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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 50 - New Freightliner - Garbage
Truck ... to Spokane, WA … Not getting back from my last run until Monday sort of threw off my schedule … I have been wanting to leave town earlier in the week so I'm not paying weekend airfare's and motel rates. I've told them I'm ready to go Tuesday but they haven't offering anything I want. Tuesday morning they still didn't have any good runs ready, finally by noon they have a run and a second driver lined up. Both the other driver and I want to get home for the weekend and have said we may pass on this run if we can't make it back in time. I had first started backing off this run when the airfare home jumped from $200 to $300 from Monday to Tuesday AM … it was almost close and neither of us had agreed to leave tomorrow, when dispatch called and said the boss would kick in a $75 transportation upcharge and that flights were down to $250 … OK, I'm in, with our without the other guy … a couple of minutes later I get another call … "OK if we book this flight for you?" … they were not taking any chances we'd back out on this run … drivers must be getting tight. 8/4/04 - We are Spokane bound, I'm given a choice so I take the new Freightliner and leave the used Mack to the other driver. We are supposed to be ready to roll by 8 AM … the other driver over sleeps, then by the time he gets to the office they've decided the seat belt needs to be replaced in his truck which will delay us a little more. As he's pulling his truck out, he notices a puddle of fuel where my truck had been sitting … after most of an hour the customer says to run with it, that its only 'fume vapors.' We met up a few miles out of town at the first truck stop, it's now been three hours and we've gone 15 miles … this trip is off to another great start. This is the second time I've run with this driver and we seem to run fairly well together, seem to have the same type of run patterns when we run solo. We stay on it and make our second (fuel) stop at the Flying J in Fargo. I've noticed before at a Flying J where they've had a tent set up in the lot … this time I was hungry so I decided I would support whatever local cause this was for. Turns out it was a 'driver apprecation' event … free food from Flying J … burgers, brats, salads, chips, soda, cake … and a drawing. The other driver was busy so I thought I'd grab a quick plate to go so I turned down the raffle ticket … I was still sitting there eating, waiting for the other driver, when they drew for a nice stereo … was only about 10 of us there at the time, they kept drawing until they had a winner. And me who waste's hours signing up for all kinds of junk, without a ticket … so I went threw again for another plate and got a ticket … this time they were drawing for a free truck wash … didn't win that round either. Not much new on I-94 in ND … harvest is under way … road construction is minimal. Did have a little excitement when the other driver thought we had just pasted a sign that said 'Next services 56 miles' and his fuel was less than ¼. Turns out he was wrong, we found fuel in 10 miles or so … but not much selection between Dickenson and the MT border. The other driver has been in the lead for a few reasons, his truck only does 65 mine does 70 ... his truck has a 50 gallon fuel tank mine has an 80 gallon tank ... his truck is getting about 5 mpg and mine is closer to 7 mpg ... (that and I could use a day of following … not having to watch signs … or anything but his tail lights.) I didn't need fuel yet so he only takes on enough to get him to Beach. Now comes decisions … do we keep going or stop. After a few minutes we decide to max out our hours and keep going … the next 'good' hotels are in Miles City, which takes a little adjustment to the logbook. Another Motel 6 and another late night breakfast at the 4B's next door. Three other drive-away trucks are already there … a garbage truck and two cement trucks … was hoping the cement trucks would still be there in the AM, cause I want to get a picture … huge Macks with two sets of steer tires. 8/5/04 - Running late has it's disadvantages, now we can't roll out until 10 AM. 10 AM would have been nice, the other guys truck won't start until we spend a half hour and a half a can of starter fluid … than … Zoom … the diesel kicked in. Did have a problem last night too … when we were pulling out of the Flying J in Beach, his truck died as he was turning in the lot … after about five minutes it had started again and I hadn't thought any more about it. Unfortunately the everyone was gone when we got up this morning which included the cement trucks I wanted a picture of. For the first few hours of the day were uneventful, then in the afternoon between Bozeman and Butte, the other drivers truck starts weaving in the passing lane and his stack is pouring out black smoke. He had been trying to pass on an uphill grade and had to pull back into the right lane … within a few feet he pulled onto the shoulder, but he was still moving so I passed him … without standing on the breaks I wouldn't have been able to get on the shoulder behind him. At the time I thought he had just missed his gears … the truck is only a five speed and a trick to shift. He still looks like he's moving so I keep going to the top of the hill … past the guard rail where I can pull off. Once I'm stopped I realize that he is not moving anymore so I get out and walk down the hill … I guess these would be called mountains … First his truck had lost power with a BANG and then died, now it won't start. After what seems like forever, with the help of our starting fluid it starts again. Ten miles down the road, on another climb it dies again. By now we are running low on starter fluid. By now we've called dispatch and have the name and number of a place in Butte who can look at the truck, once we get it there. Of course these problems have to happen where cell service is very limited … if you walk an 1/8 of a mile one direction or the other, you may get enough service to make a call … and my loose it again before you are done. It stalled a total of five times, the last one about two miles from the summit above Butte … from there, he stayed in super low until we hit the down hill side of the mountain. Took us a few minutes to find the place but we pulled right in … $78 worth of fuel filters did the trick … but it had cost us a couple of hours which meant we would be stopping short of Spokane tonight. As long as we were stopped we decided to take an hour and eat, something neither of us do much once we clock on in the AM. Took us a little more than the hour we had hoped for … we were at the Flying J and he had ordered pork chops with his breakfast … guess they were good, not sure they were worth waiting an hour for … was only supposed to have taken 15 minutes. Both of us got fooled when we pulled back on the Interstate and saw a 122 mile marker … so we only put in enough fuel to get us those last 122 miles plus Idaho. But after we paid, I was looking something up in an atlas and realize that the mile post was for I-15 … our I-90 mile marker would be 200 plus … now we'd both have to stop for fuel again. Wasn't sure weather to take the flat milage or pay the fuel, but after I saw the fuel on the ground when I picked up the truck I let the boss pay the fuel … On the down side, the fuel tank was loosing fuel, it's an automatic, a tandem, fuel is high and the surcharge is down. On the plus side it came with a half a tank of fuel and I've been getting between 6 and 7 mpg. On past trips I would pay the fuel if I thought I would get at least 5.5 mpg. Figuring out the trip milage tonight, I'm glad I'm not paying the fuel … it would have been $20 in my favor, but only because of the ½ of tank of fuel. Supposedly we are getting 10 more of these for this customer … nice running, comfortable Freightliners, but don't plan on taking the fuel option on those either. (Flying south out of Spokane right now … not sure where we are but, I can't see green anywhere … maybe we are over 'crater's of the moon Idaho' … in places the roads are straight for miles then hit the hills where the wind up the barren hillside and then go straight for miles across the plato.) We wanted to run out our 11 / 14 hours again today which would put us past Missoula … Missoula has a Motel 6, but it's big bucks so we keep going … end up stopping at a half dozen places before we found a place for $40. Most had been $60-70 … AFTER our trucks discount … even the 'motels' that were individual cabins. Opps … in all this frustration we forgot where the MT/ID scale was … but we found it … good think all they wanted to do was sell us our permit … and we hope the boss doesn't get audited by the DOT, as the time on our permit doesn't match our log book. Our $40 motel looks like an old enclosed woodshed … eight rooms. Not bad, may stay here again next week on a trip to Seattle. Sign says $29 single … and For Sale, if anyone is interested … Saltese, MT … mm 10. (Still not sure where we are, but now I can see a couple of forest fires in the distance … and snow on a few mountain tops … but directly below us there isn't enough of anything to burn.) (Just went over a huge lake … miles across … looks strange … still no green, not even on the islands … no visible rivers going in or out of it.) 8/6/04 - We are only a couple hours out of Spokane now but decide to get a jump on the day just in case we have any more problems. We stop in Mullins (?) one of the first towns in ID for fuel … $2.05 a gallon … as we are leaving town we pass a motel for $19 … maybe here is where I'll stay next trip. Next we stop at the Flying J in Post Falls for some breakfast and to let our log book catch up to us … the other driver has to fax all his paperwork in to the office … his truck is COD so the customer needs to know how much to cut the check for. No variety this trip, ordered the same breakfast as I had last night … Eggs scrambled, hash browns (not biscuits-n-gravy), toast white, bacon and OJ. Dispatch has given me my truck from last week for Seattle … leaving Monday … the other driver is heading to CA. Missed them again … those two cement trucks with the two front axles fueled and parked, but only for a minute and then were gone … not sure when or how we passed them. No one is watching the scale house, so we sail through and drop my truck a few minutes later … the other driver has dropped there before … less than a mile off the freeway … about a ¼ mile from the bus route that will take you to the airport for under $2 … just saw headlines in the Spokane paper that there train system may shut down due to a major fire. From here I hop in with the other driver for the last 10 miles of the trip … glad it's only 10 miles, these cement trucks only have one seat, the drivers … I'm sitting on the luggage. Free ride … always good news, his drop will give us a ride the two miles to the airport … and they have a check for the COD so we are free to go. Get to the airport with no problems … so far … I'm currently somewhere between Spokane and Phoenix where we will have about 15 minutes to catch our next flight and should touch down around 11 PM. Still not sure where we are, but I've just seen two jets fly under us, something I've never noticed before … It's hazy out for as far as I can see … smoke haze. Because of the weather, we should be somewhere over CA … pilot said we'd be going south, then straight east to Phoenix instead of the usual SE path. |