On monday morning i left Winnipeg MB with a load of cutting edges from Black Cat.
Stopped monday in 2 places in MN
Tuesday 2 in WI
Wed and thursday 2 in IN
Tomorrow 2 in GA lawerenceville and lincolton.
Then on to Lugoff SC.
Don't have a reload yet. Will be out of hrs by the time i get to Lugoff. May sit over the weekend.
keep a few of those cutting edges on board and drop they off here. i need a few
Sheldon's leaving here on Sunday for delivery in Henderson, NC on Wednesday. Looking over the route and remembering days done by. Man, I miss the road.
Does Blackcat still ship from Edmonton? We used to deliver a lot of plate from Regina there as well as bar from Selkirk. Then every Saturday we'd load finished goods to go back to Blackcat Selkirk. Days gone by.
Griz
Pickup in selkirk.
I love these loads. They are only a ft high or so half to 3/4 of the trailer length. Always good miles. This one 2000.
I draw myself a map of who has what and were on the trailer. Then strap and tarp. Only need to untarp a corner and side a bit usually.
Got up at 4 this morning made lawerencevill ga by 830. Then lincolton by 1230 . Lugoff sc by 3. Going 4 hrs south to Douglass for monday loading. Need a break laundry to do.
I was never crazy about multidrop loads, and wouldn't take them at all if appointments were involved, unless they had a whole pocketful of money.
One time I was in Arkansas and my wife playing a prank on me, told me she had booked me a 17 drop load that had to be tarped. Now I knew she was kidding, because my tarps were at home in storage, the same place they had been for a couple of years, I just don't do tarps. Well apparently this outfit would furnish the tarp, but when I ask her what it paid she told me she had turned it down, telling the gal on the other end, that no way was she going to book a 17 drop load for me. So I'm thinking they are wanting this load moved if they will furnish the tarp, so I gave them a call and made a deal, they tarped the load and agreed that I could pull the tarp at the first drop, and that load paid a normal 2 weeks money to the truck.
Each drop is a 40$ and most of them only took 10 to 15 min. We do polaris and other snow machines. Those are just strapped and usually make 2 to 300 extra per load.
Hated the vicwest preloads . They would load them all over the place. Hide the little stuff on a pallet and shrink wrap so much you could not find anything with out tearing the load apart.
When I was sales/dispatch/fleet manager for a few trucks I worked hard to make sure the guys made money. They were paid by revenue so it paid well to work with me instead of argue. Anyway the biggest compliment I got from those years was when a fellow went to a past operators yard to load grain and happened to mention my name. My old operator told him he'd never made as much money as when he worked for me. High praise from a very good operator who knew how to make money. We focused too much on the operators instead of growing the company and finally decided to close my desk. You gotta make money but you have to have a good portfolio of happy successful customers. The mileage method is far superior for customer service and for those operators who just don't get the revenue method. ............. I believe I'm rambling. Sorry.
New York or Quebec in fall. Kentucky and Tennessee in summer. Oregon (scenery wise) most any time of year. Wisconsin Dells was always pleasant. Northern Ontario in summer and fall. Many fantastic areas to wander through and see from a big rig. Just ain't the same from an RV.
Enjoy, rj.
Grizzly, I could never understand hauling a load just to be working, I have deadheaded back from Alaska probably half the time when I was running the highway, I just couldn't bring myself to haul a load to cover fuel costs. The only things I ever hauled cheap was logs, for some dumb reason I just like doing it.
Quote from: starmac on March 16, 2018, 11:35:18 PMI could never understand hauling a load just to be working
Nope. Not much point in that.
I just drove a few months, first half with a partner then solo. A company driver, paid by the mile and driving a van so no tarping or such involved. What always amazed me was that about half my loads were paper, either rolls or sheets. I'd pick up a load in Wisconsin then drive it to SC, pick up a load in Ga and take it back to Michigan or Minnesota. Looked to me like they could have found paper closer than that as I'd pass 100 other mills along the route. A lot of the time I was hauling from mill to mill. I was told, but cannot confirm, that the bean counters had figured out loads in transient were not subject to inventory and taxes and they inventoried different mills at different times so certain, large amounts of paper never got inventoried or taxed.
My least favorite loads were automotive because the company would always tell me to pick up an empty trailer to take to the next location and I could almost never find one. The car makers were using them for storage and as soon as they unloaded one of our trailers they would backfill it with some of their parts or supplies and put it on the lot till they needed it. I bet if we could ever gotten a copy of their warehouse locator list we'd have found warehouse locations for our trucks on the lot.
Best load I ever hauled were huge load of dryer sheets. Whole trailer load only weighed about 2,000 lbs.
I never could stand box freight, dry or reefer either one, just the wrong temperment to deal with dock workers,appointments and general attitude of many of the companies towards truckers and trucking companies. period, as age, health and physical capabilities have started catching up with me, I may have to give myself an attitude adjustment if I ever had to go back to trucking the lower 48 and try and drag a box around.
I met a few _____ but most of the people I met on the road were pretty good. I've had the plant manager take me on a tour of the plant and show me their operation. It was routine to have some other trucker walking by help at or near the scales when I had to adjust the rear axle lengths, etc. Not something I could not have done but a lot faster and easier than getting in and out of the truck several times trying to get the pin in the right hole. I don't know how many times we'd get on the radio and some local driver would help us find a delivery or pick up location where missing a turn meant real pain trying to get turned around and possibly missing a pick up or delivery time which meant going to the bottom of the queue and waiting hours for another loading/unloading appointment. Pretty common to have another trucker get on the horn and let you know about any clearance lights off or fuel cap not fastened properly, etc. Lights might still be legal but more reason for the diesel cops to pull you over for an inspection. Or those early morning hours when you were fighting sleep and other drivers would help keep you awake and alert talking to you and such.
Its not a career I want to go back to but I don't regret one minute of it. It also makes me less sympathetic when some able bodied young man says he can't get work. There is always a crying need for good truck drivers and these cry babies could meet the medical and physical requirements and should be able to learn the job and pass the licensing test. There are easier jobs out there but there a lot harder ones too and it can be a decent living. At least as a company driver, your expenses should be low, you have roof over your head, and it can be very interesting.
I always pushed my dispatcher to keep me rolling. If I could deliver early I asked for an earlier appointment and delivered and pushed for the next one. I did not just try to sit around a truck stop waiting for the dispatcher to decide my schedule and income. I wanted to run out of hours during the week so they would be sure to route me by home for the weekend. To their credit, our dispatchers did an excellent job of supporting my requests.
I understand what you are talking about, but it is a different scenario driving a company truck, than running your own. It is even a different ball game entirely owning your own rig and being and leasing to a company than being your own company.
A guy can make a fair, good even great living, driving a truck, depending on who he works for and what he hauls, but it is not for everybody, and like I heard my grand father tell a guy once when I was a little boy, which was, anybody can drive a truck, but there isn't a whole lot of truck drivers. With the demand for drivers now, that is more true than ever, in my opinion.
A guy I haul for some called me a month or so ago wanting me to drive his truck for about a month, and needed another driver. I told him if he was back from the lower 48, I knew one, then he said I mean a truck driver, I would rather just hire a truck for the job than hire a steering wheel holder, it is pretty much what the industry has come too, easily seen by just watching any fuel island for 30 minutes or so at any major truck stop.
I did not go do the job for him, but the driver I hooked him up with did, I met with him last week because I will be running for him this summer and asked how he did, great was the answer. He then ask if he would work this summer, I told him I figured he would, but may want to run his own truck, which he said to get him lined up either way.
I picked up a load yesterday.
Bol says 44... thousand. Great no problem . Centre the load. Gauges were ok. Chain tarp.
Drive to a cat scale. 2000 over on the trailer. 900 over gross.
Go back remove rear spool. 6200.lbs
Find out their bol weight did not include the 4000 lbs of wooden spools. What were they thinkin.trying to save on their freight bill.?
:D :D :D It's not freight! It's packaging.
You gonna hit the truckshow at Louisville? Sheldon says there's a big one going on.
That would be the mid Am show, the only real truck show I ever took the time to go to and it is huge. Most vendors that have anything to do with trucks will be there.
Got to the pa .va border on the 79 for night. Man they got to start building more truck parking. With the elogs more guys are shut down sooner or it seems like it.
I fully agree rj. The only other thing I'd add into that is that many of the new drivers are very poor at time management and day planning. When I see trucks pulling in and then see drivers puzzling at why they can't go farther I feel like asking them if they looked at a map before they left their last spot and planned where their day end would be. Too much trust in google maps and elog to tell them everything they should do. We still got grey matter between our ears. I think?
Now every one is running their elog to the max.
But every rest area is backed up to the intersate. Truck stops way over parked. I try to find out of the way places if possable.
Grizzly, the elog n my opinion makes it harder to look at a map IF you need to. Most truckers have a pretty good idea of how far they can generally go in a days time and where they will land, but the elog screws that up, say you run into any sort of traffic and have a delay, or any number of scenarios that are impossible to forsee.
Got back on the road on the 15 of nov. Flew me to vancouver BC to pic up a left behind truck and trailer. Back to winnipeg MB . To night i am in Cheyenne WY. Got a conveyor to drop 30 min out on the 80 at a gravel pit.
I have got to question my intelligence level!! Got to.... cause i get the itch when i read rj's post. Get the itch to sit alone in a restaurant to eat my truckstop meal, and haul my bag into a truckstop so i can shower in yet another unknown place, and sleep in a 40 below truckstop so i can breathe diesel exhaust all night. Yeah, goodtimes eh?? But, boy I'd like to be on the road. Enjoy it for me please. New scenery every mile along the way, new faces and people each mile of the highway as well as each stop you make, new accents, distinct traditions and methods, it's the most fantastic school room you'll ever know. Ah well.
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Sometimes I miss it too, everyday was a new adventure! (https://forestryforum.com/board/Smileys/default/cheesy.gif)
You're definitely not in Delaware with a sign like that.
What's the highest elevation in Delaware ?5o feet ? Lol
448 ft up by the PA line, but has the lowest average of all 50 states
I knew it's not much. It's more than that from here to town !
Got my class A an hour ago. Only took 2yrs of trying.
Congratulations Mike!
Yes, congratulations!
Quote
Quote from: mike_belben on December 04, 2018, 05:24:52 PM
Got my class A an hour ago. Only took 2yrs of trying.
I heard that, 10-4 Driver! Keep the shiny side up, and the dirty side down, good buddy, catch you on the flip flop, we gone! (Big radio CB talk) (https://forestryforum.com/board/Smileys/default/grin.gif)
Dead head from Cheyenne WY to Missula MT yesterday. Picked up composite board for a furniture manufactor in winnipeg MB.
Mayed it to Beach ND.
A litle bit of snow tonight here but good during the day.
Thanks guys.
Ive been moving my own equipment one nickel at a time for years. I love deadheading for a load, it costs me half as much in fuel as running loaded! 990 miles one way will eat some diesel.
I only drove as a company driver for Schneider for about 6 months. Drove vans and never flatbeds. They were a very good company to drive for and did everything they promised. Had a partner first 3 months or so then drove solo. I found when partnering I never got enough rest as I'd be laying in the bunk bouncing down the road back and forth between east and west coast at 3:00 am wondering if my partner was awake enough to drive or if he was going to fall asleep and wreck and kill us both. To his credit he would pull over if not safe to drive. When driving single when I stopped I got a good nights rest and I always pushed my dispatcher to keep me moving and making money or to be stopped at my home and they did pretty good to accommodate my request as it was good for them too. I was never one to wait at a truck stop to deliver tomorrow. Get it unloaded to day and go home or moving my next load. My best load was a load of dryer sheets that weighed about 2,000 for a full van load.
I enjoyed meeting folks and seeing the country and have no regret at all for the time spent. It sure gave me a better appreciation for the work our drivers perform to get us the goods and supplies we need and want. I am certainly more tolerant and push me friends to be so when they get behind a big truck struggling to make a grade or make a hard buttonhook turn at an intersection.
There was a lot of camaraderie out there whether someone talking you awake in those early morning hours or helping you find a delivery destination when missing your appointment would mean going to the bottom of the line and waiting 6-8 more hours to unload. Simple things like helping you slide the trailer to adjust the length at the scale could save you climbing in and out of the cab 3-4 times.
If nothing else the experience sure helped me learn to back my boat trailer and sawmill into a tight spot a lot better than before. My best to all you guys who continue this life style. May you avoid ever having to do any blind side backing and may there always be an empty parking spot at the rest area for you right in front showers and rest rooms.
I think the worst part is the guys that come off a ramp onto the highway. Their are very few that will speed up and merge properly. Other is the slow passing guy looking at your load. I will put my signal light on to get them to get by.
Then the guy that has miles of open road ahead and behind on a 4 line, will pass and then cut infront less then 2 seconds between you and their rear bumper.
Howard i hear what your saying about a codriver.
On my way to saltlake city.
Stoped for a reset at the Flying J west of Bismark. Had Breakfast. I call it a pancake sunday.
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rj, I see you posted the pancake Sunday about 2 hours ago, wondering if you have had a heart attack yet. That looks like one on your plate! Bet it tastes good tho.
mh
I am in my bunk sleeping it off. :laugh: :D
It was good but should have had half as much..
Hauling lumber to menards DC. in WI north of chicago. Staying ahead of the snow. Drop my load and exchange trailers with another driver and take his load to IL.
Heading my way, eh?
Wed i picked up a tarp load in kenora ON. 40 below wind chill 52 below.
Tarps were like plywood. But the sky was clear the sun was shinning. And they had a tarp shed.
Heading to Grand Rapids MI then to sault st marie pick up lumber and head for Belchertown ma.
My kenworth is sitting in belchertown on the palmer line.
Quote from: rjwoelk on February 01, 2019, 12:05:18 AMWed i picked up a tarp load in kenora ON. 40 below wind chill 52 below.
Ah yes, now i remember why i should be grateful i can't go on the road anymore.
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QuoteTarps were like plywood.
Straps can freeze too. I had a couple loads where the straps were caked in layers of ice and frozen onto the winches. Some peeled apart after thawing them out while standing outside in sub-zero windchill. Others I just cut off and got new ones. Oh the fun I used too have flatbed truckin'... (https://forestryforum.com/board/Smileys/default/cheesy.gif)
What i hate is when its too cold for my bottle torch to fire and all the locks are frozen.
Mike i will be in belchertown some time sunday late afternoon or evening.
Id meet up with ya but i live in tennessee now. I was raised in ludlow, the town youll probably get off the pike at to take 20 up into belchertown. Be safe.
Heading to Hayti MO.
Stopped at williamstown KY.
Going to do a tour of Noah's Ark tomorrow.
Noah's Ark is on our bucket list for this year.
They open at 12 tomorrow.
A little bit funny tonight it's pouring rain :o.
Took the tour. WOW
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more pic in my gallery.
Family is going up the June for vacation in the Smokey's were doing a little detour to see it. Love your pic
Wife and I enjoyed going through it. We combined it with a woodmizer open house in indy. Go to woodmizer site to read about their part in building it.
Dropped cattle head gates and squeeze. In Henrietta Tx and then on to Center Tx.
Then the fan pooches on the tripac. So got it fixed in Mount Pleasant.
No load yet.
Well summer is here and time to get my logs and go home. Hemlock, could have got a couple more on but was worried about the weight. Have not pulled a full max weight triaxel to know what my gauge pressure should be. Logs were 10 to 14 tops 16 to 22 butts. 50 plus long.
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I see who you drive for . Did they ever speed those things up ? They used to be set at 58 . Driver more right foot .
Yup we are at 62
Lol
The load scaled at 95000. So around 60000 lbs of logs
Do you have a big right leg from standing on the throttle . I did Beach ND to Fargo in 5 hours and I wasn't buying the fuel . That KW would fly set wide open .
No problem we are all automatics in the KW. But still on the foot through the mountains, The first 5 hrs was 20 to 30 mph, very narrow and squiggly road, hairpin turns etc, once on the #3 I was pretty good except on the hills down to again 30 mph. pretty solid and road very nice.
Got home and the 150 hp tractor was dead alternator is gone took it in to the dealer today for a bunch of work, So used the 65 hp JD 3020, lift one end of a log and then the other or just dragged several off.
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