Tales of an Owner/Operator

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BK Vissers
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Re: Tales of an Owner/Operator

#11 Post by BK Vissers » 24 Dec 2017 14:32

Yay! The FLD is back! I agree with you about the wheel covers, but despite that it’s an awesome truck. :)
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dkasper00
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Re: Tales of an Owner/Operator

#12 Post by dkasper00 » 25 Dec 2017 05:58

Yeah I needed to bring it back it's becoming a go to truck for me.
In a world full of swift drivers, I'm an O/O.
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vulchor
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Re: Tales of an Owner/Operator

#13 Post by vulchor » 25 Dec 2017 09:25

The FLD is my go-to truck now too. Too bad there aren't any christmas skins for it.
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dkasper00
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Re: Tales of an Owner/Operator

#14 Post by dkasper00 » 27 Dec 2017 01:17

12-26-2017

Dropped the truck off at the body shop to really shine the truck up and had the hub covers replaced. I have to admit I am really starting to take a shine to the green on this FLD, and drive to the local government offices to see about getting the proper permits to expand the garage and operate the business from Raton. The clerk an older lady, named Karen tells me I likely will hear back in a few months if I can expand. Kept this to myself, but I really don't want to wait a few months what this local government says are a few months means it could take a year if it happens at all. So until I hear back I'm going to keep my eye on real estate in the surrounding towns. The shop calls, the truck is ready to be picked up, followed by a call from walbert saying they needed to have a trailer load of empty pallets taken to their one warehouse in Page Arizona.

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So get to the Walbert in Raton to pick up the trailer and to head off.

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Looking at the route, once on highway 64 it is a fairly straight shot to Page, will need to rest and have been up a considerable amount of time already, so I am planning on taking my break early on in the run. Get out of town and am now getting on highway 64. Noticing a bit more traffic than normal, but we get that here from time to time.

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Figured there would have been traffic on 64, but to my surprise not one car and made great time, once at the stop sign between sections of highway 64 I'm starting to get drowsy and need to find a place to rest.

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I know there is a place down the road where I can park and rest, hopefully there's a spot to park. Heading down the road and when I see the place, plenty of room to stop.

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Shutdown for the night and have a quick bite before turning in. Wake up at sunrise and am feeling fresh and good make the rest of the way to Page.

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Start the truck up and fill up at the pumps before I headed off. Get through Farmington with no probelms next town I go into is Page.

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Finally with 2 hours before I have to rest again, I pull into Page and back the trailer into the allocated spot.

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Was nice having a smooth run.
In a world full of swift drivers, I'm an O/O.
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BK Vissers
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Re: Tales of an Owner/Operator

#15 Post by BK Vissers » 27 Dec 2017 03:52

Love that 4th shot!
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dkasper00
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Re: Tales of an Owner/Operator

#16 Post by dkasper00 » 28 Dec 2017 05:56

12-27-2017

Woke up in the morning by a phone call. Did not get to the phone in time and goes to voice mail , it's from City hall in Raton. Hello Mr. Allen, we are sorry to say your request is denied, the locals do not want a trucking company in town, in order to stay in town you'll have to remain the size you are. Yeah, time to consider my options and Raton is not one of them now, I want to expand. So decide to look at the classifieds and see that there is a large garage available in Albuquerque for a reasonable price, decide to call the agent who is selling the garage and offer the asking price, the agent says I will hear by the end of the day. My next call is to Hobbs to talk to Jim, I want to talk about getting a 2nd truck so I don't get into anymore predicaments, so if truck goes down, I'll be able to continue while it gets repaired, but breakfast first. Head back to where I'm parked and call Hobbs. Hello this is Arnold, from Kenworth of Hobbs how may I assist you? Yeah, is Jim there, I'm a friend of his and want to talk to him. Oh sorry, Jim's not here anymore he's moved to our Peterbilt dealership in Albuquerque, do you need the number? No, I can get the number on my own, thanks for your help anyways. Hangs up the phone, phone and notice a missed call, it's the realtor and another voicemail, they have accepted the offer. I can't believe my luck, it's big getting into Albuquerque, prime location and major shipping hub. With now knowing I will be in Albuquerque for the headquarters I matter as well call the Peterbilt dealership.

Hello this is Jim from Peterbilt of Albuquerque, how may I assist you? Hello Jim, I tried getting a hold of you in Hobbs and Arnold told me you moved up here to take up the same position. Wow, you are on top of things really what can I help you with? I want to set a time to meet for lunch and to buy a new truck, oh also I'm moving operations to Albuquerque in order to expand. That is great Michael, your father would be thrilled to see what you have going on expanded, what kind of truck do you want? Money isn't too big of a deal I kind of won that lottery in California if you remember. Oh yeah I read about that, congrats we have a new 579 in stock that is decked out that the person who ordered it backed out on and we need to get rid of it, we can let it go for $200,000. Only thing is I know you are kind of a Cat person, where this has a Detroit Diesel in it. That's not a problem, I'll just have a Cat thrown in when the Detroit Diesel dies at 140,000 miles $200k sounds fair I'll take it. Excellent, when will I expect to see you? In a couple of days Jim, I'll bring pizza for lunch if that's alright with you. Yeah that's fine, I'll see you in a couple of days, talk to you then.

Now with that done, it's time to get on the road because I do have a load to pick up that should be ready to pick up by now. With everything that went on this morning, I did not notice that it was raining. Could be a wet day, but looked like it was starting to let up. Which is a lucky break, now to start up and get to Gallon.

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Get to Gallon and picked up the trailer a tanker full of Propane that is heading to Gallon in Tucson.

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Before I head any further, I better call home and tell mom about the events going on involving the move. She already knew that I wanted to expand and gave her blessing to move the works somewhere else if I had to. Now on the road, it's the sun is starting to get low, but man is it bright out. Will need to be a bit more careful about my distances.

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It's been a few hours now and it's now dark out. Don't have to stop for a rest am good by 3 hours as long as the traffic keeps moving at a good pace, which for being as dense as it is outside of Phoenix it is moving at a good pace.

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Not too much longer and I have made it to my destination, maybe I'll be able to make it to Albuquerque tomorrow sometime. I'm not going to get my hopes up though, a couple of days sounds more realistic.

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Get to the rest area for the night and lay down in the back of the cab and say aloud to myself, well the seeds are planted in order to expand. The garage in Albuquerque is a former headquarters for a trucking company that moved to San Diego, so I have a good feeling this will go smoothly.
In a world full of swift drivers, I'm an O/O.
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BK Vissers
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Re: Tales of an Owner/Operator

#17 Post by BK Vissers » 28 Dec 2017 12:44

Cool, now you’re relocating. Much better location.
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dkasper00
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Re: Tales of an Owner/Operator

#18 Post by dkasper00 » 29 Dec 2017 04:59

12-28-2017 Have had a productive morning here, the garage in Albuquerque is officially mine, and have the permits sitting in City Hall waiting for me to pick up. The city was hoping someone would move into the garage, it's nice to be in a place that wants me to be there. Also got notification the 579 I bought was ready for pick up. All in all a good morning. I figure I'll get the FLD redone, the engine feels like it does need a rebuild, so wouldn't hurt to have everything checked as well. First thing though I need to pick my load up from walbert that is heading to walbert in Albuquerque don't need to rest again, so I should be there by the end of the day.

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Clear day out and light traffic, will make great time today.

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Sun's getting low and am nearing the AZ/NM border. The FLD definitely needs some work done to it, feeling some significant power loss. Still able to do highway speeds though, so should be fine.

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9:30pm, I pull into the walbert in Albuquerque and back the trailer into it's spot.

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Get the payment and head to look for a place to rest and that is when I see the garage, a big garage, 5 bays and a fuel pump to boot. So decide to stop in the lot there to rest and will get what I need in the morning before I go and pick up the 579. Get a little reading in before turning in for the night. Tomorrow is a big day, will want to get an earlier start to the day.

8:00 am, the alarm wakes me up, I get cleaned up and have some cereal. And head to the realtor to pick up the deed and the keys, then head to City Hall to get the permits. Everything goes rather smoothly no real snags. Once done with that, I call the local pizzeria and order a Pie. Luckily the Pizzeria is on the way to the Peterbilt dealer. Pick the pie up and am on my way to pick up the 579, and as I am pulling into the lot, I see Jim waiting for me. Michael you're in another FLD what happened to the W900? Got clobbered by a Tour Bus in Santa Maria, truck was a total loss and needed something to continue making deliveries and luckily stumbled upon this FLD, it does need a ton of work done to it. Oh man, glad you're ok, yeah we can take care of that when you are ready, say what kind of Pizza did you get for lunch, smells good. Sausage, peppers and onions, want to eat first before finalizing the paperwork for the 579? Yeah am hungry at the moment says Jim.

Once done with lunch, Jim walks with me by the maintenance area is. Michael, your 579 is right over there, pointing towards a black truck. Wow this truck looks big, 82 inch cab? Yep, full epic and has a 350 gallon tank explains JIm. I'll definitely enjoy the larger tank, the fld is being a bit thirsty and feels like it is down in horsepower. Which is what is making me feel like I need to think about getting her overhauled. Just call us when you are ready to have it redone, we'll help you out. Thank you Jim, I'm going to take you up on the offer, can't drive both trucks at the same time, go over everything on it, I'm going to be back for more trucks in the future since my garage is right around the corner.

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Hand Jim the cash, and the keys to the fld. We'll call you Michael when the FLD is ready to be picked up or if there are anything we need to get your go ahead with here's the keys to the 579 Thank you Jim, will talk with you later. Gets into the 579 and fires it up and am impressed with the sound of the Detroit Diesel in it. Man, if it performs as good as it sounds, I may have a decision to make. As soon as I say that, my phone rings, it's bitumen and they need a mobile barrier hauled to their location in Roswell. Well, guess I get to give it a try now, and with that I am on my way to bitumen. Albuquerque is a big city and I am lucky that I know where the bitumen lot is, otherwise I could have been in trouble. Back the truck up to the mobile barrier. Thinking to myself that I have never pulled something like this before.

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Can tell the barrier is long, going to need to be extra attentive with the mirrors so I don't clip anything. Get an opening right away and pull out and am on my way to Roswell. Noticing that the ride is more soft than the fld, shouldn't be surprised though it is a newer truck. The FLD is still a better ride than the W900 was, with me getting older the softer ride is a good thing, already have arthritis my left shoulder so anything helps. Am well on my way by now.

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Really am enjoying this delivery, get a call from Jim. Michael, we have a problem with the fld, we started to look over the truck and you have a cracked block, you need a new block, should we go forward with it? Well, guess that explains the power loss, get another Engine for it, I can imagine the rest of it needs work as well. You know what, get a DD like what is in this 579, I'm liking it. You sure, the wait is going to be awhile for it. Yeah I'm sure, time isn't an issue for me in this instance. Alight Michael we will get the engine in. Hangs up the phone, really liking the hands free device compatibility in this truck. Sun is starting to go down once again, but just made it to Roswell, can tell by the Alien.

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Go a couple of blocks in and have made it to bitumen.

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Back the trailer into where they want it, and collect payment. Going to spend the night here and see what tomorrow brings.
In a world full of swift drivers, I'm an O/O.
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BK Vissers
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Re: Tales of an Owner/Operator

#19 Post by BK Vissers » 29 Dec 2017 14:31

Midnight Blue looks good on the ‘Pete!
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vulchor
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Re: Tales of an Owner/Operator

#20 Post by vulchor » 30 Dec 2017 02:25

I'm really enjoying this series. Any chance that you can start giving us higher resolution screenshots to look at? You're using imgur for your host, so just use the Linked BBCode option so we can view the fullsize versions, since you take such nice screenies. Anyway, looking forward to hearing more of your tales.
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