2 RV's to Greer NC (delivered)

2 RV's to Grand Junction CO (Saturday)

... spending the night at Cedar Rapids IA

Last night ...

We had talked about staying in Pioneer, but realized we would be better off time wise if we drove another half hour/hour. So BB is looking at the hotel reviews. I made sure we started that early because I know what happens. If we haven't stayed there before, she will read all the reviews and not want to stay there. Sure enough, about a mile from the Pioneer exit she decides we are staying HERE. Because we've stayed here before.

Over all the hotel was good. When we walk in the first time the first thing we do is check the heater, or AC depending on the weather. Heater was blowing hot air so we went and got food. Two hours later the floor, the counters, the sheets, everything was still cold when we went to bed

Today ...

The room finally warmed up during the night. BB was kicking her covers off by the morning.

BB ... morning ...

BB needs to have her 'white noise' going at night. That is, until it malfunctions in the middle of the night. This time something went dead and started beeping in the night. She was awake, I was awake. Luckily it was only a half hour before the alarm. BB got up, I tried to sleep.

Because we were up/awake early, we could have gotten going earlier than we did. I had thought we were getting going before daylight anyways so I wasn't in a rush. But it was daylight and I should have pushed it.

We were gone from the hotel by 7:30 so we were a few minutes early. Breakfast was the same as yesterday. Two egg patties and one sausage patty, all fresh today.

We are only on the road a few minutes and we have seen two semi's in the ditch and a dozen other police cars.

Reminds me. TN had signs on I-40 that the police will be setting the pace for traffic on Saturday (Be prepared for slow downs)

BB and I had been talking this AM about trips. Weather looks good, only a dusting of snow forecast for CO so we opt for taking those trips instead of taking a chance on the loading out the loadboard later.

1st stop was the Buc-Ee's in Richfield. Maybe a dozen cars at the 100 or so pumps. BB was actually able to find our car when she came out of the building.

When I am done fueling, it is 8 AM home time so I call dispatch. And get put on hold, that is never a good sign, they can be giving away 'our' trips. But not today. We get them. Two to Grand Junction. I tell them we will pick up Sunday, but likely it will be Saturday.

Today we decide to take the shortest route and pay the toll as the company is not paying this one so we don't care if it takes three weeks to get.

Less than an hour from the office opening and we are paid. I still have not been paid for the RV I had to drop at the shop. We don't get paid until final delivery. BB had seen mine on the load board yesterday so it should have been delivered today. I will call on Monday.

2nd stop was the Loves in Memphis ... Indiana. Shelf food. Because it was going to be quick. They didn't have what BB wanted and they didn't have what I wanted. I had looked at the hot food first, then the roller food, then the cold food. I was going to get a cold chicken salad sandwich if nothing else looked better. They were out. So I went back to get roller food ... in the time I looked the first time to the time I went back, they had thrown the old roller food and the new wasn't ready yet. :( I ended up with one greasy hot dog, no bun. And it wasn't quick because they didn't have what we came for.

3rd stop was the Pilot in Crawfordsville for fuel. Not cheap, but cheaper. Buck-Ee's had been under $3. I called dispatch back because we may need chains. No, we are under the 10,000# limit that requires chains.

4th stop is the rest area in Congerville

5th stop is for fuel in Davenport at the Speedway, from here we should be able to make it home. Small tank, but good mileage. When we got the car it said 30 mpg for a long time. Until BB re-set it. Since then we have been getting over 60 mpg when we are running 55-60, but only about 38 when we are running 70 mph. We are still trying to get back in 24 hours so we are running the speed limit.

Our original plan was to stay in Iowa City ... but by dark, the hotel prices were up in the $200+ range. So we decided to stay in Cedar Rapids and had our food picked out. Then BB did the math again and if we make it to Waterloo tonight, we wouldn't have to leave so early.

But hotel prices in Waterloo are twice what they are in Cedar Rapids ... so Cedar Rapids it is.

We thought we were going to order food online. BB started the order and then when she went to submit, it said you have to have an account. We do not need 100 accounts all over the country but she went ahead and created an account. Once she was done, it cleared all the info including the order. That was the end of that.

But their food is good so we ended up there and waited for our food. Good Food.

6th stop is Pepper Jax for food to go.

7th and final stop is a mile away at the Comfort Inn.

Dispatch did put a few trips out today, 10 or so? Including two to SC. So if we had been quick, we could have gotten something IF we hadn't waited for something better. By the end of the day those 10 plus the 13 from yesterday were all gone.

Also there had been four trips out of Grand Junction going various places today but we don't like committing before we are even in our next truck so we watched them disappear.

Load board

US - 123

IA - 0

MN - 10

CO - 3

Saturday - should be warmer. We'll leave the hotel before daylight to get our car and be to the airport by noon. That should get us back to IA and gone from the shipper by 3 PM. That will allow us to get to Des Moines by dark.

From there it is less than 1,000 miles to Grand Junction. Plan is to get to Grand Junction Monday night and deliver on Tuesday. We do have a car headed home if there is no work. If there is work we will go ... almost anywhere.