1 tanker, heading to Winnemucca NV (delivered)

... spending the night at Glendive MT

165 ??? On the IA load board the end of Dec? Last two years it was -0-.

Neither of us slept great last night. I froze all night and BB was up turning up the temp. This AM we think we figured it out. BB had set the fan to run all the time. But it seems that when the heat wasn't on, the fan was bringing in air from outside, not re-using the air from the room. And it was below freezing outside.

Breakfast was nuke your own item from their fridge, plus the basic cold items. Too many people getting food and I forgot to grab juice. Not a big deal, I saved the left over juice from yesterday.

We are out and scraping car windows at 7:30 local just as it was getting light.

This cost us time ... not the scraping, the fog. I drove the first two hours at 65 mph instead of 80 because of the fog. We would see about a quarter of a mile. So that wasn't what slowed us down. It was the chance of black ice. Not much of a chance as we only saw two cars the 1st hour.

Then the fog started to lift. Interesting. The fog lifted enough that it was like a very low cloud. In the distance we could see the sun shine lighting up the base of the hills/mountains. A few miles later we had driven out from under the fog and had clear skies the rest of the day. But there was still some slick spots in the left lane so I kept the speed down until after our 1st stop.

1st stop was at the MT welcome center in Lima MT. I wasn't going to go in, so I parked and BB went in. Then I decided to line up my car between the lines, I backed up BEEEEEEEEEP. Seems I backed out in front of a semi. Opps. The building at the rest area is at the end of the lot so everyone is making a U-turn to get out so he couldn't have been doing a couple of miles an hour. And because of the angle of the turn I didn't see him.

This AM it is the weather that keeps us occupied. It was 15 degrees at the motel, then it dropped to -7 once we came out from under the fog and into the early morning sunshine. Temps get up above -0- and then drop again as we go up and down the hills. Finally four hours later it is up to 25 degrees.

Also there is the weather on the other route we would have taken. In WY where we would have been this AM, there is black ice, a half dozen spots across the state. Then at the WY/NE border, where we would have been by noon, the road is closed for the first 100 miles.

By going through MT, we would be going past 4 4B's. The 1st one is in Dillon but it is only about 10 AM so we don't stop. The 2nd one was ... not in route, it was 20 miles west of Butte and we were heading east from Butte.

2nd stop is the Town Pump / Pilot in Rocker just west of Butte. We end up getting shelf food instead of either Subway or McDonald's. I got a chicken salad sandwich and two deviled eggs. BB got some kind of wrap. Mine was good, hers was OK. Town Pump has good shelf food and lots of it.

Here at this exit there was one of the 1st 'new' style Motel 6's I remember, then it was changed to an Econo Lodge, and now it is a Red Lion. Always changing.

There were three different 'short-cuts' from I-15 to I-90 before we got to Butte, but we decided to stay on the freeway.

Early on we had noticed 'snow' at the bottoms of some of the swamp brush. Later we realized the 'snow' was actually from the steam rising off the open creek.

Clear roads and 80 mph once we are on I-90. Lots of changes. Lots of places remind us of parts of trips that we can remember. Much more that we can not remember.

3rd stop is a Town Pump / Pilot for fuel in Columbus. Quick in and out.

By now I-80 is open in NE. So traffic CAN get through. That doesn't mean that it should. We had enough of that for 100 miles in MN. NE is 45 miles, plus another 100 miles before we get to Des Moines. Then another 25 to home.

In Billings we pass the 3rd 4B's, but it is only about 2 PM.

Here we get on I-94. And we now know that it will be dark by the time we get to Glendive. Stopping in Glendive gives us 650 miles today and 650 for tomorrow.

We are only on I-94 a few miles and there are a half dozen deer grazing within feet of the concrete. But that is the only wildlife, live wildlife, that we have seen today.

4th stop is for 4B's tomato soup :) ... the lot is empty? But it is only 4 PM, not a hot time for eating. :( They closed at 3 PM. No soup for me this trip. But we need a rest room so we head next door to a ... Town Pump / Pilot. Right between the these two locations WAS a Motel 6 that I had stayed at many times. Now it is a OYO. And the fuel station I used to use, a Cenex, is gone. The lot is empty.

I 'had' to fuel at the Cenex with the buses I was driving because the fuel pressure at the Pilot was so high that I couldn't run the pump slow enough to fuel the buses. The way the buses are built, they have to be fueled very slowly or the fuel kicks back and the nozzle shuts off.

Full moon rise over the hills. Beautiful to look at. Doesn't show up as much on a picture.

5th and final stop is in Glendive. 1st we stop at CC's and order our food. It is an old Country Kitchen and I/we have eaten here many times before. Then we drive two doors down to the Comfort Inn for the night. After we are checked in, we walk back to get our food. I get a French Dip and BB gets Fajita wrap. Good food.

This area has changed. There used to be three motels next to CC's. A Days Inn, it is now a OYO. The Comfort Inn, no change. And the Super 8 ... closed until ??? Plus they have built a Travel Lodge with a Penny's Diner. I think the Travelodge is new in the last two years, since we have been here last. The Holiday Inn Express was new about two years ago and a La Quinta is 5 years old.

Load board

US - 359

IA - 165

MN - 3

WI - 13

We were (are?) planning on taking a some time off in January. BB has looked in her notes and we spend Jan watching the load board all day hoping something shows up. Not this year. Not sure how many days we will take off. Dispatch is closed Friday and we need to get things done on Thursday so those two days are out. And I think Sunday is out, we can't pick up without someone in the office anymore. So maybe Saturday, or maybe next week.

9 RV's to OR, 2 to CA, 12 to WA, 12 to FL and this is only 35 of the 165. Those are the longest runs. The shortest two are going to Lincoln NE.

BB and I have lots of time to talk. This run didn't pay great, just over our threshold. A couple of reasons for that is, it is a one way. Our choice. And this company pays transportation for the 'cheapest / logical' way home. The shipper was willing to give the driver a ride to Reno, so -0- income for a taxi ride for me. And flights out of Reno are cheap. Cheapest flight for next Monday is $126. So what they pay for transportation and what I actually pay is a big difference.

Most likely we will go back to doing 500-900 mile runs for this company. Fewer days for BB to follow me, and flight costs or rental car rates that the company pays on shorter runs is more in line with what we will actually spend. We did a long trip to see how it would go. No change from 4 years ago. And it was the long weekend and we/I wanted to be working.

One more long day and we will be home.