I just wanted to post an update about what's happening with me and the bbq
business. I haven't been able to follow usenet much for the last three
weeks, and I don't think I'll have much time for it over the next few
months.

A few of you know that Jill and I sold our building (for a nice profit) due
to its poor location two years ago. We did so thinking that we had a great
location (a pizza restaurant needing to get out of its lease) lined up for
us to move right into at the sale's closing. Short story: five days prior to
us handing the keys over to the building's new owner, the pizza place owners
decided to keep the store open.

After searching for months trying to locate a favorable spot, I shifted
attention to opening a commercial kitchen so that I could produce bbq for
wholesale restaurant accounts. I found an available kitchen for lease in
Kittitas County, about 90 minutes away. I got the proper permits,
inspections, etc. I hired one full time guy, Roy, a semi-retired gent who
had a great bbq resume as a pit-master for a few bbq restaurants over a 32
year career.

As of last Wednesday, we are producing around 1600 or so pounds of meat per
week for 27 different accounts. I have 5 part time guys, plus Roy. I'm at
the kitchen only three days a week since Roy is such a great manager.
Wednesday was also the day that I sold the wholesale business to Roy. I
still keep the retail business name and incorporation for future use.

On September 3, I started a five month course at Bates Vocational Community
College in Tacoma to get my class 'A' commercial driver's license as a
commercial truck driver. I've been thinking on this for a while, and decided
to go forward with it during the recent two week road trip I took with my
son, Ethan. Another factor in my decision was the fact that my mom is likely
in her final weeks and months of life. While here in Tacoma, I can visit
with her for a while after classes are over.

One aspect of this program that I think is superb is that students can get
all of the endorsements that there are for commercial truckers (hazardous
materials, doubles, triples, tankers, etc) by the time the program is
completed. We also get fork-lift certification and training on dump trucks.
Students can also get their class 'B' for busses. I have my class 'B'
already, so I don't need to do that part of the program. The program at
Bates is comprehensive, and students leave with thousands of hours of
driving time. Since Bates is part of the community college program, the
State contracts with the school to do some of their freight hauling. This
means that each student leaves Bates with a ton of real world experience.
Trucking company recruiters spend a lot of time on campus trying to convince
soon-to-be-graduates to sign on with their companies. Since there are only
13 or 14 students per class, competition for graduates is pretty high.

I stay in Tacoma during the week for training, and am back in Wenatchee for
the weekends. I plan on spending the next few years working as a regional
trucker. The pay is actually pretty good. Heck, maybe I'll decide to do a
year of long-haul just so I can make my way across country and see the
sights. It'd be one way to see some of you now and then.

Quite frankly, I was weary of the food business and nowhere near a point
where I feel things have lined up for us to re-open the doors to a retail
store. I still feel like maybe sometime down the road we'll do something,
but not now.

I'll stop by when I can.


--
Dave
What is best in life? "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you,
and to hear the lamentation of the women." -- Conan

On Sun 21 Sep 2008 11:53:37a, Dave Bugg told us...

>
> I just wanted to post an update about what's happening with me and the bbq
> business. I haven't been able to follow usenet much for the last three
> weeks, and I don't think I'll have much time for it over the next few
> months.

Dave, I think you have done and doing fantastically. However, I'm very sorry
to hear the news about your mom. Please do keep in touch here as your time
permits.

--
Wayne Boatwright

*******************************************
Date: Sunday, 09(IX)/21(XXI)/08(MMVIII)
*******************************************
Countdown till Veteran's Day
7wks 1dys 11hrs 36mins
*******************************************
Let me control the world's oxygen
supply and I don't care who makes the laws.
*******************************************

Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Sun 21 Sep 2008 11:53:37a, Dave Bugg told us...
>
>>
>> I just wanted to post an update about what's happening with me and
>> the bbq business. I haven't been able to follow usenet much for the
>> last three weeks, and I don't think I'll have much time for it over
>> the next few months.
>
> Dave, I think you have done and doing fantastically. However, I'm
> very sorry to hear the news about your mom. Please do keep in touch
> here as your time permits.

I will do so, Wayne. Thanks. :-)

--
Dave
What is best in life? "To crush your enemies, see them driven before
you, and to hear the lamentation of the women." -- Conan

Dave Bugg wrote:
> Wayne Boatwright wrote:

>> Dave, I think you have done and doing fantastically. However, I'm
>> very sorry to hear the news about your mom. Please do keep in touch
>> here as your time permits.
>
> I will do so, Wayne. Thanks. :-)

Will you have a laptop with you? I hope so. Good luck
with your new venture and thanks for that so interesting
story about your bbq doings. Wow.

Of course I'm sorry about your mother. I hope she's at
least comfortable.

nancy

Dave Bugg wrote:
>
> As of last Wednesday, we are producing around 1600 or so pounds of meat per
> week for 27 different accounts. I have 5 part time guys, plus Roy. I'm at
> the kitchen only three days a week since Roy is such a great manager.

Wow! I had no idea your business was so large.

> Wednesday was also the day that I sold the wholesale business to Roy. I
> still keep the retail business name and incorporation for future use.

Roy sounds like a lucky guy. The hard part of starting
the business and making it successful is already done.

> On September 3, I started a five month course at Bates Vocational Community
> College in Tacoma to get my class 'A' commercial driver's license as a
> commercial truck driver. I've been thinking on this for a while, and decided
> to go forward with it during the recent two week road trip I took with my
> son, Ethan. Another factor in my decision was the fact that my mom is likely
> in her final weeks and months of life. While here in Tacoma, I can visit
> with her for a while after classes are over.

My best friend is married to an independent trucker, and she
says this is the worst time to be in that business. On the
other hand, if you want to buy a truck, now is probably a
good time. A lot of trucks are reverting to the banks that
loaned money to buy them.

Note that if you are going to haul in or out of California,
some new laws that affect truckers went into effect this year.
I don't remember all of the details, but I think auxiliary
power units are now banned. They want all the trucks to hook
up to the grid at truck stops. That'll raise costs, because
it means you can't just overnight in the parking lot of a
truck-friendly store, like Wal-Mart, because you won't have
any power except from batteries.

Mark Thorson wrote:

> My best friend is married to an independent trucker, and she
> says this is the worst time to be in that business. On the
> other hand, if you want to buy a truck, now is probably a
> good time. A lot of trucks are reverting to the banks that
> loaned money to buy them.

Being an independent is tough right now all right. That's why I'd just as
soon find a company I like and work for them right out of school.

> Note that if you are going to haul in or out of California,
> some new laws that affect truckers went into effect this year.
> I don't remember all of the details, but I think auxiliary
> power units are now banned. They want all the trucks to hook
> up to the grid at truck stops. That'll raise costs, because
> it means you can't just overnight in the parking lot of a
> truck-friendly store, like Wal-Mart, because you won't have
> any power except from batteries.

I'll keep my ear to the ground on specifics, Mark. Thanks for the heads up.
If you find specifics on the regs, please email 'em to me.

Take care.

--
Dave
What is best in life? "To crush your enemies, see them driven before
you, and to hear the lamentation of the women." -- Conan

Dave Bugg wrote:
>
> Mark Thorson wrote:
>
> > Note that if you are going to haul in or out of California,
> > some new laws that affect truckers went into effect this year.
> > I don't remember all of the details, but I think auxiliary
> > power units are now banned. They want all the trucks to hook
> > up to the grid at truck stops. That'll raise costs, because
> > it means you can't just overnight in the parking lot of a
> > truck-friendly store, like Wal-Mart, because you won't have
> > any power except from batteries.
>
> I'll keep my ear to the ground on specifics, Mark. Thanks for the heads up.
> If you find specifics on the regs, please email 'em to me.

This web page seems to summarize the new rules.
Apparently, APUs are not banned, but only compliant
APUs are allowed.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/cabcomfort/cabcomfort.htm

Dave Bugg wrote:
> I just wanted to post an update about what's happening with me and the bbq
> business. I haven't been able to follow usenet much for the last three
> weeks, and I don't think I'll have much time for it over the next few
> months.
>
> A few of you know that Jill and I sold our building (for a nice profit) due
> to its poor location two years ago. We did so thinking that we had a great
> location (a pizza restaurant needing to get out of its lease) lined up for
> us to move right into at the sale's closing. Short story: five days prior to
> us handing the keys over to the building's new owner, the pizza place owners
> decided to keep the store open.
>
> After searching for months trying to locate a favorable spot, I shifted
> attention to opening a commercial kitchen so that I could produce bbq for
> wholesale restaurant accounts. I found an available kitchen for lease in
> Kittitas County, about 90 minutes away. I got the proper permits,
> inspections, etc. I hired one full time guy, Roy, a semi-retired gent who
> had a great bbq resume as a pit-master for a few bbq restaurants over a 32
> year career.
>
> As of last Wednesday, we are producing around 1600 or so pounds of meat per
> week for 27 different accounts. I have 5 part time guys, plus Roy. I'm at
> the kitchen only three days a week since Roy is such a great manager.
> Wednesday was also the day that I sold the wholesale business to Roy. I
> still keep the retail business name and incorporation for future use.
>
> On September 3, I started a five month course at Bates Vocational Community
> College in Tacoma to get my class 'A' commercial driver's license as a
> commercial truck driver. I've been thinking on this for a while, and decided
> to go forward with it during the recent two week road trip I took with my
> son, Ethan. Another factor in my decision was the fact that my mom is likely
> in her final weeks and months of life. While here in Tacoma, I can visit
> with her for a while after classes are over.
>
> One aspect of this program that I think is superb is that students can get
> all of the endorsements that there are for commercial truckers (hazardous
> materials, doubles, triples, tankers, etc) by the time the program is
> completed. We also get fork-lift certification and training on dump trucks.
> Students can also get their class 'B' for busses. I have my class 'B'
> already, so I don't need to do that part of the program. The program at
> Bates is comprehensive, and students leave with thousands of hours of
> driving time. Since Bates is part of the community college program, the
> State contracts with the school to do some of their freight hauling. This
> means that each student leaves Bates with a ton of real world experience.
> Trucking company recruiters spend a lot of time on campus trying to convince
> soon-to-be-graduates to sign on with their companies. Since there are only
> 13 or 14 students per class, competition for graduates is pretty high.
>
> I stay in Tacoma during the week for training, and am back in Wenatchee for
> the weekends. I plan on spending the next few years working as a regional
> trucker. The pay is actually pretty good. Heck, maybe I'll decide to do a
> year of long-haul just so I can make my way across country and see the
> sights. It'd be one way to see some of you now and then.
>
> Quite frankly, I was weary of the food business and nowhere near a point
> where I feel things have lined up for us to re-open the doors to a retail
> store. I still feel like maybe sometime down the road we'll do something,
> but not now.
>
> I'll stop by when I can.
>
>
Hi Dave,

Good luck with the driving school I was a senior trust officer in a huge
financial institution that was looking for a buyer so they laid off
(they called it "downsized") anyone who was approaching 50 and had
vested in their pension. I was 48.

After being on unemployment for months and unable to get a job in a
field where I was "overqualified" the unemployment folks decided to
retrain me. They asked what I wanted to do and I told them I wanted to
be a tractor trailer driver.

When they looked at all 5'2" of me and asked "why" I told them that I
was excellent at time management. I wanted a job where I didn't have to
play cya for some idiot 20 years my junior with a higher title and I
was tired of wearing blue suits and pantyhose to work.

The day after my 49th birthday I started school. I have a class A CDL
with endorsements for doubles, triples and tankers. I had hazmats, but I
haven't driven for 12 years and didn't bother to re-certify.

After graduating and getting my license I went to work as a trainee with
a national carrier and did cross-country runs with a dry van.

It's hard work and you really don't get to see very much of the country.
Even if you are bob-tailed, not many places want your tractor in their
parking lots. There are some stretches of interstate highway that are
pretty and some, especially in Colorado, that are really scary at night
with 80,000 pounds of equipment under your butt.

I met some great folks on layovers in truck stops, including some
bankers who had suffered the same fate as I did. I think professional
drivers are super folks.

Have a safe one.

--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life

Janet Wilder wrote:
>
> It's hard work and you really don't get to see very much of the country.

My friend's husband hauls classic cars around the country,
and he goes all over, but generally to nice places where
people that own Ferraris live. Before my friend contracted
cancer, she'd travel with him and was having a ball seeing
so much of the country.

Mark Thorson wrote:
> Janet Wilder wrote:
>>
>> It's hard work and you really don't get to see very much of the
>> country.
>
> My friend's husband hauls classic cars around the country,
> and he goes all over, but generally to nice places where
> people that own Ferraris live. Before my friend contracted
> cancer, she'd travel with him and was having a ball seeing
> so much of the country.

Some of us know someone who has a "roadcat" (and is appropriately named).
The cat travelled all up and down California when he was a trucker after
losing his regular techie job to outsourcing. It made for a few interesting
stories when he'd take the cat for a walk on its harness at truck stops

Jill

"Dave Bugg" wrote:
>
> On September 3 I started a five month course at Bates
> Vocational Community College in Tacoma to get my
> class 'A' commercial driver's license as a commercial
> truck driver.

Have you lost your marbles? That's very hard and extremely dangerous
labor. How old are you? If you wanted adventure you really should
have enlisted in the navy when you turned 18. There is nothing
glamorous about long haul trucking... don't for one minute think it's
like what's protrayed in those Hollywood movies. And unless you own
your own rig you just ain't gonna earn very much, and even if you do
most of your income is going to be making hefty payments. And now is
probably the very worst time ever to be getting into the trucking
industry, regardless at what level. The vast majority ended up in
trucking because they didn't the IQ to do better... trucking was once
a way to make pretty good bucks with little academic education, but no
more. You could have given trucking a test run without giving up your
going Q business, unless it really wasn't doing so well.

Dave Bugg wrote:

>
> Quite frankly, I was weary of the food business and nowhere near a point
> where I feel things have lined up for us to re-open the doors to a retail
> store. I still feel like maybe sometime down the road we'll do something,
> but not now.
>
> I'll stop by when I can.
>
>

I have two friends who did the same. One was tossed under the bus during
a downsizing and had enough. The other is a victim of Walmart. He
supplied services and equipment to a Walmart vendor who got sucked into
having them as their biggest customer. Walmart kept on squeezing them
beyond ridiculous like they do to all suppliers and they finally threw
their hands up in the air and filed bankruptcy. My friend had other
customers but he was doing a sizable project for them that included a
huge amount of equipment. Unfortunately our capitalistic
profit/socialistic loss system only applies to folks who make ten
million or more a year so he lasted a few years of sleepless nights
juggling to keep going and decided there was no end in sight. Both are
doing well working for carriers.

"Dave Bugg" > wrote in message

>
> One aspect of this program that I think is superb is that students can get
> all of the endorsements that there are for commercial truckers (hazardous
> materials, doubles, triples, tankers, etc) by the time the program is
> completed. We also get fork-lift certification and training on dump
> trucks. Students can also get their class 'B' for busses. I have my class
> 'B' already, so I don't need to do that part of the program. The program
> at Bates is comprehensive, and students leave with thousands of hours of
> driving time. Since Bates is part of the community college program, the
> State contracts with the school to do some of their freight hauling. This
> means that each student leaves Bates with a ton of real world experience.
> Trucking company recruiters spend a lot of time on campus trying to
> convince soon-to-be-graduates to sign on with their companies. Since there
> are only 13 or 14 students per class, competition for graduates is pretty
> high.
>

Good luck with the new career. If you get with the right outfit you can
make a decent living, especially when the economy turns around. There is a
shortage of good drivers and once you get some experience and a good
reputation you can do well. My neighbor's father started driving at 50+ and
is doing well. Maturity is a plus.

I see a lot of different types of trucker, from the backwoods redneck to the
intelligent and sophisticated college grad and some rather dainty women.

TIP: When the people at your next stop give you directions, write them
down. When they tell you "don't go past (fill in blank)" they really mean
it. It can be 5 miles to get turned around if you do.

And don't lie. When you say you'll be there in an hour and call every hour
from 10:00AM, don't be surprised when you show up at 4:55 and we don't load
you. The guys went home over an hour ago. Drivers are bad, but dispatchers
are even worse and we can tell when you lie.

Maybe 10 days a year I think it would be good to be a driver. OK, 5 days.