1 trash truck to South Sioux Center IA (delivered)
1 rental truck to Shakopee MN (Friday)
... spending the night at Sioux Falls SD
Alarm at 6 AM. Breakfast, eggs, bacon, juice.
Running a little slow this AM getting out of the room and then we had to clear the snow off the car.
But the major slow down was ... the highway maps showed lots of spin outs on US-14. We only saw three, one of them had rolled.
1st stop was the shipper at Dodge Center. Our shuttle was there again, I'll have to ask why they are running at 7:30 instead of the former 6 AM.
"They" were not going to have my truck ready. I had to take it to the inspection area and find someone to adjust it, just as if I had been here when they were open. I found someone and they came out and adjusted and I was off.
2nd stop was back at the Kwik Trip in Kasson to the scale. I look at the ticket when I pay for it 20,000+pounds. I'm good.
BB had stayed in Dodge Center and waited for me, I called her when I was leaving the truckstop and she pulled on the highway as I was passing.
Traveling down the road I my mind clicks ... 20,000+ pounds? I need to be UNDER 20,000#'s.
3rd stop, roadside in Owattona - I pull off at the next exit and call dispatch ... back to the shipper again. It took 15 minutes down the road for it to hit me so another half hour wasted. BB will keep going and pull off at the next rest area. No reason to put the extra miles on the car. And the roads are not that good yet.
4th stop is back at the shipper in Dodge Center to have it re-adjusted. This time it was the bosses boss that did it. He was wondering why the tag axel wasn't down. But someone also told me that these things should weigh 17,000# on the front axel if they are set right.
5th stop is the Kwik Trip in Kasson again. I take a picture of where I am parked on the scale, there is no way I could have gotten the back axels on the same section of the scale as the front axel.
I pay and walk out ... I am still over. I call dispatch. I get the OK to run. It is now 10:30 ... we could have left out last night at 4:30.
Visibility is down to 1/4 mile and the roads aren't good just west of Dodge Center again. Saw one more car in the ditch.
... back when I headed from Owattona earlier, I was able to fishtail this truck as I was pulling back on the freeway. It is slick. Glad BB didn't follow me, just for the fun of it.
6th stop is at the rest area near Owattona to get BB following again. When I was stopped, I took my back pack out of my truck. I don't need any, any extra weight. There is only one 'inspection' area that I will pass today. I have only seen it open once in my 20 years of driving ... and luckily it wasn't open again today.
More snow spots on I-90. BB will tell me later that I-90 was bad this AM too, just as it was on US-14.
We did meet 5 'Got Junk' trucks being transported. Yesterday I noticed three transporters, 2 were Armark trucks like the ones we used to move from Fargo to South Bend. The other was a box truck which was following them so likely running together.
7th stop was the Blue Line truckstop in Worthington. I fueled. I had done the math but the pump shut me off at $100. Nowadays that is only 20 gallons and some large trucks have two 150 gallon fuel tanks. I could have started the pump again but I was just guessing at what mileage I was getting so I would likely have to start again.
We haven't eaten mid-day so we grab shelf food and eat in the car. Fresh but way too much. No looking under the pickle for the meet on this one. An inch of meat and two slices of cheese.
We finally decide to call on the Sioux Falls truck but I go to voicemail. Then I call my drop and that goes to voicemail also.
A few miles down the road I get a call back from my drop so I pull over on the side of the road and answer. I should be there at 4 PM.
8th stop is the Loves in Le Mar. By now I have a better idea of how much fuel I will need. I had guessed I was getting 5 mpg. Now it looks like I am getting closer to 4 mpg. Which is not very good for an empty truck.
We are still getting snow bursts including while stopped at Loves.
Just before Sioux City there are two small towns that IA-60 does not go around and those slow me down enough that I will not make it to the drop before 4 PM but a few minutes after.
9th stop is the drop in South Sioux City. While I am still in the truck someone comes up to me and says they will send out someone to inspect the truck. This guy at least was standing next to the truck while he 'inspected' it. I'm not sure he ever looked at the truck, he just stood next to it and checked all the boxes. 15 minutes and I am done.
It is after 5 PM east coast time but the rental dispatcher never got back to me. I call again. Not sure what is going on. He hadn't done anything with my request. Now he sends the request. We will 'assume' we got the trip.
We could stay here and drive up in the AM. But we have an hour of daylight left so I decide to go. The first sign I see says Sioux Falls, 70 miles ... and the speed limit is 80 mph. We get to Sioux Falls three minutes after last light.
10th stop is Sioux Falls. Food was from Capriotti's. We each got a cheesestake. BB also got coleslaw and I got soup.
A couple of blocks down the road and we were at the Comfort Inn.
Load board
US - 165
IA - 24/22
MN - 7
IA - 6
It doesn't look like we will be working this weekend. We could if we had a way to line up some rental work, but we chose to do this trip instead of another location.
We'll drop this early afternoon on Friday and then ???