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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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190214 - VA-CA I think we are still on east coast time, we are up early again. Very small breakfast area, but the usual stuff, plus we got the 'Happy Valentine's Day' every time we walked past the front desk. Not sure what, but something took a little longer this AM so we got going 15 minutes later than we had planned. Las Vegas wasn't bad for a rush hour ... in the rain. Some slow and go but no stop and go. First stop was in Primm at the CA boarder at the Flying J. This is the first place is the first one I've seen with a Qdoba. This is the first time I have been this way with a truck since they built a new scale and fruit inspection area. We got waved through the inspection station without stopping. At this scale, there is scale even on the empty lane. 5 mph in the empty lane and 3 mph on the loaded lanes. The light stays green and we are free to go. Next stop is at the TA at Barstow. They have a Black Bear Restaurant at the truckstop. There are 20+ food places within a few blocks but this was the place we wanted to eat. Long story short, I ordered a chicken salad sandwich and got a tuna salad sandwich. The waiter at first insisted that is what I ordered. They did bring me the correct order but by the time we were out of there, we had been there over an hour and a half. Once we have left the TA and are on the street, we have a red light. I'm not to the light yet when it changes, but someone has started crossing so I continue to drive slowly. I look to see if anyone is behind me, there isn't, but someone is coming up fast in the right lane. I lay on the horn, they guy walking across the street finally looks our direction and gets across the street. The truck in the right lane doesn't seem to even slow down. The guy walking across the street without a walk light was on his cell phone. West of Barstow is a town called Kramer Corner. It's always a slow spot but today there is high water at the stoplight so the oncoming traffic was backed up for miles. Not sure why traffic from our direction wasn't. (We wouldn't have made it to our motel if it had been backed up.) Signs say this road should be complete by 2020. Then it will be four lane all the way from Barstow to Bakersfield. Shortly after Kramer Corner, two runs show up on the board, we were right at an exit so I took it. Called four times and finally got something other than the answering machine. They are pickups. We take them. We now have a plan. One hour from my drop we will pick up two pickups going to OH, another 2,400 miles. Donners Pass had been open for a little while this AM, by late in the day it will be closed til noon Sunday. In Wyoming roads are still an issue. We finally decide we will head south and add the extra miles to this leg of the trip also. Next stop is Tehachapi for fuel. Loves. We get a little discount there, but very little. After we fuel, I call my drop again and got more details. Also called the next PU and left a message. The PU called back later and left a message, we can pickup until 4 pm. Somewhere after Tehachapi, being the nice guy I am, I pulled to the left lane to let someone coming up the ramp on. The guy who had been behind me caught up to the person getting on the freeway and wouldn't let me get back over. A few miles later he did back off and I got over. I was busy with something besides just driving and I had noticed one of the people who had been behind me in the left lane just kind of hung right beside me. At first I thought he was just pacing me as people do when they aren't paying attention but I didn't look over. Then he shot ahead, I figured he wanted to show me some sign language for blocking traffic. :( Half hour or so later I pass someone and notice something in my lower right mirror. Off at the next exit. Turns out one of my storage doors is open, hanging into traffic. Opps ... maybe ... just maybe the guy I thought wanted to show me a sign really wanted to tell me one of my doors was open ... Last stop of the day was going to be a rest area near Button Willow. It was closed, By now we realized how late we would get to the motel so we stopped to eat at Lost Hills. We planned on stopping at Pilot and their Wendy's. Pilot didn't have any pull through parking spots so we drove out. By accident we ended up at a off-brand station with a DQ. They had a huge parking lot, newly paved. Here I could pull in to a parking spot without backing up. So we had DQ. Interesting place. Some shelves full, some shelves empty ... like the shelves would be if right before a hurricane arrives. Two hours later we are at our motel in Santa Nella, Quality Inn. Here I decide to park in my usual spot where I have to back up. I try a few times but I just can't seem to back without being able to see my trailer/chipper until it is too far sideways to keep backing. I get it to where I should be able to get out in the AM. Less than three hours to my drop from here. Rental car is on the way. Then one hour to our next pickup. And about 10 miles to drop the rental car. We plan on staying close to where we pickup. I am still running close on hours and we decided this when we thought we would wait for the pass to open. We should deliver by Thursday, home by Saturday, leave again Sunday if there is work. 190215 - VA-CA Up before the alarm, but the alarm was set for 7 AM west coast time. Heard the sausage was good, but I stuck with yogurt and one egg. Looked out early this AM but didn't see any CA buses. Did meet a few yesterday. After my inspection, we headed across the street to Loves, the first line I picked didn't move so I did. Guess two others picked that line and moved before the guy finally moved his truck. When I got to the pump it still said fueling (free fuel?) I re-hung up the diesel hoses but that didn't clear the pump so I went inside. It was the DEF that hadn't gotten hung up ... and the screen didn't work so they would have to start the pump inside, fuel, then back inside to start the DEF. At that point I asked them if any pumps worked. 23-24. So I backed up, couldn't go ahead. I was able to back straight, just no around the corner last night. But in enough fuel and DEF to get to delivery with a quarter tank. An hour down the road I call the drop to let them know I was two hours out. Left a message. Traffic on I-580 wasn't bad this AM. $16 to get across the 'Richmond' bridge and into Novato. Interesting layout, the streets have a median with trees and grass and some places that is where the bus stops are, in the median. Dropped BB off at the back of the rental car building and I headed to the drop. I had talked to the drop this AM and he told me what to look for, their places didn't have a number on (and isn't in sequence order.) Interesting homeless, RV dwellers along this road. One had a boat with a cover built over it, plus his pickup and motorcycle. Also saw an interesting rainbow. I had told the guy noon and he, or someone else, got there about 12:15. The sign off only too a couple of minutes. Plan had been to stop for food but we wanted to keep going. The first stretch of road is two lanes. Did see where one highway was blocked off, the route we took had been closed due to high water but was open again today. Lots of rain here lately. Got to our pickup, but our guy isn't on site. But the crew we did talk to gave us some hints. Then we called the guy, he said he was busy and for us to drive over to get signatures once we'd found our trucks. We found them, BB's was out front. I had to move two trucks to get to mine. Found out that this company basically closed their CA locations and is moving everything east as eastern locations request new ... they get used. And because the this company is pulling out, other companies need to fill the gap so they are ordering new equipment from the east coast manufactures. Where I dropped is expecting 15 more new trucks. :) I get done with my day with 15 minutes to spare. We first go check into the motel and then drop the rental car. Plan had been to use the rental to go eat, but we were running short on time and wanted to return the car yet tonight. So we dropped it and walked back to the motel. A little over a mile walk. We did try to eat next door to the rental place but the doors were lock, no signs, fish still in the fish tank. We looked at a half dozen other places to eat as we walked back, but ended up next door to the motel at the Hide-A-Way. We've eaten here in the past when we've stayed at this motel. Food was good, but they were out of soup AND the first two sandwiches I ordered. BB had sliders. The motel is the Quality Inn, we stayed here once when I was taking a bus from MN to CA. Park on the street, it's a dead end. Pass is still closed. We are going the southern route. Short days as I haven't done a re-start so we can only drive <> 8.5 hours a day. 7.5 hours a day driving, the other hour is inspections and fueling. Plan is to head home once we deliver in OH on Thurs or Fri. 190216 - CA-OH Up early, that's good I guess. Means when we get back to the east coast it won't be such a big adjustment. Found breakfast, this motel is being remodeled and breakfast is being served in a temp room. When I asked for juice, I had to walk into the kitchen area and help myself. One person just leaving the area when we got there. No one came while we were there. Heard lots of people up and about earlier outside. The closest place to return our car yesterday was 10 miles the wrong direction from where we were heading. So we only took one of our units and left the other in a WalMart parking lot. So BB had to do her inspection before I started my day. Yesterday when we dropped my unit, I had an area picked to park it and then saw someone working on their car so I decided to move further away. Later, I saw he was trying to figure out how to put chains on his car so he'd have some idea before he was standing in the snow on the side of the road. My rig was still there, took a few minutes for an inspection and we were on our way. I mentioned to BB that we wanted to take 'Business I-80' to cut off a few miles. She got far enough behind me that she didn't see where I was and stayed on I-80 when the two split. What I didn't know, was that coming from the west it never refers to this freeway as 'Business I-80' until AFTER you are on it. At the split it only says US-54. Once I realized she wasn't behind me, I slowed down to 60 mph. The other option would have been to get to our first stop and take extra time off. About 20 miles before the rest area, BB catches back up to me. By then I knew it was her, I'd been watching every white vehicle for the last hour. I knew she ran with the headlines on, no front plate, and a small Nissan. BB's drivers door is a little loose, the 'door open' warning keeps coming on. We tried taking some pennies on the sensor so it would stay off but no luck yet. We are making much better time when these things will actually go 65 mph up and down hills. We decide to push on a little further for our lunch stop. OVER 120 miles. :) We stop at Lost Hills, this time we do find a place to park at the Pilot and eat at Wendy's. (A few days ago with a truck there was no room.) We had time, we took an hour. When we went to leave, BB got ahead of me because the lot was crowded. We had thought of fueling here, but it's a small lot. And when we went to leave cars were back up out to the street and only one lane to get out. With BB in the lead she almost got on the freeway until she saw I wasn't going to follow her. From Lost Hills we headed to Famoso to CA-99 and a Flying J. Then we'd be able to make it all the way to Barstow cutting out one stop. Taking that route seems to be better / faster than staying on CA-58 from Bakersfield to I-5. When we pulled out of Pilot in Lost Hills someone got between BB and I. One of the 'In tow' guys. This bunch had a truck towing a truck and then cars loaded in the back of each truck. One of the trucks wasn't a straight truck but a flat bed so I could see all the other stuff they had piled on the load. Looks like the just fill everything as full as they can get it with anything of value to someone. Passed these guys again later after we had fueled. BB had been watching the weather over the pass east of Bakersfield, they had been forecasting snow but I think it came and left before we got there. Trucks that had been sitting were covered with snow but the roads were clear. It is nice to be able to do the speed limit up the hills instead of dropping to 25-35 mph up the hills. Where they are working on CA-58 making it a four lane ... when we came through a few days ago we could see where trucks had missed where the road split, the drove over the cones towards oncoming traffic before driving through the dirt to get back on the highway. One truck had made it a few blocks down the road and was sitting backwards on the shoulder when we went past. It must have really been a down pour. Also when we went past the intersection with US-395, the oncoming traffic was backed up about 2-1/2 miles. (I checked it today) Today I blew through the stoplight at the posted speed, but that might be the first time ever for me. We got to the motel with about an hour to spare, but we'd need two hours to get to the next town. Checked in at the Comfort Inn (instead of the Quality where we have stayed) then after a couple of hours walked next door to the Denny's at the Flying J. A little windy today or we may have walked further. I had breakfast, BB had something off the senior menu. Breakfest here is not until 6:30 on the weekends, starts at 5 AM during the week. Likely we will wait for breakfast and only be able to make it to Holbrook, AZ tomorrow. It doesn't look like we'll make delivery by Thursday. And now there is an ice storm that we'll catch up to by Tuesday. Donners Pass is still closed to most traffic, all trucks. 190217 - CA-OH We had forgotten to print out our NM permits, so we did that on the way down to eat. They were still putting out breakfast when we walked by so it wouldn't have done us much good to get down there earlier. Good spread, a couple of kinds of eggs, bacon, potatoes, a couple of brands of yogurt, third kind of juice. We had gotten our bill under the door so no reason to talk to anyone this am. Parking lot is full, trucks and cars parked on the street. Long after daylight before we get going. Our first stop is two hours down the road at a rest area. Out here in the desert they are pretty basic. Next stop should have been another hour down the road at the POE but they were closed. So another 10 miles and we are at a Pilot for fuel. This place was packed, by the time we left, traffic was back up down onto the travel lanes of the freeway. Nowhere to go until someone pulled out. Gas pumps weren't as bad. Lots of people with cardboard signs. From here we kicked it down to 70 mph. This customer says to keep it under 75 :) Going through Kingman we see a transporter pulled over with the cop behind him. I couldn't see what company they drove for. In and out of the snow today. In the snow we'd slow it down until the roads or sky were clear again. Real patchy. When we first hit snow, most of us slowed down and I noticed someone in the left lane with a truck behind them, the truck kept flashing his lights at them. Sometimes I wish I had a dash cam ... Stopped in Williams at the Loves, Carl Jr's (Hardee's) for lunch. When we pulled off the freeway we couldn't hardly see a block ahead of us. By the time we were ready to leave it was mostly stopped snowing. We took 45 minutes for fast food ... Almost two hours to Holbrook for fuel at the Maverick (what they now call Flying J gas stations.) Here we were going to decide if we could make it to Gallup with hours and daylight. We could on both accounts. Sign on the POE listed 'dealer plates' so we pulled through but were waved on. We got to the Quality Inn and then decided to stay there even though the Comfort Inn next door was $1 less. Fueled twice today and put in the exact same dollar about, and not even dollars. Walked next door to the Cracker Barrel, I had the meatloaf and BB had the fish. Tomorrow will be a little shorter day. We should be able to make it to Amarillo. I plan on waiting till Tuesday to call the drop, that will still be 2-3 days before delivery. Saw lots of transporters today. Buses, boom trucks, stacks, RV's. 190218 - CA-OH Have to remember two things about this motel, pets and train noise. Train noise applies to all motels in Gallup. I asked about pets and they said they were assigned to random rooms. They do not try to keep them on one side or one end of the building. No issues this time, but one of the prior times it was. Either a different motel or different town next time. Basic breakfast. It snowed. We had to clean and scrape our pickup's before we could leave this morning. And the roads weren't good this AM. It took an extra half hour on a two hour trip to get to Albuquerque. Both of us had an issue that came back today. Our washer fluid is froze up. We finally had to pull off at an exit to throw show on our windows so we could see where we were going. By that time the roads were dry so no more issues before ABQ. First thing I did at the Flying J in ABQ was go in and get washer fluid, then both ours worked. Until we got down the road after the temps dropped, so no washers again. Luckily we haven't needed them. At the Flying J I saw a Phoenix bus and someone walking into the store. I asked if he was the driver and as soon as he looked up, I recognized him. We talked for a couple of minutes, but he mostly wanted to talk about being too old to do the trip ... Next stop was Annie's in Santa Rosa. I had been there a few times when it was a Denny's years ago. Food was good, looked like there was as much staff as there were customers at noon. Another two hours and we were in Vega, TX. Gas was $.15 at a private truckstop than at the Pilot so we filled there. In ABQ we could have driven into town and saved a few cents a gallon and didn't. Because we lost that half hour this AM, we/I didn't have enough hours to make it to Shamrock so we got to Amarillo at 4 PM and shut down. Comfort Inn, and walked to the Plaza across the highway. Mexican food, more than enough. Haven't called the drop yet, still don't know if we will make it Thurs or Friday. Now we are looking at weather if/when we try to get home. But we have a couple of things we need to do before heading back out. Donners Pass is finally open. So we would have sat all day Sat, Sun and part of Monday, but it would have saved us 300 miles ... and we'd have to drive 600 miles a day to make Friday delivery. Still no great orders out of IA, but if the weather is bad and we can't get out on Sunday, I won't have time to get a bus after we drop. We'll see. Looks like we will try to make Jopin tomorrow. ... the trip continues HERE |
