 |
Phil Madsen's BlogLearning Something New Every Day |
Truck drivers Phil and Diane Madsen live, work and play on the road; transporting expedited and critical-shipment freight in their custom-built truck. Phil's blog is a blend of travelogue, brain dump and commentary on road-inspired topics.
Most Recent Blog Entry • Monthly Trip Maps
Jul 2007 Aug 2007 Sep 2007 Oct 2007 Nov 2007 Dec 2007 Jan 2008 Feb 2008 Mar 2008 Apr 2008 May 2008 Jun 2008 Jul 2008 Aug 2008 Sep 2008 Oct 2008 Nov 2008 Dec 2008 Jan 2009 Feb 2009 Mar 2009 Apr 2009 May 2009 Jun 2009 Jul 2009 Aug 2009 Sep 2009 Oct 2009 Nov 2009 Dec 2009 Jan 2010 Feb 2010 This Month
Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Today's Topics: Truck maintenance • Valley Forge • RV park band
I learned today more about the history of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Learned by visiting the Valley Forge National Historical Park.
• We woke up this morning at a service plaza on I-95 in Maryland. Being pre-dispatched to pick up a load in Pennsylvania on Monday, we headed that way from Maryland last night. After eating breakfast in the truck, we headed to a truck stop where I could do some truck work and we could get showers.
The air dryer filter was due for a change. I have not changed this filter myself but did so today. Like so many other truck maintenance operations I have done for the first time, it took an hour to do this time and will take me ten minutes the next. After Diane captured my moment of mechanical triumph with a photo, we went inside for showers.
• Next, we next to visit Valley Forge. Arriving at the main gate, the first thing we saw was a "No Trucks" sign. Being unable to enter the grounds and only able to turn right or left, I turned right because that was the easier of the two. Not knowing what to do next but knowing we could not block traffic while figuring it out, we drove down a narrow road, looking for a place to stop and consider our options. That brought us to the George Washington Memorial Chapel, where the parking lot provided room to park the truck.
Once there, we were delighted to discover that the park is laid out in a big circle and has free shuttle busses that run from attraction to attraction. We could leave the truck where it sat and see everything in the park by using the bus. We ended up spending too much time at the chapel to work in all the other attractions before the park closed for the night.
That's OK. One of the things I like best about seeing the country as expediters is the fact that we don't have to see every last part of a tourist attraction when we are there. Chances are good that we will be back and we can then pick up where we left off. We enjoyed what we could of the park at a relaxed pace
We went next to the nearby RV park where we had reserved a space for the weekend. Another pleasant surprise greeted us there. Our campsite was just 50 yards from the campground's small amphitheater. A country rock band was on stage, playing for a small audience seated there and a larger audience listening from their campsites.
Finding the band to be good, we decided to do this right. We walked to the camp store and got ice cream cones, walked back to the amphitheater and sat down to enjoy a beautiful summer evening together in Pennsylvania, and just 50 yards from home which was parked just up the hill.
This is the first time this year that we have stayed at an RV park. The summer weather has been great so far, but this weekend would be hot. Rather than run the generator for a full weekend to keep the sleeper cool, we went to an RV park to use shore power, the laundry, showers, and just relax; with special emphasis on the relaxation part. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, August 2, 2009. I learned today more about trading. Learned by working on my trading plan.
We woke up this morning in the RV park we checked into yesterday evening. It rained on and off all day so we spent it in the truck instead of in lawn chairs. Between long periods of doing nothing, Diane did laundry and I worked on my trading plan.
I am pleased with how my practice (paper) trading has been going. After making 17 trades I am showing a respectable net profit. If I am still showing a profit after 100 trades, real money trading will begin.
Before continuing with paper trading, I need to polish up my written trading plan. The plan I wrote before was for options trading. I'm trading currency (forex) now so the plan needs to be redone.
We are dispatched to pick up a load in Pennsylvania tomorrow morning that we will run overnight and deliver near Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Tuesday. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, August 3, 2009. I learned today that the recession may be easing. Learned from news reports.
We woke up this morning at an RV park in Pennsylvania and left soon after to pick up freight nearby. The rest of the day and night was spent driving toward Milwaukee, Wisconsin where we will deliver tomorrow morning.
You know we are in a recession when the good news is that the bad news is still bad, just not as bad as it used to be. I'm not ready to buy into the green shoots talk that is filling the news these days. Economic decline exists on two levels, the national level that we all hear about on the news and the personal level. We have seen the freight and our revenue slow down with the recession. When we look at our personal books and see recovery there, I will be more inclined to say the recession is easing.
We are still making money in this business but at nowhere near the rate we were before the recession took hold. I miss seeing our bank account grow at the rapid rate it once did. We are not in this business to break even or just get by. We are in it to prosper. Most expediters, including us, are biding our time and doing the best we can while we hope for better days ahead.
As regular readers know, I have been investing the spare time slow freight gives us in trading. Trading provides not only a fascinating way to pass the time, but also a potential path to prosperity additional to expediting. With something like that in my sights, it is easier to be patient and hopeful as the recession continues.
Without it, Diane and I would be seriously considering whether it was worth it to stay in expediting. Again, we are not in it to break even or just get by. If the money goes out of expediting, we will too.
How long to you hang in to wait for the recession to end. What other jobs or careers are out there that are better than expediting? Many expediters are thinking about those questions these days. Our answers today (subject to change, of course) are that we will hang in for a few more months at least, and the job for me that would be better than expedting is trading; provided, of course, that I can become a net winning trader. With that in mind, I am pleased to have the spare time that slow freight provides. It is time I can use to trade. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, August 4, 2009. I learned today some family news. Learned by visiting relatives near Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
We woke up this morning at a loading dock near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a couple of hours after we arrived. We had driven overnight from Pennsylvania, where we picked up this load. When the people arrived for work in the morning, the delivery was routine but departing was not.
When I put the truck in gear to drive away from the loading dock, the truck lurched and jumped but would otherwise not move. This was a dock with a ramp that is dug down into the ground. The downward slope was nothing different from similar docks we have backed down into many times. But, clearly, something was amiss.
I checked to make sure the brakes were off. They were. I checked to make sure someone had not chocked the wheels without me knowing it. No one had. I checked to make sure we had all the ground clearance we needed to clear the top edge of the ramp. We did. I looked carefully under the truck to see if anything was unusual or out of place. Nothing was.
I didn't want to do it but I asked Diane to get out of bed to help me figure out why we could not drive away from this dock. She was already wide awake from the lurching and jumping she felt before. Your mind races when something like this happens.
What is going on? Will we lose freight? Will we have to be towed? Why isn't the truck working? Does the customer need the dock? Are other trucks lining up to use it? Are we in the way? How much is this going to cost? What is going on? Has anything like this happened before? Who can I call for help? What is going on?
Diane stood beside the truck and watched as I tried one more time to drive the truck ahead. She said the drive wheels were spinning on the concrete but without enough traction to move the truck. On ice in the winter, that would make perfect sense, but on dry concrete in July?
Once we knew what was going on, the fix was easy. I turned on the interlock (something like four wheel drive on an SUV) and drove easily up the ramp. It seems the angle of the ramp and the weight distribution of the truck in this particular case was such that traction was lost. Weird.
Being close to relatives we had not seen since last year's Green Bay Packers game, we went out of service and headed to their house to visit, work on the truck and spend the night. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, August 5, 2009. I learned today more about my extended family. Learned by spending time with them.
We woke up this morning near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at our relatives' home. We went back in service after breakfast but no worthwhile load offer came until late in the day. While waiting for freight, we spent most of the working on the truck, helping our hosts get ready for a rummage sale they are having tomorrow.
This is a nice family visit. The two best parts are the weather and spending time with extended family members. It is a great day to putter with the truck and the driveway provides a great place to do it. The rummage sale is increasing the family traffic flow through the house as cousins and their kids come to add their items to the sale and help set up.
We offered to go get some Chinese food to make supper less of a burden. Our relatives insisted instead on taking us to a "real" Chinese restaurant about an hour away. It turned out that the restaurant was right on our route to tomorrow afternoon's pickup in Indiana.
Wanting to get through Milwaukee and Chicago before tomorrow morning's rush hour, we decided to leave tonight and drove the truck to the restaurant. With full bellies inside and a rising full moon outside, we bid our relatives well and headed to Indiana. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, August 6, 2009. I learned today the term "ventral hernia." Learned from the doctor who told me I may have one.
We woke up this morning in a rest area on I-65 in Indiana and I woke up in pain. I first noticed the pain on Sunday and dismissed it as no big deal. As the days have passed this week, the pain has not gone away and is now more severe and constant. It is is in my upper abdomen.
Having time before our pickup, we located an urgent care clinic and I went in. The doctor examined me and ordered some tests, including an EKG. They came back normal. I described to him when the pain first started and the probable reason why. It was the filter on the truck that I changed on Saturday. I used a lot of muscle force to remove it. It seems I ripped something inside me while straining to untwist the old filter.
The doctor said little after that except that it was either muscle strain or a ventral hernia, and if it was the latter, surgery is not often used to fix it. He then made a quick exit and I returned to the truck.
Surgery? Me? I felt sad for the rest of the day, feeling like I had lost something or someone dear. In my whole life, I have never had a broken bone or a stitch. The last time I was in the hospital for surgery, I was in fourth grade. They took my tonsils out. I'm not supposed to need surgery. I'm a healthy man, aren't I?
It bothered me the rest of the day as the realization set in that something health related could take me out of the expediting work that Diane and I so enjoy. I have always know that to be true but today I felt it. I felt in my gut in more ways than one.
The words, "Life is a losing battle." kept flowing through my mind. It's a depressing thought but true. We are all goners, sooner or later.
Christians would be quick to respond with something like, "Yes, but in Christ we have victory." That also is true, as is the fact that everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.
The pickup went fine and the trip to Maryland was short enough for Diane to drive all of it. Feeling sad, I went to bed earlier than I normally would, contemplating the eventual loss of my physical ability, and trying to find the least painful position in which to lay. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Today's Topics: My web site hobby • In pain • Medical care on the road
• I learned today how to easily add little symbols like these to web pages: € Æ ƒ †. Learned by stumbling upon the HTML code helper in my Dreamweaver web design software while I was working with it.
This web site is a hobby of mine. I could blog on any of the dozens of good blog sites that are available. I do it here because I enjoy the fun of learning how to develop a web site of my own. Long time readers have seen the features of this site grow as I learn how to add them. There is no rush to learn web site development. Like I said, it is a hobby. It's fun to grow a new skill over time.
At the moment, 04:28 a.m., Friday, I am staying up with a load of freight. After driving from our Indiana pickup, Diane backed the truck up to a loading dock in Maryland. Then it was my turn to be awake while she sleeps. We are on one of those loads where one of us must be awake with the freight at all times. I have been on duty for a couple hours now, surfing the web and plinking away on this web site.
• At this same moment, I am also in pain. After sleeping on it, I am realizing that yesterday's visit to a doctor at an urgent care clinic in Indiana was totally unsatisfying. No medications were prescribed. I left with no clear diagnosis and no suggestions about what to do next. It puzzles me why the doctor ran me through the system for an hour or two but gave me no meaningful instructions.
He said my pain is due to either a muscle strain or ventral hernia but is unsure which. I don't know why he stopped there and took no further action to find out. He said I should go to the ER if I experience severe abdominal pain (like duh!), said a nurse would be in to sign me out, and then he abruptly left, leaving me to sit alone in the exam room until the nurse arrived.
I might have gotten more out of the doctor had I persisted, but making yesterday's pickup on time was very much on my mind. Having found out that whatever was causing the pain is not likely to kill me, my mind shifted to the freight I am sitting up with now.
So here I sit, two hours before sunrise, at a loading dock in Maryland, wondering what to do next about the pain. In layman's terms, I busted a gut when using force to remove the air dryer filter I changed last Saturday. If it is a muscle strain, it will heal on its own over time. If it is a ventral hernia, I'm not sure what needs to happen next.
Diane worked as an RN before she became an attorney and then became a truck driver, so I have a good medical resource with me here in the truck. I've done some reading online about muscle strains and hernias, but none of that zeros in exactly on what is going on inside me. Until I know that, I cannot know what to do next. Surgery may be needed, but maybe not. At this point, we simply don't know.
Returning to the doctor in Indiana is not an option because he is in Indiana and I am in Maryland, and because he seemed to care about little more than getting to his next patient. Diane and I are thinking about going home or flying me home to see my doctor there, but that is a lot of time, trouble and expense. I could try my luck at an urgent care clinic here in Maryland after we complete our morning delivery, but I am not of a mind to do that either.
The pain is not intense. I rated it a four on the one to 10 scale they asked me about at the clinic. All other body functions are normal. I am able to drive and work as normal, as long as I am careful to not bust a gut again. For now, I guess, I'll just monitor the symptoms and see what happens.
I'm not alone in this monitoring. More than usual, Diane is keeping a watchful eye on me. This is one of many advantages of team driving with someone you love and trust. If something went seriously wrong, Diane would immediately see to it that I got the care I needed and the truck was kept safe.
Solo drivers are on their own. If they end up in the hospital far from home, what becomes of their truck? What becomes of the personal goods they have in the truck? That's a lot to worry about when you are away from home, involuntarily separated from your truck and have pressing medical issues to worry about too.
• Medical care is an issue for anyone who lives and works on the road. It is something to consider and plan for if you are thinking about getting into expediting or over-the-road trucking. I know several truck drivers that are out here without insurance. I can't imagine living that way.
While the cost is high, Diane and I readily pay our health insurance premiums. It is a comfort to know that we can walk into most any clinic or emergency room to get care if it is needed.
People with insurance tend to see a doctor when feeling pain. People without insurance tend to put off a doctor visit because they worry about the expense. Then they worry because they don't know how sick or injured they really are. Then they pray it does not turn into something more serious, or they simply deny that a significant health issue exists. Sometimes, putting off a doctor visit is the exact wrong thing to do and things get more serious because of it.
It would be easy to move from here into a discussion of health care reform. I'm not going to do that. I do want to say that my experience illustrates how something can go wrong out here and often does. While I am grateful to have insurance that gets me easily into a clinic, I am mindful of the many thousands of truck drivers who are literally busting their guts and risking life and limb to earn a living and move the freight that keeps our country running.
This is not an easy issue. Many of the uninsured truck drivers can afford health insurance but make the irresponsible decision to do without and spend their money on other things. But many others cannot afford it. Desperate to make ends meet, they take a a huge gamble by living and working on the road as they do.
UPDATE: Two good things happened as today progressed: 1. We got dispatched on a good run that picks up on Monday. 2. I started feeling better. The pain I spoke of above has diminished. It is still there. It still hurts to take deep breaths and move in certain ways, but for the first time since it kicked in, the pain is less severe.
I am now going with the doctor's muscle-strain diagnosis and am less worried about the ventral hernia. To those of you who sent kind words and prayers, we can go with the power of prayer too. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, August 8, 2009. I learned today more about writing a trading plan. Learned by working on mine.
We are laid over in Maryland this weekend, waiting to pick up a nice load on Monday. After breakfast, we drove to a bookstore. Diane went inside, where she still is now at 7:15 p.m. I stayed in the truck to work on my trading plan.
To the outside observer, who would see me spending the entire day in the truck, my day would not look like much to celebrate. To me, it has been a fantastically productive day with much to cheer!
Because it takes you to the core of your being, a trading plan is an intense and very difficult document to write. Writing a plan requires you to put on paper (screen) what you think you know about trading and what you think you know about yourself, using words that integrate the two into an actionable plan and set of trading rules. I have been working on my trading plan for a while. Today it started coming together and clicked in an inspirational way.
Professional golfer Tiger Woods talks about being in the zone when he plays well. I was in the zone today when writing my plan. I have been at my computer all day and the keyboard is smoking! Losing all track of time, I just now looked out the window on this cloudy day and realized the sun will soon set. I have eaten nothing since breakfast but did not feel hungry. The day flew by and I felt no fatigue. I am alert, focused and thrilled to be making the plan writing progress I am.
Common sense tells me to now disengage, which I will do as soon as I post today's blog entry. I'm going to find Diane in the bookstore and see if she is up to accompanying me on a head-clearing walk in the neighborhood.
Creativity bursts like this one come to me from time to time. I love it when that happens! Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, August 9, 2009. I learned today more about writing a trading plan. Learned by working on mine.
Diane and I woke up this morning in the same Maryland retail area that we hung out in yesterday. I woke up early, eager to get back to work on my trading plan; and too early for Diane's liking. So as to not disturb her, I re-read trading books in bed instead of setting up the computer to work on my plan.
She finally got up and we made the bed. In the truck, that means folding the bed up onto the back wall of the sleeper, which then makes the table and dinette seats available. She is out on a morning walk now and I am happily back at my keyboard.
Tomorrow's pickup is set for the afternoon and we are about a hundred miles away. That gives us the whole day to ourselves and I will spend most of it working on my trading plan. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, August 10, 2009. I learned today more about trading. Learned by working on my trading plan.
I have nothing new or different to report today. We woke up this morning in the same Maryland retail area where we hung out all weekend. We drove to Baltimore and picked up freight this afternoon. We are now on an overnight run. I spent every free moment I had today on my trading plan.
I'll be going to sleep soon and driving tonight's dog shift, as Diane and I call it. I like the dog shift because most other people don't. Traffic is light and I often have the road to myself. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, August 11, 2009. I learned today about taking the train to downtown Chicago from a Chicago suburb. Learned by researching it online.
After driving overnight from Baltimore, Maryland, We delivered in a Chicago, Illinois suburb this morning. As usual, we next went to sleep to prepare for the next run that may be offered at any time. We did not wait long. An hour after we laid down, an offer came in that we accepted. The load picks up tomorrow, not far from where we are.
There is a lot to see and do in downtown Chicago and I got to thinking about visiting the financial exchanges that are there. There is not time today as we slept in too long. Another day, perhaps. The trick will be to find a safe place to park the truck while we both leave it to take the train into town. If anyone has truck parking suggestions to share, I'm all ears.
Update: 1. Our load for tomorrow canceled late this afternoon so it looks like we will be spending the night in the Chicago area and wait for freight. 2. You know all that work I have been doing on my trading plan in recent days? It is both a good thing and bad that the work takes me further from live trading, not closer to it. See today's update on my trading page. Since live trading is no longer just around the corner, I'm going to give trading a rest for a day or two. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Today's Topics: Mastering the Trading Game • Waiting for Freight
I learned today that there are three kinds of traders and the characteristics of the kind I aspire to be. Learned by having it come to me in a new way as I slept overnight and woke with the words in mind this morning.
• There are traders who never win, traders who win and then give it all back, and traders who are consistently profitable net winners. It is the latter that I aspire to be.
I woke up this morning realizing that I have never before put as much effort into something with so few rewards as I have with trading. I have been developing myself as a trader and studying and practicing for months, and have little to show for it beyond the ability to carry on a conversation about it.
In college, there are successes each time you pass a mid-term and final exam. In even the most difficult military training, success come each time a test is passed or course is completed. In trucking, a success comes with each load for which you are quickly paid. But in trading, the preparation seems to go on forever and there are no people, diplomas or paychecks to acknowledge your work along the way.
My patience wore thin. I don't want to make big money as a trader later. I want to make big money now. Having not done that, I have grown increasingly restless. It is as if there is a mountain ahead to move and I have only a shovel. I can look behind and see the large amount of dirt already moved. But when I look at the size of the mountain that still remains, it feels like I have done no work at all.
I recently read that it takes many people three to five years of effort to become consistently profitable traders. While it takes less time for some, I must face up to the fact that I am not blessed with exceptional trading abilities and am not on the fast track. Much of the trading endeavor boils down to plain, old-fashioned hard work, and that work takes time to do.
I woke up this morning realizing in a new way that the highly successful, professional traders pursue their craft with discipline, rigor, attention to detail, insights into their trading personality, and mastery that losing traders do not develop. The difference between me and the wealthy traders is not in intellect, luck or being blessed with unique gifts that set us apart. It is in the amount of work they have done and I have not.
Having read many of their stories, I know of no master trader who stepped into the game and started winning from the first day. I know of many who started to succeed only after doing a great deal of work. So I continue; now understanding that there are no short cuts, and now accepting the fact that trading success this is going to take longer to achieve than I first thought.
• We woke up this morning behind a strip mall in a Chicago suburb, in service, waiting for freight. Yesterday's canceled load gave us less-than-75 status, which put us at the head of the line for load offers. We hoped to get some freight on the truck today, lay down some serious miles and make some decent money.
A few offers came in but they were all paying to little to accept. Then a good one came early in the afternoon that we accepted and immediately rolled. It picked up north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and will keep us rolling until tomorrow afternoon.
The load that canceled yesterday would also have picked up today. The present load is the better load of the two. Yesterday's disappointment is today's joy. We did not feel it a the time, but it turned out to be a good thing that yesterday's load canceled as it did.
This is a classic expedite load. We picked up some common industrial materials that normally ship cheap via a large carrier that runs 18-wheelers. Someone got the delivery date wrong and there was no way the shipment could be delivered on time after the error was discovered.
Expediters to the rescue! Diane and I can pick up the load, drive it straight through and get it to the customer on time. The company that screwed up the delivery date is paying us much more to move the load than the regular carrier would charge. We presume the account is valuable enough to the errant company to eat the cost and keep the customer happy.
Diane and I owe much of our trucking success to human errors made by others. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, August 13, 2009. I learned today two unrelated items of great interest, both of which require follow-up. Learned by being told of them.
First, we received word today that a grant we applied for was awarded to us. The State of Minnesota Clean Diesel program offered grant money to help upgrade truck and reefer engines to help reduce emissions. We did not expect to be awarded any money when we applied but it seems that some money will be coming our way. We are not sure yet because what they awarded is not exactly what we applied for and there are questions to be answered before we know for sure that the money is ours to use. Calls will be made tomorrow.
The second item is a rumor about an important vendor in our industry that may be out of business. The rumor is that the vendor closed its doors today. That was told to me by phone by someone I consider reliable, but I am not going to latch onto it without verification. I called the vendor after hours tonight to see if the phones were still connected (they are) and what the message might say. It was a strange message but not one that suggests the company has closed. I expect to learn more during business hours tomorrow.
Other than that, it has been a routine day hauling freight. We drove overnight from Wisconsin to Connecticut and delivered a load early this afternoon. We then took a nap, passed time in the truck, ate supper, passed more time in the truck and will go to bed soon. A number of load offers were received. All were refused because the pay was too low.
One last thing. I made a nice addition to my collection of fire hydrant photos today. That's right. I have a collection of fire hydrant photos. One of these days I'll get those pictures online and tell the story. Eastern U.S. fire hydrants are more interesting than those in western states because they date back many more years.
Have you ever wondered what stories a fire hydrant could tell? I have not. They are inanimate objects with no hint of life or consciousness in them. Nevertheless, for some strange reason, fire hydrants have caught my interest and I have photographed a bunch as we travel around the country. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Today's Topics: Fire Hydrant Aficionados • A Free Weekend
I learned today that as a collector of fire hydrant photos, I suck. Learned by looking at real fire hydrant photo collections online.
• I don't know why, but for whatever reason, I started taking an interest in and photographing fire hydrants. Mentioning that in my blog last night, I woke up this morning thinking about fire hydrants. Curious, I did a Google images search for fire hydrants and was amazed to find a number of people who collect and photograph fire hydrants. They know the manufactures, history, serial numbers and other things of interest to fire hydrant aficionados.
These people are serious. All I have done is take pictures. These folks document fire hydrant locations, characteristics and history in great detail. It's not like I need more outside interests or a new hobby to fill my time, but it is nevertheless interesting to look at these people's work. Check out this Kennedy 150 — featuring the familiar bell-shaped bonnet — photographed yesterday by me in Danbury, Connecticut. Whoo hoo!
See the company brochure for info about the current version (the Guardian K-81D). Order yours today and don't forget the accessories! View collector photos here.
As a truck driver who travels all over the country all the time, and gets into all parts of the towns we visit, I could produce a database of fire hydrant photos, locations and details that would be of great interest to my newfound fire hydrant friends.
Have you hugged your fire hydrant today? There is one near you right now. A photo and information about it that you share online would be of interest to some. What color is it? What is its shape? Who made it? What markings does it have? Believe it or not, there are people out there who want to know.
Time to produce a fire hydrant database is the issue of course, and I already have no problem filling the hours we spend while waiting for freight.
• Speaking of that, the first load offer we received this morning was a keeper. We will be spending the weekend in Connecticut and picking up the freight Monday afternoon. That gives us a full three day weekend, and then some, to do other things. Our to-do list includes trading (of course), writing my pieces for the next edition of Expedite NOW, truck cleaning, business paperwork, and perhaps some tourist fun in the area.
That's the list. What we actually accomplish will be a function of our self discipline and commitment to good results. Does it happen to you like it happens to me? You have all sorts of good intentions and good reasons for doing what you know you should do, and then you go off and do something like contemplate fire hydrants.
Sometimes I think if there was a contest for procrastination, Diane and I would be world-class contenders. Of course, there would never be such a contest because no one would ever get around to entering. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday, August 19, 2009. I learned today about loneliness. Learned by experiencing and reading up on it.
I have had a breakthrough of sorts in trading, such that my belief in trading success has grown to the point of being a known fact to me. I am getting closer to where I want to be and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will succeed as a trader. That belief propels me in my trading work and toward that goal. It has also changed the way I value certain activities.
For seven years, I have been spending a great deal of time and energy in an online forum. It struck me a day or two ago that nothing I post or read there helps me as a trader. Forum participation feels good. It is fun. But to move forward as a trader, my mind must be focused on trading. Thus my decision to reduce my participation in the forum.
When the decision was made, lowliness set in. Loneliness is not a familiar emotion. I can't remember the last time I felt lonely. But I did today as I contemplated life without the forum. It passed in a few hours as I figured out what the feeling was and where it was coming from, and worked it through.
It is the right decision but also sad. I will miss mixing it up with the good folks (and some not so good) in the forum. Nevertheless, my interests are shifting. Participation in that forum no longer scratches the itch. Trading does.
The social networking craze of recent years is an interesting phenomenon. If you are an avid Facebook, Twitter and/or online forum participant, would you feel lonely without it? What personal needs do such things fill? What barriers to personal mastery do they form? I thought through such things this week and am leaving the forum behind.
• We picked up an easy load early this afternoon in Huntsville, Alabama; easy in that it was simple to load and secure, and there are no temperature settings, security protocols or threats from space aliens to worry about. It is ordinary freight. We can even stop the truck and go to sleep while the freight is on board. This is an overnight run that delivers around sundown tomorrow.
It is a nice run but one that takes us a great distance from home. That is an issue because Diane needs to be home next week to see her orthodontist. He will tell her this time how much longer it will be until the braces come off. It will be a great day when they do.
• I am a few days behind in my blog and will fill them in soon. We had a delightful day in Danbury, Connecticut on Saturday. Story and photos to follow.Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, August 20, 2009. I learned today that trying to make money as a trucker is like trying to enjoy sex in a novocain bath. Learned (concluded) after reading a trucking industry analyst's views.
People have long said that the recession has left us with too many trucks and too little freight, and that the cure for that is for trucks and freight to come into balance. My thinking has been that it is only a matter of time before the weak truckers are squeezed out and that by running a tight ship, we can outlast them and prosper in the future.
A new development provides a twist. Truck overcapacity is continuing because the weak players are not being squeezed out. They are not being squeezed out because lenders have stopped repossessing trucks. Lenders have stopped repossessing trucks because they don't want trucks. They don't want trucks because the value of used trucks has fallen so low that they are more trouble than they are worth to take back.
Instead of forcing the weak players out of the business, lenders are taking whatever truck payments the all-but-bankrupt truck owners can afford. That keeps those trucks on the road and allows the loser owners to run freight at desperation prices, which continues the downward pressure on rates.
As a result, truckers are out there hauling freight but seeing little or no return for their effort. It's like having sex in a novocain bath. You can go through all the motions, and not feel a thing.
Optimism is in the air. Everyone it talking green shoots. The recession is over or nearly over, right? I don't believe it. Government stimulus money is creating a false prosperity that I believe will evaporate, clearing the way for the economic downturn to continue.
Cash for clunkers is not boosting retail sales. It is only changing the sales from clothes to cars. In so doing, it is encouraging people to trade in an older car that is paid for for a newer car that comes with a car payment. That increases debt for people in the program and discourages their future retail spending. That's just one example of many unintended consequences of the stimulus program; not to mention the staggering federal debt that must now be serviced and will serve as an economic boat anchor for years to come.
No economic optimist here. Freight rates will remain low and the people driving them lower are running their tucks for free, going further into debt and buying new cars with your tax money.
• We are still hauling the freight we picked up yesterday. Delivery is scheduled for 19:45 tonight. No pre-dispatch offers have been received. Tomorrow is Friday. We may end up spending the weekend in the desert. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, August 23, 2009. Please bear with me. I am busy getting my articles in for the next edition of Expedite NOW (writing pool-side at an RV park today) and am also working the Bentz story. We start a multi-stop run tomorrow afternoon that will keep us rolling most of next week. I will blog as I am able. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, August 28, 2008. I learned today a bit about Saint Louis, Missouri. Learned by driving through its streets in the wee hours of the morning.
Good morning from Saint Louis! Since Sunday, I have been doing mostly one of five things: driving, sleeping, writing, loading freight or sitting up with the freight. At the moment, I am sitting up with the freight. Diane is asleep in back.
This was a multi-stop run with pickups in downtown Tucson, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The miles are good, the pay is good and we are looking forward to getting the freight off the truck. We definitely earned our pay this week.
Somewhere between San Francisco and Saint Louis, I asked Diane, who else does she know that goes to San Francisco and comes out with pictures of nothing but fire hydrants? She smiled. I then said, there is something wrong with me. She smiled wider and did not disagree.
Also on this trip, I learned that in Nevada construction zones, orange barrels are placed 100 to the mile. Learned by counting them.
Cut me some slack here. You get a lot of time to think when you are driving through the desert. I can't think deep thoughts all the time. These barrels, they are mundane to most but the center of one's life and work to others. That's true of most any object you lay eyes on.
Back to Saint Louis, we are parked well before sunrise in a parking lot where the signs say to pay and display a sticker that a nearby machine dispenses. The loading dock we are to bump at 9:00 a.m. is in sight. I hope I can sit here without paying until the dock opens. We will see if the police come and run me off. If they do, I will bump the dock and wait there.
I'd rather not do that until I know for sure it is the correct dock. There is only one door. In the morning, a number of regular delivery trucks will want the dock. I am keeping it clear for any that may show up. The local guys have many deliveries to make each day, a schedule to keep, and always seem to be in a hurry. It is best to stay out of their way.
A minor threat was averted a few minutes ago. A garbage truck came in and emptied four dumpsters. I kept my hand on the horn in case he got too close to our truck with his. He kept a safe distance.
That driver is a city employee in a city truck. I am an owner-operator in a truck paid for with our own money. There is a big difference in how much we care about the trucks we drive. He could back into our truck with the rear corner of his and sustain no damage to his truck while disabling ours. If he did, he would not miss his pay check or even an hour of work on the clock. We might be down for a month. Looking at it this way, it was not so minor of a threat at all, was it?
I have my computer set up on the steering wheel. The sun visor is down to keep bright flood lights from shining directly into my eyes. I'm passing the hours before the loading dock opens. We fueled and took showers late last night. We are run ready, as we call it.
Except no dispatch offers were received yesterday. We would have liked one but none came. This is supposed to be the busy season for freight but we have seen no evidence of that yet, just occasional spurts.
OK...more time has passed. The dumpsters and parking lot are still empty. The cop in the squad car parked a block away seems to be asleep. Our truck remains full. People will come to work at the dock this morning like they do every weekday morning. One or two of them may be late for work and stressed because 9:00 is coming too early. From my point of view, 9:00 cannot come soon enough.
Update: The delivery went fine. As soon as we pulled out from the indoor dock and got our satellite signal back, an offer came in that we accepted. We treated ourselves to a hot breakfast out of the truck. I then went to bed. Diane started driving the 400+ miles toward our Monday pickup. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, August 29, 2009. I learned today the details of a house for sale in Florida. Learned by talking again with the realtor and studying the information.
We woke up this morning in the Petro truck stop in Oak Grove, Missouri. After completing a lucrative run last week, we are dispatched on another good run that picks up Monday.
One would think this is good news, but as my trading skills grow, I am beginning to hate it that the freight is keeping us busy. Just when I am getting to the point where trading may start to pay off, it is not paying off because the freight is keeping us busy. I feel trapped.
Up to now, recession-level freight has provided large chunks of free time. I used it to learn how to trade. It did not matter if the market was open or closed. Much of my early work was book study and learning how to use a trading platform. Now it matters that the market is open and that I have time to trade. To further develop my trading skills, I must have uninterrupted blocks of time, not to study, but to trade.
I am certain I can succeed as a trader, but have yet to do so. The profits I imagine are just that, imaginary. This is a classic bird in the hand, two in the bush dilemma. If the recent uptick in freight continues, do we truck for the money we can make on the road, or take time off the road for more money that might be made by trading?
After thinking it through, the Florida house is out, at least for now. I need time off the road to trade, but not so much that would justify buying a house. If the freight does not provide the free time to trade, we will buy the time to trade. The price will include the expediting revenue lost by coming off the road and money paid for a hotel or resort stay.
Months ago, neither Diane nor I would have considered going out of service to trade. I am now far enough along to justify the expense. If we let the freight decide when I will have time to trade, I may never become the successful trader I know I can be. Starting today, we will alternate between hauling freight and going out of service to trade.
In other words, some days we'll truck, some days we'll trade.
This is a major change in how we run our expediting business.
Before, we sought to maximize our in-service time. Now, our in-service numbers will likely fall to fleet-average levels as we will be taking time off like many other expediters do. The difference is, we are not taking time off to go home and hang out. We are taking time off to trade. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, August 30, 2009. I learned today a bit more about using the Adobe Fireworks graphics editor software. Learned by fiddling with it.
I have no computer graphics skills to speak of but would like to learn. When I purchased Adobe Dreamweaver to build this web site, I also purchased Fireworks. Little by little (that is, very little by very little), I plink away at my web development hobby. It is a pleasant yet productive distraction when a distraction is desired.
We woke up this morning in the same parking place we settled into on Friday, at the Petro truck stop in Oak Grove, Missouri. I did a generator oil change. Diane made breakfast. We will shower at the nearby TA truck stop, where we have free shower credits on our fuel card. Diane will then drive for a few hours to get us near our Monday morning pickup. We will be settled in by 5:00 p.m. The forex market opens at 5:00 p.m. and I plan to trade from then to bed time.
It occured to me this morning that someone reading my blog may conclude that I want to succeed as a trader so we can get out of expediting. That would be an incorrect conclusion.
I want to succeed as a trader so we can enjoy a second source of income and additional financial security while continuing to haul expedited freight and enjoy life on the road. Trading revenue will also give us an immediate plan B if our plan A — expediting — turns to crap.
Will expediting turn to crap? I am beginning to think it may.
I recently interviewed six carriers for an Expedite NOW story. While the story is about the uptick in expedited freight, five of the six carriers also told me more about changes they are making to boost revenue. While continuing to haul expedited freight, they are diversifying out of expediting to boost revenue.
That is important. These expediting companies are not looking to expediting as a source of future growth. They are looking elsewhere to grow their companies. They are not seeking to become bigger and better expediters. They are seeking to become bigger and better something else.
So too with Diane and me. As a one-truck, owner-operator team, we are milking expediting for all that it is worth. We are also developing a second source of revenue; namely, trading.
If rates stay low and expediting devolves as a revenue source, trading will carry us through. If our carrier tries to impose objectionable rules, our trading income gives us options beyond passive acceptance (see this). If our carrier decides to exit the expediting business altogether (not so wild of notion as it once was), trading will provide an easy and immediate transisiton to a new career.
Those are worst-case fears. Our best-case hope is that expedited freight volume and rates will return to pre-recession levels, our carrier continues its excellent ways, and we can happily haul expedited freight for years to come, while trading too.
In that reard, today is an ideal day. I worked some on the truck. While Diane drives toward a lucartive pickup, I will do some expediting business paperwork. When we park, I will get in several hours of trading before bed.
If every day was like this day, I would not complain about the lack of time to trade like I did yesterday. But every day is not like this day. For the reasons mentioned above, and because my trading skills are growing, trading has become at least as important to us as expediting. We are taking things a day at a time to find the most profitable balance between time invested in expediting and time invested in trading. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, August 31, 2009. I learned today about AA Truck Sleepers, LLC. Learned by talking with the company general manager by phone and receiving information from him.
I called Wayne Baylor for reaction to the Bentz news. I am calling a number of former Bentz customers and competitors as I work on an in-depth Bentz story for ExpeditersOnline. I confessed to Wayne that I know less about AA than any other aftermarket sleeper manufacturer. He helped solve that problem by sending me information. One of AA's sleepers is pictured here. Next time Diane and I are near Fort Worth, we will call on Wayne and hopefully tour the plant.
We are on a run that I said earlier would keep us busy until Wednesday morning. If we drive 65 mph, which is faster than our customary and preferred cruising speed, we can probably arrive before close of business Tuesday and deliver the load.
The delivery is deep in a truck-unfriendly city. Getting in and out of there in the daylight on Tuesday afternoon is an attractive option. If we do not get the freight off the truck then, we will have to stay awake with the freight overnight. It is one of those kind of loads. We decided to go for it and are now cruising at 65 mph on the open road.
With all those Obama bucks finding their way into road construction, construction delays are a concern. We will see how it turns out. The worst case is we will burn extra fuel (happens when you drive fast) and still end up spending the night awake with the freight. The best case is we make the delivery Tuesday afternoon and get the heck out of Dodge! Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page