Farmers Burning Grass, Training, and Stuff

I noticed a lot of things in the past few weeks ... one is farmer's burning their fields. I asked around and I was told they burn the fields to kill weeds ... clearly these guys are much smarter them I am but who knew a little grass fire was a good thing?

I also noticed farmers are the hardest working people in America ... not uncommon to see tractor after tractor working the fields 1:00 in the morning.

Another Change in my End of Training Scheduled Date?

An office employee at Moberly is questioning the date my training officially ends ... they believe (and so do I) that it ends a few days earlier ... I believe the mix up was because of the day cab mentor I had for four days was not included in the original calculation ... but to be honest it does not bother me to stay here another four days ... can't wait to go solo tho!

A Truck Coming Soon

Just spoke to a friend going through the training process ... he is a few days ahead of me so he is in Edwardsville now ... he just finished his road test (told me it was a piece of cake) and was given a truck, same with another guy I know ... so it looks like I should have a truck waiting for me when I get there ... looking forward to it!!!

Stuff

I sold stuff at my parents garage sale only to buy stuff for my future truck. I have GPS, CB, cooler (with plug in), truck road maps, inverter, laptop, business software, etc etc etc. In the next few weeks I should have 99% of what I need to travel the roads ... my plan is to keep to the bare min and start saving like a crazy man by mid year.

GPS

The Magellan 4250 GPS I purchased works great (especially for the price I got it at!!!) ... only two flaws I have found so far:

1) The hands free blue tooth connection between it and my phone could be better but I think that can be fixed with better placement. Worked great in my car but the truck is a different story.

2) Traffic Updates does not seem to work in the country. Major cities are covered but I was hoping to see delays by an overturned chicken coupe!!!

Everything else is great! To many features to mention but some of the key features or toll avoidance, car restrictions, predictive text, easy call feature, voice guidance, and more.

Wind Farms and End of Training

Iowa has a huge wind farm near Dows ... we back haul eggs from that area on a regular basis but I have always been impressed with the large number of wind mills in Iowa ... who ever makes parts and service these wind farms are making a killing ... could be a good investment?

Dare ya to count the number of wind mills in the picture ... Click on image to enlarge


End of Training

My last day of training will be on the 28th. A little later then hoped but they wanted a full 42 days in the truck and my mentor takes every Wednesday off. I can wait four more days ... no worries there.

Houston we have a problem

We lost air pressure last night ... without air pressure we have no brakes ... the low pressure light came on and we were able to pull the truck over in time but we lost pressure quickly. It took 2.5 hours to get someone out and fix the problem ... of course it was a small valve that was easy to replace.

It made for an interesting night!

Update: We had our shop review the repairs and then hit the road ... it appears everything is in good working order ... fingers crossed!

Pay $2.04 locally or $2.25 down the road

During our break down we had a few hours to think and one thing that bothered me was the high price of fuel ($2.25) we paid in IL compared to the price of fuel we could have paid for at our local gas station ($2.04). After doing some cost analysts with known variables it was easy to see a huge savings for the Moberly Fleet (could be in the neighborhood of $120,000 a year) ... I sent them an email pointing out the savings, but I am sure I am missing something like a price contract with truck stops or something ... seems like a lot of money is wasted when the solution is across the street.

Update: They DO have a contract that gets them a better price on fuel ... I guess I am use to the smaller company I worked for, they had problems managing money but Swift had it covered

Grass Skirt Vacation

This week I found out my parents are headed to Hawaii ... that is great but my kid is going there on a field trip next year, yes she is going to Hawaii for a High School Field Trip ... everyone is going to Hawaii except me!!!

Weather conditions in Hawaii ... The Hawaiian Islands have a moderate tropical climate with gentle northeasterly tradewinds and warm Pacific waters almost year-round. Temperatures vary little from place to place, except at higher elevations (see "mountain conditions," below). The average annual temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit (23.9 degrees Celsius) fluctuates only a few degrees from summer (May through October) to winter (November through April).

Hawaiian waters are inviting year-round, averaging 74 degrees F (23 C) and reaching close to 80 degrees F (26 C) in the summer months. Surf conditions vary year-round according to seasonal storms in the Pacific.

I hope a sea turtle snatches one of their little toes!!!

But honestly I love the idea that they are headed t0 blue waters ... my folks earned a little relaxation time and Doms is good people.

Doms is headed to Hawaii with her classmates ... she has become a well traveled little girl ... Scotland, England, Middle Eastern Countries, St Johns, St Thomas, Mexico, Cancun, and a few more I am forgetting about. Good exposure to other people's culture (ask her about the naked guy leaning against the rock reading a book on the beach!).

Driver Shortage?

They have been running short of drivers ... not sure if it is the freight picking up or lack of available drivers but they have kept us busy ... this is a good thing especially for team drivers.

Picnic, Passport, Pizza, and End of Training

Looking forward to the family diner this Wednesday ... we plan on a picnic in a shelter at a lake ... give the kids a chance to feed the ducks and burn off some of that spring time young energy.

Moose Meat?

I got my passport the other day ... of course my photo ID looks like a mug shot ... I doubt they will let me cross the border with that photo id.

Breakfast Pizza? I am in Trouble!

Turns out that Caseys has breakfast pizza, WHO KNEW!!!! I walked in early this morning and noticed they had a few slices on display ... I joked around about serving pizza in the morning and they informed me it was sausage, cheese, and egg .... yum! This is going to kill my diet!!!

End of Training

Training will end around the 24th of April ... might be a day or so off but around that time frame ... soon after I should receive my tractor. Looking forward to calling that home.

Milk Crates

I need milk crates!!! They appear to be a good way to organize your tools and paper work in the truck ... so if anyone knows where a few good milk crates are I would appreciate a heads up ... if not I can order some from a web site.

Busy Week

Based on the number of miles and freight we have run it is clear Walmart is doing GREAT! Maybe it is Easter that is behind the big push but it clear the past few weeks have been profitable for Walmart ... and profitable for anyone supplying product or services to Walmart. What recession?

Truck driving

Last year I knew I needed to make a career change, it was becoming clear the other company I worked for had no solid plans of growing and increasing its customer base ... I started to examine all my options and came up with a career in trucking. Living on the road is not for everyone, but I enjoy it ... once I get my own truck and my feet firmly grounded in the trucking industry is should get even better.

Quick math tells me it is a good way to save money too. You can easily spend $1,000 a month on home expenses (cable, water, gas, electric, lawn care, house payment, interest, insurance, taxes, etc etc etc) ... but that expense does not exist in trucking ... once some up front expenses are addressed trucking saves you 10s of thousands of dollars each year.

A couple of more weeks ...

In a couple of more weeks I will go back to Edwardsville, Ks and pick up MY tractor ... looking forward to going solo and running with my own truck. Six weeks with anyone has to be tough so my plan is to make it as easy as possible on my mentor in the next few weeks. I am sure he is tired of my sense of humor already.

Tools and such

I am compiling a list of tools needed ... it appears duck tape is a truckers friend ... last night a pigtail came lose and we lost all the lights to the trailer ... we secured the connection with ties and tape ... who knew?

Home cooking

I use to grill a lot and got a chance to grill some pork today ... Staci was kind enough to provide hashbrown casserole (thank you Staci) ... and we ate well at our weekly family gathering.

Gas milage

I ran a little experiment with my Jeep ... I reduced the speed I traveled by 5 miles an hour and increased my mph, I gained 75 miles extra in range, and only lose 10-15 minutes. It was worth the reduced speed.

Open Office

I have not played with every feature yet but this software package is comparable to MS Office 2007 ... where MS is $149 this one is free. One less thing I will have to purchase.

A credible rival to MS Office, OpenOffice.org includes powerful applications for making text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, diagrams, and databases, as well as HTML and XML documents. Not only does it let you edit basic documents, such as letters and faxes, it also handles equations and complex and multipart documents with bibliographies, reference tables, and indexes.

The interface is similar to that of MS Office, and even advanced Office users will find almost everything they're used to: templates, collaborative features (versions, recording changes), macros, and even a programming language. OOo, as it's known, lets you open and save documents in formats as diverse as MS Office formats, PDF, HTML, and XML. It can also import files from those formats, as well as WordPerfect and others. However, it normally saves files in the open-standard Oasis OpenDocument XML format, for maximum compatibility with other applications.

http://download.cnet.com/OpenOffice-org-Windows/3000-2064_4-10263109.html?tag=mncol&cdlPid=11002845

Santa's Helpers

Driving back from Macomb, IL I encountered some deer crossing the road ... usually not a big deal until you are driving an 18 wheeler while it is raining. My mentor just lay down to get some sleep and he awoke to me saying, "YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!" ... at first I saw one deer, then two, then five ... I slowed down and managed to split the middle of the group ... in the end, there were twelve santa's little helpers on or along the road and I missed them all!!!

Over and Out

My mentor likes a quite tractor when traveling ... not a huge deal unless there is bad weather or a fellow driver that wants to warn you about deer down the road! He is a different type of trucker.

Home Cooking

I miss some of my favorite dishes especially the ones that come off the grill ... man I could smoke a mean pork shoulder!

Log Cabin Living

I always wanted access to a log cabin by a lake ... my plan is to save enough money and locate a lake to build the cabin next to ... it will take a few years before I settle on a region, site, floor plan, and location ... my father suggested near a lake with good fishing ... I wonder why?

I might start with a smaller version then sell it and build another to suit my needs on the same piece of property 5-7 years later ... that is one way to reduce the cost of building the final log cabin ... or just use the simple design as a guest house and build the main living quarters on the same property ... we will see how it goes.

This design is missing a few things, like a fireplace or potbelly stove ... but it is a nice rough draft. But if you wanted to see a very simple design click on this youtube video. It is a missing a bathroom (that can be changed) but it would make a great guest house!

So far so good ...

Things look good so far ... I am enjoying my new career choice and I have appeared to found a spot with a solid company. So far so good ...

On the other side of the that coin: A trainee re-done Walmart's landscaping with his back tires ... who knew tree removal was part of his job requirement? I am sure he will get better.


GoodWill

I gave away most of my suits to Goodwill (kept a few for special occasions) ... I hope they find a good home.