From desk to own authority part 3
 

Somehow I screwed up the other chapter by continuously trying to post a reply as the system was coming up Monday morning and this caused the database or something to get screwed up so I asked Scoe to lock it down and I would start a new one.

I'm sick of sitting at home so my truck is posted for Monday. I was watching TV yesterday answering the phone non stop from Telemarketers and telling them I'm not interested. Well, I must have dozed off and my cell phone rang which I only use for business. I pick it up and someone asks if I want to haul a load from close to me to PA on Monday. I say I'm not interested and hang up. Two seconds later I wake up all the way and say OH CRAP.

I check the caller ID and the number is unavailable. I look on the load boards and nothing posted going from Bow NH to PA. Oh well, that would have been a good pick up point in PA to head back out West.

I'm doing that freaking IFTA crapola today. Been putting it off all week so time to get to it.

I did a little better on mileage this quarter and maybe due to the Rigmaster and not idling so much, not sure.

In my opinion, IFTA is the only way to measure your trucks true MPG performance. Mine was 5.7 for the quarter.

Yup, as long as the IFTA is done correctly, that's the only way to go for a long term average.

Even filling one fillup differently you can drop .5 or more of a MPG.

Yup, I agree. I have a habit of filling up even though I only need a little after the end of a trip.

I've just discovered something interesting doing my IFTA. I'm able to go through my log book and type into Microsoft Maps and Streets where I went for the quarter then click on plan route. If the route is different than what I took I can modify the route by clicking, dragging and dropping.

I then save the directions to a file and low and behold there is data I can key off of to write a simple program to calculate what I need to know.

Every time you enter a new state it prints out in a different font and color and the words "Entering Vermont" and in the far left hand column is the mileage. BINGO!!!

Now, where did I put that C compiler.

Steve, Thanks for starting a new chapter. The last one was getting a little "heavy" for this old dude to lift. If you have some success with your simple IFTA program, I would think there would be some demand for it. Nothing fancy, just a time saver for the small guy.

Write-compile-write-compile-write-compile 8) 8) 8) 8)

I just went through it by hand and it came out to within 357 miles of my actual odometer for the quarter. Close enough for sure!!!

I will make it available for anyone who wants it.

I just wish the GPS manufactures would do it. They already have the data, they just need to output it to a coma separated file for import into a spreadsheet.

Peddle it to DeLorme, They're just up the road from you a bit. If nothing else maybe you could get some free stuff from them. Free is Good. Good luck with it.

Steve, the "Do Not Call" Registry worked wonders for us at home in stopping telemarketing calls. Course, you're not home that much anyway but when you are it would give you some peace.

Yep, i think it is donotcall.com I think....

We are in FL getting the schiender eggs unloaded. :lol: :lol: It is raining but not hot. We have reservations in a hotel on International Blvd for 2 nights so we are going to Boston Lobster Fest tonight and then see what we can get into tomorrow.... 8)

Hopefully our freight god will find us a load on Monday. :wink:

Well steve, since you are restless and all, you must have trucking in your blood too....aint it great.... :wink:

Good luck getting a good load and maybe we will see ya soon...

tootie

F'ing IFTA

I dunno Tootie, every time I hear from you guys your in a hotel. Your like gentlemen truckers.

Got my IFTA done and mailed and it wasn't as bad this time using that technique I mentioned above.

I just got a notification that the Feds passed a law that allows anyone with an APU to be able to carry 400 pounds more over the max. It's up to the states whether they want to adopt the new weight but it looks like most are going ahead with it. Since I got my Rigmaster I can't scale 48,000 unless my tanks are only 1/2 full so this will save me.

I spent the rest of the day putting new mud flaps on my trailer. What a pain as usual. Torches, hack saws, drills and fighting off the bees. In New England right before the winter the bees get very aggressive like they want to die in battle instead of freezing to death.

I'm so freaking sore. Not sure if that's from working today or the Flu shot I got yesterday.

So I'm working on my trailer and the DOT pulls into the lot and comes over to my truck. The guy gets out and it's a guy I know who works part time driving a truck who I've become friends with. I start bitching at him like, "YOUR A FREAKING COP!!!!!" He says, what did you want me to do, say Hi, I'm Mike, want to be friends, by the way, I'm a DOT cop.

So, I think I'm all set to head out next week but usually nothing much happens on Monday. I had my drive tires checked and they are still good to go so I'll try another 6,000 mile trip and see how it goes.

The idling will make a difference, there is no doubt about that. Easily $25 and 6 gallons in the winter. That can drop you 1 mpg I'd guess.

I understand how you use Streets and Trips for IFTA, but how do you get from there to something you can share with others for their IFTA? I'm real curious because I'd like to ditch my service.

Good to see Part 3 started Steve
I was wondering what was going on there. Seemed page 153 stayed blank too long.
Scoe seemed pretty cool about it. That's good.

[quote="rank"]I saved the instructions to a text file and now all I have to do is write a program that reads every line. If the text of the line does not contain the word "Entering" then I ignore it. If it does, then I save it to a storage area in memory called an array.

Now I have an area in memory that looks like this.

100 Entering Massachusetts
200 Entering Pennsylvania
300 Entering Ohio
400 Entering Indiana
500 Entering Ohio
600 Entering Pennsylvania
700 Entering Massachusetts
800 Arrive New Hampshire

I would have to enter into the program the state that I was starting from and in the case above, that would be New Hampshire.

So now I run through my memory array and read the first line then subtract that from the previous line and now I have the mileage for that state. In the case of the first line it would be 100 miles for New Hampshire then 100 miles for for Mass then 100 miles for PA and so on. As I encountered another state that I've already run across I would just add that to my running total.

When I was done I would output an ascii file that looked like this. It is know ahead of time that each location between commas represents a certain state like AL,AK,AZ,

,,,200,,300,100,,,500,,,,,,,,,,,600,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

This is what is referred to as a coma separated file that can be imported to a spreadsheet as data. There are already tons of spreadsheets out there for IFTA that are free to download.

Just stopping here would be the biggest savings in time for me knowing the mileage for all the states. I could sort and output the data like this

AL
AR
AK
VT 200
MO
MA 200
OH 300
KY
NV


I've already done a little looking and found some states post an updated spreadsheet for IFTA for their state. The data that I extracted above could be imported to the spreadsheet then the only thing would be to enter the gallons purchased and the states and it would be done.

I'll do a little looking but will probably stop at just extracting a mileage total for all the states. That's my biggest pain trying to figure out all the states and miles.

You are way ahead of me on this, but I am hindered with a analog mind in a digital world. Just poking, makes sense to me. Give you something to work on while you sit in a snow drift, takin you're break in North Dakota.

DOS forever. or assembly???????????

Hmm. That seems like more work for me. With our current system, we have driver write down his odometer reading on the trip sheet as he enters each state. In mapping software setup, I would have the additional step of mapping each trip to calculate the mileage.

Why don't you write down the odometer reading as you cross the states lines?

It would be easy if I wrote down the mileage as I crossed over into other states but I don't. I do a lot of my driving at night and most of the time I don't pay much attention to what state I'm in. With the GPS, all I know is I have 487 miles before my next turn. :D

Knowing the mileage for the states was the biggest chunk of work I had to do and now it's become very simple using that Streets and Maps program. I still have to go through all the fuel and calculations.

I just discovered those little Kraft EasyMac meals and they taste great. It's just amazing what they can do with chemicals today. Pretty much no nutritional value at all in this meal but it tastes pretty good.

On some trucks,mine included,writing the odometer down will add more miles to the ifta than what I actually drove since my odometer rolls faster than it should. For example exact mileage from Rockwall,TX to AR. state line is 155 miles but for some reason my odometer will read 175 miles. :?
Should I have it looked at?

That's a lot to be off and I can think of many reasons not getting it fixed could cause you problems. Just proving to DOT that you've been where you said you've been.

That's a 13% error which would result in being off 390 miles from New Hampshire to California.

Your speedometer may be off also??

Interesting.

I'm driving an International 9400 that I'm 99% sure registers 2 mph faster than actual speed. (making the odometer off too)

I've wondered if it came factory with taller tires and had 22.5 lopro's put on later.

Would that even make that much difference?

Changing tire size could make both your speedometer and odometer off.

Use or borrow a GPS for a day,..they are right on the money MPH wise.
Beats the heck out of going to a speedo shop at $85.00per hour.

that's a good point about the odometer reading. We've switched from tall rubber to LP22.5's and I know our speedo's are off. Hmm. May have to rethink things here.

When I checked my mileage on my 2002 international, I discovered That for every 7 actual miles ran showed up as 10 on the odometer. This truck runs perfectly and mechanics always comment on how nice the the truck runs with over 700,000 miles. I believe the engine only has around 500,000 miles,
Obviously I, and the previous owner has been over maintaining the engine wth oil changes and any other maintainance based on mileage. :lol:

It isn't difficult to recalibrate the speedometer.

I agree with GMAN, sounds like a change in tire size wasn't accounted for somewhere along the line.

DaveP Look on your drivers side door jam on your IH it should have a sticker telling what size rims your truck came with.
Mike

Doghouse is correct. Borrow a GPS, they are dead on accurate.


DaveP, being off 2mph is not a big deal. Thats 20 miles off at the end of a 10 hour day of driving. Chances are, your speedometer is the one that's off and not the odometer that records the total mileage. I know my speedometer doesn't always show the correct speed but I know the odometer is right on. I've done the calculations while driving using a timed mile at 60 mph and also with my GPS.

Yeah, that's only 4000 miles (or more) off per year. No biggie, especially if you are basing your maintenance, costs, "IFTA, etc. off your mileage. :roll:

The speedometer and odometer are tied together. It takes a helluva lot more than "a timed mile" to show a fraction of a mile. I seriously doubt you are capable of seeing a 4% variance per mile with your naked eye. And we all know you don't keep track of miles, so by the time it would show up, you wouldn't be noticing it anyway. :roll:

Naw....just proffessional tourists..... :wink: 8) 8) :lol:

Got that right!!!

I'm sitting here answering the phone turning down people left and right. It's the same old thing every time I'm ready to head out. Brokers calling and not willing to budge at all on price and it's cheap. The next time I'm going to head out on the Friday before the weekend and see what happens. So, in the meantime I'll just watch TV and take naps.

I checked my tire pressure yesterday and noticed a trailer tire was low so I filled it up. When I was done and turned the truck off I could hear the air rushing out. The rim in one spot was bent out. Not radical, like someone took some pliers and pulled it out real nice. The only thing I could think of is that I cut a corner too sharp and rode up on the curb then came down on the edge.

So, up to my local tire place this morning at 7am and a new rim put on for a final price of $156.00. The bend went down to the bead so it could not be fixed. Got a nice new white rim.

The trees are at the height of there color around here right now. There's a traffic light near me and the colors are so vivid on the trees that the light just blends in with the background. I should have taken a picture and sent it into the news.

Cooking some spicy roasted vegetables and chicken right now then time to put the top down on my car, put the sweatshirt on and go for a ride through the country. Oh wait, I am in the country.

The truck is all set to go this time instead of rushing around like the past times. It's stocked to the max, everything washed, bed made and a new stock pile of canned food to heat up in my new microwave.

Sounds good....I love going for rides in the country and looking at the fall colors....You live in a wonderful area for that!!

Yes rates SUCK on Mondays :evil: and tuesday is not much better :twisted: . We seem to get the best rates on Wed-Friday.

We are still in Orlando trying to find a load too. We are looking at maybe putting together some LTL and going with that.

Good luck on getting out....be patient and you should get something good. Have fun!!
:wink:
tootie

Sigh...... Pro tourists and hobby truckers..... :roll: :roll: :roll:

I know Big, those tourist truckers with hobbies above piss me off too. Here me and you are sweating like pigs with rippling muscles, winches and days without sleep and those bums are sitting on some Orlando beach in Florida.

Ya, I'm with ya DieselBreath.

I haven't been to the beach in Orlando in years. :roll: :wink:

Orlando beaches are pristine works of art,.....if you drive 100miles to the east or west.

What about Wet & Wild, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon?
Lots of pristine sights at the fake theme park beaches.. :wink:

Funny my rates are the same no matter the day,except I do get Sat and Sun delivery premium. 8)

That happens to us too. In fact, we got so tired of wrecking aluminum rims we spec'd our new trailer with steel on the outsside and aluminum on the inside. Threw the sales guy for a loop LOL.

There was a load going to Daytona Florida yesterday and I called about it but they wouldn't budge at all on the rate. Not even a nickel more. My mother use to live down there so I know tons of places I can park the truck. Then I thought about it and it's not a big deal. I live close to the beach here in NH and been to Datona beach a ton of times.

I had a friend visit me from Nevada once and she was down right amazed by all the trees. We had the roof down on the car driving through the country and she just couldn't get over the fact that we were in a tunnel of trees.