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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 43 - New GMC - Refer ... to Galion, OH Trip 43b - New - Class B Motorhome ... from Kitchener, ON When I called dispatch on Monday, I had a choice of 'team driving' to IN, or 'team driving' to TX. Neither of the 'team drops' were with three hours of each other so there would be a lot of dead time ... but I need to work. 6/9/04 - On my way in to work this AM, I get a call ... could I do an OH and ON run instead? "Sure" ... did not really want either of the other runs anyhow. Alone, I wouldn't have wanted the OH run ... it was rated at about 12 hours, just long enough that it can't be done in one day, but the extra miles / hours don't even cover the cost of the motel ... but add ON for a return trip and the math should work out ... turns out the ON trip is 14 hours, but at least I can justify 'sleeping in the vehicle.' Like these runs where the vehicle is at the office, a lot less 'on duty, not driving' (not getting paid) hours. I've got my paperwork and rolling before 9 AM ... getting going by 7 would have gotten me past Chicago before rush hour, but that only happens if I leave on weekends, when there is no rush hour anyhow. Been this first stretch of I90-I94 on half my trips in the last year, not much has changed ... This week is supposed to be "Operation Road Check" ... the first scale is open and they are checking one truck, the only other scale I see today is closed, and it is one that is open 50/50. Last year I stayed local on "Road Check" week ... didn't want to take any chances. ... my only real excitement for today is logging the exit info for Exit 101, all these trips and I've not logged this leg before. At my only fuel stop this trip, the Flying J in S Beloit, the attendant asked how many more of us there would be today ... "Maybe two heading to IN" ... then he told me I was an hour behind one of our drivers heading to New England ... (what? why wasn't I offered that run? they are the few states I haven't been to yet). The Flying J was having problems with their propane pump, so it took longer than usual ... between that and the road construction the last 10 miles I figured I lost about a half hour ... which all puts me further into CGO rush hour. Heading into CGO isn't bad ... isn't bad until you get down on I-80 and the road construction ... there it was stop and ... stop and ... stop and ... I had hoped to make it to Toledo tonight, for the miles, the traffic tomorrow AM and not sure of any low cost motel's between here and there. My usual Toledo spot is past today's turn off so I stop at a rest area for a motel coupon book, this was my only stop besides the fuel stop for this 11 hours ... and I'm not even in a rush ... ... Days Inn had a coupon for $39, which is usually my top end ... turns out there was also a Motel 6 for $33 at this exit ... and a Budget Inn for $24, I checked it at the Motel 6. Toledo OH ... and the Bob Evans closes at 10 ... (because of the time zone) by the time I checked in to the motel, I had only a couple of minutes to eat ... the motel clerk didn't know of any other 'family' restaurants close ... Bob Evans suggested the Steak n Shake a block down the road ... other drivers had bragged about how good this place was, but I had never eaten at one. Good food, really good ... all I had was a patty melt, but it was good. 6/9/04 - 6:30 AM start and about 100 miles to go ... G-g-r-r-rrrr ... not a big fan of toll ways, there is not an intersection to connect I-80/90 and I-475, but instead of getting back on the toll way to catch I-75, I spend the next 15 minutes finding I-475. I was expecting a rush hour in a town the size of Toledo ... didn't see one. Most of the miles today will be non-Interstate ... four lane, two lane, one lane ... missed the last turn, a sign showed the township road going to the west but not the east, had to stop and ask a highway crew. Go to the drop just after 9 and there was a sign on the door for me to call a number, but there was a full crew there so I went inside to see who could help. Seems the guy who was supposed to handle this works the night shift and had left not five minutes before I got there ... meaning if I could have found the freeway in Toledo, I would have made it. Seems someone had emailed the guy and said I'd be there between 6 and 8 ??? ... would have been nice had someone told me the same thing ... One of the guys in the office called and left a message for my contact and within about 15 minutes they got a call back ... my contacts wife was going to come to the office and bring me to Mansfield (he was going to sleep) ... someone suggested I may want to walk ... Never had a relative of an employee give me a ride before, over a year later and this job still has it's first's ... it was a half hour ride to the bus depot and I had three hours to get there so I was in no hurry and had told them so. This lady had lived here all her life so she knew all the back roads ... I guess what the guys had meant was that she was very cautious ... full long, long stop at every intersection. She had been going this way today anyhow, she was going to meet her daughter who is going to collage in the same town ... now she was getting there a little earlier than planned, because the office didn't relay my timetable to her. Did find out that movies like Shawshank Redemption and Air Force One were filmed at the Mansfield prison were filmed here. The bus depot had moved since she was to it last, took a few extra minutes to find ... like a lot of depot's, it had been combined with a city bus stop ... others have been combined with the local train depot. The depot was two blocks away from the old city square ... my ride had told me there was restaurants along the square ... I only went to the side closest to the depot, that block had a bar, restaurant, antique shop and a half dozen vacant buildings ... three being used by political candidates. Wasn't sure how full this restaurant would get and I still had over a couple of hours to kill so I sat at a half table in the corner ... didn't take long to get a little claustrophobic, staring at a wall and no room to stretch my legs ... food was good and they found a paper for me to read ... They did ask one gal to leave as soon as she walked in ... back out on the street someone sitting on the steps of a vacant building asked me for change ... I had asked my ride if the depot was in a bad section of town ... "not the best" ... but this was Mansfield, OH not NY or CGO ... ... the bus, its been ... weeks ... soon realized I had been on at least part of this run before. My first transfer would be Cleveland, the only depot were security checks you before you get on the bus. There was one person here who ... I don't think had a ticket, although he did have a folder they put the ticket in, my guess it was just a place to sleep ... and I saw something that will make me think twice about sitting along the walls at a bus depot ... One of the guys on the bus to Cleveland was a truck driver who was having problems with the bus's ... an earlier bus had broke down and he had spent 12 hours going in a big circle arriving back at the same depot ... now at Cleveland he, and a dozen others, didn't fit on the NY bus. As soon as my line started to grow, I got in line ... an hour before departure ... within minutes of getting in line there were two dozen more in line behind me ... this is already a 20 hour trip, I don't need any delays. Dopot's are ... anywhere. Most seem to be in the older sections of town near hang outs for the homeless ... today I find one across the street from a major shopping mall, the next one is on a hill, across the street from million dollar houses with a great view of Lake Erie. Buffalo bus depot ... been here before, for an hour this layover ... and another hour for a late bus ... then on two Canadian customs ... only two passengers on the bus this trip, should make customs go a little faster this trip. When we leave customs, I crawl into the back seat to sleep ... the good news is that it is the only place on the bus where it's three seats wide ... the bad news, its next to the rest room ... I was tired enough to adjust to the smell ... Page 2 - The trip home .... |