1 bus to Lake Charles LA (delivered)

... spending the night at Waxahachie TX

No alarm so we slept in ... too long. Ended up getting to the drop with just minutes to spare. I said I would be there 'before 10 AM.'

Late last night, the TX dispatcher was still putting trips on the load board. One was going to CA near where I pick up buses. But ... it was gone from the load board by the time we got up. It seems like some dispatchers will take phone calls 'out side of business hours' from some people but not from others. That would have been a great trip, enough hours long to run all weekend and deliver on Monday without taking time off. Oh well.

There were also 5 NV trucks that we were not sure about, they were gone almost right away too.

Breakfast ... yogurt.

When I called for a late check out, we got one but they didn't ask for a room number. I asked if they knew which room ... they did. ??? psychic was there answer. My guess is it displays on their screen when it is from an in-house phone.

Last time I delivered here, we moved stuff from the bus to the car near the airport. This time we stop back at the hotel. I guess mostly because the hotel was right on our way back. Not sure it was any easier or faster this time.

Last night I did look at the route going into the airport to make sure there was no signage that won't allow me in. There wasn't. And no low clearance either.

I dropped BB and was off. Only a couple of turns before my drop so I didn't get lost (today ... I'll go back and add yesterdays getting lost)

I get to the drop and find someone to sign. They had not gotten the message I left saying I would be there by 10 AM and also had not heard from the shipper that I was on my way. They didn't even come out and look at the bus. Well, they did. After they signed, they came out and looked at it from across the street.

BB got there just as I was walking back to the bus with my signed paperwork. At one point BB had wanted to go back to the hotel after she got the car and pick up the luggage. That might have meant me waiting for an extra <> hour for her.

Next stop is back at the hotel to get luggage and check out.

We are looking for something different to eat other than the usual fast food. And we wanted to stop before we got to Houston so we ended up in ...

4th stop is in Winnie at Lercy's. Not a buffet. All food is behind glass and they dish it up for you. One meat, two sides, bread and desert. We each got a small and it was too much. Place seemed small but it never got full and there was a line most of the time. I had meatloaf and BB had a half chicken.

I wasn't sure about this area as when we came through yesterday I had noticed that the Denny's was gone out of one of the truck stops on the corner, some other restaurant in a truckstop on another corner was also gone. But the area was fine.

BB had looked at other places too, and we drove past two of them. Almost right next door to each other. One was a 'fish farm,' and had <> 40 cars in the parking lot. Next to it was an all you could eat chicken place ... with 4 cars.

The shorter route would have been on back roads but we decided to stay on the freeway today. And even though we do not have work, we are heading back home via Dallas in case there is any work posted. It will add about 200 miles if we end up going home but will be all freeway.

We stay on I-10 right into the heart of Houston to catch I-45, we don't even take a beltway.

5th stop is a Loves in Willis for restroom and something to drink.

TX dispatch has put a few new trips out, but nothing that works for us. Finally we decide we will take the shortest trip they have so we get to know the truck and routine.

6th stop is the rest area near Richland. I try to call the TX dispatch but they are not answering. Finally left a message but have not gotten a call back so we do not know if we got the shortest trip.

Not sure what was going on with my phone. When I was at the drop earlier today, I tried calling my contact ... the phone would hang up as soon as I dialed. BB had been commenting about how bad the cell service was here so I figured that was the issue. Now when I am calling the TX dispatcher, it does the same thing. Finally had to shut the phone off and re-start to get it to make calls.

Because we don't know if we have work and because it is getting late, we shut down east of Dallas instead of closer to the shipper.

7th and final stop is Waxahachie. First we go to Schlotzsky's. There is one in town. But they are out of potato soup and forget to give me crackers for my tomato soup. Still good food.

Then to the Comfort Inn a few blocks away.

It was in the 70's here today so both of our deserts from lunch will be thrown away. :( Still have the carrot cake from a few days ago. I've eaten some of it and it still looks like 1/4 of a cake.

Load board

US - 95

IA - 4/3

MN -0-

WI - 7

The TX dispatcher put out 30+ trips this afternoon. About 1/3 of the total load board. She is going to be busy in the AM when people start calling. Most are tractor/chassis that I won't drive.

We are hoping to get the short trip, that would keep us busy until we see if they will still be putting out more trips.

For some of our work, we only get trips from a shipper for 1-2 customers. So once those customers are done ordering, then we may not get anything else from that shipper for months or even years.

Nice to have temps in the 70's in Feb :)