Posts Tagged “C-15 Cat”
When it comes to women and trucks, owner operator Mark Baumann has found if you treat your truck right, it will never let you down. Women are another matter. He also has a few issues with the large carriers, but one matter at a time.
On this particular day a few weeks in Chicago, it was a bright sunny day. Although he’d driven through some rain storms the night before, his 2005 Peterbilt still looked sharp, even though it needed a bath.
I’d love to see this rig at night with its 300 lights shining!
“My mom always said be seen, not heard,” Mark recalls. “Life has been good to me, but like anything else it has had its ups and downs. I’ve made a lot of money, but I’ve lost a lot of money.”
Mark hauls cheese under a lease to Wisconsin Refrigerated Express LLC out of Sheboygan, WI. Those loads are usually destined to Texas. On the return haul he’ll pick up fresh produce grown in South Texas or Mexico, which he delivers to the Anthony Marano Co. in Chicago. The large midwest produce distributor will unload him, and fill his truck with more produce for delivery to Wisconsin supermarkets.
He purchased his 379 Pete new in 2005 for $115,000 and has since logged nearly 1.3 million miles. It is powered by a C-15 Cat, 18-speed transmission with 3:55 rears. The rig features a fuel enhancing Pittsburgh box by HBA, allowing him to average 5 mpg, which he says is similar to one produced by Bully Dog.
He also owns a 2004 Great Dane, 48-food trailer with a Thermo King Whisper, a reefer unit known for its quietness and fuel efficency.
Mark loves his Pete and states if someone offered him what he paid for it new, he’d walk away from the offer.
“You can find a good woman anywhere. Women come and go, but a good truck is hard to come by,” states the 47-year-old trucker from Plymouth, WI. “That ole girl (Pete) will be with me til the day I die. She’ll do whatever I want, if I ask her nicely.”
He adds, “I always haul produce and cheese. Trucking is in my blood. Once it is there, you can’t get rid of it.”
Mark says he spends $2,800 a week on fuel. Although “that’s a good chunk of money, I’m making good money.”
However, like most successful owner operators, making money comes with a price. He is consistently logging about 3,400 miles per week and spends little time at home.
“I’m the guy they call when they say a job can’t be done,” he states.
Mark has been trucking 16 years and says it is the independent truckers that have built this industry; the small fleet owner with four or five trucks. However, he says it is becoming more difficult to compete with the rate slashing big fleets.
He also is critical of the new drivers hitting the highways for the large carriers, saying many have inadquate training before being put behind the wheel of a big rig.
“A lot of bad things can happen with lack of enough training. They train them for three weeks, give them a new Kenworth and tell them to the head to California. You can replace a rig, but you can’t replace a life,” he observes.