Long Day

Left the house at 23:00 Tuesday for normal Indiana route. Loaded and left terminal at 00:15. Arrived Muncie 03:07, Kokomo at 04:40, Fort Wayne at 07:10, and South Bend at 09:05. Heavy t/storms between Kokomo and Fort Wayne and very windy.

Drive from South Bend to Fallen Timbers service plaza on I-80 a tough one because of the wind. Sprinters really suck when it's windy. It's the only thing I don't like about them. Several flatbeds lost their tarps or pieces of them. Arrived at the plaza at 11:45. Grabbed a sandwich and slept until 14:00.

Picked up in Perrysburg at 14:50 and Elyria at 16:20. Started off for Columbus when dispatch called saying that a Cleveland driver did not have enough room to cover one of his stops. Turned around and went into downtown Cleveland during rush hour. YUK!!! Made Cleveland pick and headed south again. Arrived Columbus at 19:08.

• Total odometer miles: 889
• Estimated Revenue: $732.00
• Fuel Costs: $114.00
• Dr. Scholl's Vibrating Seat Cushion: PRICELESS

I get to do it all over again tonight.

New Blog

Welcome to my Blog!!

Decided to take the plunge and start one of these. I titled it "Expedited Trucking" because that is what I've ended up doing when Schneider wouldn't let me sign on as an Owner Operator without a year of being a company driver.

Long story short, I have tractor trailer experience it's just not recent. I expected to go through SNI training but did not expect the one year company driver thing. I wouldn't have been able to pay my bills at $.28 per mile, so I went looking elsewhere.

Then I found "Expediting". Considered a straight truck with a sleeper but finally settled on a 2006 Dodge Sprinter with a sleeper conversion. Going this way I'm not regulated by DOT so I don't have to keep a logbook, no HOS requirements, and no stops in chicken coops. The Sprinter gets between 21-23 MPG with a 2.7L Mercedes 5 cyl. Turbo Diesel and TAH is every other day with Mondays off.

As with anything new I had some initial problems with the company I leased to. The biggest one was sitting waiting for a load, so I didn't make much money for the first couple of months. I then found a company based in Cincinnati and haven't stopped since. I make three runs a week into northern Indiana delivering mail, then cut across I-80 into northern Ohio, pick up mail back to Columbus on two of the return trips. I've been averaging between $1500 and $2000 per week even with the third return trip being a deadhead.

Business is booming so I've got a second Sprinter going on line next week with my son-in-law as the driver. My goal is to have a total of four Sprinters leased on and retire in about 6 years. After that, if I decide to make a run I'll do it to keep my hand in.

I've linked Orange Boy and Dr.Zebra's blogs to mine. If anyone else wants theirs linked here, let me know. Feel free to link mine to yours.