1 pickup to Shakopee (delivered)

... spending the night at home

No alarm to get up ... later BB is in the shower and the alarm starts going off. She sets the alarm on her phone so I try to shut it off, I hit all the buttons but nothing worked so as I was throwing it under the pillow ... I realized it wasn't her phone. The alarm clock in the room was going off from the prior guest.

We go down for breakfast, I grab some eggs and sausage. I eat a little of it and then decide to finish off my left overs from last night.

Too chilly last night to eat on the deck and this AM the sun isn't shining to warm things up until later in the AM. So other than a few looks out the window, we didn't spend much time looking and enjoying our view.

We pull out at 8 AM. Easy trip until the last mile. I had thought the shipper was north of town, BB said south of town. She was right.

1st stop - Shipper in Hill City. I call my contact. He gives me directions of which building to go to for someone to sign me out. The do sign, but just point in a couple of different directions of rows of trucks. They have no idea which one I am taking and don't care. I just have to find the right VIN. I also have a truck number but a lot of the trucks are not marked.

The 1st two things we are looking for is a Ford 550 and with a flat bed. This place has lots of brands and sizes so out of the rows of trucks there are only a couple that are Ford 550's. That made the search much easier. BUT my truck was blocked in by other trucks so I had to move two to get out. They had left about three feet between the front and sides of the trucks so not much wiggle room, but enough.

One of the trucks I moved was almost on 'E' and had a low tire and check engine light on. MINE was almost full and no warning lights, just dirty.

Because this was my first time here, first time with this dispatcher and having to move trucks the inspection took 45 minutes. But overall an easy pickup.

2nd stop was the rest area just north of Milaca. We had planned on stopping in Milaca but we hadn't know of the rest area. But BB didn't stop, she still stopped in Milaca at the Kwik Trip. She was down to a range of 15 miles when she stopped.

I made a couple of quick calls at the rest area and used the restroom. And when I went past Milaca, BB pulled in behind me :)

Just south of Milaca we drove past some 'Auction today' signs. The same person that did our family auction a few years ago. But we don't have a lot of time to spare so we didn't plan on stopping.

Being in MN a lot of the roads and sights are familiar. Hopefully we can do more of these.

Clear sailing.

3rd stop is the drop in Shakopee at an auction house. Easy drop. They scan the VIN and ask the mileage and what the shippers account number is. No inspection, they just point the general direction and tell me to park in an open spot.

As soon as I get to the car, we scan the info and send it to dispatch and payroll. Within a half hour I am paid. And the pay is good. We will likely do this gain ... and I am doing the math on the how.

Within a few miles of the drop I was watching a truck pull up to the road from my right. He stopped, and then pulled into traffic. At first he turned onto the shoulder but within a truck length he pulled into traffic. That wasn't the problem, at the same time a truck from my left pulled across into traffic, at first I thought there was an acceleration lane as there was no where else to go. Nope, both trucks pulled into the travel lanes and the traffic all had to hit their breaks and some had to swerve to avoid them. BB tried to get a picture of the truck from the left but it didn't turn out.

4th stop - Burnsville at the Smash Burger. Good food but too much

5th stop - Local dispatch - it is driver appreciation week and they wanted to see us all this week so I stopped in.

They had put one sheet on the wall for each driver.

Dave O = 22 years

Jim B = 18 years

Val B = 16 years

Gary O = 14 years

Dick Q = 14 years

Ernie W = 13 years

Kirby N = 13 years

That is as far as I looked and as far as I know the drivers. Dave and Ernie are 80+, Val is 70+, the others and I are now in our 60's. Old timers in more ways than one.

When I talked to the dispatcher, they reminded me that next week is the end of the month for the buses. Soooo I guess I may be working 'local' instead of doing local for the long haul carrier.

6th and final stop was home. We wanted to get home before our grand daughter got there, she is using our car for the weekend.

Load board

US - 199

IA - 65/59

MN - 12

WI - 9

Off the next four days so we won't be looking for serious work until later on Monday.