Just a quick note to catch up. I picked up a load in Philadelphia Friday and delivered it yesterday in Darien, Wisconsin. Winter still has a little way to go as I got snowed on in Ohio.

A pre-plan came in while I was waiting to get unloaded that has me on the way to Robert, Louisiana and New Caney, Texas. Tonight I'm sitting in Batesville, Mississippi enjoying some balmy 70-degree weather.

The miles have been coming smoothly with few 600-mile days necessary. Today I ran about 615 miles, but I didn't have to. I was just in the mood.

"At about 4:00 in the morning of March 28, 1979 the main events leading to the accident at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station began. . ."

35 years ago today, a combination of mechanical and human failures led to a partial nuclear reactor meltdown at the plant just outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Tonight I'm parked at a turnpike service plaza within 10 miles of Three Mile Island.

I made my delivery in Manassas this morning and got a pre-plan going from Philadelphia (in the shadow of the Phillies home ballpark) to southern Wisconsin. This load scales out at a thousand miles and delivers on Monday morning. That's just about perfect for me to recover some of the hours from the long run cross country I just made.

Tomorrow will be a short day of maybe 500 miles. I think I remember a little truck stop just over the Indiana line on I-80. That'll leave me less than 300 miles for Sunday.

As expected, once I was empty in North Platte, I got a load of Tyson in Lexington, Nebraska. It was a drop and hook and was ready when I got there so I quickly headed back to Southern California.

The weather had changed overnight. A cold front slammed through overnight and I hit some snow before I got back into Kansas. The north winds were giving me a nice push most of the time, but were horrendous on the westerly legs.

I dropped off the load of beef tenderloin, (bound for Tokyo) in Wilmington, CA. While I was being unloaded, a pre-plan pinged in. Pick up Friday in Vernon going to Manassas, Virginia. Nice load! It's over 2,600 miles and gives me a chance to get a 34 hour reset at home.

Tomorrow will be my usual getting out of Vegas plan: sprint over to Lisa's Truckstop in Moriarty, New Mexico. The cafe there has some pretty good enchiladas! After that will be a 644 mile jog to Webber Falls, Oklahoma, and then 615 miles to Baxter, Tennessee on Wednesday. Thursday will find me in Virginia somewhere setting up for my Friday morning delivery. I love these coast-to-coast trips!

Had a very nice run today from Santa Rosa, New Mexico to North Platte. There was a good tailwind going north through Kansas and I averaged 7.3 mpg for the day.

Kansas

 

 

 

After delivering tomorrow, I have a pre-plan picking up in Lexington, Nebraska going to Wilmington, California. Here's hoping for a change in wind direction!

My Thursday dental appointment was interesting. They looked at my x-ray and immediately said that the tooth has to come out! There was no bone visible, just a black hole where the infection was. Easy enough. Pull the tooth, problem solved.

Now I'm sitting in Santa Rosa, NM on the way to North Platte, NE. I came out of the house Friday morning when it was determined that I was in no pain from the extraction. I had to bobtail up to St. George, Utah to get an empty that was left there, then deadhead down to Colton, California for a load of lettuce. All those empty miles have helped me average 7.4 mpg so far. Tomorrow is a sub-600 mile sprint to the Loves in North Platte, and then an 04:30 wake-up to deliver to WalMart.

I'm looking forward to racking up some miles in the next few weeks. I've had more home time in the last month than I usually get in six months!

Went to the dentist while I was in Sapulpa. My number 19 molar has an infection with plenty of pain and swelling. I was prescribed some antibiotics and set up an appointment to get a root canal back in Nevada.

So here I sit, home for a few days. I guess it's a good time to take care of some spring cleaning and tax preparation.

Las Vegas with Mt. Charleston in the background.

And poker. Lots of poker!

Yesterday was a long day of driving from El Paso to Catarina, Texas. I was hoping to take some pictures with my new camera, but much of the day was spent in fog or low clouds and the lighting was horrible.

Today I made my delivery in Laredo. I've been to this town before, but this was the first time that I was downtown. The receiver was literally a block away from the Mexican border!

Laredo has a long history as a border town. It's been the setting of TV westerns and country songs. Now it just seems to be one big trucking center. All the big trucking companies have terminals here. My favorite commodity to haul out of here is empty wine bottles. I'm still waiting to here where I'm off to next, but if I had my choice, I would be off to Napa Valley with a load of empties.

One great thing about this town is the mobile food. After my delivery, I motored back to the Flying J and decided to chance a chicken burrito from the neon-lit taco truck out front. Spectacular! It came loaded and with a Serrano chile on the side. Mouth burning heaven!

The company sent me a pre-plan Saturday to rescue a load of chicken from a broken-down truck in Hesperia, CA. I quickly packed and bob-tailed over to meet a team whose truck was ailing. They had a nice trailer to give me complete with full fairings, and I headed up to Tracy getting over 8 mpg. On the way there I got a new pre-plan to pick up Sunday at noon there in Tracy and deliver in Laredo, TX. Nice!

This load was scheduled for Saturday at 04:00, and the planner thought that I might be able to deliver it Sunday morning. No dice. The Safeway DC doesn't receive meat on Sundays, so they suggested that I get a new appointment for Monday morning. I was prepared to spend the rest of the day at a truck stop, but the planner sent me a message saying to drop the trailer at a cold storage place in Turlock and grab an empty for the Laredo trip. They have some local drivers there to deliver the Safeway load.

Picking up at Leprino in Tracy was pretty routine, and I was soon enjoying cruising down the valley getting 8.3 mpg at 76,000 lbs. Sometimes this truck is pretty awesome!

Tonight I'm in El Paso debating how I want to finish this load for a Thursday afternoon delivery. I think the plan is to spend tomorrow night somewhere around Eagle Pass after an easy day of sight-seeing. I'm looking forward to having time to try out my new camera. Thursday I'll pull into the Laredo Flying J in the morning early enough to take an 8-hour split sleeper berth break. Hopefully the company will get me a plan tomorrow to help me decide how to run. Finding a place to park in Laredo after dark can be challenging!

This trip is 1,740 miles, which will help me keep my 1,425 mile average up. Some of the loads coming out of Laredo are pretty good. My favorite is empty wine bottles going to Napa, CA.

Whatever it is, I hope that I can stay in the South! I got my A/C fixed last night (free under warranty, YAY!) so delaying my return to the winter is, literally, no sweat.

Whew! I'm enjoying being home for the first time since January 3. I've had a toothache for the last week which is finally subsiding. I went to the dentist today and will need to return around March 10 to get the work done.

I've been sleep-deprived for a couple of weeks. It's been a combination of the toothache along with lengthy trips through blizzards. These factors have contributed to my lengthy delay in getting this blog on track. I'm hoping to start posting more regularly on here when I get back on the road Saturday.

Today I picked up a Lumix DMC-FZ70 camera at Costco (http://www.costco.com/Panasonic-LUMIX-FZ70-Digital-Camera-Bundle.product.100085953.html). This camera takes great photos and will be a welcome addition to the truck.

I started driving with JCT in 2011 and it's been a profitable, fun, and frustrating experience! I left a company driver position after 3 1/2 years making a whole $.34/mile. And that is, I think, the perfect demographic for a potential lease/purchase driver: someone with a couple of years of experience looking to make a move up in their driving career. I wasn't sure that I wanted to become an owner-operator, but I wanted to get some experience with little or no risk. Some people have said that l/p drivers are "glorified company drivers". . . like that's a bad thing! This blog will explore the advantages of leasing versus owning.

 When I decided to take a few months off last year to explore the local job market (Las Vegas, home of the $13/hr job pulling doubles and hazmat) I terminated my lease and turned in my truck. . . Just like a company driver. No credit ding, no hassles. After a few weeks, JCT deposited the balance of my maintenance account, about $4,000, into my bank. The only charges were for an oil change and a detail job. They treated me fair on the job AND after I gave notice, so when I decided to go back OTR, they were an easy choice.

So everything's all hunky-dory, right? Well, no! There is no perfect company. For instance, I was very critical of JCT's lease when I first saw it. They were charging what I thought was an exorbitant interest rate. That's the deal with these "no credit check" companies, everyone pays the same high rate. Since then they have dropped the interest rate to 10% and offer a lease with a mileage plan. My lease on a 2012 Cascadia is $120/week plus $.18/mile. On a 3000 mile week that's $660 - about what I was paying before but with much more going to the principal. At the end of the lease, I have the option of purchasing the truck. . .for a dollar!