1 RV to Huntley IL
... spending the night at Rockford IL
I didn't decide until late last night which run we were going to take.
There had been two RV's going to Gardner/KC but we still do not trust the rental car situation. So we would only do one of those, and if we are only going to do one. The Gardner and the Huntley are almost the same paid miles but it is 140 miles shorter to get back from Huntley ... so 2-1/2 less hours for the same pay.
There also was a Dodge Center to Rockford but that would have paid about $150 less. It would have taken less hours both ways, but not enough less to not have to stay in Rockford overnight.
I call in at 8 AM, dispatch calls me someone else's name (I guess it has been a while since I drove.) No one else had taken the run so it is mine. We should be there in 2-3 hours. We were a little closer to ready to leave today than last week so we got going a few minutes earlier. I did take time to go out and pick up boxes that got left out in the rain last night. It was dumping too hard for too long by the time I remembered them last night. Checked the rain gauge too, two inches overnight.
1st stop is the IA Welcome Center in Northwood, we can't make it that last half hour without a restroom break.
2nd stop was the shipper. Picked up my paperwork and then grabbed some breakfast. It is driver appreciation week so free food every day.
After I eat my ham and eggs I go inspect my RV.
Boss comes past and asks if we are staying for the firing up of the racing bike at noon today. Hadn't planned on it, it is going to slow us down if we do. But we do hear them firing it up and adjusting it a few feet from us while we are inspecting.
When we are done inspecting we go back in for lunch :) They were just tearing down breakfast when we were in the first time. Goulash for lunch. And another cookie and juice. This time we each also grabbed a t-shirt, gloves and a cap. They also had a nice mesh vest with the company logo but it was blue. I would have grabbed another one if it had been fluorescent. I don't have any company logo items except caps. Lots of caps.
While we were eating the boss came past the car and wanted us to let him know if he was showing up 'live' on FB when the fired up the motorcycle. So BB logged in and watched, he was live, but he never looked our direct to see that we were giving him the thumbs up.
Loud, very loud. 200+ mph. It is owned by one of the drivers. He used to drive it himself but now that he is older, he has a driver for it.
https://www.facebook.com/kobernusztopfuelharley/
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luHiVJ4Wufk
Shortly before the noon 'fire up,' there wasn't anyone else there (so almost felt guilty leaving with all the hype they had given these people) But by noon there were a couple of dozen people there to watch and the boss put it live on FB.
Eating and watching delayed us an hour.
3rd stop was for fuel at the Pilot in Clear Lake. BB had put in too much fuel last week so I put in less ... and I had less at pickup.
... Opps. When I pull out I see that I have an range of 100 miles past my drop. Money wasted.
But about halfway to our next stop I re-did the mileage and found I was going to actually be coming in on 'E' if I didn't pick up some range.
4th stop - Independence IA at Walmart. I had gotten a personal car that I needed to return so I did that as soon as we stopped. Then quickly used the rest room.
While I was talking on the phone I kind of laughed and thought it was good to explain why I was laughing. Someone was taking their travel trailer through the drive through at McDonalds and they had to swing wind so they did not hit the overhead 'Clearance XX feet' sign. I wasn't sitting where I could see what happened when they actually got to the XX clearance they were warned about.
5th stop - Stockton McDonalds. McDouble for each ... no fries. So not everything is exactly the same as last week.
While we were waiting for the motorcycle to fire up, I had called a new dispatch location on two trips in the area. They didn't know what the trips were paying ... and they would call me back. That was five hours ago and they didn't call back. So as of now we don't have a plan for when we drop tomorrow. If they still don't know after five hours how much they pay, do I trust what they do tell me?
6th and final stop is the Sleep Inn in Rockford again. We check in and then take our walk.
We've been using rewards points all summer and at this rate we still have enough points to stay another 45 nights for free. Not quite that many nights if we stay in Duluth on the water front.
Load board
US - 205
IA - 107/103
MN - 10
WI - 8