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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 75b - New Serling - Garbage
Truck ... to Phoenix, AZ 2/19/05 I open my eyes again and the guy is up taking a shower ... it's 6 AM ... the earliest I said I would get up. I don't think I moved a mussel all night. I knew from before that he'd want to eat breakfast if we had time ... with when we can return our rental car being a limiting factor, we had time. He had time ... I told him to take his time. After he left I took a quick shower and crawled back into bed. 7 AM ... he's back, I crawl out of bed and we are ready to go. It's morning ... he offers to drive, I let him. I try to grab a couple of more winks ... feeling much, much better this morning, but this is still going to be a l-o-n-g trip. Good news ... my truck actually has fuel ... less than 1/4, but at this customer this is huge ... first time I have put in less than $100 in the tank the first fill. When we do return the car, no one is at the office anyhow ... it's now 10 AM and we are rolling, we are still going early enough to drive 50 mph and still drop our trucks by close Monday. I've got my truck, time to get my plane ticket ... ouch ... flights have gone from $145, $180, to $190 ... but I didn't dare to buy my ticket until I was in my truck .. and I'm in, the other guy is going to use our new 'travel agent' but is getting no answer on the weekend. Lots of work lining up here ... we are taking two trucks, two more are sitting ready, another 16 chassis in the lot. Am having a hard time keeping the speed at 50 mph today ... another stretch of road I've seen many, many times before. We stop once after a hundred miles and I'm starting to regret getting that plane ticket, if I had waited to do a walk-up, I could have flown out Monday night if we made the drop. Bump ??? the truck pauses ... the idiot lights all come on, the truck restarts ... the truck pauses ... the idiot lights all come on, the truck restarts ... the truck pauses ... the idiot lights all come on, the truck restarts ... the truck pauses ... the idiot lights all come on, the truck restarts ... I've gone maybe a mile since this started, I finally pull off the roadway ... without the rmp's the truck stalls. And doesn't restart, I shut off the battery switch and re-set it ... after a couple of minutes it restarts and we are rolling. Within a few feet ... the truck pauses ... the idiot lights all come on, the truck DOESN'T restart ... This time the truck is dead ... I start calling Sterling and dispatch ... tow truck will be here in an hour ... or more. Luckily it's not too cold ... not warm, but not numbing. At almost an hour and a half we see tow pass going north ... before I can all the tow, they call me ... I'm about 10 miles from where I thought I was. This guy is not happy to see us ... he had to tow one of these a couple of days ago and it was a pain ... it goes a little better today, he knows the routine. Still have the problem of keeping his front tires on the ground ... too much weight on the rear of my truck. Interesting guy ... all the bells and whistles, all the chrome. Forgot to ask one little detail when I had them call for the tow ... when will the truck be fixed. I find out now ... Monday, maybe. Why didn't I ask?? Dispatch says I can go pick up another truck back at the customer ... the other was picked up a few hours ago. No, I don't want to get in a rental, I want to get on the bus and go home ... and sleep. Knowing I should be calling for a cab and the bus schedule, I busied myself with a few minor details. ... finally calling Greyhound and finding the bus leaves in 45 minutes ... go, go, go. Don't have any luck with the first cab, the second cab has an automated phone system ... no knowing where I was, I ended up with a beep to leave a message. I call back, this time I start hitting numbers until someone answers and a cab is soon on its way. "Find your cab?" the dealer asked. I had. "Good, then you can meet security out that door." Huh?? Didn't realize the place was closing down ... I get to spend the next 15 plus minutes riding with security until the cab showed up. The guy shown his spot light on a couple of other cabs as they went past, but they weren't the ones. At the bus depot there are 4-5 people ahead of me in line ... with two minutes to departure its my turn, they check to make sure the bus hasn't left, it hasn't. Ouch ... don't remember the cost being $108 from KC home. It's another 15 minutes before the driver shows up and I'm on ... its almost full, but I do get a seat. (The bus trip) Should have taken a minute to find out where our first stop would be ... could have saved us hours ... My first clue is when the driver has to back up when trying to exit the lot, the driver seems confused and unsure of himself ... when entering the freeway, he stops for a yield sign ... its 8 PM on a Saturday night, there wasn't that much traffic. Then I see him switch lanes to take I-29 ... did we need to stop at Saint Joseph? the airport? 10 miles down the road he calls his dispatch ... "How soon do I-29 / I-35 split?" We stop, the driver exits the bus, when he finally sits down again, he can't get his mirrors adjusted ... takes a half dozen times. Now he knows he's on the wrong road ... I-435 is the next exit ... good news??? wrong ... he gets out of the I-435 lanes and keeps going toward Omaha. He finally exits, only to make a U-turn and head north again ... finally north of the airport we do get turned around and head East on I-435 ... and then he finds the shortcut to I-35 ... Finally and hour and a half later we are 20 miles out of KC. Things don't get any better ... I hear him say that Bethany is our next / first stop ... Exit 92 ... he turns on the light a couple of dozen times to look at his paperwork while driving ... and every time he gets close to a car it feels like he hits the breaks. I'm not the only one who notices it. At Bethany we stop at McD's for 10 minutes ... that was until one of the customers came back to the bus with the Manager hot on his heels ... "I want that guy OFF the bus ... if you don't call the cops, I will." he tells the bus driver. The driver talks to the passenger, they exit the bus ... the manager is in this guys face like a drill Sargent ... the passenger isn't telling the manger what he wants to hear. Finally another passenger gets off the bus, talks to the first passenger ... the first guy goes back into McDonalds and 'apologies' for something. But by now the cops are here ... what a night ... no sleep so far. All in all the passengers are fairly mellow ... am sitting too close to someone who is doing a second by second critic of this guys driving ... then the driver gets in a discussion with a passenger about some 'hot button' issues. He also tells of a recent bus high-jacking ... There is an Amish man traveling alone in the seat ahead of me ... his seatmate decides to pay 20 questions ... maybe closer to a million questions ... they were talking non-stop from KC to DSM which today was a five hour trip. Was interesting talk, I guess what surprised me most was how much this Amish knew about the 'outside world' ... I had always thought of them being in there own little world having no interest in the larger world around them. This guy anyway seemed to know about anything and everything, costs of products, world news. Found out they have their own newspaper ... or someone does for them. No regarding the guy who was asking the questions ... why is it that 40 year old guys and 18 year old girls like to travel in their PJ's?? No major problems finding the next couple of stops ... just a starting and stopping / slowing because he wasn't sure where to go ... In Des Moines we are way past close time ... depot is supposed to close at midnight ... its 12:45 and they have stayed open. Doesn't sound like its something they normally do for a late bus. Strange place ... we have to take all the 'layover' passengers to a truckstop to spend the night ... the first bus in the AM will then take them back to the depot. ??? As I'm watching the Des Moines group get on I see a familiar face ... when he gets on the bus (I'm in the front) "Tom, where is your truck?" 'Burnt it.' Started on fire here in Des Moines ... ABS light had come on so he stopped, the brakes then started on fire, he used his fire estingister ... then the one from the closest restaurant, then one from a truck, and two from cop cars ... but it kept flaring up, and the fire trucks didn't get there ... anytime soon. One tire blew ... the restaurant manager said his roof rattled ... then a second tire ... finally the fire department was there. What a night ... heard our company left five trucks in shops today ... abandoned, to be picked up later. As we drop our passengers at the truckstop we had back out ... I shake my head and put my head down, the other driver wants to know why. We're going the wrong way again ... This time we only get a few miles, and he doesn't seem to know he's lost ... as he updates dispatch I hear ..."Oh ...." and we take a 'U' at the next exit. Then there was Ames ... by now I am really, really tired and trying to sleep ... we exit at Ames, next time I look up I see corn fields ... not a depot or the freeway. And we make another U-turn ... we get back into town. He misses his road, we go around in a couple of circles, finally stops the bus and gets out and walks ... looking for the depot ... we never do find it ... "Hope no one was waiting." was his comment as we left town ... Boonedocks we stop at the Flying J ... and then the Boonedocks TruckStop as the passengers say that the Flying J is not the stop. More bad news ... this guy has been riding his breaks this whole trip ... this time I feel us slide ... he did too ... our speed drops to 40-50 mph. By now all buses are running late do to the weather. Clear Lake was easy to find ... but the driver try's to make a U-turn where he doesn't fit and has to back up ... getting out a couple of times to make sure he doesn't hit anything. Albert Lee, Fairbault ... Northfield. We should be home clear ... not so quick. I open my eyes and we are going west in MN 13 ... by now I ask "Isn't the transit station the other way." It is ... again he can't find a place to turn around ... another 15-20 down. When I was going to be in town at 6 AM I was going to take the bus to my car, but now its going to be 8 AM so my wife will pick me up ... I talk to here at the transit station, only one more stop, she's going to leave now. Not so quick, I call her back ... the exit from the transit station is plowed shut ... some was using the exit to pile snow ... why not? It's Sunday ... again the driver has to exit the bus ... and goes to find someone to move the snow. By now the / our other driver is offering play by play steps for the driver so he knows where to go ... the driver is doing his best to ignore him. We are finally home ... I doubt if I got 45 minutes last night. http://wcco.com/trafficnews/local_story_049182956.html Charges Expected Tuesday In Bus Hijacking Feb 18, 2005 5:28 pm US/Central Luverne, Minn. (AP) A Utica, Pa., woman who allegedly hijacked a commercial bus in southwestern Minnesota and held the driver at knifepoint faces assault charges and possibly others, authorities said. Jewel Anna Stands, 18, booked on three counts of assault, was being held Friday in the Nobles County Jail in Worthington. Assistant Rock County Attorney Terry Vajgart said he expects Stands will appear in Rock County District Court in Luverne on Tuesday and be charged with felony assault. Rock County Sheriff Mike Winkels said Stands allegedly used a four-bladed knife to hold the bus driver, Ron Peterson, 34, of Maple Grove, hostage as he drove down U.S. Highway 75 on Thursday between Pipestone and Luverne. The incident was reported at about 3 p.m. -- by a passenger who called 911 on a cell phone -- about an hour after the bus made its regular stop in Marshall. The bus was traveling from the Twin Cities to Sioux Falls. Police used stop spikes to stop the Jefferson Lines bus about one mile from the South Dakota border, and two passengers subdued the woman. Bonnie Buchanan, a spokeswoman for Jefferson Lines, said Peterson underwent surgery for a knife cut on his arm and was doing well. Stands was treated for cuts at the Luverne Hospital, Winkels said. The man who called authorities on his cell phone and another passenger also were treated for cuts and released Thursday night. |