Heading home ...

We were running an hour later today, to get back on our own time zone. Down for breakfast at 7 AM and rolling by 7:30 East coast time.

Breakfast was eggs, sausage and yogurt. Mostly 'lite' again, but a couple of cups of an off brand that were not lite so I got one.

1st stop was a few blocks away at the Speedway for fuel. Credit card wouldn't work again and by the time I tried the second card it said see cashier.

This morning was fun for BB on the computer. The routing software was saying that going through downtown Chicago was fastest, then going through Davenport was faster than going through WI. For a while it would route us through WI if she put in Hundson, WI but when she put in our home it routed us through IA. My phone routing always did the beltway around Chicago and then up through WI. Finally her's did to but it kept her busy for a while.

2nd stop was the last oasis in IN, for the restroom.

Lots of stop and go, slow and go around Chicago. Other times if you weren't going 10 over the speed limit you were likely to get hit, some lanes were going 20-30 over, including through constructions zones. So slow and go was preferred.

Did see lots of transporters this AM. RV's, box trucks, delivery vans.

3rd stop was an oasis, rest area with food and gas. BB got Panda, I go McD. This oasis has 10 vendors, the prior one we stopped at had one ... and I think that was 'store brand,' not a major name like here.

Nice to have the I-Pass, faster on the turnpike, open road tolling in IL and a few other places. We haven't used it much because we've been heading mostly west.

4th stop was in DeForest at another Speedway ... Ahhh ... Speedway not has chip readers. I'm guessing this AM I didn't leave my card in long enough to get read. I'm learning. New Fleet Farm across the freeway here in DeForest. This AM I got $.03 off gas for using my rewards card, I did not here. Still we saved almost $.30 a gallon by buying fuel here instead of a few miles back, thanks to gasbuddy.com.

Did get an email in the last couple of days that BP is dropping their rewards card, everything is going to phone apps (so that they can track you better.) Not me, I'll pay the extra. I'm guessing that is why my Pilot rewards card doesn't always work, I haven't tied it to my phone. BB has and hers works.

... next stop was actually at an exit. Bus dispatcher finally called back just as I was passing an exit so I did a quick turn and got off before the phone stopped ringing. Don't know what the issue was but I was able to get my release number a few minutes later. One of the questions he had was if I had had any issues with the heat ... so I'm guessing someone else did too. Took him over a day to get back to me so I'm guessing he is a little backed up.

5th stop was the rest area in Menomonie. BB went in, I made more phone calls. This was almost three hours between stops, make a record for this trip.

6th stop was in Hudson for take out, we weren't sure what food might be left in the house.

It is dark by the time we get home so we will be returning the car tomorrow ... and the drop would be closed when we got there tonight. So tomorrow we need to return the car in Burnsville, guess she thought we'd be coming in from the south as we usually do. But by coming straight home we saved about $100 on the car and $50 plus on a motel. Now on Sunday we will go down to IA and pick up our car. Not sure I'll do a write up on that.

Board ended the day at 20, it was close to the end of the day before they added any new ones. Based on prior years, it should be 2-3-4 times this many on the board right now. This is this customers quarter end.

Right now there are RV's going down to Greer, SC. And earlier there were two pickups going from Shelby, NC to Long beach. It's about 55 miles from Greer to Shelby ... now that would have been a nice first two legs of a trip.

Plan is to work local Monday and Wednesday next week if I can. Then Wednesday we will grab something so we can leave out Friday. First choice is CA, second is NC, SC ... and FL. After that we'd have to do the math to see if it pays to leave town. It doesn't always if we don't have a good chance of a second leg.

Three full weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Plan to work most of those days and then be back in town for the week of Christmas for local work and family. Two of the last three years there have been really slim pickings in January. So we may just take whatever there is to get out in the system and to somewhere warmer. I've got my eye on some trucks out of WI, today they have one going to MS. Last week they had a rare couple of non-CDL trucks going to CA. Most are CDL. I've never taken one but I think I know which customer they are coming out of.