Calhoun, GA

Found a Days Inn here where I'm parked right outside my room, and it's got a Mexican restauraunt which serves boose attached to it. I deliver to Jacksonville on monday, and it's saturday, so I'm taking my 34 hour reset here. Korena says she'll get me back near my PO Box (and old company, which still gets the packages that can't go to the box), and from there to California.

I love it.

And now that I'm saving some money, I ordered some stuff, hoping it will get there in time for my check-in. I'm supposed to be getting a new BestPass box (my battery is dead), some carb-blocker...

I also did a new search for commercial truck fuel saving devices and found the hydrogen generators again. I'm pretty excited about it, since they've found a newer gas mix that's 3.5 times as effective as the old hydrogen-oxygen mix.

Along with corrosion and, in some cases, daily refilling, the issue before was the anemic (for a big truck) 6 litre per-minute production, and the fact that the alternator would have a prodigeous load on it--so I'd be replacing alternators every couple months.

This one produces 5 litres of the superior mix per-minute for 65 amps. But I'm clueless about electricity and aren't sure what that means. I don't know how many amps my toaster oven, mocrowave, or running lights pull, even.

But if it's acceptable, that's it. This thing comes with a two year warrantee. They claim to have solved the terminal corrosion and plate-deposit issues, and it won't freeze down to 30 below.

It's 3 grand, plus I'd go to a shop to have a real mechanic install it (about 400 more).

Fuel prices are now temporarily stabalized, until our enemies decide it's time to rachet them up again. They know us well. Two months after 911 the war was being questioned. Today we've promised our enemies we'll withdraw. All it took was no domestic attacks, and letting higher fuel prices sink in for a few months. And we, of course, blame the oil refiners for that.

Likewise, at first everybody wanted a hydrogen generator and other fuel-savers. Then the prices dropped back maybe 13% from their peaks, and everybody (except me) said "whew!" and stopped looking.

Well, now even after I've slowed down to 67 mph even in 75 mph states, I average about 6.5 mpg's (I got through mountains and high altitudes a lot). With a generator, I can really, truly expect to get over EIGHT. My fuel savings for a week could easily be over three hundred bucks.

I don't care what fuel prices are. I'd still be trying to get a working, reliable hydrogen generator if fuel cost a dollar less at the pump.

I never understood most other people. Like, when the lottery gets beyond ten million or whatever, people who don't normally buy tickets start buying them. Why? Two million is chump-change? To me, it's just insane.

It's also scary. It's an american weakness. Our enemies, which do indeed include the people we buy our oil from, treat us like the frog in the pot. As long as the temerature change is gradual, we'll sit there grinning happily until we boil alive.

Money is money, people. If you can give yourself a 300.00 a week raise, I recommend doing so. If you don't, simply because fuel prices are temporarily barely tolerable, you are a moron.

WHEN our enemies decide it's time to rachet prices up to an unprecedented level again, if I have the generator, I should be able to survive. You? You'll be blaming the people who BUY the oil from those assholes for making an average freaking 5% profit--and going out of business.

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

Getting over eight mpg's, I could go 70 mph in the fast states. The added power would help me stay in higher gears in the mountains, and offset the thinner atmospheric density. The greater range would let me be more selective about where I do fuel, saving me maybe another nickel per-gallon. I wouldn't have to stop as often (and that costs a ton--the slowing down and speeding up--wow).

Meanwhile, my prepass seems irrelevant. I get a red light at almost every open weigh station. This time I've got 3,000 lbs. elbow room on every tandem, but they still drag me off the road. Except Tennessee--thank you Tennessee for not making me burn a whole lot of extra fuel for nothing.

Well, just in case anybody ever checks this site, I'll include a link to the hydrogen generator company in the next blog--if I do decide to get one.

Wells, NV

Got here yesterday packed with 43k. I get to the reciever and the first thing he tells me is that he won't let his guys in my trailer and doesn't have a dock.

The load didn't pay well to begin with, and now I'm supposed to unload over half of it manually? For free?

The guy in charge here said that he specified a tailgate load, right? OK, so the shipper just ignored that and negotiated based on a typical industry-standard no-touch load, and stuck Korena and me with it.

This is bushwacking. I had to do it, or just sit there with half the load in my trailer indefinitely. And it was backbreaking labor--the soft materieals and projections between the pallets bound and hung up. I'm stronger than average--a lot of drivers could never have got it done. I mean, I was launching myself physicly to shake stuff loose! Hell, I couldn't have done it if I wasn't overweight!

Rediculous! Korena says she'll take care of the pay part, but she over-promises. That's a new negotiation and she lacks leverage. We'll see. THAT driver assist was freaking priceless, dammit.

Wells this time of year is colder than hell. It's in a wind-tunnel formed by the Rockies. I'm sure that the original settlers were people who wanted to be alone and didn't want to fight for land. Tough, though. Tougher than hell.

You can't grow anything, and there's not enough to feed cattle. It's really pretty, in it's way, but inhospitable.

Not the people, though. I'm at the Motel 6. Went to the casino last night and accidentally won 50 bucks fooling around with the video poker thing at the bar. I had two drinks and fled with a to-go dinner. Which was good.

I'd normally have wanted a pickup today, but dammit if Korena didn't burn up my hours! First time that's happened to me in years (ps running out is a good thing. It means your running hard and making money).

I din't think they could do it, since I know where all the wormholes and temporal distortions are! I could have kept going in a different situation, but here I'm at one end of a pendulum-swing, and will be again running full-tilt all day every day when I resume, and that would shut me down.

So I shut myself down for 34 hours here.

Korena gets that, and is lining me up for a lucrative Jerome, ID-to Florida load tomorrow.

Good. I don't want to cross Wyoming again--I think it's going to snow, and there's a big section of it that gets drifted under (another wind tunnel). I can take a more southerly route to FL.

Close to checkout time. I'll hang out in my truck til my 34 is up, then get to Jerome tonight. I'll load then if I can, and get a night's sleep, or will be all set for a morning load.

Finally set up periodic transfers from my corp-to-personal account. I owe myself 26k that I loaned the Corp. to buy the truck and APU...maybe more, I'm not sure. Finally got a small safety margin in the Bus. account. Finally on my feet again.

OKbye

Salt Lake

Finally got one out here. It doesn't pay very well. It's a small load, and they tried to get me a piggyback, but I guess they couldn't.

It's troublesome, because Korena said she got Fedex and auto parts loads (these pay very well) to/from the coast "all the time."

At the time, she was trying to get me back after losing me to Medallion. I've learned to expect exhaggerration, so I defaulted "all the time" to "sometimes". But I did ask if she could yo-yo me back and forth from the west and back every week, and she said yes she could.

It's pretty early to draw any conclusions, but I get the impression that they were moving me around the region (with high-paying, usually light loads that I can't complain about) while trying to find me a high-paying load out here.

I didn't get this until I asked where all those loads out west she talked about were. They lowered their pay-standards to get it--in other words, for a couple weeks now, no auto parts or Fedex out of VA, PA, OH, CT, WV. That's what bugs me.

Well, this was light, and if I had been able to get a piggy-back partial it would have paid great. I am here (got here two days early), in Utah.

I could check in at the reciever today (24 hours before my 103o monday appt. time). However, the Browns are playing the Stoolers, and I want to watch it. So I'll take my 34 hour reset and deliver this one on-time. If my agents planned anything for me, it's based on that anyway.

So I'm at the Quality Inn 5 miles away, and I'll catch a shuttle to a Sports Bar later this morning. Great deal here! 39.00 trucker rate!!!

I had to park nose-in in a corner, because some gaping rectum dump truck driver parked just well enough to prevent semis from parking in front of or behind him. But I'm cocked so that I'll be able to back into a clear driveway to get out...unless another gaping rectum parks in the middle of a driveway, which just might happen.

Ya know, I feel able to still kick somebody's butt, but my age is irrefutable, and a figure I'm opptimistic. Besides, I'd have to do lethal stuff, so either I get my butt kicked or I hurt or kill somebody and go to jail, so I no longer even track these scumbags down or raise hell.

I mean, a couple weeks ago, this UPS guy was parked in a truckstop driveway and was inside the stop. He'd left ONE lane for two-way traffic to squeeze by him. A bus parked and unloaded NEXT TO him, and those people were taking their bloody time.

The bus driver apologized to me. Okay a dumb mistake and now she was stuck with it. OK. Then the UPS diver comes back and I say "this is your fault"--pointing at the trucks behind me on the street--the traffic jams on both sides.

He gets out to confront me, saying the bus driver did it. "Man, look where you're parked!"

I mean, he was half the problem, right? He was obviously wrong, and no doubt realized it AFTER arguing with me.

How are you raised? "Stand up for yourself", or "be a man"? I'm sick of this--right or wrong, you come back at me. When you're wrong, you're wrong, and being a MAN is about being straight, and admitting that!

And I get so downright adrenalized over this idiocy that I just can't let myself say anything anymore. Some idiot who was taught to stand up for himself but never taught HONOR will get physical.

You assholes first park in other peoples way, drop your garbage in our world, and then get all worked up when somebody points it out to you. You should all burn in hell. When you're wrong, you're wrong. BE a man about it...freaking PUNKS.

But I digress. Anyway my direct deposit finally got set up so I transferred money to my business account.

Update: It's monday and I spent fgour hours trying to get stuff signed and faxed for my Prepass change-of-credentials. First my company didn't get the fax, then they did on a different line, then the hotel fax was broke...then I left a message for the company to fax the authorization to Prepass instead and tried to fax my papers but THEIR fax number didn't work...

...and I had to abort the mission and deliver this load. which I probably could have delivered four hours ago. I really, really...nevermind.

I was surrounded by Stoolers fans watching the Browns game, but it was Utah and they were cool.

Well anyway I'm ion a door now and in good shape with my laundry done and a free hot breakfast in me so it's still all good, except some truckstop will gouge me on the faxing.

Fredericksburg, VA

I transferred to this new company just so I could stick with Korena and run her loads. I haven't gone to the west coast yet, but think that once I do, she can keep me on it, as she'll have days to look for loads and can grab them sooner.

At least that's my theory.

In the meanwhile, my average pay per-load has gone up, I got the trade show gig, and I've finally got some money.

One thing I didn't mention are the fuel discounts this new (bigger) company gets. With Pilot and some others, they're a flat 5 cents 3 cents; the biggest I've had. But with Loves and TA, they vary, but in general are much higher. I mean like 13 cents, 31 cents--even higher!

Well, I don't know about Loves, because they don't want my latest edition, newly updated Adobe Reader to be able to read their listing. My diagnostics said it was on them. And until they fix it, I can't buy a drop from them. Wonder how much money market share they've surrendered?

Now I trim my fuel searches to these chains. Almost always--(because Loves won't fix their problem)--I go to TA. I now pay about a dime less per-gallon for fuel than I paid before.

Since I buy around 450 gallons a week, my savings are about 45.00.

I can go overboard about nickles and dimes, but all these little things add up. The 45 is 75 with the cheaper trailer rental. I should save about 5 bucks/week by dropping my trip envelopes in groups. I spent 160 bucks for my fuel magic additive, but that's saving me a good 5 bucks/week (plus getting me to recievers faster.)

What I mean by that last is that the fuel magic increases my horse power. I can more often hold a gear and maintain speed going up mountains.

Without the Fuel Magic, 30,000 lbs. pretty much kill me on a 5-plus percent grade. With the stuff, I can sometimes stay in ninth or tenth, and on lesser grades am passing other trucks.

It can make a huge difference. I arrive earlier, making customers happier (and more loyal). I can get empty sooner, hence get a new load sooner. ALL the little things add up.

Besides, I do splurge quite a bit, and want to offset it.

I'm even checking out some of those wind/turbulance-cutting shields I've seen on trailers. I rent mine, but since with this company I'm married to it anyway, might try to buy it.

One device I checked out is mounted underneath the trailer near the back, and costs over four grand. I ran away as fast as I could.

Especially since the far simpler, sail-like plexiglass shields which angle out along the bottom sides of trailers probably work at least as well.

For that matter, I won't do it myself, but I know exactly how to tell technicians working with plexiglass to duplicate both devices. Four grand--are you freaking kidding me? I'm sick of these crooks. I need a thin correctly sized piece of plexiglass, 2-4 brackets, and some nuts and bolts. Mine won't LOOK fancy, but will do the same damn thing.

I COULD even do the work myself. I've worked with fiberglass and plexiglass before, and with the tools know how to cut, drill, mount, etc. That's how I know crooks when I see them.

But I don't have the tools, don't want to buy them, and am lazy.

For some weeks I'll do some research, a little at a time, and come up with a plan. If the side-shield types are reasonably priced--which I doubt--I'll see about negotiating the purchase of this trailer so I can invest in it.

Anyway, I'm here in Fredericksburg, awaiting a load.

Hey! Think us descendants of Union guys maimed and killed here can get reparations from the descendants of the slaves they freed? I just saw a black driver walk in--excuse me gotta go---

Plainville, CT

I'm kinda ticked. This run delivers monday 0900. It's non-standard; the particular people who loaded these machines (trade show display models) onto my trailer in Chicago have to be there to unload me here in Plainville. Early delivery wasn't an option.

I reconned the facility I'm supposed to unload at, and it's going to be hairy.

Anyway, before I thought about it, I asked Korena to set me up for 1400. I wanted to watch the Browns game on the way, and of course drink some beer. She said it was 0900. I had just talked to the guy who would be personally unloading me, and he thought it had yet to be determined.

My first reaction was anger--I suspected that Korena was lying to me. This rapidly gathered steam, and I called back two minutes later and left a message on her machine whining about it.

Then I thought. I hadn't been thinking. I hadn't slept much. I remembered that this was an awesome-paying load. And that she had got it to give me time to clear up my loose ends. It was already snail-slow. And I should be grateful.

THEN, I did what I should have in the first place, and searched for Sports Bars and hotels near my reciever in Plainfield. The Browns game is sunday, and all I wanted was a place to sleep after watching it.

Enroute, I got my APU PM'd at Sapp Brothers In Clearfield, and at long last got my cab shocks changed. I mailed my insurance check. The money has started hitting my Comdata account. All the loose ends are tied.

...until my EZ Pass was invalid. I must owe them money--and I need to chenge my carrier information with them. Could be either. I told my email program to send all correspondance from them directly to a special file...then forgot to check the file...I haven't yet. I'll more likely just call them monday and deal with it.

Anyway, thanks to modern technology, these perpetual loose ends I can tie up without slowing or stopping, and overall I can see clearly now the rain is gone.

Anyway, I digress. So I pinned down a Sports Bar. I didn't call them to ask if they had the NFL ticket. Shouldn't have to. It's a Sports Bar. The last one I walked a mile and a half to get to didn't have the NFL Ticket--but they must surely have been the only SPORTS BAR in the US that didn't have the NFL Ticket during football season, right?

So: I DID call the hotel to ask about big truck parking. The Indian lady said sure sure. I looked at the aerial photos to confirm that there was a big open space behind it.

So after reccing my reciever, I get ready to turn into the hotel and alarm bells go off in my head "abort-abort!!!" I continued on about one block and got lucky with this Bowling Alley. Plenty of space to park, and I got permission.

I walked back to the hotel to look it over. There's the Indian woman pointing at where I should park.

The field is big enough, but it's grass. If it rains, there is mud, and the grass offers the same traction as permafrost. Even if it doesn't, there are holes I can't see, and a potentially soft surface I could get stuck in anyway.

I could easily have manuevered into the field, even past the parked cars, but I would then have to turn around in the field of tall grass, and the turn would be tight. Tight turns can take your drives off the ground, and the trailer fights you whenever it's own wheels don't turn freely. You get further resistance when your steer tries are jacked to the side. I've been stuck--often. I'm an expert.

A couple years ago, I might have risked it, but not anymore.

However, here I am at the Bowling Alley. One mile from the reciever, and three blocks from the Sports Bar, with permission. There's even a Walgreen's I can walk to to look for one of those as-seen-on-tv eyeglass repair kit so I can patch my scratched vipers.

I'll hang out here and then do a foot-recon in the afternoon to confirm that this SPORTS Bar has the NFL ticket during football season. Meanwhile I got a good signal so I'll watch the last couple games on the laptop.

0900 is best: She'll have me preplanned and I can get out of the area before tuesday. I hope that one will go all the way to the west coast, but more likely she'll have to get an intermediate load to move me.

Life is good.

Chicago

I got my first trade-show load. It's slow, but pays a ton. Waiting for them to finish loading me so I can get out of here--Chicago is murder.

C/K set me up with this to let me get to my mailbox and do some stuff, but I managed to knock some of it out on the last load. Now I can stop at Sapp's in Clearfield, PA and get my cab-shocks mounted and preventive maintenance on my APU.

Meanwhile, I can stay at the Super 8 there, which has a bar in it.

Maybe I can also get new CB antannas and get that fixed--although I've been fine not using the damn thing for a few months.

What happened? Some cowardly scumbag sometime climbed up on my truck and ripped my antenna off. No--I mean literally. It was useless to him the way he tore it off--pure maliciousness.

You remember when a tree or something takes your antenna down. It never comes off all the way--it has to be twisted off, or the wires won't break. And when you have to go near trees, that's the first thing you try to avoid.

Another time, somebody broke one of my mirrors.

I'm courteous--the way I drive. But I spend a lot of time growling and cursing at dumbasses who bother me and get in my way. Not on the CB, though--I just vent inside my truck to relieve stress. Somebody might have seen my angry face or read my lips...I dunno...but that's worth taking the time and risk to vandalize a truck?

I park right. Sometimes I get hung up at a fuel desk, so I can't get off the island and out of the next guy's way in a timely manner. But that's not often, and any driver with a brain knows it happens to everybody sometimes.

Anyway, this trip will let me tie up all my loose ends.

Still no settlement monies. I filled out the trip sheets wrong--hadn't been to orientation. Had to rescan the first two, and this morning I found that they never got one of them.

The others, I dropped in the boxes (you put your logs, paperwork, and fuel reciepts in a coded envelope and drop them in a "trip pack" box at truck stops. Trip Pack is like a Post Office for carriers, and gets them to your company for you. Some greedy capitalist had an idea, and....)

Cincinnati

Well, I left the last company to rejoin Korena and Courtney. It turns out that Korena was the one supplying the high-paying loads, and that she can run me to the west coast and back with auto parts and Fedex stuff.

The new carrier's trailer rentals are cheaper. I can access a load board, but couldn't compete with Korena so why bother?

My new trailer is excellent! No trouble from it at all.

I of course had to set up a new comdata account and direct deposit, and it's taking some time, so I'm still about broke (bills flooded me when I was down.)

She had to give me some dogs to get me to company orientation in Baltimore etc., but now I'm getting good pay--this one I'm waiting for is good-the next one is outstanding, and will give me a few days to get stuff out of my PO Box and take care of some other stuff.

Then, she says, I'll be doing the coast and back. Oh yeah.

Fixed my own oil leak. Got all my tires--eight new ones and two used in decent shape. Changed my tranny fluid, ordered more Fuel Magic (worth every penny. I lost almost .5 mpg's as soon as I ran out).

I'm broke, but have 6 settlements coming--I'm delaying the mailing of an insurance check, but paid my fuel tax shortage (after a check bounced. Got a money order this time.)

This company pays per-load-right away. Never thought I'd care about that; if you live like that you're doing something wrong. But right now? It could keep me out of trouble.

I found a forum online in which the vast majority of drivers bash my current carrier. But they don't have Korena and Courtney. They go on the board and get their own loads, or have agents who rely on brokers.

As mentioned awhile ago in this blog, I was hustling my own loads for awhile, and couldn't compete. I think people like Korena get the best loads themselves, dealing directly with shippers. Then they won't let a load hit the board until they know they can't put it on one of THEIR drivers.

But I AM glad that this same carrier refused to sign me on when I tried a couple years ago.

Something else is the general tenor of that forum: "They don't care about their drivers" always make me do a double-take. The carrier is just the carrier. The loads come from agents and brokers, who make or split eight percent commissions.

So who's "they", and why do you want to be cared about? It's business! When I was struggling for my own loads, the brokers I called didn't care about me. The company that had my authority but stopped giving me loads didn't care about me. I didn't expect them to. And too, they make it happen, and they're entitled to their percentage.

Their authority, their bookkeeping, their collections, their money in advances, their employees integrating everything. And to hear some of these posters, they're supposed to do all that stuff for free, plus give you 2.00 loads every time.

Oh, but I'm lucky. Korena DOES care about me! But it's still business. I perform, and make her job easier. I don't expect anything until I prove myself.

Some of those company-bashers had legit gripes. Some are pinkos. Others are young, and will learn. But none of them had a great agent with great loads...AH-HAHAHA finally....finally......I'm all kerflempt here...