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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 6 - How I spent the 4th of July Delivering both an International single axel with a refer box to TX ... and bringing one back home $$$, a round trip, paid Today is July 4, 2003 The trip does start on July 2, but this is how I spent my holiday ... I added a few more states to my list. Dispatch had mentioned this TX run last week but it was supposed to move out on Monday. I told them no, unless they could move it out to later in the week as I had other plans for Monday. I do like the freedom of doing other things for a few days ... I would like to work out a schedule to do some non-driving work every couple of months. Not that I don't like driving, I just like the variety and being home a few more days. So Monday I kept busy, Tuesday dispatch still didn't have any loads but they would have the TX ready on Wednesday ... seems it took longer to get ready than expected. The bad part was that it would still be at the dealer instead of at the office. So instead of being able to leave at 8 am on an 18 hour run, I would end up leaving about 3 PM on a 20 hour run. To get to my truck I would need to ride in the company shuttle, which always seems to take an hour to get everyone ready and loaded. Then a two hour ride to dealer one to pick up a truck to drive another two hours to dealer two. I was hoping that things would move a little faster this AM as I was going to need every second to make this run. It all depends on how you look at things, we got there 15 minutes earlier than average, but 45 minutes later than 'schedule.' The shuttle was the usual, a half dozen driver telling horror stories to fill the time. One driver said when going through a non-interstate MN scale, they made him anchor his plate on the rear of his truck ... except he had nothing to do it with ... so he starting walking, until he found enough wire to tie it to the mount. Thanks to a email on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Driveaway this last week, I had just gone and gotten a set of bolts for just such an occasion. The next leg of my trip was in a 'used' truck ... not sure why we are bringing these back to the dealer. To close the driver door on this one, you have to stand outside and LIFT as you close ... then go to the passenger side to get in. Some of the gauges didn't work, the windshield and bumper needed to be replace, and the list went on. But they all pay the same, other than the ride up ... it does pay OK. This is the third time I have made this trip, second on these roads ... the driver I've run with the last two times found a route different from the 'suggested' one, it may be a couple of more miles but the road is better, with fewer 'S' curves. But I get behind someone and no-where to pass, the other driver gets past but that was the last chance before the drop and he beats me by a good 10 minutes. By the time I get there he has his truck dropped and is checking out his next truck ... he has a 20 hour run to New Jersey. Glad I'm going to TX. I call my delivery contact, and tell him that the computer says it's a 20 hour trip, I have to take an eight hour break ... with a lot of luck I will see him in 28 hours. First good news of the trip, the truck has almost a half a tank of fuel than gets me the first 100 miles. It's a International with a refer box on it, I've driven them locally but never to a customer. The are a nice ride, automatic ... IF they pay the same after fuel, I'd rather drive these than the GMC's I've been driving. I've got about 20 miles of two lane highway out of the next 1,200 and then about two blocks at my drop. Up in America's Dairyland we go past a dairy farm ... within the city limit's ... even has a curbed street, but no sidewalk. Another thing I find amusing on this run is on the four lane, there is a yellow warning sign with a horse and buggy (Amish area), under it it says "Next 6 miles" ... and the only cross street in the next six miles is 'Pray Avenue.' After my first time through the area, I realized they have these signs between each of the towns on that stretch of road. It's now 5 PM and I'm within a couple of miles of where I would have liked to have started at eight this morning. The first two scales I pass are both open, but after this I will only cross one more (out of almost two dozen) that is open. One less thing to worry about. I find out early that the cruise does not work over 65 mph ... that the fuel cuts out 71 mph until your speed drops back to 69 ... how's a guy to make any time. One way is to make fewer fuel stops and no breaks. So I plan on running it down to 1/8 of a tank instead of the usual 1/4, this is diesel, how hard can that be to find? I wasn't thinking about the last garbage truck I had ... The station I see with an 1/8th of tank left is on the opposite side of the freeway, so I keep going ... 10, 20, 30 miles ... the gauge hasn't moved for a while, it's flat on 'E.' These trucks are supposed to get 5 mph, so I should be go for another 30 miles or so ... but I haven't checked this truck yet. Finally I come over a hill and I see a sign ... Flying J ... right out in the middle of the boondocks ... Boondocks, IA. If I had looked at my Flying J guide or a map I would have known ... but who has time for that. I fuel and have time to run another 3 hours yet tonight. Finally I need to stop, the other problem with these late starts is that I have been up for 4-6 hours before I clock in, making for a long day. I have made it to MO, and find a small truckstop to park at. I find a place in the back away from the light next to a trailer that someone has left for the night. A big plus for these refer trucks is that you can sleep in them, most have a partial bench seat. And the cab is wide enough to stretch out. I slept, a full six hours ... better than the night before in my own bed ... someone had let the cat into the bedroom during the night and it either wanted to be on me or in my way. I wake up fairly well rested ... but nowhere to go. During the night the semi's have parked side by side in the front row, blocking me in. I still have most of an hour before I'm 'legal' to run, so I get a bite to eat and by the time I'm done, trucks have gone and new ones have come but there is now an opening. July 3, 2003 Trying to stay on the cheep, I don't order the omelet, and get an egg, bacon and hash browns. If that was really one egg, then I've had some 10 egg omelet's recently. The bacon was pressed and dry ... the browns, weren't brown. And the name of the place is ... (I don't remember, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.) As long as I'm stopped I fuel again ... I need to make 650 miles in the next 10 hours, in a truck that drop's below 60 on anything that looks like a hill. Being alone for hours and days at a time gives one a lot of time to think about anything, everything and nothing. And one of the things I have noticed is the smells ... I often will smell hay that is ready to be baled, and within a quarter of a mile I see it. Now on this trip I noticed a few more things ... the first was smoke, I was coming up behind a semi and I could smell the stale smoke of his cab ... it was not the smell of a fresh lit cigarette. How bad was that cab, that I could smell it in the middle of the prairie going 70 mph? Then was the spice ... this one took a little longer, as it was almost a mile before I saw the spice plant. And what I first thought was cigar smoke ... but soon realized it was from the wheat fields they burn after harvesting ... don't know why it had such a sweet smell. Being off the farm for the most part, I didn't realize that it was already past harvest for wheat ... I only saw one field being harvested, and it was the only one that I saw that wasn't harvested. Heading down I35 through Kansas I stopped at a rest area ... which was clean enough but the vending machines ... the machines were behind a steel gate ... and in the pop machines, the display cans were open / used which is unusual ... and they were faded to the point all the color was gone and it was just the outline of the logo's ... AND the cans and where they sat were covered with sand and rodent droppings. I didn't even look at was was in the other vending machines ... it wasn't anything I was going to eat. What ever happened to Stucky's? I still see their buildings at intersections across the country ... a few are still gas stations, but most are vacant or being used for just about anything. There aren't too many companies that build unique buildings anymore ... too many local laws covering size, shapes and colors. Stucky's and Country Kitchen had very unique styles, as did some of the older gas stations Phillips 66, Amaco/Standard and some so old I can't remember who's stations they used to be. Does anyone know what the buildings used to be with the three story roofs? Have seen them from MO down into TX. The main part of the building is a single story, but the roof is a steep shingled roof of another 3 or 4 stories. A few also have a smaller square building to one corner about the size of a single room. Saw about two dozen of them on this trip, all with close access to the freeway. Am also finding that a lot of companies that have pulled out of parts of the midwest are still out there somewhere. Getty Oil, Gulf, Rax Roast Beef, Happy Chef ... I35 going through Kansas City is not the easiest place to drive through ... I was in the right lane and almost exited the freeway, so I move over one lane and within two miles and a couple of intersections, I am now in the left lane exiting where I don't want to go. Northbound is worse, you have to do at least 5 lane changes and exits in six miles to just to stay on the same freeway. Whoever designed these roads did not do it for speed, ease or safety. There is another Flying-J's just before the toll part of I35, so I stopped and fueled, out east fuel on the toll's is usually more so it may be here also. I did end up stopping at least once on the toll road for a break and and food. This stop had a McD's and I ordered my easy eating food, a regular hamburger. The lady behind the counter asked me "You know, it would be cheaper to order the "Big and Tasty.' (from the dollar menu)" ... yes but not as easy and clean to eat when driving. Did stop at a Hardee's on one of my short shuttle runs (which I don't write about on these pages.) I hadn't been there for years I guess ... the smallest burger they have now is 1/3#. They also have 1/2 and 2/3# burgers, a fish and a chicken sandwich. A very limited menu, and not one for us small and cheep eaters. But they do have a unique way of half wrapping the sandwiches so it doesn't fall apart. There is one interesting bridge on the KS tollway, like most expressways ... they limit the number of bridges for both cost and safety. But here in the middle of nowhere is a bridge for 'cattle pens.' That is all that is at that access, no roads to anywhere. The bridge is interestingly labeled "Bazaar Cattle Pens." Bazaar that someone could get a bridge built for their cattle pens ... would be interesting to know who the person was that could get that built, or who they knew ... In the midwest and even the northwest, the freeways all have fences, not so in this part of the south. In cattle country it wasn't as noticeable, but in others ... Like in one town you've got the freeway with eight foot of grass between the lanes, then on either side of the freeway you have four foot of grass and the service lane ... then the sidewalk and the school building. (Even later in Waco, I could have walked 100 yards straight out from the restaurant and been in the middle of I35.) Even in Montana the fences go up and down the sides of the mountains. And nowhere did I see any "sound walls." And in the midwest we have possum's lining the highway, in the south the have armadillo's. The question should be, "Why CAN'T the armadillo / possum cross the road?" By the time I get to OK it is getting warm ... this truck has a weather gauge in the cab, it moves from 98 to 101. Glad I have had the air on since I started this trip. When I stop in OKC for fuel I get to feel how warm it is, lucky me. After I pull away from the pump and pay, when I get back in the cab the temp show's 123. Which could be close to right, after sitting in the middle of 20 acres of asphalt. As I get moving the temp drops back to 101 to 103 for the next few hours. Dallas / Fort Worth, actually just north in Denton the freeway splits into 35E and 35W, just as you come out of road construction. One sign / lane was labels 35E, the other just had the arrow ... nothing else. I knew I didn't want 35E, so I quickly switched lanes but it was a couple of miles before there was any sign showing I was in fact on 35W. My only time loss would be in Dallas, it would cost me an extra hour ... sort of like Chicago, remember to add an extra hour to any time estimate. Road construction and it was now rush hour(s) ... much as I hated to, I had to exit and fuel. I wouldn't have enough to make it to Waco ... I'll plan better from now on. I finally exit and the station is closed, so I need to take the side streets back a mile to where I had seen another station. This one is ancient but open, estimate how much fuel I will need for the last 80 miles, hate to leave them with any extra fuel, as all that money comes out of my pocket. Just south of Fort Worth it starts to sprinkle, I haven't even turned on my wipers yet and traffic is stopped again ... not because of the rain directly, but because of all the people pulling over to cover the stuff in the back of their pickups. Then there was the couple who lost their cooler off the top of their van ... stuff was everywhere, doubt if there would be anything left for them to pickup. Looked like they had all their odd stuff packed in there, flashlights, grill lighters. Didn't see it fall, but I did see them pulling off the highway, getting out and pulling the rest of the stuff off the top. What a way to start the holiday weekend. That little sprinkle must have been a downpour somewhere ... it dropped the temp by 20 degree's in a few minutes, but within the hour it was back up to over 90 again. It took three calls to the destination before the guy could get me directions. Dispatch couldn't find the address to give me a map so I would have to go be verbal directions over a cell phone ... aah what's a few missing details? So far so good, I could match the street names to my hand writing, but still couldn't find the address ... right before the Ramada he had said. Missed the street but found the Ramada, so around the block I went ... then the phone rings "You just went by us" ... by now I could see the truck. I like delivering new trucks, even if they don't always offer a ride ... they are usually glad to meet you, even after hours. Everyone likes new stuff ... They were still checking it out in the time it took me to walk to the Ramada and back. Not sure who all these people were, friends or co-workers, but there were a few here for after hours on a three day holiday weekend. The Ramada was going to run me $60 bucks, so I'll have to find another place. In Billings the Ramada was under $40 so it was worth the try ... I had seen places a few miles back for under $30 was $60 was out of the question in this town. This was a clean quick trip ... looks like money can be made on a few runs... Page 2 - The trip home .... I have now done a search on Stucky's ...there are a couple of websites dedicated to the former chain http://www.stuckonstuckeys.com/ http://www.stuckeys.com/ I have also seen a billboard about a Stucky's now open. |