SE Missouri to St Louis to Kansas City - 396 Miles

Kinda tired, so this will be short.

Unloaded this morning in Scott City, MO down in the southeast corner. I quickly received my next load. So I mapped it out and headed north on I-55 into St Louis, crossing the river over into Illinois. Just a few miles later I pulled into the Pilot at East St Louis, IL. There I was receiving my next load as a relay from another driver.

While I waited, I ate at the Taco Bell and fueled up the truck.

At 1:00 PM, the other driver showed up and we swapped trailers. Jumping on I-70, I rolled on westbound non-stop to Kansas City, MO and our drop yard.

My next load picks up at 3:00 tomorrow morning at the Con-Way Freight depot across the river in Kansas City, KS. So that's where I sit now. I got an early morning wake up call so goodnight everyone.

From St Louis to Joplin, Missouri

Another early morning today, I woke up at 4:30 AM and by 5:00 I was rolling. I started out in Hazelwood behind the warehouse I delivered at last night and went just 5 miles down the road. The first stop was at a place called the Hussmann Corp. Not sure what they did there but it was a pretty big place. But I was only there to pickup one of our empty trailers.

Quickly hooking up and now down to the southeast corner of St Louis to the Anheuser-Busch brewery to pickup a load of beer. Along the way, I passed by the Gateway Arch as the sun was rising from the east. I took a picture from the dashboard for you.


Anyway, after picking up my preloaded trailer from Anheuser-Busch at 7:00 AM, I jump up on I-44 westbound to deliver in Springfield, MO. After a quick stop at a McDonald's in Dillon around 9:00, I arrived in Springfield at noon. This distributor was on the ball because they had me unloaded quickly.

Once I was empty, I asked to be brought into our home office in Joplin, MO. There were a few items I wanted to get fixed on the truck. Arriving in Joplin at 2:00 PM, I checked in and made my way first to the tire shop. They repaired a leak in one of the tractor drive tires. From there I went over to the main shop and requested they look at my brakes and a chip in the windshield.

I left them the truck and went over to the drivers lounge. Watched TV for a little while and talked to some of the other drivers. For dinner I ordered a Papa Johns pizza; medium hand tossed with pepperoni and sausage. I ended up eating 6 of the 8 slices! Guess I need to ride my bike some more.

Well it's 10:30 here local time and I'm still waiting to get into the shop. I think they cut back on the number of mechanics. Looks like only half are here compared to what I've seen before. But it's been over 6 hours now and they haven't gotten me in yet. I used to be in and done within a few hours. I just have to wait...

I'll let you know tomorrow how long it took. That's it for now. See ya on the road.

A Change of Plans

Well I woke up this morning in Bowling Green, MO around 5:00 AM. Walked over to the Hardee's for a sausage egg and cheese biscuit (the best there is) and an orange juice. After that I headed on down the road to St Louis, MO to make my first of what I thought were going to be 5 deliveries.

I arrived in St Louis at 7:30 and after checking in, I backed into the dock for them to unload. Of course while I waited I checked online for a Geocache in the area and sure enough there was one just 0.12 miles away. So I programmed the GPS receiver and went for a walk. Well, by the time I went around this warehouse and around that one, up this street and down that street, back around this fence and over to there, grab the cache and back again, it was about a mile! But that's OK. I don't mind the walk. I just didn't expect it to be that long!

Anyway, after unloading I'm back on the road by 10:00 heading west down I-70 towards Columbia, MO. Since I didn't get my sweet tea this morning because that Hardee's doesn't serve sweet tea, I was kinda thirsty for one. A few miles down the road in New Florence, MO I see a small truck stop with a McDonald's. So I decided to stop there for a sweet tea and since it was lunch time, go ahead and eat a burger.

But as I approached the exit I saw a new BBQ place that had just opened about 200 yards down from the truck stop. Well that sounds much better than a Big Mac, so BBQ it was. Called J & J's BBQ at I-70 exit 175. I got the sliced beef brisket platter with potato salad and green bean casserole. It was very good! I'll have to mark that place down in my book to remember. And they're clearing out some space out back for trucks to park too.

So back on I-70 westbound, I go past Columbia, MO where I'm delivering in the morning to Boonville to fuel up at the Pilot. Then about a mile from the HyVee grocery store for my delivery stop, I get a call from dispatch. They wanted to know if I'd be willing to switch loads with another driver who isn't able to complete his delivery on time. So I said sure and turned around back to a nearby truck stop along I-70 to make the trailer swap.

The other driver shows up around 4:30 PM and now I'm headed back to St Louis. Arriving at 6:45 PM, I check in and back the trailer to a dock. Grabbing the camera, I walk back down to the end of the street to take a photo of the street sign. I was on Fee Fee Rd which is the nickname I gave my younger sister Sophia during high school. So I had to send it to her.

Anyway, as it turns out I had to leave my trailer there so that they have a trailer for the next time we deliver. They were a new account and did not have an empty. By this time too, my clocks have expired and I'm parked out back behind their building.

Talked to my wonderful wife on the phone for a while and now it's bed time. See ya tomorrow and see ya on the road.