This trip is starting where the other one leaves off, Waterloo, IA.

We need to be up and going by 7 AM to get the rental car returned within 24 hours. Even with scraping the ice off the windows we were still pulling out of the lot by 7:01.

Not quite going to make it to the cheap gas in Clear Lake so we end up stopping in Floyd instead at a BP. $.02 discount off the posted but that is still eight cents less than Clear Lake.

As of last night we were going to call at 8 AM to get trips to AL. This morning we decided not to. That is the nice thing about this job, if you are not already committed you can decide you don't want to work today.

Stopped and mailed my paperwork in Garner.

But on the two hour ride up to Forest City we changed our minds again. So once we got to Forest City, I got the phone number of the customer and called to make sure they could take the RV's on Saturday. They could so we took the runs.

It is amazing how one little word or phrase that I use interchangeable can be so foreign to someone else. I walked in the office and said we wanted a 'run.' This office calls them 'trips,' the other company calls them 'runs.' They had no idea what I was talking about. When I said I wanted to call the customer I must have not used their language either. But we got it worked out.

Looked like there were about seven drivers doing their orientation today. We need them. 218 still on the board tonight and RV's parked everywhere in town that are not on the board yet.

Car started, we moved our luggage and headed to Burnsville. Rough driving a car with no cruise.

Dropped the car and Avis and went a block and stopped at Honey Baked for sandwiches. Then to the gas station, library and bank.

Got home and our driveway was plowed in again. Need to put two shovels in the car instead of just one :) I think we shoveled for about a half hour. Long enough to get a path to the house and a spot big enough for the car off the street. Interesting that I could see the line where the shade from the house was. In the sun, the snow had packed and crusted. In the shade it was still deeper but no crust.

We were home less than two hours. Picked up the mail, clean clothes, took out other things we didn't need to carry and then were gone again. Got through the cities before rush hour.

On the ride back to Forest City we got our email bill for the rental car. It is wrong, two days instead of one. First BB called the drop, then the Pickup, then central customer service ... finally was told that we should get a corrected bill ... in 3-5 days.

Back in Forest City we are at the Super 8, ate at Shooterz. Great food, but we keep missing the pasta bar on Tuesdays.

Thought I had done the math on this trip but now it looks like we will make $100 less than I had thought when we took it. On trips like this where we don't make as much we will use points for motels to up the income. And we just got our last bonus points so now we have enough points to stay two weeks plus for free.

Got paid for the bus trip but had to questions for dispatch. I wasn't paid tolls, they don't. And no transportation this trip, they only pay transportation on hard to get out of points. As soon as I was done talking he wanted to know how soon I could be back :)

This trip is just under 1,000 miles but because of close times we can't deliver until Saturday. I will check with about getting a run back, there is nothing on our boards, but I have two numbers to call. I don't have a very big window. I need to be back on Tuesday for my DOT test.