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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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230406 IA-MN 1 RV to Ramsey MN (delivered) ... spending the night at home Up at 6 AM, rolling at 7 AM. Didn't mention last night that when we got home, it looked like a tornado had hit our neighborhood. Trees and branches everywhere. Guess it was the combination of heavy wet snow and then the wind. By the time it nears 8 AM, we start talking about the Bagley trips. We could have called on them at 7 AM but didn't. Then once their spreadsheet was updated they were gone. BB looked at the weather and the roads are still snow covered. We also decided not to take the WI trips. There was a pair, pay would have been good, but we pass. 1st stop is for food and fuel at the Loves/Arby's in Albert Lea. 2nd stop is the RV shipper in IA. Two other drivers there who were traveling together. Neither of us talked to them. We were pretty much in and out in 15 minutes today. BB did most of the inspection while I did the paperwork. I did talk to our yard person and they have no idea what the holdup is on the shipments. That is the shippers business, ours is just to move them once we get them. I have some fuel so I will run unit I am down to the last bar on the gauge. 3rd stop was the Holiday in Owatonna for fuel. I was able to get the 75 miles on their fuel. I put in seven gallons and the gauge shows I should have 10 miles range left when I drop. I know how to get to the drop ... until they change the roads :) (that's also a running joke) But in this case it was partially true. But IF I had been looking at the signs I would have seen our entrance to the four lane was a clover leaf. Instead I went around the round a bout and ended up in road construction. They are putting in new over passes in Anoka and where there used to be stop lights there now are detour signs. We do get where we are going. 4th stop is for final fuel at the Holiday in Ramsey. 5th stop is a few blocks away at the drop. Two people do the inspection. It takes an hour. No new trips that we are interested in. Nothing else short to MN. There are longer trips that come and go. But we can't commit to next weeks trips yet so it is just watch and wait. 6th stop is the Sweet Taste of Italy. We used to have one near us but now this one in BP is the only one left. Worth the trip. Still no work so we head home. At some point they put a trip to IL from MN on the board. I'm driving and BB doesn't want to call. It is just over a one day trip and we are looking at doing it on a Friday of a holiday weekend. I plan to call later but forget. We do drive past my local dispatch office. There is one boom truck, likely the one they wanted me to pick up last Friday (?) and one trash truck from IA. I may call them tomorrow if we are still looking for work. 7th and final stop is home. Load board US - 260 IA - 24/21 MN - 11 WI - 7 There are still two rental trucks in MN but they are going to either AZ or TX. If they were local drops we would have done them today. As of now, our choice for Monday is either the truck in MN going to IL or two RV's in IA going to Maine. But if I get out there, I would ask about a bus but the one listed is going to NJ. More likely I would end up in Chicago. We've talked about it. After last trip, BB wants to follow me with the rental car instead of riding with me on the bus. |
