1 Pickup to Shakopee MN (Monday)

... spending the night at Billings MT

Breakfast - I stuck with eggs and sausage, passed on the yogurt.

Left out at 8 AM local.

Weather forecast was for snow by the time we got to Dubois. They were correct. Traffic slowed to 20 mph below the speed limit, that was pretty much what all the traffic in sight was going.

But when I dropped to 55 mph, then they passed me. Every so often it felt like the wheels slipped but no other effects. At one point I had said I might not be using the cruise at all today. Then about 10 minutes later the roads were clear, no snow and soon the sun was peaking through the clouds. First I set the cruise to 70, and within a few miles, back to 80 mph.

1st stop was near an area called Red Rock. It shows as a parking area but it had one 'outhouse.' As often happens, BB asks about a rest area within a mile or so of passing one. Peripheral vision?

Our Truck Stop Guide shows a truck stop at exit 26, but there was no exit 26. We looked tonight at the hotel and it should be at exit 56.

We looked at cutting across from Dillon to I-90 but it would only save us 15 minutes and we have never been those back roads. I would have like to have stopped at Dillon at 4B's for lunch but it was still before 11 AM.

There are two places I like to eat in Montana and I was hoping to get to both of them in one day. BB wanted to eat in Butte, but it wasn't noon yet and I wanted to make it to ...

2nd stop was in Three Forks at the Wheat Montana Deli. I got a reuben. There were other good items on the menu but most were not easy to eat while I drive. This place had lots of help, a lot more than the location in Missoula that we stop at.

This AM when we got up Google maps was showing that I-90 was closed near Livingston. Not a big deal, they just route us through town and then back on to the freeway. It is now almost eight hours later and the freeway is still closed when we get there. But this backup is 'only' a little more than a mile of single lane traffic waiting to exit the freeway. Not sure how long that mile took ?? less than an hour ?? Then when the signs said 'exit freeway 1,000 feet,' I noticed the overhead signs changed. They were opening the freeway, we just had to wait for them to lift the gates and removed the cones. We were guessing it would have been another hour going through town. (West bound was still going through town when we passed that end of the detour)

3rd stop was a Connoco in Big Timber for fuel. We didn't have enough to make it to Billings.

4th stop was Billings. The better choice hotels got bad reviews so we ended up at the Quality Inn instead of being right across the street from this 4B's.

It is not even 3 PM local yet but we want to stay here in case we can't find work. If no work, taking I-90 instead of I-94 will save us three hours.

Once we check in we go for a half hour walk. Before we go back to our room we get in the car and head to the 4B's. We are almost there when I remember that Billings is Mountain time and it is not even four o'clock. By that time we can see the building so we stop ... they close at 3 PM on Sundays. Not again. This happened one of our last trips this way also.

About half way to the 4B's I wanted to go the route I knew but BB had Siri on so I followed her directions. Very good thing I did. It wanted me to turn on the 1st street we came to, I wanted to go to the 2nd. As I was slowing down to take a left on the 1st street we came to, a car blew through their stop sign at about 50 mph. Had I gone straight I may not have been watching the side traffic, or not seen it in time.

Coming back from the 4B's we went 'my way' and ended up going past MRL. I had no idea where in town they were, but BB and I had talked about them on our walk as they are a shipper that Company #1 gets trips from. Less than two miles from our hotel.

We head back to our hotel, we were both in the mood for soup, a light meal after our big sandwiches at noon.

When I get to the hotel I message the auction dispatcher. There is a truck in MT that is on our load board and not on the other updates so I am not sure if it is really there. I am not expecting an answer before Monday AM but maybe he will call before he starts taking calls on Monday.

We still want soup so we head to Panera, BB gets soup and a sandwich. I just get soup, no sandwich. But I do also get a smoothie, and a cookie, two cookies because they gave me one when I paid an another one was in my bag :)

Back at the hotel I gat a call from the auction dispatcher ... on a Sunday night. He is SO glad I texted him. The reason the trip is still on the load board and not on the other updates is that a driver backed out of the trip and the dispatcher would have to tell the shipper Monday AM that they don't have a driver. Now they do, and I don't need to wait four hours to find out if I get the trip. I have the trip. One phone call.

Hope this works out as well as it looks. This trip was looking like it was going to be at the bottom of our money makers. Now it looks like it will be our average trip.

We are about two hours from the truck so that should work out good. We can call the shipper at 8 AM and give them some time to get to the lot if they are not already on site. Most of the shippers we deal with are closing down operations and are not always staffed.

700 miles from shipper to drop so we should be delivering on Tuesday AM. At some point we need to go down and get our car from IA. This rental car needs to be back at 1 PM or we get charged another day. So depending on when we are going past the airport will decided if we use it to get to IA or drop it and get to IA another way another day.

After that the plan is to work for the local company, or at least give them first option if they have work.

WY - As of 8 PM tonight the road are finally open. They closed Wednesday or Thursday. One driver that was posting on FaceBook had said he got as far as Rock Springs and the road was closed again. He wasn't sure why it was closed but it had taken him eight hours to go 200 miles and he was done for the night. He had been in Laramie since Thursday and is expecting to be sitting in Reno waiting for Donners Pass to re-open when he gets there. NOT the route to be on this December.