 |
|
|
|
|
...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
|
Trip 60b - Used IH '94 - Beverage
Truck ... from Portland, ME to Knoxville, TN Now here is a major reason I stay with my driveaway company ... this account ... 90% of the locations will get us to 'transportation' ... today they are doing one better ... they have agreed / offered to take me to my next truck 30 miles away. Not sure why we can't ride with a route driver but it is usually a salesman or manger that does the honors ... thanks again guys. 10/14/04 - Don't need to be in a big rush this AM ... as long as am on the road with my next truck by noon, I will have the hours to make the delivery on Friday ... not sure the customer will be there to take it but I'll be able if they are. Before I knew my first truck was at the office, I had asked dispatch to check how late Saturday I could make the drop ... so far things are going well. Glad these guys are willing to give me a lift, even if I could have gotten a cab this far out it would have been huge bucks ... both the last drop and next pickup are about 30 miles from Portland and are about 30 miles apart. When we got close to the pickup we stopped to ask directions ... walked in the door, saw the cashier and thought 'this is going to be a waste of time' ... young gal, barely 18 ... but she knew her stuff ... exactly where the stop lights were, road construction and street names ... don't be judging a book by its cover ... My ride drops me off at the door and is on his way ... won't take any money, not even for the tolls ... "You need to call the customer (that owns the truck) before we can give you the keys ..." 'I'll get a hold of my dispatch, the drivers are not to be calling the customer without the OK from dispatch.' So I call dispatch ... again. I had called them on the emergency line, office wasn't open yet, before I got the ride up here ... knew there was 'issues.' So I wait ... and wait ... and wait ... plenty of time to do my pre-trip, other than not having a cigarette lighter to charge my cell and no triangles its not a bad truck for a '94. They found some very old triangles for me, guess they were oil soaked ... so bad that they put them in a second box to keep the cab clean. Tick, tick, tick ... was the truck still going to Knoxville or somewhere else ... finally ... yes, you can take the truck to ... Knoxville as planned. 'Oh no you can't ... we still have not gotten paid for the work we did on the truck' was what I was told when I asked if I could have the keys. So we had three issues going on here ... the customer didn't know where they wanted the truck to go ... dispatch was trying to find me a third leg based on where the customer may send me ... and the garage where I am picking the truck up still needs there money ... sure glad I had gotten on this at the break of day. Three hours after I arrive I am ready to go ... they give me some directions to save me a few miles and a little on tolls. Good news ... the fuel gauge shows 3/4 and the tank sounds about that full. But I still top it off just to make sure ... and realize that after all the time I spend at the pickup location, I had forgotten to get them to sign the paperwork. Knew the guy would NOT be happy to see me going back ... he was standing in the door way ... I quickly eased his fears, "the truck is fine ... just forgot the paperwork." More good news the last two trips to Maine ... going in, I've driven vehicles where the tolls are prepaid, but coming out I have to pay the tolls ... and a few of the northeast tolls only charge going North ... no toll on the Southbound lanes. Did finally get going early enough to get past Boston before rush hour ... and late enough to get through NYC after rush hour ... can sure tell what political part of the country I am in ... was able to pick up Al Franken on three radio stations at the same time ... The overpasses around Boston are covered with tributes to soldiers and 9/11 ... A couple of days ago when I was eating I picked up a copy of the magazine 'Driving Force' / October 2004 which is free at trucks stops ... something free to read while I eat ... inside Dart had a tribute to one of their drivers who choose to join the service to serve in Iraq, the fact that he may loose his 18 wheeler did not alter his decision (tried to find the article on-line, but no luck). Also heard on the radio of support group for our forces ... I'm sure there are a lot of web sites dedicated to the soldiers ... here's one of them 'OPERATION AC' ... their first mission was getting AC / Air Conditioners to the troops. After a couple of hours on the road I stop for fuel, DO NOT want to have to stop anywhere near NYC ... Meeting lots of traffic as they head out of NYC ... miles and miles. But going south ... I've hit worse rush hour traffic in Omaha ... but the roads are ... really bad in spots, after a couple of 'hits' my arms were hurting from the jolts. By now its dark and I take to following a specific semi so I don't have to watch the road / traffic as close ... knowing that at some point he would be going a different direction ... and after an hour or so he did ... after changing lanes to follow him I realized that wasn't where I wanted to go. Did get behind a couple of minor fender benders but nothing to really slow us down ... nothing like the major crashes that would close this section of I-95 a couple of days later which caused 49 injuries. Major toll booth for the NJ Turnpike ... 20+ booths ... better know where you're going ... lucky there wasn't much traffic, coming out of the booths you have about an 1/8th of a mile to choose your highway and I was w-a-a-a-y in the wrong lane. Plan was to get into PA yet tonight so that I have an easy day tomorrow ... but now I realize I don't want to take any chances of hitting a scale ... but where to find a cheap motel ??? The mile markers are getting down under 20 miles so I exit to ask at a truck stop ... and then see a sign "You must show your fuel receipt or paid parking ticket when exiting." Huh? I was just stopping to ask directions ... I didn't find a place to park until I saw the exit booth so I proceed and ask for info there. Very hard person to understand ... He first asks why I won't sleep in my truck ... (bucket seats / illegal) ...but did get that the TA at the next exit may have rooms, or there was an 'old Howard Johnson' at exit 3 ... and he let me out without paying. So I stop at the TA and see a similar sign ... and you have to take a parking ticket to get IN ... Ahhggg. Again, not finding a place to park I proceed to the exit booth ... 'No, they do not have rooms and no I was not in the lot long enough for them to charge me.' So I exit at exit 3 but don't see a Howard Johnson at the exit or into town ... finally found a Wal-Mart ... after my last trip, I was SURE I was not going to be sleeping in any vehicles so I didn't take my travel pillow ... but not it looks like I'll make it in time to catch the bus tomorrow so I need my pillow ... $6 is a small price to pay for a better chance to sleep ... but what am I going to do with all these pillows? Back to the Interstate ... Ahha, I recognize a familiar looking building but the name is now the Phillipsburg Inn ... (Now that I'm home I did some Internet searches and find that this style building was an 'old Howard Johnson' style ... guess in their day they were as familiar as the Golden Arches and Stuckeys buildings.) It's the second time this trip I have had to pay $50 for a motel, but they did have truck parking and PJAX had their own sign in sheet so it was a 'truckers motel.' Perkins next door was the closest food. Another motel that used to be a 'high-class' place ... chairs on the first level patio's ... chairs in other open area's ... and all three motels this trip have had shampoo in the rooms ... every buck saved helps. 10/15/04 - Two, back to back 14 hour days ... but I seem to have gotten down to needing about 5 hours of sleep a night ... I've been waking up about a half hour before the alarm. Trucks been getting 10+ mpg ... that and a half a tank of fuel at pickup is going to make this a paying run ... part of the reason for the good mpg is I have been holding the speed at about 60 mph / 23 rpm. But that is going to cost me not getting to the customer before their close time. As soon as the customer is open I call them about making an after hours delivery tonight instead of a Saturday delivery ... I get a secretary who says she'll check it out for me. She calls back and says it's OK, but doesn't leave a contact name. I have had to have my cell shut off since yesterday AM as I don't have a way to charge the phone in this truck, and now I need to make my cell battery last for two days. Dispatch had started calling me yesterday about what markings are on the truck ... this AM they call back and ask that I stop and remove all paperwork I can find from both the cab and box, and call them back ASAP. The customer does not want the delivery customer to be able to find out where this truck came from ... I get a little testy with dispatch ... "this customer needs to start living in the 21st century." I tell them "Don't they know that you can find out anything you want about any vehicle on-line?" (I was going to look up the VIN myself but forgot to write it on my paperwork this time.) I told dispatch I would stop at the next Rest Area ... which ended up being 80 miles, by then dispatch had called me back again ... all I found was an insurance card that had gotten stuck between the pages of the owners manual, which I removed. Other things on things I found that I was not going to remove were IFTA stickers / DOT inspection stickers ... I even checked under the hood in case a mechanic had left a 'last serviced' sticker. Another delay that pushed me further past the close time. Of all the scales pasted today, only two were open ... no problems ... There are highways you don't want to be half asleep when driving ... like where I-77 and I-81 cross ... you are on a 'northbound' and 'southbound' highway at the same time and you are actually either going east or west. Closing in on Knoxville but it will be rush hour ... but again I am going the right direction ... into town and rush hour traffic is going out. Thought I was going to have to stop and ask which side of I-40 the customer was on but a closer look at my map showed just enough to ID it ... no problems finding this location. Customer is still there, crew is still there so they haven't been waiting for me ... then I am told that they are on EST not CST so I am an hour later than I thought which only leaves be an hour to get to the bus depot ... not a problem, they offer to give me a ride. Turns out to be only about two miles of side ride roads. When I took this run the plan was to get a rental car in Knoxville and get a motel part way home but found out that the bus would be just as fast and half the price ... providing I could delivery Friday night, Saturdays schedule was not as 'workable.' I knew there was a 7 PM and a midnight bus ... at the counter I was told there was also a 6:45 bus that would get me home 3 hours sooner by taking me through Cincinnati instead of Nashville. The clerk even double checked it because she was surprised of the option. Saved myself a couple of more $$ by using a 10% discount that I had gotten from riding the bus a few months ago ... all helps. So I would be on the bus within a half hour of getting to the depot ... where I would stay for the next three hours ... on the bus in Knoxville. Once loaded were were told "We are waiting for another bus ..." LIES ... after watching a couple of buses leave I realized that a late bus would effect all other buses not just ours, we were waiting for a driver. I saw one walk into the depot, about a half hour later he boards the bus and take our tickets ... then back to the depot, then we see him standing having another cigarette ... by this time we already knew he had an attitude. We had sat there for three hours and we never once got an update on what was going on ... Anyone who's ridden the bus knows that once rolling they go over the rolls and the time table ... as he does people are a little loud so he says "You can quit the comments or I can take this bus back to the depot and you can wait for another driver." Then we are LIED to again, saying we'd get to Cincinnati in time to make our connections ... I told the guy next to me at the time, 'No way, he's just saying that to keep the peace.' Knew there was no way when we still stopped for a 1/2 hour at our first stop less than two hours into the trip ... at Burger King ... guess the bus has agreements they have to keep regardless of how late the bus is running. Did get a big surprise for even the smokers ... you can smoke in the restaurants in KY ... guess they still have to support their exports. 10/16/04 - We do not make it to Cincinnati in time and as we pull in the driver tell us we will need to check with customer service to see when the next buses will leave ... I already know, the guy next to me had checked in Knoxville ... if we don't catch the midnight bus in Cinci the next bus is at five AM and who knows what that does to the Chicago schedule ... But wait ... something is changing, before they let anyone off the bus we are told "All passengers for Indy / Chicago and beyond, please remain on the bus." Never do find out what happened, if this was an added run / a second bus or if they really held the first bus for hours ... at Cinci we found out a little more about the move vocal passengers in the back of the bus ... they left one of their Jack Daniels bottles behind. Our nest driver had a personality, a nice change ... By the time we pull into Indy were are back on schedule ... but how? The buses have been mostly full, forgot how small they were ... was glad when a thin man asked if the seat next to me was taken ... of course there are those passengers that won't give up the seat next to them unless told ... a couple of times ... to by the driver. Somehow I have managed to drift in and out, am lucky enough to have a window seat the whole trip. At Chicago we switch buses again ... we are told we have over an hour before our next bus but should be line about 15 minutes before departure. I need to use the rest room but they are 'not acceptable for use' by my truck driver standards. I see the line has already formed ... so I stood for the next hour. The monitor that there were going to be two buses on this run ... glad to see that as I didn't think we would all fit. Got to see the usual mixture of passengers ... or occupants of the bus depot ... some sprawled out on the floor sound asleep ... most of the depots that are open overnight have police on duty inside the depot. I was hoping that if they run a second bus that they would one direct home .... nope, the second always follows the first. A guy I'd been chatting with said maybe we should step out of line and take the second bus ... "not me, with my luck we will be the only two people who don't fit and they will cancel the second run." Never did see if we all fit on the bus ... just know ours was full. After Milwaukee I finally had the two seats to myself ... there used to be one bus a day that stopped about two miles from my house so I asked the driver if this one would be stopping there (next question would be COULD this bus stop there) ... "Nope, that was another stop eliminated on August 18th." Had planned on calling my wife about 20 miles before we went past our exit but the next thing I heard was "We are now crossing the Saint Croix River." 3 PM and I was sawing logs again and missed making my call. But the excitement was not over ... when we get off the bus there is a police car in the lot ... thought it was unusual, not so much that it was there, but it was parked in 'response' mode ... and the cop stood by the door as we got off ... no big deal. But I was about the last one off and I heard the cop turn to someone as ask them something ... they then boarded the bus. Not sure who or what they were looking for but they didn't seem to find it ... by now my ride was here so I thanked the driver for the ride and was gone ... Trip stats 5 days / cleared $175 per day 2,600 miles paid Expences - $140 total / 3 nights motel & $130 bus fare |