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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 49f - Chevy - Passenger Van ... to DC 7/31/04 - Off the bus in Nashville and I find a lone cab … but that's all I need is one. Great guy, not sure why he's driving cab … sounds like he loves to drive but his wife won't let him out of town … not a bad thing when you still have small kids. This drop was easy to find both the bus depot and pickup are a just off of I-65 … but far enough out to cost me another $50 … now I'll be stopping for cash again, I'm expecting the ride from my drop to cost closer to $80. I'd already heard about the guy I'm picking up from … he was going to make sure the van was full of fuel, and was going to have it washed. Friday had been his last day of work … 30 years, by the time I got there at about six on Saturday, he had already bought a new SUV, a boat, and taken his wife fishing. He is also the first guy who cared what milage I wrote down … this was a company vehicle and he did not want to get charged one more mine than he had used … or he did not want to have any contact with his former employer about anything. He did give me one helpful hit … besides telling me there was a chip in the windshield … If I went south instead of north on the freeway, to the next exit, I could catch a new freeway that would add six miles to my trip but keep me out of Nashville and all the road construction. I took it and am sure I saved time, the little traffic there was was … doing the speed limit plus plus. Ran out my 14 hours again tonight, then started looking for a hotel … Motel 6's for $60 - $70 … hate this part of the job, wasting time stopping looking for a cheap motel, checked 5 or 6 before asking the clerk at a Super 8 where I'd have to go to find a motel under $40 … "next door." By this time the only place open was the Carl Jr's … so I had a couple of Jr's and called it a night. 8/1/04 - Not living quite by the book … haven't looked at my log book since I tried to pick up the first truck Friday AM, not much chance of getting stopped in these vans, they have plates on them so I'm not using mine. This drop is an easy one to find ... three major highways listed on my delivery map. More good news, the customer offers to give me a ride ... I told him I have a list of cabs to call, but won't turn down a free ... and immediate ride. I am up against the clock ... today's best flight is already boarding and will be leaving in a 1/2 hour ... there is only a half dozen people ahead of me but it takes an hour to get to the counter. One group is at the counter over 45 minutes ... other persons / groups are only taking 15 - 20 minutes ... it takes me about two ... the last flight was around $200 ... the next one is over $500. I check other airlines, they are all between $500 and $700. NO WAY am I paying that much ... so after killing two hours at the airport I accept that I am going to have to drive home. I am not thrilled, I have already logged 2,500 miles in the last 5 days and now will log another 1,000 in the next 24. I am not a happy camper ... I did not want this run, I didn't think I was going to make any money on this run and still don't and do not want to drive back home ... I'm tired ... and I am going to shut down for the night, I am not driving straight through ... if that costs me an extra day on the car, it's still cheaper than flying. My grumbling may have been why I heading the wrong direction out of the airport and did not realize it for a half hour ... then when I did exit the freeway I could not get back on. It's one of those that exits only ... and into a residential area. Other than back up, there is not option to get back on the freeway in any direction. I went a few blocks a couple of directions in hopes of an entrance ... and found an old guy in his yard ... he was able to get me back on the freeway, but still going the wrong direction ... until I got to the ramp there was not a single sign pointing to the freeway. Back on the freeway I soon see signs for the airport, so back I go ... right into the airport, within a block of the car rental. Make a U-turn and out I go ... one of my 24 hours gone and I've gone zero ... -0- ... miles. This time I see the first sign I missed but in a few minutes realize that I missed a second turn. (We actually had a driver who drove 400 miles until he needed fuel, fueled and then could not find the correct direction to the customer so he drove the 400 miles back to our office and told the dispatcher "I've tried, you can't get there from here." Dispatcher put him on a couple of good paying runs with other drivers so that they could recoup their lost monies and then he was gone.) This time I was going the right direction, just on the wrong road ... I stick to the major freeways ... push the speed limit plus nine and make it to Toledo by midnight ... Motel 6 for under $40. 8/1/04 - Still not cheap when you are there for less than six hours ... got an early wake up call and was rolling. Hit Chicago just after rush hour and decided to go right through the heart of downtown instead of fight the construction on I-80. If I wasn't three days late, this rental car trip wasn't too bad ... no delay's, not bad weather, nothing. I've now had time too do the math ... unless the boss cuts me a check on the side, this is the worst paying run I've had in a year ... under $80 a day for six days. |