We Have a Theory

The last week, we've spent some time in the warmer-climate states (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee), and have two incidents of significance to note on aggressive driving. This leads us to our theory that the warmer the climate, the more aggressive the drivers (especially when you add Florida and California to the mix). Of course, Chicago, New Jersey as a whole, and New York City have their fill of them too, but our experience with the rest of the country has been pretty mild with road raged drivers.

Incident #1
Ben was driving west of Baton Rouge, east of Lafayette, LA. The interstate was three lanes wide, and we were in the far right lane. Upon approaching an on-ramp (i.e. traffic entering the interstate), there was no room for us to merge into the middle lane to allow for the on-ramp traffic to enter the far right lane.

Mind you, it is not required by law that drivers in the far right lane do such a thing. It is courteous, yes, but not legally mandatory. Drivers on the on-ramp, after all, are required to yield to those already in transit on the interstate.

Anyway, a very shiny black BMW with a very fancy cycling road bike attached to the trunk was trying to get in from the on-ramp. We were driving faster than he but could not merge left, so we held our lane. He had to *gasp* slow down and make the merge in behind us. He then (obviously because of his speed, small vehicle size, and raging anger) merged into the center lane, sped up beside and then in front of us, and proceeded to merge back into the far right lane to be the vehicle directly in front of us. Can anyone guess what he did next? Yes--this mature piece of work SLAMMED on his brakes.

Now, I've never been known for my mathematical skill or knowledge of the laws of physics, but what do you think a tractor-trailer combination weighing up to 80,000 pounds could do to his less-than-5000 pound fancy foreign car?

Thankfully, we had a safe six second following distance (minimum) and avoided any such catastrophe.

Incident #2
We were on our way back to the interstate in the Memphis area after having a mid-route drop for our last load. We had several miles of three-lane traffic (i.e. with stop lights) to battle through before we got back to the outer loop of the city. We were less than 3/4 mile from the particular on-ramp we needed, and were in the middle lane of three. Traffic was moving extremely slowly, but because there were so many trucks/four-wheelers in front of us, we couldn't quite tell what was going on. What we did know, however, was that the far right lane was mostly empty, so the cars behind us would zip around to get in front. We then employed our tactic that we like to call "plugging the hole". We maneuvered around enough to see that some utility work was being done ahead and the workers had blocked off both the far right lane and the center lanes. Our "plug" was to take up both of those lanes so as to prevent more four-wheeler traffic from zipping by and slowing down the process for everyone else.

I moved right to block these lanes just before a "big bad pick-up truck" (BBPUT) with a small trailer of his own tried to get by me. He was ticked off so bad at my plug that he made sure he was seen in my driver's side mirror, where he proceeded to fist pump his extended middle finger three times through his windshield, and then two more times out his window. It didn't take a genius to see that he was flaming mad! I continued to hold both lanes until a kind four-wheeler driver (they do exist) let me in front of him to get in the far left lane just as I came upon the orange cones blocking off the two lanes I was plugging. BBPUT guy had to merge in a few vehicles after me.

Just after the utility work lanes opened back up, I got back into the far right lane as the on-ramp was following the next traffic light. BBPUT guy sped up to meet me window to window, screaming and hollering at me, wagging his cell phone in one hand and his cigarette in the other. I pulled up just enough to where he wasn't even with me anymore, and couldn't be (a vehicle was in front of him at the traffic light). Ben told me I should smile and wave. That dude was an angry bully and I was not going to give in to his loathing attitude of my action.

Using the tractor-trailer to "plug" may not be the kindest of actions to perform, but 90% of other drivers on the road non-verbally support and often follow this action. They don't like dealing with that BBPUT guy type who think they're so important they need to zip around everyone violating safe driving practices just to be the first in line.


What to learn from these two examples? Don't be that aggressive driver! It's not worth it!


Present location: Greencastle, PA
Where we're off to next: Las Vegas, NV
Miles this week: 6000ish (we just came off our home-time and they're running us hard!)
Friendly encounter: Dianne and baby Charlie came up from Front Royal for a lunch date--it was great to see them!

Only One More Left!

We are so excited--we just paid down our second last credit card and now only have one more credit card left before we start on our student loans! This card had the final balance of the farmhouse renovation costs; Tani had paid us in full (monthly reimbursement installments) over the course of a year once we finished the work, but as we had a time period of no income for a while, and very little once we started trucking, we used that small monthly amount to live on. In the past 6 weeks though, we've paid the card off entirely!

Yesterday we started calling up those accounts we've paid in full to close them (and redeem our "rewards" points for restaurant gift cards). They didn't understand why we'd want to close them! *gasp* "But--what if you have an emergency?!" Our response: "Well, ma'am, that's what our emergency fund is for. We are not going in to any more debt!"

Hopefully by Christmastime we'll have the last credit card paid off; the second installment of our sign-on bonus and possible recruiting bonuses should help a lot with that!

It's True

I was passed by an empty cattle trailer that hadn't been cleaned in a while (if you know what I mean).

The license plate: "Cow Cab"

Bumper sticker #1: "BEEF--it's what's for dinner."

Bumper sticker #2: "Shit happens."

Lincoln

Our company has a terminal in Lincoln, Nebraska that Ben and I like to frequent for many reasons: it is hardly used by any other drivers, there is a workout room and showers, free wifi and laundry, a courtesy van is available for checkout for 1-2 hour increments, and Lincoln seems like a fun, laid-back city. A lot of our loads have us traveling on I-80, so stopping in for a break here works out really well.

Last time we were in Lincoln, we were working on a 34-hour restart (one of these days I'll write a blog on all the ins and outs of trucker laws and regulations) and had the opportunity to attend daily Mass. We found the "old" cathedral and participated in the 8am liturgy with the Catholic elementary school students. This prompted me to contact our Bishop in Oregon, who hails from Lincoln. He gave me directions to the new cathedral, as well as his former parish; we plan to attend the vigil Mass there this evening!

Using the courtesy van is great too--we've enjoyed a few great meals in this city, and this afternoon was no exception. I had noticed the last time we were here that there was a "Buzzard Billy's Armadillo Bar and Flying Carp Cafe" somewhere near the university district. That restaurant has a personal tie; when my dad used to travel throughout the country working for Tigereye, he would try to find fun places to visit or eat at off the clock. A trip to LaCrosse, WI provided him the opportunity to visit Buzzard Billy's Flying Carp Cafe. When he came home, I remember him telling us about his meal--the Jamaican Jerk Rub seasoning was so spicy he got a nosebleed!

I made special requests that he pick up fun t-shirts at his various travel locations (Idaho Six-Pack, Forrest Gump, G.R.I.T.S., and others made the cut), so he obliged in bringing home a t-shirt from this restaurant. After he passed away, I thought it would be neat to visit some of those places he had been; LaCrosse, WI unfortunately is not often a stopping point. When I saw that Lincoln had this restaurant, I knew we had to go!

We enjoyed a wonderful meal of shrimp, gumbo, hushpuppies, red beans and rice, armadillo eggs and bread pudding, all while watching college football. It's definitely a stop we will be making again!

New Record

Some time in September I broke the standing high-mileage record: 709.3 miles in one 11-hour driving shift. Now that we're on eLogs, this record will likely never be broken (more on eLogs later). Now Ben can only beat me in the low temperature category!

Income Opportunities

There are no shortage of opportunities at this company to earn a little extra income here and there. Ben and I are working on two at this time: the health incentive and driver recruiting.

The health incentive deals with health, obviously. Specifically, if a driver logs his/her diet and caloric intake for the day, an exercise log of working out at least three times a week, or turns in doctors annual exams or proof of preventative care, points are earned. One hundred points are awarded for each three months of logging; once 600 points are earned, you can redeem them for a sport bottle, gym bag, exercise clothing or $400 cash. Can you guess which one we're going for?

As detailed in our “Exercise Endeavor” post, we are working hard at keeping active throughout the week getting exercise. This health incentive is the extra motivation needed to keep up our routine! At present, we are only logging our workouts, but may add the other options at a later date. It's kind of nice to earn $400 a year for just exercising!

The driver recruiting incentive is where the big bucks come in; for every experienced driver we successfully recruit from another company (i.e. they become employed by our company and are dispatched on their first load), we earn $1000. We could potentially earn more income recruiting drivers than we could in driving! For every $1000/driver recruiting bonus we earn, that is 3 days less we need to be on the road. If we get even just 10 drivers/bonuses, that is one month less we need to be on the road!

We are targeting drivers of our former company, CRST, because we know how poorly run they are and how awful the drivers are treated. If you remember my post about the differences between the old and new companies, you could see how we want to convert, if you will, drivers from CRST to our present company. To date, we have contacted over two dozen CRST drivers; though we have yet to see the bonus. Some of them found other companies to switch over to, and some—no matter how much we tell them “It's better on this side”—are just reluctant to change. This company even offers a $5000 sign-on bonus for teams and 48 cents per mile if the drivers have their HazMat certification. To further give incentive to our recruits, we are offering them $100 of our own money if they get signed on with the company; a 10% investment from our $1000 bonus is worth it to guarantee they apply and are hopefully employed! (Once we receive the bonus on our payroll, we send out the $100)

When we found out about the program, we got decals put on both sides of our truck as well as a stack of promo packs including applications for new drivers. On our last hometime, we made up business cards advertising the $5000 bonus and our phone number; anytime we see a CRST truck we either talk to the drivers directly or leave our card in their window. Once we gather their basic information, we forward that on to our recruiter, Rhonda. She then makes contact to sell them on all the other great aspects of the company. It has been a little bit of a comfort zone breaker, walking up to complete strangers and trying to deliver a pitch successfully. What drives us is the bonus, obviously, but we also really believe in what we're selling: a professional company to work for, and one that treats you as such as well.

If you don't mind, keep this endeavor in your prayers! Like I mentioned—the more recruits we get employed into the company, the less time we need to be on the road!

A Mixed Blessing

Bend has a Bed Bath & Beyond store that Ben and I like to frequent, partly because they send out promo 20% off coupons in the mail, as well as other good deals. Presently we're using them to beef up our cast iron collection of cookware. Last time we were home was no exception—we were set to get a cast iron bacon press to use with our newly seasoned 9” cast iron skillet.

So, Ben had several errands to run one day—BB&B being one of them—and as he pulled into the parking lot, an elderly woman was backing out of her parking space and backed straight into the side panel of our Dodge Ram. To make a long story short, the accident was ruled 50/50 by both ours and her insurance, and an claims adjuster/appraiser came to assess the damage on our truck.

---Ben and I bought this truck about a month before our wedding for a smoking hot price of $2950. It has some miles on it, a few rust spots on the underside, and paint fades here and there, but it's a great 4WD manual truck that got us through 6 months of renovation and a move across the country hauling a U-haul trailer. Prior to our cross-country move, we put about $1000 worth of work into the engine to make sure everything was sound, as well as new all-terrain tires. Add it all up, and our total investment to date has been little more than $4000, all paid for.---

Back to the insurance claim: the damage caused was deemed a total loss for the vehicle. No big deal—we'll get a check in the mail from her insurance company for settlement on the truck, the truck's title will have to branded, and we of course have the huge dent. But—here's the great blessing from this unfortunate incident: the appraiser valued the vehicle at $4600 and adjusted a bit off of that price due to the high mileage, rust and faded spots. The grand settlement total then comes to $3964.21. Not bad for a paid-for truck that we get to keep, huh?

The truck still runs fine—it's getting older, though, and now with the dent, it has gained “beater” status. We plan to continue using it, dent and all. And the check? I bet you can guess where that money is going—straight towards the debt!

Sheepish

As I've become accustomed to driving down the road, Ben awoke from his slumber in the back and peeled open the velcro curtain.

"Hey hun! How ya doin?" I ask.

"Oh, never mind. I thought there were a bunch of sheep back here but there aren't any. I'm going back to bed." He responds.

Five Down, Three to Go

We've paid off a couple more debts in the last month; the first installment of our $5000 sign-on bonus came in mighty handy for them! Both were credit cards; one was Ben's truck school tuition, and the other was full of miscellaneous living expenses from when we were jobless for 3 months last summer before getting hired on with CRST. Our total debt paid off to date is roughly $20,000.

We have three credit card debts left, with the goal of the first being paid off by the end of September, the second by the middle of November, and the last by Christmas. Come January 2011, we're going to begin tackling the last of our debt: the dreaded student loans. That should take us right at a year to accomplish.

I must say, it sucks that we have as much debt as we do, but working the "debt snowball", as Dave Ramsey has termed it, is so motivating and encouraging. We are losing a huge amount of debt-weight every time we make a payment and eventually bring our balances down to zero. Debt-free is the way to live!

Dave Ramsey mentions at least once a week the Biblical principles for not being in debt: the borrower is a slave to the lender. A few weeks ago, I was listening to daily Mass when the Gospel reading was the story of the servant who had an extreme amount of debt to his master. The master threatened to sell the servant, his wife and all his possessions, but the servant pleaded with the master for mercy on the debt. The master did in fact have mercy, and forgave him the debt, only to later find that the servant would not have mercy on a fellow servant who owed him a much smaller amount. The master took matters into his own hands then, casting the unforgiving servant into prison until all his debt was paid.

The obvious moral of the story is to forgive; Jesus told this parable to Peter after he asked, "Lord, how many times should I forgive? Seven times?" Jesus replied, "Seventy times seven", then told the parable. With my own view of debt changed, I see a much deeper moral to be learned from this story beyond merciful forgiveness. Having debt is perilous; your life can be taken from you, your spouse can be taken from you, your possessions can be taken from you if you are unable to pay your debts. This is how people lose their cars, homes, furniture, etc., because of debt they couldn't pay. How do you get around this? Just don't go into debt!

The Unassuming Wild Animal Spectacle

Shortly before Ben and I came home for our last home time, we were hauling a load of Toyota Tundra and Sequoia engines from Huntsille, AL to San Antonio, TX. We drove along the I-10 in Louisiana west to Texas, and after just having crossed the state line into Texas late at night, we stopped at a rest area for a break. There was a nice deck-type ramp going from the parking lot into the restrooms. I waited there for Ben to come out, and noticed a couple of raccoons climbing down a nearby tree. I didn't think much of it until I noticed some shadows out of the corner of my eye on the other side of the ramp, below, on the grass. This is what I saw:


Someone else came out from inside the rest area with a bag of chips from the vending machine. The slight sound of that crinkling wrapper brought the raccoons to assume the begging position.


They're kind of cute, when you look at them from a distance. Mind you, there were no fences or anything keeping the critters from coming up on the deck. In fact, one did to get closer to the chips, but quickly went back to the grass after we shooed him away.

The guy that had the chips eventually just gave them all up to the raccoons. They fought like, well, raccoons over them.


The rest area attendant told us they recently put up a fence around the perimeter of the rest area to keep the alligators out (what!) who would crawl up the ramp and enter the rest area. The fence kept out the gators, but not the raccoons, who were soon joined by an opossum. He didn't last long inside the fence, as he was simply outnumbered by the herd of raccoons, and retreated back to the other side.

As we left, we noticed this sign, and thought it to be ironic; for "beyond this point" was where all the action was with the critters.


Texas just does it up as much as possible; this is our conclusion :-)