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.. the trip continues from
HERE
2023 09 06
IL-IA
1 box truck to Des Moines IA (delivered)
1 trash truck
to Elk Grove IL (Thursday)
... spending the night at Owatonna MN
BB
is up early, then I'm up early. We go down and get breakfast before calling
dispatch at 7 AM. At some point I finally remember to check my BP. Usually I do
it every morning within a few minutes of getting up. Today we were almost ready
to walk out the door so by then I had lots of things on my mind. I was
expecting my BP to have gone up. Nope, first time in a year plus that it was
under 100. ???
I did call dispatch and get the trip from Huntly, pay is
OK. It's used. I call the shipper, it is 'in the body shop.' That doesn't sound
good, but if it got there unexpectedly, there is a good chance for some free
fuel.
Only a half hour to the shipper from the hotel ... oh, by this AM
I was able to tell that I am OK on my driving hours. I just hadn't looked at
the program close enough before and there were zero's in some fields so I
wasn't sure how that worked. Now I do.
At the shipper, we find the body
shop. Truck is parked out front waiting for me. All checks good, 1/2 tank of
fuel :) But the truck won't start. BB is watching me, trying to see what I am
missing. Don't know what I did different but finally it started. Then I asked
the guy in the shop about the starting. He said just hold it in the start
position, it will start.
I make my calls to my dispatcher and the drop.
I have until 5 PM to get it dropped. I'm hoping between 2-3 PM.
... and
we are off.
I rarely get phone calls but today I get two. Smart phone
rings, then it should roll to my flip phone ...
... MY FLIP PHONE ... it
is still in the RV I dropped yesterday. Big opps. Now I am trying to decide how
much work me and everyone else is going to have to put into this to find my
phone.
By the 3rd phone call, I am right at the ramp for a rest area so
I pull off. I miss that call but look at the other phone numbers, one is from
Indiana. I call it, it is the dispatcher for my RV trip. They don't know
anything about a phone but the 2nd dispatcher does. They give me the phone
number of the person at the drop who has it. At least I know where it
is.
Right after I pass the last known truck stop, I realize I am going
to be low on fuel. After the low fuel light comes on, I find a Loves.
I
pick the only island with just the person at the pump in it. All other islands
had lines. A pickup is there but no one is around. After a few minutes, someone
comes out and looks at the pump and goes back inside. 10 minutes later, the
same guy comes back out with a bag ... and starts fueling.
Fueling
doesn't take long, it is a pickup. Then he gets in his truck and starts it ...
and sits there for another five minutes before pulling ahead. NOW I can finally
fuel. I fuel and the driver is still sitting ahead of me. I pull up as close as
I can to him and he finally moves.
I only needed eight gallons, I am
usually in and out in 10 minutes. Today was 30+
... and the IA weigh
scale is open. No issue, just a line (and I have a used truck)
I had
been ahead of BB all day but that 30 minutes has now put her ahead of
me.
As I pull off the freeway at my exit, I mis-judge the ramp and come
in without down shifting correctly. I try to take the turn in too high of gear
and the truck dies. And won't start. 10-20 (?) times I won't start. Nothing. So
I am not wearing the battery down, but I am blocking the intersection,
partially.
Finally I call the drop, the person who answer's puts me on
hold ... and the truck starts.
All that time I had spent at the truck
stop I should have looked closely at my drop location. I didn't. I thought I
know where it was. I didn't.
I finally stop and call BB. For some reason
my smart phone will not find the drop address. One of the computers did before,
that is how I knew where it was.
BB gives me directions, I would have
ended up there but I also wanted to let her know why I was running so
late.
At the drop, someone in the office is the one who just walks
around the truck to make sure I have not damaged it. And we are free to
go.
No good work for tomorrow. We had hoped there would be an RV for BB
but the best trip is a trash truck out of Dodge Center. And that will get us
down near my phone.
We wait until after the east coast dispatchers have
gone home for the day before committing to the trash truck. I also called my
local dispatcher to see if they had work in IA, not today.
:) I ended up
making more money on the fuel today that the driver pay was. So good trip after
all.
Now we have to decide how we are going to get my flip phone. BB
could drive by with the rental (but it was my problem.) Or I could take the
trash truck past that location, it would only add a couple of miles but a lot
of time as it is non-freeway. Or we could pick it up Friday AM on the way back
after my drop.
Load board
US - 147
IA - 1/0
MN - 9
WI - 7
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2023 09 07 MN-IL
1 trash
truck to Elk Grove IL (delivered)
1 tree truck to Fort Wayne In
(Thursday)
... spending the night at Kenosha, WI
Breakfast was
...
This place had been a Microtel and it doesn't look like much has changed
but the name. I think the most cars we ever counted was five.
Looking
closer shortly before we left the place didn't really look 'clean.' But by then
we'd been here for 12 hours so part of it could have been us. We know for sure
that the coffee put hadn't been cleaned. BB did that.
Right at 7 AM
local I called a east coast dispatcher to line up a 2nd truck. We usually do
not line up a second until we are in our first, but today we need to go that
direction anyway, even if my truck breaks down. We need to get my
phone.
We stop and pick up my paperwork and are at the shipper when my
other company is still there. No one I knew. Someone was having issues and was
still there when I left at 8:30 AM. They likely had been there since
7:30.
No issues with truck today, really.
When I got in my truck,
I happened to reach across the steering wheel and honked the horn, later I was
doing my paperwork on the steering wheel and honked again ... both times BB was
right in front of my truck. So ...
BB realized that this truck has radar
censor's ... get too close to them and an alarm would sound in my truck. So
that is what she did ... stood where the alarms would go off.
Before we
pull out I call on my phone, they don't pick up so I leave a message and BB's
phone number. They never do call back.
We pull out at 8:30 AM. Ouch,
this is going to be a rough ride. A real jack-hammer of a ride. I put some more
air in the seat and that keeps it from bottoming out. But it also puts my head
six inches from the roof. I only hit my head once before remembering that I
need to bend my neck every time it looks like there may be a bump coming
up.
Between how I was holding my head and no where to rest my arms ...
and now that I raised the seat, my feet don't touch the floor ... my body
started hurting early on.
But there were not any alarms, that was nice
not to hear.
This carrier says to stop in West Salem, Janesville and Des
Plaines with this CNG so that is what I do. At West Salem the machine gives me
a blank receipt so I need to go inside. From here I call dispatch, my drop and
my local dispatcher who had called while I was driving. I had called him last
night from Des Moines, now he's 'got my number.' Sorry, I am NA right now
again.
I do have to go into the first scale by Sparta, my placards are
not where they are supposed to be but they do not flag me in. Small cab so no
where to put them in the windows and at pickup this AM it had just been raining
so tape would not have stuck.
Just south of Tomah there was a semi
rolled in the on coming lane, two tow trucks working on flipping it and traffic
backed up. The plus side was it was in road constructions so there were already
cones set up.
BB stops in St Charles because USUALLY fuel is cheaper
there. Not today. Then she stops in Camp Douglas at the Double Nickels
Deli.
My next stop was the Kwik Trip in Janesville for fuel. I expected
it to be busy, it wasn't. One truck at each island when I got there. They left
and no one else came while I was there.
I hooked up and started the
pump. By the time I grabbed a sandwich and drink, it was done pumping and I was
just starting to eat. No rib sandwich today so I got chicken. I inhaled ...
slow eating for some ... and I was in and out in about 15 minutes. BB was
texting me that she was at the Janesville rest area about five miles
back.
This AM, the plan had been for her BB to pick up my phone today
and meet me at my drop. But because of how often she stopped and how long she
stopped, she wasn't going to have time. Instead of being ahead of me, she was
still behind me with one hour to go.
But she does stop at the Oasis and
ask about my I-pass. It is still good, still works. So the random times it
doesn't are just glitches, not a dead I-pass.
3rd stop of the day for me
was the Oziga CNG stop. Oziga is a cement company that has a public CNG pump on
their property.
From here I am only two miles from the drop. BB looked
at the drop last night and said we had been there before. I did not look at it,
but had written all the street names down ... to a nearby trash company. That
was not where this truck was going. But close.
It wasn't until I was
turning into the shop that I realized that yes, we have been here
before.
In and out in about 15 minutes.
Then I call tomorrows
shipper. It is the same company that we move trucks for locally in MN, but
their WI office. This is the shipper that used to have an area at the state
fair until this year. Now I know it is likely a new truck. But I didn't ask
what it was. Big, small, brand, type. Nothing. All I know is it is going to
IN.
But before we pick it up, we need to pick up my phone. Tomorrow's
shipper is 12 miles from where my phone is. So not as big of pain as it could
have been.
Before 5 PM we are at a restaurant near our hotel. Last time
we were here we ate at the Brat Shop. This time we ate at a converted former
Perkins. Very slow for 5 PM. Not even a half dozen customers. Food was good.
Lasagna for me, shrimp pasta for BB. Half of my became to go and I was still
stuffed.
Comfort Inn for the night.
Load bord
US - 122
IA
-0-
MN - 8
WI - 4
As of now we are ending up in Fort Wayne on a
Friday night. There had been a truck back to WI but that is gone. There are two
others but we'd have to get a Saturday delivery OK'ed before I'd take
them.
Looking for rental trucks, those drops are open seven days a week.
There is one going to MN, but it is in SD. So that would have to be a Sat or
Sun pickup. Not likely. And not enough money.
IF we don't get two RV's
tomorrow ... and there has been -0- RV's all week. If we don't get work
tomorrow ... we'll head home and then likely start each of the next three weeks
working for my local company and pick up other trips once we deliver the first
unit.
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2023 09 08 WI-IN
1 tree
truck to Fort Wayne In (delivered)
... spending the night at Merrillville
IN
Breakfast was ... leftovers. Half my leftovers, the rest we dumped.
Too much food.
About 7:30 we pull out of the hotel. In just over a half
hour later we are at our first stop ... to pick up my phone. It was laying on
the counter in the entrance with a sticky note on it that said 'driver.' Just
they didn't think anyone was going to take it.
Less than a half hour
later we are at today's shipper. When I tell them which truck I am looking for
they say that one is going to PA. Hmmm. Lot's of thoughts go through my head,
but when the person comes back from checking, they say that all trucks have the
PA address because that is the 'sold to.' They need to write the address we
have on their copy before I can sign it.
Truck is parked right out
front. I had no idea what I would be driving. Ford, Dodge, Pete ... box, boom
... stick. It is a Freightliner with a boom, but the rest of the box is a shop
truck, not the usually tree box. And the fuel gauge shows 1/16th until it has
been started a few minutes, then it shows 'E.'
BB thinks she must have
looked out of place here, she was walking around my truck and someone in a car
stopped and asked if they could help her ...
All checked good.
My
plan was to stop here in town if the fuel gauge didn't come back up before I
got to the station, otherwise drive the eight miles to a Kwik Trip where the
fuel is much cheaper. The gauge did come back up, to 1/32nd so I kept
going.
We had talked about where the Kwik Trip was, but I had not looked
at a map. I thought it was the large one with 100+ parking spots right at the
freeway exit ... so when I didn't see it, I pulled over to call BB. This one,
the closest one, is another two miles past the freeway. I made it. Turns out
the large one is at the next exit which would have been a couple of more
miles.
I guessed that I would get 12+ mpg as to not leave fuel in the
truck that I don't need to. So 20 gallons at this stop.
Then I make my
phone calls. One was to the drop ... " Hello ___ (my name)" So I asked how he
knew it was me ... he puts all numbers into his contacts. Not sure if this was
from a prior drop or if dispatch has to call him with my info. I guessed we
would be there by 3 PM. Not a problem.
And we are off.
Lots of
slowdowns in Chicago traffic today. BB stays close behind me most of the way.
It is much easier for a big truck to go the speed limit, or close, than it is
for a car without getting tailgated. But by the last oasis, BB needed to use
the restroom so she exited.
Today the wipers were on some speed most of
the time. No down pours but often a mist.
By Plymouth, I am down to 1/4
tank of fuel, which is where I need to leave it so I stop at Pilot and and
another 8 gallons. I get a message that BB is at the Loves in the same town, I
reply. As long as I am here, I get a juice and a rib sandwich. Sandwich was not
bad.
Shortly after I pull back on the highway, I notice that BB is
behind me again. By the time I get to Fort Wayne, I am bouncing off the 1/4
line and I still have a few miles to go. I go past another Pilot truckstop but
decide to chance it.
At one of the last stoplights before the drop, a
guy on a bicycle crosses when the left turn lights are on. Then I watch as he
does a u-turn and crosses the highway again when the cross traffic can cross.
And it looks like he is about to cross again ... when he puts his kickstand
down and walks out into the traffic lanes and picks up a phone. Not sure if it
was his, I didn't see him drop it but he got it before anyone ran over
it.
Low fuel light never comes on. I take a picture as soon as I am
parked. And as I pull in, someone walks over to me and does their inspection.
Crew was still there when we got there but then was leaving ... it was after 4
PM there instead of 'around 3 PM' as I had said.
As soon as I had my
things out, the guy went and parked it. I was watching ... so as he was walking
away from the truck, I noticed, so I yelled ... "you left the lights on."
;)
No work that works for us on the load board. So I call my local
dispatch, they don't have anything for next week for me yet. They did say they
now have buses again. To Canada. (I'll still pass, for now)
So we are
deadheading how. It will be 13 days out. Nothing to get us to the west coast
today so we are not going that way in Sep, or likely in Oct.
More chase
trips coming up. Not as relaxing but just about as much money.
When we
head back, we go the way we had planned on coming until I decided that going
past the final Pilot was a good idea. "NO TRUCKS" That would have made for a
quick re-route if we hadn't already done that.
Stop lights ... yellow
... go? gun it? chance it? quick stop? Once in a while I do see red while I can
still see the light. Today I couldn't see the light because of the truck ahead
of me and then I saw yellow. This time I stopped ... and the cop in the left
turn lane went after that truck that was ahead of me. By the time the cop was
moving, I was watching the cop so I don't know if the light had turned red
before the truck cleared the intersection, or if the truck had been speeding,
or ...
BB needs a restroom now so we stop in Pierceton at a Speedway.
She had wanted to stop at a McCallisters to eat but it would have only been
4:30. I talked her out of that. She had stopped at Loves at noon, when I was a
Pilot, but didn't like any of their food so by now she was hungry.
We
decided to stop at BJ's. We/she ordered online. The place is too loud for old
folks and tonight is Friday night so we get it to go. When we pick up, we ask
if the cream for the cookies and cream cookie is in there and they say yes.
Next time I will say 'show me.' We haven't gotten our cream for any of our
to-go orders I don't think.
We did also get other food, BB got a
sandwich ... so so. I got bake ziti. Good but as almost always, too much. We
ate desert first. It may be our new thing.
Comfort Inn was less than a
mile from BJ's, we checked in and ate before bringing in the rest of our
stuff.
Load board
US - 109
IA -0-
MN - 5
WI - 2
We
could make it home tomorrow if we get an early start. But we have been pushing
it for two weeks so we might just sleep in. We don't need to have the car back
until Monday so getting back early will only save us one nights
hotel.
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2023 09 09 WI-IN
1 tree
truck to Fort Wayne In (delivered)
... spending the night at
home
Breakfast ... was last nights leftovers (again) plus some juice and
fruit for later.
With no alarm and no plan we head about on time. The
ramp to I-65 to I-80 is closed so instead of following the detour we make our
own. Next time I will follow the detour, it would have been all freeway except
the u-turn.
We end up taking random city streets up through Gary. Parts
of Gary rival LA and NYC but it was early on a Saturday AM not late on a Friday
or Saturday night. Most area's looked pretty good. Interesting that on one side
of the street the yards are all picturesque and the other side of the street
are dumpy with barbwire.
We make it safely and head out on a mostly
vacant freeway. Not much traffic compared to coming through on a Friday
afternoon.
1st stop was at a Loves near Ottowa. Two school buses already
there and the place was packed. We did get cookies and something to drink.
Commented to the clerk about the crowds and they said luckily someone called
yesterday to let them know to staff up, this was the 4th and 5th buses so far
today.
When we got back in the car, we ate the 2nd container of ice
cream from last night. Luckily it was sealed as it was no longer 'ice,' but
still very good with cookies.
Another two hours we are at the Loves in
Davenport. Gas is not cheap anywhere but it is nice to be getting 45+ mpg
instead of 20 mpg.
Sometime in here BB eats the 2nd half of her sandwich
from last night, this AM she ate her salad from last night. So a little more
food than we could eat from BJ's.
When we stop at the Flying J in
Evansdale, we notice that the Burger King across the street is now closed. It
was only there a few years. Hopefully not one of our families. They do own a
few near Cedar Rapids.
No sign on the door at the Flying J but the side
doors next to the rest rooms are now closed. We have to go in the main
entrance. Not sure if it was a 'today' thing or how things will be.
Less
than 10 RV's at the lot ... plus a not so nice note on our car. When we started
working here, we had to put a note in our window saying who we are and when we
will return. At some point we quit as no one was doing it anymore. There may
have not even been the blank forms at some point so we just said ... oh
well.
Today we had a note and more notes in the office. Have the note in
your car or get towed. No smiley face suggestion that we start doing it
again.
Quick stop for me at the Loves in Albert Lea for fuel. BB stops
at the Holiday in Lakeville.
Before we head home we stop at Buca's for
food. Their online app wasn't working so we had to stand and wait after we
ordered.
And then we are home.
I don't think I have done much for
crop updates. Two weeks ago when we headed out I was noticing how on some
fields on the hills the crops were turning and other others it was the low
spots that were turning. Two weeks later as we are coming home I am noticing
that most of the fields are turning.
One of the farms I watch has all
their semi's line up ready for harvest.
Other places the crops are being
chopped for silage.
Load board
US - 102
IA -0-
MN -
5
WI -0-
Sunday we are off. Monday we will either be working or
looking for work. Two trash trucks out of MN would work for us but not get us
near a 2nd leg.
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