1 trash truck to Bloomington IL

... spending the night at Rockford IL

No alarm, up before 7 AM. Call dispatch a little after 8 AM. Dispatch had not given my truck away so we are heading to Decatur ... no, they change that to Bloomington. About 50 miles shorter. They call again because it is not the style truck they originally said either.

At first they said my paperwork would be ready by 10 AM (2 hours,) by the next call they said it would only take them 5 minutes. Not as busy as they had expected for a Monday AM.

We were aiming for 10 AM so we were out of the house at 9:30. Heavy snow, lots of it. 6-8 inches. I didn't even try to shovel it. This is 'heart attack' snow. If we had been home all day, I might have worked on it 15 minutes at a time. Basically white water. Forecast is for 40 degrees and rain today so it should be gone shortly.

I pick up my paperwork at the office, one driver out, one truck sitting, no shuttles running today ... and it is the last week of the quarter. Not sure how busy they are, but it doesn't look good.

Sometime before we get to the shipper, BB looks at my paperwork and the route they have us going. Not the same as we have our stops planned for. I decide to go there route, better that way if something happens.

At the shipper at 11:30. Eight sets of keys besides mine so they must be running tomorrow instead of today because of the forecast. Stacks of trucks being dropped, we had to park in a different spot.

Truck was not too hard to find, we know the color and that it is a rear loader. We only found one, mine.

No issues with inspection, we made it quick because it has started to rain here. My placards will not tape to the windows because of how wet it is so I have to stick / jam them in the edge of the windowns.

One of the changes dispatch told me this AM was that it was not a front loader, so no need to get it weighed. That saves a few minutes.

Shortly after I headed down the road, my water bottle jumped out of the cup holder. Then I see something while on the side of my truck and part of it blows away. I can't see out my mirrors real well because of they are foggy and have water on them. Plus the streaks of water on my window. I can see things, just not clearly.

Then I realized they white I had seen was snow ...

10 miles down the road I see that one of my placards has fallen. Way down. So I need to stop and get out of my truck to get it. Lots of traffic so I have to wait for a break in the traffic. Where I had stopped, there were not exits and not much shoulder. Opening my door when a truck was going passed and I would be missing a door.

Only see a few eagles today. Not much time to look around in the rain.

At the scale, I have to cross and weigh. I'm the only person as far as I could see the scale who had to weigh. But they did not pull me in.

BB stopped a couple of more times but I didn't stop until I got to Poynette near Portage. Rest area. BB is already there and we decide to run another two hours and get to Rockford tonight.

My truck is governed at 60 mph so not setting any speed records. The truck is a cabover with two steering wheels. Not the worst ride. I feel the bumps but not as jolts and my head hasn't hit the roof yet.

Last stop of the day is the Sleep Inn in Rockford. From there we drive to Jason's Deli and have the salad bar. I stopped when BB was done eating.

Load board

US - 140

IA -0-

MN - 4

WI - 4

Less than three hours to the drop tomorrow AM.

The closest truck right now is one back here in Janesville going to Omaha. IF that works and we have time, there is one in KS coming back to MN. But that would be a Good Friday drop so we would have to make sure that is OK before taking the truck.