1 box truck to Des Moines IA (delivered)

1 trash truck to Elk Grove IL (Thursday)

... spending the night at Owatonna MN

BB is up early, then I'm up early. We go down and get breakfast before calling dispatch at 7 AM. At some point I finally remember to check my BP. Usually I do it every morning within a few minutes of getting up. Today we were almost ready to walk out the door so by then I had lots of things on my mind. I was expecting my BP to have gone up. Nope, first time in a year plus that it was under 100. ???

I did call dispatch and get the trip from Huntly, pay is OK. It's used. I call the shipper, it is 'in the body shop.' That doesn't sound good, but if it got there unexpectedly, there is a good chance for some free fuel.

Only a half hour to the shipper from the hotel ... oh, by this AM I was able to tell that I am OK on my driving hours. I just hadn't looked at the program close enough before and there were zero's in some fields so I wasn't sure how that worked. Now I do.

At the shipper, we find the body shop. Truck is parked out front waiting for me. All checks good, 1/2 tank of fuel :) But the truck won't start. BB is watching me, trying to see what I am missing. Don't know what I did different but finally it started. Then I asked the guy in the shop about the starting. He said just hold it in the start position, it will start.

I make my calls to my dispatcher and the drop. I have until 5 PM to get it dropped. I'm hoping between 2-3 PM.

... and we are off.

I rarely get phone calls but today I get two. Smart phone rings, then it should roll to my flip phone ...

... MY FLIP PHONE ... it is still in the RV I dropped yesterday. Big opps. Now I am trying to decide how much work me and everyone else is going to have to put into this to find my phone.

By the 3rd phone call, I am right at the ramp for a rest area so I pull off. I miss that call but look at the other phone numbers, one is from Indiana. I call it, it is the dispatcher for my RV trip. They don't know anything about a phone but the 2nd dispatcher does. They give me the phone number of the person at the drop who has it. At least I know where it is.

Right after I pass the last known truck stop, I realize I am going to be low on fuel. After the low fuel light comes on, I find a Loves.

I pick the only island with just the person at the pump in it. All other islands had lines. A pickup is there but no one is around. After a few minutes, someone comes out and looks at the pump and goes back inside. 10 minutes later, the same guy comes back out with a bag ... and starts fueling.

Fueling doesn't take long, it is a pickup. Then he gets in his truck and starts it ... and sits there for another five minutes before pulling ahead. NOW I can finally fuel. I fuel and the driver is still sitting ahead of me. I pull up as close as I can to him and he finally moves.

I only needed eight gallons, I am usually in and out in 10 minutes. Today was 30+

... and the IA weigh scale is open. No issue, just a line (and I have a used truck)

I had been ahead of BB all day but that 30 minutes has now put her ahead of me.

As I pull off the freeway at my exit, I mis-judge the ramp and come in without down shifting correctly. I try to take the turn in too high of gear and the truck dies. And won't start. 10-20 (?) times I won't start. Nothing. So I am not wearing the battery down, but I am blocking the intersection, partially.

Finally I call the drop, the person who answer's puts me on hold ... and the truck starts.

All that time I had spent at the truck stop I should have looked closely at my drop location. I didn't. I thought I know where it was. I didn't.

I finally stop and call BB. For some reason my smart phone will not find the drop address. One of the computers did before, that is how I knew where it was.

BB gives me directions, I would have ended up there but I also wanted to let her know why I was running so late.

At the drop, someone in the office is the one who just walks around the truck to make sure I have not damaged it. And we are free to go.

No good work for tomorrow. We had hoped there would be an RV for BB but the best trip is a trash truck out of Dodge Center. And that will get us down near my phone.

We wait until after the east coast dispatchers have gone home for the day before committing to the trash truck. I also called my local dispatcher to see if they had work in IA, not today.

:) I ended up making more money on the fuel today that the driver pay was. So good trip after all.

Now we have to decide how we are going to get my flip phone. BB could drive by with the rental (but it was my problem.) Or I could take the trash truck past that location, it would only add a couple of miles but a lot of time as it is non-freeway. Or we could pick it up Friday AM on the way back after my drop.

Load board

US - 147

IA - 1/0

MN - 9

WI - 7