1 pickup to Williamsburg IA (delivered)
1 dump truck to Topeka KS
... spending the night in Owatonna MN
Both awake before the alarm. I've been lucky, I've eaten Italian food a couple of times lately right before going to bed and no bad side effects.
Breakfast today was a sandwich to nuke, and a small yogurt.
It's raining.
It's raining, there is road construction, it is rush hour ... the only thing that it is not is dark. Not sure what time we actually got going but it looks like I drove a full 15 miles in the first hour of the day. BB had her GPS on so it re-routed her at some point.
As I am going through Dubuque, my local dispatch calls. So as soon as I get on the far side of town I pull off and call back. I had sent them a message this AM after seeing my paperwork that I may not be able to pick up today. They were just looking for a time-line.
Before I get to the drop I stop and put in another gallon of fuel to make sure it stays above the 1/8th line. Then I find out later it should be between the 1/8th and 1/4 line. Next time.
At the drop, the guy is eating his lunch, he signs at the table and doesn't want a copy. Inspection is done.
My next call is to the next shipper. They are open until 7 PM, not 3 PM like it says on my paperwork. We will be pushing it, but we can still get the truck picked up today. We are still five hours away.
All the Appleton trucks are gone of the board now so we may or may not have gotten another one if we had wanted.
We stop about a half hour down the road at the Kwik Star in Brooklyn. Shelf food, rib sandwich. Plus a sample piece of carrot cake. They also had chicken sandwiches and chicken nuggets, sample size.
BB always is watching the weather, even when it is clear. Today it was dumping earlier and now there is another band coming in. We are watching the frequent lighting strikes. Then the rain dumps. Narrow band but enough to slow traffic down.
Once we get north of where the storm had gone through, farmers are combining. In places everything is either dried up or mature. Both beans and corn.
I'm noticing a lot of Claas dealers, most look to be part of the Agco dealerships.
We stop again at the rest area in Dows, we didn't think about combining our rest and fuel stops I guess. Then we stop again at the Pilot in Clear Lake for fuel. Two RV's are pulling out. I yell over to them. They are going to the next show, we had not signed up for that.
This looks like the couple where the guy does everything except drive the 2nd RV. All inspection, fuel, everything but drive.
We get to the shipper just after 5 PM. They hand me the keys but no paperwork. I call dispatch and they still pick up, the paperwork should be in the truck. It was. Whoever dropped it must have gotten the keys, put the paperwork in and given the keys back. The shipper did say that four other drivers picked up this AM.
There are still more trucks to PA here, plus one each for KS and IL.
I call dispatch back again when I see the paperwork. It says my truck needs to be washed ... that likely seals that I will NOT be making delivery tomorrow. And my paperwork says my delivery is in Fontana ... California.
Dispatch does ask if we want to bring a truck from here back to the office when we come back. Not likely, we usually don't come right back. And I would rather take another one out. Lots nicer than trash trucks to drive.
Inspection goes quick and we decide to drive a few miles yet tonight. Truck is on 'E' so I fuel at the Shell a block away. 10 gallons.
Then we head to the Quality Inn in Owatonna about 45 miles away. That will be late enough.
Once we check in, we drive to Jimmy Johns and get our sandwiches and back to the hotel.
Load board
US - 111
IA - 1/0
MN - 5
WI - 3
Tomorrow. Six hours to the wash, one hour to the drop. Nine hours from us leaving the hotel until the drop closes.
Wrong place, wrong time. There are 4 trucks in IL going to CA and there are 10 trucks in CO coming back to MN. The CO trucks are 800 miles from this drop so doesn't exactly pay. Not with the chase car.