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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 34 - New GMC (Isuzu) - Refer ... ... to Florence, SC Trip 34b - '99 Used - Freightliner chassis ... Spartansburg, SC to Fort Lauderdale, FL 2/18/04 - When I dropped off my last vehicle on Monday and stopped by the office, they had trucks going to AZ, OR and TX ... by Tuesday afternoon they were all gone ... now my choices were MT, VA or SC ... SC had the most miles so that was my choice, it also had the best chance of a 'leg two' which I told them I didn't want ... if they it had a second leg before I left I was going to turn it down and take a different run. This trip rated as 22 hours so I should be able to make it 'look legal' even with the time we always loose going through Chicago and I was glad when I got a call back saying dispatch today would be at nine instead of ten. Two new drivers in the office this AM so dispatch was having to cover a few things with them while the rest of us waited ... a couple in their 30's I'm guessing ... I was hoping for a set of double propane tanks which would give me a 450 mile range, that would make this a quick run ... instead I got a diesel ... it's a GMC, as are the propane ones but looks like an Isuzu to me ... with the propane ones are usually filled by the time we get them, being a diesel this one is not so I'm down another 15 minutes right away, still not a bad start am going to be rolling before noon ... About three hours after I left the office this AM, I get passed by our new drivers ... I'm doing doing the limit plus five ... they must be using the only cruise control these trucks have, it's called the floor ... that's the last I see of them. I stop at our usual stopping spot expecting them to be there, but they are either already long gone or doing know this is the best place for a propane stop. Always, always want to be rolling before noon going east ... starting when I did I'm going to be hitting Chicago right in rush hour, but no major delays ... I do the IL 115 miles in just over two hours ... We, the driveaway / towaway group are a busy bunch, coming through WI and IL today I have seen over a dozen stacks of trucks, another dozen plus travel trailers, buses, motorhomes, boom trucks all 'wheels down' ... plus many more semi's with travel trailers, stacks and vehicles we often driver all in one ten hour day. South of Gary on I-65, within a few miles of where we had seen a semi on fire a few weeks back I notice semi's on a side road and NO oncoming traffic, not a good sign. Soon I see two semi's hooked up tow trucks and car loaded on flatbed / tow truck, by now it looks like the scene is almost cleared up so I can not tell if that is the only vehicles involved ... about two miles of traffic is backed up behind the accident ... just have to sit there and remember how lucky you are ... you are not getting a ride to the hospital or the morgue. When I see accidents like this I usually try to find out what happened, this is the first time I've been able to find a write up about it ... Two people in the car were killed when it crossed the median and hit a semi head on, a second semi then hit the first one ... the accident had happened had happened about 4:30, I came through at about 7 - 7:30 and the article says the highway did not re-open until 'late Wednesday evening' ... it also say that the southbound lanes, the way I was heading, was closed from 4:30 until about 6 due to emergency vehicles. The Lebanon Reporter - Crash Leaves Two Dead I did have time to check this AM before I left on how I might get home ... Airfare - $485 plus motel / cab - then 5 1/2 hours Train - $206 - 2 days, 10 minutes Bus - $155 - 1 day, 8 hours Rental Car - $125 plus <> $80 fuel (plus motel / cab) - 24 hours ... I resign myself to taking the bus ... the rental car is a long shot, it means driving non-stop, with no delays for 22 hours straight or pay for an extra day, and if I do it safe by staying the night in Florence and starting fresh in the AM, I have to add the cost of a motel and cab fare and would get home a few hours later than taking the bus. ... but that means not wasting any time, I must stay on schedule or I will miss the 10 PM bus, have to spend the night in a motel and spend the day Saturday on the bus ... and I'm hoping to be back for a family get-together on Saturday ... to do all this, I need to knock off at least half of this trip tonight ... and be somewhere south of Cincinnati, into KY. Not sure how on my last two trips this way we didn't make it to Cinci ... we didn't even make it to Indy either time ... this time I stop just past Cincinnati, found what I was looking for 'Motel 6 - $29' ... even the Knights Inn was more, advertising at $34. By now the clerk said the only thing open would be the Waffle House, this place is becoming a too frequent stop for me ... when I get there I see a Perkins and White Castle still open, but it's the Waffle House again. 2/19/04 - Ten hours off ... or was it??? ... I was draggin' this AM to get going, but once on the road ... the sun is shining and it's above freezing ... (and I'm not in an office cubical somewhere) ... it is a beautiful day! ... in a few minutes I pass the place we tried to pickup a used beverage truck ... the one one back in December (Trip 27) where the transmission was having problems so we left it sit ... didn't see the actual yard, I was doing a little 'distracted driving' ... my 'other job' called me three times this AM with questions ... Today I don't see as many driveaways ... but trailer after trailer stacked with ? frames ? the base they use for motorhomes, etc ... the frame, wheels, steering wheel but no hood or cab. Shortly after hitting the Interstate this AM I see a car against the center median that looks like the usual Ford squad car, but don't see anyone inside, seconds later I see why, the cop is standing against a pole running radar on us ... and he picks one out, we were all doing the speed limit plus 10, why he picked out this car I don't know ... so don't relay on the the ... "I won't get stopped if everyone is doing it" ... saw the same thing in OH a few weeks back where they picked one semi out of the pack and he wasn't either the lead or the tail. Today, as soon as everyone know who the cop was pulling over, some of the traffic steps on it even harder ... one truck went by at at least 20 plus ... guess he figured that was the only squad on this beat ... My morning check-in with dispatch amounts to leaving a message with the office, dispatch was busy ... but my 2 PM check in, dispatch had a live one ... SC going to ... FL. I was hoping for something heading ... HOME ... or with a lot of miles where I could run all weekend ... but oh well, it would add two states to my list and get me a cheaper airfare and I would still be home on Saturday ... and not have to ride the bus ... I think that bus ride had a lot to do with my decision to take the truck. ... now to get the details worked out ... it's no wonder my cell phone battery doesn't last ... now I've got home checking my options on both my ride home and to my next drop ... dispatch is doing the same ... one has my interests in mind, the other one just wants the truck moved so it seems that some of the details get dropped. ... one of the details that got over looked this time until right before dispatched closed was ... "Oh ... this is a chassis ... is that OK." Ouch ... chiropractor here I come ... I will find out that was only one of the reasons I should have said 'NO.' I had picked up at this location before on my first run ... it was a Peterbuilt with a tanker ... I also know that our other driver who I met for the first time was cussin' (as he often does) about the cost of getting there ... don't remember the amount, but I think it was about $60 for a cab ride from the airport. All dispatch tells me is ... 'there's a bus that will get you there.' ... with a little more help from my 'other source' I find out that there is only one bus a day ... and it will get there after the customer closes for the day on Friday. I need to know if I'm going home or on a second leg so I stop at a rest area and call dispatch from a pay phone ... that was the right choice for once ... they had me on the line for over 45 minutes, am sure glad it was on there nickel ... Yes I was right, I wouldn't make it riding the bus, so they call the customer ... would they be willing to do a blind pickup - no, but they would send someone to meet me at 8 AM Saturday morning ... at this point we still have been told that the drop customer is open both Saturday and Sunday ... so this is the option they want to go with. I ask if the boss would kick in some money to cover the difference between the bus and a rental car ... back on hold I go ... "No, the customer will not pay any extra" (I thought I had asked if the BOSS would pay extra, not expecting them to call the customer back.) ... so the final 'plan' is, I will now spend the night in a motel tonight, catch the bus tomorrow / Friday ... spend another night in a motel, which will cover 36 hours to get a distance I could cover in a rental car in under 3 hours ... two weeks ago, 24 hour layover in Williston, ND ... last week 24 hours to get four hours ... not again ... this would also mean not getting home until Sunday. A little math and a quick phone call home and I changed those plans ... I was not wasting another day on the bus ... taking the bus would add another night in a motel ... add that motel cost to the bus fare and I have the cost of a rental car. But all this ... has cost me almost an hour, not that it makes any difference anymore, no dead line to meet ... but I do want to pickup the rental car tonight and do the extra driving tonight so that I don't have to log it. During my calls to dispatch they have told me they have been calling my drop site for three days and no answer, no calls returned, so I had to get dispatches OK to do a blind drop ... I got it. My drop map shows the Interstate which always makes things easy ... but I really should have looked at another map to see where I'd be hitting that Interstate ... I went south, the first milepost tells me that was the wrong decision, three miles later I can make my U-turn ... Good news, some one is at my drop ... the boss even ... when I ask about a ride to the airport, he looks at his drivers then at someone who just walked in "Can you give this guy a ride to the airport?" ... so I had my only 'free ride' this trip. When I go to park the truck I notice the guy following me in his car and when I throw my bags in, he tells me to 'get in let's go ..." I tell him I was told to drop the keys back at the office ... "I'm the sales manager, I drop them tomorrow ... let's go" ... this ought to be a fun ride ... He was grumbling right away ... but I kept him talking and by the time he dropped me off, he apologized a couple of times for his attitude ... Good thing my only option wasn't flying, the last planes left over an hour ago ... I know what Budget and Hertz will charge but I decide to check Avis just in case ... the web site has been saying NA for oneway cars for the last few days, but ... they did have one and after my 'Preferred Customer' discount it was <> the best price so I took it ... still a very expensive three hour ride. Food ... I should get some ... I did grab a cold ham sandwich earlier today, but no breakfast ... I've got to start packing more in my snack bag ... my PopTarts were yesterdays meal. I should have eaten back in my drop town, now I've got to find something open ... not used to this, it's not even midnight and almost everything is closed except the Waffle House. Finally at the intersection of two Interstate's is a larger town, now to find something ... different. Closed, closed, closed, after a few miles I backtrack and settle on an Outback ... which would close in 15 minutes ... then ... Ouch, I had not been to one before and was not expecting these prices ... finally settle on chicken something, not what I thought I was getting but a closer look at the menu showed it was what I ordered. I kept having the waiter repeat himself ... I think I was only half listening ... after I had paid, he sat down and asked if he had an accent ... accutally he didn't ... One of those travel guides said there was a 'new' Motel 6 for $29 a few miles from my airport rental car drop so I headed that direction ... now I really thought I was half asleep, I had been up a few hours by now and that 'lodging' highway sign I just past looked like the Motel six logo was upside down ... but too late to do a double take ... I'm used to seeing their signs from a good distance but not this one, lucky there was a couple more highways signs with arrows. When I get there there, there is a banner saying "Motel 6 coming soon" over a Microtel sign. After taxes it comes to $34 ... cheep sleep ... and no, the sign wasn't upside down, it says 'Motel 9' ... now wouldn't that have been obvious to someone before it was installed?? and yes they are going to replace it ... "They better for the price we have to pay ..." Once in the room I notice ... no towels, the guy brings them right down. Trip 34b 'Used' '99 Freightliner - chassis Spartansburg, SC to Fort Lauderdale, FL |