Checkin' in from the (soggy) Bikini State!
#1
05-29-2009, 12:45 PM
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Crystal River, FL
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Checkin' in from the (soggy) Bikini State!
Howdy, all...
Just orienting myself back to the world, it's taking a while but I'm gettin' there... Sold the Peterbilt last year in disgust after gettin' caught between the logbook and the fuel card with my back against my deadline- Had to pay $4.99/gal in WA state for 268gal in the tank and another 40 for the reefer unit. Ya'll do the math. Can't feed a 15-liter Caterpillar and still make an old-school paycheck...
So, skip forward a few months... Sold the truck in May of '08, stopped off in Atlanta and helped an old bro who just got the Pancreatic "C"-word news to fix up a couple of cool old long-hooded trucks to sell, and since October of '08 I've put about 19k on my '04 Tour Glide, just tryin' to find my head again and figure out what I'm gonna do now that I'm not truckin' every day for the last 25 years.
I figgered I'd better stop here at the intake center and make myself known, lol... Hope ya'll are well and safe, wherever you are!
Happy Motorin... -F-
Just orienting myself back to the world, it's taking a while but I'm gettin' there... Sold the Peterbilt last year in disgust after gettin' caught between the logbook and the fuel card with my back against my deadline- Had to pay $4.99/gal in WA state for 268gal in the tank and another 40 for the reefer unit. Ya'll do the math. Can't feed a 15-liter Caterpillar and still make an old-school paycheck...
So, skip forward a few months... Sold the truck in May of '08, stopped off in Atlanta and helped an old bro who just got the Pancreatic "C"-word news to fix up a couple of cool old long-hooded trucks to sell, and since October of '08 I've put about 19k on my '04 Tour Glide, just tryin' to find my head again and figure out what I'm gonna do now that I'm not truckin' every day for the last 25 years.
I figgered I'd better stop here at the intake center and make myself known, lol... Hope ya'll are well and safe, wherever you are!
Happy Motorin... -F-
#2
05-29-2009, 01:29 PM
Outstanding HDF Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Bristol UK
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Welcome from Bristol, England.
I'm not sure I understood much of your message, I guess were divided by a common language lol but enjoy the ride stay safe and welcome to the forum.
I'm not sure I understood much of your message, I guess were divided by a common language lol but enjoy the ride stay safe and welcome to the forum.
#3
05-29-2009, 01:32 PM
Sponsor
Welcome to the forums from SoCal. Send some of that rain our way. We could really use it here.
__________________
#4
05-29-2009, 01:46 PM
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Crystal River, FL
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Thanks, Photo and HDGoodies!
Photo, it means I've been a trucker(lorrie-driver, of the behemoth variety) all my life and got peeved at having to pay close to 1500USD to buy a little over 300 USGallons of diesel. Trucking companies here are audited for safety, and our fuel-card transactions must match to within one hour of our hand-written log book(we seldom use a tachograph here anymore...)
That 15 liter Cat makes 550hp@2150rpm and 1850lb/ft of torque @ 1200rpm, and gets barely 5 miles per gallon. We run as hard as a thousand miles a day over here, so between the truck and the refrigeration unit, you're looking at $1000USD per day for fuel. Simply put, with OUR rates it's hard to make a living as an owner-operator when you have equipment payments, insurance and permiture, maintenence, a family to support, and your OWN mouth to feed, and then have to be away from home for weeks at a time. Not much of a life when your net pay dwindles from $2500 or so a week, down to 7-800 because you're putting it in the tank instead. Then your wife calls you a "*****-mongering dope fiend" because she can't see the correlation between operational costs and the actual money, ignorant distrust sets in and results in divorce, and then you end up on your bike and on this site, lol, trying to sort it all out.
I hope I've clarified the vernacular thing- People have told me I speak in tougher riddles than Jesus... And, I hope your truckin' situation over there is better for your guys than it is for ours...
Chores! -F-
Photo, it means I've been a trucker(lorrie-driver, of the behemoth variety) all my life and got peeved at having to pay close to 1500USD to buy a little over 300 USGallons of diesel. Trucking companies here are audited for safety, and our fuel-card transactions must match to within one hour of our hand-written log book(we seldom use a tachograph here anymore...)
That 15 liter Cat makes 550hp@2150rpm and 1850lb/ft of torque @ 1200rpm, and gets barely 5 miles per gallon. We run as hard as a thousand miles a day over here, so between the truck and the refrigeration unit, you're looking at $1000USD per day for fuel. Simply put, with OUR rates it's hard to make a living as an owner-operator when you have equipment payments, insurance and permiture, maintenence, a family to support, and your OWN mouth to feed, and then have to be away from home for weeks at a time. Not much of a life when your net pay dwindles from $2500 or so a week, down to 7-800 because you're putting it in the tank instead. Then your wife calls you a "*****-mongering dope fiend" because she can't see the correlation between operational costs and the actual money, ignorant distrust sets in and results in divorce, and then you end up on your bike and on this site, lol, trying to sort it all out.
I hope I've clarified the vernacular thing- People have told me I speak in tougher riddles than Jesus... And, I hope your truckin' situation over there is better for your guys than it is for ours...
Chores! -F-
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#8
05-29-2009, 05:04 PM
Howdy from central Washington. Sorry bout the f--king fuel costs. But we're a blue state now. Tax and spend is our middle name. You'll find no better place to belong. Ride safe and show them bug covered pearly whites! Geez
