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Good morning and thanks again for reading.  This had to be one of the more interesting days we've had and that is saying a lot.  A bit of a long story but hopefully a good one.

Went to bed in IL last night and the temp was 9 degrees.  Woke up and it was 4 below and that was without the windchill.  IT WAS COLD. So we go to start the DIESEL engine and it is a no-go.  A quick aside here - we  received dozens of emails from people follwing our predicament today on Twitter that said they MEANT to tell us not to turn off the engine if it was going to be cold.  Could have used that info on Wednesday night, not all day Thursday.  But back to the story. Now we think we'll get it started and be off to the consignee since we still have some time.  However just to be safe we also immediately call dispactch and (1) ask them to alert the consignee and (2) find a person that can come out and help us get the truck started.  We couldn't spend more than 4-5 minutes outside at a time - it was that cold.  Fingers, feet and ears were bright red.  After several more unsuccessful tries at starting the engine we head back into the hotel.  A brief call with dispatch lets us know that (1) the consignee is aware and understands and (2) there isn't a wrecker available anywhere for the next 6 hours.  The whole area was under snow and a lot of others were in a similar situation.  We've all heard that necessity is the mother of all inventions so I head to the front desk and ask to speak to the manager.  Dwight Hopfauf is the manager of the Best Western Clock Tower Resort and is just a great guy from North Dakota.  I explain to him our situation and asked him if I could make the delivery in his shuttle van.  Without batting an eye, he says, "I'll drive you myself." Phenomenal response. Twenty minutes later we have the freight at the consignee.  While it was a few minutes late, the consignee was happy and understood the predicament.  They even were impressed with the effort we used to get the freight there.

So we spent the next few hours waiting for a wrecker to arrive and used the time to call back into the office and tend to issues that needed our attention.  Our people keep reminding us that we still have our "day jobs" to do.  We were attended to at the restaurant in the hotel by a great staff.  First class people all around.  If you are ever near Rockford, I highly recommend staying at the Best Western Clock Tower Resort. 

Finally Bill from A to Z Towing shows up and gives us some great advice. He said he could tow us to his barn to warm the engine up but that we would be in trouble if we needed to do anything with the fuel filter.  He calls up to Boucher's in Janesville, WI (20 miles or so up the road) and tells them we are enroute.  We get there and literally beg Tim in Service to help us out.  Dispatch has offered us a load 50 miles away heading to MI and we needed to get there by 1800 local time.  Tim and Ollie (the mechanic) took pity on us (I think we did look pretty pathetic) and got to work on the van.  So Ed and I headed for the waiting room.  Got a chance to hang out with some great people in there unitl the van was done.  Ollie came around the corner, gave us the thumbs up and we were out of there right after we paid the bill and left some beer money for the guys in the garage.  I don't even want to go into what the tow and fix cost us. I told Ed that I was going to charge it back to the IT group.  He just shook his head at me. 

Well, we made it to the shipper on time and are nearing the consignee in MI (about another 2 hours).  Needless to say, with a delivery time at 0600 (and an estimated arrival time at 0300) we are staying in the van with the engine on.  Lesson learned.

These past few days on the road have taught us a lot of great lessons and we'll certainly write about them at the end of the trip.  However, the one we keep talking about is how many great people are out there and how it is a privilege to be associated with them.  Our new friends Dwight, Bill, Tim, Ollie. The entire Panther team, Panther owner operators.  Thanks to everyone that has supported us directly and indirectly on this trip.  You all Rock.