From Iowa to Tenneessee

Today was pretty much an uneventful day. Woke up this morning around 6:00 AM and drove around to the side of the Wapsie Valley Creamery in Independence, IA. Shortly after I backed into the loading dock, someone came out to say they were going to start loading. It didn't take too long, about 30 minutes, and I was inside the office signing the paperwork.

A short way down the road and I saw a small truck stop with a McDonald's where I just had to pull over for my usual breakfast and sweet tea.

About 6 more hours, I stop for fuel at a Pilot in Okawville, IL. Next door to the Pilot was a family restaurant called The Hen House. So I decided to go ahead and have some lunch too. Fried catfish, coleslaw, fries, and a salad. Wasn't too bad. I'll have to stop there again next time through.

Then it was non-stop all the way to Murfreesboro, TN and another Pilot truck stop. Here is where I'm staying for the night. That's about it for today. Like I said it was pretty uneventful. See you back again tomorrow.

Finally Fixed and On The Road

Well when I left you last night, I was still waiting to get the truck into the shop. Shorty after I wrote last nights blog, I decided to just go ahead and get to sleep. That was about 11:00 PM. I'm not quite sure but I think it was around 2:00 AM when they came knocking on my door and told me they were ready. I pulled the truck into the shop and tried to lay down again, but it was just too noisy inside there to sleep. They finished up around 4:00 AM, replacing the windshield, brakes on the front drive axles, and a few other minor things.

After pulling the truck out I walked over to the dispatch window to tell them my truck was out of the shop and to put me in line for a load. I was expecting to be put in line and I'd be going back to sleep for a few more hours. But instead, there wasn't a line, I was now first, and there was a load that needed to get to NE Iowa by 4:00 PM. Okey Dokey!

I grab the paperwork and headed for the truck. When I got to the truck, I put the paperwork in and grabbed my shower bag and some clean clothes. After a shower to help wake me up, I hooked up to the loaded trailer, went to fuel up, and headed north on US71. About 45 minutes later, I saw a McDonald's at a truck stop. Grabbed a #2 meal (sausage egg cheese muffin) with an orange juice, AND a large sweet tea.

Then 7 1/2 hours straight through to Ridgeway, Iowa where I unloaded at 3:15 PM! I had 45 minutes to spare! I asked the guy who unloaded if there were any restaurants in this little town; and I mean little! He says nope but go on down the road further about 10 miles to the next and there's Sue Z Q's Family Restaurant and they have enough room around back to park the truck. So I drove on over to Sue Z Q's and ordered a bacon cheeseburger with everything on it, fries, and a sweet tea. I should have known right then I was in trouble when she asked if I wanted my tea warm or iced. I said iced and she brought me back the worst sweet tea ever. It tasted like unsweetened instant tea, not brewed sweet tea. I even added 6 packs of sugar and it was still nasty! Atleast the burger and fries were good.

When I finished I had my next load assignment waiting in the truck on the Quallcom. I map it out real quick and head down south 76 miles to Independence, IA. Here's where I now sit until the morning waiting to load at 7:00 AM. This load will be going all the way down to Georgia.

So thanks for stopping by and I'll see you out on the highways.

Waking Up Early and Eating Late

What a day. I set my alarm to wake up this morning at 4:30 AM because I needed to be at Dick's Sporting Goods for a 5:30 delivery. Well I guess the anxiety of making sure I was awake caused me to wake up around 3:00 and I couldn't fall back to sleep. And as usual, I started dozing off around 4:25 just in time for the alarm to wake me back up!

By 5:00 I'm off down the road. Dick's Sporting Goods in Davenport, Iowa was just 7.5 miles from the Flying J truck stop I spent the weekend at. So it only took a few minutes to get there. Their dock was pretty easy to get to also. Some of these shopping centers make it difficult for the big trucks to get in and out of. I got there about 5:15 and lined myself up ready to back in. They came out right at 5:30 to break the seal, and I backed into the door.

While they were unloading, I logged all those Geocaches I found yesterday into their website. I was also thinking about getting something to eat too. There was an IHOP located in the shopping center and their Harvest Grain Pancakes sounded really good then. But it was still kinda early and I thought I'd wait until I got the next store.

OH, this was a double load. Half the trailer went to the Dick's Sporting Goods in Davenport and the other half went to Cedar Rapids.

It took Davenport about 2 hours to unload, so at 7:30 I was on my way to the other store. I arrived in Cedar Rapids at 9:00. They had a storage trailer backed into their dock. Therefore I had to drop my trailer, hook up to theirs and pull it out. Then drop their trailer, hook back up to mine, and then back into the dock. Of course after they finished unloading, I had to do that all over again putting their storage trailer back in place.

While waiting for them to unload, I went looking for a place to eat. This shopping center had a lot of good restaurants to choose from. Unfortunately NONE of them served anything for breakfast and were therefore closed! Arrgh! By the time they even opened, I couldn't get something because they could be finished unloading at any minute. And Dick's doesn't allow the drivers back inside so I couldn't know for sure.

Well, because they took 2 1/2 hours to unload, I was already running late to pick up my next load. By the time I shuffled the trailers back into place, I had barely enough time to make my rescheduled pickup time for the next shipper. I rushed down the road 72 miles to Muscatine, IA arriving there at 1:00 PM. Fortunately I was picking up a preloaded trailer so all I had to do was drop and hook. Get my paperwork, setup my GPS maps, and by 1:45 I am heading to Missouri.

Heading south on US-61, I FINALLY come across a small truck stop in Newport, Iowa that had a Godfather's Pizza in it. So after almost 12 hours from when I woke up this morning, I finally get to eat. I quickly ate a mini sausage pizza and a sweet tea and continued on south.

By 5:45 PM, my clock was nearing the end and I pulled over at another small truck stop along US61 in Bowling Green, Missouri. This load has 5 deliveries on it and the next stop is in St Louis, but it's not due until 11:00 AM. So here is where I'll stay for tonight.

I walk over to the Dairy Queen for an ice cream before calling it quits for the day. That's a truckers day for today. Thanks for stopping by.

A Day of Biking and Geocaching

OK, so I have now where to go today. I'm sitting here in Davenport, IA along I-80 at the Flying J truck stop. Can't deliver my load until Monday morning, so I can either sit here in the truck all day or get the bike down and explore the area.

I choose to explore the area of course and get some Geocaches. I woke up around 7:00 AM, looked up some caches in the area, plotted a course, and wrote them all down. At first I wasn't going to eat until afterwards, but then I decided that I was charting a pretty good loop and may be a while before returning. So I went into the Flying J for breakfast. NOT the buffet this time, but 3 eggs over easy, bacon, hash browns, and wheat toast. While eating I programed the GPS with the caches.

By 10:00, I have the bike down and getting ready to go. It started out as a cool morning, so I wore jeans, hiking boots, and a thick t-shirt. But it didn't take long before it warmed up. By the time I was finished, it was close to 90 degrees and I was hot!

After it was all said and done, I made a 26.7 mile loop from north Davenport up to Eldridge and back. I found 20 Geocache hides, DNF'd on 4, met another cacher at one of them, and drank 2 Gatoraids.

The first thing I did upon returning to the truck was to get a shower! I needed it by then. After that I started my laundry and got something to eat for dinner. After everything was all done and put away, I spent the rest of the evening on the phone with my lovely wife.

Now it's time for bed. Got an early morning delivery which you'll here about tomorrow. Until then; see ya on the road...

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!!!

Hello again and thanks for stopping by. Today was a get up and go go go day. I set the alarm for 5AM this morning in Mt Vernon, IL. I had to go 232 miles to Greenfield, IN which is just east of Indianapolis. Then go west for 41 miles over to Plainfield, IN by 2:00 PM to pick up my next load. Now the majority of this driving today is in Illinois (about 150 miles of it) which has a 55 mph speed limit for trucks. I think they're still living in the 70's and a big fan of Jimmy Carter. OH well.

Anyway, so I wake up at 5:00 AM to give me a cushion. I was planning on getting there by noon. By 5:30, I'm pulled up to the fuel island to top off both tanks. They hold 180 gallons and it only took 130 gallons to top them off. I'm glad I don't have to pay for it!

By 5:45 I'm on the road. After a few hours I finally stop for my McD's breakfast and a sweet tea.

I arrived in Greenfield, IN at the Sam's Club distribution center about 10:40. I check in, drop the loaded trailer, pickup an empty (which they left a mess and I had to sweep it out first), then hit the highway. Back through Indianapolis to the other side, I arrive in Plainfield to pick up my next load around 12:15. I drop the now clean empty trailer there and pick a loaded trailer.

This load is a 2-stop load going to Iowa. It's only a 302 mile run to the first stop and it's not due until Monday morning so I have plenty of time now. I at first contemplated hanging out there in Plainfield for a while. There's some geocaches in that area that I've been wanting to find for some time now but have not yet had a good opportunity. Plus there was a classic car show going on at one of the dealers a few blocks away too. But I decided to drive non-stop to Davenport, IA so that I could get there today. By doing this I'll have all day Sunday off which will allow me to reset my 70 hour clock. This will also give me a full day to go geocaching on a long bike ride and do laundry after that.

So driving non-stop, I arrived in Davenport, Iowa at 5:45 and parked at the Flying J truck stop. Here I also went in a got me something to eat too. Now it's bedtime.

Thanks for stopping by.

Made it to Memphis

Well I finally finished my Tuesday on Wednesday. As you can see by the date of this post, it is real early on Wednesday morning. Another looooong day for me.

It started out pretty good. I had plenty of time to make my pickup at the shipper and plenty of time to make the delivery. When I woke up it was a cool morning, around 72 degrees. I didn't have to pick up my load at the shipper until 5:00 PM. So I got the bike down to go for a ride along the Mississippi River walk here in Muscatine, IA and do some geocaching. Kind of a gloomy morning actually. Low overcast clouds, I thought it might rain on me. So I left my camera behind just in case. The round trip was 11.8 miles and I found 9 caches.

After getting back to the truck and hanging the bike up it was almost noon. So I went inside to Blimpies and ate a Philly cheesesteak sub.

Started driving down to the shipper about 12:30, just in case they may have it ready early. Just as I was pulling into the city of Burlington, about 3 miles from the shipper, I get a message that the load has been unassigned and I'm given a new load. So I find a place to pull over and see what was going on. Further messages now have me going 40 miles further to Keokuk, IA with a pickup time of 3:00 PM. And it delivers in Memphis on Wednesday morning instead of Thursday. OK. So I program my GPS for Keokuk and keep heading south on US61 to the southeast tip where Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois all come together.

The shipper finished loading around 5:00 PM and I continue south. I'm still on US61, so I occassionally hit some towns and stop lights. Normally I don't mind except when I'm heavy. And this load is heavy! I've got 44,000 lbs of some kind of food product used in processed foods. Not exactly sure what it is. Probably all those ingredients on the label that you really don't know what they are. Not until I reach St Louis where I get on I-55 do I not have to worry about stop lights.

A quick stop in Pevely, MO for a McD's burger and sweet tea to go around 8PM and I'm again on my way. I also encountered some serious rain, lightning, wind, and a little hail for about 50 miles in the southern part of Missouri. Watching the lightning from a distance was pretty cool. I used to enjoy that as a boy growing up in Florida. But once I got into the middle of the storm, the lightning was striking all around me. A couple of times hitting lights posts on the overpasses within a hundred yards from me. The flashes were so bright at times, it was light driving at night with a bright strobe light mounted on your hood causing brief moments of blindness.

But just before I hit the Arkansas state line, the rain cleared up and was all in my rearview mirrors. Now just 70 miles to West Memphis were I'll be parking for the night. I pulled into our terminal here about 12:30 central time. Went inside for a shower and now I'm writing this to you. Time for bed.

Good night and see ya tomorrow.

Still Stuck in Iowa

Well I didn't get very far. Unloaded this morning along with another CFI/Con-Way driver. After about an hour of waiting for my next load assignment, I went for a bike ride to grab some geocaches. There were 4 along the bike trail which ran along side where I was parked. The total round trip ride was only about 7 miles this time out. But I was able to snag all 4 finds. One of which posed to be very difficult, but I was able to find it at the last moment.

By the time I got back to the truck about noon, I was hot, sweaty, and hungry! I still had not yet received a load assignment yet. I saw one of the warehouse workers sitting outside reading a magazine so I stopped to talk to him for a while. I first asked him about a good place to eat in the area. Then we got talking about politics and the health care issue. We also discussed the fact that their warehouse/factory was down from 300 to 100 employees. Most of their manufacturing has been shipped to Mexico. But his day is spent unloading a few trucks once in a while, but mostly they sit around reading magazines and try to keep from falling asleep. Then I found out they are a union shop and what they get paid. $20 per hour for unloading trucks and $13 an hour for doing nothing. And they can't understand why their jobs are being shipped to Mexico!

Anyway, if I stay on that subject I'll never stop.

By the time we finished talking, it was about 1:00 and I'm STILL hungry. And I received a load assignment. I went to the truck to check my messages. They gave me a load to NORTH DAKOTA!!! So I replied back wondering why if I'm supposed to be going home to FLORIDA! Wrong direction. After a few minutes, they unassigned the load from me.

Then another 30 minutes later I received another load assignment going to Mississippi. However it doesn't pickup from the shipper until tomorrow afternoon down in Burlington, IA. So I have a day and a half to drive 150 miles. So I map out the route and write down all the info.

Now it's about 2:15 and I still haven't gotten anything to eat. I ride my bike a block down the road the suggested tavern for a burger. The bar tender tells me the kitchen closed at 2:00 and won't be open again until 5:00. Great, the only thing I've eaten all day was a donut at 7:30 AM the warehouse had.

So, I hang the bike up and head on down the road. About 30 miles later, I see a McDonald's with truck parking. I get the Angus bacon cheeseburger, fries and a LARGE sweet tea!

Then it was about another 30 miles down the road, I come across a Flying J truck stop. There I was finally able to get a shower. But wait.... there's 4 geocaches within a half mile from the truck stop! I can't let them just sit there without trying. So before I get the shower, I program them into the GPSr and go for a walk. I find 3 of the 4 caches. I found the location for the 4th one, but it just wasn't there. Another MIA cache. Now, off to the showers!

I stopped for the night here in Muscatine, IA at a small truck stop. Only about 30 miles left to go tomorrow to the shipper. Hmmm maybe there's some caches in this town I can get in the morning.

Until then, see you on down the road.

Going to Iowa

Woke up this morning in Kansas City, KS to a cool clear 62 degrees. So much for global warming. It felt great! If this is global warming, let's keep it going.

Received my next load assignment around 8:00 AM. The pick up location was just across the river in Kansas City, MO at one of our drop yards. The destination is in Dubuque, IA about 398 miles away and doesn't have to be there until 10:00 AM on tomorrow. So I got plenty of time.

Looked up some geocaches along the route and then headed out to the drop yard about 10:30. Hooked up to the loaded trailer and was on the road northbound by 11:00. I drove straight through Missouri. Stopped at 2 different rest areas along I-35 in Iowa to grab the hidden geocaches there. Finally about 3:00 PM, I stopped at a Pilot truck stop in Des Moines, IA for a shower and a bite to eat. Since I had not eaten breakfast or lunch yet, the buffet looked pretty darn good! I think I ate enough for today and tomorrow!

I hit the road again about 4:30 PM and stopped at the next rest area along I-80 eastbound. I picked up the 2 geocaches that were hidden there and met another cacher along with his 2 sons. They were heading back to Michigan. We talked for a few minutes and then kept going.

Two more rest stops and two more caches. I reached my location in Dubuque, IA about 7:00 PM. The place was closed but they doo have plenty of overnight parking available so this is where I'm at. Looked up another cache about a half mile away, but by the time I walked down there it was just a little too dark to find it. If I have time in the morning, I just might give it another try.

Anyway, that's it for now. Sorry no photos today. See you again tomorrow. Hopefully headed in a direction towards Florida. I'd like to get home this weekend.