1 box truck to Lake Longview TX (delivered)

... spending the night at Alvarado TX

Breakfast - yogurt.

TX dispatch stopped taking calls last night by 4 PM so I guessed they would start again at 7 AM. Even before that we see trips dropping off the load board.

I call at 7 AM, 7:05, 7:15 ... finally they call back. I do get the TX trip we wanted. And then I ask questions. When do you answer the phone? 7 AM - 4 PM. ... and for trips put on the load board after hours, drivers can EMAIL in their request and they will be honored in the order they came in. That explains that. But now we are two days too late to go to CA.

There is no printer in the hotel office area, so I have to email the documents to the front desk and they can print them out. And we are ready to go.

We pull out at 8:15 and are at the drop in about an hour. The address is 500 something so BB has me go past the first sign I see. Finally we are to the last gate and turn in. Someone walks out and says this is receiving. You want the main office around the building. So we head back.

There is a door, but only a sign in computer. I call the number on my paperwork and leave messages with the two most likely options. At one point I am outside and see someone walking across the lot. I stop them and they check with their boss ... I have to sign in on the computer and wait.

As I am signing in, someone else comes by and helps me to answer the questions as they don't seem to be what I am looking for. And they use their radio to leave messages on with the two people I have already left messages for.

An hour after we get to the office, someone new walks past and says something ... to which I reply that I have been waiting an hour. They go back inside and within minutes someone else is there to talk to us.

... we are in the wrong place ... they have been in meetings. (I did get to meet my/our contact there. She gave me her direct number :) )

So back to the first gate that I wanted to go in ... the guard asks which truck I am picking up, gives me the shippers copy and where to find it. It is the last truck we look at. Both because it is the right one and it is the last one in the four rows of completed trucks.

Other than the oil looking like mud, all is good. Low fuel light is on so I will be stopping at the first gas station. We take about a half hour to do the inspection. Not sure why, not much to check compared to an RV or bus.

... next time. There will be nothing to it. Now we know how. That was part of the reason for taking a short run. To find out how things work, what they pay and what they are. Pay is good. Our luggage would fit in this cab if it had to. Today the box was locked and I left it that way. Not sure where everything would go in the non-CDL trucks.

A mile down the road is a Shell station with diesel pumps. I put in based on the 9.8 mpg that is showing on the dash. And then round it up.

Non-stop for me. 175 miles.

I have looked at a map and written down the turns. US-67 to I-20 is easy. Then once I get off of I-20 things do not look right. The ramp goes onto a frontage road, I don't remember that from the map. Then I was to go under the freeway and get back on the opposite frontage road to get to the drop.

Hmmm. There is not frontage road. The first turn is the ramp back onto the freeway so I take the second turn. The turn and the cross streets look about right but the buildings do not. Then I go past a church where a service was just letting out. Funeral? 100's of cars. Another couple of blocks and I have to look at my address.

Opps ... I forgot when I got off the freeway ... I was to go four miles before getting off of THAT four lane highway and crossing under it.

Now I'm thinking my low fuel light is going to come on for the extra miles but it does not. Then I had seen my drops name on both sides of the road so I drive past first and have to come back.

Right place. Only 15 minutes later than expected. (but that 15 minutes may have cost me ... )

No issues, everything gets signed.

There is a truck in Houston that I call on. Someone else is on the other line committing to it. That is what it may have cost me. MAY because it was listed as a tractor. I would have called the shipper before I took the trip. If it was a tractor, I would have to pass. My guess is it was a tanker. Pay was great. But I never got a call back that the other driver passed on it so I guess it is gone.

Plan had been to head home from the drop if there was no work yet. There is no work yet. But if we head straight home ... there are also no hotels. So we head back to Dallas, on the chance there will be more work after hours.

Next stop is a few miles down the road at a TA for Wendy's. Easy to eat in the car. Then another 150 miles back to almost the shipper.

No work was added after hours. Last night there was about 50 trips added after hours.

Final stop is the Comfort Inn in Alvarado. We walk across the parking lot to the Waffle House.

Load board

US - 88

IA - 5

MN - 3

WI - 4

Not sure how long we have been out. If there is not work by 9 AM or so, we will be heading home and should be home sometime Saturday.

Todays trip will be a little better than a wash. It paid a little more than the hotel plus the extra day of rental car. But we learned. The longer trips will pay. Better than heading to NC/SC area.