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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 68 - New Sterling - Cement Truck ... to Peoria, IL Had a bunch of home stuff to get done on Monday and still some stuff on Tuesday AM ... by the time I was ready to go Tuesday, dispatch said they wouldn't have any runs where that could be done by Friday ... not sure why, from our location we can get anywhere in the country in three days or less. Late Tuesday dispatch called to have me move a couple of local trucks ... $30. Wednesday they said I could do a couple more local runs, one Weds the other Thursday. The Wednesday run ended up taking almost 14 hours and would have if I hadn't brought the truck home with me. The Thursday local run disappeared when they came up with 5 trucks to go to Peoria ... so it was this or nothing ... and I'd only worked 1- 1/2 this week. 12/30/04 - Supposed to be an 8 AM dispatch ... do to running late last night my 10 hours aren't up until 8:30. Didn't matter much ... dispatch is running late ... drivers are running late. When I took the run, it was supposed to be 5 drivers down and back ... leave at 8 should be home by midnight or a little after. Not me ... 1) our trucks aren't ready 2) we have to pick up a driver in Chicago on the way back ... luck of the draw, three drivers will head straight home from Peoria, the other two of us will go home via Chicago. 8 AM, 9 AM, 10 AM ... dispatch finally gives us the OK to go and pickup our trucks as they should be ready ... soon. By the time we get to the customer, wait, get our paperwork, wait, go find trucks, wait for final decal's, fuel ... 10:45 AM ... rolling. Good news about this customer is we fuel our trucks before we leave their lot, they used to fill them for us, but most of the drivers would go and top them off anyway so they have pretty much quit fueling them for us. Busy place here ... we are supposed to deliver 10 of their trucks this week ... and pick up another 30 on Friday, when the office WAS supposed to be closed ... this from a customer who sometimes doesn't give us any trucks a month at a time ... Dispatch wanted a update at noon, so we stop in Owattana at the Kwik Trip ... first walked next door to Wendy's but there was a few dozen people ahead of us so back to Kwik Trip to grab something off the shelf. With a Cobela's and and Outlet mall within a couple of miles, these places are sometimes a little busy. The other driver wanted soup, so it was a sit down meal ... no eating and driving. This cost us a good half hour ... at this point we are not up against the clock (as far as we know) ... our drop will 'meet us anytime' and 'give us a ride to the airport.' ... Oh, yeah, more bad news earlier today. The computer route's us through WI via I-90 - I-39, but then with this mornings ice, rain and a fatal accident on I-94 had us re-route our trip down I-35 then via I-80. Turns out there is only a 12 mile difference between the two routes ... see a few die hard ski fans on the slopes, in the rain. And more bad news / good news ... when I'm at the customer doing my paperwork is when I notice that dispatch isn't paying us a fuel surcharge on this run ... they don't tell us things ahead of time ... assume nothing. When I asked later about it, they said it was because we got a full tank of fuel ... but in a surprise move they called back within the hour saying they would pay us the surcharge ... ??? ... no explanation, but 'thanks.' That full tank of fuel would cover almost 1/2 the run, plus we did get a couple hours of down time paid this AM ... plus they are paying $40 'transportation' ... which will more than cover our ride home. Rolling again ... at first I think we may make it to Davenport for our first fuel stop, then hope we can make it to Waterloo ... but we are below 1/4 about 50 miles before Waterloo so we stop at a local truck stop to fuel. Only take a few minutes and are rolling again ... we have miles to go and don't want to waste any extra time. I do waste a couple of minutes looking for paper to log services along I-74 as I have never traveled it before ... don't find any in my bag and only later realize that it will be long dark before we get that far ... did almost run someone off the road getting to the station. The highway is a non-Interstate four lane along this section and I had been watching a car hanging in the other lane between our two trucks in the left lane, but he wasn't gaining on me so I had to pull in front of him ... as I was crossing the white line I finally see the car in my blind spot ... don't know where he came from or how long he was hanging in my blind spot ... A few miles short of the IA/ IL border I see the tail lights of a cement truck ahead of me ... somehow we've caught up to the other drivers ... and pass them. But we are again in need of fuel ... and we are almost to Davenport, where I thought we'd be making our first fuel stop. It should only take another 20 gallons to be able to leave the tank on 1/4 ... should have asked the other driver how much fuel he was adding, he's another new-bee. Yesterday there were seven of us doing local moves, four have been here less than a month, for one it was her maiden voyage. 100 miles to go ... can't do any logging of I-74 data for Exit 101, it's long past dark ... and the speed limit has dropped to 55 for trucks so we may not gain on the other drivers again ... ... We don't see the other drivers before we get to Peoria ... I had looked at an atlas at the Flying J in Davenport so I knew which exit to take ... exit 95, but there is an A, B and C ... am looking for US-150 / N Main, exit C ... I see a few signs for US-150, but they aren't on the street name ... then a sign for 'local trucks only' ... finally I call my drop, voice mail (he never did call me back) ... then stopped and ask directions, "Just go one block back to I-74, go west ..." What? we are back on I-74??? .... Yup, 10 miles later we are back on I-74 ... and still haven't found the customer ... so we head 5-10 miles back west (where we came from). Not only are we lost, now I am disoriented ... the signs say we are going 'west' but in my world we are going 'east.' Makes it hard to drive ... when I see a sign for 'N Main' .. but it is going south ... really. But few buildings are marked and by the time I finally stop we are down to '201 N Main.' The other driver wants to sit and wait for a call back from the customer ... after almost an hour of no call back, I'm not taking that chance. I do want to stop for fuel, but am confused as to which exit we are at and the truck stop I was looking for was at the last exit ... We are on the correct road but don't take the time to stop for fuel ... we still aren't 'E' ... we get to the drop and a cab follows us in. In all the time we killed being lost the other driver have delivered, gotten their trucks checked in and have a cab called ... and this guy wants to check out the trucks, not one of the guys who just signs ... "Ya know I should be on my break right now ..." the mechanic doesn't really want to be doing this right now ... and the cabbie want's to roll ... it only takes 20 minutes to check in both trucks, I've had it take longer ... As I'm finally walking to the cab the mechanic has to get one last thing in ..."If you'd have been any later, I wouldn't have had time to check those trucks in. I'm leaving at 9:45 and no one will be back until 7 AM on Monday." That makes two things dispatch had wrong ... actually three. 1) There was a closing time 2) There is no free ride to the airport ... 3) and the contact is NA ... I quickly load my stuff in the cab with the other four drivers ... good news, the cabbie doesn't charge by the passenger ... $30 ... split five ways. Now I / we have new problems to address ... dispatch was supposed to call me back with an ETA for the Chicago driver, and he was supposed to call me with his cell number ... neither happened. If the other guy was a 'no show' we could all pile in one vehicle. After a call to our 'emergency' number I still have no clue about the other driver, other than I now have his phone number ... but ... getting usable cell service took us a few try's ... yes, the driver was in route, we need to go to Chicago and he'll call us back when he has better service. Things moved along without me ... the three drivers are gone and the new guy has taken care of renting the car. We get to the car and the other driver throws his things in the car in the right spot in the lot ... but I noticed that the lights were on the car next to us ... "Well, its the right spot and ... unlocked the doors ..." I looked around and didn't see anyone else who could have unlocked the car next to us ... then the driver hits the 'panic button' by mistake ... and hops into the car he thinks we are taking and try's to get it to stop ... as the car next to him has the lights flashing and the horn blowing. Finally he hear's me / or the car and realizes his mistake ... ahhh, every trip needs its amusement. The other driver wants to drive, doesn't want to drive in Chicago so he goes first ... and I will get the overnight ... again. We were going to cut across on a state highway be never found the exit so we stayed on I-74 to Bloomington Normal where we caught I-55 ... I try to doze ... after a couple of hours he is getting tired and stops for food ... finds a bar. This guy just started two days ago so I have no idea what he has in mind ... by now it is after midnight and the bar is only serving appetizers, so we drive on ... I drive on, it's my turn ... the next exit was I-80 ... been this stretch of I-80 a few times but can't remember where the exits yet ... Was hoping for a truck stop but ended up stopping at a 'Steak n Shake' ... the other driver was hopping for a steak ... but everything here is chopped steak, not exactly what he had in mind. Not sure what I had in mind either ... ordered a patty melt ... with fry's ... and soup ... and a malt ... Food was good but by now it was now after 1 AM and the conversation was slow ... long past my bed time. As soon as we / I was done eating we head out to sleep in the car ... try too ... by now we have heard from our other driver, he left town 10 hours behind us ... ouch, it's going to be a late one, we hope he's in town by 3 AM ... and I thought I'd be home by midnight ... ha. By 2:30 I decide we may as well wait at the drop ... not sure what part of Chicago we will be in ... no one gave us any clue if it will be safe to stop at the stop signs without getting mugged. Dispatch did give us a couple of maps to where this drop was ... I looked at them too quickly and picked the wrong street as thru street ... but as long as there wasn't rolled barbed wire on the fences and bars on the windows, I wasn't too worried. In a few minutes we have found the right street and then the right house ... I think we should be fairly safe in this area, grocery stores / strip malls ... and the houses ... were worth ... millions. But, that had it's disadvantages ... sitting on the city street we watched the squad cars go by ... and again ... and again. But they found us, and questioned us and let us go ... he said he wanted see this truck we were waiting for ... but didn't stick around. Did hear this cop give our street address a couple more times to someone ... and we watched a second squad go by a few more times ... before he finally found us. Sure glad I hadn't called these guys for an emergency. Finally ... at 4 AM our other driver pulls in ... and the customer comes right out the door of his personal residence ... at 4 AM. Finally ... we are ready to roll ... home. A run that should have taken 16 hours ended up taking 27 ... and I somehow I will try even harder to never take another one of these all night runs ... Not sure what if anything will do about the extra hours waiting for the Chicago driver ... waiting for him put us 4-6 hours behind the other set of drivers who will be getting paid the same. The 'un-luck' of the draw for me. A picture of the truck the third driver brought to Chicago is here |
