California In A Nutshell

I love this post. I really do.

The last time we ran California our company paid people to sit up nights worrying about the thousand things that might go wrong while our truck (Let alone the other 1000) were in California.

When we changed the type of freight we hauled and excluded California (Although as company drivers it was a possibility to be sent there, but we did not see the dispatcher go out of his way to get those annoying loads. And never mind the fueling. Especially if you are told not to for a while...)

Life got better and less stressful.

God knows we had good luck in Cali, but it's not for me. Anything strange, out of ordinary or bad started one morning near San Fran.... And don't get me started near San Diego where i worry about families running across 5 around the military exercises as the Marines play and train. I hear those signs (Illegal crossings) have been removed now.

They cannot even keep the lights on. The last time we rolled there in 2001, they were experiencing regional brown outs and rationed power like a third world country. Necessating a old school fallback onto no traffic lights intersections among a mass of car drivers who did not know how to handle a decision in the face of traffic without traffic lights in a truly major intersection. They pile up and huddle around my semi like ... disciples around Jesus waiting for me to lead off.

It was interesting. But... eh... Bakersfield in particular. Mohavje. Now my personal favorite Techaphi, about 16 miles of mountain fun fun fun with a westbound reward at sunrise to die for in terms of a beautiful view right about 6:10 am local time usually on the last three mile downgrade.

Now Im not here to pick on california too much. But if anyone is smart, they want to get the hell out of there before something truly big happens to that place. We had been lucky there. But there has been the occasional SNAFU, FUBAR and OMFG days in that place that makes it memorable. Not possible anywhere else in the USA.

As far as the casinos. It's either Sky City in NM off 105, I-40 or... Vegas at the tables on cards. No machines and even then only certain games in particular. I literally do not make enough to indulge in that little vice too often. But back in the glory days of 50K a year a thousand spent in 20 minutes is not a issue.

 

Thanks to you all. I am now getting many loads coming in and out of California. I hate competition.

 

Just think how bad it would be if CARB didn't exist?
Down on the bottom of Indiana we have clean air here.

 

I just delivered in chino,CA and as soon as I was empty I deadheaded out of California. I will not stay there a minute longer then I have to because all the freight available there usually stays there.

 

Boy this is an interesting post. I agree with you totally on California regulations being a bunch of BS. Unfortunately for me I have to deal with them all the time. I live in southern Oregon not too far from the California border so I have no choice but to deal with California if I want to get a load going through home. My only other choice is to deadhead 250 miles anytime I want to go home.

I work for a company that stays on Interstate 5 for the most part. We do a lot of business in and out of California. Because we do so much business there we are forced to get carb compliant vehicles. All this has done is raise up the cost for me to do this job. Now don't get me wrong I get what I consider to be a fairly Fair rate going in and out of California but it is nothing special either. I would say that I average around a $1.80 - $2.00 per mile on those loads.

As far as the anti-idling laws go I can idle is much as I want because of my clean air sticker. The problem is the parking laws. Everywhere you go there are no parking signs all over the place. In Cali they have a law that prevents you from parking on off ramps or on ramps on city streets unless designated commercial parking and on the sides of freeways or highways. They have very few truck stops so finding a parking spot after 5 p.m. Can be difficult in in some areas. They have forced us to break the law just to park in a safe place. I have only gotten one parking ticket in 3 years of dealing with Cali. I fought it and won because I looked up the ordinance I was cited for and found an exemption that applied to my situation. Trust me if I didn't have to come down here I wouldn't but it is what it is.

 

He might not make it past that new scale on the 15. He'd have to detour on the 93.

I've gotten 1 parking ticket down there. I never paid it.

The regulation stated something about loading and unloading. I was hanging out on the street at the customer. A fuel customer where we were hauling bio fuel too. Only i had the flatbed to deliver some equipment. On this particular trip. Otherwise. I would have went in, delivered the bio fuel and left.

 

If you guys think hauling in and out of California is rough you ought to try running a business here.
We're doing okay, we're well established, and we're careful about taking on too much debt but California is a hard state for a small business that wants to grow.
We have one lady in our office whose main job is to keep track of and keep current with California laws and rules. They change almost constantly and they never seem to change in our favor.
Unless you really know your way around the rule books, and which rules can be bent a little, I don't see how a young company starting out would make it.
We got our start back when running hard and keeping your customers happy was all you needed to do to stay in business. Those days are gone forever.
Like I said, we're in good shape. We've diversified into different kinds of hauling and got rid of the stuff that was marginal or undependable. Our customer base is mostly people that we've done business with since we started.
It's still a struggle, though. I don't see how the companies from out of state, especially the small ones, can ever expect things to get any better.

 

Sounds like you do not believe in trip planning, no there's not much coming out of Vegas, except for what the regular trucks are already hauling,

California does not want your truck here, no tears either way, I grew up here and can tell you the air is a lot clearer now than it was in the 60's and 70's when the skies were thick brown crud and it literally hurt to take a deep breath, So I for one welcome the environmental changes in California.

You knew when you purchased the truck it was not compliant, Not a bright smart idea, I know I'll buy a tractor that's going to limit my ability to make money, good idea..

a message for all the California haters, we dont miss you nor did anybody here call you in, this is one of the easiest states to get around in.

 

F Cali.
Put 100 gallons of fuel on and go find a decent paying load.

"message for all the California haters, we dont miss you nor did anybody here call you in, this is one of the easiest states to get around."

Born and raised there.
Had my first union driving job out of Emeryville in the 70's.
As for your statement that it's one of the easiest states to get around, I would suggest you broaden your travels.
A nice place to visit but nothing more IMHO

 

I wouldn't even visit california. And their air wouldn't be such a problem if there wasn't 50 million dogs living in the southern half.

Take 47 million dogs and move them in to the country. Those states would have some population and California wouldn't be such a mess.

It's a little ridiculous for so many of you to live so close together in such tight space. And the only reason why you all live like that. Because you don't want to drive in the snow. WAH F'n WAH.

I hope i never set foot in that state again.

As for the brown air. I remember when a refinery exploded. Mandatory stay home. And the sky was actually blue. Who woulda thunk.

California seriously needs to get that battery operated program running they said would happen in 2015. And no more gas engine sales.