1 trash truck to Bloomington IL
... spending the night at Davenport IA
(Spent the night doing math trying to find something that pays enough to keep moving. We are using a rental car this week)
(written up one day later)
Nothing looks good on the load board so at 8:30 I call the local dispatch. They answered. Two weeks ago it was late afternoon before I could get ahold of someone.
And they also have a trip, ready now. They had tried to move it last week but the drop was going to be on vacation and no one else can sign. Now it's mine.
'Down side' is that they close at 2 PM. Not an issue, by the time we get going we will not be to the drop during 'normal business hours' and no matter when we got going this would not be a one day trip.
I'll pick up the paperwork in an hour and half.
1st stop is the rental car place to pick up a rental car. We don't want to keep putting miles on our personal car and the price of this car is as good as it gets.
2nd stop is dispatch. When we looked at the parking lot yesterday there were eight buses, four dump trucks, a few other trucks including a trash truck. So we thought MAYBE my truck was at the office. No, that truck was gone. Some of the other trucks/buses were still there.
3rd stop is back home to drop our car and move our stuff to the rental.
4th stop is at the shipper. All is good, no issues. No other drivers there at this time today.
I've eaten breakfast today so I don't plan on eating lunch. BB did not eat breakfast so she will stop in Rochester for food. We likely won't see each other until a rest area near Davenport. There we will need to decide how long of day it will be.
5th <> stop is Chester IA. The only real business in this town is a truck stop and I didn't realize it until I was passing. So I stop just past town to make a phone call to the drop. They do not pick up so I leave a message.
The 1st number on my paperwork rang forever and then hung up. So I called dispatch back, they tell me which number they have been using. I have two numbers on my carrier paperwork and one number on the shippers paperwork. The last four digits of the phone number are the same three numerals, just in different orders. Looks like typo's.
6th stop is the rest area near Walcott. I am there before BB about five minutes. We decide on the Comfort Inn in Davenport. Never stayed there before.
7th stop is the Comfort Inn in Davenport, 17 miles down the road.
When we check in, we ask about the 'Shed,' and ask if the food is still good. It used to be a Machine Shed years ago when I ate there but since then the hotel has changed names and gone down hill to where now it is a mom and pop place with what looks like some long term renters.
But even though the road sign now only says 'Shed' and the blue sign on the interstate says 'I-80 Shed,' everything inside says Machine Shed. The place is packed, at first they said we would have a wait, but then seated us almost right away.
Way too much food. Good service.
Load board
US - 231
IA - 15
MN - 12
WI - 9