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Phil Madsen's BlogLearning Something New Every Day |
Truck drivers Phil and Diane Madsen live, work and play on the road; transporting expedited and critical-shipment freight in their custom-built truck. Phil's blog is a blend of travelogue, brain dump and commentary on road-inspired topics.
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Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, July 1, 2009. I learned today that California will issue IOUs instead of paying its bills with cash. Learned from news reports.
This is the latest economic disaster in a string of them that began in 2008. People keep talking about the recovery but the evidence points to further decline. The housing crisis, implosion of Wall Street, major bank failures and rising unemployment rates have all been followed by talk of the recovery, as if recovery is a sure thing that lies just around the corner.
No such luck. A recent trip around the corner took us to the bankruptcy of Chrysler and General Motors. Yesterday's turn around the corner took us to a now insolvent State of California.
The term in vogue these days on financial news channels is "green shoots." Any indicator, no matter how trite, is called a green shoot and offered as evidence that economic recovery is just around the corner. Wanting to feel good, and looking for green shoots of any kind in which they can place their hope, people are ignoring the train wrecks that are devastating the ground and crushing their precious green shoots.
California's IOUs are not a solution to that state's budget crisis. They are a problem that increases the state's debt and will create further problems down the road. The bankruptcy of industry giants Chrysler and GM is a solution that clears the books, but it is a problem that increases unemployment and decreases economic activity in historically significant ways.
Merging weak banks that are too big to fail into bigger banks that are also weak is a solution that averts immediate panic. It is also a problem because it only increases the size of the bank crashes that may yet come. (Banks have yet to deal with the mountains of worthless sub-prime paper they keep hidden in their closets. Property values that secure loans continue to decline. Consumers are increasingly unable to pay off their credit cards. etc.)
Trying to ease the pain of the indebted American consumer by creating mountains of new public debt and injecting stimulus dollars into the economy is a solution that reduces political heat. It is also a problem that elevates debt to unimaginable levels, and threatens to weaken the dollar and spark inflation.
The solution to banks that are too big to fail is bigger banks? The solution to a nation whose citizens took on too much debt is more debt? We're not fixing anything. We are pushing the same old problems down the road where their consequences will be worse than if we dealt with them today. Need proof?
California.
I'll stop here. I can see it coming, maybe. A piece is bubbling up from within, "Driving in the American Economy." I have better things to do with my time than add such a piece to the many pieces already written by others. It's just that America's economic mess frustrates me to no end. Writing about it would help get it out of my system. Better, I think, to focus my time on things that will put money in our bank account. Plenty of other people are writing about the economy.
After driving overnight from Denver, Colorado, we delivered a load near Spokane, Washington this morning. Today was a day of rest. In the last few days we have driven from West Virginia to New Mexico to Colorado to Washington.
Diane was ready to haul more freight and had thoughts about chasing some by deadheading to Sacramento, California to wait for freight there. With the long weekend coming, getting stuck in Washington with no freight to haul is not a pleasant thought. I was not ready to haul more freight and exercised the veto power each of us has. We stayed in service to consider load offers but also used the day to rest.
No acceptable load offers were received and we spent a quiet day at the Petro truck stop just west of Spokane. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, July 2, 2009. I learned today more about trading. Learned by practicing.
We woke up this morning at the Petro truck stop near Spokane, Washington. Later in the day, we accepted a load offer for less pay than we normally accept, and it does not pick up until Monday. That's OK. We have plenty of work to do while we sit.
Except for bathroom breaks and a two-hour break late in the afternoon, I spent sunrise to midnight in front of my computer, practice trading. Notice I did not say studying. I said practice trading.
I have finally gotten to the point where I can use my new trading platform (computer software that enables users to follow the markets and trade in real time) instead of just learning how to use it. Today was a blast! As I made several practice trades, I got better at using the platform. It's the difference between reading how to ride a bike and actually riding one.
The new broker and platform enables me to do something I could not easily do before. I can now access products and markets worldwide. That means I can trade anytime, day or night, on days the markets are open.
The books about the markets and strategies have become redundant and boring. The trading platform is something I am now able to use. Months of study and preparation have paid off. While study and research will never cease, more of my trading time will now go into actual trading.
Practice trading will continue until my confidence and skills grow strong enough to trade with real money. I feel ready to jump in right now but am taking the more prudent course. I need to rack up a net winning record over a period of time. Before I enter the arena where highly-skilled, cold-blooded, professional traders have it as their sole purpose to take my money out of my pocket, I need to prove to myself that I can play the game and win. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, July 3, 2009. I learned today that the markets are closed for the Fourth of July holiday. Learned by trying to make some practice trades and finding myself unable to do so.
I had not checked the holiday trading schedule and this caught me by surprise. Unable to trade, I was pleasantly surprised by a burning desire that bubbled up from within to do some expediting business paperwork. Diane and I spent a good chunk of the day doing it. Now that real-money trading is coming soon, there are a number of tasks to complete. The more current I am on everything else, the more free time I will have to trade.
We spent the day at the Petro truck stop near Spokane, Washington. We accepted a load offer yesterday that picks up near Tacoma on Monday. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, July 4, 2009 (Independence Day). I learned today what parts near Spokane, Washington look like. Learned by driving through them.
We woke up this morning at the Petro truck stop near Spokane, Washington. Having time between now and Monday's pickup, we decided to find a local park and spend the day there. It did not go well.
One of the parks we found on the web was locked up tight. People could walk in on foot but parking was sparse and the bathrooms were locked up. Another park turned to be at the end of a gravel road that was so baldy washboarded up that we turned the truck around to spare it the ordeal. We avoided a third park because of anticipated fireworks crowds that would build during the day.
Finally, we got sick of trying to find a park and went to a more familiar and reliable hangout instead; Barnes and Nobel. On the way, we stopped at a Wal-Mart and restocked groceries. At the bookstore, I headed straight to the investments section and pulled out a stack of books on trading.
It is a sign of my learning progress that whatever trading book I look at these days, there is very little in them that is new. I love reading each one. While the writers are all talking about the same thing, they say it in different ways. Reading each one exposes me to helpful insights and nuances about trading.
When the bookstore closed, we returned to Petro to spend the night. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, July 5, 2009. I learned today how to change the belt on our Onan generator. Learned by doing it.
The theme for today was mechanical, and not in a good way.
It started well enough. The truck is due for a grease job, the weather was good and I set out to do it. Before I got to the dirty work, I went after a backup light that was not working. While checking the wiring, I discovered a cracked junction box. That will have to be fixed to keep the water and salt out of the wiring that connects there. Inside the box, there is a maze of wires and electronic components. This is a task I could do myself but think it best to leave it to the professionals who will know what some of those strange things are inside that box. I put some silicone over the crack as a temporary fix and proceeded to the next item.
The wires in the junction box seemed OK so I next checked the backup light itself. With Diane in the driver's seat and the truck in reverse, I found power to the lamp. It needed to be replaced. No problem, I thought. I'll just go into the truck stop store and buy one. You guessed it, the store does not carry such lamps in white. So I returned to the truck, reinstalled the light assembly and made a note to get a lamp the first chance we get.
Next was the grease job. When I opened the tool box door to get the stuff, the weather strip dropped down and hung loose. This is a repair I have been meaning to make but forgot about today, until the weather strip itself made the need known. At yesterday's Wal-Mart stop, I bought the needed glue and was glad to have it today. That repair went fine.
Finally, on to the grease job. I laid out the wood blocks that we carry for this job and Diane pulled the truck up on them. I then chocked the wheels and went to work. This is the second time I have greased the truck myself and it went much faster than the first. When I got to one of the final rear wheels, I saw it — a broken bracket that holds the air brake chamber in place.
We had no choice this side of safety but to call dispatch and tell them to take us off the load. This is a repair that I cannot do myself. We will have to go in on Monday to have the shop look at it and order the part. Hopefully, we will be back in business on Tuesday.
Regular readers may think there is something familiar to this story. There is. We had the same repair done in Syracuse, New York, in March. There are six such brackets on the truck. Two of them have broken in the last four months. While it happens on trucks that are not greased, it is not common for even one bracket to break on a well maintained truck. Something is up. When we go in on Monday, we will be talking by phone to people at Volvo too.
I finished the grease job, cleaned and put away my stuff, removed and stuffed my dirty coveralls into a plastic bag Diane held open for me, and headed inside for a much needed shower. Some showers feel like heavenly gifts. This was one of those.
I returned to the truck and Diane headed inside to do laundry. It got up to 96 °F today. I was ready for a rest. I turned on the generator and air conditioning, grabbed a bottle of water and a Diet Pepsi, and sat down in front of the computer for some mindless surfing.
A few minutes later, the generator quit. A never before seen code appeared on the control panel telling me the generator had overheated. With the sun beating down and the sleeper heating up fast, I got out to investigate. It did not take long to find the problem. The belt had given up the ghost.
Saying goodbye to the shower I just took, I went to work on the generator. We carry a spare belt. We carry spares for every belt the truck has. If you drive a truck, you should do the same.
With over three years of use and 6,000 hours on the generator, it is not a surprise to see a belt give way. Replacing a generator belt on an Onan is a simple job — if you know how to do it. I did not.
It took me and Larry, a trucker who came over to help, 90 minutes to figure it out. Larry was great. He figured out (or already knew) the part about using a wrench to rotate the engine and thereby turn the pulley. I figured out the part about lining up the thin part of the pulley before rolling the belt over it. Next time I'll be able to do the job alone in ten minutes or less. While I was at it, I did a generator oil change too.
We strive to keep the truck in perfect mechanical condition but surprises sometimes come. Tomorrow and Tuesday will be days in the shop and not hauling freight, or even waiting to haul some. Yuck! Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, July 6, 2009. I learned today more about trading (this page recently updated). Learned by spending several hours practice trading.
We woke up this morning at the Petro truck stop near Spokane, Washington. The first item of business was to get to the shop and get a part ordered for a needed repair. That was done and an appointment was set for Tuesday morning to complete the work. We spent the rest of the day reading (Diane) and practice trading (me).
Being out of service for two days for a truck repair is no fun. I am glad that I set out to learn a new money-making skill (trading) that can be done from the truck when freight is slow. The recession is showing no sign of letting up. I think I would be going stir crazy if I did not have something like trading to occupy my time. It is a true challenge that I am thoroughly enjoying. The hours spent trading fill what would otherwise be slow time. The hoped for profits help Diane and me look forward with optimism, regardless of how the economy and trucking works out.
I'm not making any money yet as a trader but continue to believe I will. To that end, I continue to put in the time to develop my trading knowledge and skills. This has been going on for several months and I have yet to become anything more than a hopeful beginning trader. But I press on. As my knowledge and skills grow, so do my enthusiasm and belief in trading success. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, July 7, 2009. I learned today about the wear line that is on truck brake pads. Learned from a mechanic that pointed it out to me.
I already knew how to check brake pads for wear but did not know that pads come with a wear line built into them. These are the kinds of things you pick up along the way if you ask good questions and pay attention.
Today was a day at the shop, first waiting for a repair to begin, then waiting for it to be completed. The air chamber bracket I spoke of on Sunday has been repaired. We went back into service late in the day and returned to the Petro truck stop to spend the night. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, July 8, 2009. I learned today more about how our new camera works. Learned by taking lots of shots and trying the many settings.
We woke up this morning at the Petro truck stop near Spokane, Washington. A load offer came in that we accepted. The freight picks up tomorrow in Oregon and goes to Pennsylvania over the weekend. A weekend run! Wow! We have not had one of those in a while. This is nice. It is also nice that we did not have to wait long for a load offer after going back into service after yesterday's repair.
While doing my pre-trip inspection, I discovered a loose valve stem on the right steer (front) tire. It was still holding air but this is the kind of thing that can only get worse if you let it go. Because of the angle, I was unable to tighten it myself. So we drove across the parking lot to the tire shop. They removed both front tires and tightened both valve stems.
Things like these are a pain but also show the value of doing thorough pre-trip inspections and keeping an aggressive truck maintenance schedule. Sure, we might have been able to run the truck for a while with a loose valve stem, but it is better to fix it now than have a tire go flat on you on the road and pay for road service and a new tire later.
While I was waiting on the repair, I saw they had a battery sale going on. The generator has been kicking in more often, suggesting the need for new batteries. When I asked, the counter man gave me an aggressive sales pitch on Optima batteries. The price was deeply discounted and he would only charge me 30 minutes labor to put them in. Diane and I talked it over and then bought four new batteries.
We then headed out on a seven-hour drive to get to our Oregon pickup. I drove some of the way, Diane drove the rest. On the way, we each took some shots with the camera we recently purchased. Among other things, the camera picked up details of a nearby dust devil that we saw, and another one far away. So far, we are happy with how the camera performs. Some of the detail will be lost in the re-sized and color-adjusted photos shown here.
The far dust devil looks like a tornado but I don't think it was. The weather did not seem like tornado weather. If it is not a tornado, it is the tallest dust devil I have seen, going all the way from the ground to the clouds. Is it a little tornado? I don't know. See the photos here. I report. You decide.
After a fun drive on Oregon back roads, we got to a Wal-Mart near the pickup location after sundown and settled in to spend the night there. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, July 9, 2009. I learned today about colon hydrotherapy. Learned by seeing this sign in Oregon and looking it up on the internet.
Notice that gift certificates are available! Who do you know that would love the gift of colon hydrotherapy? How long has it been since you thought of your in-laws' colons? Imagine their joy around the Christmas tree when they open their gift envelopes and find you cared enough about their colons to give them a free swish? Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, July 10, 2009. I learned today what building materials won't work to resolve a truck wiring issue we have. Learned by looking at the materials at Lowe's.
We had some time to spare today before we picked up a load in Oregon that is going to Pennsylvania. There is a wiring harness that runs the length of our truck body, on the underside, on both sides. It supplies power to the chicken lights.
The wiring harness that was installed when the chicken lights were installed started failing in a few months and required numerous roadside repairs done by me, almost always in unpleasant weather. Finding a good chrome shop in West Memphis, Arkansas last March, we had them custom build us a good harness. It has been working great but I would like to shield it from the tire spray before the snow and salt flies. I'm thinking it through as time goes by. Putting fenders on the rear wheels is one solution but I am not settled on that yet.
We picked up the freight as scheduled. The customer was thrilled with the way I secured the freight in the truck. The freight was easy, one shipping case that weighed less than 200 lbs. Shipping cases are great. They are made to be shipped and are easy to handle and secure.
The shipper amazed us with her story of how they used to charter a Lear jet at $35,000 a pop to move these cases. The jet was not amazing. Important cargo is sometimes moved that way. Lear jets are not just used to fly rich people around in private. Some are configured for cargo. What amazed us was that a company that gets paid $35,000 a pop to move a shipping case blew it by not showing up on time and by improperly handling the freight such that it was damaged.
Business lost by that carrier is business gained by us, and at a huge cost savings to the customer. That's good news for our customer and us, and bad news for the losing carrier. What can I say. They had their chance.
With the freight loaded and secured to the customer's delight, we headed toward Pennsylvania, looking forward to a pleasant weekend drive. Diane has a dental appointment at home on Wednesday. She booked a flight out of Pittsburgh to get home for the appointment. I'll stay near Pittsburgh with the truck until she returns. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, July 11, 2009. I learned today that economic recovery is not likely to begin for a year. Learned by listening to business podcasts for several hours as I drove.
We are on a nice run from Oregon to Pennsylvania, driving and sleeping in shifts. The weather is good. The truck is running well. The scenery is nice. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, July 12, 2009. I learned today the future plans of an expedite team that has decided to leave the business. Learned when the team told us of their plans.
On a very nice run from Oregon to Pennsylvania, the truck engine developed a troubling noise. We thought it best to not continue and stopped at the Volvo dealer in Des Moines. The dealership was closed on Sunday.
Concerned about customer service, our carrier sent a road service unit to our truck. That technician confirmed the noise and agreed that the truck should not be further driven until the possibly serious threat to the engine was properly diagnosed and repaired. With the noise coming from inside the engine, a roadside repair was not possible.
Two to three hours later, the freight was transferred to another truck that was dispatched to rescue the load. That truck had just delivered a load in South Dakota. The team is one we met a couple years ago when they were just getting started in a fleet owner's truck.
That was in Las Vegas. We treated them to lunch then and answered their newbie questions. They were in the same truck when they arrived to rescue our freight but were discouraged about the business. They said they could not make it financially with them splitting the gross revenue between them and the truck owner, and with the business slowing down as it had. They said they are getting out. She plans to go into nursing. He did not share his work plan if he has one.
This is sad. These two are great people and a great team. When our carrier and their fleet owner starts losing good people like this to the business slowdown, it is bad news for all concerned.
As owner-operators in a paid-for truck, our situation is different. I sometimes joke that if business slows down it is not a problem because we already know how to live in a truck. Our debt-free circumstances give us staying power that many others don't have. Still, we are not in this business to survive. We are in it to prosper. If the money dries up, we will get out too. Trading may end up being what keeps us in this truck and on the road as much as the freight.
With our freight safely on its way, we settled in for a quiet night in good weather, parked at the dealer's service gate. A freeway exit with the usual array of gas stations and restaurants is four blocks away. If we needed anything we could walk there to get it. Diane made the walk twice, I made it once; not because we needed anything in particular but just to get out of the truck and walk a bit.
The night was quiet except for a few minutes around midnight when someone launched fireworks for ten minutes. That was quite the treat. We have never before been welcomed to a Volvo dealership with fireworks. As the economy slows, customer service gets better and better! Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, July 13, 2009. I learned today more about the inner working of our truck engine, and what caused our truck to break down. Learned by having a mechanic explain it to me.
(Photo shot by Diane through a buggy windshield that reflected shop lights. I'm standing on the engine, looking at the cam shaft and rocker arms as the mechanic shows me the cause of the breakdown.)
We woke up this morning on the street by the service gate of the Volvo Trucks dealer in Des Moines, Iowa. We stopped there yesterday after our truck engine developed a troubling noise. They got us right in but it took the mechanic quite some time and a couple of attempts to diagnose the problem.
We spent the day at the dealership, passing time as best we could. It was a balancing act trying to keep an eye on our mechanic while not being too much of a pest. He was a senior technician and seemed competent. Even good mechanics make mistakes. He missed something the first time through which he found later in the day.
The noise was caused by a damaged cam roller. We stopped soon after hearing the noise. It is a good thing we did. Serious damage would have followed if we had continued to drive.
They ordered the part and said it should be in tomorrow. With the truck engine apart in the shop, we walked a half block down the street and got a hotel room for the night.
I want to share the high praise Diane and I have for the team that rescued our freight yesterday. They delivered the load on time and thereby kept the customer happy and kept us from getting charged with a service failure. We have done freight rescues for other drivers when they broke down and have always been happy to do it, even if the money was not the best. It keeps the customers happy, but more meaningful to us, it helps a fellow driver or team.
It not only helps him, her or them avoid a service failure, it gets the freight off the disabled truck so the driver(s) can focus on getting it fixed. When you are as tied to and dependent on a piece of equipment like truckers are with their trucks, it is vital to keep the trucks running. Others have helped us do so when the trucks we drove broke down. It is a pleasure for us to return the favor. This time another team helped us. We are grateful. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, July 14, 2009. I learned today more about trading. Learned by practicing.
We woke up this morning in the Des Moines, Iowa hotel we checked into last night. Diane rented a car and went home for a dental appointment she has tomorrow. I stayed to tend to our truck which is still in the shop.
The part needed to get our truck running did not arrive today as we had hoped. The dealership told me last night that it would be in but I was not so sure. It was late in the day when they ordered it. Parts get shipped overnight all the time but they must be ordered early in the day for that to happen.
That gave me a second night to spend in the hotel and lots of time to trade. Leaving the TV turned off in the hotel room, I put that time to full use.
The end of Diane's dental appointments are in sight and her braces will come off before Christmas. That will be a relief. Getting her home for orthodontist appointments has been an expensive pain. I do not begrudge her the braces one bit. We are both happy that she has them and are pleased with the positive effects they are already having. When presented with the choice of braces now or surgery later in life, the choice was easily made. We want the braces, but it would be nice if the travel costs for them were lower.
The load we lost to the broke down truck delivered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Monday morning. The plan was to fly Diane home from there and a ticket was purchased. Most of that money was lost when we did not make it to Pittsburgh.
The next plan was to drive the truck home today after it was repaired. A five hour drive to home would be easily done. But the needed engine part did not arrive so Diane had to rent a car to get home.
I suppose we could find lots to complain about in all this but that's not our way. We are doing what it takes to get the truck back on the road and to get Diane through her braces ordeal. She is enjoying a summer drive alone in a car. I'm enjoying learning more about our truck and trading. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, July 15, 2009. I learned today, once again, that Diane and I enjoy each other's company. Learned when she got back in the truck after taking a one-day trip home.
Her little trip is explained in yesterday's blog entry. She was only gone for a day but I felt almost teen-aged foolish when she returned to the truck. It felt like I had asked her out for the first time and she said yes.
After the truck repairs were completed and I paid the $1,096 bill, I parked on the street near the dealer to wait for Diane's call. Pictured here is the defective cam roller that was replaced. The gash across the polished surface is not supposed to be there.
Late in the afternoon, Diane returned the rental car to the office and called to tell me where to meet her and park the truck. It was a small strip mall next to the car rental office. She was waiting for me in the lot when I pulled in. As she climbed into the truck, smiles came across our faces and it felt good to be together again.
Moments later a good load offer was received. It picked up in South Dakota later tonight so we rolled on it immediately. A few moments after that, we got the message that the load canceled because the shipper found another truck at a lower price. So to the nearest Wal-Mart we went. The truck needed to be resupplied and we needed a place to spend the night.
The truck broke down. It cost us some money and down time. It's fixed now and we are ready to haul freight again. Freight was offered and then taken away. July is not shaping up to be a good revenue month for us and there have been several unexpected expenses. As a good friend and fellow expediter sometimes says, "That's trucking!" Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, July 16, 2009. I learned today what the Iowa state capitol building looks like. Leaned by seeing it in Des Moines as we drove by.
We woke up this morning in a Wal-Mart parking lot near Des Moines, Iowa. After rejecting a couple of bum load offers, we accepted a good one. It picked up at 10:00 p.m., near the state capitol, and will deliver tomorrow morning in a southern state.
With that much time before the pickup, we probably could have worked in a tour of the capitol. I spent the time practice trading instead. Diane read and spent time setting up her new laptop computer. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, July 17, 2009. I learned today where aspiring professional wrestlers in North Carolina go to get their start. Learned when I saw The House of Pain Pro Wrestling School in Ashville, North Carolina.
We picked up a load in Des Moines, Iowa late last night and drove overnight and all day today to deliver in Ashville. On the way, we got pre-dispatched to do a short but good paying run on Monday.
Also on the way, we got pulled into an Ohio weigh station for a level two inspection. For my non-trucking readers, a level two inspection comes between a level one and level three inspection (just in case you needed help with that part). It is more thorough than a paperwork check but not thorough enough to earn you a CVSA sticker if you pass. CVSA stickers are desirable because they serve essentially as a free pass for future inspections. Most scale cops will wave you through if they see a current CVSA sticker.
Passing a level one inspection is also desirable because our carrier will accept it as a DOT inspection. Our carrier requires DOT inspections every six months. If one is not done at a weigh station, we must pay to have one done by a qualified person at a garage.
Knowing our truck to be in good shape, I tried to talk the scale cop into a level one inspection but quickly learned that he had no intention or desire to crawl under the truck and look at the brakes. A level two keeps him on his feet or in his seat. So a level two it would be.
He was jovial and good natured through the process but was cutting me no slack. He did not just look at Diane's and my log books and page briefly through them as some scale cops do. He carefully read several pages and checked the math. So too with the other documents he asked for. The truck registration, proof of insurance, shipping papers, our medical cards and our CDLs (commercial driver's licence) were all carefully read.
He checked the truck lights, wipers and horn and made me open the back so he could see how the freight was secured. Upon seeing our freight, he said, "I wish they were all that easy" meaning he would not have to tell a driver to better secure the load or write a ticket for having a poorly secured load.
After finding no violations, he ran our truck and CDLs through his in-car computer. When my record came up clean, he complained that "This is a boring MVR" (motor vehicle record). I joked back, "Aren't they all that way?" He laughed and told me of one he printed that did not stop until nine pages came out. As a courtesy, he printed ours and gave us copies. I signed his inspection report and we were on our way.
Of interest to me was the sticker on the side of the officer's car. It said "Hazardous Materials Safety Enforcement." I have not seen that before and wondered if it is something new or just something new to me. We were hauling a HAZMAT load. It was four 55 gallon barrels of ink, HAZMAT because the ink in that form was flammable liquid.
The good people of Ashville got their ink just before sundown. We were thrilled to see a truck wash nearby. The truck was badly in need of a wash. While there, I called relatives who had moved to this area a couple years ago. We last visited with them when they lived in Denver.
They were home and invited us to stay. Our Monday pickup in Knoxville, Tennessee is just three hours away, giving us some weekend time to spend with them.
We ran into trouble when we got close to their house. The low tree branches that extended over the road made it impossible to drive our truck down their quiet, wooded lane. We drove to a nearby industrial park instead and spent the night there. In the morning, they will pick us up at the truck and take us to their house for showers, breakfast and a visit.
We also plan to visit the Biltmore House tomorrow. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that our relatives could provide free passes into the place. One of them works there. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, July 18, 2009. I learned today about the Biltmore House in Ashville, North Carolina. Learned by visiting it.
Forgive the large photo but we're real proud of this one. It was taken around sunset after the house closed. We had the place pretty much to ourselves and parked the truck as the guest-friendly staff suggested when I expressed a desire to pose the truck for a photo like this.
This was a GREAT day at a GREAT place. A slide show of our visit can be viewed here.
One of our relatives works at the Biltmore. She gave us complimentary tickets. With her and her husband, we enjoyed breakfast before and dinner after our Biltmore visit. While she worked, he served as our tour guide.
This is easily one of the best of the many great tourist experiences we have had in our six years on the road. There is a commitment to excellence at the Biltmore that began before the place was built and continues to this day. In these recessionary times, when there is so much talk about cutting back and saving money, it was truly wonderful to spend a day where everything is done well.
It would take many paragraphs to describe everything there is to see at the Biltmore. I'll leave that to the Biltmore web site. Just know that we had a delightful day touring the Biltmore, its winery and gardens. We are eager to return and take the self-guided audio tour and other tours they offer. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, July 19, 2009. I learned today some new concepts in home design and building. Learned from a relative who told Diane and me about them.
We woke up this morning in an industrial park near Ashville, North Carolina. We would have woken up in a relatives' home but the trees there are too low to drive our truck down their street. They shuttled us to their house for a morning visit.
We originally planned to drive to Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday night, but we were enjoying our time with our relatives too much to leave. The freight does not pick up until Monday so we had plenty of time.
One of our relatives works at the Biltmore. The other is a residential remodeling contractor, and I have to say, knows his stuff. We own land on which we plan to build a house after we come off the road. We are building the house in our heads now and the plan changes as often as we see the next house or architectural feature we like.
Our contractor relative got to talking with us about our house and offered his help in designing it. It is help we very much need and an offer we were happy to accept.
Still not wanting to leave, but feeling the pressure of the freight, we pulled ourselves away and headed to Knoxville to spend the night. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, July 20, 2009. I learned today the trucking news for the last six months. Learned by going through six months worth of trucking magazines that have been piling up in the truck.
A number of industry movers and shakers will be there. I want to be able to keep up when workshop attendees ask questions.
We completed a short run today, from Knoxville, Tennessee to Louisville, Kentucky. Shortly after that delivery, we got dispatched on another short run that picks up and delivers tomorrow.
The money for both runs is fine and we would normally feel like we were off to a good start on the week. But with the Expo coming, we will go out of service and head toward Wilmington, Ohio after we deliver tomorrow's load.
The money for July will be pathetic. With two truck breakdowns and time off for the Expo, this month may turn out to be one of the worst months we have had in six years on the road. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
We woke up this morning at a rest are in Indiana, about 30 miles from our afternoon pickup. The load delivers later today less than an hour away from Wilmington, Ohio. That is great because we are going next to Wilmington for the Expedite Expo. Last year, we deadheaded from New York to attend the show.
With the show fast approaching, our focus is now on it. Once we deliver today's load, all of our time will be spent getting our truck and ourselves ready for the show.
If you are one of my readers who is considering a career change to expediting, there is no better place to learn all about it than the Expedite Expo. I encourage you to attend. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, July 22, 2009. I learned today about a truck wash and detailing business in Wilmington, Ohio. Learned by visiting it.
We delivered a load last night near Columbus, Ohio. We did not know it when we arrived but we arrived just in time to get unloaded ahead of a convoy of eight big rigs that pulled in minutes behind us. This organized convoy came in all at once and the drivers knew exactly where to go and what to do at this large warehouse. It was something to see.
After unloading, we put ourselves out of service until Sunday noon and headed to the nearest Wal-Mart to spend the night. That's where we woke up this morning. We slept in, bought goods to resupply the truck, did some house cleaning and contacted a nearby truck wash and detailing company about getting our truck done before we drove it to the Expedite Expo in nearby Wilmington.
In the afternoon, we drove to the truck wash but were disappointed to learn that it is more of an automobile detailing shop. The door was too small to get the truck in the shop. Heavy rain kept them from working outside. Richard, the proprietor, said he would be at the convention center tomorrow with his mobile truck washing equipment and he'd put us first in line. We drove there to spend the night. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, July 23, 2009. I learned today more about expediting and the trucking industry. Learned by visiting with exhibitors as they arrived to set up at the Expedite Expo.
The first-in-line place we arranged yesterday for an early truck wash became last in line. Show organizers instructed the mobile truck wash guy to do the inside trucks first. They are the ones going into convention center to be displayed at the show. Our truck would be displayed too, in the "cool rigz" section, but that is outside. It makes sense to wash the inside trucks first. Those exhibitors need to get their trucks in and set up their displays. All we had to do was park our truck outside, in the designated spot.
We spent the day waiting in line, mixing and mingling with exhibitors and moving into the hotel. There is a very nice Holiday Inn attached to the convention center. We have a room there tonight through Sunday noon.
I spent a few hours in the room putting the final touches on the presentation I will give at the show — "Business Concepts for Expediters." When it came time to practice, I asked Diane to leave the room so I could rehearse alone. After two practice runs, I decided I was as ready as I would ever be and Diane returned to the room. Her time out of the room was spent walking the convention floor, taking pictures and visiting with people.
The show opens tomorrow morning. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, July 24, 2009. I learned today more about expediting. Learned by attending the Expedite Expo in Wilmington, Ohio.
After giving my presentation, which was well received, I am happy to say, I was able to relax and enjoy the show.
We are having a great time at the Expo; seeing the latest and greatest the industry is serving up, visiting with expediters of all kinds, and visiting with expediter wannabees. Wannabees are people who are at the show to learn about the career opportunity that expediting is.
Diane and I have a special place in our hearts for the wannabees. We can remember like it was yesterday our first visit to a truck show and how helpful the expediters were in explaining the business. The Expedite Expo is not just a truck show. It is the only show on earth that is dedicated to expediting. It was good to hear the wannabees talk about how impressed they were with the friendliness of the expediters they met and the help they received. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, July 25, 2009 I learned today more about expediting. Learned by attending the Expedite Expo in Wilmington, Ohio.
I know I have been saying "I learned more about expediting" for three days now. I am not sharing specifics because there are too many. This is a very informative show. Expediters of all experience levels and people who are looking at expediting for the first time can learn much by attending this annual event.
Diane and I are loving it. On Thursday night, there was a nice reception on the hotel's fifth-floor patio, featuring free drinks and a delicious pasta bar. That was sponsored by Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, one of the show exhibitors. Last night, our carrier, FedEx Custom Critical, bought dinner in the hotel restaurant for us and other FedEx Custom Critical contractors. This evening, expediters from from a number of carriers gathered on their own in the parking lot, set up their lawn chairs and a grill, and enjoyed each other's company.
If you are thinking of getting into the expedited freight transport business, note that all self-respecting expediters carry lawn chairs and are prepared to put them to good use on a moment's notice.
The exhibits and workshops were great too. I'm working now on a photo album of pictures from the show. You will see that soon. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, July 26, 2009. I learned today more about editing and displaying photos on this web site. Learned by working with them as I prepare an online photo album of Expedite Expo photos.
We woke up this morning in the Holiday Inn in Wilmington, Ohio, which is part of the Roberts Convention Center, where we attended the Expedite Expo. The show ended yesterday. Having learned our lesson last year, we spent an additional night in the hotel to rest up after the show. We moved our stuff back into the truck around noon today and put ourselves back in service.
A trade show about expediting brings a lot of expediter trucks into the area. With a large number of trucks waiting for loads, and many of those going into service before us, we don't expect to see any load offers until tomorrow at the earliest.
The weather is nice today. We are "back home" in our truck, letting a summer breeze blow through the open windows and memories of the Expedite Expo flow through our heads. We are very happy that we attended and are today enjoying a sense of well being that the show produced. In a word, it was great!
This afternoon and evening, I divided my time between Expedite Expo photo album work and trading. We have been gradually installing software and updates on Diane's new computer. With the new computing power now in her hands, she has renewed her interest in learning Punch! home design software. We bought that program some time ago but found her old computer to be too slow to run it well. Now she is into Punch! big time.
Punch! is not an easy program to learn but there is no doubt in my mind that she will. We plan to build a house some day, after we come off the road. In her many trips to the bookstore, she often spends hours paging through the home design books there. Those books take one just so far. Diane is ready to get her house ideas (including a few of mine) into her computer. She is learning Punch! to do that.
The contractor cousin I told you about on July 19 uses Punch! and has offered to help us with it. That further motivated Diane to get going with it. It is a big project to learn Punch!, especially if you have no 3D and architectural design background. That's OK. We have the time and she has the brains.
With my trading and her designing, if you stepped into our truck while we are waiting for freight, you will likely see the two of us sitting across from each other, each staring at our computer on the table, deep in thought. It would not look like much fun to an outside observer but for us it is great. We are using our hearts, minds and computers to create our future. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, July 27, 2009. I learned today more about trading (this page updated today). Learned by practicing.
We woke up this morning in a parking lot in Wilmington, Ohio, ate breakfast in the truck and commenced to pass time as we waited for freight. We did not have to wait long. A nice little offer came in that we rolled on soon after. We will deadhead almost as far for the Louisville, Kentucky pickup as we will drive to deliver the freight in Columbus, Ohio. That's OK. The money is good and the load puts us back in the game. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, July 28, 2009. I learned today more about trading. Learned by practicing for a few hours today.
We delivered freight late last night near Columbus, Ohio and went to the nearest retail area to find a place to park and go to sleep. After eating breakfast in the truck, we moved to another retail area to wait for freight. Several offers were received. The ones worth taking went to other trucks. The ones not worth taking we turned down. Finally a good offer came in and we got it. It picks up at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow in Columbus. We ended up spending the night in place, as the pickup is nearby.
Today was the best day of practice trading I have had since I started this endeavor months ago (story here). It is not so much that I had a profitable day (though I did). It is that I am beginning to feel like I have the hang of it. I have more practice trading to do to refine my technique but at this rate, it will not be long before I begin trading with real money. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, July 29, 2009. I learned today that it is not uncommon to have a drive shaft fall off a truck after the truck has been towed. Learned by seeing one such drive shaft and truck.
On July 12, I wrote about the truck that rescued the freight off our broke-down truck, delivered it on time and thereby saved us from being charged with a service failure. Today it was our turn to rescue freight.
On our way to today's delivery in downtown Philadelphia, we received a call from dispatch, asking if we would be willing to be taken off the next load we were predispatched to haul and instead be put on a rescue load. The rescue load was longer and better paying than the predispatched load, so it was easy to say yes. Though, we probably would have said yes anyway. See my July 12 blog entry to see why.
We were pleased to get quickly in and out of our Philadelphia delivery and make it mostly out of town before the evening rush hour began. An hour or two later, we arrived at the Freightliner dealer where the disabled truck had been towed.
That truck was already in a bay. We backed our truck up to it, used our lift gate to form a bridge between the two trucks and used a pallet jack to easily move the four skids (pallets) from one truck to the other. We were on our way minutes later.
The truck had been towed earlier in California. When trucks are towed, the drive shaft is usually removed. The Pennsylvania tow truck operator suggested that when the drive shaft was reinstalled in California, the bolts that hold the drive shaft on the truck had been over-tightened, causing them to break when the truck was in Pennsylvania. Talking later by phone with a trucker friend of mine, I learned that is not uncommon.
I made a note to myself. If our truck is ever towed, I will have new drive shaft bolts put in place of the old and insist on watching as they are properly torqued.
We felt bad for the team that lost this load. For reasons unknown, their truck had to be towed in California. Now it had to be towed again. They will be hit with a lot of down time and expense this month. Learning from their pain and experience, we hope to avoid similar drive shaft issues in the future.
The rescue load will keep us running overnight to deliver near Indianapolis, Indiana. It looks like we will be able to deliver the freight before its original delivery time, keeping the customer happy and saving the team from a service failure, like we were saved by another team not long ago. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, July 30, 2009. I learned today how our delivery went in Indiana. Learned when Diane told me about it.
The delivery went just fine. I did not know that because I was in bed while Diane did all the work. The run picked up yesterday in Pennsylvania and delivered this morning in Indiana. The hours worked out such that Diane did the driving and delivery while the sun came up.
After she unloaded the freight and did the paperwork for the run, she drove to a nearby Wal-Mart, parked the truck and joined me in bed. We got in a good snooze in before deadheading just five miles to our next pickup, which is another overnight run.
July will be a financial bust because of our breakdowns and time off for the Expedite Expo, but it is nice to end the month with three good runs. There is a chance for a fourth. We deliver on the East Coast early tomorrow morning. It would be great to get a cross-country run that keeps us rolling over the weekend.
I heard from three different companies at the Expedite Expo that freight had picked up in July. Our recent experience fits with that. Do we dare hope for a financially respectable August? Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, July 31, 2009. I learned today what downtown Frederick, Maryland looks like. Learned by driving through it, twice.
We delivered freight to a Frederick area business this morning. It was a load that required one of us to be awake with the freight. That task fell to me. I sat in the cab for several hours from when we arrived at the delivery to when the business opened in the morning.
If you are an expediter wannabe wondering what it is like to be an expediter, you don't have to wait. Rent a truck, drive it to an office park around midnight. Park behind one of the buildings that has loading docks and look out the window until sunrise. Seasoned expediters can describe in great detail the different kinds of loading docks, dumpsters, fire hydrants, gutters, animals, litter and other things that are typically found after dark behind factories, warehouses and office buildings. With a rented truck and several evenings spent as described above, you can develop that skill!
After our delivery, we found a bookstore with our GPS unit and relied on her (we call her Gertrude) to direct us to a bookstore. Usually we will also look at the route on our computer mapping software, and sometimes on Google Maps to get a lay of the land. We did not do so this time but should have. A map recon would have told us before we left that there would be no way to park a truck at that bookstore. We found it out the hard way by driving the narrow streets of Frederick.
Frederick is a beautiful town. As we drove through and saw this part of town for the first time, I said to Diane that I could live here. The town has a nice look and feel to it. That said, we also saw one of the ugliest buildings we have ever seen (photo). It was in a nice location, well maintained, and butt-ugly. It was for sale and I can understand why. If I owned a building that looked like that, I'd sell it too.
We returned to the newer part of Frederick and waited there for our next load offer. As has been recently typical, we turned down a few loads that were not worth taking, and accepted a few that were worth taking, and then watched them go to other trucks. Finally, late in the day, we received a good offer that we accepted and received. It picks up Monday in Pennsylvania, giving is the weekend off.
Upon seeing where our route would take us, Diane surprised me by saying with some enthusiasm, "We can go to Valley Forge!" I thought that would be OK but saw no urgency. Having nothing better to do, we decided to check it out.
Checking the weather, we found we would be in for a hot and humid weekend which would require running the generator for many hours to stay comfortable. I got enthused about spending the weekend in an RV park where shore power, not the generator, will cool the truck. I found one near Valley Forge, and made reservations for Saturday and Sunday night.
We said goodbye to Frederick and headed toward Valley Forge. We stopped at a Maryland service plaza on I-95 to spend the night.
It was after dark when we pulled in. The driver of the tractor that was parked in the space next to us was out trying to repair a defective tail light. I provided light for him by shining our spotlight onto the wiring he was working on. It was a mess and there was little he could do to fix it with the few tools and materials he had. Replacement parts were needed.
I wished him well and suggested that the scales would likely be closed where he was headed. He remained deeply worried about the police and did not want to be driving a broken-light truck that might attract their attention. I concluded that he had more than a tail light to worry about if the police pulled him over. I ended the conversation gracefully, left him to deal with his police issues on his own and went to bed. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page