1 pickup to Williamsburg IA

1 RV to Ocala FL (Tuesday)

... spending the night at Waukee IA

Up at the usual time, usual breakfast. It wasn't until we were walking out the door that BB remembered I had hash browns from last night that I was going to eat with my breakfast.

I forget and we go down for breakfast at 7 AM instead of calling dispatch, I call as soon as we get back. I tell them I want to do one of the Worthington pickups, there are five left. IF no one in the chain is closed today. A few minutes later I get a call back that Shakopee is closed today so I can not drop until tomorrow.

That kind of let the air out of our tires. We spend the next two hours trying to come up with a good plan. We didn't just go with plan 'B' which at one time had been to do a WI RV.

At one point we are looking a Seguin TX, we found rental cars and there is currently other work in that area. But instead of calling and putting the trips on hold for an hour, we have to make sure all the 'I's are dotted and the 'T's are crossed. By the time we call, they are gone. We also look at doing an RV to MO, but then we see other work that would take us further and further away from our home base, will our car. We are trying to keep the chase miles short. We put over 2,000 miles on our car just last week.

We finally decide to do the NE to IA trip. We will not get to the IA drop until Tuesday and we will still be somewhat close to the RV's. That trip pays slightly better than doing one of the single RV trips.

When I call dispatch he is kind of unsure about that trip because his contacted has not updated him since Friday, that often means there is no work with that contact. BUT we know the contact is working because they told us that Shakopee is close. That trip has been sitting there for at least a couple of weeks ...

We decide to head out without knowing if we have work.

1st stop is Worthington at a Holiday Station - It is two hours later and we still do not know if we have work. We had hoped to hear within the first few miles. I call dispatch again. He has not heard back, (not sure if he contacted them? from some of his comments.) But dispatch can now see that my truck has not been given to anyone else.

Before we are too far down the road we get a call back from dispatch. The trip is mine.

Shortly before we get to Sioux City I get a call from my local dispatcher, they have two trips for us. Before they can say anything other than hello, I let them know I am out of state. I never do hear what the trips are. It doesn't matter.

A few miles later I am pulling off the road, there is now ONE trip to FL. I grab it. We aren't going to make much/any money if a second one does not show up but the weather is heading back to -0- and we want to be out of town. They are not often putting pair's of RV's out right now so we are just hoping for the best.

2nd stop is in Sioux City at Loves - They are the easiest to work with to get something printed. Most places still want things faxed. That means we have to get a phone number and then wait for dispatch to have time to fax it. At loves we just forward our email and they print out the PDF's.

When we got to Loves I still had not gotten my paperwork. We used the restroom and got Godfathers off the shelf and went back to our car. By the time I had taken two bites I had my emailed paperwork so I went back in and had it printed. All of this took less than 15 minutes.

I call my drop to let them know I am coming, the paperwork has the correct phone number and they will have my truck running when I get there.

One hour down the road, by not taking the gravel roads.

3rd stop is near Carroll at the shipper. My pickup is sitting there running. I get the paper worked signed and do my pre-trip. If the 'foreman?' that brings the trucks up was still there I would have told him the truck was missing something ... 20# of dirt. Usually these trucks are dirty inside and out. This one still looks like it was just detailed on the inside.

And it has a full tank of gas :)

BB heads into town to get gas for the car while I finish up, then when I get to town I get ahead of her and wait until she passes me. I then follow her as she will be using the GPS. She told me the turns before we parted ways so I likely would have found my way back to the freeway but I think it was over an hour on the back roads.

Including a very high, very narrow steel grate bridge over the Missouri River.

4th stop was a rest area on I-680 near Missouri Valley. BB makes our reservation.

On the western end of the state we saw lots of guard cables down. Two entwined pickups in the median and one tired semi laying on its side. Lots of other debris, but no other intact vehicles.

It is dark before we get to the hotel but there are not any 'good' hotels between I-29 and Des Moines the way we came. Mostly Super 8's.

5th stop is the Comfort Inn in Waukee for the night. We walk next door to the HyVee. This one has a gas station with a coffee shop inside and that is where we got our food. I had cheeseburger soup and a chicken salad sandwich. They didn't go together but each was good.

Load board

US - 272

IA - 75/70

We have about 100 miles to my drop tomorrow, then about four hours back to the RV's. We likely will not leave the RV place until BB has an RV or it is later afternoon. I do need to drop in Friday but the trip will pay a lot better if BB is driving also.

LOG

9:15 - Leave the Comfort Inn in Albert Lea MN

11:15 - Worthington MN - Holiday Stationstore

1:00 - Sioux City IA - Loves and GodFathers

2:15 - Carroll NE - shipper

4:15 - Missouri Valley rest area

6:00 - Waukee IA - Comfort Inn and HyVee