Post #630 – Yes, there was another debate. My dog loves to lay down along side of me in bed and stare at the television. Don’t laugh, “Fran Drescher believes she was abducted by aliens. In an interview with The Huffington Post, the “Nanny” and “Happily Divorced” star said she and her ex-husband Peter Marc Jacobson both had a close encounter when they were teenagers.” Anytime aliens want me, I’m good to go, ready for a new adventure. So, we both watched it. I fell [...More...]
I met the guy in this story at the same construction company where I met my friend Dave. He came to work there a few months after Dave had to leave due to his illness. We ran together as owner-operators for several years, and he was one of six veterans that helped fold the American flag at a memorial service for one of our veteran friends that we lost to cancer. Thanks for reading. “Well, here we are,” Travis said, then set the brakes [...More...]
As children we watched cartoons of roadrunner and wily coyote and wanted to zoom down the highway saying “Beep beep” — look at us now–driving America’s highways for a living. Crossing on highway I-10 headed east into New Mexico, you might expect to find roadrunners and wily coyotes around every corner but in truth you have to keep your eyes open to see any of the desert wildlife. Like most wild animals they are camouflaged with the desert colors, shy of people, and not easily [...More...]
Post #629- Good Thursday to everyone. So, ok, I listened to the President’s State of The Union. I “sorta” caught the Republican (dry and boring) response. I listened to all the pundits – even tuned in to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. I guess, quite frankly, I’m just “kinda” not buying it. Have you ever heard that expression, you can’t lose with the stuff I use, or something to that effect? Well, since we’re living in a world of political theatrics and bad reality shows, the [...More...]
Becoming an owner-operator involves uncertainty about quite a few things. We’ve already looked at truck acquisition, financing, and insurance; time to look at a couple of the other big factors. One of these is the process of becoming self-employed, and the other one is finding a motor carrier to lease a truck to. In the last post, I addressed some of the factors involved in transitioning from being an employee to becoming self-employed; in this post, we can take a look at some issues to keep [...More...]
Post #628- Driving home from the USF – University of South Florida – Republican debates last night gave me about 45 minutes of quiet time to reflect. In my world of house remodeling, talking to truckers and trying to make ends meet, any time I can grab a few moments to “reflect” is magic. For those of you folks in the cold by the way, the Tampa temperature is about 65 at night and pushing 80 during the day. It’s our Spring. My own exit [...More...]
When transitioning from company driver to owner-operator, there are two major parts of the equation that are going to be new to most of the people undertaking the effort to become an owner operator. One of these factors is the mechanics of changing from being an employee to being self-employed; the other is finding a good carrier to lease to. (This post focuses on dealing with the self-employment aspect of the owner-operator transition; insights on finding a motor carrier are in an upcoming post.) Making [...More...]
Yesterday I took my first serious look at getting a Smartphone. My brothers both have them and just talk into the phone to send text messages, the phone updates their location and even takes and sends photos to Facebook to share. It looks like fun! I guess I will have to have one and learn how to operate it. What about all the apps that are available for phones. Do they make sense for truckers? Apparently, shippers and consignees may come to expect the instant [...More...]
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