On the Road with the original florida kid - week 26

"On the Road" with the original florida kid
Hello again fellow truckstars! It's Week 26 and....
....you're on the road with the original florida kid....
Grandma, Barbie and all the gang here at the ranch (and even Pup the wonder dog....) say "Hey!"
Alright, alright grab a chair and an ashtray...Grandmas got a pot of coffee goin'...this is the second edition of this weeks blog, I had most of it done a few minutes ago when we had one of those world famous "little" south florida power glitches...again...and I lost everything before I could save it...(rriiiiight.......builds character.......sooooooo.....anyway)...I just paid $3.79 per gallon for diesel a couple of hours ago....uhh...I'm speechless..(which is extremely rare - ask Grandma and Barbie). The other day I was watching CNBC( I highly recommend it if you're not depressed enough....) and an oil investor was on there being grilled by the female announcer about oil prices...(you better sit down for this one truckstar...) He said, well, for starters, there's been a myth that when the prices of fuel go up that the demand goes down...right?....wrong! In fact, over the last 3 years no matter what the price has gone to - the usage or demand has gone up at an annual rate of 16-18%, AND, they fully expect the price per barrel to go up to and possibly even over $300 per barrel ! Going further,(and I was already hyperventilating by now), he said that in a couple of years, or less, we'll all be crying for the "good ol' days of $3.79 a gal.....and I believe him......do you remember when fuel was 39cents a gallon and diesel was even cheaper? You do?? uhhh, I don't......you must be older than hell.......
If, like me, you know or at least suspect that most of, if not all of, the un-rest around the world is over natural resources, and the control of them, then you'd be right. It's not over life, liberty and the pursuit of(okay yeah well, the pursuit of control maybe)happiness...anymore...if it ever was.....and the scary thing for me is that, it seems, life is cheaper than ever.......what do I mean? I mean that my base costs are NOT negotiable, but my time IS, in fact it's the only thing that is and I'm gettin' ground to dust out here.....and then you look at the labor situation around the world, china, mexico, indonesia and you see people being worked to death, literally, and still not able to feed their families.......I don't like the idea of being expendable......
or only bein' able to do 600 miles a day.......
Now, what does it all mean for me when I get up from my desk, jump into my truck and try to make a living? (I kinda stopped lookin' forward to it somewhere along the line too) It means that I need to understand, whether I like it or not, that first of all, my fuel costs have become an investment level cost - a much larger negative aspect and part of my overall operating expense, and one that requires me to be more than just aggrivated, but, to re-work my business structure around it, if I can, and that's what I'm getting at, can we? You independents out there, I don't know how you do it....if there's a secret to it, somebody Please...share it with me....I'll pay ya......if I can get a haul this week, that is......
I've said this before...I wish I were smarter( I mean it, I do, sometimes I feel dumber than a box of rocks, in fact, I read in the sports section of the paper the other day that a box of rocks got an athletic scholarship to a major college....so maybe there's hope for me.....)and I also wish I could retire to the ranch and grow cattle and organic stuff, while sittin' on my ass writing country tunes and books......
I know, I know....dream on.................I will...dammitt...
Grandma is standin' at the kitchen sink lookin' out the window, kinda sad, I wonder what she's thinkin'.....whatever it is the expression on her's and Barbie's face just breaks my heart......
I know what I'm thinkin'...I wish Grandpa were here, he'd know what to do......and he'd damn sure git 'r' done too and look good doin' it.......yeah he would....
Well truckstars, if nothin' else..........we can always blame it on MTV..............
Check out this link: www.costpermile.com - it's a great booklet by a guy named Scott Elgin, cheap, on how to run more efficiently......I thought I knew it all too....but, when I read this booklet I realized I didn't......not even close.
Before I go any further I'd like to give a big country "SHOUT OUT" to a new truckstar friend , goes by the name "bigjackknife", he says he's home these days holdin' down the fort and like thousands of other truckstars, he enjoys reading "On the Road" with the original florida kid, every week too,
so THANKS for that great e-mail bigjackknife and from all of us here at the ranch a big howdy "Hey!"
I think Chicken Trucker kicked me off their site the other day....
.....let's see......that makes 2 in one month....that's me, yesssirree.....Mr. Controversial......(right Jim?....)
Also a round of applause and a tip of the hat to Overdrive magazines' "Trucker of the Year" Bruce Bryant. This man, truckstars, is the kind of guy I want to be....check it all out in the Feb. 08 issue of Overdrive, one of truckings top mags.
In this week's HEALTH DEPARTMENT- I want to talk about - arterial plaque - the health experts are saying that nowadays even the young people have it bad, and, if you're over 40 with an average diet and exercise habits(meaning bad, little or none....) than you're probably headed for "blockage". Incidentally, or not, high blood pressure, heart diesease, Alzheimers and a bunch of other health issues all stem from this, and these issues cause other issues like diabetes. That's why I'm always tellin' ya to watch what you eat....listen, just like an engine, fuel leaves deposits that cause engine problems the older the engine gets, and without the right kinds of maintenance and filters, well, you know what happens.....the human body wasn't made to indefinitely withstand constant and DAILY contamination(some of us take better care of our rigs than we do ourselves.....)and the simple fact of the matter is that so-called modern foods have more chemicals and processes that destroy the nutritional value of them that it renders them worse than useless, but even toxic, and the deposits or plaque, lines the arteries. Fresh leafy greens - with 0 fat dressings - and fresh lean meats...eat more fruit, get a bag of apples, oranges, some cut pineapple and make these things a regular part of what you eat!!! Diet isn't what you eat or how much of it, it's what you DON'T eat.....as in - crap. And yes, it is that easy....once you change you're eating habits to prolong your life - not shorten it - you'll feel so much better, more often, that you'll begin to protect youself and your loved ones "automatically"....get a vegetable juicer and a book on juicing. Wal-Mart has em' cheap. Look online and order a book on veg juicing, you'll see what the experts say on how to detox your body from the 20 or more pounds of sludge your carrying around....truckstars you don't have to die young over something you can do something about....Okay? And for you skeptics out there - how's your blood pressure? Hmmmmm?
NASCAR- Tony and Jeff had a really tough day at the office via a couple of bad wrecks. Tony met up with the outside wall and Jeff had a bad spinner with a protection barrier on the inside, it looked bad, hope he's okay but he's got to be fellin' that one. I'll find out from my younger bro' on the Hendricks team how he's doing, I'll let you know...
Kyle had the pole for this seasons UAW/Dodge 400 in Las Vegas and the action heated up quick on lap 8 with the 1st caution, the first of many...
Biffle, Tony, Jeff, Junior - the headliners were all on the track for what made an exciting day of good old fashioned superspeedway racing!
Carl Edwards in the 99 Ford Fusion threaded the needle early on and took the checkered going away. Junior almost had him. Great racing!
PBR- One of the last rides of the night at the PBR Baltimore Invitational this past weekend was Robson Palermo's 91.5 point winning trip out on Booger Butt. G. Marchi, who became No. 1 in the overall point standings moving American cowboy, Travis Briscoe, down the leader board, came in second as the Brazilian's claimed another Built Ford Tough Series event. Catch all the action this coming weekend in Kansas City for the Cabela's Classic. Will the Americans re-assert control over the season point standings? Stay tuned PBR fans, this season is going to be a great one!
Next week I'll have more info about mobile internet and laptops so stay tuned........
Also, an update on my, so far fruitless and ongoing saga on trying to find educational financial help to go to helicopter pilot school......
Don't forget about the Great West Truck Show in Las Vegas - June 26-28 here's the link: www.greatwesttruckshow.com
I want to Thank all you truckstars for stayin' with me here "On the Road" with the original florida kid......
*****Take a minute and PRAY for our troops around the world - with me - truckstars....whether you agree with the war or not - I think we can ALL agree that these are OUR men and women over there, our KIDS, and, the politics involved is way over my head, not to mention the idea that there's probably a lot going on we DON'T know about, so......and let's not forget about GOD in this equation....it's HIS will I want done, not my own, I'm just not capable.....how 'bout you truckstar?*****
Here they are, bookmark these sites ;
To find your Representative - www.house.gov ( just enter your zip)
To find your Senators - www.senate.gov - scroll to your home state.
Write them often, tell your friends to write them often....and tell them too that prices are not going to go down on Mexican shipped goods either......just more dope, crime, junky un-safe trucks with bad drivers, accidents and public costs.....Keep it going! Politicians care about 2 things most of all - Votes, and Money, in that order.......we elect em' that means they work for us.....doesn't it???..........
DON'T FORGET TO JOIN THE OOIDA(.com)..............
Okay truckstars - I gotta go - I'm trying to find a haul and a back-haul, so until next week..........
(truck payments....know what I mean vern??)
Don't forget about National Truckers Prayer Day!
Contact Billy Mack on Bozo Radio, or the other radio trucking shows! Let's do this!!
Billy Mack on(XMchannel171) Bozo radio's "Open Road Phone Line"
on-the-air - 12noon - 4:00pm - mon thru fri - you can call into the show at 817-451-6055
Remember - NO load or NO paycheck is worth dyin' for !!!!!
Pray for us all, our nation, the world and the lost..... and try not to worry!!
God hears prayers, trust me - I know...........
As always I want you to remember - I love ya and I'm prayin' for ya!
Play nice, drive safe and pull it on home...........
Crank em' up! - Check your gauges! - Watch out for four-wheelers!
Are you ready? Let's roll..........
......you're on the road with the original florida kid...................we gown..........