Profile For Tim M.

Sid Vicious (sorry. Sid first name. V initial of your last name. Sex Pistols popped into my head ). You said there's apps for locating freight. I see though on the internet there's websites that are load boards. How do these 2 differ? Remember. I never had to find my own freight. I went from Eagle,to Hill and Hill, then finished my life as a trucker with Ace Doran. I remember back before the Internet ,you'd find load boards at mom and pop truck stops. At 76 truckstops,but they were basically information written down on note cards. That's my experience with load boards. I've seen them. I don't see how yall do it. Leasing is as independent,as I wanted to be. I couldn't sleep at night not knowing where my proverbial,"next meal" was coming from. More power to you guys.

G. I'm not looking to help anyone. Like I said,"we come from 2 graduating classes ". I said before,"I ran a dummy and actual log back then". I dont expect you to understand that. You run elogs. I never did. I didn't have internet back then. I couldn't shoot a email back home. I had to depend on Ma Bell ( that's what it was called before it was broken up into smaller companies) and her pay phone rates ( no talk as long as you want on the cellphone). Ease up on me correcting you on your spelling. Jesus Harold Christ. Ease up on me ribbing you about your errors. Us drivers back then,would've laughed about it. I'm glad you've had 8,000 posts. As a driver,I don't see how you keep up with all that. I was too worried about navigating the Dalton. Our trucks weren't comfortable as yours . I thought I was King George with my Pete. You wanna a real fun truck? Take my White Freightliner......please (that was a punch at Henny Youngman when he'd say,"take my wife....please ") . We come from 2 different eras. I talk about the ICC,I don't expect you to understand what a pain they were (having to put 5 billion numbers on the side of your truck,per their regs,was the least stupidest crap they pulled). I'm sorry you can't relate to where I'm coming from. I just ask you respect it. I'll go you another one here . Has nothing to do with driving at all. You ever been in a war? If you haven't ,I'm not gonna dog you,about your opinions of war,or how one is fought. Go back and read your comments. Talking about how my "one word comment helps no one". I'm just making a comment what we did back then . Juxtaposing it with today. You were probably still in school when I started driving. Don't come down on me with a condescending attitude. My comments I make,are purely for purposes of juxtaposition . I'm not insulting anyone with my comments ( okay . Except for the ICC,but who cares about them. They're dead and gone). Here's my best proverbial,"case in point". I mentioned the person I learned to drive from,served with pop in the South Pacific in WW2. They were life long friends and that's how pop got him to "take me under his wing",and teach me to drive when I got back from Nam. He was leased to Paul Arpin at the time . After I got out on my own,we still talked quite a bit. I'd complain about what was going on. He'd tell me I didn't know what rough was and he'd remind me of trucking in the 40's,50's and 60's. I never made the comment,"how is that supposed to help anybody." When I make my comments.thats what they are. My comments. It's like the adage goes,"if you weren't there,you wouldn't understand". Nothing wrong with it,that's just how it goes.

Count your blessings you've never run in a Ford W9000 cabover. I guess Ford knew they dropped the ball there. They introduced the CL9000. Talk about the proverbial ,"night and day"

What ever happened to the "sons" part? Back in the 70's it was "C R England and Sons".

I don't know,but if you ever get the experience and go flatbed,Sammons Trucking. I knew a husband wife sleeper team there. They loved it

Yeah. I remember guys getting authority back then hiring lawyers sometimes. I don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing today.

Here's another way trucking has turned for the worst. Back when I was driving,we were all drivers. Even the guy driving the straight truck delivering Borden milk or Pepsi to the local grocery store.

Crappy app,that guides you to crappy places. Sorry. Far as I'm concerned,loves and pilot ain't truckstops. Let's call them fuel stops. TTT and Iowa 80 are the only ones that still qualify. For all the guys that were around way back,Mass 10 (AKA The Dump) in Massachusetts and Naked City in Indiana (okay. They were a skin bar masquerading as a truck stop. Always fun to stop there). Think about it. Taco Bell,Wendy's,Popeyes,etc. that's not food. In about 30 minutes your hungry again. Not to mention the people there are rude. Now 76 and TA. Those are real choke and pukes. Christmas and Thanksgiving they'd have special dinners. Some even celebrated Easter with Easter dinners (that wouldn't work today. Crybaby liberals would scream because it celebrates the resurrection of Christ). You wouldn't miss the holidays without family too much. Lot of the waitresses would know you by name. There were even a few that had barber shops. Heard of one that had a dentist. They had a 76 down off McCarty st. in downtown Houston . You just knew you were gonna catch some disease just walking through the front door,but the waitresses were friendly as can be. So it was worth the stop just for their waitresses. Of course I've never heard of loves or pilot having trouble with Lot Lizards,so I guess they got 76 and TA beat there.

I don't drive anymore (retired). I don't think I'd bring my PS3 on the road. I've tried playing my games on a small screen. Resident Evil games did not cut it on a small screen. I had couple games for my laptop one time that worked great Call of Duty and 18 wheels of steel. Call of Duty worked fine for a small laptop. So no problem there. Small screen is too crappy for Resident Evil.

I disagree. I've always owned my own equipment. Right up till I retired at the close of the century. Now it's not hard to surmise ,I don't know what the climate is like today. I stumbled across an article about Trans Am lease/purchase program. It said you get 80 some odd cents a mile if you do their lease/purchase program. I'll definitely ask,"how would you survive on those wages". Back when I was still driving,I had to have at least a $1.00 per mile to survive. So if Trans Am is paying those kinda wages for lease/purchase driver,yeah,don't do it. I'm pretty sure everything has gotten more expensive now. Here's one thing everyone has missed (I could be wrong though. I didn't read through all these responses). If you want to be a true independent ( on your own completely),you have to get authority to haul. Back in my day,you had to go through the ICC. I never worried here,cause I always leased to a company. From what I heard,you had to prove to the ICC,there was a need for your service. They may only grant you authority in a limited area. I knew 2 drivers back in the 70's . One had authority to run the Eastern Seaboard. The other ran the Southeastern states over to the Mississippi Delta area. They both made good money. They didn't have the luxury of the Load Board on the Internet. They had to use the Load Board at the 76 or TA. Maybe being an O/O today is not that good. I don't care if you want to start a landscaping business. Self employed is risky on a good day. Like I said,I don't know what the climate is like in trucking now. Back in the 70's and 80's,there were lots of O/O. The truck manufacturers knew this. You want proof,look at their ads from the 70's and 80's. Kenworth "Because an owner operator can't afford any less". Had a sweet looking W925 in the ad. Freightliner (after White). "If a man has the guts to go it alone,build him a truck tough enough to take it". Peterbilt. "Class:the alternatives seem hopelessly outdated". Had a really sweet looking 352H cab over in that ad. Point here is,every truck in these ads,were geared toward O/O. Not fleets. Maybe being solo today don't work. Find a friend you trust and run a sleeper team . I knew a few back then. They did great. Right before I leased to Hill and Hill,I traded my White Freightliner in on a 352 Pete. Paid a little over 66 for it. It didn't have all the bells and whistles,but it was O/O speced. Always made my truck note. Some months were tougher than others. If being an O/O is so difficult with no money,how do the guy who lease to Southern Pride stay afloat? Some of these guys have trucks that go in excess of a quarter million dollars (250,000). Top of the line KW or Pete. They'd have 190 to 200 inch ARI sleepers . Tell them you can't make money being an O/O. Back when I was driving,I ran across more than a few O/O that we're sinking . It wasn't because being an O/O was risky,it was because of themselves . I'd stop at the 76 or TA to fuel up and eat. I always say in the "on duty drivers" section (it kept me away from Ma and Pa Kettle and their heathen children). That section took priority of the other parts of the restaurant . These idiot drivers sat in that section too (don't know why. They weren't concerned with time). These morons were just concerned with beating each other to the next coffee stop. You can tell they'd been sitting there forever. Their dinner plate was empty of food and replaced with cigarette butts. I'd smoke maybe 2 cigarettes the whole time I was there. They'd sit and flirt with the waitress. Tell her lies. Their conversation always came are to one thing. I can't make this months truck note. Boo hoo. Cry me a forking River . Gee. Can't understand why you can't make your truck note. If you ever do follow through on being an O/O,don't do like those jagoffs. I've some married people say,"we're gonna have a family,but it's not the right time". Then I've heard other couples say,"there's never a right time to start a family". That's how I look at being an O/O. There's never a right time to it . For that matter there's never a right time to start any business. I met a driller back when I was running the Alaska Pipeline. He was Mr. Nobody like me. He was just another Floorhand. I kept in touch with him through the years. He and wife now own 7 rigs. He has 4 mobile rigs and 3 land based rigs. Think trucking is volatile. Try the oil industry. He said there were time they didn't know if they'd make payroll. They stuck it out. They're doing great. Remember . Free Enterprise is what makes this country great. If you want to be an O/O down the road,great. More power to you. Just make sure you understand the rules of the game. Take a course in accounting also. Trust me. It helps.