We finally made it home after getting rained on all through Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma. I had to unload part of what we have here in Vegas anyway and the rest in LA on Monday morning. My dispatcher came in to unlock the warehouse on Saturday and helped unload and we had a long talk about trucking and other things going on at the office. He was showing me on his emails all the bids that he would put in and then get underbid for some outrageous amount going to places like Florida where people know they will have to [...More...]
Jun 082011
Jun 082011
We arrived at the Convention Center last night and checked in. After Wayne talked to a few other drivers we went to sleep while we still could awaiting the knock at the door saying its your time to load. That didn’t happen until the following morning at 7:00 am. So both of us had a good nights rest before our journey to San Diego. We looked around and a lot of the trucks were loaded and already on their way. After you are loaded you have 48 hours to arrive at the convention center in San Diego to check in. [...More...]
Jun 082011
I have to deal with other brokers outside my own company once in awhile and a few of them can be real pinheads. Today, I take a load from a broker, he calls me direct and asks my information. I don’t know who he is used to dealing with, but I wasn’t in the mood for being patronized. Finally I told him, I’m not taking this load. I didn’t even want to try and explain something he wasn’t going to understand anyway, so I just said, I’m not taking it. Yup, you heard me, I’m not taking it, goodbye. He [...More...]
Jun 082011
I’ve been with my current company for three years and I’ve known my current dispatcher for five years. WIth the high turnover rates for trucking companies, that’s a long time. After I told the boss about how I’m seriously close to leaving, we all go out to lunch. Two and a half hours later they go back to work, I go home. The boss has not only been to my house, but they stayed here when they first moved out to Vegas for several weeks. He’s been completely honest with me about a lot of things and the inner workings [...More...]
Jun 082011
At last, I’m on my way back to Vegas, sort of. Not really the route I wanted, but it added some more money to the trip. Instead of straight from Atlanta to Vegas like it started out to be, it was changed from Atlanta, to Vegas, to Reno. Then I picked up an LTL on top of this truckload for Denver. I’m sitting in Denver now waiting for Monday morning to unload three giant hula-hoops for some kind of Magnetic company. There are three 10ft diameter, hard plastic rings. I’m sure there’s something more special than that, but that’s all [...More...]
Jun 082011
For the past several weeks we have been on the East Coast. We are currently in Minnesota and heading Southeast to Florida. We had been in Florida for quite some time earlier this month and the best part was meeting up with my brother and his family. The worst part was looking for a load to get out of Florida which we finally found but barely paid for the fuel. So this time when they asked us to take a load to Florida, Wayne declined. The money was good but to get out of Florida we know it will not [...More...]
Take the day off. If you can’t leave the country, at least leave the state. I’m kind of joking but I’m not. This is the second time DOT has been to the office in about two months. First time, they gave us a week notice, then when they arrived, they only wanted to see household stuff, but we don’t do household stuff. The team stayed about 20 minutes and left. This time we get another week’s notice and I’m in most everyday, redoing what I did for the last one. The biggest problem for some reason is drivers sending in [...More...]
Jun 082011
I don’t believe it! I had 40′ of truck leftover after one stop and actually found something decent to fill it up with. Office furniture going to Idaho. Pays pretty well, especially on top of the truck load that the 10′ is pay for. Chairs are going to be a day late getting to Salt Lake City, but they’ll get over it. I’ve been driving about 65 mph and getting about 7.5 and 8.0 mpg, chairs are really light. Had to do something to make up for all the tolls going east out of upstate NY. Between Ohio and Indiana [...More...]
Jun 082011
We haven’t posted much lately because we’ve been busy driving. Since our last posted destination of Phoenix, we went back to Ohio, Detroit, back to Phoenix. Now we’re on our way to Sacramento, Reno and Atlantic City on 12/20. And hopefully back to Vegas by Christmas. We also have some new pictures and stories to get posted as soon as we get a chance.
Jun 082011
I hit a little snag while delivering fixtures to Macy’s in Salem, OR. The bottom line is, I’m spending the night at the mall. I’d prefer a mall over a truck stop any day. No trucks, quiet, decent food court, nice bathrooms and stores close by. I took Willie for a walk and we into the mall as Rat Patrol Pest Inspectors! He runs back and forth through the mall so fast he’s only a blur. If the floor wasn’t so slick he would have been able to go around the corners without sliding and wiping out. I may have [...More...]