Homeward Bound

The last 48 hours have been quite the blur for Virago Transport LLC !

The last load we hauled (I've dubbed them spaghetti sticks from hell) gave us so many challenges! And frankly scared the crap out of me a few times!

Remember those high winds I described the other day? Well, they did quite the number on the load going through the canyons and passes. It was stop and go tightening them down...Like trying to bundle spaghetti sticks Polyurethane pipes are like playdough when secured...Those lovely wind gusts managed to completely shift the whole back end of the load to the right. I won't even post pictures of the fiasco because it's not something I want to remember and would embarrass the hell out of Daryl. Thankfully the commodity wasn't damaged, and it would still safely be offloaded, but man was it embarrassing driving slow and steady with cars and trucks honking to "alert" us that the load looked like it was going to fall off the trailer (Let me clarify!!! It wasn't at any time going to come off the trailer, but it looked janky as hell and to someone who didn't see the securement it probably looked that way ).

We did our due diligence and communicated the situation with the broker and the customer and after some finessing the spaghetti sticks from hell were off our trailer and we were stuck with the decision of what to do next.

To dead head in search of better paying freight or not to dead head in search of better pay. (Deadhead in transportation means to drive home unloaded for no pay).

A little backstory in how the freight market works as I'm learning...The country is divided up into zones and those zone rate prices (what we get paid) fluctuate like a hormonal premenopausal woman lol

One part of the country that is paying decent one day called the "hot market" can shift into what is called the "cold market" at the drop of a dime if there are more trucks in the area than available loads to haul. Arizona is bitter cold in the market right now for as hot as it is outside! The Midwest on the other hand is staying relatively "hot".

So we had some decisions to make. Risk staying in the area we were in for an uptick in freight or bite the bullet and deadhead home to where the money is. Either way is a gamble and loss of money (sitting=no $$, deadheading=no $$) and freight doesn't really schedule to pick up on the weekends for flatbed. So, after careful thought (and this Momma Bear missing her Cub), we decided to make the trip back to the DFW area last night. OMG longest night ever.

We still have about 6 hours to go, but at least we will make Drake's last soccer game for the season and get some much needed downtime (haha just kidding, we have to catch up on billing, work on the truck, restock, all those fun things that go along with owning your own trucking company.

But alas, that is where we are today! Thankfully I was able to get us booked for Monday from a shipper right down the road from our house that delivers to Nashville, TN! So all is not lost!

The great new is we are 60 days old as on Sunday so that opens up a whole other level of brokers!

Hope y'all have a great weekend and I'll catch back up next week!!

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