Competition

When we did our last pick up in Memphis, there was another team there also picking up and also going to the same place we were going in MA. Competition! That means that when we get up there and get empty we would both be putting in our empty calls and "waiting" for the load opportunities to start.
When we pulled into our destination the next morning our "competition" was already there and waiting. They had their curtains pulled which means that they were probably sleeping.
One of the dock workers came over to our truck and told us which dock to go to. Pops told him that the other truck had gotten there first, but the dock worker didn't want to wake them up so he told us we were first. huh!
We got unloaded in just a few minutes and then I went over to the other truck and knocked on their door and told them which dock to go to. And then we located a Walmart and went there to spend the time waiting for our next load.
We were there about 45 minutes when we noticed the other truck pulling into the lot. There were no truck stops in that area but there were 3 different Walmarts to choose from. It was funny that they showed up at the same one.
We had about an hour of dwell time ahead of the other truck, but if we were offered a load they could accept it for less than we do and "take it away." We were in New England, which means we would not haul cheaply. So now the games began.
We were there for several hours before we got any loads offers at all. And then we got one. We were not at all interested and apparently neither was the other truck because they didn't go anywhere.
Around 3 pm we were offered a load to Cinncinati, OH. The pay was right and any trip to Ohio is good because you know it is a good place to get another load. You don't wait long in Ohio before moving again. So we accepted the load at the offered price. By doing this it was pretty sure that we would get the load unless the other truck would call in and offer to do it for less than offered. But we got the load and drove away from Walmart.
We had a good, easy load. We picked it up at a foundry, it was a huge cast iron piece of machinery. We drove it straight through to Cinncinati by early the next morning.
So by 9am the next morning we were parked at a Lowe's with an Aldi's market next door.
Pops went to the bunk to sleep and I went in for some groceries, but mostly just to waste some time.
When I came back to the truck, I was reading when the load offers started to come. We got 3-4 all at once. One was for CA. That was easy, Decline, too hard to get a backload. Then WA, Decline, too hard to get a load back out. Third, Alberta, Canada, easy one-Decline, we don't have a speed limiter on our truck, plus no back haul (speed limiters are required for most of Canada) and the fourth was a low paying local trip. So four load offers, 4 declines.
We got a few more, but nothing that caught my eye. Then about 2 hours later, Pops' phone rang. It was Fedex. "What rate would you need to do the CA trip?" Pops told them we wouldn't do it without a backhaul. They called right back, "If you go to Van Nuys to deliver, we have another load picking up in Phoenix the next day and coming back to Knoxville, TN." Ok, we will do it.
Yeehaw! We are going out west again. I love it.