1 box truck to Davenport IA (delivered)

... spending the night at Cedar Rapids IA

Up without the alarm. At 7 AM I call the east coast dispatchers and get the local trip. We could have been ready, but it takes us about an hour to get out of the house.

Directions are to call the shipper but they aren't picking up so we head out without contact. When I get to the shipper, the sales people are in a meeting, the service people are not to be found ... by then the sales meeting is over ... but they have no idea what I am talking about. Finally they have enough info to contact the sales person who isn't in.

A few minutes later they hand me the keys and I am free to go. There is only one box truck on the lot so it was easy to find.

As we do the walk around we see the 'diesel only' fuel tank, but I can't find the DEF tank. Finally we look at the label under the hood and it says 'gasoline.' ??? We then find the gas tank. When I start the truck, I see that the fuel tank is full. That is very unusual. Usually trucks picked up at dealers are on E or close.

All checks good so I am off, BB and I won't see each other until the drop.

I looked at Google maps and it says the road is closed near Floyd in IA so that is a good excuse not to go past the scale on that route. Instead I head back to St Paul and then down to Rochester.

Fuel usage on the truck when I pick it up is 10+ mpg, by the time I stopped for fuel it was at 9.5 mpg and by the drop it is down to 9.2 mpg.

Not much for excitement on this trip, I saw two eagles feasting on a carcass. BB got to see one of them a little closer, she almost had to hit the breaks not to hit it as it lifted off. BB also saw three deer crossing ahead of her.

By the time I got to Waterloo, I was down to 1/4 tank of fuel so I stopped at Flying J and put in enough fuel to make it to the drop based on current mileage. And then put in another half gallon. I'm glad I did as the fuel I put in only raised the range to what I wanted ... with no extra.

Coming into the drop the gauge was where I wanted it, but the range was short. So I changed the screen :)

Quick check in ... I found out more about the truck. The diesel tank is a re-fueling tank for equipment. And the truck came from here. Seems this location had put the liftgate on, sent the truck to Minneapolis where the customer decided they wanted a different style gate so I brought the truck back.

BB isn't there to pick me up yet so I have time to make a couple of phone calls. I call on a trip from IL to MN ... or WI. Nope. That customer doesn't pay enough, we'll likely never move one. Then I call the RV dispatcher ... they will be open on Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving so they are not letting us call in for trips early.

There are three trucks coming into IA on the rental board, but none going out. The trips in IL could be done but don't pay enough. The only trip in WI is heading to Minot ND and we only have one day. And the two RV's in IA going to WI would also be cutting it short. ... and now there is one trash truck but again, not enough time to get done tomorrow. There would be on that one if we were home, but we are hours from home.

We had thought we would make it to Cedar Falls but a few miles before Cedar Rapids we decide to be off the road before dark. So we stop at the Comfort Inn in Cedar Rapids. First we stop at the Pepper Jax for food to go.

Load board

US - 187

IA - 21

MN - 8

WI - 2

If no work shows up in-route heading home, we'll be home early. Watching the load board until we get work.