1 bus heading to Spartanburg SC (delivered)

1 van heading to Corbin KY (delivered)

... spending the night at Lexington KY

Breakfast - we ate what we had purchased on Saturday.

We are ready to pull out at 7:30 local. We had noticed yesterday that where the sleeping bag was by the building the two stacks of pallets that were there were now gone. No idea why they were there in the first place.

Today when we were leaving there was a person standing by the back door. At first I thought maybe it was someone who had come to check on the building but 15 minutes later they were still standing there looking at what ever was in their hand.

The truck behind us was facing the opposite direction as my bus and they made a u-turn to head out of the parking lot. We also made a u-turn to head out of the lot. This driveway is much better, no dragging the bottom.

The same clerk was there this AM as checked us in on Saturday. I asked about the former Waffle House next door. He thought it had closed in 2016, right about the 1st time we came down to this area. So it may have still been open or still had signage then.

1st stop - one block from the hotel. The truck wash. No one in line. Easy job. We drove in rain and then it rained on it when it sat.

2nd stop was the rental car place in Spartansburg. It was about 10 miles away. This one is in a strip mall and at 8:30 AM there is plenty of room to park.

I have written down the next streets I need to take and have looked at the map. But still I miss my final turn. I end up turning around in a church parking lot.

3rd stop is at the drop. The mechanic is there but the boss isn't yet, so I wait. The boss does show up almost right away and I am in and out in less than 15 minutes. My fuel gauge had been showing 15/16 in the hotel this AM and now it is barely over 1/2. I also did stick the tank when I was at the rental car place but I haven't found anywhere to park that is flat. When I stuck it, it was below where it should have been.

I had called from the rental car place and gotten a trip to IL. Dispatch said any new orders for that location usually come in about two in the afternoon. So we take what there is now.

We've been this route a few times, but BB does not have the map software on and we miss the turn. It may add another mile the way we went.

4th stop - Murphy gas station in Shelby for the rest room. We didn't fuel the car as we planned on being back. This station just opened and it is only a block from the shipper. On these trucks it will help.

The first thing I look for is the keys in the box. None of the numbers match. Then I remember they leave the keys in the trucks. These keys are for some trucks that did not fit in the 'bull pen.' Even before I looked for the keys I noticed that my truck likely was not there. My truck was supposed to have a trailer. None here do.

A person from the office had come out to help someone who's truck was behind a truck that wouldn't start. I told him my issue and he said he would help, as soon as he was done with the first problem.

When he was done, he took a picture of my truck number from my bill of lading and sent it to someone in the office. That truck left Sunday. ??? I call dispatch, they call the office here and get the same answer.

Now I have a dilemma. My company will pay me for showing up for a truck that is not there. Or, I can take a 2nd truck going in the same direction ... that will pay less than the show up pay. Working should pay more than not working. I came out OK :)

Instead of taking a truck and trailer 600 miles, I am taking a passenger van 200 miles. Huge difference in pay.

There only was one passenger van there, the only one I have ever seen there. And by the date it looked like it had been there for three weeks. No one else wanted it. But it was right on our route and we were already standing there.

The lot was so full that we had to move three other trucks to get to the van. In all three the fuel was flat on 'E.' That is why the new Murphy will be nice. My van is on 1/3. That was good, too bad it didn't work out the way I planned.

While I was sitting there doing my paperwork another of the shippers employees came to move the 'dead' truck and had to jump it again. Glad it wasn't mine.

5th stop - still in Shelby. Arby's we ordered inside and ate in the car. BB left 1st and after she left I noticed a mask where she had parked ... I had just lost mine so I stopped again and picked it up. Still haven't found mine so I'm guessing this one was mine.

Before we get on I-40 there is road construction, and a scale. I don't need to cross the scales as I am under 10,000#'s today. But I am where I let a truck coming off the scale go in front of me. A wide load. And he takes up both lanes for the next 10+ miles. One car was ahead of me and that car was following the pilot car about a half a car length off his bumper for many miles. Three other cars were able to get ahead of me because the semi next to me wasn't always tailgating.

One of those cars finally got tired of being behind the truck so he passed the pilot car on the shoulder. ... and got about three trucks ahead of us before being stopped by traffic. Traffic was bumper to bumper ahead or behind the wide load.

Three hours down the road and I see cheap fuel.

6th stop is at a 'Wiggle's' ??? for fuel. i was down to an 1/8th of a tank with 100 miles to go. I put in 10 gallons. The van doesn't say what range I have or what mpg I am getting. I see that BB had just texted me. We are within a few miles of each other, she is at a rest area.

7th stop at the first rest area in KY. BB gets there a couple of minutes after I do. We'll meet again at the drop. I needed to stop here to look at the drop. I usually look at my drop on my laptop but I am picking up and dropping on the same day. I write down the road but do not look at the areal photos.

I find all the right roads, but not the drop. I know when I get to a main highway I have gone to far. So I pull off into a car dealers lot to look again. And it starts to dump rain. I had remembered one cross street before the drop, but that road crosses the street I am on three times in a couple of miles. Now that I have looked, I head back.

Then I turn into a business because I think I have gone too far again. I have. I am a half mile from the drop.

8th stop - Finally the drop. There is a sign on the fence but it has been raining too hard to see that far from the road. And the drop is up on the hill so all that I see is the driveaway. As I get to the drop it is dumping again. All the employees are standing in the shop waiting for the rain to let up so they can leave.

I call my contact to tell him I am here. He is not here, he says he will be here in 10 minutes. So I wait, the rain finally lets up and I walk to the shop and talk to the person who seems the most interested. But he is too southern to really understand a lot of what he is saying. Rain almost quits so I get my plate off and grab my bag. Finally there is only one person left and me. THEN that last person asks if I am waiting for a ride.

No, I am waiting for my contact so he can sign. This guy says he can sign, so he does. And I leave, the guy locks up behind me. ???

Dispatch from my local company calls. They have a trip from ND to MI for me.

9th stop - Philly's - before we go in, I call dispatch back to find out more about the truck. It is a tractor, the ones I won't drive. So that was a shorter conversation. BB thought to ask about that, I was only thinking about doing another long trip after being gone the last three weeks.

The Philly's ... were not that good. Too much bread and not enough liquid. Mayo? Onions? No enough of something. They didn't taste bad, just not right.

10th stop was in Richmond for Culvers. A treat. BB wanted the scoop of the day. When they handed it to us they said 'chocolate.' So I asked if that is what the flavor of the day was. 'Chocolate covered strawberries.' BB doesn't say anything right away so I drive away, then she says there are not any strawberries in it. But doesn't say she wants be to go back so we keep driving.

Until we get on the freeway, then she decides she is not going to eat it.

11th stop ... a Culvers in Lexington. Again she want's the flavor of the day, but this time I ask them what the flavor is ... Chocolate ... so we leave. BB finally looks it up on line and sees what 'Chocolate covered strawberries' should look like ... that is what she wanted. Now, a half hour later, she finally eats the chocolate she has ...

12th and final stop, also in Lexington. Comfort Inn. We have stayed here many times.

I had not seen this but between the rest area and my drop, BB saw a cow walking down the freeway with a pickup following it. I am pretty sure I would have seen this if it had been there when I went past ???

Load board

US - 296

IA - 102 /100

MN - 2

WI - 2

NC - 11

NC only put out semi tractors going to IN. Like the one I did a few months ago. No new tree trucks today.

We have the rental car for two more days so we may pick up something else if it is right in route like this one is.