1 refer truck to Berne IN
... spending the night at Schaumburg IL
Up at six, calling the shipper at 7 AM ... and 8 AM ... and ...
Paperwork says that we must call ahead or be turned away (?) Not sure if that is something that is on all their paperwork or this just this shipper.
Sometime after 8 AM I do get a call back, just show up at the shop.
We are rolling by 8:30. To the shipper by 9:15. There is only one person in the shop so he is easy to find. We walk out and he starts the truck. Doesn't start the first time but does the second time. I tell him I will do my check of the truck and then find him again.
... there is a ABS light on. Usually not a big deal but I need to call dispatch to make sure this customer will let me run with it this way.
... most of an hour later, I get the call back. They are OK for the truck to be run with the light on if I am OK to drive it. I am.
AND before I get to their exit gate, the light goes off. An hour wasted. (plus the hour waiting for the shipper to call me back this AM)
This is a busy place so I take the truck across the street to a quieter lot owned by the same shipper. There BB and I move our luggage into the back of the truck. It is a refer/box truck.
It runs, but not too many places that do not have body damage.
Good news is they left me a half a tank of fuel. There are two tanks for the truck, one looks to be a 75 gallon and the other about a 50 gallon. So that's about 60 gallons of free fuel, 40 gallons because I can't leave it on empty.
BB leaves out and I finish doing my log and getting the truck ready.
I swing past the house to pick up BB. We are leaving the car at home for this trip.
Two scales today, both are open. We had to cross one but not the other. That should be it for this trip.
1st stop with the truck is for food in Menomonie at the Kwik Trip. It is noon, we are not going to need a half hour break today and I'm not worried about eating and dropping food in a 10 year old truck. There is junk everywhere. Nut shells, rags, chains, paper.
2nd stop was the rest area near Lyndon Station.
BB spends the day watching the load board, nothing that works for us. One trip to CA from IN. And trips heading to the north-east. Pretty quiet for the end of the quarter.
3rd stop is for fuel at the TA in Janesville. By now I am down to 1/4 of a tank. No idea how much fuel I've used or should put in. I start with 30 gallons, and then bump it to 35 gallons just because.
Before we leave the lot there, I call the drop to make sure there will be someone there tomorrow. Yes ... there will be. They are the Ford dealer. (Not sure why they are buying a very used truck 100's of miles away)
He asks about the ABS light and makes sure I do not bring the truck in on fumes. No ... I usually drop them between 1/4 and 1/8.
Then I call dispatch on a truck coming back to MN. They tell me whos truck it is and I don't have to ask any more questions. NOT likely to take it. IF that is still our only option tomorrow. I may call the drop to see which truck they are getting. Getting paid a couple of hundred to come home is better than paying a couple of hundred to come home.
We lost two hours this AM but since then things have gone good. We didn't know if we were going to stop before Chicago or after. We did know that we were not going to stop in Chicago.
When we pull out of Janesville we are talking about getting past Chicago and first stopping at the Oasis for my half hour brake. We were also talking about that because we are trying to cut down on our $50 meals. Today's lunch was $10 so that helps. Food at the Oasis but be $10-20. Food next to the hotel would be close to $50.
Then we re-did the math and realized that it would after 7 PM when we got past Chicago. And for no reason. We do not have work lined up and the shipper is open late.
We decide to stay on this side of Chicago. We talk about other food nearby but it can be a paid with a big truck to get in and out of fast food places in the cities. We decide to split something of the big buck menu.
Final stop is the Comfort Inn in Schaumburg. Food will be next door from the WildFire. We did see that the Days Inn a couple of blocks away is now a Best Western so we may try that another time. They have a Wendy's on one side of their lot and an IHOP on the other side. Here, we have a WildFire and then a place even more expensive next to it.
We get a burger. BB gets veggies instead of fries. And I get a side of soup. PLUS, we splurge and get a piece of Key Lime pie. Not cheap. We did not have pie on pie day (3.14) or on my BDay so we had it today. ALL food was good. Worth the extra.
Load board
US - 225
IA -0-
MN - 17
WI - 3