1 pickup to Shakopee MN

1 pickup to Marshalltown IA (Thursday)

... spending the night at Plymouth MN

Slept in until almost 8 AM, no rush to get up. By 9 AM the 'auction dispatcher' had put out trips we were interested in.

By 10:30 we were leaving the house. I had called an requested two trips but with this dispatcher there is another layer of dispatchers that he has to contact. So we left not knowing if we had the trips or now.

1st stop was at Fleet Farm in Oakdale for fuel. Gas is no longer $2.99 but it is still cheaper than most places and we were down to a range of less than 50 miles. While we were there the dispatcher called back, I got both trips.

The first trip is from Hill City to Shakopee, a trip we have done before. Then the 2nd trip is picking up at Shakopee, but not until 12 noon, and dropping in Marshalltown which is near Ames/Des Moines.

2nd stop - Office Max / FedEx to print out the paperwork / Bills of Lading for the next two trips. $1.54 for printing 8 pages. Beats paying a truckstop $2 a page.

3rd stop was at the Jimmy Johns in Cambridge. We took it to go, we do not need a half hour break today. As soon as I take one bite, I remembered I was not going to eat any lettuce today. So I had to wait until BB was done with her sandwich and then she took most of the lettuce off my sandwich.

Along the medical line, earlier in the week my mouth/teeth hurt. Not a tooth ache but like a new filling that wasn't ground right. After a couple of days it just went away. Good. I was not looking forward to going to the dentist for any special trips.

The restrooms in Jimmy Johns were for 'employee's only' so we will need to stop again. This Jimmy Johns has also taken out all of their indoor seating.

4th stop is the Holiday in Mora for the restroom. From there I call the shipper. Someone answers, they can meet us at / about 2 PM.

5th stop is the shipper in Hill City. There are maybe a half dozen trucks left to be picked up. Mine is the only one that is not sitting there running. The shipper quickly starts it then goes and shuts off the other trucks. The gate is now locked and the plan is to be empty by the end of the month. What he couldn't answer is how many trucks are with the company I move them through.

Because the gate is going to be locked, I pull outside the gate as soon as he signs and do my inspection and paperwork there. I have a range of 20 miles less than the drop.

For me, this is a non-stop trip to tonight's hotel.

Briefly my range goes down. Then it goes up and by the time I get to the hotel two and a half hours later I have an excess of 31 miles range. But I still stop and put in $2 so the low fuel light should not be on. (it was the last $2 on a gift card)

When I came through Rogers today I did my usual stay in the left lane instead of waiting in the right lane to merge onto I-94. Wrong choice. Tonight there was not much of a line and there were not any trucks. So no breaks in traffic to cut over without cutting someone off. I'm learning.

I get to the hotel about two minutes before BB and she finds me right away. Huge hotel with a bar/restaurant attached. That is where we get food. BB and I split a Cuban and I get a side of turkey wild rice soup and she has coleslaw. Good food and not too much.

Load board

US - 270

IA - 100/97

MN - 7

WI - 3

What we do tomorrow is every changing. We could have dropped tonight and came back in the AM but that would have meant another 1-2 hours driving in the dark. But a hotel we are paying for, vs using rewards points, will cut into our profit.

For a while the plan was to drop about noon and stay and pickup the next pickup. Now we most likely will drop early AM, go to my routine clinic visit, then come back and hope the 2nd leg is ready early.

Last night our plan was to be gone over the weekend, likely take a 1,000 mile two day trip. But today were are looking at rental cars and that likely will not happen.

Example - FL to MN cars are $350 a day for three days. Usually they are about $100 a day and most years after spring break they are $5-10 a day for a few weeks. It doesn't pay to go to FL.

So most likely we will do something local or do a trip where we know we will have a paid trip back to IA/MN.