 |
|
|
|
|
...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
|
Trip 40 - New IH - Refer ... to Fresno, CA 4,200 miles Rt First they offered me a trip to FL, with a second leg from GA to MT and a third leg from MT to ID totaling around 70 hours. That didn't work out, the truck for the first leg was still in the shop. So ... they changed to to a four leg trip ... first leg to KS, then KS to AL, from there do the GA to MT and MT to ID ... that was going to be over 70 hours so I turned it down. The next long trip available was this one ... I normally stay away from these trucks because I've gotten really burned on a couple of runs ... $10 a day and $70 a day ... but was was a round trip (and would knock to more states off my list.) 4/4/04 - Sunday afternoon pickup, paperwork is the lockbox ... truck is ready, I'm rolling. Good news ... I hope ... this truck has over a 1,000 miles on it already, it should make the difference between 6 and 7 mpg. The truck has about a 1/4 of tank of fuel so I can get to a truck stop before fueling ... second stop is Des Moines Iowa ... third stop is in the middle of NE. In order to make this trip in 70 hours / six days, I need to max out every day which means covering at least 700 miles a day. I knew there was a Ecno Lodge in Ogallala, NE if I could find nothing else. When I got there my other choices at the freeway exit were Days Inn, Holiday Inn, Super 8, Best Western, Ramada ... none are know for low rates. There was also a "Grey Goose Lodge" advertising "Best rates." Turns out their best rate was $39, the same as the Ecno Lodge ... as long as I was here I decided to stay. Turns out that $39 included a free breakfast buffet next door at Country Kitchen ($5.99) and a copy of USAToday. 4/5/04 Up in plenty of time, the breakfast bar was good ... seems Greyhound stops here. Last night when the restaurant was closed they were stopping next door at the Amaco station. Today Greyhound is stopping at the Country Kitchen, sounds like this was one of there 30 minute layover stops so the place filled up in a hurry. Haven't been on a bus run in the last year where the bus stopped at any place other than fast food ... I knew twenty five years ago they used to stop for real meals, guess they still do, depending on where you are going. Yesterday I had started at 10:30 ... 11 hours driving, 1 hour insp and fuel ... 12 hours on duty, 10 hours off, I can't log on until 8:30 AM. At 8:30 I am sitting on the entrance ramp to I-80 making phone calls waiting for my 10 hours to be up. Yesterdays route on I-35 and I-80 I have done before, and todays route down I-76 to Denver I have also done before. Once I hit I-70 in Denver it will be all new, never been the rest of this route for either business or pleasure. Seems the CO DOT has taken out all the rest area's and have replaced them with parking area's and combined the rest area's with the local towns visitor's center which are not always accessible to trucks. The now closed rest area's are a good example of what happens when you apply artificial support for a while and abandon it ... the trees and shrubs that relied on the sprinkler system are all dead ... couldn't adjust to the real world. For some reason the computer has routed me via I-76 to I-25 to I-70 ... a couple of miles down I-70 I realize that I could have just stayed on I-76 ... one of those quirks in the computer program I guess. Had planned on getting fuel just west of Denver ... having not been this way I didn't know that the mountains were the edge of Denver and there wouldn't be another real truck stop for 300 miles. ... but there was a scale ... "Bring in Paperwork" ... first time this trip, when I got in and laid my paperwork on the counter the guy behind the said "Oh, you're using transport plates ... you good to go." I get about two steps to the door and he say's "Wait ... as long as you're in here, let's check your insurance and IFTA." I was good and free to go, the stop only took a couple of minutes. There was a fuel station at the same exit as the scale, I should have stopped ... ended up stopping at Silverthorne, the highway signs didn't show anyone with diesel but at this point I had to take a chance, found it at a no name station for a lot more than I'd have paid in Denver, but most likely less than I'd have to pay in Vail. This is beautiful country ... there is a resort (Copper Mountain?) just East of Vail that looks like a place I'd like better than Vail ... smaller resort, smaller canyon, still full snow cover in April. Vail also still had snow on the slopes and the lifts were still running, but the surrounding ground was bare ... and way to many people, very few houses, mostly motels and apartments/condo's. The pass east of Vail had snow both times I passed through, a little snow on the road, enough make the road sloppy but not enough to plow. Ever trip I see dozens, some times hundreds of cross's along the highway ... sometimes a simple faded cross, some have a dozens of bouquets of flowers, some will have a cowboy hat or a plaque ... all remembering a loss. This time I saw something that sent a chill for a different reason, once I thought about it ... 50 miles east of Grand Juction I noticed a yellow ribbons on the freeway markers they have every 1/10th of a mile .... I've seen these before and never thought a whole lot about it ... for some reason this time I took note of the mile marker ... for the next 50 miles, someone had tied a yellow ribbon to every other mile marker ... which comes to about 250 ribbons, and these were the full sized ones a good 12 inches across. Someone spent a lot of thought time and money to say "I waiting ... welcome home!!!" (Was there a tradition behind the yellow ribbon before Tony Orlando had the hit song?) A Conoco station in Grand Juction with a couple of diesel pumps was the closest I've seen to a truckstop since Denver. It hasn't been 300 miles, but I need enough to get to the Flying J in Richfield, UT where I was thinking of spending the night. Good thing I fueled when I did, out here it can be miles between any type of services ... interesting signs at the Green River exits, at the first exit was a sign "Next services 112 miles" ... and then at the next exit a sign saying "Next services 108 miles." Am thinking the business at the first exit are getting a little extra business from that 'misleading' sign. Have to be careful out west about those 'services this exit' signs ... look very closely ... I've seen some where, at the bottom of the ramp where under the company logo it says "--> 26 miles." By the time I get to Richfield I still haven't done 700 miles so I fuel and keep going ... end up in Cedar City at a Travel Lodge for the night. 4/6 No free breakfast here ... up before sun-up ... and sun-up was beautiful ... if I'd have had a good 35mm camera with I'd have made an 'emergency' stop on the freeway to take some pictures. The full moon was just setting in the west ... the sun was hitting the red walls of distant hills ... and the closer hills were still in the shadows of the eastern mountains ... didn't know how it would turn out on a Wal-Mart disposable camera ... didn't stop. Another scale flags me in ... and I pull up beside the only other truck in the lot ... and it's from the same manufacture as the one I'm driving, but driven by another company. Talked briefly to the other driver as we met at the door and he was on his way ... inside the scalehouse the ask for my plate, the weight of my truck (I don't know and they didn't seem to really care), and to see my IFTA stickers and IFTA page in our manual ... I had forgotten to bring in our stickers so I pointed out the ones on the truck which was good enough for them ... and I was on my way. Plan is to make the drop in Fresno yet tonight and be on my way home ... quick fuel stops in Las Vegas and Bakersfield for fuel ... the price is going up ... up ... up. But I knew that, so far I've been able to pay less than the state average for fuel. You know when you get to the NV state line from any direction ... casino's at the first exit. Cheap motel's and food if schedule puts you in the area. My map said NV has 'No permanent scales or ports of entry' ... it said nothing about the 'Inspections stations' each direction on I-15. The westbound was closed but the east bound had a guy standing on the ramp talking to every driver ... but that's a worry for tomorrow. Big OUCH ... didn't know that the speed limit in CA for trucks was 55 mph ... this was going to take a little re-adjustment for my travel plans ... 350 miles of CA will take a little longer ... that and about 50 miles of two lane highway, the only miles on this trip which isn't that bad. Even in the flat lands people are able to crash there cars to almost beyond recognition ... and there was the motor home sunk to it's axles in the sand, not 20 feet from a sign warning 'Soft shoulder.' Not happy with the Flying J at Bakersfield ... even though I have their perks card and use a credit card, I still had to go in and 'pre-pay' ... leaving them my credit card while I fuel. What should have been a 10 minute stop took over a half hour ... one cashier ... everyone having to wait in line twice ... and to top things off, we can hear someone on their walkie-talkie's saying ".... on pump 1 is not fueling and blocking the pump ..." "the U-haul on pump 3 is still sitting there and not fueling." No kidding ... we were all waiting in line to get pre approved ... These are some dairy farms out here ... 80 acres of cows and not a blade of grass in sight, I think most people call them 'factory farms.' Every foot of farm land in use from Bakersfield to Fresno ... lots of 'has been' truck stops and motels at the exits. About five blocks off the four lane I find my drop ... not the company location I was expecting ... guess I should have looked at the address a little closer, I'm dropping it at a repair shop ... the sight of my return truck makes it easier to find. Page 2 - The trip home .... |