1 boom truck to Hopkins MN (failed)

1 trash truck to Dodge Center MN (delivered)

2 RV's to Gilroy CA

... spending the night at Clear Lake IA

I thought we had everything planned out last night. But by this AM we decided not to take the NY runs and wait for something better. And we decided not to do the two rental trips that we had planned on committing to yesterday. Instead we will do the shortest rental trip that keeps us closest to home.

At 7 AM I call that dispatcher. They answer and say they are busy and won't be able to get things lined up until 'later in the AM.' This is two days in a row with this dispatcher so I quickly say. DON"T line the trip up. They can call me when they have time and I will decide then if we are still interested.

So now we are hanging. And looking at options.

Before 8 AM I get a call from the local dispatcher at the other company. Can we run a truck to Hopkins this right away this AM. Sure. We aren't doing anything. All dressed up and no where to go. Actually we were not ready to go so it did take a few minutes to get out of the house.

Within a few minutes the local dispatcher calls back. Can you also do a Dodge Center trip. Sure. Why not.

So when the rental dispatcher calls back ... sorry. Plans have changed ...

We get to the office parking lot ... the first thing I notice is that someone has knocked down the reflectors by the driveway. Big, tall steel posts.

Then when we get to the truck I start checking the fluids and BB does a walk around. Flat tire. Hmmmm

(I forgot to take a picture of that truck) I won't get any pay for a show up because I had to come to pick up my paperwork for the other truck. Just a few minutes lost.

So we are off to Sauk Rapids. I didn't even look at the firs truck paperwork to know what I might have gotten paid. It likely would have only added a half hour to the trip. It was almost right on the way.

When we get down to 60 miles range on our gas we look at fuel stops. We have a few gift cards left so we plan on stopping there. Then BB sees on GasBuddy that gas is $.30 cheaper 10 miles down the road. So we will go to Kwik Trip in St Cloud instead.

As we are turning right into the Kwik Trip, there is a semi on it's side in the on coming traffic. Flat road. Clear day. My guess is they came across the highway to fast from the Kwik Trip and lost it making the turn. It had just happened. The fire truck and ambulance came after we were fueling.

I walked closer to take a picture and then walking back across the parking lot I was looking at my phone. I looked up and I had walked right in front of a car ... the driver was looking at me throwing up his hands. (it is a parking lot, people kind of have the right of way but I should have been paying attention. Luckily he was)

From there it was about two miles to the shipper. Small place. The first person I saw walked me to the person who would sign. They then walked me to my truck.

Newer truck. 25,000 miles. Heading back to the shipper. So the issues are with the trash truck part and not the engine/chassis part. Nothing that should effect me.

No issues other than I left my tape somewhere that I tape my stuff to the windows. But we have extra in the car.

By the time we get back to the Kwik trip there are two tow trucks trying to right the semi and the road is totally closed. It has only been a half hour. We are directed off onto city streets for a couple of blocks where we get back onto Hwy 10 at a stop light. Delay was minimal.

I lost BB in that mess but she caught up to me once we got back on the freeway at Clearwater. She followed me to the first rest area where she got off. I didn't see her again until the drop. She would stop once more at the Kwik Trip in Owatonna for shelf food.

By the time we picked up this truck we realized that the Lime Springs truck we had tried to call on this AM would work out good now. My drop is less than an hour from there. But by then the truck was gone. The two in western MN were still there but they are not a good match.

No fuel needed so for me it is a non-stop three hour drive to the drop. It is a Mack truck so not a bad ride. Still a cabover but not bad.

I get to the drop and have the paperwork signed and park the truck. And call dispatch and tell them I am delivered ... and ask if they need the hard copies now, or someday. Some day is good.

It was just before that phone call that BB told me we are going to Gilroy CA. When she stopped at the rest area, she checked the load board. Nothing. When she came out of the restroom she checked again ... BINGO. She called right away and got them. She had texted me but I never looked at my text because I was driving and then once here, I was busy.

It is now 2 PM and I haven't eaten so we stop at the Kwik Trip here and I get a two piece chicken meal. Good by greasy, to eat while driving.

Before we left the drop I called the next shipper to see if we could pick up today. BB had told them tomorrow because she didn't know how the day would go. We can pick them up so we will. Otherwise we would drive 2 hours home tonight and then 2 more hours back tomorrow just to get where we are now.

We get to Forest City about 4 PM. We get our paperwork and find our RV's and then we find other drivers. We end up talking to three of them. The first one we likely talked to for 15 minutes or more. He had the same issue with a truck as I had out of Miles City last year. No heat, sub zero weather ... he ran out of gas. I had broken windows.

The other two drivers had questions and mostly said the 'hi, where are you going' thing.

We got out of there after 5 PM. With these little ones we could have been in and out in 30 minutes.

We have checked on hotels and the cheapest hotel is here in Clear Lake. About 2/3rds of what they are further down the road. What we don't realize until later is saving that $50 tonight may likely cost us another nights hotel before we drop. :( No we will need to do a few 12 hour days or change our drop date.

Final stop is the Best Western in Clear Lake. We then walk inside ... until we got lost, then outside to get to the attached Bennigan's.

We did see our head dispatcher but he was there with others and we did not talk to him.

Our food was good but ... BB's fish was raw on one end and the staff saw her picking at it and asked. So BB told them. And before BB could think it through, they took the remaining food and make a whole new meal for her. It took a while. BB wished she had just said no. BB was almost full and could have just taken the last of the fish back to the room and nuked it for breakfast.

Food was good, very good.

Back at our room we planned tomorrow. We will see how the next couple of days go. At 500 miles we deliver on Wednesday. If we can make a few more miles each day we will deliver as planned on Tuesday.