very large and quite empty lot owned by my brother in laws bank. Like all of us at first, upshifting isn't much of a big deal, but he's beginning to understand that downshifting is a different story. I'm making him learn to double clutch as we all did, but I'll move him to floating once he gets his head and hands around the basics.

 

Double clutching? That's for the dinosaurs.

 

This is my first time actually teaching someone to drive. I'm basically copying the way I learned in school. Once in awhile, mostly on worksites or other assorted mudholes, bringing in or pulling out heavy equipment, I still double clutch the first three gears, it's still a useful skill in some circumstances.

 

Never hurts to teach the young pups how to do it though.