1 box truck to Plymouth MN (delivered)

... spending the night at home

Up and had our usual breakfast. All the trucks that were here last night are gone, we are the sleepy heads.

Yesterday the shifter popped out of gear a couple of times and we thought maybe it was because one of the suitcases was pushing against it too hard. So I re-arranged things this AM, not sure if it did any good but the truck did stay in gear. And we are able to get all of our stuff inside of a day cab. Trash trucks do not have that much room and sometimes mixers only have one seat so we have to be aware ...

Most of the time I can be pretty quite and smooth on the gears, some times it just doesn't happen. Pretty rare that I get a stick shift.

Two hours to Forest City, a few stop lights that I had to stop for.

We have been watching how many pickups the local dealer has here in Forest City. When there was snow, they had them over by the park. Now they are crammed together in their lot, and a lot next to them ... and a lot south of town. Not sure how many 100. Pre-Covid this dealer would have about a couple of dozen total. Maybe I will have to ask, it's a small town, everyone knows everything about every ones business.

At Forest City, the load board says there are five RV's available. There are maybe 50 in the lot. Not sure why. There are also another 25 or so in the employee lot that are staged for something. We are in and out in a few minutes. Easier to take stuff out than make it fit in.

I have plenty of fuel but don't want to leave it on 'E' when I am getting hundreds of dollars in fuel money. So I decide to add a few gallons to keep it above 1/4.

Ellendale Casey's. They do take our discount card but not at the pump. I have to fuel first and then go inside and pay. I had planned on only putting in 10 gallons but the gauge didn't move so I put in 12. It still didn't move but that was enough. They guy ahead of me still hasn't moved so I back out and go and park.

I park behind a transporter moving a mixer. Stopped and talked a minute. He's new, heading to TX. Looked like he had three huge suitcases.

Inside they can not get my fuel card to work. They tried, two of them. Every trick they knew. This is the first time it has been an issue so I don't know if I should be worried about it or not. They could not even key in the card number, it has to be swiped. I thought I was only getting a few cents discount so I decided to pay with my personal card. Turns out it was closer to $1 a gallon discount. It would have paid to make it work.

I also could have called BB as we were running pretty close. She had stopped for fuel and hadn't passed me before I got off to fuel.

20 miles down the road I realize I have lost my placard off my door. I only stopped two places today. Forest City and Casey's for fuel.

I had these made up personally and now this is the 2nd one I have lost. I will need to get more so I have a spare.

I get to the drop with way more fuel than I planned. I could have added five gallons and been good. The guy who signs, without looking at it, is kind of at a loss. Tells me a few times that his boss just quit (?) and this person doesn't really know what is going on. He signs and I am free to go.

It is past noon and there is food close but instead we head up to Brooklyn Park and Sweet Taste of Italy. There used to be one closer to us but it closed on a whim ... as did Quackers who was the next name on the place. No advance notice, just a sign on the door. Anyways great food.

While we are there BB is looking at the weather and a storm just pops up out of no where, it passes over us in a few minutes. Dumps good for a while but is done by the time we are ready to leave.

While we are there, I call both Forest City and Casey's in case anyone has seen my placards. When I call Forest City ... I say I want two no-tows to California :) ... then say they like to call me when I can't work, this time I am calling them when they have not work :)

I find out that the shipper is on a plant shut down for the holiday week. So no work today or tomorrow for sure. Maybe Monday. I also call corp because I was shorted on my last bus pay. They see the error on their end and I'm paid in full in a few minutes.

Once we get home we get the paperwork from the last two trips sent in. On the truck that went to the shop, only two I-pass tolls showed up for the truck but a half dozen for the car. But we can't wait forever for them to show up and most times if it doesn't show up within the hour it never shows up. Ever. A freebie.

Off for a couple of days. I may call local dispatch tomorrow about work for next week. The more I do during the month the less guilty I feel not working month end for them.

MN load board does have one IA trip and three CGO trips. I'd like to get down to CGO in case the tanker gets ready on Monday or Tuesday. It was going to be 'worked on today or tomorrow' ... which is what they told me yesterday. But I haven't seen in on the load board again and tankers don't usually move very fast.

7:30 - Leave Cedar Falls IA

10 AM - Forest City IA - Picked up car

11 AM - Ellendale MN - fueled

12:30 - Plymouth MN - dropped truck

1 PM - Brooklyn Park MN - Sweet Taste of Italy - eat

Load board

US - 215

IA - 2/0

MN - 13

WI - 7