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.

Taking My Time and Seeing Some Sights

Well today was a more relaxed day. My load today was ready a bit earlier than expected at 8:00 AM instead of 10:00 AM. It was only a 478 mile trip from Plainfield, IN to Kansas City, KS and I had two days to get it there. Although I still wanted to deliver it today which wasn't a problem. This just meant I can take my time and do some sight seeing and geocaching along the way.

So I jumped onto I-70 and headed westbound. After about an hour I came upon a Pilot Truck stop with a McDonald's so I pulled in for my usual McD's #2 breakfast consisting of a sausage McMuffin meal with a large sweet tea. Sometimes I'll add and orange juice for something healthy, but not today.

Continuing down the highway, today I finally had a chance to pull off the highway and visit a sight which I have passed by many times before. The giant Cross in Effingham, IL at the junctions of I-70 and I-57. Completed in July of 2001, this giant cross stands 198 feet into the air. Around the base of the cross are 10 monuments dedicated to each of the 10 commandments which also include a short audio message. There's also a chapel on site nearby. I'm glad I finally got a chance to visit this inspiration site.

I caught a little rain shower around St. Louis, MO, but it wasn't much for this Florida native.

About 4:30 PM I stopped at a T/A in Concordia, MO for dinner (spaghetti and meatballs). After dinner, I drove down a few more miles to a Pilot truck stop where I fueled up. Then it was only about an hour before reaching my destination in Kansas City, KS.

Between the two Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO, the Kansas and Missouri Rivers converge into the Missouri River. This was also a campsite for the Louis and Clark Expedition in 1804. So after I dropped my trailer at the destination, I bobtailed down to the campsite area which sites behind some warehouses. Kinda unusual having this historical park in an industrial area. There wasn't much "industry" going on this Saturday afternoon, but there were a few people fishing, some families having a cookout, and some boaters out on the river. There's also a few geocaches here which is how I found it to begin with, and that's what I'm after!

Anyway, now I'm back at the Con-Way Freight yard which was my destination. There are 17 Con-Way Truckload drivers available for loads right now in the Kansas City area so I'll probably be sitting here until sometime Sunday. Hopefully NOT until Monday! I'll let you know tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

Back in Indiana Again

Woke up to a cool low 60's morning at a rest area near Highland, IL which is just east of St. Louis about 0700. Took my time getting ready, had an always wonderful chat on the phone with my lovely wife, and then drove about an hour to Effingham, IL. There I stopped at a T/A Travel Center for 3 eggs, bacon, hash, wheat toast, and of course sweet tea!

I needed to get some laundry done too, but I didn't feel like it yet. Plus I wanted to hurry and deliver this load even though it wasn't due back until 6 PM. But the sooner I get back, the sooner I can get another load. As I said before, I only get paid for driving not sitting around waiting.

After breakfast, I continued east towards my destination. While in route I received a pre-assigned load message. I check the message and it picks up just a few blocks from my delivery point and it doesn't pick up until tomorrow morning! So now I have no need to hurry anymore.

About another 2 hours down the road, I stop in Clayton, IN at another T/A truck stop to have a slow leak fixed on one of the trailers tires. They were able to get me in and out in about 10 minutes so it still wasn't long enough to get laundry done also. Therefore I just continued on another 30 minutes to my destination.

I dropped the loaded trailer and picked up an empty. Then I headed a few blocks over to tomorrows pickup location and dropped the empty there. Now I can bobtail around much easier. That's driving the truck without a trailer hooked to it.

Looking on Googles maps, I found a laundry mat about a mile away. Once laundry was done, it's now dinner time. And I like eating while bobtailing because I have a better selection of restaurants to choose from! Tonight it was the buffet at a Golden Corral! So much better than most truck stops.

After that, back to the shipper where I'll be sleeping there overnight in their parking lot. I was going to go for a geocaching / bike ride but now I'm too full! My load won't be ready until 10:00 AM, so maybe in the morning. Plus it will be cooler and afterwards I can hook up to my trailer stopping at the first truck stop for a shower!

In tomorrows post I should have some cool pics to show you. There's a place I've always wanted to stop at along I-70 but never had the time. But on this next trip I got the time.

See ya on the highways and byways.

A Long Day

What a long day. I woke up this morning at 4:00 am to be ready by 4:30 so that Dick's Sporting Goods store can start unloading. At 4:30 they get there, but first there's a storage trailer parked at the loading dock. OK, so now I have to disconnect from my trailer and hook to it. Pull it out from the dock and drop it somewhere in the parking lot. Hook back up to my trailer and dock it. As for the load itself, come to find out that only 2 pallets are loaded. The rest of their order is stacked on the floor. 500 packages have to be unloaded by hand. Well 2 1/2 hours later, they finally get it done. Off to store #2.

Store # 2 was just 16 miles down the road. I get there and same thing; there's a storage trailer in the dock. OK, so now I have to disconnect from my trailer again and hook to it. Pull it out from the dock and drop it somewhere in the parking lot. Hook back up to my trailer again and dock it. Well they only had 300 packages to unload so it went a little quicker, but by only 30 minutes. Off to store #3.

Store # 3 was just 13 miles down the road, but again there's a storage trailer in the loading dock. So I disconnect from my trailer and hook to it. Pull it out from the dock and drop it somewhere in the parking lot. Hook back up to my trailer and dock it. They had even fewer boxes to unload. A mere 240 packages. YEA! Oh, but wait, they only have one person to unload them. I offered to help, but the company does not allow outside help.

OK, fine. I'm hungry anyway. I also had previously looked up some Geocaches and there were 4 in the mall area. One was just 178 feet from the dock I was parked at! I grabbed the GPS'r and headed off. I found the close cache first, an easy light post cache. Then I looked for a McD's around the shopping mall but don't see one. Mostly because I can get a sweet tea to go also! But no McD's. But there is a Bob Evans and they serve a pretty good breakfast too.

After eating, I went for another Geocache in the shrubs near Bob Evans but couldn't find it. Then I moved off to the next cache and found it. After signing the log I headed back to the truck. Just after logging the 2 cache finds at Geocaching.com, I noticed another older couple headed for that light post. It was obvious to me they were also Geocachers. I went over and introduced myself. They were in town from Washington State and had been caching for about a year.

Anyway, after they found the 2 caches I had found, we went in search of the other 2 caches. First the one I had yet to look for and then the one I missed. We said our goodbye's and then I headed back to the truck.

Finally, 4 HOURS LATER my truck was unloaded and I was ready to move on. But now in reverse order. I had to pick up the stores returns and take them back to the Distribution Center in Indiana. So I pull my trailer out from the dock and drop it in the parking lot. Hook up to their storage and put it back. After hooking back up to my trailer, I arrived at store # 2 and back in to the dock. Fortunately it only takes 5 minutes to load the returns on. I pull my trailer out from the dock and drop it in the parking lot. Hook up to their storage and put it back. After hooking back up to my trailer again, I arrived at store # 1 and back in to the dock again. They load their returns and shuffle the trailers again.

Now it's 3 PM and I'm finally ready to head back to Indiana. It's 482 miles and I know I won't make it tonight. But I atleast want to get to the east side of St Louis so I won't have to deal with rush hour traffic. 284 miles later, I find a rest area in Illinois and pull over for the night.

So that was my day today. And oh by the way, I did make a quick stop at a McDonald's halfway across Missouri for a burger and my large sweet tea. That's it for now.

Goodnight.

DUH! There's the Paperwork!

Like I said in the previous post, I was sitting at Dick's Sporting Goods DC waiting for the paperwork. Now, for those who don't know when I'm sitting, I'm also NOT getting paid. I get paid by the mile not by the hour. Well I'm sitting there for 2 1/2 hours when they finally come out to my truck saying "it was there all the time. We just filed it in the wrong place."

So I finally leave there at 1:00 pm, hop on I-70 westbound and head for Kansas. I made it through Illinois without stopping. The truckers were good on the CB and the bear alerts were made. Hammer down at 65 mph wasn't bad. It's tough to hang back at 55 mph when the cars are wizzing by at 65-70!

Anyway, a quick stop at the Missouri State line welcome center for a ham and cheese sandwich. Hey, there's also a Geocache here which I haven't found yet. I program the GPS'r and hunt down the cache. A quick find and I sign the log.

Back in the truck and westbound again. Non-stop to Kansas City, KS. I get to the Towne Center Plaza Mall and try to find a truck entrance. No "Truck Route" signs posted. They sure don't make it easy for us. It's 9:00 pm now and fortunately not too many cars in the parking lot either. I also don't see the Dick's Sporting Goods store either. So I pick an entry point and turn in. Just as I drive into the parking lot and take the loop around to the right, I see the store off to the left. Figures! So I park the truck and walk down about a 1/4 mile to the other end where the stores at. I determined how to manuever down there and then drove the truck down.

After parking and open this blog and make my post. Now it's time for bed. Hey, I got to get up at 4:00 AM for unloading at 4:30. Good night!

Sitting in Indianapolis

Woke up this morning about 6:30 am. I waited for Great Dane Trailers to open at 7:30. Talked briefly to another truck driver who was also there picking up his trailer. Finally getting hooked up and sweeping out the trailer, I make my way around the I-465 loop of Indy to the south side. Pulled into the Pilot truck stop for a shower. Now, what's for breakfast? The Pilot has a Subway which isn't much for breakfast. So I drive 2 blocks down to the Flying J and suffer through their buffet. Halfway through eating I call in to check my messages. Got a load assigned quicker than I thought I would. 30 minutes later and 16 miles, now I'm in Plainfield, IN sitting at Dick's Sporting Goods distribution center. Trailers loaded and waiting but no paperwork. That's my job; Hurry Up and Wait! Oh well, more later.