1 trash truck to Elk Grove IL

... spending the night at DeForest WI

This AM when we are done with biz at our appointment, the person starts asking us a lot about our jobs. How we choice hotels, how fast we drive, how far we drive, what we drive, etc.

Afterwards we stop past they local office and pick up paperwork. No signs of it being "driver appreciation week." Paperwork was sitting out so no reason to talk to anyone. I did drive out to the parking lot and there was one bus sitting, going to Mississauga. We haven't done a Canada trip since I started working for the RV carrier.

Then we can't agree on where to eat so we end up at Kwik Trip :) Shelf food. We both got a rib sandwich. I wanted a free sample too but the person was really slow at setting up and we had somewhere to be. So not today.

My truck is the same make, style and going to the same place as last week but when we got to the shipper we found out it was a different end user. And this one said it is going to NJ so I had to call dispatch to confirm. Yup, CGO is just for an 'upfit.'

Quick inspection, no issues. Still took a half hour. Just down the road to the first exit ramp and I pull over ... I marked on my inspection sheet that there were not any safety triangles but never grabbed mine. So I grabbed them now.

A few more miles down the road and I remember something else, so as soon as we are past Rochester, I pull over again. What trip are we doing next? All the ones I wanted out of WI and IA are gone so we decide not to call on anything hoping something will show up tomorrow.

Now we run for two plus hours before stopping. BB does stop for fuel in St Charles and quickly catches up to me. This truck's top end is 60 mph. Doesn't make for much smoother of a ride. I am getting pounded pretty good again.

We stop in Lyndon Station at the rest area and decide that DeForest is as far as we will go. BB refills her water bottle here but it is so bad that she spits it back out. She thinks it is about as bad as the one near Portage. Not sure why it tastes that bad.

The Comfort Inn is our next stop. It has been raining off and on all day. It started as just a light mist at the shipper. At first I thought I was blowing mist from my truck as the sun was shining. But there was a small cloud overhead and it was rain.

The Nordic House is closed by the time we get to De Forest so it is the family place again. I remembered that I wanted the Turkey Salad sandwich ... until I look on the menu and don't see it. Then I forget that was what I wanted and ordered the chicken salad sandwich. It tasted different, I even had BB taste it and then is when she remembered ... I had turkey last time ... with cheese. No wonder it tastes different. Soup was good. Potato soup. BB got breakfast.

Breakfast. The hotel has a picture as part of their breakfast sign. Eggs over easy, sausage, ham AND bacon ... I asked what were the chances that my breakfast is going to look like that tomorrow ... "Depends on where you order it from ..." (just not from here)

Storm warnings by the time we are heading back to the hotel from eating. Took a short video of the sheet lightning, plus a few pictures.

Load board

US - 114

IA -0-

MN - 3

WI - 4

We did have a couple of slow downs today and one was enough that we didn't get to the rest area early enough to call the drop ... something else I could have done from the shipper. No big deal, I dropped there last week and know what the hours are and they don't require a call. I will call from the hotel in the AM.

Still trying to decide how much fuel to put in. Getting good mileage without a headwind and only going 60 mph. Doesn't really make much difference. Truck is going all the way to NJ so if I put in more the next driver will have to put in less.

Now we are doing the math to see what other trips on the load board pay enough to do them without getting our car half way across the country. There still is one in Indiana coming back to MN, we'll see if the math works. And there are now two more trucks coming to Elk Grove on the load board ... if they were not such a rough ride, they do pay good.