The journey begins - purchased a truck.

Especially with the weather coming in this weekend, I wouldn't ease off the mash until you saw the home state line!

 

Drove through this . . . and east bound on the 94 in MI had it much worse, multiple vehicle accidents and long back ups . . .




To get to this - beams for an overhead crane. Picked it up Friday afternoon and headed south. Didn't reach "Above freezing, population 4", until south of Nashville on Saturday.

Unloaded in Warrior, AL, Saturday afternoon, dropped trailer and headed to the Aunts house in Birmingham.





Somewhere around the $2.70 TTT figure after permits, though I'm sure many will call me a cheap hauler,it's helping me get a feel for what is a "worth it" figure for permitted loads. And I don't have a pocket book full of agents that are going to call me with great paying OD loads. At a few feet of overhang, it really wasn't a hassle , just read, check , comply with and understand the permits, and roll on.

I'm terrified of screwing something up. After a year of flat my paranoia and apprehension level hasn't eased much, as you can probably tell by the amount of chains and straps on the beams - 20,000 lb load. Throwing the "We'll hang draw and quarter you if you step out of line" equation divided by 5 different sets of rules in as many states doesn't help my stress level.

But it keeps me on edge, out of my comfort zone, and learning.

 

Birmingham area not quite what I expected for freight. Pored over the board in the morning, went and retrieved the trailer, thanked the owner of the premises for letting me drop it there, and went to the truck stop.

Some pipe going to Henderson, TX, picks up tomorrow AM, delivers next day. Unfortunately, the 2 obvious options are heavy, goat trail through AR loads to close to the house, unless a quick draw on a load alert saves me.

Lumber or Mulch, @Old Man ? Looks like I might be "THAT guy" - or stick my nose in the air and eat the diesel home.

 

Yeah, considering my all miles TTT has been hovering at the $1.70 mark lately, I wasn't too upset.

I think it needs to be $4/mile on the board if it needs permits, for the extra compliance, and permit cost. I've seen much worse for OD loads on the board and wonder why they even bother posting them, or if they ever move - talking 60k loads and 14 wide for under $3 on the board.

I don't know. It's all learning for me. But I know there's some real reward for the right trailer and experience - something to shoot for.

 

Sitting at the Dodge City Petro right now!

No - didn't see a SST, though I was being picky, don't like anything over 35k!!

 

Aaah. I forgot about the poles. Bugger.