1 Pickup to Shakopee MN (delivered)

... spending the night at Mankato MN

I call the east coast dispatcher at 7 AM local to get the Bemidji trip. It is gone. He knew that last night but did not post the updated list because ... he didn't think anyone wanted the last NE trip and that was the only truck left. We had talked about taking that truck but at the moment I passed.

Breakfast was yogurt and an orange. No hot food, just some stuff to nuke.

We had looked at taking a Dodge Center truck to Lincoln NE and then up to pickup the last NE auction truck but that might keep us out long enough to get caught in the next winter storm. Inches of snow is forecast for SW MN, IA, SD, NE with other areas not getting as much. The area of high snow fall has grown through out the day.

But we don't want to sit all day so we set 9 AM as when we will call and take the last NE auction trip if nothing better shows up on the load board. Nothing shows up so I call the dispatcher and say I will take the last NE trip ... 'if nothing else is coming.' As I am talking to him the next batch of trips shows up. I hang up and then call back after BB and I have looked at it.

There are now eight trucks out of Worthington MN all coming back to Shakopee. When I call the dispatcher back, he wants me to take at least two. If we were not coming up on that storm and the weekend I'd be willing to take them all. Two we can get done before the storm so we agree and head out before getting the paperwork.

1st stop is Mankato to print paperwork. We have gotten both sets of paperwork emailed to us. First stop is Kwik Trip but they can only accept faxes and I can't email to fax on my phone and do not want to bug dispatch to fax to the truckstop. Second stop is the FedEx listed online, they only do packages. Third is a Walgreens that also shows as a FedEx site, they are clueless as to anything about FedEx. So after wasting 15-30 minutes we head out of town.

That is the biggest town before Worthington, no more truck stops, no Walmart's, no other place we can think of to print paperwork.

There is one truckstop in Worthington but we have tried to print stuff there before and then it was the same as Kwik Trip, fax only. So ...

2nd stop is the hotel we stayed at the night before last. We just walk in like we belong there. Often there is no one around in the middle of the day. The desk clerk heads to the front desk when they see me, three other people are cleaning within feet of where the computer is.

But I just used this hotel computer so I know how it works and things go quickly. No questions on the way in or on the way out. I print out paperwork for both of the next trips.

The shipping location is another job site so the aerial maps are not of any help.

Down another gravel road we go, but on this one we should be at the shipper in two miles. We get there and all there is is a pile of rocks in the corner of the field. But we know we are picking up from an electric company and we can see that someone is going to be replacing the blades and the motors on the windmills in this area so we know we are in the correct area.

The freeway is behind us so I keep driving down the street name that we have. Yep, a half a block from the next blacktop road is our shipper.

3rd stop is the shipper in Worthington. My first truck is the first one in line, we also see my second truck. But all of the trucks are locked so I head to the office and find someone who knows the trucks are leaving. They tell me where the keys are and I hadn't looked in all the usual places. So I head back out to the trucks only to find out that BB HAD looked in all the usual places and the keys were not there. So back to the office.

After a few text messages the person I have been talking to finds someone who knows. And they bring the keys from somewhere to us in a baggie.

Good news, the fuel tank shows 3/4 and a range of 150 miles. I have 154 miles to go but I should gain some range. We do the rest of the pre-trip and all is OK so I get the paperwork signed and am good to go. When I stop back to talk to BB I notice there is a dent in the front bumper. Not sure how I miss those things. So far no issues with any damage on these trucks. I take more pictures of the damage and we are ready to head out.

This time on the blacktop, not the gravel road and also not through Worthington so that saves another five miles.

BB had been eating breakfast late lately, today it was closer to noon. So I just grab a box of Fruit Loops that we had from a prior hotel stay and that is today's lunch as I go.

4th stop is the drop in Shakopee. Two hours from the shipper so a nice short run. Same person as yesterday to check me in. This guy has more problems than most with his computer during check in but it gets done.

The fuel I had a pickup was enough. I had a range of 150 miles at pickup. I drove 152 miles and now it shows a range of 340 MORE miles.

While I was driving dispatchers from both companies called wanting me to move trucks out of Dodge Center. And both have short trips heading to Chicago which will keep us away from the Thursday/Friday snow. BB thinks one company pays better than the other, I would have to look at the math, later.

We still have a second truck to move tomorrow so we head back in that direction.

5th stop is in Le Sueur at the rest area.

6th stop is in St Peter for food at Erbert and Gerbert's. It took a while to find online because it is listed under restaurants not under fast food.

7th and final stop was first at the BP for fuel and then the Comfort Inn in Worthington. To get to the Comfort Inn we drove past a bunch of fire trucks and smelled a very strong natural gas smell but two hours later we still haven't heard a big boom so I'm guessing it was taken care of.

Non work news - The car I mentioned yesterday is done. We call the car 'crash' because it is pretty smashed up and the latest issue was it didn't sound right because a belt was loose. A closer look showed the belt was loose because something had broken off. And to replace what broke would cost about $1,000 in just labor to replace before starting on the other parts. So someone is going to have to buy a new car and we will have to be on the lookout for our next backup car.

AND we just heard tonight that one of BB's uncles had died ... over a month ago. Once BB's Dad died the rest of the family just lost contact.

Load board

US - 296

IA - 62/55

There had been another CA RV but only one good one at a time and then it is gone by the time the next one shows up.

We will likely call in for one of the three trash trucks heading to Chicago and leave out after we drop the 2nd pickup. We should get as far as La Crosse on Thursday night and deliver shortly after noon on Friday. Not sure what we'll do from there.

LOG

9:30 - Plymouth MN - leave hotel

11:00 - Mankato MN - stop 3 places to try to print BL's

1:00 - Worthington MN - Comfort Inn to print BL's

1:30 - Worthington MN - shipper to pickup pickup

4:00 - Shakopee MN - drop pickup

5:00 - La Sueur MN - rest area

5:30 - St Peter MN - Erbert and Gerbert''s

5:45 - Mankato MN - BP for fuel

6:00 - Mankato MN - Comfort Inn