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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 18 - New GMC - class 'C'
refer (Baltimore) Forest Hill, MD Trip 18b - New ('02 Demo) Peterbuilt - Garbage Truck Long Island, NY to Waterloo, IA Trip 18c - New Peterbuilt - Garbage Truck Waterloo, IA to Appleton, WI 10/20/03 - called dispatch this morning ... before she knew what she was in for, so I had the pleasure of telling her ... First it was come in at 9am we'll have something for you ... then a call back ... "NO" they didn't have time to get things ready this AM ... then my cell didn't ring though and I missed their next two calls and today's run. So I'm off today because of my wonderful ATT service. ... I now have a run for Tuesday heading back to somewhere in the northeast ... but that could change by dispatch time. 10/21/03 - If I'm going East, I want to get an early start so I'm there 15 minutes early ... and I'm the last one. Not sure how early I would have had to been to have changed today's events ... Dispatch grabbed the first two guys in and sent them on a "short" run ... now the other three of us are stranded for a couple of hours waiting for our shuttle ride. Lots of time to swap stories and look at the clock ... a couple of new drivers were also sitting there waiting to go through orientation ... one of the drivers was saying a couple of weeks back there was a driver sitting there filling out an application while the stories were flying, and the guy never finished his application, just walked out ... wonder if it was something someone said? The owner finally came out and said he would pay us for waiting this morning to cover "their mistake." ??? Not sure what that's about ... they seem to be throwing a little more money around lately, think they are hurting for drivers. Found out that I am not taking a truck to NY. Instead there are two trucks, one going to MD and a chassis going to PA ... seeing I spent part of yesterday at the chiropractor, I voice my opposition taking any more chassis ... so I'm now going to MD ... and then to NY to pickup a truck to bring back to IA ... this will be a 'free ride' (almost) home, but will also add an extra day to the trip ... My last trip was supposed to only be 15 hours and with the delays getting started it took all of two days ... This trip today is rated as 18 hours and we are going to be as late as last week getting going ... Am going to be traveling with the driver going to PA with the chassis, about an hour from my drop, then we will share the ride back ... would have been great if it had only been 15 hours back, the two of us could have made it in one day. The shuttle is finally rolling, we had to repack the van to get all the luggage and all the drivers in ... a two hour shuttle ride and we'll be on our way. Besides the two of us going far East, two other drivers were traveling together to OH, and the other driver would pick up a truck going west and tow the van back to the office. We find our trucks ... the chassis is low on Propane so the two OH drivers leave ahead of us ... I help the tow driver hookup as the PA drives goes ahead to fuel. Now, ready to go the other driver is going to lead ... another driver who carriers walkie talkies so we can keep in touch ... remembering my major delay by Janesville last week, the PA driver will monitor his CB as we get closer and will take the 'Alternate route' if needed. He asks how fast I drive ... "usually 5 over" ... and he takes off at 10 over ... I don't really care who's in the lead, but with him a chassis I felt he should set the pace, having driven a couple I know that on some stretchs you need to slow down 10-20 mph ... he wanted to lead in case it rained ... on his last trip, coming through Chicago with a used truck, on maginal tires he lost control of his truck in the rain ... kept it on the road but gave him and the drivers around him a good scare. Another reason to follow him is, the last time I drove one of these I lost the mud flaps ... and sure enough, a hour down the road they come loose but don't fall off ... we are only there for a couple of minutes ... using Duc Tape to keep them on ... when the Highway patrol walks up and asks if all is OK ... we assure him it is ... he tells us "Wrap it so you're sure it'll hold at 50 ... and it may hold til 100" ... he sat behind us until we pulled out ... and immeadiately pulled someone over ... Then we have a few uneventful first few hours ... see this stretch on all loads going east ... and most loads go east. We do hit a little slow down by Janesville but only a half hour added to our trip. First stop of pro-pane ... almost half a day down. This is when we realize the chassis has a smaller than usual pro-pane tank and won't make it all the way to Toledo without a fill. We ask some of the drivers at the truck stop about bypassing Chicago ... which would add 40 miles to the trip ... but the drivers say our usual route 'through' Chicago is the best. Without the major grid lock at Janesville and by not stopping to eat, we will be about an hour ahead of last week ... it does make a difference, when we get to the 'overnight road construction' in IL they are just starting to put out the cones and causes us only a minor delay ... from WI to IN is about 115 miles and we cover it in about 2 - 1/2 hours ... not bad for that stretch of highway. Due to the other driver small tank, we have to stop in Gary, IN for more pro-pane ... I will make it to Toledo fine and don't want to waste the time. Even though it is less than halfway on this trip, we decide to stop again at the Knights Inn in Sturgis, MI ... it's the last motels that I know the location of that is under the 600 'legal' miles we can do on this stretch ... it only gives us 510 miles so I need to find another location. Because of our late start, it's after 11 when we shut down ... awful quiet here tonight, the night clerk had to come with us to turn the hall night on ... the restaurant across the street is already closed so we go to bed hungry. 10/22/03 We're not legal until after 7, so that is when we head out ... no fast food in this town so it's Pop Tarts for me. Two hours later we are in Toledo, the Flying J still doesn't have their pro-pane fixed and they said it could be another couple of weeks. We did our AM call-in and was told to try a pro-pane dealer a "few" miles down the highway ... it took asking a guy at the fire department for the location, and then someone at an auto parts store for clarification ... but it saved someone a lot of money (we get reimbursed for pro-pane), pro-pane here was a third of the price we paid at the KOA last week ... but like a lot of things that are good for the boss, cost us ... this times it's time ... we lose about another hour, this dealer is not on the main drag ... it's going to be another long day ... each of our trips were rated as 18 hours ... direct ... but the PA driver has to follow me to give me a ride so he gets to drive an extra couple of hours tonight. I've called ahead and can do a blind drop ... which is a good thing because our "guesstimates" of time are a little off this trip. The other driver has to stop again for pro-pane ... these trucks have either a 75 gallon, 100 gallon or 150 gallon tank and they all pay the same. Sometime this afternoon I took over the lead and am in the lead when we hit our first and only scale ... we have past a couple that were 'full / closed' when we went past ... its been weeks since I have crossed a scale, and am sure not complaining ... the scale is open and we do not get a pass ... we are flagged to the 'stop' lane ... then someone steps out of the building and waves us past ... whew .... the other driver didn't know why I pulled out of the scale until hours later ... he just kept following me. I am still in the lead that evening when we head off the Interstate. We find the exit that matches the computer direction but the highway number doesn't, a couple of miles down the road I do find the right road number. These aren't your Midwestern highways ... my next turn was ... a surprise ... the road couldn't have been for than 20 feet wide ... tight between two buildings, no sidewalk ... must not have been farming country, today's equipment wouldn't fit down this road ... and it was a state highway ... about the time I think we are 'lost' ... I see a filling station coming up ... closed ... it's after 9 pm in this big town. But the street I was looking for goes past the station ... its the first one that shows on our detailed map. I head north, it should only be the first cross street ... mile after mile we went, lots of side roads but no cross street ... finally I stop to have the other driver look at the map. This is an interesting stretch of highway ... almost a one lane, with a nice canopy of branches over it ... I'm sure it would have been beautiful in the daylight I'm sure. We decide to head back ... and find the correct highway we were looking for ... we had been on it, about two more blocks and we were there. A quick signature and I crawl into the other truck and we are on the way again. He seems to be holding up well, he's now been driving this chassis almost 20 hours ... I drove one for 8 hours a few weeks back and my back is still paying for it. The route the computer gave us had us on back roads for the next 90 miles to the other drivers drop ... we asked the guy at my drop for suggestions which didn't sound any better ... being lost for the that hour tonight sort of soured us on the back roads of eastern PA at night. Instead we headed a few miles in the opposite direction and found the Interstate ... it still took us over 2 hours to get to / past his drop, but at least it was on the four lane. When he had contacted his drop he was told the chance of getting a ride the 30 miles to the airport / rental car was 'slim.' So, we decided to put an extra 60 miles on his truck and get the car before we dropped his truck ... problem was, this Avis location closed at 11 and we missed it by an hour thanks to our little 'tour' of the PA back roads. As we exit the tollway we ask the person in the toll booth for a motel suggestion ... a Days Inn a couple of miles away was the choice of many truckers so we stop there. Looked like a nice place, pool, conference room, hundreds of rooms AND only $44 ($11 less than last nights Knights Inn) ... another night with no food close ... so the other driver bought two bags of chips and a couple cans of pop ... supper first class. 10/23/03 Again, on the road a little after 7 am, heading to the airport ... having been here about a month ago, I knew where to go to pickup the rental car and that saves us a little time. The confirmation number dispatch gave me doesn't help but they find it in their computer and within a few minutes we are on the way. I lead as we head back down the tollway ... we had to overshoot the other drop by about an hour to pickup the car. This drop is at a dealer and only takes a couple of minutes, didn't even have to go inside, the guy who checks in vehicles was out in the lot. It did take a little while ... to get the other driver in the car. He is a big guy ... about six foot and maybe 280# ... and didn't fit as a passenger, so he had to drive ... I think it was an Oldsmobile Alero. Out on the highway he tells me he has been in a car like this before ... with four other guys .... said he had a little chat with the boss after that ride. We are on our way to NYC ... we look at the map(s) ... and misread them. We had thought we could take the southern most bridge onto the island and instead went through the tunnel. When we saw the Statue of Liberty, the other driver wanted to stop and see it, but we were in the wrong lane by to exit there and by the next exit we would have had to backtrack quite a few miles ... AND ... we still hoped to get out of NYC before rush hour. Dispatch had told us to plan on being onto the island BY 4 am ... due to our timing we missed that schedule by about 9 hours. Our trip took us through part of 'Chinatown' ... should have taken a few pictures ... lots of activity going on ... lots of graffiti on everything that doesn't move and even some that do. Somehow we lost the streets we were supposed to be on going through Manhattan ... not very well marked ... I was supposed to be 'navigating' but I must have been doing too much sight-seeing. Back on the Interstate we get cut off by a semi driver ... Aggh, big city drivers (he was from home state in the Midwest). Once past the downtown, Long Island looks pretty much like any other suburb, mile after mile. We find the airport and call a number dispatch had given us ... we get our ride for $10 ... on to truck #2. Trip 18b New ('02 Demo) Peterbuilt - Garbage Truck Long Island, NY to Waterloo, IA |