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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 56 - New International - Refer
Truck ... to Los Angeles, CA Friday I had accepted, or so I thought, a trip to Sacramento ... but come Monday dispatch gave it to another driver when their truck wasn't ready. I couldn't leave until Tuesday so it didn't surprise me ... would have been a good run, good pay and a cheap air fare home. 9/21/04 - <> 8 AM dispatch ... I'm close to not taking this truck, we no longer have the choice of paying fuel or taking a flat rate. 'They' say it was because some drivers abused it ... I'm thinking the boss started loosing his shirt on some of these runs ... and that's the drivers job. I know I can get out of LA cheap so that's a plus, but if this is the tandem truck in the lot, I'll have to turn it down ... it's not and I'm off. (I have now made two trips to FL and am sure I've forgotten a few of the details of this trip) Ran long and hard, been all but the last few miles of this trip before ... logged 740 miles today ... Stopped at the Budget Host in Julesburg, CO ... wasn't happy with my last stay, had to sleep on my side between the coils ... tonight's stay was OK. 9/22/04 - Got a little jump on the log book this AM but knew I'd be loosing minutes every hour ... rain ... in the Northeast part of CO that looks like desert ... its been raining very time I come through ... There was snow last night in the mountains, hope its cleared by the time I get there ... stop in Denver for fuel ... get to the I-70 scale within the half hour ... I pull on the scale and wait for the light to turn from red to green ... and wait ... then someone comes out of the scale house and asks when this truck was inspected last, then realizes its a new truck. "Your log book please, and then pull around over there ..." My first real truck inspection ... and this guy checked everything. Lights ... can't get the bright's to work, until I realize the truck needs to be running. The only thing the guy can find is 'some chaffing on the break hoses.' Then into the scale house where he spent some time going over the log book. Lucky for me it was early in the day and the log book was up to date ... it was current UP TO my stop in Denver, so he asked me to bring it current. I brought it up to my arrival at the scale, he looked at it and said, 'now fill in a half hour for your stop here' ... not leaving any room for fudging. And then he gave me a 'DOT fix it ticket.' The Vail area was beautiful today, the snow plows had done their job, the sun was now out with a few fluffy clouds, the road was mostly dry ... and the country side had a good six inches of fresh snow hanging from the trees ... picture perfect. Another <> 700 miles today and I'm in Cedar City, UT at the Travelodge again, cheap, clean rooms, and this time I'm early enough to eat at the restaurant next door. Meatloaf was on the menu ... I should know better than to very from the basics on the road ... 9/23/04 - Early, early AM ... good news ... the UT / AZ scale was still closed ... I was through Las Vegas before rush hour, then ouch ... I ended up paying big bucks for fuel in a town with no truckstop. LA, as soon as I get off of I-15 the traffic stops ... stop and go, mid-day. For some reason I had never found out exactly how to get to my drop, knew the exit to get to the suburb and a major crossroad ... didn't help, after an hour of going in circles I had to call '911' (my wife) for help. I was tried to get an address off of one of the buildings so she could use Mapquest and direct me in ... she was at her desk, thank you and was able to give me the directions, the way I should have come in to start with ... Glad this was still early AM ... not the kind of town I want to be lost in ... too many rolls of barb wire ... but the locals somehow adapt ... I get to my drop still not having heard back from my contact ... he's gone and no-one else is available to sign. I start making calls, the people at the warehouse start calling ... we find the district manger, he can't come to me but I can bring the truck to him ... twenty plus miles away, across town ... an hour and a half further from the airport ... $$$ When I get there he signs and I ask about ride options, I had seen bus signs a few blocks away ... he makes a call first to his wife, then to his mother in-law to find out the best route. (He also offers to nuke me one of their frozen meals) His shift is over, but he has to do some training on a driver ... CA sounds like they have their own, much stricter rules and this guy wasn't looking too promising ... This guy will give me a ride about half way and drop me at a train station right on his way home. I buy my ticket and go find the train ... takes me a few minutes to decide which direction I wanted to go, I couldn't find a map ... I finally hop on the train sitting there, there I see the map ... this is the end of the line, the trains only go one direction. From a train station I could catch a bus to the airport. Dispatch was wondering how much extra the trip to the airport was ... "One twenty five so far ..." '$125?!?!' "No, a dollar twenty five" ... to get the twenty five miles from the customer to the airport ... I go the AmericaWest website and purchase the cheapest ticket available ... the red-eye ... so I sit and wait ... for hours ... I get to the gate while a flight is still boarding. I watch two more flights board, all for me city ... then finally when its my flight I ask the ticket agent "What is your policy on Standby?" 'You can get on any prior flight the same day, space available ..." ... and I've been sitting here for __ hours?? Lift off is over the Pacific, moonlit night, slight chop on the water ... another picture perfect image ... Somehow I dozed on the short trip from LA to LV ... half woke up to switch planes ... found nothing good to eat in my quick trip around the terminal so I pulled up a seat next to my gate ... for a while I watch the passengers waiting for a Denver flight ... first it was delayed and they told the passengers to check back every 15 minutes. Within a few minutes the airline changed gates, after 30 they closed the ticket counter ... for the next 30 minutes so old guy sitting in the area directed people to the correct gate ... (people don't know the difference between checking back in 15 minutes vs 60 minutes?). They included people sitting at the slot machines, a family that was sitting right there the whole time, one that somehow got past him and at least a dozen others ... The next thing I hear is ... "Sir ... SIR ... are you getting on this flight?" 'Uh-hu ...' "It's ready to leave ..." Somehow a plane load of people gathered around me, the seats were called ... all within 15 feet from me and I slept through it all ... sitting in a chair. Good thing I sat RIGHT next to the gate, usually I don't even sit in the my gate area, usually too crowded. I fall asleep again on the flight home ... and arrive home at 6 AM ... but I made money ... |