Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Yard Boss was thinking meet up Champaign... ???
--100 miles for him, 350 for me!!
--Half way is Willow Creek Rest Area near Paw Paw
--Oglesby Love's would work, a little farther for me.
--Yard Boss doesn't really want to meet half way
--Understandable, I suppose.
--I still have Thursday~Friday to run.
--Where's that 1x/week Prairie du Chien I signed up for??????

--Row of noisy side-by-side trucks outside Huckleberry's/Roady's
--Had the salad bar at Huckleberry's.
--Parked right next to our Illinois driver who came out to Prairie today.
--His curtains drawn when I got here. Down for count. Haven't met him.
--Has new ProStar. Maybe let him rendezvous with Yard Boss...

--Why would anyone try sleep among these noisy side-by-side trucks??
--Heading over to Wal-Mart for some peace and quiet.
--With my TriPac running and cooling tonight, of course...



//Hi mike-v, JohnBoy!! Thx for visiting!

 

Trucking = Chaos
--With Yard Boss talking about quitting
--Wrote 2 emails and copied them to the muckety-mucks
--At both Prairie and our Indiana customer
--In the morning he wants to know what he's supposed to tell them
--"Tell them I'm just a driver and ask whether they want you to fire me"
--Says he won't have a job by lunch because of me
--I figured I'd get kicked out of both Prairie and our Indiana customer
--But the emails are true and accurate all the same
--Then we learn our Illinois unit has a truck near enough to pick up
--The 11 skids for today we couldn't get yesterday 'cause Prairie
--Didn't put Friday skids on the Thursday truck from Illinois
--Cool, we don't have to rendezvous after all
--Well, we're probably both still fired because of my emails...
--Then I find an easy load down the street from the Yard!
--$700 to Muscatine, IA, just west of Davenport for tomorrow PU
--And it's light, only 22K, plastic caps, probably ketchup caps
--The broker says she has more loads like that, too
--We try all afternoon to get set up package, turns out CFO not in today
--Broker sends a 'temp' rate con to hold the load until receives set up package
--A gal in the office can do the package, but she has a Dr appt, has to leave
--All the while I'm progressing east on I-74 towards Indiana...
Trucking, don't ya just love it??

 

Hi jseiwell! Thx for visiting!
--Gary the Mechanic was working on a trailer when I made DEL
--Found him under trailer tandems, driver got written up
--Near Evansville for ABS not working on trailer newer than '98
--320 is a '99, and ABS won't be fixed soon!!
--Forget what he called set of tandem axles, bogie, I think
--Non-ABS bogie installed on trailer at some point
--No ABS plumbing on the wheels, wiring, anything
--Said probably $3500 to repair, Yard Boss won't be happy
--While Gary looked trailer over I started CHKDSK on his laptop
--Has been running slo-o-o-o-w, will DEFRAG after
--Later, Gary drove over to where I was fueling
--Asked him for a little air, knew one drive was low
--Hey! He aired 'em all up!! Thx Gary!!
--Broker said load tomorrow is ours, even though
--We don't have set up package to her yet
--Apparently tomorrow's gonna hafta be okay
--6 eggs in nesting box, cook those up for dogs tomorrow, too
--Dinner, some breaded pollock pieces and veggie pizza
--Right hand still itchy, swollen from wasp sting, starting to reduce



//Bogie is subframe, axles and wheels that make up the trailer tandems. To slide tandems, trailer moves while bogie remains stationary. Many shippers and receivers, like Wal-Mart, require tandems slid all the way to back most position before loading or unloading. Then move up to 41-foot mark for shorter turning radius. My trailer doesn't have a 41-foot mark, have been meaning to mark it.

 

Hi baha! Apd! Thx for visiting!
--Appt in Muscatine for tomorrow 9 am
--Arrived 6 pm (Central), big place, found receiving
--Office dark, no one around, figured run up to Wal-Mart
--Office closes at 2 pm, but had been told 'might' unload me early
--Absentmindedly on iPad still at window at 6:30 pm...
--Forklift showed up, got into Door 45 by 7 pm
--DEL complete by 8 pm, had trouble sliding tandems
--Shut down for night here at Maquoketa Kwik Star
--Rib sandwich on sale for a buck, really good!
--Bought my turkey/swiss on wild rice/cranberry bread anyway
--Hey!! It's all good!!
Great little TS (truck stop)...

 

Outbound for Monday's Decatur~Muscatine
--202 loaded miles, $600 for $3/mile
--Not much out of route, just did $700 to Muscatine
--Loaded about a mile from the yard, light, too
--This'll be heavier but only loaded for 200 miles
--However, broker did not provide rate con yet
--Emailed 'Load is yours'--but that's not same as rate con
--Says she faxed it, scanner's down... well, yeah, sure, maybe
--Most of loads this afternoon were for today and tomorrow anyway
--Monday loads will start to pop more tomorrow (Friday)
--Our Illinois truck to Prairie was behind me at Bloomington, WI
--Pulled over onramp to 61 to let him know I'd break at Maquoketa
--Blew right by me, caught him in Dubuque, told him
--He went right on by when I pulled off at x156
--Oh, well, he knows now who has the older, faster truck, eh?
--Found him again at Spoon River Rest Area, curtains drawn
--I've met the guy; go figure...
That and Yard Boss seems to just go from crisis to emergency, Ugh!

 

Left msg for guy with water truck on way to Yard Wednesday
--Has 5400 gal water tanker with stainless steel tank, aluminum's better
--We talked and he does want to sell, needs kingpins soon
--So good time for him to sell, repair for kingpins alone a couple $1,000
--Also looking at a couple older trucks up here in Wisconsin
--Breakfast this morning at Ma's Bakery in Bloomington, WI
--Been meaning to eat there but parking's not trivial
--A bunch of sweet, old people there
--Three old gents insisted I sit with them, all 3 tough but sweet
--My uncles were like that, working hands, you know
--One wanted to shake when I finished my breakfast
--His pinky finger gone on that shaking hand, yet good, friendly grip
--Lots of friendly farmer humor and banter there
--Dry humor like mine

 

Lighter. Stainless is still pretty heavy. Had been a milk tanker, so food grade. Aluminum was/is the preference of gal who has 5 tankers not too far from my place. What little I know about pool-filling business came from her. Offered to buy one of her trucks, thought she would. She did offer to sell me a day cab. She had already sold tanker trailer. Mild summer has resulted in being slow. Not as much evaporation, for example. Last summer was a pistol. She had all 5 of her trucks going all day long this time last year. Truck for sale is a '91 Ford L9000. Probably meet up with him next weekend.

Goal for next year would be just pay self back for cost of truck, not worry about making any $$.


//Hi jhuw01! crazy8rob! carramrod32! Thx for visiting!

 

Just hit an even 45,000 views on this thread
--Updates hourly, so will last another 45 minutes
--Pool filling business has a number of pluses
--You don't travel far, cost of water about $25 for 5000/gal
--Fill pools for 5 cents/gallon or roughly $250/load
--And the biggee = part-time!! Seasonal.
--Fill truck at hydrant. Get meter from water agency.
--Hefty fine if you steal water, fail to pay
--Then can probably never purchase from them again
--Guy's had truck 4 years, does not have CDL himself
--Cannot drive own truck, has to hire drivers