1 RV to Neenah WI (delivered)
1 pickup to Shakopee MN
... spending the night at Wausau WI
Went to bed early last night so we were both up without an alarm clock.
At 7 AM I call the auction dispatcher to see if the Two Rivers trip is still available.
Sometime after that we go down for breakfast. This is a Quality Inn, not a Sleep or Comfort Inn and it shows in the breakfast. No hot food. Two things to nuke. A biscuit and something tat looks like half a Hot Pocket. Tasted like one too, except the coating was really doughy. Not crisp. I also grabbed a yogurt, the only had one flavor, and a box of cereal.
Finally about 8:30 I get the call back I have the Two Rivers trip. It would be nice to have been able to print the BL's before we left the hotel, but that is not happening today.
The company computer routing has us going down to Mauston before exiting the freeway to Neenah. My logic would say exit the freeway here in Tomah. I did look at the map this AM from Mauston to Neenah so I knew which road numbers to be looking for, but I did not compare the two routes.
At Mauston we exit the freeway and head east 10 miles. Detour. So we followed it south, and south and south. I finally pulled over to the side of the road and called BB, but she didn't answer the first two times. She often shuts the sound on her phone off at night and forgets to turn it back on.
By now she is far enough ahead of me that she can FINALLY see the signs where we will turn east. So we keep following the detour. Based on BB's mileage we went 20 miles out of route. If we had stopped and turn on the GPS, Google would have taken us about a half mile out of route. Or without Google, I would have looked at a map and said go north and then east, it will add fewer extra miles.
Between all the small towns and the extra 20 miles, our 110 mile trip ended up taking us three hours.
Somewhere on our cross country trip we get to a stop light. It is still a two lane road and the truck behind me pulls into the right turn lane. The light turns green and he goes straight ... BB backs off to give him room to get in front of her. Not sure what was going on. He hadn't been tailgating me and he didn't leave us in the dust. My guess is he thought the road was changing to four lanes because the lanes were divided.
1st stop - the Kwik Trip in Neenah. I fuel so BB can use the restroom. Two hours is usually her limit and it has been three hours. I hadn't gotten my paperwork when we got to the KT but I had by the time I left. So today it took three hours to get the paperwork after the hour and a half to find out I had the trip. Trips pay good but don't wait until the last minute.
2nd stop is the drop in Neenah. Today is the first time this person has done an inspection and no one is training her. It took a half hour which is about normal for the small RV's. As I am waiting, I call the next shipper. I call all three numbers and leave messages with the one's who don't have full mailboxes. With this account I am prepared to just take the truck and go.
3rd stop is the Fedex Office in Walmart. $.71 for four pages of paperwork. At truckstops I have paid $8 for four pages.
4th stop is FOOD. We see a sign for Jimmy John's and head there, and miss it so we need to back track. We get our food to go, I have had my 'off time' while I waited for BB's inspection.
Once we leave the freeway I somewhere miss a turn. The easy way would have been to get on US-10 to within a few miles of the shipper. But Google says it is faster to take the freeway and some back roads. BB has the GPS on so we take the faster way ... and for what ever reason it does not tell us where to turn that turn. So we take the next road. Not a bad road, just 35-45 mph and lots of stop signs.
(looking later, it was four minutes quicker ... if we hadn't missed our turn, but 13 miles further)
Finally when we are within a block of Lake Michigan we turn south. I don't remember what the signs said but something about 'private' but we keep going. Then we see a place where the road could be gated off. We keep going.
We saw a nice little park on the lake, I thought about stopping on the way back to take a picture with my truck and the lake in the back ground.
"You have arrived." Nope, fields on both sides and no driveways. So I keep driving, we haven't seen anything yet.
5th stop - Another quarter mile and we see a spot of land that is in the closing down process. And we see someone sitting in a truck waiting (For us?) But not for us, someone is supposed to meet him here in a few minutes. Good, because this place is almost empty.
We drive over to the only truck that looks like a maybe and then I see it is someone's personal truck. So I drive a little further, here it is about a quarter mile from the road to the lake. No other trucks but I do get to the back of the lot and take a picture of Lake Michigan.
First a guy shows up but sits in his truck, so I go ask him but he doesn't work for the company I need but does know what is going on. As we are talking someone from the company I need shows up so I thank him and go and wait in line to talk the other person.
5th stop part 2 - Two Rivers. The person I talked to said follow them. So we go for miles, including through an (now) unmanned security check point on what looks to be a main road. One of the roads looks like it is going right to the lake? A park somewhere we didn't see a sign for? We get to where the truck is. One is pulling out and it looks like there are four left. Two are Chev's and two are Fords so it isn't too hard to find the right one.
Mine has a cooler full of water, a spare tire and a safety cone I have to set on the ground. Other than that it is empty, including the fuel tank. 1/16th is all the fuel I get. 29 miles range. There are stations 7, 14 and 27 miles from here. I will take my pick.
This is the first place were I have had to sign THEIR copy of the bill of lading besides my two. One other place said I was going to have to but no one showed so I got the OK to leave on that one without signing their copy.
I mention to the person signing that I didn't get a call back from anyone ... "No, I had to let them go.' ))) then why are their names still listed as contacts ??? (((
No issues with the truck, no major issues. Good thing I took pictures as I didn't notice I was missing a small piece of chrome until later.
I check in with dispatch and then pull out.
6th stop - Shell for fuel in Green Bay. My range was 29 miles when I left the lot and 27 miles later I still had a range of 28 miles. But when I put in 10 gallons my range only went up to 110 miles. The truck says I am getting 9 mpg average, but my current is running between 25-30. Most likely I will need some more fuel but I won't be basing it on 9 mpg.
I've got the paying trip so I am in the lead, until BB passes me. Later she tells me I should have taken the shorter route, I just stick to the freeways and the roads I know. I get there. (I just checked, it is two miles further to go the way I did than through down town. And eight minutes faster) :)
Somewhere close to 5 PM I get a call from the MN dispatch looking for drivers. Not sure why, they only have five trips on the load board. And none that I will do, even on a good day.
It will be after dark if we push to get to Eau Claire tonight so we will be stopping in Wausau early.
7th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Wausau. BB has her GPS telling her where to go and I follow my nose. I get there a couple of minutes before she does. To me, this place looks like an old Hollidome. I don't think the person at the desk had any idea what I was talking about, way before his time.
There is an in house bar and grill. Not sure why it is called that as they only serve pizza.
First we call a Mexican place. After calling six times with no answer and no voicemail we head to Panda. Spicier than I like but not too spicy to eat.
Load board
US - 213
IA - 44/40
MN - 5
WI - 5
Tomorrow ... there are two RV's coming back to MN but we don't dare chance it with a rental so we may take one. It MAY tie in with a truck but that would run us into Thursday and I was thinking I might take that day off work. We will see.