Well as usual it has become more common place than not for me to take forever to post
, so with that said, here is a quick update...........
I cant remember the exact date but in mid December I went home and parked the truck for about a month. My son came home from college for the holidays and I decided to take that entire time off. It was refreshing to NOT think about bussiness and spend the holiday season with the family.
Around the 11th of this month I finally came back out to work, not by choice either as I got rather spoiled (or lazy depending on how you look at it
) with a load from Houston, TX to Lodi, CA. I knew that going to Cali, especially this time of year was going to be a real gamble but I went for it. It looked like my gamble paid off because before I got there I had a reload lined up that was just 40 miles up the road from where I was delivering heading out to NC for a very nice rate. Unfortunately the load got canceled the day before I was scheduled to load it
issedoff:.
I unloaded in Lodi and bounced 2 miles up the road to the Flying J and called several agents I usually work with out there to let them know I was looking for a load. Mean while I scanned the LS load board and it was not looking pretty. About mid morning the next day I get a call from one of the agents asking if I would be interested in picking up 2 forklifts in Gilroy, CA heading down to Phoenix, AZ. Although Phoenix aint that much better of a place to be (not sure anywhere really is this time of year) I said yes just so I could get out of Cali.
It turned out that the place in Gilroy was the exact place I loaded the last time I was in Cali which was just before I headed home for the year. Anyways, I headed on over to Gilroy and stayed the night at the truckstop there which was less than a mile from where I was loading. The next moring I head over to the plant and pick up the 2 forklifts. The trip was uneventful but long and boring because of the double nickle speed limit in Cali (sure wish they would consider raising it).
When I arrived at the consignee, the guy that owns the small outfit was super nice which is always a welcome suprise. They unloaded me in no time and I stayed there a little while drinking coffee and shooting the s&%t with him. He asked where I was headed next and since I didnt have a reload lined up I told him just over to the truckstop to "regroup". He asked is if I was interested, he had a single forlift going to Columbus, MS. I basically explained to him it would depend on if I could find something else to put on the deck as the .90cpm would not cut it alone for me. So I headed to the truckstop and searched with no luck.
Just as I was about to give up looking for the day a LS agent called and asked if I would be interested in taking 2 humvee's the following day from Luke AFB up to Portland, OR. Now normally I would have said NO because the NW has not been a good place to go. I told him let me see what was on the other end and I would call him right back. I checked the load board and low and behold there was a VERY decent paying load coming out of Eugene heading to TN on the same day I was going to be unloading. I called on it and booked it. I called the 1st agent back and told him I would take the humvee's.
While I am loading the humvees I get a voice mail from the agent on the Eugene load stating that the shipper was having some sort of difficulties and bottom line is that the load has been canceled until further notice.....
issedoff: WTF!! Oh well there's no sense in crying over spilt milk....it is what it is and I just gotta make the best of it. So I head on up thru slow azz Cali and Oregon and make my way to the Marine Reserve Center where these humee's were going. The entire trip I was searching, as well as put out a few calls to agents and not a single thing of interest popped up. Looks like Im gonna be stuck in the area for the weekend
I get unloaded and decide I would head over to the Jubitz truckstop. Been hearing about this place since the 1st day I started driving but never had the chance to stop there. I get there and was disappoint to say the least. Im not sure why, but for whatever reason I had in my mind that this place was going to be like a mini Iowa80 or something. Well it wasnt. I get parked and go inside to check things out and grab a bite to eat for lunch. Wasn't too much to see but the restuarant looked good....until I saw the menu prices :eek2:. We all know that truckstops are more expensive but when they want $9.00 for a club sandwich you gotta be kinding right. Needless to say I was starving and already there so I went ahead and ate.
After spending the night there at Jubitz and fighting to keep both an internet connection and TV reception, I decided to just move on over to the wonderful (insert sarcasim here) TA in Troutdale. At least there I have plenty of shower credits and I have more choices for food (and if I cant get and TV reception I can go to the bar there to watch the games :thumbsup
.
So here I sit for the weekend crossing my fingers that come Monday I can get a load out of here and try to turn this string of bad gambling luck around.
