Chaos Ensues

Hey y’all, so the last 48 hours have been a whirlwind of mental stress and emotions, hence why there was no post last night from Virago Transport LLC.

This post will be a culmination of yesterday's chaos and today's test of patience, faith, and empathy. It’s long and wordy, so if ya only want trucking adventures, check back tomorrow, if you want to read about a hot mess express, continue on.

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So yeah, yesterday was just about the most Monday’est Monday we’ve had in a while. All was going well when we left Harden, MT, beboppin’ down the road. It was dreary, chilly and gray outside but still a decent morning. That was until an email came across that set the tone for the whole stinking day.

So let me explain a little bit about how fuel works in the owner operator (owner ops) capacity. Not so much an issue for company drivers (who work for someone else and not on their own) and can afford to pay millions in fuel. When you look at the pump for diesel you see (especially right now) an extremely ridiculous price that owner ops have to pay. Each semi truck has 2 tanks with the capacity to hold 100-150 gallons each, so that's roughly 300 gallons per fill up at over $4.50/gallon (and that’s cheap right now in most places) so you do the math.

Most trucks have to be filled up daily, if not every other day, depending on what their travel on loads require, so we are talking about a crap ton of money just to keep the wheels rolling. So to help compensate for that pain at the pump, most owner ops or lease operators opt to utilize a line of credit specifically for fuel that gives discounts and that frankly is the only way some are able to keep fuel in the truck.

For us personally, we have spent well over $2800 for fill ups over the last 7 days….Bizarre, huh. And without that credit, well let’s just say you aren’t going to do a lot of driving anywhere, and the bills will keep on piling up. So now that there’s a little understanding to how that pain in the checkbook works, we can discuss why we were catapulted into apoplexy and Nicole aged about 10 years between last night and this morning lol.

We use a company that gives great discounts for owner ops and small carriers and is tailored specifically for small trucking companies so we get the same bulk fuel discounts as those big mega carriers who get huge discounts due to their fleet size. So to say this fuel card is of utmost importance isn’t exaggerating. It’s literally our lifeline to being able to operate without having to go penniless just to keep the truck fueled up (and she’s a thirsty ol hag lemme tell ya).

So we get this email that says the payment was returned as having nonsufficient funds and that all line of credit was being dropped. Sorry about your bad luck, better luck next time. Mind you, we are all the way in Montana when this happens, under a load that we are contractually obligated to deliver upon tomorrow….Huge stakes. The kicker? We funded our fuel account on time, there was just an overlap on when the money was transferred and when it was automatically withdrawn by the credit company. But that overlap caused quite a problem. So of course that sent me into triage mode on how to keep this from completely tanking our company, all while Daryl is driving and trying not to freak the eff out while traveling down deep steep grade mountain passes and dealing with traffic. I sat on hold for 4 hours praying that the shotty cell signal we have (thanks for nothing overly priced Verizon) didn’t disconnect and we lose our place in the phone queue to try and sort this out. Meanwhile I’m emailing like a madwoman the company that we went through, pleading our case, trying to keep Daryl from feeling like an utter failure and maintaining my own composure (I’m a little hormonal right now and my ADHD is off the chain BTW so this is no easy feat) lol. After all the calls that could be made were made we were in a holding pattern, 24-48 hours for the credit line to be reviewed and a decision made on whether or not we were “worthy” to continue with our credit line or would we have to come up with the money to pay each week (this isn’t an option right now for many reasons….hello we are small family trucking company with 1 truck and all our life savings sunk into this dream). It was a long damn night. We pulled into a truck stop in Spokane, WA after driving through MT and Idaho in a total blur. We ate a crappy meal in a truck stop diner, spent the evening talking to a very sweet and tired driver who needed someone to talk to (the overwhelming word vomit he had told me he was in need of human interaction), then headed to bed. I stayed up most of the night going through all the what ifs, trying to find a way to support my husband who felt as though he failed us, keep my own self together, needless to say, the bags under my eyes tell the whole ordeal. Daryl stayed up combing through each regulatory piece and bill making sure everything was sorted…Long night for sure.

So this morning, we get up, and I started emailing again. The response I was getting was not what I was wanting to hear, basically, once one NSF payment occurs within the first 6 months, the funds are shut off is the “typical response” from this fuel credit company. When I’m determined to get something done, come hell or high water, it’s getting done lol So all we could do was wait the rest of the morning. I have been in meditation/prayer/putting it out to the universe and all things positive with my silent little mantra. Y’all we can’t fail at this. No way in hell.

Finally around 11am an email from my contact at the company and from the fuel credit provider came in simultaneously saying that after reviewing all the information, they were restoring our full credit limit! Y’all…OMG. Y’all have no idea what array of emotions came across us in that moment. Even my contact with the company seemed as surprised as we were LOL.

So alas, we are still operational, we were able to get fuel and continue on our journey, and we will make our delivery appointment time in Portland tomorrow as planned.

In all the chaos and turmoil this stupid fuel card caused, I was still working on setting us up with additional brokers, keeping the truck moving on the back end so to speak and was able to connect with a very nice gentleman in MT, who after a lengthy conversation about his wife and family of teachers, Native American background and homeschooling, said he was going to pull some resources and try and connect us with his contacts up in the NW to try and find some decent loads out of the Portland area for us tomorrow. My old case manager “connecting the dots” frenzy and sheer stubbornness and determination (those who worked with me can probably attest lol I ain’t letting sleeping dogs lie, to hell with that, I’m keeping on all the heels of all the people who need to be bugged in order to get what needs to be done done LOL.

So anywho…I’ll go back to snapping pictures and being the bye bye wife instead of the bullheaded pain the ass woman (Google the 2 meanings of Virago and you’ll see where I’m going with this lol).

We plan to meet up with one of Daryl’s old schoolmates this evening while in Portland and enjoy a night not freaking out LOL I’ll post my pictures from the last 2 days as soon as I go through and edit my finger and random “didn’t mean to snap that” things from them LOL

Over the last 7 days we’ve traveled over 3500 miles, driven through TX, OK, MO, WI, MN, SD, MT, ID, WA and OR. We’ve spent over $2800 in fuel, and have had a day and a half off from driving (but not from working on the back office/ business needs).

Hope everyone has a better week than we are! LOL

-A very tired Nicole & Daryl

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