I moved into another truck, with my third trainer. He has been driving for around 26 years. His father drove for 50 years, and he had been going on the road with him, since he was about eight or nine years old. I've found that when people are exposed to things like that from a young age, they develop an understanding, that can't be learnt when starting as an adult. One of his traits is that he is a human GPS, when on American roads. He seemed to know everything that we were approaching. How far away it was, exit numbers, what to expect.
We left from Sioux Falls, South Dakota with an empty trailer, headed to Dakota City, Nebraska to pick up a load going to Ottowa, Illinois. After we delivered the load, we parked at a small truck stop for the night.
The next morning we went inside for breakfast.
After breakfast I got to drive through Chicago. (Or Chicago light as I would call it. As we didn't go down town.) And positioned ourselves for our next pick up in Pleasantprairie, Wisconsin.
From there we headed to Shelby, Iowa for delivery. On the way there, we stopped at Iowa 80 Truck Stop for lunch. Also known as the largest truck stop in the world, with 900 parking spaces.
This truck is on a turn table.
Once we had delivered our load in Shelby, we got another load, taking us back to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I then transfered the stuff I had taken with us, back to the truck I will be driving, then headed home to Rapid City for a few days. The temperature has risen considerably since I left two weeks before, and all the snow and ice has melted, apart from this small section up Rapid Creek.
I ment to mention petrol prices, when I first got my car, but forgot to. Any way, I use the most expensive petrol at the pump, which is ethanol free. Doing a basic conversion, it works out at around NZ$1.72 per litre. For those of you who are in New Zealand, you will know just how cheap this is.
