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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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This has been the downside of driveaway. Work is slow and we have had reasons we needed to be in town. And this has been the rare time that my local company hasn't had any local work for me. We thought we'd be back on the road right after Christmas, then something came up near New Years. Then an appointment, then 10 days before we had to be back in town, but 2 runs anywhere for those days and then we were up against being back in time. Same after our weekend event. No 2 runs anywhere, plus weather is an issue and no work. Finally they started putting loads on the board but we were again up against the clock. Finally Tuesday night we decide we have to move something. My wife hasn't worked in almost 2 months and will need to go on extended leave if we don't work. Plus we do need the money. We leave our house at 8 am, heading to work. No work lined up. At 9:45 they put on something that will work for us. We stop in Albert Lea and I call. We get them. We are going to TX. Did call about my last run Monday, it did delivery. Either the bus company or the delivery sent their own people up to fix it and they drove it to delivery. So I should be getting paid ... soon. Still very few RV's in the lot. Today will be the first day this year with double digits on the board. RV's sitting all over outside our lot. I'm guessing 2-300. We both have Sprinter sized vans this trip. Less to check, we were in and out in 45 minutes instead of the usual hour plus. First stop is Clear Lake for fuel and food. Because we grabbed the work in route we didn't do all our usual checks so we ended up spending $.30 more on fuel than we would have in Forest City. Sub was lunch. Was looking for something this last week and saw this in the news. I've stopped there a few times. It was all closed up today. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2018/10/13/boondocks-truck-stop-williams-iowa-interstate-35-closing-35-travel-trucking-history-gas-station-ia/1580007002/ Next stop was the rest area in Ankeny. Then the rest area in Eagleville. No scales open today. And we are under 10,000# today. A little rain, and the first of it freezes to the window as I didn't have the defrost on. 29 degrees. As we go south the temp gets up to 33 with mostly mist. Supposed to be freezing rain tonight and tomorrow AM. Must have snowed recently. Lots of pushed up snow from the road, in the lots. Also lots of places where people went in the ditch, ground isn't frozen and everything sinks. Every few miles there were tracks into the ditch. Fueled at the Pilot in Kearney before heading to the motel. Also this time we stop at Arbey's for food. Usually we walk after we stop, but not sure how soon it's going to get icy. Saw one other driver from our company at Pilot. He is heading to Ventura, CA. Lots of nasty weather between here and there. 1st pump I pulled into would not take my zip code. I'd start typing in the numbers and it would re-set to blank. Sometimes I'd get three numbers in, sometimes only 1 and sometimes it would re-set so fast that my middle zip was now the first digit. Finally moved to another pump, but then the pump wouldn't take my card ... too many swipes I suppose. Plenty of room to park at the Quality Inn. We were fueling at sunset so not quite dark when we got here two blocks away. The heat never worked in the 1st room so we got moved. Usually we don't unpack until we know everything is working, this time we were all unpacked :( . BB has all the stops mapped out for tomorrow. 600 miles will put us within a few miles of the 1st drop. Then pickup a rental, and another almost hour to the 2nd drop. Then two days and we'll be home. Doubt we will try to do anything else before the next 'home time.' 190117 - IA-TX With the storms coming in we didn't want to get going too early. Turns out it the rain / temp wasn't right to cause any issues. This morning we were doing our inspections when the garbage truck came to dump the dumpster. I knew he was right there, but when it went BANG, I know I jumped a little. :) We got going a little after it was light out, about 7:30. Traffic wasn't an issue getting to KC. Computer had told us to go about 30 miles out of route to avoid downtown. No issues, just a few nuts on the hi-way. I-70 west is still closed so that helps keep some of the traffic off of where we want to go. 1st stop was Williamsburg at the rest area. We both called our drops just in case there was anything they or we needed to know, there wasn't. ... then on to the toll road. The company is paying, otherwise most times we find a way around the tolls. Just as we pull on the toll road I hear a 'ding.' I can't see anything, until I wash my windows. Rock chip. No one for a mile ahead of me, but someone was passing me. Had to call in at my next stop to dispatch. All they need is to know it happened. 2nd stop was at the Oasis in Towanda. Stopped here and ate. This time we ate at Duncan Donuts. BB had a 'premier' sandwich that is not listed on their website. I had a wrap as the bacon croissant had something in the name that sounded spicy. And they said the sandwiches were 'pre-made' so I couldn't get it without it. (I'm not so sure, person wasn't very accommodating) Didn't realize how samll my wrap was, I guess I should have picked up on it when they asked how many I wanted. No issues with traffic in Wichita as the toll road kind of goes around it with only limited access. Scale in OK says open so I exit, BB is following a truck that gets a message to exit, she does not so she doesn't. I didn't get a message, but if the signs are working (in other states) it either says truck must exit or OK to bypass. When the sign stayed blank, I exited. No one manning the scale once we got to the scale house, just 'OK to exit.' BB got ahead of me to the next fuel at Tonkawa. Pilot. After we were done fueling there, someone came up and asked how much these were, I wasn't sure $100+ ... I looked later, $125 for mine and it's a stripped down version. I was going to fuel on the back side of BB's pump but someone had parked right in the middle between the two islands. No door dings that way I guess. Usually I like to stop a full tank from my drop so I don't need to do the mileage. This time I guessed how much fuel I would need and I'm coming in close so far. OKC is always a mess ... now there is road construction. Quick stop in Perry OK just south of OKC. Small place. We backed into a truck spot so BB was in front and had to pull out first. By then the trucks were lined up and we had to cut between them and go out backwards or sit and wait. Called Co #1 as long as I was there. No work heading back from Texas. I'll call again tomorrow about work for Monday. Nothing on the board for Co #3. Original plan had been to get to Denton tonight but no reason to. So we end up in Ardmore about 2 hours from the first drop. We can't do our 1st drop until 9:30 so no reason to be any closer. Comfort Inn. BB tries to make a reservation from the lot and online we can not get any discount. That add's $20 plus to tonight's bill. I comment to the desk clerk that the must be full tonight, no discounts. No they are not full, so he gives me the AAA discount. Later BB checks again and now it is taking the discounts again. Not sure what the issue was but it cost us. Closest food is 2 Frogs. BB checks a few reviews and we walk over, next block over. Less than six tables of <> 40 have people. Food was quick and good. Mine anyways. BB said the salads at McD's are sometimes as good as hers. While we were sitting there we looked at the weather and it may be an issue to get home in two days because of the storms so we looked at extending our rental car from 2 to 3 days. Over a $100 LESS. So now we have it for three days. It's more again for 4 days and a week. Guess we always need to check all the options. Plan is to drop BB's RV about 10, pick up the rental a few minutes away. Then drop mine before noon ?? and then get as far north as we can before the weather gets bad. Then we might have a very short day on Saturday when the weather is the worst. Then do the rest on Sunday with time to get home before dark. The trunk doesn't want to open on 'Crash,' so we don't have a snow shovel. Sounds like it might have been a good idea to have one. 190118 - IA-TX Alarm woke us up this AM, not used to that after almost two months off. Breakfast eggs were a little off. Sometimes when dried eggs don't get mixed right, they are a little 'grainy,' that seemed to be the case here. All else was good. Got going about 7:30. Had to wipe the dew off the windows and mirrors so we could see. Not a big crowd list night. Saw two issues today that should remind people to PAY ATTENTION while driving. First one was just an empty box in the lane. 1st, you don't know it's empty if it's not blowing in the wind. Truck ahead of me went around it, I went round it, car behind me did not. They hit it square on ... and it got stuck under their car ... they did stop right away, but if they hadn't it could get hot enough to start a fire. Second was a wheel barrel right on the white line between the lanes. Not a problem, people are flying by at 70 mph ... until someone would try to changes lanes ... About two hours to the fuel station. BB's final fuel at the Love's in Denton. New enough place that I can remember when it wasn't there. From here it was less than 10 miles to the drop. Neither 35E or 35W in TX is fun. E is up and down and curvy and now lots of road construction. W is just crowed ... plus road construction. TX has a different kind of frontage road system than the rest of the country. It works if you plan ahead. We could see the RV dealer from the highway when we went past, but I hadn't looked at a map and BB was the one who had talked to the drop. But I am in the lead. I loose BB at a yield sign and pull into the customer to wait for her. And I realize there is no-where to go. Just the customer parking lot. Then no BB. So I head out, but the frontage road is one way so I have to go about three miles forward to get a half a block backwards. I'm just about back when BB calls me and tells me where to turn. There is a big sign ... a few blocks before the dealer. I find her, but we are still here before they will check in new units. It takes us about an hour for them to check it in. In my drive around I find there is a rental car place two doors down from the RV dealer, good to know for another time. No issues. I'm out there with three shirts and two jackets on and the guy checking us in has on a T-shirt ... he did finally put on a jacket as we were leaving. Off to the airport. The main building looked about the size of one room. The rental car place was a ways away in an unmarked shed, just a small sign on the fence. I don't listen to Google Maps or anyone else when I'm driving, I just look at a map and go. This time I began to wonder a couple of times because this was not a 1st class road the way I was leaving. So narrow it did have a center line most of the way. But it was the shortest way to the freeway heading to Fort Worth. I didn't want to get to my final fuel right on E, I was aiming for about a range of 50 miles, about an 1/8th of tank. I came in with a range of 40 miles. Never sure how accurate the gauges are or how fast the rig will use up the last of the fuel. Add $20 one exit from my drop and then to the drop. Walk in the wrong business first. Then park about 5th in line at the correct one. By the time I walk in and then back out of the place I am sitting with no one else around. After a half hour I go back in and then another half hour before someone comes out. From there it was about another half hour to do the actual inspection. No issues other than the chip in the windshield I told them about. I had seen the signs for a Jason's Deli on the way to the drop, it would be about 20 miles back. But by now it was 1 PM and BB wanted to eat NOW. We knew all the fast food places were near, but she had plenty of time to look and found a McCallisters Deli so that is where we went. Chicken salad for her, chicken salad sandwich for me, plus soup. Good food. While waiting I call for local work on Monday and get it. Then I call and leave a message because I still haven't been paid for last months bus trip. By now BB has been paid for her trip. Paid in less than three hours. I send mine in later in the day and it shows paid after 5 PM but the money doesn't show up in my account. May have to deal with that on Monday. Down the road the bus dispatcher calls back while I'm driving. I talk to him a few different times and finally we stop so I can look at the paperwork. When we sent in my paperwork, one page got sent twice and one not at all. So mistake on our end and by now corporate has gone home so another thing to deal with on Monday. BB had driven our rental car about 40 miles and had used a 1/4 of a tank of fuel. That didn't look right. When I started driving I had a range of 222 miles. 135 miles later I still had a range of 222 miles. Not sure what was with the top 1/4 of the tank. We plan on filling back in Tonkawa where the fuel was cheapest, I should be down to 1/4 by then. 1st stop on the way back was the Welcome center in OK. About two hours down the road. It is right next to a huge Casino. I looked on Trip advisor because I was looking for the name of the town and found the Casino has over 20,000 reviews ... want to start reading ;) 2nd stop was the unplanned one in Pauls Valley so I could look at paperwork. We didn't get out of the car, just sat in the parking lot of McDonalds. We had thought we'd make it to Wichita tonight but by the time we were done eating it was after 2 PM. And with the extra stop it was 5 PM when we pulled into OKC. We went to the Cracker Barrel that is at this exit. They have switched their menu again. I got the French Dip, dip was lacking but the sandwich was good. BB loves the veggies. This time she had fish. Got to the motel, Sleep Inn ... this is the one where the goose followed BB when she was out on a walk and the goose was last seen standing in front of the door ... :) Weather is bad all the way from here to St Paul tonight. Iowa did not put any RV's on the board all day today. Sometime AFTER 5 PM, TX put on two trucks going west from about 10 miles from where I dropped. One going to Tuscon the other north of Sacramento. Why doesn't this happen when we CAN do the run? It would have made for a nice three legged run and really good money. Money. This trip ended up paying about 50% more than we thought it would, so not too bad. Going to try to head out again either the 26th or 27th ... 190119 - IA-TX We had the alarm set for 7 AM, but we were both up before 6 AM. Ate breakfast, all was good, two kinds of fruit. The big debate this AM was if we were going to stop across the freeway so we would save $.40 over stopping down the road. Saving time won out over saving money and we didn't stop. Fuel mileage dropped this AM. Wind warnings, for us it was a head wind. The only time the car wasn't downshifted was if we were going down hill. On the first leg, the road was clear and no snow anywhere yet. Stopped 90 miles down the road at Tonkawa at the Pilot, it was the 2nd cheapest fuel we found this trip (and the cheapest we bought.) We were down to a range of 40 miles when we stopped. The wind was just as bad by the fuel pumps. Once I got the pumps started, I stood next to it and could feel the whole pump moving in the wind. I didn't bother to go in and use the restrooms, I would have had to thaw out first. :) Road are still clear up to Wichita and still the headwinds. At Wichita the road turns east so we loose the headwinds, but the roads start to ice. Before long we see a pickup that looks like it just hit the cement median. The guy was out looking at his truck, looked like he was yelling and shaking his fist. Over the course of the day, we saw four semi's on their side and a dozen or two cars in the ditch. Only one still had someone in it. Some places it was 50 miles of ice, others only a few, and in places only a few feet. Ran with the cruise on less than half the time. Next stop was supposed to be Emporia but because we were driving slower, we ended up stopping at Towanda for a quick restroom break. ... then on to Emporia. The traffic light wouldn't turn so we ended up taking a right and re-routing our trip to Bruffs. Eaten at this place many times over the last 15 years. It sits behind the Motel 6 and the now Clarion. Always great food, no exception this time. The washer on the passenger side of the car hadn't worked most of the day, then mine quit working. When we stopped for fuel we looked at it, it worked again, both sides so we didn't add any fluid. Down the road it froze up again. No more fluid the rest of the trip. Luckily we only got splashed a couple of more times before we hit IA, and then the roads are clear. We did stop and add some fluid but it must be froze further up in the line. Car is from TX so they may have just been filling with water, I could only add less than a quart. Doubt it got mixed well. Back to yesterday ... When I first started driving, I got on the freeway in Fort Worth ... I merged into traffic but some traffic was still passing me. I looked down and I was going over 70 mph and people were still passing me. Speed limit is 70 mph right through town ... and 65 right through Des Moines. Traffic wasn't bad through Kansas City, too early to eat at Stroud's. By the time we reach Des Moines the temp has dropped to 10 degree's. We decide after the big meal at noon to just get Taco's to go and head to the motel. For no reason, we pick the Sleep Inn in Ankeny. We have stayed at 5 different Choice motels in the Des Moines area, but this is where we ended up. No issues at check in. We are on schedule to be back and too work by Monday. ... oh, while eating my taco's I felt something hard ... my temp tooth. It had fallen out. So now I have something else to do on Monday ... or not. 190120 - IA-TX Was up by 7 AM, eating breakfast by 8:30 and on the road by 9 AM. If we would have thought more about it we might have stayed at the hotel longer. We don't want to return the car too early and get the higher, two day rate. We had thrown snow on the windshield last night when the windshield was still warm so no problems seeing this AM. Back to yesterday ... I had stopped to email someone about some diaries I am buying. My computer powered up, I got the email sent and as I am opening the sent box ... my computer dies. So that is how long it now lasts on battery. :( But a new battery or computer is a ways down on my list right now. Last night the mileage range didn't look like we were going to make it to Clear Lake. But this AM we were driving slower because of the bad roads so the mileage was a little better. Today we only saw one truck in the ditch but likely another dozen cars. Road spray was not an issue today. Temps got down to -1 before rising again. It snowed most of the first two hours. Whiteouts when people would pass. AFTER we passed Williams we thought about fueling. Could have saved another $1 if we had stopped there vs where we did stop in Clear Lake. We had planned on not stopping until Forest City but we looked at Gasbuddy and it showed the Forest City gas prices today, often it does not. Gas in Forest City was the same as Clear Lake, and we get a discount in Clear Lake. So that was our first stop, at the Pilot. Washed the windows while we were stopped. The wash buckets here were actually liquid in these temps. Went through Garner to see if gas was cheaper there, now that they have a Kwik Trip across from the Casey's. Nope, same as Forest City and Clear Lake. When we got to Forest City we drove through the overflow lot for the RV's ... 300+ sitting waiting to be moved to our lot. Plus we can see other lots but can't get to those lots to count them. Our lot hadn't been plowed yet. I suppose they had about six inches of snow. I just backed up and then made a run for it. No banks from the snow plow or we would have had to shovel ... after we bought a shovel. We need to be carrying one with. Switched out our stuff and went our separate ways. My next stop was the Flying J in Northfield. Gas was as cheap there as anywhere. It was noon and after a big breakfast this AM I wasn't hungry enough for the buffet that BB suggested. This Subway doesn't have a soup, and the Flying J only had two kinds of soup and I didn't want either of them. The closest thing I could see when I was looking at the soups was a Little Debbie's pie. So that is what I got. Ouch. That was a little too sweet for my non-tooth. From there it was to the cemetery and wait for BB's call from the airport. She called, we headed home. Made one more stop for groceries as we didn't want to go out again ... even if it had gotten up to 10 degrees. Working local tomorrow. |
