Jim M

I vote for box truck also.I have an 18' UD diesel box truck with a 17k gvwr.I still run out of room.I have two hot water skids in there,a 550 gal fresh water tank,330 gal recovery tank,10k watt watercooled kohler generator,wash water vacuum recovery and filtration system,stacked pressure,and supply hose reels,and a vacuum hose reel.I have every bit of space utilized,and the walls are covered with shelves and brackets to hold all the wands,lances,surface cleaners,hood cleaning equipment etc.I still won't fill the fresh water tank up all the way due to the water weight,but a box truck is the way to go in my opinion.I also have a 1 ton dodge extended van that I am setting up for just Kitchen exhaust cleaning and air duct cleaning.I got a great deal on the van,that had a lot of money put into it(rebuilt engine,new tranny,starter,alt etc.),and the previous owner went out of business and needed to sell it quick. I had a previous business and went through cube van after cube van,before I bought my first diesel box truck,and would never go back.They are built to haul the weight,the diesel engines far outlast gas engines,and the exhaust brake saves your brakes,which are way more heavy duty than van brakes to begin with.The cabover box trucks drive like a car,are quiet,and your not riding with your equipment hearing it rattle around and smelling the fumes from your equipment and chemicals.The only down side to a cab over box truck,is havingto pull into weigh scales and DOT check points that you usually can drive right by with a standard van.I have also been driving tractor trailers for over 20 years so I am use to dealing with DOT checks,but if you get the wrong DOT guy looking to write a bunch of tickets that day it can be expensive! This past summer I pulled into a Dot check in upstate NY with a tractor trailer,and was inspected and no violations were discovered.Two days later I was pulled into a DOT check in PA (near my home),and a gung ho,I'm going to be promoted to captain in a week type pain in the a$$ DOT inspector, inspected me for over 2 hours ,and wrote me 8 non-sense tickets totalling over $1100 ,he was climbing around in my cab,counting the fuses in my fuse box,borrowed a bottle of windex from me,I thought to clean his goggles,instead he went over every airline and fitting for the air brakes spraying it with windex trying to find an air leak(he found none.).I took the tickets to court and got 5 of the 8 tickets thrown out,but it still cost me $500 and a lost day of work. I found out through a friend of mine who knows that DOT guy ,that he is an overtime hound,and he put's in for all kinds of overtime(he's out inspecting trucks on holidays,weekends etc.),and he writes tons of tickets to justify his overtime,and most out of state companies don't contest them,they just pay them.So as you can see ,DOT inspections are something to think about with the box truck route. I understand that you need it for your personal vehicle also so a box truck really does not fit the bill right now,but if there is any way you could swing it,like maybe buy a cheap personal vehicle to just run around in ,I would go the box truck route.Good luck with what ever you decide. PS.Don't let my DOT rant deter you from a box truck,that DOT guy was just way over the top,most are not bad if you keep your truck maintained.

It's funny the areas you list Jon,I grew up in NJ,but I have family in Reno,and grew up with my father telling me stories of how nice it was to live there.My Fiance' was born in Eugene Oregon,and has family in Gold Beach Oregon,but she mainly grew up in GA,and PA,her family is still split with half living in both states.I have spent my whole life in the North east,and feel it's time for a change,I like warm weather,but do not like humid weather.The cost of living in the area I grew up in in NJ is insane,that is a big plus to living in NE PA,my house would cost roughly two and a half times more in suburban NJ.I have a few friends who recently moved to North Carolina and rave about it,have to check it out.As far as Walmart,It was a novelty at first to go there,but I have not been to the local Walmart in over a year,too big,too crowded,and I do not like there business practices,they do enter an area with predatory pricing,selling at a loss to drive already established businesses out of business,I have seen it with my own two eyes.I owned a Pizza place at the time a local Walmart opened up,and they were selling Snapple ice teas for $.48 off the shelf,local retail price was $1.25,and the cheapest I could get it from my supplier was $.58 a bottle wholesale,if I bought 10 cases.Just a small example,but they did drive a couple of local chain supermarkets out of business,and then they jack up their prices,some say it is just competition,but it's dirty pool in my book.I frequent local based stores as much as possible,and stay away from walmart.

Alan I know how you feel.We have been thinking of moving for a while now.We have been thinking about the Carolina's,or maybe Vegas or Reno.The thought of moving ,especially far away is almost overwhelming.It's a catch 22,low cost of living-lower prices people will pay,great year round weather- tons of competition,with cut throat pricing,with many home depot equipment warriors looking to make beer money .I love the ocean,I grew up spending alot of time at the NJ shore,but home prices near the ocean are insane.I also love the mountains,flyfishing is a passion of mine,I spent alot of time in the Catskill mountains in ny state,but the economy is not too great there and the business opportunities are a little sparse.We were moving to Colorado about 5 years ago when we sold a restaurant we owned in North Jersey,but ended up buying a Restaurant here in NE PA instead,but the building was sold when our lease expired,maybe its a good thing Colorado is beautiful,but they have been in a drought situation for a few years,and pw'ing has had some severe restrictions put on it by the local gov'ts ,as mentioned by some contractors there who post on different bbs's.Stilll the hunt goes on for that perfect place,which we all know really does not exist,every place has it's pluses and minuses.The majority of my family live in NJ,and that always factors into the equation.Then theres always plan b,sell everything off,lock stock and barrel and move to Key West and bartend,and let the "Keys Disease " take over,oh decisions ,decisions. Jim