1 Tree truck to Cedar Rapids IA

... spending the night at Durham NC

No keys, no paperwork ... spending another night.

Alarm at 6, breakfast at 7. Bacon.

Running a little slow so we did not get out of here until 7:45. Temps cooler than forecast.

Half hour trip to the shipper. Can't find my paperwork in the box. There are 12 sets of paperwork plus four that have already been picked up. Then BB comes over and goes through everything again. We look by first digits, by last digits by VIN.

Then we drive out to see if my truck is there, it is ... so no one has taken the wrong truck. Now we know what it is and that our things will fit. It is a 750 Ford.

Then we go back to the office and wait. Plan was to wait until 9 AM to call dispatch. I email right away but no call back on the email.

We notice a couple of cars drive through the parking lot. The first one stops to ask something that I can't hear. Finally I get out and go over to their car. Lion Foods, where is Lion Foods ... sorry, I am from MN and have no idea.

2nd car goes through the parking lot a couple of times and then stops and walks to the mail boxes. I have parked where I can't see them but when I realize it is taking them longer than it should, I walk over. Then I can see that he has our company box open. So I start talking to him. First he says everything is OK ... but I can see he still has not found his paperwork.

So I ask if he is going to IA ... yes. And your paperwork is missing ... yes. So we go through all of it again. No paperwork.

By now it is 9 AM so I call dispatch and they pickup right away. Get a hotel.

Dispatch didn't suggest it, but there is one truck here going to GA that we could have done today and been back here sometime on Monday. Instead we will just be back at 8 AM Monday when they open.

Talked to the other driver some. He is heading to IA, same place as us. Has already called the drop. Already has a car back to IN. Did get his number in case we end up on the same time table. Not too likely, we drive 8-9 hours a day and he drives 10-11 hours a day.

Looking for something to do in sub freezing weather. There is a mall next to the rental car place. Looked online. Closed. Completely. Used to have 2-3 anchors. Sears, Macy's, etc. Sounds like they were going to knock it down a couple of years ago but it still stands. This area seems nice enough but the mall had security issues including one fatal stabbing.

Shortly before noon, we head to the rental car place. This time they would not let us keep our car. Where we had picked up this car, they had upgraded us to a nicer car. This place would not let us keep it. They had re-rented it and had a 'correct' size for our price. No big deal, just doesn't happen often like this.

Next stop was Cook Out ... this one was drive through only so we ate in our car. We each got a malt ... on a sub freezing day. Their malts are not that good, but we keep hoping and trying. Burger was good.

Next we went to Sarah P Duke Gardens to walk. There is a fee for parking but not to enter. It covers 55 acres and has signs by the trees and bushes. There is a Asian area, historical area, etc. We were there about an hour and walked over a mile. Warm in the sun, if you are dressed for it.

Back home to the hotel until meal time.

We order from the Italian place again, this time walk across to get our food. Tonight we split one order again.

Tomorrow we will try it all over again.