I think I saw a guy on a horse. Should have asked him about the restaurant.

If I could move loads between points inside the US, I'd make 10 grand by now. Don't forget that I'm an 'alian' For example right now I'm staring at the Load board and there THREE (3) loads going to Ontario and Quebec from the entire South-West (AZ,CO,CA,ID,MT,NV,OR,UT,WA,WY). But when I change the search criteria to US internal loads only (South-West to ALL STATES), all of sudden there's 312 (!) loads. Here's one: double drop, 659 miles, $15 per mile, WA to ID. $9,950 gross to Landstar. See my point? It's not easy being an alian :)

Me and the GF go every monday night (she has to work tonight so we went last night instead) We both take $100 and usually can play table games for a few hours on it. We only hung around for an hour last night cuz the dealer took her $100 at blackjack and I won at 3-Card so we called it an early night.
Last Monday, she hit a jackpot TWICE on a slot for $1,800 and I cleaned up at 3-Card with $3,765....... it can be good and bad, but the MOST I will ever walk out down is the $100 I came in with.

As for your load search Tracer, I hope something comes up for you soon...... still think you should move over the bridge tho and get them gravy runs!!

Just out of curiosity here.....Have you looked at loads taking you up to Vancouver BC.........Then loading out of BC towards say Texas......or Georgia? Something that pays half decent and takes you towards money areas? I know that there used to be plenty of loads in central Kali that went into the Vancouver-Surrey area......of course that was 6-7 years ago. Sometimes...in order to make it home in the "pink"...you gotta head away from home!

I tried going to BC and Alberta from US (they pay quite good) but it was hard to get back to Eastern Canada afterwards. But I agree that often you have to go someplace else before you find a return trip home, sort of like a triangle ...

It's 11 am local time in Sparks (Reno) Nevada on Monday and the load board is pretty much empty. I did have an interesting email exchange with the agent who couldn't find his customer on Friday. Remember I wrote about a good LTL out of CALI? I emailed him again this morning updating on my location and he wrote back saying the load had been covered by the "customer" (I hate this word because often it refers to another broker!). Frustrated, I asked him how many middlemen were involved in this load ("2, 3 or 5?") and he said '0'!

Turns out he has a direct relationship with this buyer of some used equipment and the only reason he didn't find him on Friday was because the dealer in question was traveling somewhere in the Eastern USA and he didn't get the email from the Agent until the end of the day on Friday. He must be on AT&T :) Anyway, I sent the Agent my trailer spec sheet in PDF (kind of like a extended version of a business card; I find most Agents love to have it) and he wrote back thanking me and saying a few times a year they have freight between Reno, NV and Ontario, Canada (2-way shipment). So, it's a good thing I kept my shirt on and was polite in my emails. It looks like I'm building a network of agents that might have some freight for me in the future. The important thing now is to keep my cell phone number unchanged even when I get my own authority ;)

For me to 'move over the bridge' is as difficult as for a Mexican to get a green card in the US. It's impossible. I can stay here up to 6 months with no visa, I can buy a house but I cannot work for a local employer. If I were a star football player or some kind of Eistein 2, then I could probably get one of those special talent visas.

I'm still at the TA in Sparks Nevada ... Been working with the load board the entire day. One agent posted a load from Las Vegas NV to Edmonton Alberta saying the distance was 1,451 miles; the rate per mile was $3.22; and the total freight paid $4,675. Sounds good, right? But I read through the listing and at the very bottom it says, "Drop in Regina"! Now the mileage from Las Vegas to Edmonton VIA Regina SK is 1,931 miles so the actual rate is $2.41 per mile, not $3.22. I hate when these guys do this, so I emailed the Agent and the Agent Administrator at Landstar a complaint about this and asked the Agent to correct the listing. What do they think? That truckers cannot count?

I checked that listing on the Landstar board 10 minutes later and it now had a much more realistic per mile rate and mileage: 1,895 miles; $2.45 per mile. So, sometimes complaints do work!

Well, IMHO that would be about right, considering majority....

You could marry a American girl, or boy in some states.

Still in Reno, NV. Took a cab to the Best Buy to check out the prices on the new LCD TVs. They are getting cheaper and cheaper, now that LED is in. Decided to take another shot at gambling :) Figured this time I can afford to lose 100 bucks - roughly 30% of what I won yesterday. Started playing the same $1 machine single dollar plays... lost 20 bucks .. then won 70... Switched to $2 plays, went down to the original $100 and from there playing $1 went down down down ... to 10. There were some minor wins (like 2 - 10 bucks at a time) but this definitely was not my lucky night. I changed machines when I had 10 bucks left and that didn't help. The 10 bucks were gone in smoke in 5 minutes. I did have fun though and wasted exactly the amount I was prepared to lose. Easy come easy go, as they say. But I don't think I'll be playing again tomorrow :)

The cab driver told me an interesting story about the 'Marina' behind the TA truck stop. I asked him where all the boats were and he looked at me in surprise and said, "It's not that kind of a marina." He then explained the area used to be an abandoned quarry and then some 10-12 years ago the town had a sever shower storm that lasted a week. When the storm went away, the town had a new lake in place of the quarry, so they started developing the land around and this part of town now has both residential and commercial properties, including the Best Buy store where I went. Next to the Best Buy is a sporting goods store called "Sheels' (I think) and the 3 things that are worth looking at there are: 1) huge fish tanks with live fish; 2) extremely realistic mannequins of past American presidents, and talking no less; 3) the hunting section with real guns on display... They had cool looking automatic pistols and military style 7.62 mm rifles and all kinds of binoculars and rifle scopes...

On the way back I decided to save 10 bucks and WALK to the TA. The Marina has a walkway where people jog and just walk even at night and the cab driver had said "it's a safe area.. we don't have gangs here or anything like that." The walkway runs right next to the I-80 and is shielded from it with a tall wall. I was back at the truck stop in 15 minutes.

Still in Reno, NV. Took a cab to the Best Buy to check out the prices on the new LCD TVs. They are getting cheaper and cheaper, now that LED is in. Decided to take another shot at gambling :) Figured this time I can afford to lose 100 bucks - roughly 30% of what I won yesterday. Started playing the same $1 machine single dollar plays... lost 20 bucks .. then won 70... Switched to $2 plays, went down to the original $100 and from there playing $1 went down down down ... to 10. There were some minor wins (like 2 - 10 bucks at a time) but this definitely was not my lucky night. I changed machines when I had 10 bucks left and that didn't help. The 10 bucks were gone in smoke in 5 minutes. I did have fun though and wasted exactly the amount I was prepared to lose. Easy come easy go, as they say. But I don't think I'll be playing again tomorrow :)

The cab driver told me an interesting story about the 'Marina' behind the TA truck stop. I asked him where all the boats were and he looked at me in surprise and said, "It's not that kind of a marina." He then explained the area used to be an abandoned quarry and then some 10-12 years ago the town had a sever shower storm that lasted a week. When the storm went away, the town had a new lake in place of the quarry, so they started developing the land around and this part of town now has both residential and commercial properties, including the Best Buy store where I went. Next to the Best Buy is a sporting goods store called "Sheels' (I think) and the 3 things that are worth looking at there are: 1) huge fish tanks with live fish; 2) extremely realistic mannequins of past American presidents, and talking no less; 3) the hunting section with real guns on display... They had cool looking automatic pistols and military style 7.62 mm rifles and all kinds of binoculars and rifle scopes...

On the way back I decided to save 10 bucks and WALK to the TA. The Marina has a walkway where people jog and just walk even at night and the cab driver had said "it's a safe area.. we don't have gangs here or anything like that." The walkway runs right next to the I-80 and is shielded from it with a tall wall. I was back at the truck stop in 15 minutes.

I do like Reno... and if you get bored, the place behind the TA with all the pink neons is a pretty awesome bar/casino

As for the winnings, I kinda did the same thing. I headed over to the Peterbilt dealership and had a rear-seal replaced that was leaking and wound up spending all my winnings on having the power-divider rebuilt too LOL... it happens.

Those leaking seals are a pain in the b**t. When I had my axle ratio changed, the guy who did the work put in the old seals and they started leaking. I replaced them but then a month or so ago the Peterbilt in Waterloo ON found one seal (invisible from outside) had been still leaking and it destroyed the brakes on that wheel :(

So any luck getting out of town yet???

I was leased to Schneider when I went there. They run all the parts for a GM plant there, so I caught a break and got a load from Reno to Vegas then on down to Dallas for a drop. It paid $2.75 per mile pulling their van and the load out there from Detroit paid $3.25 per mile.... I then grabbed a load from Dallas for $1.25 (empty trailer move) to Chicago.

BTW, those were all rates paid to the truck. SNI doesn't decieve you like LS does.

I really hate this. I knew this would happen, that I'd have to wait for a load to get back. I just didn't know I'd be stuck here for a week. There ARE loads out of here but 99% of them go to Alberta. Last week the board showed some good loads in CA and Idaho so I thought I might get one of those. There was a load in Salt Lake City, UT loading on Jan-14 going right to my home in ON but I was sure I'd find something before that. Now that load is gone, as are a couple of others (LTLs)... So I'm going to wait till Landstar deposits money onto my Comdata tomorrow (Wednesday is my pay day) and then start heading east. I might find a short load in NE, IA, SD or IL and IN. F**k!

I just want to say that this sucks for you, but the only reason I suggested you doing it in the first place is because i know how Landstar system works. i wouldn't give you advice if I hadn't already done the same thing you are doing now and failed. I was trying to help you make money, and it's very tough to do with LS hence why I left them

I thought I'd make more money staying closer to CA. You were right, I should have just gone east and took a short load back home somewhere in IL or IA or NE. This here is just a waste of time. When I get back home, I'll just stay in Mid-West and - maybe - South-East. There's plenty of loads from KY, NC, SC, VA going back to ON. I should save money and get my own authority, that's what I should do...

I left a $1 tip in the shower at the Sparks (NV) TA truck stop tonight. It was spotless. Not only that but:

- it had 4 towels (2 big ones, one medium size, and the tiny one)
- scented bottle of hand wash
- a box of soap plus a full container of liquid soap in the shower stall
- nice looking plastic flowers in a basket
- CLEAN ceramic tiles all around, and
- a glass door between the shower stall and the rest of the room.

The water pressure was 745 psi (I have an app on my phone that can actually measure the water pressure in a shower). And the entire place looked like it was remodeled a few months ago. Way to go, TA!

There's only 2 things I didn't like about this truck stop:

1. Smoking is prohibited in the restaurant but ALLOWED in the casino... since the casino occupies 75% of this TA there's always at least SOME smoke in the air; I don't smoke so I'd prefer the air to be smoke-free.

2. The TV room has 6 chairs and the only other place to sit down is 2 short sofas, one in the casino, the other (made of metal!) is near the restaurant. So, either you sit in the restaurant, or - if you're playing - you can spend the time in the casino. And there's signs all over the place that chairs are reserved for players only.

Other than that it's a fairly decent truck stop, with plenty of truck parking, and within walking distance from restaurants, a coffee shop, and a grocery store.

With the fuel prices going up every hour(so it seems) I would stay put for now, just need to use and understand the Landstar system a little better.

My fuel bill for 2 rounds from Boston to Youngstown OH is in the $2000 range, (3 fill ups), you will need $10,000 in liquid funds for your own authority, at least for now Landstar has got your back, if something unforseen comes along.

Right now I got 31" of snow to deal with................LOL..............well not really funny, but what else can ya do but laugh........

I've thought that you are suppose to make some money of it...?

That's what I thought too but things don't always turn out as you expected. After spending a week in Nevada I've finally booked a load. Instead of driving 2,000 miles empty to IL or IA, I"m doing a cheap load from here that to the northern Ontario. Pick 1 is in Boise ID on Friday, Pick 2 is in Pocatello on Monday. And then I deliver in Kapuskasing, ON 3 days after that. This is better than driving empty. I'll be hauling 2 pickup trucks (one is heavy, sort of like a service truck that does road calls). It's 2,000 loaded miles; the trip pays 4 grand to Landstar. When I'm done in the Ontario tundra, I'll deadhead 566 miles home. This is far from perfect but at least I'll be back in ON and get a chance to regroup and start doing those Mid-West runs.

I did Solo, I did..........plowed all day, got stuck twice.........used 35 gallons of diesel (free)..........town plowing by the hour.....:-)

What do you do when you're stressed out? You go shopping, right guys and gals? It works every time :) I've been wanting to upgrade my Verizon BASIC phone for a long time. I do have Internet access on my laptop via the USB stick but you want to have access to email and Internet 24/7 now ... So, I finally did the switch in Reno, NV :) A cab driver by the name of Bobbi took me to a Verizon Wireless corporate store and I got myself a MOTOROLA DROID X. The unlimited international data package is 'only' 65 bucks a month, which of course is not all that cheap, but now I can receive and send email from my DroidX anywhere in Canada and US. I believe Landstar has a mobile version of their website so I'll try it out on the smartphone to see if I actually can look for loads on the phone's 4.3" screen. The Droid has an 8 Megapixel camera, a HDMI port and the ability to shoot 720p video! The store clerk was nice enough and transfered all my phone contacts free of charge to the new phone.

What added to the stress level today was the fact I was not able to do a wire transfer from US to Canada. I have some bills coming out on pre-authorized payment from my Canadian bank and before leaving Canada I contacted my bank and got all the information I might need to initiate a wire transfer from US. Well, I tried Bank of America, US Bank and WalMart and they all refused to accept my cash for a wire transfer. "You need to have an account at our bank to do that," said the Bank of America clerk. You'd think that in the 21st Century moving ELECTRONIC money between 2 countries shouldn't be a big deal (especially when they charge you $30 for it) but evidently it is. I was not able to move the money! So now my trailer leasing company is going to be pi**ed at me even though I have the money right in my pocket and am WILLING to pay them!

That's why I just had to go out and get a new phone. Now I feel a bit better, especially since the price of the smartphone was charged to my Verizon account ;). I would wait till Apple's iPhone comes out but I was disappointed to learn it would work only on the 3G network. The Droid is way ahead of the iPhone in many regards because it's using Android OS.

I used my Blackberry with LS and was able to view the load board right there..... my EVO is a million times better, and I was even able to BOOk loads off SNI load-board. Basically like having a handheld laptop. I think you will enjoy it very much.

As for me today, I bobtail 200 miles to P/U my loaded trailer and once I get it, i got a call from the plant in Texas that my empty wont be ready for pu until maybe monday morn due to a line shut-down again. So i took my trailer 200 miles back home with me (I get .52cpm FSC for the 400 miles, and it only weight 4,000lbs) so now I am off till Monday and I start doing my deliveries every wednesday now, which will give me FRI/SAT/SUN off at home, which will be nice. I know you guys do OTR and a 4 day work-week would be great, but I'm still contemplating dropping this deal and finding something that gets me home everyday. The fiance is ok with me being gone, but I think this OTR crap is taking its toll on me. I have gained 30lbs in the last year and I miss home more than ever........ that being said, i may just break out the DD and go back to LS and just do local moves around Chicago and some CHI-DET-INDY stuff. OR I can just sack it up and keep on doing my deal. I don't have any bills other than my house so it's not a money issue......... decisions decisions decisions

Pocatello on monday eh? I'm in Cheyenne right now but I'm hoping to get out of here right quick. I have to be back in Winnipeg for Wednesday at the absolute latest. They wanted to send me to Denver for a load going to Montreal (would be full tarp). I said no way, that's cutting it way too close. It would be a full untarp plus probably another full tarp load on Monday in Montreal with. That would take all day with the Montreal traffic, and 1500 miles in two days across northern Ontario is never a good idea in winter. Anything small goes wrong and I'm screwed!

So here I sit. They shouldn't have sent me here. I thought they had something planned out.

BTW Tracer which way are you going up to kapuskasing?

They did..... sending you to Denver. You turned it down, so now you sit...... no offense, but that's what happens. Sure hope you don't need to be in court Wednesday

Something planned as in... something that goes almost straight home from here. There are some customers of ours around here that do go straight home. That's why I wasn't worried about it, until they offered me the Montreal load. I really doubt that load would get me home in time.

Tracer,

How much money do you figure LS saves you a year? Seems like they save you ~.25/mile on fuel. Is plates and ins cheaper too?

Tracer,

Most leasing companies have a grace period. Just call them and tell them what's going on. The reason banks won't take your money is because of all the money laundering that goes on. BTW...Monday is a banking holiday in the US because of MLK.

I'm not sure yet, either through Thunder Bayb or through Winnipeg, But it's probably much shorter via Duluth and then Thunder Bay. This 'free' Wi-Fi at the McDonanald's in Winnemucca NV sucks. Maps are taking forever to load so I cannot be more specific.

Insurance is cheap (cheaper than it was at MacKinnon). I see actually less deductions from each paycheque.. The only thing I don't like is that the fuel surcharge is much smaller than what I had at MacKinnon. Landstar just pays on the cents per mile' basis. MacKinnon used this only for vans. Flatbed guys like me had much higher payouts. I guess the fact that Landstar is a US company and fuel prices here are lower has something to do with it. When I was at MacKinnon, I alwayd made sure my tanks were full before leaving Canada. Now I am FORCED to do exactly the opposite thing and avoid fueling in Canada altogether.

Yeah, I found they treat you much better when you actually TELL them about a possible non-payment before it happens. I once just put a stop at the bank and the financial company got pretty pi**ed off. "You were supposed to call us," they told me. But I don't expect this to happen again because after this run is done, I will stay in Mid-West and South-East the two areas where I shouldn't have problems getting return loads. This way I'll be in Canada every few days and can always deposit cash from my Comdata into my Canadian bank account or use Comchecks. Everyone wins, especially shippers and brokers in the Chicago area. Here I come.

Just so you know, you can negoiate the FSC with each broker..... I was doing some local stuff for a agent on a daily basis. 15mile load, paid $500 to LS so i got about $350 a day. I asked the agent if they could bump up the FSC part (which u get 100% of) so she showed $75 a trip instead of $35 on the FSC so I got $40 more paid directly to me on each load. The customer was only paying $500 but thats how ya do it!!!

Yes, I know ... brokers offered to do this when I asked them if the shipper could pay more and 'bumping up' the FSC portion of the freight bill was the only way to get more money. The thing is that when you do this, the agent (broker) will make less money too, so I'd rather get a higher payout from the shipper. Then everyone is happy.

I believe the fact that they are making ANY money off these loads that WE do all the work on is being nice. To hell with them making less, $50 for sitting on their ass and calling a place is too much.

My gambling with Nevada was finally over this morning when I left the Flying J in Winnemucca on Highway 95 and headed north to Boise, Idaho. It's one weird highway I"ll tell you that. You pass through 3 states (Nevada, Oregon, Idaho), you lose 1 hour due to the time zone change, and you drive through 3 speed limit zones: it's 70 MPH in Nevada, 55 in Oregon, and 65 in Idaho. All on the same highway. There's hardly any traffic and because you go through huge hills, the cell phone signal is spotty. I saw 2 or 3 signs "Chains Required when Lights Flashing" but I got lucky as the temp was above freezing. I had to watch for ice though. The Oregon section was quite hilly and in one spot there was a downgrade and then a sharp turn to the left. As expected there was a tractor-trailer in the right hand side ditch, with the truck totally folded backwards, and now pointing to the direction it came from. I guess it was icy early in the morning and he was going too fast down the hill - was probably loaded too - and the truck just glided into the ditch when he tried to negotiate the sharp left. In my International, the outside air thermometer is right above my head where my CB is. I got into the habit of checking it often when the temperature is close to freezing, like it was this morning. That's one way to avoid ending up in a ditch..

I didn't see any truck stops but in Jordan Valley OR there is a Shell where trucks can stop on the right shoulder and right next to it is a small espresso coffee shop where I got a perfect 16 oz double shot Americano.

I now have a Chevy 4x4 pickup truck on my deck and of course the broker never bothered to tell me that I'd need loading ramps to get it on! The "shipper" where I went to pick it up in Boise was a regular OFFICE building and the truck was just parked in the parking lot. The guy with the paperwork came out of the office, we chatted for a while and then he called a tilt-n-load tow truck (rollback) who put the pickup on my lower deck for 60 bucks. The guy paid ;)

I"m not sure how I'm going to load the bigger truck (Ford F650) on Monday and how they will take the both vehicles off in Canada. But my Pick 2 is at a CAT dealer so I hope they have some kind of a dock there... I'll have to unload the pickup truck and load the big F650 first and get its front axle somehow on the upper deck: otherwise I won't have enough space. The Chevy has 12 feet between the tires, so it's appr. 14 long from the front bumper to the rear.

For now I'm taking 2 days off - the Ford is not ready to be picked up till Monday and it's just under 4 hours between Boise and Pocatello.

Yes they'll have a dock, use the dock for the double drop loads. It's awesome watching one of those big cats just crawl off the trailer onto the dock.

Hey Tracer,

Wells Fargo should transfer money to your account, I've used them before, never really had a problem.