1 trash truck to Sioux Falls SD
... spending the night at Brandon SD
The only alarm was the crack of thunder about an hour before we got up. Breakfast at home.
Pulled out a little before 9 AM. We haven't left the house for two days so today we need to stop and pick up my paperwork ... and drive through the back to see what others are taking. Paperwork for 10 other drivers that will all be leaving before the office opens on Monday. Two buses, one tanker and one semi tractor in the lot.
Two of the company vans are gone so I'm guessing some drivers have already left this AM.
The only excitement today was having the low fuel light come on. We had more than enough to get to Dodge Center but BB doesn't like the light on so we stopped in Kenyon where fuel was cheaper anyway.
It is the weekend so I had to call security when I got to the gate. No one picked up but within a couple of minutes someone was there opening the gate. This person never talked to us, just drove a little past the gate and sat there until we left.
BB was able to find my truck without having any of the numbers, she just knew what to look for.
As we are doing my pre-trip, one of the last things I do is put it in reverse to check the back up lights. The truck dies. I try it a couple of more times and each time the truck dies.
BB comes back up to see what is going on, and because I never did find how to open the windows ... I have to open the door.
She's standing on the ground next to the truck and can see that I have put the keys in the 'service ignition.' :)
There is a drive ignition in the center of the dash that I hadn't seen before that. All is good.
This is a frontend loader for my local company so I need to take it down to get it scaled before I leave town. First I need to fuel. Not paying attention and I put in the premium fuel instead. 10 gallons.
3,000# under the limit on weight so no issue. It is now almost noon so we each get shelf food and eat in the car. I had forgotten we were going to eat here so I left my truck in the fuel island. There are three islands and only two trucks pulled in while we were eating so not an issue.
Not a bad ride and/or not a bad road. Don't like doing these back to back but it may be what there is. Back at Dodge Center we sometimes have two boxes for keys, sometimes one. Right now we are back to one. My other company pretty much has two boxes all the time.
Not much for excitement on the highway today. Almost no traffic, almost no trucks. Rained a lot last night so not much field work being done, and it is Sunday so that still makes a difference in some areas.
BB pulls off at the rest area in Blue Earth and makes the hotel reservations.
I pull off in Jackson as it has been three hours of sitting. BB catches up to me there so I know where we are stopping tonight.
SD scale is closed. Dispatch had gotten my permit starting today so all was good there either way.
We get to the Quality Inn in Brandon a little before 4 PM. Lots of room to park at that time. There was a cheaper, nicer hotel closer to the drop but all reviews mentioned the airplane noise. Here we are about 15 miles from the drop.
We look online to find a place to walk and head there. $8 ? for park access ? ... no thanks. BB finds a cemetery a mile away and we spend about a half hour there walking laps. Small cemetery but off the sidewalks.
Then we come back and order food to pick up from Tailgator's. BB has some kind of fish and I get pasta.
Load board (weekend)
US - 82
IA - 1
MN - 1
WI - 5
No plans for tomorrow. We will watch the load board and I will call in to see what the local company has for us. I don't want to commit to another trash truck until it looks like there isn't going to be anything else.
Thursday there had been a truck in Omaha coming back but I saw that some of todays drivers had multi-leg trips so maybe someone has are will be already picking it up.
Not great pay for this trip but BB did the math and the rate was <> the same. The trip is just a lot shorter than most and we are getting a hotel on a less than one day trip.