Trip #13: Haltom, TX to Rochelle, IL

... is finally over.

Yesterday I motored up from Fort Worth, Texas to Springfield, Illinois where I had dinner with my sister-in-law and niece and picked up my mail. It was hot but not as humid as I had feared so I was able to avoid idling most of the night once I got the cab cooled down enough for me to drift off.

Today I waited for four hours at the ThermoKing dealership for them to open long enough to sell Hill Bros a new fuel cap for the reefer fuel tank. I forgot to mention yesterday that one of the previous drivers had forgotten to put the cap back on after fueling and it was missing when I picked up the load in Texas.


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Once that was settled I started on the hilly section of I-44 in Missouri between Springfield and St Louis. My MPG was in the high sixes when I entered Illinois, but with the 55 MPH speed limit there it eventually crept back up to 7.4 when I delivered.

I have consistently praised the preplans doled out by our planners at HQ, and I will rise again this evening to continue this tradition. At the moment, I am utterly out of hours: at midnight tonight I pick up 11 hours to run and another 8.5 the following midnight. Plus, this is the 4th of July holiday weekend. Plus, I prefer to start very early in the morning when possible. Plus, when given a choice I prefer longer trips to shorter ones.

My next trip involves me taking an empty from here in Rochelle down to Ottawa, Illinois to the Petsmart DC I've been to frequently, then heading out to Lincoln, Nebraska for an early-morning drop the next day. This is a two-drop load, so after I drop off first thing in the morning, I will rumble out to Littleton, Colorado with the other half of the load going to one of the Petsmarts I delivered to just a few days ago.

This meets basically every criteria I have for a good load and makes the best use of my available hours.

Another plus to this trip is that I will be going through Omaha so I can fuel at the yard and also possibly get ThermoKing to take a look at my APU.

Bravo, trip planners!