They finally got the load ready late on Monday. I hooked to the pre-loaded trailer and was ready to pull out of Delhi, LA at 7:30 p.m. Monday night. This is Tuesday morning as I'm posting this and I am sitting in the T/A truck stop at Greenville, TN (exit 36 on I-81). I drove all through the night last night, logging 658 miles with a brief stop in McCalla, AL at the Love's truck stop for fuel and my thirty minute break. I arrived here in Greenville (a different time zone now) at 8:00 a.m.
They added several more stops onto the load to make it a more efficient run for their pocket book - such is the life of a dedicated driver. The total miles on this load are 1,882. Because of the multiple stops, they've got it emptying out on Saturday. These multiple stop loads can really slow you down sometimes, especially when all the stops are in the Northeast. I've already told them that I'm going to empty out first thing Friday. We'll see how that works out, but what I want to stress to those of you who are wondering at this, is that I do this almost every week. I am always trying to push my appointments forward. It is a tried and true strategy for me that has put me considerably ahead of the other drivers in my fleet in terms of my annual income. This load is a good example of why you want to move things along quicker than the average driver would think to do. This load is actually pretty tough to get done by Saturday, but I don't want to empty out on a Saturday and have to be dealing with weekend dispatch, which in my case on this dedicated account is NOBODY. That means I will have to sit for the weekend. That is why I already communicated to them that I will be empty on Friday morning. They have got to get me back to Delhi, LA anyways because that is my dedicated customer down there. If they get me something close to a direct run back that is another 1400 miles added onto this week. You guys are good at math - that is almost thirty three hundred miles this week. Those miles are not because I have a good dispatcher, but because I took the initiative to move things along so that they work out to my advantage - that's how the veteran drivers handle this stuff. That is how you make some serious money at this job.
My first stop is in Riverdale New Jersey, and they set me an appointment for Thursday morning. I already contacted the customer and told them we need to deliver it first thing Wednesday morning and that our truck would be sitting there waiting on them when they show up for work that morning. I'll drive all night tonight also and unless some unforeseen catastrophe strikes in the night, I'll be there waiting on them in the morning just like I told them.
These multi-stop flat-bed loads can be quite tricky. I will have to expose the various product at the different locations so that they can unload it, but I sure don't want to have to un-tarp it completely and re-do it each time. The Conestoga trailers simplify this greatly, but this one was loaded on a regular flat-bed. I always climb all over the load before tarping it and memorize where everyone's product is situated so that I can get unloaded at each stop efficiently. Here's a shot of what this load looks like...
Okay, it's high time for me to get some shut eye. After all I've got to do another 650 some odd miles tomorrow night also. I'll get back to you on some of the fun I'm having with this load on Wednesday. Thanks for following along with me on this run.
"We've got a long ways to go, and a short time to get there. We're gonna do what they say can't be done." -Jerry Reed, from Smokey And The Bandit
Fantastic! Stay safe and keep blogging. We love it!
ReplyDeleteRemember that you're not alone out there on the highway.
You have a friend watching up above.
We'll be on I-90 heading west starting in the morning from Canajoharie to Canandaigua....then on to Bloomington, Indiana. You might even pass us at your rate!!
Hey Captain Terryble, thanks for reading this stuff! I'm glad to see that you get some little pleasure from it. I can't always keep at it real consistently, but I do make an effort to keep it interesting and informative when I get the chance. Hope you have a safe trip!
ReplyDeleteMy wife picked out "Smokey & The Bandit" several weeks ago for us to watch one evening, and in one scene where Jerry Reed locks up the brakes on his rig, she commented, "oh, that's not supposed to happen, is it?" I really love having her interest and more importantly, support, in this new career.
ReplyDeletePete, I tell people all the time how important it is to have your spouse on board with the decision to pursue this career. I am curious about your situation... Is your wife going to stay in Ecuador while you are in the states? Not trying to pry, just curious. Your situation is unique in that you are a U.S. citizen who has been abroad for some years, and returning to pursue a career in trucking.
DeleteYes, she will remain here while I'm driving. After we arrived in July '13, we spent 6 mos. locating and building-out a location for a restaurant, which we ran for 2 1/2 yrs. before selling it. We though we had done our due-diligence on researching starting up a new business in Ecuador, but encountered many difficulties people just don't write about, mainly everything having to do with labor laws here. Essentially, the employees have all of the rights; when we opened, we had three local young men working for us, but for the final year leading up to selling the café it was just myself (running the 'front of the house'), my wife (chef extraordinaire), and step-daughter (prep cook). While it was a beast trying to keep up, there was absolutely no way we were going to hire another employee, putting them on contract. And we didn't want to get in trouble with the ministry of labor by paying someone under the table.
DeleteMy wife and I were fighting constantly, we were strung-out doing all of the work ourselves... it was not what we moved here for. Her body was breaking down, and my spirit was broken. I began to curse everyone who came in the door, which was ironic because it was their business supporting us, but for every person I saw walk in, I saw one or two more glasses to wash. And our popularity just kept growing. My wife's pastries, soups, and breads were renown city-wide for being the best. So, we came up with a solution that involved selling the café (www.popacuchu.com).
We started a tour company (www.popacuchutours.com), our target market being private independent high schools. Unfortunately our marketing emails went out too late; by the time most of the schools received them, they had already planned tours for summer '17. We did get positive feedback for summer '18; however, we had savings to float on until this summer, but had not expected to go another year without income.
ReplyDeleteMy wife speaks fluent Spanish, so she began teaching expats Spanish. I tried finding an internet job, but could not find anything reliable. I do not speak Spanish well, and if I had found a job here, the pay is approx. $370/month. So while my wife went out everyday and taught Spanish, I rode my bikes and looked unsuccessfully for a job. As a man, I couldn't allow that to continue for very long. So I turned my job search to the U.S.; I received several job offers in fields I had previously worked in (hospitality industry, uniform/career apparel industry), but it hit me like a ton of bricks that truck driving would be the far better choice for what we want to achieve financially. In several years I could surpass what I had been earning before, and as long as I remained an OTR driver, my paychecks would go directly into the bank. The only recurring monthly bill I expect to have is a cell phone bill. Our plan is for me to earn enough $$$ to invest in property here in Cuenca, and live and save off of the proceeds from renting units to continue a nice, comfortable life here. We are approaching it as a business decision, an assignment. If all goes well, and I don't see why it wouldn't, we'll still be 'retired' long before we would have if we still had the café, and certainly before we could have afforded to retire if still living & working in the U.S.
Our plan is to stay in touch as much as possible; we have a VOIP phone, so I can call her at any time, and will talk to her through email, Facebook, videos, and a blog I'll be keeping up with. She's also going to spend 3-4 weeks riding with me at least once/year, and I'll be spending my vacation time coming back here.
So, that's our story. Once I prove myself to my company, I'm hoping they'll just leave me out on the road, as 'home time' won't have any meaning for me. The solitary lifestyle won't present a problem; I've always enjoyed distance running and recently, cycling & mountain biking, all of which are largely solitary pursuits.
My wife will continue to teach Spanish to expats; that will cover groceries and utilities (we own our home). If we get tours next summer, she'll have to conduct them on her own, which she's fully capable of, and those profits will go towards furnishing the apartments we'll be purchasing.
I'm sorry this is such a long-winded reply; nutshells are totally useless to me, just too small!