Plans for the New Year

Happy New Year and looking forward to a wonderful 2011!

We had the best Christmas being able to spend so much time at home with no job worries. Being in Florida doesn't really put you in the Christmas spirit since it's so warm here and there's no snow, but I will never complain about that! If I really need snow, I can watch it on tv.

While we were at home, we found a classified ad for a truck that was for sale by owner. She was offering a contract sale. We talked to the owner several times and thought we were going to reach a deal but then she just stopped responding to us. I have no idea what happened. Maybe she found someone who was willing to pay cash or pay more money or maybe she just changed her mind and decided not to sale. We don't know.

We've been kicking around the idea of buying our own truck for a little while. We know we enjoy this job and want to continue doing this for as long as we can. Everyone we talk to says that if we're going to continue that the smartest thing to do would be to buy our own truck. This way we have complete freedom and that is exactly what we want. We will of course have the additional headaches that will come along with truck ownership but we believe we're prepared for that.

The truck that was for sale was a 2006 International. We are currently driving a 2006 Sterling. At first we thought we would like to buy a Sterling, but after seeing the cost of repairs for the Mercedes motor and finding out that the motors are considered "throw away" motors, we no longer want a Sterling. In addition, we are less than thrilled at dealing with Freightliner dealerships. They are not very accommodating to truck drivers and act like they could care less about you and your truck. For instance, when we were in New York waiting on the truck to be repaired after I hit the deer, we made a simple request to have them shuttle us to the motel which was less than a mile away. They refused and said they didn't offer shuttle service. We had to call a taxi.

Our boys drive an International and so far it seems like they are being treated well at the dealerships. Their transmission went out about a month after they bought it. The replacement transmission was covered under warranty which only had a month left. There was no shenanigans or trying to get out of the warranty. They were also given shuttle service. It's a small thing, but to a truck driver who is stranded miles away from home with no other transportation available to them, it's a big deal.

We are happy with the owner we drive for now but we will continue to keep an eye out for a deal on a truck of our own.

Another issue we are going to have to deal with is John's eyes. He has cataracts on both eyes. He's only in his 40's so it's pretty unusual to have them at that young of an age but we have a feeling that it is related to his former profession of working in the chicken industry since he was a teenager. The chicken houses are kept closed up in the winter time to keep them warm and that causes an ammonia buildup from the chicken manure. He was exposed to that ammonia every day for many many years. That's our theory on the cause of the cataracts but we know that there's no way to prove it.

Because we are self employed we aren't offered health insurance through an employer. We haven't purchased our own insurance up to this point because we are both very healthy and we decided to save the money and just pay for doctor visits as needed. It's worked up till this point, however, cataract surgery isn't going to be cheap so we will have to get into a doctor and see exactly what we are going to have to come up with.

On the money making side of things, we eventually left home and picked up a load in West Palm  Beach, Florida. That one was a shorty going to Jacksonville, Florida, but it was bundled with another load that picked up in Kings Bay, Ga that delivered in Norfolk, Va. That load completed our first week back on the road.