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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 21 - New International - Refer ... to Washington, DC 11/11/03 - The usual dispatch time ... 9 am ... catch the two hour shuttle to the depot. Good news, there are only two of us today (sure beats seven in a mini-van). Lots of room and an early start, we are out of there by 9:30 ... the only bad news is our drops are about a 100 miles apart, still not a problem to do in two days. The other guy has driven before, so no training needed. This guy runs only in the winter, has his own lawn business the rest of the year. He has a way to run that I like, we pick a place to spend the night and we drive at our own speed. This is good ... I have a diesel, he's running on pro-pain ... I will need to stop more often than him, but his stops take up to a half hour ... and his truck will do 5 mph more than mine. The shuttle driver declines my offer to help hook up the tow vehicle, so I was on my way. More good news ... there was actually some fuel in this vehicle, a little over a quarter but better than the 'E' we sometimes get ... it allows me a half hour down the road before I have to fuel, but it will allow me to get to the Flying J in Beloit without stopping again. As I pull into Beloit, the other driver is already fueling and still sitting there after I pay for fuel ... but I take a couple minutes trying to get my snacks open and he's out of sight. Not to worry, I know he has to stop again in Gary, IN in order to make it to Toledo ... the next Flying J with pro-pain. Due to our early start this AM and no major road construction by Janesville we are making good time. We hit the IL boarder around 4 pm ... and somehow manage to make it through the state ... including the toll booths in under two hours ??? Not sure how we were able to beat the speed limit going through Chicago during rush hour but we did it. This morning I was concerned that I couldn't make it 290 on a tankful, somehow thought I was going to be able to make 340 miles on the second tankful ... at 300 miles the gauge was laying flat on 'E' so I finally stopped at an oasis and put in 10 gallons, enough to get to Toledo. I managed to make it through IN without fueling where fuel was only $1.39 ... and ending up paying a lot more every stop the rest of this trip. Sometimes we have made as little as 400 miles the first day, I usually aim for 510 ... but today we are shooting for 620 / Toledo, OH. Shortly before our 10 hours are up, I get a call from the other driver ... after 10 hours we are only 15 miles apart. I figure we must have saved at least an hour not waiting for each other at fuel stops / scales / toll booths. We (I) decide to eat at the Flying J before pulling into the Knights Inn for the night. Still no pro-pain ... isn't the the year 2003??? How can it take six weeks to fix a gas leak at a filling station? The other driver will have to find another place to fill in the morning. This Knights Inn has an interesting layout, looks like it used to be at a major intersection BEFORE the Interstate ... the Inn still has reminints of a fuel station in the lot ... the pumps are gone but the islands, canopy and yard lights are still there ... the station across the Interstate is still open, but doesn't seem to be much competition to the Flying J, Petro, Pilot, TA and Shell stations at this exit. 11/12/03 Another nice thing about not running together ... when you're ready in the AM you leave ... not like a couple of weeks ago when there were three of us running together. The other guy was gone a half hour before I was ... a few hours later I pull up behind him, the only way I 'caught up to him' was he had passed me while I was at an oasis a couple of miles earlier ... and then he was gone again. I have to learn to look at the map every trip ... it could have saved me a few miles on the two-lane, I'm sure it was shorter just not faster. But getting off the Interstate is a lot more interesting. About an hour between Interstates ... in WV the highway is two lanes, two very narrow lanes ... but I get behind a fuel truck that puts the petal to the metal so I make good time. If I don't make good time, the other driver will be waiting a couple of hours for me and it will be that much later of a start tomorrow. When I hit the VA line the highway is four lanes ... still narrow lanes, but it is a divided highway. And very country roads ... met a pick running down the highway towards traffic ... until it saw my truck, then it stopped and looked at my truck ... and started out into the lane ... must have liked the pictures on my refer truck. Back on the Interstate for only 2 miles ... and I hit the scale, no big deal but for all the off road miles I did today, it would have been nice to miss it ... then I get behind my favorite kind of driver, I try to pass - he speeds up, I pull back in the right lane - he slows down ... four times he did this over the next 20 miles before he allowed me to pass him. Ahhgg Dispatch was in a rush to get us out yesterday so I have NO maps or directions, only directions to the city limits and an address ... with a little help from home I find the drop with ease. The other driver calls and says he is an hour behind me ... stuck in DC rush hour traffic, so I take my time switching trucks. It's a really money / time saver when the drop and pickup are in the same lot. Some time between my first inspection and now I have lost a tail light on my new truck ... and the old truck ... missing a side blinker and one of the rear tail lights / blinkers, but there are two on each side so I should be ok ... just so I don't have to stop and use the four-ways ... Got to the drop just in time ... it was still light, makes doing the inspection a whole lot easier. By the time I leave it is dark and we have hours to go ... If I was in a car, and the timing was right I would have taken the Interstate into DC and then south ... but today I take the back roads. Only have a 1/4 tank of fuel or so the gauge says, and no sticks available to check the tank. After a few miles down the road I can tell the gauge has moved, but that still doesn't mean it is accurate. No diesel for miles ... and miles ... by the time I see signs for the Interstate I know I need to stop and ask. Can't get to the stations on my side of the Interstate so I have to keep driving until I can do a U-turn ... none were advertising diesel, but they should know where to get it. When I find a place to take a U-turn, I can also see another station ... and a diesel pump off in the corner. At last ... and only $1.79 per gallon. Didn't want to fill at this price, but also didn't want to stop again before picking up the other driver. Then a very strange thing happened, after I fueled I needed to use the rest room ... as I push the door open I look down and see a ring ... being the nice guy I am, I pick it up to bring it to the desk ... that's when I notice my ring is gone ??? Somehow as I was pushing the door open it had fallen off without me feeling or hearing it ... no idea how. Fueled and with a $3.00 ham sandwich in my tummy I head on down the Interstate ... I'm an "hour" south of DC at about 7 pm on a week night and traffic is ... stopped. It is stop and go for the next hour ... doesn't help when you have people who are doing 20 mph riding their brakes when the rest of us have our wipers on low or less. If I was stuck in this, so was the other driver, it could be a long night. The other driver had given me directions to his stop ... verbally and I had failed to write down which way to go at the exit. Always helps when you don't have that first direction complete. Oh yeah ... my dash lights don't work so I can't tell how many miles I've gone once I get off the Interstate. Lucky these directions were 1 mile this way, 1 mile that way and not 20 miles ... I finally stop and ask directions and I had gone the wrong way. Back to the Interstate and the right direction and I quickly found the spot ... the other driver was already there ... he had gotten there when I was going on my little joy ride. So for two days in a row ... traveling separately, we have gotten to our meeting spots within 15 minutes of each other. We pack in and are gone ... I have another hour I can drive ... with some creative logging he comes up with an hour. It all helps, if we can keep close to our schedule we will be back home by noon on Friday. So far so good, no major slow downs / accidents / road construction or bad weather. At the two hour mark we start looking for motels ... the exit sign has two listed a Hampton and a Budget ... be go for the Budget. We get there and their sign is already off ... it is after 9 pm in rural America ... all the fast food places are closed also ... but the 'vacancy' light is still on by the door. After a few rings we get the guy to come to the window ... an interesting fellow ... his computer is down so we will have to come back in the AM to pay ... he offers us a room for a good rate and we get the key ... he reminds us a couple of more times to come back and pay ... and repeats the directions to the only open restaurant within walking distance a couple of more times. Half way across the parking lot I decide to go back and check our room ... only one bed. Back to the office, "Sorry that's the only room I have left" (Really?? this place has 20-30 rooms and there are only 2 cars and one truck in the parking lot) We finally convince him that, no, we are not going to take the room and leave the key ... as we get to the door he finally offers us directions to a Super 8. This town was at the intersection of two Interstates and the rest were north of the intersection and we had gone south. We do a big loop through town and find the Super 8, and a few more motels. We pick one within walking distance of the all night Waffle House and check in ... we told the person at the desk why we had ended up here ... we got a strange look and they said "It's just as well, I'm not sure you really wanted to stay there anyway." We asked why without any response ... and I finally offered "Do they rent their rooms by the hour?" "That's a VERY polite way of putting it." We never did get them to tell us how they would put it. A quick walk to the Waffle House ... could have been Mel's Diner ... food was good and by the time we walked back home it was after midnight again. 11/13/03 Today we can't go our separate ways ... we are stuck in the same truck for the next six hours or so. The other driver is driving the first leg ... the hills of WV and a strong head wind will make for very low milage today. We don't see any diesel before we hit the Interstate and passed the first couple we did see ... we finally HAVE to stop at the next exit that says 'diesel' ... lucky for us it's right next to the Interstate ... some say 'diesel this exit' then once you are on the ramp, there is a second sign saying '--> 6 miles.' This is an 'All in one' joint ... it has gas, diesel, pro-pain, restaurant ... in a little building built back in the 30 or 40's ... still has the wood floors, they have upgraded the bathrooms ... they are still out back, but the building has been upgraded from outhouse to one with flush toilets. That should hold us another three hours ... by then we should be in OH and it will be time to switch drivers. Now is another time we should have looked at a map ... planned ahead ... we are just following the directions the office gave us, but when we finally look at the map they look 100 miles out of the way. Why would the computer do that? Road restrictions? Low bridges? We don't know so we don't chance it ... the river through Charleston is running high today ... a lot of debrei ... must be from the heavy rains in OH a couple of days ago ... lucky we missed it / it missed us. When we get off on the two lanes we go past a nuclear power plant ... those few minutes that close were enough for me, wouldn't want to live there ... The next 'truck stop' is also a bit interesting ... a couple of tattooed guys behind a counter that looks more like a used auto parts counter than a travel plaza ... and an older man sitting on the chair in an isle arranging the cigars in their boxes ... a restaurant, but no deli or take-out ... I spend way to much time looking for something, anything to eat and finally get an ice cream bar ... not sure why, its about 40 degree's outside today. I get the pleasure of the last stretch in to Cincinnati where the other driver is to pickup a cement truck. Sounds like the company where we are picking up the trucks has bit the dust ... and we are taking all the trucks back to be refurbished ... no one around here to ask. Someone is supposed to have fueled the trucks so we leave on a full tank, guess that's just another story to get drivers down here. We do manage to get out of town and to a truck stop ... another non-rush hour in a big city. A few hours later, another truck stop and we've reached a decision ... we are heading through Chicago yet tonight and up to Janesville for the night ... that will leave each of us about five hours tomorrow. On my frequent trips down this stretch of highway I've seen a Motel 6 ... and its our choice for tonight. Truck parking on the street ... as we are walking out of the office two other drivers are walking up, and there were two stacks of trucks on the street so I asked them who they drove for, "Interstate" It's too far to walk to the Perkins so we drive the refer truck, some of the Perkins are no longer open 24 hours and I think I know why ... when we left this one at Midnight this one was empty. 11/14/03 Five AM, six AM?? I don't remember but it was early ... the other driver left earlier, I rolled out not too far behind. The scalehouse would have had some questions about my eight hours off, but it was close. The rest of the trip is uneventful, I drop this truck, pick up another to bring back to the office. ... and the question at the end of every run? Did it pay. Additional rambings from the tape recorder 11/11/03 On the road again, just got back from Nashville about 1:30 this AM (for my other 'job') ... by 9:30 I'm back in a vehical, this time the shuttle van, to go pickup my truck. 11/12/03 Deisel has been $1.39 all the way across IN, but I don't need to fill yet ... suppose when I hit OH it will be more expensive ... Had been fairly close to legal ... then three Fedex trucks caught up to me / passed me so I followed. Then a couple more trucks caught up to us ... problem is, I passed them on a hill and now I'm in the lead ... without a CB ... hopefully my luck holds. Saw a sqaud when I was running with the Fedex guys, he was facing the oppisite direction but shutting radar our direction ... little tricky. This trip worked out great .... the other driver (I left with) was running propane, I'm running deisel ... so we went our seperate ways. He pulled in (to the motel) less then 15 minutes behind me last night, six hundred miles later. I'm guessing we saved ourselves each a good hour by not waiting for the other to fuel / scale / pay tolls ... going to have to do this a little more often, 'couse it doesn't work too well when you are running with rookies, and they don't run their log books right and you end up burning 10 hours before you've gone 400 miles... ... Grrrr, I was 15 miles into PA before I saw a sign that said the speed limit was 65 ... instead of the (sl)Ohio 55 ... Caught (the other driver) at the toll booth, I had just stopped for fuel about two miles from the toll booth so he must have passed me then when I was busy talking on the phone. Everything looks good for this afternoon, the customer said (my/our) return truck won't be back off the street until between two and three and I should get there about 3:30 ... so we'll see how long it takes to get his truck unloaded / emptied ... takes a while sometimes ... maybe I'll get some pizza's out of it. More great signage ... "Left lane no trucks" ... "All trucks left lane next 4 miles" ... and the signs are right across from each other. Where 70 & 76 split, you have to go thru about a mile of town to get from one to the other ... I don't understand. Lover's leap, the Patomic, I've now crossed thru the two miles of MD into WV, they got some paved bike trails going right along the Patomic ... looks like there's a couple of state parks in this area ... Burklee Springs, looks like the remnents of a huge rail yard ... a depot, a big top dump, repair shops for the train ... I'm with a 100 screaming trucks going thru town on a little two lane road ... porch's are all pretty much up to the sideway ... no front yard to mow ... that's a plus. Lots of the old brick building, 100 - 150 years old lining main street ... and there is a museum of Burklee Springs .... I really don't get off the interstate much (checked the web, but couldn't find their museum website) Need to look at a map, we are always routed the 'shortest' route ... am thinking the interstate would have been faster ... vs going thru town at 25 mph ... school must be just about out, the sherif is sitting by a crosswalk ... everyone is just about stopping, but he's got his hand out the window flagging them to go through. Earlier today I could have gotten nabbed, I was passing a truck going uphill ... saw a 'commercial inspection' vehical sitting on the side of the road so I backed off, then I saw the squad a little ways ahead. Sure enough, he pulled out and followed but by that time ... going up a hill it was pretty easy to slow down to 55 and still keep passing the truck I had been, so it didn't look to obvious ... he followed me for a while, I kept passing trucks on the hills and he eventually took off and let me be. A lot of water here, way up in the grass going past the school ... lots of water in the parking lots still. ... a pig running down the highway on 552 here ... he was running twords the traffic (but) when he saw me coming ... he stopped ... headed out into the lane of traffice. Maybe could see enough of the food on the truck to think it was lunch time. WV of this highway was strickly two lane, now that I hit VA it is a four lane. But it's still the same type of highway ... hills, curves, not shoulders, trees right up to the road ... five deer in a little clearing not 20 feet from the road ... grazing away as we go cruising by. Back on the Interstate ... only going to be on the Interstate for four miles, and a mile before my exit ... I hit a scale ... the only scale I've hit in the last 1,000 miles. Luckly, I sail thru on a green light. 11/13/03 Back solo in my truck, dropped the other driver off to pickup up his cement truck ... boss has told me to follow him to make sure the drum keeps turning. Appearently someone didn't do that and our company got socked with a $700 bill (to replace the rollers). ... so I got a little speech from the boss to make sure I do follow him. Very high water in the river by the capital in WV ... interesting place we stopped for deisel earlier today, not much out here ... paid way too much, the place did also have propane ... ? Cleop, VA? Truck runs much better than the last one, hasn't used any oil yet ... been a good run ... s-o-o-o far. Should be a fun couple of hours here, just leaving Cincinatii (this PM), this cab has no visor's and the sun is shining bright. Made the mistake of not looking at the map again today ... should have checked to see the fastest way from capital of WV to Cincinati is ... looks like we went about 75 miles out of our way to stay on a US highway (instead of county roads). But didn't realise that until we were well on our way, and then didn't know why the computer routed us the way it did. Beautiful country there coming through the Alliganies, the other guy was driving so I actually got to look around, look down in some of the gourge's ... when we go over the bridges ... I'm sure it's even better when there's actually green tree's, instead of looking at a pile of sticks ... still a nice view. Last night wasn't wasn't quite as beautiful, we got in (to his drop) about 15 minutes apart ... unfortunately I was ahead of him when I got off the Interstate ... because he hadn't passed me ... but I took a wrong turn and by that time he had found the place and was waiting for me. But we did really good ... as far as going our seperate ways and getting to where we were going within 15 minutes of each other two days in a row after a 10-12 hour run. Tom Raper's RV's ... worlds largest ... Richmond, IN Last night found a Budget Value ... they only had one room left ... we took it ... luckly we looked in the room (right away) ... it only had one bed ... so we went and got a different motel a few miles away. When we got to the other motel we relayed what had happed and the gal behind the counter said "Oh ... you wouldn't have wanted to stay there anyways ..." But she wouldn't say exactly what she ment ... Doing 65 in a 60 (mph zone) and everyone is passing me tonight ... most of the carriers don't have names on their trailers ... Didn't see any coal mines when we went through WV ... but did see a lot of coal trains and coal piles ... Our first night we did make it to the Knights Inn in Toledo the first night 620 miles ... mostly legal (this was under the old rules) ... that motel is a good example of what happens when the road gets re-routed ... looks like it used to be a truck stop ... looks like the remains of fuel islands, including the canopys in the lot, but the fuel pumps are gone ... and now it's a third rate motel. There is another one right across the Interstate almost like it ... both a mile or two to the exit. The other one still is trying to keep the truck stop going ... a no-name truck stop with no-name gas ... sort of hard to compete with Petro, Flying J, TA and a couple others within a few miles ... all with better highway access. Today's food has been slim ... had a half a donut early, curtisy of the motel, then at the first thuckstop they didn't have fast food, only sit down ... so I ended up with a ice cream bar. (A few hours later) at the second truck stop I finally grabbed a hot dog. Fuel hasn't been cheap ... paid $1.79, $1.52 ... and $1.53 ... so it's going to hurt |