Leaving Washington, finally!

Wow, what a long day yesterday was. As you know, we made our first pick-up on Wednesday but couldn't make the other two on time and they were rescheduled for yesterday. It worked out nice because by the time we got the first drop picked up, it was after 1800 so we drove down to the Gearjammer Truck Stop where we grabbed something to eat and spent the night.

Got up yesterday morning, showered, got fuel and headed out to our first appointment which was at 1830. For anyone that may be going to CPC Intl in Tieton,WA, MAKE SURE you take N 40th St South to Summitview and go that way. DO NOT go the other route they give you which is Hwy 12 West to S Natches Rd. That bitch is steep and has hairpin curves. I'm talking we had to downshift to 4th gear to get up it and some of the turns are marked 15 mph. And if there is another truck, let alone a 4 wheeler coming around the curve at the same time, you are screwed. Just a bit of advice. Go the other way!!! Ok, so we get there, get in line, wait about 25 minutes and get to a dock. We get loaded and take off back to the Gearjammer to weigh. According to the bills, counting the first stop, we already had on 37,000 lbs plus on there and quite a bit of room left at the back. We were worried that we would be heavy. Got to the scale, and sure enough, we were over by 700 lbs on our steers. No problem, slide the tandems. I needed to move them 3 holes to get legal, but we could only move 2. We were all the way forward. It helped, but we were still over by 200 lbs when we re-weighed. Couldn't move the 5th wheel either because it was all the way back. Moving it forward would move the 500 lbs forward that I just moved back. Sooo, off we go back to the shipper to have them re-load it. Get there, get that done, go scale again and it worked. It moved 1400 lbs back so we are good to go.

Then we headed to Basin City,WA to pick up 5000 lbs of onions. This will put us at a gross weight of about 78,500. We are heavy. They closed at 1700 and we got there at 1650. Whew, barely made it. Having to mess with re-weighing the 2nd stop and having it reloaded really messed with our time for the day. But we get there and J goes in to help the lady load it because they had to shrink wrap them, and pack them with something then cover them because they needed to stay a little warmer than the rest of the load. She was really nice and when she came out to seal the load she gave us a bag of onions. I thought that was really nice and we like onions. I actually have two in the truck at the moment that I have to take away from Bandit sometimes because they are yellow and she will pick one up and bring it to me thinking it is her yellow tennis ball. It is really funny. I can tell when she has been in the back playing with it because she will come up front and smell like onion. Phew!!!

So yesterday we both got up at 0600 and made the decision to switch shifts. Since we figure will will deal with more shippers and receivers in the reefer business during the day, we decided to let J deal with them. If the produce is bad or something and we don't want it on the truck, I may not be forceful enough with them and J has no problems with that. :) So starting yesterday I started driving afternoon shift starting at 1500 and he is taking the day shift starting at 0300. We will see how that goes. I know I had a LONG day yesterday though. Finished up the day at 0045 in Haugan,MT. There is a place there called 10,000 Silver Dollar Saloon and Restaurant. It is at exit 16 if you are ever that way. Pretty good restaurant and the bar is really cool. It is old, but when people come in, they give the bar tender a silver dollar, and he has them all over the wall, laid in wood with the persons name and date I think, and maybe where they are from, and then it is sealed in with polyurethane or something. But the walls are covered with the silver dollars. Last time we were in there, not yesterday, they told us tehre was over $14,000 in silver dollars on the wall. Pretty cool. Anyway, stopped there around 0045 got out and took Bandit for her walk and then hit the sack.

Set the alarm for J to get up at 0500. He couldn't legally drive till then because I took over at 1900 yesterday so 0500 was his DOT break.

Oh, forgot to mention that the brand new microwave that we bought went on the fritz. We just bought the damn thing last Friday in Springfield. So we are going to have to return that at a Walmart when we get a chance and get another one. We have done really well eating in the truck having that and have only eaten out twice this week, once with friends in Clines Corners and then when we spent the night at the Gearjammer. So I really want it fixed, or a new one, so we can keep eating better. It is also good having Bandit with us because we have to get out and walk her so that gives us a reason to get out and walk some.

Speaking of Bandit, she is liking being in the truck with us, but we are thinking of letting my Mom take care of her and us taking Smokey with us. My mom really misses Bandit and now that she is moving back to Lubbock, she will be able to keep her. So that may be what we do. Besides, with Smokey being a puppy, it may be better to raise him in the truck so that will be what he is used to.

Someone asked about getting enough miles. I think it was Heffard. We are having to readjust our thinking when it comes to miles and money. When you are running off a percent of the revenue more miles doesn't necessary mean more money. For instance, this run we are on now is about 3200 miles counting all the stops. We will use about $2000 in fuel. But the run pays $4500 to us. So we are looking at a $2500 profit. Now keep in mind that with this run and the one before it, we will have to make our weekly truck payment of $950. But we should still have a good week as far as profit goes. I think anyway. We will know on the 18th because that is when we will get paid for these two runs.

It is all still really new so we don't know how the heck it is going to turn out. But it is looking good and we will just play it by ear.