1 'Mixer'/Chassis to Granite Falls MN

1 Straight truck to Coralville IA (Thursday)

... spending the night at Marshall MN

Breakfast - Walking down the haul I realized we did not get 'breakfast coupons' when we checked in ... then I remembered that we did not stay at that hotel last night. :) Ahhh there are a lot of days when we are walking down the hall for breakfast and I am trying to remember what town I am in ... So far I still remember where home is.

We were, or talked about doing a quick breakfast this AM and getting going early. But then I saw eggs with bacon in them and took some. BB was done with her breakfast by the time we got back to the room. I had both hands full and hadn't started.

We did get going 15 minutes early this AM, about the amount of time it took to get back to where I had parked my truck at the other hotel. There would have been room for my truck here, but it would have taken 3+ gallons of fuel to get here and back. Times $5 would have been $15 and parking was only $3. I saved $12. But this hotel is still $30 more and we aren't likely to stay here again unless we are using rewards points.

The truck had lost all air pressure overnight so the pusher axel was down. So I had to wait until I had until there was enough air pressure for the alarms to go off and for the tires to raise.

It is sun up and we are driving right into it. No clouds but the sun is red and not as bright as it could be. Still not good to stare into it.

1st stop is the Flying J in Grenta for fuel. Fuel was cheaper at the Loves a few miles down, but I get more rewards points here so I come out $.03 a gallon ahead here. And it is easier to get in and out of here. There are remodeling this place and I couldn't find the self service kiosk so I waited in line for a receipt. But when a 2nd cashier came they did not open a 2nd register, they stood next to all the new self service checkouts and showed people how to do it themselves. Including getting a receipt for fuel that you pumped outside.

From here I called the drop and left a message. All I had was the address so I had to look up a name and phone number. I had to leave a voice mail.

2nd stop was the Pilot/Burger King in Sioux City. Whopper Jr's and cookies. Cookies were fresh and good.

3rd stop is the Blue Line/BP truckstop in Worthington. From here I call the drop again. I do not remember if I left a phone number for them to call me back. I try to leave a message again but their mail box is now full. So they are not likely in today. I call back and ask for someone else to talk to, they put me through to the manager. I have to leave a message with them also, but they call me back. It is 2:27 and they close at 2:30. And are open again at 6 AM.

So we are heading to a hotel.

Now that we have a drop time, I call the dispatcher for the truck in Coon Rapids. We realize later we never did the math to see what it will pay. It was just the closest truck to where we are dropping. The truck had been on the load board earlier and then was gone. When I talked to dispatch they said that was because the shipper could not find the keys ...

While I am waiting for the prior call back, I pick up a 'spam' call. They want to give my business a loan, I tell them this is my personal phone ... they want to talk to the 'person in charge of finance.' "I am in charge of finance, this is a personal phone." They finally got the message ...

Someplace in the rural countryside where people tend to be more conservative, there is a billboard over a business. The billboard is liberal and a small six foot high sign below it is clarifying that the billboard does not reflect the views of the business.

4th and final stop was the Quality Inn in Marshall, 30 miles from my drop. Plenty of street parking and we are early enough I got an off street parking spot in the rear of the building. And our reservation tonight was for the correct day and the correct hotel :)

This place has laundry so BB starts that as soon as we get here. I am also able to print out my own Bill of Lading for my next truck.

Then we call Mike's Cafe next door and order food. BB ordered a BLT and I ordered a Philly. I had not read the sides so as they listed them off I picked a side of cheese curds. Then when we got to pick up our order I added chili. I hadn't expected my side of cheese curds to be 10x as big as the ones at the state fair. Good, but way too much. I used them as my cheese for my chili, it was good but to hot ... temp wise. It was actually not too spicy.

Load board

US - 200

IA - 55

Lots of talk about tomorrow ... next trip ... next week.

We have the rental car through Saturday but we want to get rid of it now that we are back. I was already to call to get things changed, I had the paperwork in hand when we realized that we should not make any changes until we know we are in the next truck. So that is on hold.

But once we are in the next truck, we are hoping to drop the rental car a mile away and then BB will ride with me to Cedar Rapids where we will pick up a new rental car. Two reasons. Our current car is making funny sounds and we want to be out of it. And the car we pick up in Cedar Rapids can be dropped in Mason City and out of state cars can not be. By dropping in Mason City we will save 3+ hours of travel time coming back to the airport to return any other rental car assuming we are heading right back out.

We will likely head right back out. The load board has lots of good 2-3 day runs right now but that number is dropping daily. If we wait until next week to move something our choices on the load board will be less and what works for us would also be less. We are coming up on quarter end for my other company and I want to get my week's work in there.