1 city bus to Beaumont TX (delivered)

1 sleeper tractor Faribault MN (Tuesday)

... spending the night at Beaumont TX

After I did my write-up last night for yesterday, I started doing my paperwork for this trip ... OPPS.

... Back in Williams TX when I was fueling the pump shut off at $75 because of a credit card limit. So I had to use a different credit card and pay inside. I had gotten a receipt for the first fuel at the pump. When I was done fueling the 2nd time I went into the store and got a receipt ... and never looked at it until now. Even when I wrote all my trip info I never looked at it.

Luckily for me I was able to reach someone at the station who was able to find the receipt and email it to me. WHEW.

We do not to get going early so we sleep a little later.

Breakfast - burrito and yogurt.

I decide to check on the four new Dodge Center trucks out of Denton. The trucks are going to the cement truck builder, they are all chassis. Again no.

No need to pack up this AM, we will come back after we pick up the rental car.

We head out 8 AM. Our first 'stop' is four miles away at the Hertz. There is room so I pull into their lot and come out a different driveway. After dropping BB off.

When I head back to the freeway I notice the main freeway overhangs the frontage road with signs saying '7 foot.' And I am 11 foot, 11 inches. No problem, it only overhangs one lane ... a little.

It is only another couple of miles until I am at the drop. When I arrive I do not see anyone around, all shop bays are empty. Finally I see someone through the window of a door. It is the person I need.

After a brief inspection they sign off. He wanted the frame for the license plate remounted but did not want me to take the plastic off the front??

He also asked if the AC worked, I said no. So he walked to the back of the bus, removed a plate and showed me that the AC was pre-set to 83 degrees. He changed it to 74 and by the time we were done with the paperwork it was chilly in the bus.

I am in and out in five minutes and we are on the way back to the hotel ... and I am busy talking about the drop. When BB has a chance to get a word in edgewise, she tells me that there is a truck to MN back on the load board.

So as soon as we are back in the hotel room (After BB has to stop and get a cup of coffee) I call dispatch instead of emailing them. Dispatch does not 'know anything' about the truck but gives me the drops phone number and the VIN. I call and the drop gives me the model and says it is a 'sleeper cab.'

(When I get the paperwork from dispatch, the model is showing on the paperwork. Dispatch does have the info when I call and either does not know it or does not care)

One of the questions dispatch has is when I will pick it up, the other driver was a no show and it should have been picked up last week. I start by giving a vague answer. I explain that I do not know anything about this shippers pick up hours.

A few minutes later dispatch calls back. The shipper requires a 24-hour notice so I can not pick the truck up until tomorrow.

(... as I am writing this, BB is looking at the paperwork we have had since this AM and the model number the drop gave me is not the same as is on the shippers paperwork ... so we do not know what I will be picking up tomorrow.) We have not made plans to return the rental car until after we see what I am picking up. If it is a chassis there will not be enough room for our luggage.

Also, we had looked at changing rental cars when our plans changed and it would have saved us a few dollars. But keeping the car that we planned on dropping in MN keeps that option open.

As soon as we have the paperwork printed out, we head out.

There are a few options to get back to Dallas, we decide on the same route we took here.

The first stop heading back is at the same Loves as yesterday. As long as we are there we order Arby's.

The next stop is Madisonville at a Shell station for the restroom.

And before Dallas, we stop again at the Loves in Alma for another break.

Final stop for the day is the Comfort Inn in Denton about two miles from tomorrow's pickup. Lots of food within a few miles but we end up at Schlotzsky's. I got a French Dip Calzone. Good, but too big to fit in the dip cup. 

Load board

US - 632

IA - 279/277