Oak Grove,MO

Yay! We made it out of Denver after a false start. Yesterday morning we were available at 0700. Even though we were fairly sure we wouldn't have a load right then, we went ahead and got up and got the truck loaded and headed out from Colorado Springs up to Denver. Since we had the truck in the shop, we didn't have a trailer, and we knew that we would have to go back to the yard in Denver to get one.

We got up to Denver around 0930 and still didn't have a load so we headed to one of our favorite restaurants, McCoy's, to have some breakfast. Yummy Huevos Rancheros with green chile. Delicious! About the time we were done my phone rings and it is our FM asking if we had an empty. I tell him we don't but we are only about 3 miles from the yard and are about to head over there. He tells e to let him know as soon as I have an empty so he can dispatch me on a load. It is starting to look good for a load so we book it over to the yard, hook up to an empty, send in a message letting him know what trailer we have, and we wait. And wait. And wait.

Finally around 1400 I get the load assignment. We desperately needed fuel, so with a current trip number in hand, I stop at the TA to get fuel and then wake J up to let him know he is about to start his shift. He gets up and I drive the remaining 5 miles to Safeway where we are picking up, which is there in Denver. I checked into the gate and start heading around towards the back to the shipping office and my qualcomm beeps. Wouldn't you know it? The message says that our load was cancelled. Just great! Off we go back to the yard to wait on another dispatch.

It only took about an hour and a half but we finally got another dispatch. We had to deadhead 300 miles over to Kansas for a load going 600 miles to Montgomery City,MO. This load was supposed to be on a pre-loaded trailer so J takes off to KS and I hit the sack. J managed to get the load picked up and get scaled then he parked so I could get a few hours of non moving sleep. This load wasn't scheduled to deliver until 0500 on Wednesday so we knew we had extra time. Once I got up and got on the road today, I got a message from our FM saying that we can drop this load anytime. That works for us, so I told him our eta would be 1900 tonight.

I was quite surprised when around noon we got a message for a pre-plan. We don't get those a lot. But I think with Christmas right around the corner, a lot of places are loading up all the trailers they have so they can afford to take the day off. The plan is for us to drop this then head over to St Louis to pick up another load that is going to Aurora,CO. Now for the bad news. Have you been watching the weather? Major snow storm hitting the mid-west and that means we will have to drive right through the middle of it on I-70 to get back to Denver. YUCK!! And to think we have been pretty lucky so far this winter not hitting snow but once! I guess we will just take is slow and take our time, as we usually do when we hit bad weather. Keep your fingers crossed that we make it safe and sound!

I did ask our FM about a load out of Denver. The pre-plan we have delivering in Aurora delivers on the 24th, Christmas Eve. I was worried about delivering and then getting stuck there until the 26th when people are back to work. He didn't seem to worried about finding a load. There are a lot of drivers going home for Christmas so he thinks we should be able to get a load off of our yard or get another load that is pre-loaded somewhere. I hope that is the case so we can keep moving. We have plans to go to Lubbock on the 29th to have a late Christmas with family, so I don't want to be sitting for two days the week before we go home!