1 tanker to Eagan MN (breakdown)

1 box truck to Plymouth MN

... spending the night at Cedar Falls IA

Breakfast was OK, until BB found a hair in her eggs ...

There are nice truck pumps at the Shell right across from the hotel and fuel is cheaper than with a discount at the truck stop so it will depend on how soon I need fuel.

I hadn't asked what time they open ... 5 AM right now ... so we got there at 7:45 in case they opened before 8 AM. They did. All looked good, even a 1/4 tank of fuel instead of having the low fuel light on. We check as much as we can before starting the truck and that is when I see it ...

An ABS type warning light. I'd be OK running with it but I need the OK to do that. Instead they want ME to take it to the shop. The shop can look at the code right away and if it isn't an issue, they can clear it and I'm on my way.

We did look to see where truckstops were in case I wanted to add fuel or DEF. I had thought I would add DEF but still no warning light by the time I got off the toll road. Then a few blocks down the city street and the DEF warning comes on. By that time I am driving slow enough that the De-Rate doesn't effect me. There are a couple of stations with diesel but I don't see them until I am too close to get in the correct lane. We hadn't seen them online when we were looking.

I get to the shop and they have a gate, I need to call to get in. And then they can't open the gate I am at, I need to back out onto a city street and go to a different gate. And BB is calling wondering where I am, she is at the truckstop where I said I was going. LIGHTBULB I have BB get me a small jug of DEF as long as she is there.

Trying to get into this place was a mess. One lane and it was being used and blocked. So I had to wait. Once I got parked and talked to someone, they came out right away and looked at the truck, ran the codes. It has issues that can not be cleared. I will need to leave the truck. BB is ready to head home and I doubt the shipper wants to pay down time until the shop gets around to looking at it. So I get released from the trip.

I do go and pour in the DEF before I leave. Both the DEF and ABS can do a De-Rate and this gets rid of the DEF doing it.

Now there is a truck in IA going back to MN. I call and get it. We can now return the rental car to the place we picked it up at. It is about 10 miles from the shipper.

About an hour down the road and BB needs a restroom and we could use food. So we stop at the Oasis. As I am walking looking for the men's room I watch someone walk in a different door. Not sure why, but I watched him come in the sliding doors and then just fall flat on his face.

By then I was only a few steps from him so I started talking to him and he was replying so I didn't panic. I was more noticing that no one else paid any attention to the man laying face down in the entry to the Oasis. When I saw he was bleeding a little I went and got him some napkins from the food counter. That person was standing right there watching and saying and doing nothing.

Not sure why, but I didn't think of getting a chair for him. I guess he had said enough to me that I realized he would be OK as soon as he recovered. Within a few minutes a woman came in the door and said she was his sister. She thanked me and said everything was OK. (Like it happens to him)

As I walked away, one other person did ask if he was OK. I just said that his sister was with him now and she knows what to do. By the time I got out of the restroom the man was sitting on a chair and by the time we got our food he was walking un-assisted to the restroom. His sister thanked me again and mentioned how people should never help someone up who has fallen. If they can't get up on their own, let 911 handle it.

We get Sbarro's. Mine was one slice of chicken, bacon and ranch. Thin crust, it was really good. Most of the time we get Sbarro's it is just because it is something different ... this time it was really good.

15 minutes down the road we stop again at Loves. BB couldn't wait that long and the food choice was better at the Oasis. But Loves is the easy place to get my paperwork for my next truck printed. Before we get there I get a phone call, I call back. It is my drop for the truck in the shop. I had planned on calling him but he called me first. Sorry, no truck today.

From here I call the next shipper ... he would head out to start the truck right away. They have had an issue with it starting. This is starting to sound like not such a good idea.

Another hour and we are there. The truck is sitting, still running. Not sure why but they have it locked, running, sitting in there parking lot in an industrial area. Locked?

It is a 'box truck' but not really. It's a rag top, curtain side they call it. No easy way for us to open it so everything goes inside. It took a little work, more work because it is a stick shift so there is less floor space. But we got it all in, and a place for BB to sit so we will drop the car.

Because there was a change done by a local person, we lost our discount. It ended up being the same price as if we had dropped it near home. But this way we have a few hundred less miles of fuel and don't have to spend four extra hours coming back to get our car.

Ohhhhhhh. I've been working. And a lot of the hours driving to trucks has counted as working. So I am up against my 70 hours. IF we had kept the first truck, I would have had about one extra hour to get that one dropped today. But now the only issue is that I had to be off the road by 5 PM instead of our usual 6-7 PM. We were off with a half hour to spare. It was another hour to the next Choice hotel so we shut down in Cedar Falls.

And here we walk next door to the Kwik Star gourmet cafe to get shelf food. Slim pickings. We end up with chicken tenders, some juice and an ice cream bar. Too much grease.

90+ degrees outside so no hour walk tonight.

8 AM - Elgin IL - PU at shipper

9 AM - Elmhurst IL - Drop at shop

11 AM - DeKalb IL - Sbarro - eat

11:30 - Dixon IL - Loves - print doc

1 PM - Bettendorft IA - PU at shipper

2 PM - Moline IL - PU BB at airport

4:30 - Cedar Falls IA - Comfort Inn

Loadboard

US - 212

IA - 14/13

MN - 6

WI - 7

There are two MN trips to CGO ... if they are still there next week we might take one in hopes the tanker is ready to come back to MN by then :)

Tomorrow ... we should be able to swing past and get our car and be to the drop a little after noon. And then home for the week and weekend.