Have you seen the movie "Liar Liar" with Jim Carrie? In this movie Jim's character thinks he cannot do his job as lawyer because his son's birthday wish made him incapable of lying for 24 hours. In the end he managed to beat the hell out of the court system and get it to award $30,000,000 to the unfaithful wife who was divorcing her husband AND they had a pre-nup AND he didn't have to lie! What I'm trying to say is that a lot of guys think they have to cheat. Well, if I were a company driver pulling 30 cents per mile, I'd be probably tempted too. But I have my own truck and trailer ... I believe I should be able to make a reasonable living even when staying reasonably truthful in my logbook. Especially when I'm getting short of hours due to OVERWORK. I worked 6.5 hours a day and that left me 5.5 for tomorrow and 8 hrs 45 min for Wednesday. Plenty of time to finish the run and make the miners happy.

 

They cover a lot of ground in orientation, and now they have to explain a over complicated load board.

T/A Petro is the best price on fuel 99% of the time, but not the place for a 120 day inspection. Now with all that money your saving you can buy lunch when you get down to my part of the world and I can help you with load selection, and a few other things.

 

HAHA, I ony work 4 days a week, so i don't have that problem either. But in your post, you made it seem like you couldn't make the delivery-time is all I was saying.

The "short of hours due to overwork" should be changed to "short of hours due to me making a stupid decision and taking a load to an island in BFE" LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!

You shall soon learn that MILES dont make you $$$$, accessorial charges and short-haul premiums DO !!!!!

 

I had to try it. The money did seem good.

I keep reworking my OpenOffice spreadsheet where my required rate per mile is calculated. Now it shows this:

Cost per mile at 10,000 mi/mo

Base cost 0.15
Lease 0.15
Insurance 0.02
Maintenance 0.05
Fuel 0.7
Bills 0.64

Rev/mile 1.71
GROSS REQUIRED: 2.25

OR

$2.64 On 8500 mi a month

So, even $2.25 per mile on 10,000 miles a month will allow me to meet all my financial goals; but to be more realistic - for 8,500 miles - I should shoot for $2.65 per mile (after rounding it off). That's the rate quoted on the load board, GROSS to Landstar.

 

From Little America, WY
Exit 68, I-80

I fueled up this morning at the TA in Rawlins, WY. The posted rate was $3.329 per gallon and the sticker on the pump said, "cash and 3 party cash equivalent billing cards receive 7 cents off". When I used my Comdata to activate the pump, it still showed the CREDIT price in that little window and even the rolling dollar and gallon numbers reflected the $3.329 price. But when I went inside to get my receipt, I saw t showed the CASH price of $3.259 per gallon. I don't know yet what the "hidden" Landstar discount price is on my card but is should be considerably less than that.

I'm cruising through the rest of Wyoming and the scenery is breathtaking. The roads are clear but there's lots of snow in the fields. I keep my engine speed steady at 1,270 RPM and the road speed at 95 KM/H or 59 MPH. At this speed I seem to be doing great in terms of fuel, despite the strong wind.

 

I love Wyoming...... I went out to Reno like I stated around the end of April and in Nebraska it was 80*. When I got to Laramie tho it dropped to 31* and snowed the whole way to Rawlings. Then it went back to 77* and about 25miles down the road I took a picture of this tornado. Come to find out, it was about 7 miles wide but didn't damage anyhting but some fences. I originally thought it was just a large downpour, but it was on the news that night that it was a F2. I was amazed

 

Well, it's beautiful here now as you can see from my pics: it's sunny and the temp is at 16F. By the way it's R-a-w-l-i-n-s, WY. There's a Rawlings in VA and MD though.

 

From the TA truck stop in Tooele, Utah
Exit 99 off I-80, 20 miles west of Salt Lake City
552 km (343 mi) from Golconda, Nevada

By an amazing coincidence I turned off the ignition at the Tooele TA (pronounced 'too - E - lah') exactly 5 hours and 30 minutes after I started work; and 5.5 hrs was all I could work today The diesel cash price here is ... $3.41 per gallon! I called the Landstar fuel line and 'our' special price is $3.185. It's good that I fueled in Rawlins, WY - that TA is close to a huge oil refinery and I think that's why their diesel prices are lower.

I don't remember the last time I crossed Salt Lake City, UT via I-80 and that hill is quite something, isn't it? The road up was okay (I had to downshift to Gear 7 Low), but the way down was scary. It's 6.5% grade and driving in 8 Low and with the jake brake on Max, the truck got up to 65 MPH in a matter of seconds. I kept my RPM between 1500 and 1600 RPM for maximum exhaust braking power... Thanks goodness, the pavement was dry and clear of snow. Otherwise I'd need chains - I saw the sign right before the grade, saying CHAINS REQUIRED WHEN LIGHTS FLASHING.

I set up camp in the restaurant inside the truck stop with my laptop, scanner and Verizon USB stick. I need to prepare the mileage report so that I can send it quickly tomorrow, when I deliver the load. I also want to scan and email most of my logs I've filled out until today, again so that tomorrow I'd need to send only the bill of lading and the customs paperwork.

 

Utah fuel tax is.105 cents higher than Wyo, take .105 off the Utah price to compare it to the WY price. Should come out close to the same, you really won't like the price in NV, Loves at Wells, NV is $3.42. I suggest you get enought to get back out of NV.

 

I spent 4 of the most miserable hours of my life just south of Wamsutter WY.......back in the winter of 81. I was up 60 feet in the air, 40 feet above the rig's windwall, when I slipped and fell off the traveling blocks. Lucky me....I was wearing fall protection......unlucky me......I had the air chugger line and both cat lines tied up on the traveling blocks. It took the rig crew 3 & 1/2 hours to steam their way up the derrick ladder. It was -13F, with blowing snow. Ice covered a lot of the rig...including the traveling blocks. I lost my hardhat and headliner...as well as my glasses....which went down the wellbore. I was hanging upside down for about 45 minutes of that......3 feet above the rim of the wall. The "dyna-brake" for the fall protection worked great...just didn't stretch far enough to get me past the windwall.

*sigh* the good ole days!!! *sigh*

cured me of liking heights I tell you what!!