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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 32 - New GMC - Refer ... to Sidney, MT / Williston, ND Dispatcher is out so the backup is filling in ... on Tuesday says there may be a couple of trucks going to New England or one to MT, but wants me to call in on Wednesday, 8 AM to see if it's a go... 2/4/04 - 8 AM, no dispatcher ... 9 AM no dispatcher ... finally, "Show up at 10" ... the New England trucks aren't mentioned ... it's either MT or VA, and the VA comes with a possible second leg ... and I want to be back for the weekend ... so MT it is. Below zero this AM ... but the the truck does start, looks like its been sitting a few days, not sure why no one else wanted it .. This will be a mostly uneventful trip, been on this stretch of Interstate a few times in my life time ... Dispatch told me this AM that they want to setup drop times now, no more drivers talking to the customers. My original plan was to drive to Sidney tonight, then drop the truck in the AM, catch a rental car for $50 and spend Thursday driving the 10 hours back ... easy money. First fuel stop is Fargo ... trying to find out from the office when I can make the drop, turns out the customers main location is in Williston, ND and would rather I drop the truck in Williston ... no problem, the miles are about the same. About this time I find out some bad news ... the $50 Avis quote for the rental car is misleading ... when you look closer you find out there is a $500 "drop charge" ... same price out of Williston. The new plan is the train out of Williston ... more bad news ... one train a day ... 7 pm, am going to miss it by a couple of hours ... this 24 hour trip is now 48 and climbing ... It took me a while to realize that even though Dickinson is in the Mountain time zone, Williston is in the Central time zone being west (but north). Because of the change of plans, dispatch finally gave me the OK to contact the guy there to give me direction and set up a time ... 9 PM is the drop time. The new route takes me through the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the only highlight of the trip ... 'cept it's dark ... but there is a full moon and between that and the snow it does put some light on the landscape. My second ND scale ... just another by-pass for this empty truck. Now if I'd just remember to read the directions when people give them to me ... no, I remember that I go through three stop-lights, go past the Walmart ... (But was I supposed to take the main highway around town, or the business route through town??) ... I choose the business route, go past way too many lights and head out the other end of town ... so I go back via the main highway, still no Walmart ... and back again ... one, two, three, Wal-mart and the customer. He's already there waiting and gives me a lift to the closest motel ... I ask for one closer to the depot but he say's there is nothing near there ... so the Super 8 it is, just as I get to the door I realize I forgot my phone in the truck, I manage to flag the guy down as he's leaving ... and back to the customers lot and back to the motel. This place is going to cost me just under $50, would have been nice to have caught the train yet tonight ... I mention my predicimate to the motel clerk ... she suggests I call the depot before I check in, she took the train a couple weeks back, it was eight hours late and she / they missed a funeral. I called and got to talk to 'Julie' ... their automated computer automated phone voice ... train had been almost an hour late, meaning I had only missed it by an hour ... so I checked in, then went to find food ... with the temp somewhere below zero, I wasn't going to walk far ... with food on three sides ??? but the only place still open after 9 was the Mickey D's ... never my first choice, my lucky day ... Mickey D's was my third choice. Even though I have nowhere to go, I knock off early. 2/5/04 - I wake up to the same sound I went to sleep to ... a strange noise ... FINALLY ... I realize it's someone's jacuzzi. I had asked last night how long I could stay in the AM, 11 AM sharp "... any longer and we bill you another day" ... said the same thing on the door. Spent some time looking at the city map in the phone book ... found where I was, where the library was ... and the train depot showed somewhere off the south end of the map. Temp's today will be above zero ... heat wave in this part of the country, will make this a walking day. Looks like about 30 blocks to the library ... then another 30 (plus) blocks to the depot, and if I change my mind each leg will cost about $5 via the local cab company. First I head to Wal-mart to pickup a 'travel pillow' ... wasn't planning on needing one in the rental car, then as I'm checking out I ask for a good place for breakfast ... the Dakota Farms Family Restaurant ... great omelet ... terrible drinks ... both the water and the juice tasted either like cleaner or way too much fluoride ... and no service 'follow up.' This kills another hour, now for the long walk to the library ... heading south wasn't bad ... seamed like everyone has a power cord running to the street, (even Wal-mart had 'power posts' in the parking lot so people could plug their cars in ...) heading west was a little cooler ... neck was getting a little numb. The library looked quiet ... hoped it was open, I should have called ... it was, but they told me there was an one hour limit on Internet usage ... over five hours later it's time to go ... lucky for me it was a slow day at the library. Got really confused from the Amtrak web site ... said the Williston depot was 20 north of town ... but the librarian was quite sure, but not positive, that the train still left from the old downtown depot ... neither north of town like Amtrak said, nor south of town like the phone book map showed ... I hadn't planned on staying so long but I got busy on the Internet ... now I had under two hours to get to the depot, another 30 blocks ... hadn't timed my earlier walk, now I knew I was doing about a block a minute so I was going to have plenty of time but I did want to be early as to make sure I had a seat ... never been on a train before. The librarian had listed a couple of places to eat on the way, but I didn't pass them which got me nervous ... Didn't see any signs directing me, but I found the depot ... closed until one hour before departure ... now to find food ... hadn't past any walking east ... or south ... so I went a block further east, then back and then north ... found Gingers Cafe, just the small town place I was looking for ... sure felt out of place, people stared at me like I was a punk rocker when everyone else was in there Sunday best. Guess they don't see out of towner's much ... I supposed I could have waited at the closest building to the depot, it was a bar ... with dancers ... The food at Gingers Cafe was ... great, a patty melt ... don't know what was different about it, or if I was just that hungry, but it was good to the last bite ... I was watching the clock the whole time ... now I was down to 45 minutes till the train pulls out ... Or so I thought ... I show up and there is a sign that says "Update - 8:30" ... so I have plenty of time ... a couple of people also waiting so someone to talk to ... "Updated - 9:30" ... why not last night, I could have made it ... "Updated - 9:45" Guess I am lucky to be here today, the train was shut down for a week from Jan 27 through Feb 3 ... an avalanche knocked a train off the tracks around Essex, MT ... it hit the next freight train after the Amtrak ... never crossed my mind it wasn't running ... if this truck had been sitting for this reason, dispatch didn't bother to tell me ... The Amtrak web site said the depot was 20 miles north of town, it was really a block from downtown ... it said they opened at 3:30, they really opened at 6 pm ... it said the ticket was $77, it wasn't ... but the train did run through Williston, so that was a good thing. Was a nice small town ... with two old time movie theaters on main street ... looked like a couple of department stores were still open, sounds like it was a booming town back in the oil days ??? The train ride was pretty un-ventful, tried to sleep, not sure I did ... once the train is late, it only gets later, has to stop and wait for all the trains that were running on time ... coming out of Fargo, I had just thought ... "how come all the trains we meet are on the other side of the train?" ... in the next five minutes we met three trains on my side ... big deal ... you can't see anything ... at night ... when something is flying by at <> 120 mph six feet from you. Didn't move from my car ... did finally ask where the restroom was ... I was clueless ... and it was the middle of the night. Hope to take this trip again ... maybe next time from Portland or Seattle in the warmer months through Glasier Park ... they do have this trip planned right ... Glasier during the day ... ND at night Having to pay for a motel and spending an extra day on the road, this is the least I will make running this style of truck ... less than my $100 a day. |