Middletown, DE

A certain problem I had has somehow corrected itself, but having learned to be superstitious, I don't dare mention it.

Anyway I've crept back ahead a little on my fuel card cash balance...but have determined that I will need steer tires next, because of uneven wear, despite balancing, alignment, inspection, and centromatics.

I hope that the initial bad wear was there before I changed my shocks, and that new tires won't wear out so fast...at any rate I have to get an alignment and have the joints inspected when I get them. I might want new springs too. I really try to take excellent care of Herbie, and he and the DOT appreciate it.

Speaking of which, I just hope I don't get inspected anytime soon, because they'll nail me for that left steer.

I should have them right now, but have to wait.

I haven't crunched any numbers or asked yet, but I have to think that I'm just about square with the company now, and should get at least some of my next settlement check. The original combined hotel, repair, and unrealized advance pay have been knocked out for sure, but I know there's a 360 trailer rental, maybe 200 insurance, 150 security escrow, and more weeklies that slow the process down...like I said I haven't crunched numbers.

I'm very pleased--almost shocked--by how I've been running. Now that I actually told Courtney that I like long trips and don't like the northeast, I've already been to Laredo, then around St. Louis, and now I'm here in Delaware (but avoided every toll except the one coming over a bridge).

From here I'm going over 1,000 miles to Alabama.

There's a trade-off. I'm making less money. The northeast loads pay more, for the very reasons that most truckers hate them--and because fuel is more expensive.

By the way, that's because of fuel taxes. That's your government soaking the fatcats for your sake, comrades.

Yeah--and the carriers have to charge higher fuel surcharges on those loads. The shippers then have to charge their customers more for their freight. The Distributors and warehouses then have to charge the retailers more for their freight (again, since they put it on other trucks to pass it out).

The retailers then have to charge YOU more, and conratulations: YOU have just paid that tax on the fatcats, just like you pay the rest of them.

Adam Smith and Ben Franklin knew this. Karl Marx and...well anyway he didn't care.

By the way, please notice next time you see a logging truck, or a flatbed loaded with lettuce or live chickens or melons. Burning diesel. Paying taxes. Now you want another VAT tax?

The Fair Tax would be perfect. Even illegals would have to pay it. You buy something, you pay tax. You don't get your income taxed. Rich people buy more stuff. Duh.

Hell with it. Back to being like everybody else: MEMEME.

I was gone for awhile, but I'm back now.