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REFER TRUCK - ONE WAY TO ST LOUIS, MO
This trip overlaps with the last one. When I got to the lot to
pick up my car I couldn't get near my car, there were vehicles everywhere and
my car was buried under 2 feet of snow. As I was walking in that general
direction the driver of one of the trucks stuck his head out … it was the
boss. He and one other driver were trying to clear the lot. First he offered
'any truck' instead of my car, then suggested I take home the one for my
next/this trip instead of my car.
Don't really like parking tandem
trucks in my driveway, but between my wife and my neighbor they had enough
cleared that it should fit (one of the cars may have to sit on the street.) My
truck was plugged in at the office so it started right away, that's another
reason I agreed to take a truck. Not sure how my car is going to start in this
weather. The snow plow had come through once in this area so I had a place to
back out but nowhere for anyone else to get past.
After moving the
cars in our driveway I was able to back the truck in far enough so in cleared
the snow, the new edge of the road. Now to find enough cord to plug it in, it
took two long cords and two short ones.
12/13/10 - Monday
… but it worked, the truck started right off. Scale wasn't open,
one less slow down on the way to work. I call my two 'co-drivers' for the AM to
let them know that I have the truck and not to be looking for it.
Everyone is at the office by 6 AM even the guy who was told 6:30 … that
would have messed us up, we'd have come up short by the end of the day. Another
driver was there waiting for someone also, he didn't know who and no paperwork
was in the box … so was he waiting for someone or wasn't he? (talked to
him a week later and he actually was waiting for two people, one was 'on time'
the other a half hour later.)
Diesel pumps took a half hour to fuel
this AM, pumps were running slow, 14 below, and we only got 20 gallons, glad we
didn't need a fill. The guy on the other side of the pump was filling two 100
gallon tanks on his semi, wonder if he spent the night???
Half way to
our first drop we switch drivers, that way we both have burned one hour. The
third driver didn't want to drive and wasn't going to be running with us. Five
minutes from our drop lot we get a call from dispatch asking how close we are
… should a 4th driver shut off our trucks? WOW, that was a welcome call,
especially after the driver told us he had to jump mine to get it to start, he
likely saved us an hour. And I had 'assumed' that we would need to return this
first truck to the customer, when I finally look at my paperwork, no, it just
goes to the lot. That saves us having to drop this truck five minutes away, get
it signed for, etc and then have someone shuttle us back. So something worked
out, those two items could have cost us enough time we would have missed our
flight.
My truck has a 'check engine' light on, but dispatch says that
a lot of them do in the cold weather, another call that saved us on this trip.
1st fuel stop has three diesel pump, two for trucks and one with a smaller
nozzle for pickups. I go for that one but it stops every two seconds so once
one of the other drivers is done, I pull to his pump and fuel. This time I
remember to buy anti-gel for the diesel. I forgot to do that on the first
truck.
Three hours down, that is going to cut it close for the rest of
the day 11 hours / 10 driving to get 600 miles … and the trucks do 62-63
mph. But 3 mph over 10 hours gives us the ½ hour we have to play with.
Two trucks in the ditch in WI, the first is a Walmart that is sitting
upright and has two tow trucks trying to pull it out, plus a couple of squads
and a couple of highway trucks for traffic control. The second truck is on it
is side, a (not so) Swift truck, no tow trucks but the squads and highway dept
are there ready for them. A while later a squad passes me with it is lights on,
doing maybe 70 mph, I'm already in the right lane, no other traffic right there
so not an issue. I watch for how soon the other drivers in the left lane will
see him.
First one pulls over when he's a couple of car lengths away
but the red car doesn't move, doesn't move, then 'SWISH' I see snow flying, the
red car hits the ditch, then back on the road then headfirst into the ditch. So
this squad pulls over behind, the person is sitting upright and it doesn't look
like the airbag went off so everyone else keeps rolling slowly past. My guess
is the squad finally spooked her.
Not making such good mileage on this
trip, the other driver says we should only have to stop twice … and he
would have. But I was using a lot more fuel. When we get to a ¼ I stop
just south of Madison at a Pilot but there is a line at every pump, I check
with the other driver, had he has over 1/8 of a tank more than me so I don't
need to worry about him, but needed to make sure he didn't have 1/8 less or
we'd need to wait. We pull back on the highway … another five minutes or
so wasted.
We do make it almost 300 miles on the first tank and stop
in S Beloit, IL at the Pilot. I used to always stop at the Flying J but the
Pilot seems to be less busy, less waiting time. Do end up having to wait for
the other driver, he doesn't know that we need to prepay. I buy a (rare, as in
this occasion, not quality) hot dog. I'm hungry, we ate at about 3 PM yesterday
instead of my usual 8 PM, it was a buffet but still.
The other driver
asks what time we got here '1:30?; I say no … 1:45 … so he logs it
that way ans so do I … then I'm wishing the rest of the trip I'd have
logged it his way. It would have given us an extra, much needed, 15 minutes of
drive time.
Illinois, still snow, not going to get south of the snow
this trip. Nothing too memorable, just doing the math every hour to make sure
we will still make it. I had told the other driver we'd stop an hour before our
drop to make sure we had the time to make it to the drop/motel. There is a
private /non-chain truck stop just over an hour out but then nothing for the
next 30 miles. Both the TA and Pilot have truck stops the next exit after ours
but somewhere there was a sign saying there will be at Flying J on I-270 …
hope we find it.
I start getting nervous, we are getting awful close
to St Louis / E St Louis, not a good section of town to have to just pull off
if you don't know where you are going. Gives me something to think about, I
remember being here once before, came in from somewhere on a multi-leg trip on
the Greyhound and took a cab from there, as often is the case, Greyhound is not
in the best section of town. (I've since found out that the Greyhound station
in St Louis has now been combined with the Amtrak station)
As soon as
we were in our trucks this AM I called the drop as there were no instructions
on the paperwork. There is someone there to sign for the trucks from 2 AM until
4 PM and no, he does not want to come back in at 8 PM, 5 maybe but not 8. I
would like to be rid of this truck so I don't have to restart it but other than
that isn't not going to change anything so we'll wait for the AM. I'd checked
and there is a Holiday Inn across the street from the drop, not cheap, but it
will save us a taxi as we can walk back to the motel.
By the time we
get to the Flying J my low fuel light has been on for 10 miles, then I see a
sign that looks like it's facing a cross highway saying the exit of the Flying
J … no, it's not even on this highway. But it was, just a strange place
for a sign. I thought I was only going to put in $50/10 gallon but that only
brought the gauge up to ¼ and we still had 20 miles to go so I put in
$75 … but once the gauge caught up it was closer to full. Oh well, their
truck, they're paying for the fuel. It's just me putting it in instead of them.
We have a half hour of time and 20 miles to go, we make it and are at
the counter of the Holiday Inn with 10 minutes to spare … long day. Logged
it as 14 hours as I hate using fractions on my final numbers.
Room
comes to almost $70 plus my $8 but that's $35 each (including our 'taxi')
No real truck parking but there is plenty of room to park, also an
adjacent lot. As soon as we dropped our stuff we went looking for food. We
looked at the menu downstairs at the hotel, but the other guy is even cheaper
than I am and won't make a decision, I finally tell him to flip a coin. Tails,
we go to the Jack in the Box instead. Prices in house weren't that bad but
likely twice what we'd spend at Jack. This place did have both potato and
French Onion soup so one of those would have been on my order if …
Jack in the Box now (or maybe always did) serve breakfast all day,
place is empty. At least three people behind the counter/cooks, but no one else
when we get there. I order breakfast, trying to stay away from the fast food
burgers … got a 'dish' of some kinds. Eggs, bacon, cheese, potatoes and an
OJ, need more than that to drink so I walk next door/same business to the gas
station and bought another juice. Was good, ate it all, 8PM as usual …
Do a quick check of the internet when I get back. Got to have it but
usually only have time to check email for about 15 minutes and then I'm up
against the clock for sleep. I was in no rush to get rid of the trucks but the
other driver is … and I should remember my 'every minute' counts rule. I
call down for a 8 AM airport shuttle and they want to know my flight time
… 9 AM. "Then you need to be THERE two hours before your flight … not
going to work, so I say we want a 7:30 shuttle, they say 7 … not budging.
"OK" I agree, we'll just get rid of the trucks earlier.
>>>>>>>> TRIP ADVISOR - Holiday Inn, St Louis, MO
<<<<<<<<<<<<<
This motel is the
high end of what I stay at while driving, but this time it worked for a number
of reasons. I was traveling with someone so that cut my cost in half, and we
could get a corp rate which was better than the posted. Plus it was right
across the street from where we were dropping our trucks so we could walk back
to the hotel and get a shuttle to the airport saving the cost of a taxi.
Now that I'm writing reviews I'm looking for the bad, I couldn't find it. Nice
beds, lots of plug in's, free wi-fi, clean, high class place.
BUT the next
morning when I'm ready to take a shower I start to notice, the ceiling has rust
lines and it looked like something was oozing between the cracks. Plus the wall
paper had been patched a number of times rather than replaced. These are the
kinds of things I expect in a $30 Ma & Pa place, not in a $100 a night
hotel.
Would I stay again, yes. Because none of this effected how clean or
comfortable it was.
I had thought of getting photos but ran out of time
and had to catch the shuttle.
* My ratings for this hotel
o 2
of 5 stars Value
o 4 of 5 stars Rooms
o 5 of 5 stars Location
o 4
of 5 stars Cleanliness
o 4 of 5 stars Service
o 4 of 5 stars Sleep
Quality
* Date of stay December 2010
* Visit was for Business
* Traveled with with Colleagues
* Member since November 28, 2010
*
Would you recommend this hotel to a friend? Yes
>>>>>>>> No Trip Advisor for Jack in the Box -
<<<<<<<<<<<<<
12/14/10 -
Tuesday
I had planned on moving the trucks at 6:30 but we are both up
so we are ready by 6:15 and head out. 8 degrees here, warm :
My truck
starts … 1st time I've started it, the guy had jumped it yesterday and I
didn't dare shut it off, that and the check engine light that is still on.
I looked online but couldn't ID any trucks from the arial shots but I
knew about where it should be, but this AM I don't see it, no name/ no numbers
so I call … "You need to go around the back, next street down." I was told
… So off we go looking for that next street, turns out we had been on the
'next street' and parked in front of their building when I called. I finally
asked someone in a building next to them as I saw them ready to leave with a
truck … Duh.
Now we are down to about 10 minutes before our 7 AM
shuttle so the other driver asks for a ride, we get it. It's only two blocks
but it is cold out and it's faster than walking. Five two and I ask the desk
clerk what time the next shuttle is "7:30" or if they can hold this one. They
give us 10 minutes, I pack, we run, we … have to still get a receipt (I
forgot I get one last tight) the one she gives me this AM is a -0- , paid by
Corp. Oh well, then we find out that we are the only ones in the shuttle, so he
just needs to be back by 7:30 for the next one, we aren't delaying anyone on
this shuttle.
I'd been in such a rush that I didn't get out my flight
info ahead of time, but we both get our tickets from the kiosk without any
issues, Then security, I get the 'naked view' check as does everyone. Didn't
recognize the machine so I wasn't ready, hadn't emptied all my pockets. I pass.
As I'm re-packing the guy ahead of me has lost something but security
says they don't have it and he'd better check his bags for it. I didn't hear
what it was, but as I turn to grab more of my stuff I see a drivers license up
by the machine and ask if that is what he is looking for. 'Yep.' Thank You.
(Female pilot on this flight, not as many of those) Hear her over the
PA and after we land, outside looking the plane over.
There is a
flight leaving in about 20 minutes so we go and check it out … yes, $50.
No, we are not going to pay $50 to get home two hours earlier.
The
other guy wants to go look at the model planes in the main lobby and the first
person says no problem, but when we try to get past security we realize that we
will have to go through security again to get back in, not worth it … even
if there was enough time.
I'm last guy in the back, have two seats on
the one side to myself, once I realize this I think of getting my camera out so
I can take pictures, but once the plane is up I start working on this write-up
and forget until the pilot comes on and says we'll be landing shortly …
should have jumped up then, didn't. With the fresh snow and the black highways
it made for real contrast.
Almost right away I noticed one of the
refineries, then a road I knew … that meant we had just past over my
in-laws house, too late, no camera. For some reason we are almost up to one
runway before we bank and head 20 miles out of town and make a U-turn. Would
have made for a real good picture of the airport.
The not so fun part
of being in the last seat is waiting for everyone else to get off. The other
driver was in row five. On this plane it gave him four rows of leg room,
everything in front of him was 1st class/three seats wide and he was in the 1st
row of four wide.
We have less than five minutes to wait for a bus,
$1.75 for 'off-peak' makes it a little cheaper than the taxi. First in a tunnel
we see a van sitting crossways in one lane, don't look like a crash, more like
he wanted to take a U-turn in the southbound lane and go against traffic. A
couple of miles later we see about a dozen cars in the snow bank, the bus
driver even gets on the PA and refers to this as 'spinout alley.' Not sure what
caused this but it must have just happened, everyone was either still in their
cars or standing by them on cell phones, no tow trucks or police yet.
I would not ever want to be a bus driver but especially in this weather, too
easy for someone to slip under the bus … many times on our one hour ride.
Downtown we have to switch buses, we had planned on going to get my
car first but the bus to that lot was about 15 longer wait so we go on an
earlier bus to get his car first. At one point a cop got on and the other guy
asked if I felt safer now. "Not at this time of day." I replied, but a few
blocks later he got off so I thought he was just along for the ride, until a
couple of minutes later I saw him in a transit squad car which must have been
following us … now I wonder if he was on the bus for a reason.
We
have about a three block walk, it feels nice out even if it's only a few
degrees above zero, but it's sunny. We get his car and head to mine.
WHAT? The boss told me on Sunday that he would get my car dug out, even asked
where the keys were, didn't happen. The other driver asks if I have a chain and
we can pull it out with one of the trucks. I don't have a chain but I do have a
tow rope, but as soon as I start shoveling I realize that by the time I dig
enough to get under the car that I might be able to drive it out.
1st
good news, the doors open … they like to freeze shut, but I have finally
put some de-icer in the fuel door area in case all the locks are frozen.
2nd good news, it starts … it does take longer than normal but it finally
fires and runs.
3rd good news, after rocking the car back and forth a
couple of times I gun it and it keeps moving. Now I just have to shovel two
feet of snow off my car. I pull over to a pile and get to work. Welcome Home.
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