1 Tree truck to Cedar Rapids IA (delivered)

... spending the night at Clear Lake IA

Breakfast was a nuked muffin and yogurt.

This AM we were running a little later than usual. The drop has not called back and I had given them a much later arrival than needed. And we wanted to wait until the temps rose a little to reduce the chance of ice.

I think we left around 8 AM and there were more employees in the hotel than cars in the lot. Everyone who had stayed is gone. Next door at the Holiday Inn it looks like about half their guests are still there.

1st stop is the Loves in Davenport. Lost another 10 miles range in the first sixty miles this AM. So put in enough to get there, plus the 50 miles range to keep the low fuel light off, plus enough to loose a little more range.

Not sure what the difference was, but yesterday we got all our stuff in and I could still see all my mirrors. This AM, not so much. Finally we stood one of the suite cases up against the back of the seat. Now I could see but it was a loose projectile if I were to hit the breaks.

We did cross quite a few scales this trip, no issues.

Once we got to IA, we started seeing cars in the ditch. There were still a couple of dozen in the first hundred miles before Cedar Rapids. And lots of places where there was debris, tracks in the ditch or where the ditch was cleared of snow to make it easier to find debris.

OPPS ... I did not look at street view of the Cedar Rapids airport. No trucks. Can't think of anywhere that has been an issue before. Weight limits, height limits, yes.

So I got BB as close as possible and from there she would have to walk. The first place she tried, she had two walk a little ways across the stacked snow ... and then it was a four foot drop to the sidewalk. That didn't work for her so she did find a way through parking lots, and fences? that got her to the building.

Inside was an issue also. No cars for the people ahead of her that hadn't pre-booked. Need to have a credit card, etc. No issues for her. She did wait until she was in this car before she canceled our other car. We had booked two, because of price and drop location.

I had called the drop again from Davenport and gotten the OK to do a blind drop. One where no one will be there to sign. But BB and I did not change our plans to meet and move all the stuff from the truck to the car before we get to the drop. We like to do that incase the drop is in a rush to grab the truck or lock the gate behind us.

Our plan was to meet at the Pilot truckstop at the same exit as the airport. Small lot, smaller because of the snow. I did find a place to park out of the way but not in a spot. Before BB gets there, another driveaway driver pulls in with a mixer. Before he leaves we talk a little. He works for a small, 10-15 driver company out of GA.

BB arrives and we move luggage and I am off.

I can see where the other like trucks are parked. Address is wrong but this is where we drop. Mud lot so moving luggage at the truck stop was a good idea. Got the truck parked, hid the keys and took pictures.

Off to food. We both thought of Pepper Jax but that would take a while and be a mess to eat in the car. So Freddie's it is. Not BB's favorite but I like their custard malts.

Non-stop from there to the Pilot in Clear Lake. We meet six RV's on that leg and two more before we get to the lot. We have not seen that many on the load board recently. We did see three on the load board at one point today. BB timed it. Three minutes and they were gone.

As we left the Pilot, BB was looking at hotel prices before checking the load board. When she did check there was 1 going to 10,000 Oaks. Usually they ship two at a time. Did we miss our chance or was there only one today?

When we got to the lot there were 8 class B RV vans and a dozen class C and another half dozen class A's. Plus a couple of dozen to be flatbedded out. That is the most I have seen of those in a while. So MAYBE there will be more work this week?

After picking up our car, we head to return the rental. Then we stop at 'our' Italian place to order food. No other customers, a dozen people just standing around talking. I ask, they get busy at 5 PM and it is only 4 PM. I've never been there later in the evening when it was not busy.

Because we still had a gift card, we end up at the Best Western in Clear Lake instead of the cheaper hotels in Mason City.

BB is non-CDL. The smaller units. Usually our load board has 50-100 of those units somewhere in the country. Today at one point it was 9. Slim pickings.

I ended up loosing money on the fuel on this one. About $50, plus another $50 because I went out of route and added more miles than I was getting paid for. We still made money. Not enough, but we did make money. Even after spending almost a week in FL without working but still paying for hotels and a rental car. And we missed the worst of the midwest weather.

Load board

US - 112

IA - 4/1

MN - 2

WI - 8

Tomorrow we sit and hit re-fresh on the load board. We'll need to be out of the hotel by noon. If we don't eat our left overs, we'll then go eat somewhere and likely head home about 1 PM if there still isn't work.