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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 42 - New Mack - Cement Truck ... to Rocky Point, NC I took first run dispatch offered me, not because I really wanted the run, but I know they were getting backed up on this run ... and I knew this run wouldn't pay the best, it's just over two days (legally), two nights motel for 24 hours work ... if it was going west it could be done in two ... also makes it very hard to drive back in one day ... solo. When I took the job they asked the usual ... when are you leaving, when will you get there ... They called back a few minutes later and ask if I want to run with someone ... 'OK' ... they call back again and see he's going to leave at 5 AM ... (not so) 'ok' ... not what I wanted, but OK ... but if this guy tries to make it in two days, we are parting ways ... As I'm getting getting ready bed for my early departure I see a missed message on my phone ... the guy I was supposed to meet at 5 AM will not be there ... at all ... so I can sleep in. 6/2/04 - 8 AM sounds like a good dispatch time, one where my wife can drop me off on her way to work. I soon find another good reason for waiting ... my truck is blocked in and I need to get a set of keys out of the office ... something that wouldn't have been possible at 5 AM ... ... Dispatch quickly finds another driver to run with me ... and some one to drop off ... only an hour out of my way (guess the guy I'm running with will just have to wait ... meet up with him later). The guy I have to give a ride to has been with the company for five plus years, and said things never change ... including the pay, the drivers are getting paid the same now as five years ago (plus the recent fuel surcharge). Dropped him at our customer that does used cement mixers ... his is going to Bend, OR ... had it been a new one, I would have been interested. Talked to the customer a bit and it sounds like they are keeping busy ... so we'll be keeping busy (even found out about the next job before dispatch.) Had told the guy I was going to run with I'd be an hour to an hour and a half behind him, and I was. He opted to grab a bite to eat at the Flying J in S Beloit so that we could run together. Fairly new driver, turns out he lives less than five miles from me ... his wife works for an airline, so his angle is that he only goes where that airline goes ... found out more about those perks involving airlines and driveaway drivers. He's retired and it sounds like he still hasn't convinced dispatch that he is only going to accept select runs ... I've been there a year and dispatch still offers me a few I won't take ... I'm guessing I turn down two out of three, even when it means sitting home. By the end of this trip dispatch will have offered me three 'additional / return runs' ... and each time I told them "No, I'm going to be home on Saturday." Turned out to be an expensive choice ... I will end up making less than $300 for a three day run, and if I'd have taken a used cement truck back home I'd have (should have) made close to $1,200 for five days ... but I would have had to run the weekend. The other driver this trip wants to avoid Chicago so we stay on I-39 and drop down to Bloomington Normal ... he also wanted to stay on the main interstate, instead of a few state and county road that the computer had routed us on ... boss is now paying the fuel on any trip and we have most of a day to play with so I don't much care ... Just checked www.mile.com and found that bypassing Chicago like we did only added 41 miles and 17 minutes to the trip ... what are the chances you'd loose more than 17 minutes in Chicago traffic around 5 PM ??? ... good to know, I thought it was more like 100 miles and a couple of hours. Lots of water everywhere ... saw one 40 acre field where it looked like 30 of it was under water ... Thought we'd make it past Indy, but by dark the other guy wanted to stop ... not a problem ... ended up staying the town of Danville, IL at a Days Inn ... found it after first going a couple of miles the wrong direction. Nice place, $50 double ... which isn't a bad price, but the single price is $45 which isn't as good. By now it's after 9 PM and the restaurant is closed so we eat at the bar. Same food ... and the plus was a guy sitting at the bar playing his guitar ... was pretty good on most songs, the only one he didn't do justice too was 'Good Hearted Woman' ... after hearing it as a duet for 30 years it just doesn't sound right as a solo. 6/3/04 - We had shut down at 9 so we could have rolled at 7, instead we eat breakfast and moved out at 8 AM ... for relaxing this is great, but I don't often spend this much on food, should but don't. First stop of the day for fuel is the Flying J in Indianapolis, the second will be in NC ... Just north of Knoxville there is an accident in the oncoming late ... that's where it started anyway ... by the time we get there the tractor is gone, as is the first half of the trailer. The second half of the trailer is attached to a tow truck and a Bobcat is cleaning up the last of the debris ... by now the traffic is moving past on the right shoulder. Something had crossed the median, our lane of traffic and crashed the guardrail and was now being winched up the side of the Mt ... a few miles later in the back up, an ambulance was loading someone else into their vehicle ... traffic on the service road wasn't any better. According to the chatter on the CB, 2 or 3 dead ... and the back up stretched 12 miles. By late afternoon I'm starting to realize that we are going to be driving more than a couple of hours on Friday / our third day out ... I have no plans on how I'm and the other driver still wants to be off the highway by dark / doesn't want to be eating at 10 PM again. The first exit I pulled off on, had a few motels but no 'quality' places to eat ... so we headed back on the Interstate for another half hour and got as far as Marion, NC ... by now its 9 PM local. I suggest we eat first, knowing how restaurants in these small towns close early ... 'Read the sign' was his reply, 'It's a steak house AND saloon' ... so we checked the rate at the Super 8 on the other side of the parking lot. The clerk suggested we eat before we check in (and it's a good thing we did) before we eat ... the place closes within the hour ... 'Steakhouse and Saloon' was the chain name ... unfortunately, we are in a 'dry' county. Great food, we each had a 6 oz steak sandwich ... plus fries and onion rings ... I ate until I couldn't, by then it was 10:30 local and they were waiting on us and a couple so they could lock the doors. Back at the motel we found out why it was a good idea we ate first ... this gal was not completely computer literate ... also not the best at PR. When we had stopped in the first time there was someone ahead of us ... when she was done with him, she took care of some other 'unfinished business' before even acknowledging that we were even there. Another night for $50 / $25 each. We'd hadn't asked for a wake up call so I offered to set my phone ...'6 AM' was the requested time ... 6/4/04 - Shortly before 6 AM the other driver is up, saying 'Guess your alarm doesn't work' ... seems he meant 6 AM LOCAL ... does make (an hour) difference ... ... and when we headed out he was looking for some place good to eat ... like Shoney's or Cracker Barrel ... and down here there is one every few exits ... As we are pulling in to a Shoney's there is a bus unloading ahead of us ... every kid in grey T's and sweats, and three adults in camouflages ... Very quite bunch, now that I thing about it, I don't remember any kid saying a word. When they went up for their first round it was one table at a time ... with two adults standing by the food. I had my back to them, so the only times I could see them was at the food islands and when I turned around to gawk ... when we got to the food I realized that one of the guys was explaining to each what the food was. We did make some comment to the guy about the kids ... he seemed friendly enough, but just said that after two weeks in camp they thought the kids needed a treat." The kids ranged from maybe 12 to 16 (as a guess), and one of the oldest always had the third adult less than three feet from him ... must have been a runner. About the time we were getting ready to leave I heard of the adults say to the group going up "There are some donuts and bars up there, but I don't want to see anyone coming back with a half a plate full." ... Something I'm sure I said a few times when my bunch was younger ... Buffets aren't always the best but this one had plenty and it was good ... besides bacon and ham, they must have had a half dozen kinds of sausage ... much more than I needed to eat after last night. Somewhere before we get to Raligh - Durham we come down through the curves and out of the mountains where the speed limit for trucks is 35 mph ... with a car I don't worry too much about those kinds of signs, but with these trucks I am sometimes under suggested ... we are slowed down as are most of the trucks when a Hertz rental goes past us about 60 ... right as we get to another warning sign ... this ones says 'If lights are flashing, you are going too fast' ... the Hertz guy finally hit the breaks ... By now it's after 9 AM and the chances of delivering our trucks by noon is getting slim ... and it starts to rain, and rain hard ... we have tried to stay within a quarter of a mile of each other, but in this last downpour I lost him for a few minutes, so I slow down even more until I see the truck in the mirror ... he's easy to spot, his right headlight looks like it's on bright. Four the next four hours its a mixture of brief sunlight and heavy down pours ... at one point it looks like I was about 10 cars behind a spin out ... two vehicles are damaged, but upright so everyone keeps moving ... the first squad gets to the vehicles when I do ... Glad we are on four land Interstate where we can keep driving at least 40 mph ... if we'd have been on the two lane somewhere, I would have pulled over and stopped ... over the course of four hours, I'm guessing we passed at least 100 vehicles who did pull over and stop due to the rain. And there are always those drivers that like to drive along side of you ... somewhere between the front and rear bumper ... doesn't matter how many are behind them or you ... Guess it was yesterday when we finally realized that my truck was set at about a half mile an hour faster than his ... mine would do 65, his only 64.5 mph ... except on the hills, there he would gain a little on me. Sure is nice to have cruise on these long runs, should help the milage also. Finally to our exit and our drop ... the first thing the other driver says when he gets out is "Did you see that guy spin out back there?" .. no, I hadn't. Back at the first down pour when I lost him for a bit ... someone had pulled in between us and done three 360's before coming to a stop ... and no person or vehicle damage done ... except maybe to the one drivers laundry ... don't know how, traffic had been pretty thick all day. We were dropping these trucks off at a Mack dealer so they could do the decals and a once over before getting to the customer ... this is the first time in a year where someone has taken 15 minutes to inspect each truck before signing off on it ... turns out the guy grew up about an hour from where I live, but because of marrying someone from here, is now living here. Unfortunately the closest airport is 15 miles south of us ... and home is north. For now the plan is to try to get to the Raliegh airport before certain flights leave ... we get a car from a gal who has it together about as well as the last motel clerk ... room for improvement ... it cost us $65 and under two hours to get to Raligh ... at the speed he flies. He thinks his last fight tonight is at 6 and my last option for one under $300 is at 6:50 ... so our backup plan is drive the rental car home. Just as we start seeing 'airport' signs ... his wife calls and tells him his flight is at 8 not 6 ... now the question is if I can still make it ... we aren't to the airport until 6 PM, less than an hour before departure ... which would lock me out of some airports ... for the first time ever, I'm with some who doesn't want to fill the rental car before returning it ... we hadn't seen a station anywhere close ... turned out great for me. This airport allows ticket sales up to 30 minutes before departure, so I have 10 minutes to spare ... or I'd have been driving a rental car 22 hours home solo ... for the same price as this airline ticket. Had there been ANYONE in line ahead of me at the ticket counter I may not have made it ... and I can still check my bag so no tools to throw ... only one person ahead of me at security ... and by now I know the drill well ... all I have in my pockets is a few quarters and my cell phone. By the time I get to the gate it's first call for seating ... and we are off. A three hour layover in Atlanta ... have never seen so many newspaper stands and food joints at an airport ... not even before 911, back when anyone could hang out in the gate area ... but this is the hub for both Delta and AirTran If you're every in Atlanta, I suggest Charley's Steakery ... I had a 'made as I watched' Philly CheeseSteak sandwich for $4.25 ... maybe the best one I've ever had ... for a dime less down at Wendy's you could get a 1/4 burger. I was on concourse 'C' ... depending on which concourse you are on, you could also eat at Ben & Jerry's, Popeye's and all the other fast food places ... also listed was Edy's but that is now another Ben & Jerry's. (I just checked the http://www.charleyssteakery.com website and found there are two within 30 miles of my house ... never knew.) Plenty of time to people watch in my 3 hour layover, not the same crowd as the bus station but as interesting ... I've done a few flights in the last year, and some of those I know I've been in the 'emergency' isle before, but the second leg of this trip is the first time some one has directly asked me if I would accept the responsibility of the emergency isle and said the needed a verbal 'Yes' to confirm ... so I asked them how long this had been the airline / industry practise ... 'as long as I can remember' was her response ... "Interesting," I told her "... I have never been asked before, including on the first leg of today's trip ... on your airline." Thought she was ready ask for the flight but didn't. Somehow we managed to get into my hometown 39 minutes early ... only to find out that my ride would be an hour late ... 2 AM ... home again and getting some sleep ... very little, the day began again at 5:30 AM ... |