Indianola Rejection.

Five days away.

____ A job that could have been done in three days with hindsight; but it took five to do the three thousand kilometres. The threat of Winter weather played its part; an ice storm beat the windshield hot-air fans into submission on Sunday evening. The last twenty miles into Sauk Centre were navigated through small half-moon semi-circles of clear glass at the bottom of the screen near the heater out-lets. Dumping the air from the seat-base lowered me to that weird driving position that flat-top Petes use all the time. There was enough salt on the road to make progress possible but I chose to park it.

____ With the delivery booked for Tuesday; I still had plenty of time to get to Indianola. Choosing the Flying'J at Altoona, near Des Moines, for my second night-out. Another short-distance day; but not as short as the disastrous delivery day. The seed merchant found some bird shit on the outside of three of the big-bags of red lentils. They calmly signed for sixteen bags and left the other three on the trailer. I already had my re-load instructions but it took until 4 o'clock in the afternoon before I got instuctions on what to do with the three tons of crapped-on lentils. Eventually the seed merchant agreed to unload the bags and dispose of them; the transport costs of an onward delivery meant that they just dumped them. In all that time I sat waiting; I'm sure I could have got in touch with a local pig farmer and he would have welcomed a bit of free scran for his hogs.

A big favorite at the truck-wash.

____ The third night-out was at Iowa 80, Walcott, the World's Biggest Truckstop. I could have done more but on exasperating days like that; I couldn't be bothered and Iowa 80 is a treat. An early start and a quick trailer switch at De Kalb made for a better day. A 30,000 lbs load, bare and dry roads, chicken and biscuits at De Forest; it was exactly 1000 kilometres to Alexandria in Minnesota.

____ Freezing rain had caused chaos on the roads of Manitoba; but by the time I arrived it had warmed-up and was just wet. Maybe if I had not been delayed then I would have arrived on a skating rink. All things happen for a reason. I dropped the trailer in Penner's Winnipeg yard and pulled another down to the workshops in Steinbach for repair. An early afternoon finish and the days are getting longer.

Three Steps To Heaven.