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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 31 - New GMC - Refer ... to Portland, OR Told dispatch I would take one of the Spokane garbage trucks I brought in from Waterloo, but would rather run something else ... And once I realized how long of a trip it was, I decided I couldn't leave until Tuesday ... by Monday PM they had found drivers for both trucks and offered me a trip to Portland, OR instead ... I jumped on it, I have wanted to get out that way since the day I started ... didn't think it would take me nine months before it happened. Glad I didn't plan on leaving Monday ... it took me almost three hours to run to my second job ... it usually takes <> an hour ... only worked five hours then spent another two hours plus to get back home, roads weren't bad ... just the drivers. The traffic reports say today (Monday) wasn't bad ... on 70 accidents, guess Friday (when I was in Dallas) there had been many times that many with only a dusting of snow. 1/27/04 - 8 AM dispatch and I am running late ... that doesn't happen often and shouldn't have happened today, but I always seem to have to many irons in the fire ... but was running alone with a half a day to spare on the other end so not a big deal. Dispatch sort of likes to keep the good runs like this on the hush, hush no matter who gets them ... there's a group of drivers who always seem to be whining about the other drivers runs ... grass is always greener ... By the time I had talked to dispatch about permits and chains and delivery times, the other drivers were showing up for their dispatches and ended up knowing where I was going ... will have to ask to see which drivers were whining this time, could have made dispatch's job a little quieter if I had been on time. Cold again this AM so I'm glad I have a pro-pain instead of diesel ... had enough fun last week to last me for a while ... good news is the truck is at the office so I don't need to burn a half day shuttling to pick it up, bad news is that it's not full and I need a full tank to get to Fargo ... this truck is the GMC - C6500, most are the C5500, and this one has dual tanks, not that it does me a whole lot of good ... on this trip the Flying J's are about 300 miles apart so being able to go 450 on a tankful doesn't help much ... can't bypass any of the stops. The good news of being late and taking an hour to get going is that I will miss most of rush hour ... I sail out of town ... no problem. About an hour out of town the ditches are littered with car tracks, and then I get to a spot where there is still a half dozen cars in the ditch including a highway patrol ... a few miles down the road, I'm watching the on-coming traffic and suddenly there is a big burst of snow in the air ... when it settles, there is another car in the ditch, crosswise, looked like both bumpers where hanging on the sides of the ditch with the wheels in the air. No idea what happened, traffic was thin, road 'looked' clear ... I just keep sailing along at 70 mph. Hit Fargo in an average amount of time, is even colder up here ... The guy fulling the truck was not a happy camper ... grew up in OK ... knew there was only one reason he'd be up here the way he was cussin' the weather ... a woman. The high today in Fargo was to be 13 below ... The perks of going west ... speed limit in MN is 70, ND is 75, then MT (truck limit is only 65 ??? by when have they cared about speed??). Been listening to the radio a little today so I know it's going to get cold tonight so I call dispatch to see if they have had any problems starting these pro-pain trucks ... "If it's going to get DOWN to zero, you may want to start it once during the night" ... "DOWN to zero??? It hasn't gotten UP to zero all day, and the forecast is for 30 below." "You mean wind chill?" ... "NO, 30 below actual, 60 below windchill." and we got disconnected. Dispatch called back and left a message "Ahh ... you may want to leave the truck run all night, just make sure you have a full tank of fuel." By the I hit Beach, ND on the MT border it is about 20 below and blowing ... I'd been sitting all day, but still sat in my truck while the guy fueled, takes 15 - 30 minutes to fuel these trucks depending on the pump ... should need about 70 - 100 gallons each stop, glad this fuel is paid. Right inside the MT boarder is their first scale, so I pull over and go in for a permit. The guy's a pleasant type, just doing his job ... the permit is $20 for under 26,000#. I had caught up to a pickup / travel trailer just as I entered the ND/MT scale, and when I went in to buy my permit the guy wanted to know if I was running with that "Horizon driver who just blew past the scale.?" (No, I wasn't) ... "They know the have to stop ... all commercial vehicals must stop ... and it says so right in their hand book ... but they like to play dumb ... lucky for them there are no patrol's in the area right now ... But if you do catch up to him, you can remind him the fine is $130 for failure to stop at a MT scale." With the high speed limit and being a three day run, I wanted to knock off as many miles as possible, always want too, was hoping for around 750, 'legally' could do around 800 ... Billings MT would have been nice but it was around 850, a little hard to make look legal even to an amateur ... Forsyth MT would have been do-able, but I wasn't sure how big of town it was, and if I had any problems in this cold weather ... the bigger the town the better ... Miles City was the best I could do ... about 700 miles ... and it would throw my plan off two days from now. The driving still wasn't too bad ... never did see a whole lot of traffic ... but so far there had been enough to keep the road clear ... with these cold temperatures the snow was very light and any vehicle would blow the snow around enough to keep the left lane clear ... but finally what every had been ahead of me exited and I was now on my own ... very hard to drive, in the dark, in the snow, when the road isn't plowed and the whole landscape is white ... had to slow it way down and drive by the mile marker posts they have every 1/10 of a miles, luckily I was getting close to Miles City and hadn't planned on going further. The guy in the scale house had recommended a motel at that exit ... but the Motel 6 @ $29 Single looked more to my liking ... right next to a truck stop if I couldn't park in the lot. First question was did they have rooms, then confirmed the price, then asked if it was OK to let the truck run ... it was OK. I parked my truck away from the building and carried my back in ... right in ... the door was open, someone had turned the dead-bolt so the door wouldn't shut ... I quick checked, no one was in the room and it was nice and toasty ... no worries ... but I did let the front desk know as FYI. It had been five or six hours since I had eaten so I walked next door to a 4B's restaurant, the cold weather didn't stop everyone from eating out ... some left there vehicle's running in the lot ... and one guy walked out to look for something in his car, was out 3-4 minutes, without a coat on ... not sure where his mother was :) Try to stay away from the places I know when I'm on the road ... this is a chain only in MT, plus one in AZ. I actually couldn't make up my mind on what to each ... they had three choices I wanted, Chicken Alfrado, meatloaf or French dip ... I finally went for the meatloaf. Food was good and lots of it ... I'm used to one plate ... dishwashers much come cheep in Miles City ... I had a salad plate (that's normal), then a plate for my bread, one for my potatoes, a bowl for my corn and the usual big plate for my meatloaf ... two big slices, twice as much as I normally eat ... my only complains would be ... the corn was out of season and the lemonade was, real lemons, tasted like the straight you use for cooking. I drink a lot of lemonade and this is the first one I've had that was too strong. The food was good the service was quick, I'll be back. It doesn't feel like 20+ below when you are only out in it for a couple of minutes at a time ... Back at the motel I quickly climb into bed to catch some sleep, if I get up early enough I'll be back at 4B's for breakfast ... not sure if I was half asleep or in a deep sleep when I awake to "BEEEEEP" ... GREAT ... there's a problem with my pro-pain and now an alarm is going off ... waking up me and everyone in the motel ... I'm dressed and out the door in 10-15 seconds ... only to realize the alarm is a burglar alarm from the car parked in front of my window. Glad it's not my problem ... but that quick jolt from dead sleep to running in a few seconds sure got my heart pounding ... I barely drift off to sleep again and the phone rings ... and the car alarm goes off again ... it's the front desk "Can you move your truck? We are getting complaints from other guest's that they can't sleep." AAAhhh ... this is a motel that is between an Interstate and a truck stop ... and they are complaining about my pro-pain truck idling ... so I get dressed again and go out and move it. But now I can't see it, so I won't know if it shut's off during the night ... my only real worry is that it will stall and with these new trucks ... if the key is on so are the lights ... which would mean a dead battery ... which is why I'm in Miles City and not Forsyth. By now it's after midnight. 1/28/04 - I'm awake at 3 AM / 2 AM local, it's been five hours since I went to bed, less the interruptions ... the neighbors car alarm went off a few more times before I got up at 5 ... my guess is, it was going off all night and I finally slept through it ... by the time I left, they had their car running, may have been the only way to stop the alarm from going off. Also heard about an hour of "Beep ... beep ... beep" ... the sound of a snowplow backing up ... remembering that I parked in front of their snow pile ... but lucky for me, it was the restaurant parking lot they were plowing. Opted not to stop for breakfast, was still full from last night ... that and the bed was nice and warm, and I didn't want to get up ... but by the end of my 10 hours I was back in the cab and on the road. Sure was nice to go from a warm motel to a warm truck ... also nice to get an early start ... before sun up ... no one else on the road yet ... which also means I can't see the road. Then snow must have dropped into the defrost ... freeze-out, I can't see anything, not even the side of the road to pull over ... finally with the windows down I can see a mile-marker and pull over by it and hope I far enough off the road, not that it matters, no one goes by me in the few minutes I'm sitting there. When it clears a couple of inches ... enough to see ... I'm back at it and within the first hour the snow stops and it's getting light. First time for everything ... was listening to a little radio station out of Forsythe, MT and right in the middle of the 5 AM news ... they run a commercial for a morning newscaster ... Anyone looking for a job? A few more scales open, but none flag me in ... always a time saver ... just past Billings I see two garbage trucks at the bottom of an exit ramp from the Interstate ... but too late, I am already past the exit and can't tell if they are ours. Couldn't be ... they left a day ahead of me ... they had an 11 hour head start, and I caught up to them in under 15 hours? Next stop for me is Belgade, MT ... another Flying J ... these trucks aren't great for milage ... about 4 - 5 mpg ... but it did do great on the idle, idled all night and the gage didn't move. Usually have to wait for someone to fill the tank, today is no exception ... this is why I have to log a 1/2 hour for fuel stops. Ending up that getting fueled was not going to be my biggest problem ... getting released was. The valve on my truck would not re-seal when they tried to disconnect the hose ... and the station had to call the local pro-pain dealer for help ... said they'd be there in 45 minutes, they finally came an hour and a half later as I was trying to reach them. They had said we'd have to get the valve / tank fixed in Butte before I could fuel again ... turns out all the pro-pain dealer did was hit the valve with a hammer ... not something I would do ... afraid there would be a big "BOOM" that I would never hear. While all this was going on ... in pull two garbage trucks ... yep, they were our two guys, they had just stopped to use the restroom and had no idea that I had passed them ... they ended up stopping in ND on Monday because of the weather ... but now they were back ahead of me ... I was down for about two hours, so they got about an hour jump on me ... did find out they were now flying out of Spokane on Friday, so the trip I thought I would do in two days will take them four. Two other things I had to clear up before I left, would I need chains and would I need a permit in WA ... "No, if chains are required, wait it out" and "Because you are under 26,000# you do not a permit, and if they give you any problems call me back, I've got the number of the WA DOT." Three mountain pass's, the first two were clear but the one in ID was ... muddy ... they had poured so much sand on the road they were now plowing mud off the roadway ... on the narrower stretch's of road they have to blow the snow off over the edge ... in these area's the snow is stacked higher than my truck. Been through this area before on my own and it's no place I would want to be on ice ... "both hands on the wheel and my shoulder's straight back ..." hit ID just as it's getting dark, by now I know I will be spending the night somewhere near Spokane ... had still been hoping to get to a small town called Connell about 80 miles south of there. Spent three harvest seasons there back in the late 70's ... driving truck. My final fuel stop of this trip is Spokane ... the WA / Spokane scale didn't even stop me ... which leave's me about a half hour left to run tonight. Problem is, out west there isn't an exit / town every 10 miles ... 20 miles on this stretch ... and the first exit did not have any 'name brand' ... I've decided that when the weather is cold, no more ma & pa motels ... tired of no heat and no hot water. Hoped for a cheaper motel but when I got to Ritzville it was either the Best Western or the ma & pa's ... first they quoted me $70 ... too steep for me ... I groaned ... then they asked if I qualified for any discounts ... none of the first one's they listed, then 'Truck driver' ... "Yes" "$50 please." There was a Perkins and a couple of fast food place's at the exit, but I was again looking for local. The clerk suggested the Circle T uptown ... a nice local cafe ... a few stools and a few booths, and one table with customers ... complaining about the service, sounded like they'd been waiting an hour or so ... maybe not the best choice. Found out that there was also a lounge in the next room and a group of 20 or so had just ordered ahead of these guy's ... and everyone (else) was local ... sounded like there was no hard feelings. Tonight's choice was easier, a french dip and lemonade ... outdated lemonade, so I asked for another ... the waitress went and checked the fridge ... as I watched, she checked all the bottles of lemonade, then the bottled fruit juice and finally yelled over "We have a bottle of Sobe here that is still good ..." I passed ... the sandwich was good though. 1/29/04 - I had shut down at 8 so I could have left at 6 CST / 4 AM local but no reason too ... I had less than 400 miles to go and 11 hours to get there. Had called the customer last night and he wanted the truck 'as early as possible' as he starts work at 4 AM and didn't want to be giving me a ride late at night. If I had been able to drop the truck later, I would have stopped and looked up people in Connell ... but not at six in the morning, unannounced. Instead I decided to drive past the old farm, just for the memories. For the first hour out of Ritzville we had fog with about a 1/10 mile visibility ... but I found a truck that was doing the speed limit ... 65 mph for trucks ... Out west? I wouldn't have thought it. I knew how to find the place coming from town, but thought I try a short cut when I saw a street name I recognized ... but I was about 10 miles from where I thought I was and ended up driving ... and driving ... and driving, not lost really. I knew the major highways and the towns, I just had to find one or the other. Finally found a state highway with city / milage signs and knew which direction to go ... then I see more street names I think I recognize ... but no more chances. Finally I see the sign I was looking for, only wasted a half hour or so but it seemed like forever. Went past the farm, not much has changed with the layout, all the equipment is gone ... they had auction there last year, the end of another 'family farm' Have left my self time to stop to see one of my relatives between here and Portland, only two miles out of my way ... do have other relatives within an hour of here ... First time in nine months I have stopped to enjoy the freedom of this job, had hoped I would be out this way my first week or two ... Another scale, another permit ... and a rookie and the counter, guess it's a good idea to run with multi-plates, if I had grabbed the NE plates I could have saved the boss some money ... Enjoyed the time and it was time to go ... pushed the time and now had to push the miles ... love this stretch of highway along the Columbia River ... even saw some Mountain goats grazing about 20 feet from the Interstate, someone was stopped to take a picture ... me, I have to remember to keep my eyes on the road ... beautiful falls against the snowy background. I get to the customer within five minutes of the expected drop time ... someone is there waiting to drive me to the airport ... another perk of this customer ... and the airport is only 10 minutes away so a cab fare couldn't have been too bad. At the airport I check in with my 'e-ticket' found out that would save me about $60 over buying it at the counter, but you have to go to the America West web site ... checking in four hours early does have it's advantages, no lines ... OK there were three people at the counter, which gave me enough time to put ID tag's on my luggage. No sooner was I walking away than I realize I had forgotten one of the four things I wanted out of my bag in case they were lost ... my car key's ... about that time I see my luggage going through security, so I stop and ask for my key's ... no problem, but I had to wait for them to inspect my bag ... guess something tripped security when they went through X-ray ... and they said it wasn't my tool's ... and I seen they ran a lab test on my road atlas ??? Now for the wait ... I have almost four hours to wait for my flight. I make a couple of calls, by now I know that I will be on the same flight out of Los Vegas with our two drivers from Spokane ... and know that we will have someone waiting to bring us to the office. Think I walked into every shop, except the barbershop, in the airport ... ate at the Panda Express and waited ... Finally headed through security ... found out that anyone / everyone with a one-way ticket is flagged for 'special attention' ... off with the shoes ... everything out of the pocket's ... complete wand after going through general security ... a couple minutes delay, but I'm cleared. This leg from Portland to Los Vegas was uneventful, almost full ... of people meeting in Vegas for their big Superbowl parties ... we get in on time, but the other drivers got in a little late ... gave me lots of time to tour the airport. The other guys had wanted to head up town on our three hour wait, but they realized we were short on time ... another three hour wait in Vegas ... glad there will be no wait at home ... but even with all the waits it still beats all my other options. 1/30/04 - Here's where thing go down hill for this trip ... I had put my coat in my checked baggage so I wouldn't have to carry it around ... now I'm on the plane home and I am freezing ... after a couple of hours I ask for a blanket ... but am still freezing. It is now almost 6 AM and I have gotten less than an hours sleep in the last 24 hours ... when it's time to exit the plane I get as close as I can to the front ... the stewardess's now have on their parka's ... and I, who am always cold anytime, am walking out of the airplane in my shirt sleeves ... by the time we get to the baggage claim the bag's are coming in ... I am beginning to think that my luggage may be lost, but no ... my baggage is here, but very cold ... as is my coat ... and worst yet, I realize that I left my cap in my truck in Portland ... NO!!! Back at our lot, my car is cold ... it has warmed up to 13 below ... but my car starts, didn't sound good at first, and wouldn't idle. But better than one of the other drivers who's car hadn't started when I left ... didn't figure there was any reason for four of us to stand there ... my car finally warmed enough to thaw a couple of inches of frost off my windshield after about a half hour ... ... it would be twelve hours later before I first felt warm ... sure it had something to do with being cold for so many hours ... lack of sleep ... and not eating anything for about 24 hours ... |