View Larger MapThis is the route I've traveled during the past two days.
This morning I informed weekend dispatch that I was in Omaha with full hours to run, which I'm sure made his day. Almost immediately I was sent over to a small local meatpacking plant we haul from to grab a preloaded trailer and take it to tiny Kenosha, Wisconsin. This particular shipper has a very tight lot and finding a spot for my trailer required some creativity and patience. Oh, and a callous disregard for just about everything you learn when you begin backing in a truck.
Our trusty fueling software system informed me that my half tanks were sufficient for the 480ish mile run, which is true. It is also true that I don't like ending up at a consignee very low on fuel, and even more true that I don't like running low during winter. It knew something I didn't, though, since when I scaled it out I didn't have enough spare weight left over to fill my tanks.
I compromised by stopping briefly in Des Moines, Iowa to take on 50 gallons which should be enough to see me out of the Wisconsin / Illinois area before I need to fuel again.
Weather today was a brutal wintery mix. It never quite climbed up past freezing and there were patches of moderate-to-heavy snowfall for most of Iowa and all of Illinois. The wind was coming out of the east for most of my journey, which is damned strange, and the fuel economy was terrible.
On a normal sunny day I would have knocked out 480 miles with no problem. Today, after enduring numerous traffic jams, sketchy roads and annoying drivers I ended at Rochelle, Illinois where I made a second don't-try-this-at-home blindside back into a spot right up front near the building (and more importantly, rest rooms). This consignee takes deliveries from 0500 to 1200 tomorrow and I was hoping to be there overnight and get unloaded first thing. Now it is looking like arriving around 1000 or so which will probably screw up my next run.
Stupid weather.
