to all end dump haulers...

Haven’t posted any pics in a while, so here we go. Friday “crap”……..I mean scrap. Little bounce across town from Orlando to Tampa. I was initially scheduled for this Tuesday, but it cancelled after I had shown up because the grapple was down. Either way, nothing much to report down this way, been doing a variety of loads that get me home everyday, money is up and down, but consistent enough to still enjoy the work for the most part, going home everyday is the benefit. Stay safe all, have a good weekend.

 

Considering my shoulder injury from a few years back and having to give up moto, I’ve spent some time contemplating a good way to burn off energy, stay healthy, have fun and be relatively safe. This is what I came up with, a Giant Stance, full suspension mountain bike, so far having a blast but it’s a hell of a workout in this Florida heat.

 

Man @Trashtrucker1707 i kinda did the same thing. I miss being on 2 wheels but over the injuries I was getting doin motocross. I got a bmx bike and have been hopping some curbs and things. Like you said it’s a good workout and gives me something to do. I do want upgrade to a mountain bike tho. There are tons and tons of trails in the area.

As for work we are busier than ever. Ballast has been the name of the game for the railroad. Monday I helped unload a train in our yard full of it. Today we ran salt up to north central Missouri and went down to Dewitt MO and unloaded mill scale off a barge for the cement plant in KCMO. Apparently the river is too low around the city to sustain barge traffic and that’s as far as it could make it. With end of the month and a 3 day weekend the long haul side is pretty busy too. We only have 5 OTR trucks. 1 is in California, 1 is in Michigan, 1 is in New Mexico and the other 2 have the week off. So that means I was asked if I could help with a last minute load up to Chicago. Not my favorite but whatever. Sometimes running circles in the city gets old so this’ll give me a chance to run out a little bit. Salt up to Des Moines, scrap out of Ottumwa IA to Chicago, iron ore out of ChiTown for Muscatine IA and then Des Moines rock back to the yard is the plan. Hopefully all goes well.

Waiting my turn to back onto the barge. This is the main reason I like end dumping, it’s always something different and a lot of times, unusual.

 

I can say that's one loading setup I've never been in to, pretty interesting. @motocross25 how many nights per week, or month, do they typically ask you to spend out? Do they give those of you that mainly stay local some kind of per diem, or incentive for the nights in the truck?

 

Yep we get per diem. As a matter of fact guys with sleepers get per diem every week whether we stay out or not. I’ll have to refer to my paystub to see how much I don’t wanna tell you the wrong thing. As far as how often, not very. We’ll go months without staying out and then hit a spell where we are out 2 night a week for a bit. With the flat tops like I have they try not to keep us out more than 2 nights a week just cuz they knows it’s kinda crammed quarters. So they’ll usually ask if you’re ok or want to come back. But we have little fridges and tv mounts so it ain’t a big deal to me. Just getting up in the morning and not being able to stand up sucks cuz I’m 6’3”. During the winter we’ll stay out more frequently when things slow down in the city. Run out to the salt mine and help them knock out KDOT orders all over the state. I like doing that that’s usually good running and you can hit some small towns off in the woods and find cool diners and stuff.

 

Fertilizer deliver in “Gods country” also known as Callaway Florida

 

What’s goin on end dumpers? How’s everyone getting along? We been busy busy. A train ate #### in northern Missouri a week ago and we grabbed barrel trailers and hauled rip rap in. There was a lot of trucks on it and the wait time to dump was lengthy but it’s hourly with the railroad so I’ll sit around all day. After we got cut off of that it was another trip to Chicago and then over to Norfolk NE. From there we got feather meal out of NE back to kck. This week has been scrap to Sedalia and preloaded ballast this evening for another rail job in Nebraska. Busy busy!
Waiting my turn to load rip.

Crossing over the beautiful Calumet River in Chicago, IL.

 

Been busy on my end so far this week, already have load #4 ready to head out in the morning. I took my pre-loaded asphalt down to south Florida yesterday morning, then went over and got a load of shredded stainless and brought that back to Tampa. From there I came back up by the house and pre-loaded some zorba and took that back to Tampa this morning, and then trekked further south and loaded some sea shell to go to GA in the morning (a fancy neighborhood driveway job) should be a blast with the anthem and my 39 foot frameless. Last time I hauled for this landscaper I couldn't deliver it where he wanted me to so I ended up dropping it at his shop, he ensures this year will be better. I've google mapped it and I'll believe it when I see it

 

@Arctic_fox hey dude you ever loaded glass at Vans in Sioux City? We’re headed there this afternoon to load and it’s a Bones load back to Ripple. Just seeing if you been there and what to expect as far as loading process and time.

 

@motocross25 there are 3 i know of there, but ive only been to two of them. One is a standard dump. Scale in go to bin pull bows and get loaded. Other is a recycleing warehouse. And that one is a female dog on steroids to deal with. Its super tight and you gotta back off the scale to get by the door and drop your bags to load with a mini loader. And the guy who runs it is a "i know what im doing #### off" type. He always overloads you and to one side as well if you dont watch him. And when you do overload you gotta back into a dark tight building at an angle....so thats "fun". Last one is a standard pit without a scale from what ive heard.