100th load!

Funday Monday and a pretty boring Tuesday...Both trucking and baby updates included

As I mentioned in my previous post, we are on our 100th booked load, which in this current market, is an outstanding accomplishment! From starting from the bottom with no funding assistance, hand outs or hand ups, or any real "help" other than family/friend encouragement, sage advice from those in the business or previously in the business, seasoned owner operators and a healthy dose of heavy research to this place we are in now, I'm pretty damn proud of us! We struggle each week, don't get me wrong, but we've never missed a bill payment (it may have been a bit late thanks to delays in settlements, but never missed!)

For load 100 are working with a new broker. We picked up this partial load (dump truck) from Farmington, NM and will be taking it to Kingston, NH. I have a good feeling this will be a good connection for us!

Friday we'd noticed an odd looking spot on on of the passenger front drive axle tire that would need to be checked out before traveling across country, but had to wait the weekend since everything closes up in Farmington by Friday at 8pm lol Which kind of sucked since we were slated to pick up the dump truck first thing Monday morning, but safety is priority and there's no way in hell we'd risk losing our life or a load due to tire failure that was preventable.

So we rolled up Monday morning first thing when the little tire shop opened up at 0700 (thankfully it was conveniently located less than 10 minutes from our 0800 scheduled pickup location). They diagnosed the tire as having a failed patch (the tire came with the truck when we purchased it, and showed no signs of issues until Friday) so it was a great catch! Another reason why pre and post trips are super important to complete! They had that puppy off and changed within 30 minutes for $200 less than what we budgeted for and with a handy valve stem core puller (on the house) that came in handy for our load we were picking up since it was 5 inches taller than we can legally haul until we get outfitted for over dimensional/oversized hauling! We finally got to put to use our height stick for measuring height off the deck and I got to use my favorite line... "fetch the stick" Gotta work smarter, not harder lol

We made it with time to spare to load up this sweet rusted dump truck. With it being a new broker and all I like to make sure to be extra on time lol Yes, I'm that person...It's a blessing and a curse lol

Getting a little more difficult to hoist my ever rounding self up on the trailer, but sis got it done to help direct Daryl in loading and securing this 30k lb tonka toy...Which is terrifying because my depth perception and overall skill at doing things of that nature is subpar at best lol But he trusts me for whatever stupid reason so I just go along with it lol The truck is safely (yet somewhat crooked) on the deck and no one was injured in the process haha We used the core thingie to deflate the tires to legal height and off we went!

We had to go BACK over Wolf Creek Pass (....yay...) and finally found a little rest stop in Eades CO that had truck parking and an open bathroom during the night...The only one open after driving an hour looking for truck parking mind you, because, yay truck parking shortage...

We snagged a quick bite for brunch at Penny's Diner in Sharon Springs, KS this morning before heading out to lay some miles down and book another partial load to pick up on the way...

I found us a forklift picking up in Indianapolis, IN tomorrow that we'll toss on the deck and drop it off in Buffalo NY on Thursday, before our Friday delivery of the tonka toy in NH.

Also picked up this handy dandy travel potty so now the issue of overnight parking with restroom access (or peeing in cups/bags/whatever receptacle I can get my hands on) is no longer an issue lol Most women in trucking have a 5 gallon bucket with a travel potty lid (for those who wondered how women use facilities while on the truck with no access to restrooms OR because of the dangers of walking through the truck stops in the middle of the night (I have a whole other post about this coming down the pipeline soon). I opted for this one though for space saving, 2 people in a tiny space does not make for comfortable living with bulky items taking up space.

I'm still looking for something small to put up on our top deck, no luck so far, but I'll stay on the hunt, it's still early in the week!

Quick Cletus update...It is jumping around quite a bit now a days.. Every day it seems I'm getting a little more round, my work jeans are no longer able to be zipped and are held up with rubber bands on the buttons lol Working the trailer is definitely helping me stay in better shape and active which is important with a history of spine surgery/hardware. Cravings include all things spicy. Genetic testing results came back from blood work I had done at my last appointment...Baby is definitely going to be a dorkfish like it's dad, but negative for any other issues that were checked routinely due to my "advanced maternal age"....We are being good "out of the loop" parents and listening to What to Expect When Expecting audiobooks in between our trucking podcasts since we are both quite a bit out of practice with the whole baby thing LOL