Greenwood,NE

Sorry it has been a few days but as soon as we left out the damn charger for the computer went on the fritz! UGH! It was torture not being able to get on the laptop. Luckily we both have the internet on our phones, but you can only do so much on a phone. No way would I try to blog from it! LOL

Time to catch you up. After making the local delivery we got a pick up in Fort Worth at Kraft going to Denver. We picked it up on Monday evening and off we went. It had a Thursday delivery but it is only around 700 miles to Denver. No way we needed all the time they were giving us. We were able to get them to move our appointment up and we made it into Denver around 1230 on Wednesday.

I sent our depart and we headed to our yard there to grab a shower. While we were enrt they sent us a message to deadhead to Salt Lake City,UT and they would load us out of there. So they got a nice message back from me saying that we weren't deadheading that far without a load assignment. They like to deadhead us there and then try to find something once we get there. I'm not driving 600 miles without a load. Plus, I want to make sure it is worth it to drive that far just to pick up a load. When we came back out from our showers, they had given us a load up to Rexburg, ID to pick up the next morning.

Here is what is irritating. If we had just driven to Salt Lake we would have gotten there and then maybe been assigned this load. However, we would have driven about 200 miles out of the way to get there. So I am glad that I told them we werent moving until we had a load picking up that direction. What could have been about a 770 mile trip ended up being only a 580 mile trip. Roughly. You have to be smarter than the average bear when dealing with dispatch and sales. I know they are just doing their jobs, but my bottom line isn't their priority. But it is mine.

We headed out and J got us into Rock Springs,WY where I took over. We headed up US191 then took US89 over to Alpine,WY where we hooked into US26 that took us into ID and our destination. It was an extremely windy road for about a third of the way. I figured it was a beautiful drive, but it was dark when I passed through there so I couldn't tell.

I was about 30 minutes late to my first pickup because I had run into some ice on the road over in WY and had slowed down some. But I made it there by 0730 local time and was loaded pretty fast. From there I drove the 14 miles to our second and last pickup and repeated the process. I was talking to a Stevens Transport driver while getting loaded and we were both headed back to the East Coast. He wasn't familiar with the area and mentioned that as soon as he was loaded that he was going to figure out how to get out of the area. I knew where to go since I was backtracking the route I had driven in. Once I got scaled and had my paperwork in hand, I hollered at him on the CB and he followed my lead. I know I looked smart leading the way, but really, it is easy when you have just driven that route. Oh, and a GPS is nice. :) LOL I did lose him somewhere along the way because he pulled over in the mountains. Probably had to take a break for the restroom or something. But we stopped in Alpine,WY to get a coke and I saw him make the turn onto the right road. So I felt good that I had at least helped him get to the right road.

We really enjoyed the drive back through that part of ID and WY. The portion that I missed that morning was beautiful drive coming back during the daylight. I wouldn't mind living up there. The road we were on followed the Snake River and we drove right along the Palisades Reservoir and Palisades Dam. Beautiful, beautiful country.

I had been up since around 0130 on Wednesday morning to drive us into WY and by the time we got back to Rock Springs,WY (J was driving by this time) it was almost 2000 hrs. I was exhausted. We stopped at the Flying J and grabbed some dinner and then I hit the sack.

J woke me up this morning in Sydney,NE where he had stopped at around 0300. He stopped at a Walmart and had went in and was able to find a charger with the right connection for the laptop. YES!! Then he chilled and watched a movie and let me sleep in. He got me up at 0600 and we meandered around Walmart doing some grocery shopping. By 0720, we had the truck loaded back up and I was pulling out of the parking lot.

Since I hit the road so late this morning, I only managed a mere 363 miles. Yep, I was slacking! But we have been driving 55 mph since we picked up this load because it is heavy. Our fuel mileage has sucked since we got the 8 new tires. I really wasn't sure if it was the new tires or the winter blend fuel. Or maybe just a combination of things. But going 55 mph now, we are averaging 7.52 for the whole trip since we left Denver to go pick it up. So I don't know what the deal is. But I am happy!

Today I stopped at the Greenwood Travel Plaza in Greenwood,NE on I-80 at x420. From here we only have 1409 miles to go to our destination in Hatfield,MA and this load isn't due until Sunday at 0500. Sheesh. This is Thursday. We could easily be there by around midnight tomorrow night. That is FRIDAY night. We are going to see if we can get the delivery appointment moved up. If not, then we will head on in and we will both be able to get a restart on our hours.

That is where we stand folks! More to come tomorrow!