Is gas tanker work slower in winter?.

That's a lot like us. We were a small logging company and never planned to get into tankers at all. We bought out a local fuel distributor, mostly to give us an affordable rate on fuel, and when we found out what it was costing to have the stuff trucked into our storage we bought a couple of used PIE tankers and did our own hauling. Later on we picked up a couple of cardlock facilities and that gave us work for two more tankers. We bit the bullet and bought new and it worked out okay. A few years later we picked up the contract to haul JetA and 100LL to some of the local airports. That meant two more new tankers.
For now, six tankers seems about right, along with the other trucks we have. We made the decision a long time ago not to get too big and for us that's been a good way to go,

 

No problem. If a guy didn't have a good sense of humor and an appreciation for the absurd California would be a tough place to keep your sanity.

 

On smoking...years ago we had a tanker driver who smoked cigars. Even then there were rules against smoking in the trucks but the driver was a good hand and we just kind of winked at it. Most of us smoked anyway.
Until...one day he was crossing Cottonwood scales with a load of AvGas on and a big fat cigar hanging out of his mouth and the smoke blowing out the window. Red light.
He got a ticket. BIG ticket.
When he got to the yard he came in and was crying and complaining about the cost of the ticket. Our boss at that time just kinda leaned back in his chair and growled at him "You got off light. I would have written you two tickets...one for smoking in a placarded tanker, and the other for being dumb enough to cross the scales with a cigar hanging out of your mouth".
The boss could talk to drivers like that in those days. I miss that sometimes.

 

x1? Man that is cold. Cold, I tell ya.