(some of) My Trucks

I want to start posting here about current events, using pictures to show a few interesting things. For some reason, I feel I need to "catch up" on old photos first. Here are a few:

As most of you know, I am, among other things, a truck driver. I don't have photos of most of the trucks I have driven over the years, but recently picture taking became a lot easier and cheaper, and I have pictures of all the trucks I have driven regularly since about 2002 ish.


This Freightliner says "To Be Better... You've Got To Be Different" on the hood. It cost me about $75 to have it put on, and about $600 to have it taken off. My memory of those numbers might not be precisely accurate.


Here's JJ with the Volvo. She seems happy. After the Volvo I took a year (exactly) off from truck driving. She looked even happier then.


When we finally decided that I needed to go back to trucking (for a short while), this 2006 Kenworth W-900 is the truck we got started with.


I was very unhappy with the creature comforts and overall interior design of the Kenworth, and the company I drove for (Still do - Steelman Transportation) was kind enough to let me switch my lease over to this excellent 2005 International 9900ix - a very nice truck.


This truck, "The Next Thing," A 2002 Ford F-350 SD DRW (shown above unloading a swing at an amusement park in the Wisconsin Dells), was our next endeavor. That big, pretty, International just cost too much to be parked in the driveway (about $100 per day)... and that meant I couldn't stay home very much. We thought if we lowered our fixed expenses I might be able to be there more. It worked! We lowered our fixed expenses a little, and lowered our overall income a lot. Oops.

The trailer pictured above is for sale or trade (more on that in coming weeks), and the Ford might be for sale.


So, in May of 2007, after about three months of Hotshotting, I gave up and am now Lease/Purchasing this fine 2001 Sterling (Danielle is not part of the lease - she's already mine). It's an old truck, with all the problems old trucks have - but it has a newly rebuilt 550 C-15 Caterpillar under the hood, and I've never driven a truck with so much power. The jury is still out on fuel mileage, but early indications are that it's going to beat my last few trucks by almost a mile per gallon (well, except the Ford). At about $2.80 per gallon, that could make a difference of $200 per week!



Strictly speaking, this Jeep doesn't belong on this page. But I like it, and it's my blog. I still have this Jeep that I purchased a few years ago... right after getting rid of the Volvo if I remember correctly. Recently I've considered selling it, but I think I'd like to keep it and fix it up a little when I get time and money (like, umm, never.)