Gambling with Nevada

[tracer]

I booked this load from Quebec Canada to Nevada:

Line/haul: $5,900
Fuel surcharge: $1,068

To the truck: $1,068 + 73% of $5,900
Total to the truck: $5,375

Loaded miles: 2,925 miles
D/H from Sydney NS to the pickup: 587 miles

I got up at 4 am this morning to drive the remaining 2 hours to the shipper in Quebec. Moose warnings were everywhere but I got lucky and didn't see a single animal. Got to the shipper in Mont-Joli QC around 8 am and of course I was at the wrong gate. Had to drive around on some narrow city streets to get to the correct gate. They loaded me with 8 (!) small skids full of some metal parts and the total weight is 30,368 lbs. Each skid is only 46 inches long, so I had the forklift guy - who spoke 2 words of English - put 4 in front of the signal light on my trailer and the other 4 behind (in rows of 2). No tarping was requested (I had checked this before booking the load, as I don't carry tarps on my stepdeck).

I passed Montreal today (I hate this town) and shut down at the Flying J on the western side, in the suburb of Vaudreul. From here it's only 30 minutes to Ontario where everybody speaks English!

My delivery is in the town of Golconda, NV so when I pass Chicago IL I'll just stay on I-80 all the way to the town. After that it's a bit tricky... Here's directions to the consignee as written on my paperwork:

"take Exit #... off I-80, travel north 15 miles to end of payment, then 12 miles to the mine."

This is going to be interesting!

[tracer]

I got up at 5 am, grabbed coffee at the Flying J and was on Hwy 20 out of Montreal by 6. While driving towards Napanee, ON on 401, it occurred to me I might get a LTL shipment out of Canada to US. A half of my trailer is empty: despite what the agent said ("it's a full 48' load"), what I have is 8 skids each only 46" by 46" and 24" tall. The weight is 30,000 lbs so I still could take 19,000 lbs, in theory...

I stopped at the Flying J in Napanee, logged on to the Landstar Loadboard to see if there was any loads out of the Greater Toronto Area going west, but the search produced 0 results. I did see however a bunch of loads out of Nevada but the pickup time was Jan-03. I called the agent who posted one of the loads and told her I"d be in Nevada on Jan-05 and will have to do a 34 hr reset but if she has something on Jan-07 I'd be glad to move it for at least $2.35/mi to Landstar. She took my cell phone number and truck number and promised to call once an Ontario-bound freight pops up.

I drove from Montreal at the steady 1,270 RPM and 95 KM/H (59 mph) and my fuel gauge is still above 1/4. After I had that overpriced fueling in New Brunswick ($1.187 per liter or $4.48 per US gallon!) I was determined to make the fuel last as long as possible. My odometer now shows I'm more than 1,200 miles away from that Irving in NB and I hope to reach some truck stop in MI to get more fuel. No more diesel in Canada for me, at least for now!

I'm at the Duty Free on the border in Sarnia, ON and my Verizon USB stick already catches the US signal. I stopped here to check if my ACE is ready for crossing, and will sleep today somewhere in Michigan.

Happy New Year from Michigan, everybody!

-tracer

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

Speaking of gambling..... I won $3500 at Sierra Sids Casino (ta truckstop) in Reno back in May

[tracer]

It is 2000 miles from Capac, MI to Golconda, Nevada where I must deliver on January 5th. So, I had 4 days at my disposal. I checked Google Maps to see what truck stop was roughly 500 miles west of Capac. Walcott, IA caught my eye where the 'world's largest truck stop' is located. So, I set myself a goal to reach Iowa-80 by the end of Saturday, Jan-01. It'd be a perfect place to take a shower and do my laundry.

As usuall it took 2 people at the McDonald's to process my 'double espresso with hot water' request, and I left Capac at 9 am. As I drove west on I-69, I-94 and then I-80, the temperature started to drop. It was +4C or 39F in Capac, MI, -3C or 26F in Chicago, IL and by the time I reached Walcott, IA it became really chilly at -9C or 15F. The roads were all clear, with hardly any snow in the ditches, but a strong western wind started up after Chicago and it kept blowing head-on all the way to Iowa.

I planned to fuel up at Iowa-80 but the price was $3.31 per gallon, so I filled only 1 tank. Diesel might get cheaper further west, you never know ... In Capac, MI I got one tank too and it was 3.25 per gallon.

I have never been to the third floor at the Iowa-80 truck stop, but that's where you have to go to get showers and do your laundry. They also have great pictures of old trucks on the walls, and I ran into this old fuel pump on a stairway landing (see the pic). Don't you wish sometimes that at least for a month diesel became this cheap? Ah.. the good old days, when classic Peterbilts were the way to go and nobody cared about fuel mileage

[oneliner]

When you get out to Wyoming,Utah you will find fuel for under $3.00 gallon.

[rank]

No more diesel in Canada for me, at least for now!

It wasn't too long ago that I was whining about the price of fuel in ON and you told me it was cheap after fuel tax and HST rebates!

I'm at the Duty Free on the border in Sarnia, ON and my Verizon USB stick already catches the US signal.

How much does that stick cost you? Does it work good? Does it work running down the road?

[Malaki86]

How much does that stick cost you? Does it work good? Does it work running down the road?

I'm with Sprint. I currently use the hotspot feature on my EVO (19.95/mo unlimited), but I previously had a standard USB stick. I paid $59.95/month (5gig limit). It worked great, and, yes, it works while driving down the highway. There were very few times I wasn't connected to the internet even though some times when out in the sticks it would be a very slow connection, but connected nonetheless.

[oneliner]

I'm with Sprint. I currently use the hotspot feature on my EVO (19.95/mo unlimited), but I previously had a standard USB stick. I paid $59.95/month (5gig limit). It worked great, and, yes, it works while driving down the highway. There were very few times I wasn't connected to the internet even though some times when out in the sticks it would be a very slow connection, but connected nonetheless.

I use Virgin Mobile...$40 a month unlimited and no contract.Works well every place I've been and yes it is slower depending on the area.

[no_worries]

When you get out to Wyoming,Utah you will find fuel for under $3.00 gallon.

Since when? NE is the cheapest fuel on I80 these days.

[Maniac]

I planned to fuel up at Iowa-80 but the price was $3.31 per gallon, so I filled only 1 tank. Diesel might get cheaper further west, you never know ... In Capac, MI I got one tank too and it was 3.25 per gallon.

When you pay your quarterly fuel tax, which Landstar will deduct you will see that the pump price means nothing, pay it at the pump or mail it in quarterly, NO difference

[solo379]

Any one have a 3G Ipad? How is that thing working?

[tracer]

It wasn't too long ago that I was whining about the price of fuel in ON and you told me it was cheap after fuel tax and HST rebates!

Because it's far more than $4 per gallon!

How much does that stick cost you? Does it work good? Does it work running down the road?

The Verizon one is $55 per month for 5 GB per month which is a lot (I rarely use more than 2 Gb/mo). I'm thinking of trading up for their new 4G USB sticks. The connection is faster (when 4G is available) and it's $50 per month for the same 5 Gb.

The stick works great. I love it. It gives you independence. I can't tell you how many times people with sad faces would come over to me and ask, "Do they have Wi-Fi here?" and I had to say, "No. I'm using my own USB stick!" Even in places where they do have "free" Wi-Fi, I sometimes just get tired of waiting for the connection, plug in my USB stick and I'm online in 15 seconds.

The Bell stick I'm using in Canada works actually worse than the Verizon in US: for some reason it kicks you off the Net if you stay idle for over 10 or 15 minutes (eg when you're reading something online). I called Bell about this and they said that's how it was designed, to prevent people from down- and uploading too much stuff. But it is a bit cheaper than Verizon.

Everybody is going crazy about smartphones, but I like browsing Internet on my 15" screen Dell with ultra-sharp 1,920 x 1,080 dpi resolution.

[oneliner]

Since when? NE is the cheapest fuel on I80 these days.

Your right....was looking at gas prices.

[Maniac]

Any one have a 3G Ipad? How is that thing working?

I have one, works real good but it is limited what you can do with it, if you just want internet surfing it works fine.

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

I'm with Sprint. I currently use the hotspot feature on my EVO (19.95/mo unlimited.

I do the same thing with my EVO..... great phone. Might I suggest you getting the bigger battery tho. I got mine on AMAZON for $50 and I don't have to recharge it for 2 days, compared to recharging the stock one twice a day...WELL WORTH THE $$$$$

[solo379]

I have one, works real good but it is limited what you can do with it, if you just want internet surfing it works fine.

Thanks Steve! I just got one for my birthday, but i'm home for now. For me it would be a mostly entertainment for now, and some internet surfing....

[tracer]

My first stop after the Iowa-80 truck stop this morning was a Bosselman/Pilot near Altoona IA, where I took the attached picture. Somehow, the words "24 days without an accident" do not instill much confidence, do they? If I were the manager of the truck stop, I'd probably hide that sign in the closet till I had at least "100 days without an accident". Otherwise, it kind of makes you think, "What exactly happened 25 days ago?" Did a runaway forklift truck kill 5 people in the shop or was it something worse?

Driving came easy today, thanks in part to the great audiobook I picked up at the Flying J in Lake Station, IN the other day. This thriller by John Lescroart is called "The First Law" and it came with 5 CDs with a running time of 6 hours ... all attactively priced at $9.99. Were I to spend that money of a DVD movie, the entertainment would be over in 2 hours. With the audiobook inside my Sony CD player I spent the biggest part of the day following the adventures of Leutenant Abe Glitsky, his friend Dismas Hardy the lawyer and Hardy's former client, John Holiday. Here's from the jacket, ".... Cut off from the system that they both served, denied justice from the corridors of power, and increasingly isolated at every turn, Hardy and Glitsky face their darkest hour..."

I did 568 miles today and shut down at North Platte, NE. The price of diesel still hovers is $3.30 per gallon at the Flying J and only a cent cheaper at the Love's across the road. The good news is I only have 1000 miles to go to the drop, so I only need one fill-up.

[Heavy Duty]

Tracer, you need to fuel at TA/Petro. the cost plus price you get will almost always be the best. Today OKC Petro cash price $3.19, LS price $2.97 Loves cash price $3.18 LS price $3.10. Use your book to call and check TA/Petro, when the price of crude is falling the discount can be .40 or more

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

Tracer, you need to fuel at TA/Petro. the cost plus price you get will almost always be the best. Today OKC Petro cash price $3.19, LS price $2.97 Loves cash price $3.18 LS price $3.10. Use your book to call and check TA/Petro, when the price of crude is falling the discount can be .40 or more

I remember when i was with LS, I could get fuel at the Wildwood T/A for almost $1 less per gallon than the posted price...... now I just pay the pump price and QC evens it out to $1.25 per gallon. I got a $74 rebate today

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

Driving came easy today, thanks in part to the great audiobook I picked up at the Flying J in Lake Station, IN the other day. .

Wish I had known... you were only 20 miles from my house.