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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2 RV's to Davis CA Stayed up last night writing here until 10:30 so I tried to stay in bed until 6:30. Trying not to eat as much lately so I've either skipped the yogurt or only had yogurt. This AM it was eggs and sausage. Something in the breakfast area smelled sour. BB didn't smell it but I did every time I walked past the microwave. We were out of the motel a little after 7 am, not snow here yet. But based on the weather maps there was snow about five miles south of us. So we are glad we drove into the night. Garner fuel prices are not on GasBuddy, but I remembered them being cheaper than Clear Lake. But that was last week before we left on our trip. BB said Garner was the same price when we fueled leaving town ... and now they were both the same price. And at Clear Lake we get $.03 a gallon discount. No snow since we parked but no one has plowed either so we may have to shovel if we loose our spots. Left our paperwork at the office from our last RV trip, never got it mailed. Still no log books. Just short of Northfield BB calls me and wants to stop at the rest area. I quick look at the board and they have added runs. BB looks at the weather and we decide to head to Dixon. There were runs to down by LA but they should go through Denver, when there isn't avalanches. It's only 20 miles further to go through SLC so I doubt they would let us go the 'southern route.' We called in and got a no-tow for BB and a class A for me. Then they asked if we towed, no. Flew? No. Do you come back? :) Seems there are already drivers stuck at Donners Pass that can't deliver until Monday. Not sure what any of the questions had to do with that unless someone left their RV in Reno. But this also means that we will have a weeks worth of RV's ahead of us when we get to the drop. And by picking on Friday we won't get to the drop until afternoon on Monday. I had to stop and do a blood draw. That is an ongoing issue now. They now want me back in one week, I told them that wasn't going to happen. My numbers are still in the safe zone based on the old guide lines, but not by current ones. That is one of the reasons I'm not too worried about this. BB left me when I stopped at the clinic and headed to the airport. I still got there before she had the car dropped, no time to stop at the cemetery today. No reason to either, the grave markers are covered 90% of the way to the top. Stopped at Zupas before heading home. I got two kinds of soup instead of the usual soup and sandwich. It had snowed while we were gone so the plow and filled our driveway. So I took the shovel out of the car and started working on it. Light stuff even where it had been plowed in. I had a path up to the house before BB was out of the car. I worked on it about 20 minutes before going in to eat. Came back out and worked on it another half hour. By then what I had shoveled earlier and the sun shown on it was clear. BB washed clothes and we repacked and were gone in about two hours. Wanted to get some website stuff down while on the home server but didn't have time. We headed back out a little after 4 PM. Got down to Albert Lea to the Comfort Inn. Ate again at the Iron Skillet. BB has our first day planned already. It's a little easier for her when she can remember or knows the areas. Saturday may be an issue, high wind warnings in WY. We may have to wait, if we get delayed too long we just deliver on Tuesday. Donners Pass could also be an issue again on Monday but by Wednesday and Thursday it is supposed to be clear both days. Depending on if we get a bus out of CA and where it is going we should be back in about 10 days. That will leave one week before I want to be back for quarter end for Company 1. And I should do some work for them, I just looked and I haven't worked since last year for them. 190308 - IA-CA I have lost the use of my computer mouse and won't be posting until I either get an external mouse or a new computer. I'm back. We got going early in the AM, but when we got to Forest City our paperwork wasn't in the box. Even though they gave us the code to get the paperwork, they didn't put it in the box. We had told them Friday and they only put it in the box if we say 'night.' So we had to wait an hour until 8 AM. Then the boss brought us the keys but the paperwork still wasn't done. Couldn't find my RV, I had written the number down wrong. Then it was dead. The battery had been shut off. After that things got better. There was even an open spot to park the car without shoveling again. We actually got our inspections done in 45 minutes. It is almost always an hour, not sure what we did different. Decided to got thru Garner because the road is a little wider than the 'faster' route. Saw gas cheaper at Kwik Trip and pulled in. But BB did a quick check and it would be the same price at Pilot minus our discount. So to Pilot we went. Two hours down the road we stop at the Bonanza Buffet, they wouldn't have been open if we had gotten going on time. Food was good, lots of it. At this point we weren't watching the clock so we took a full hour to eat. Lots of cops along the road. One place they had an SUV with all doors open plus the hood. Cop was looking for something under the hood when we drove past. Also saw a few cars in the ditch. A couple were tires up. Another one was sitting on top of a snow bank about five feet off the ground. After eating, our first fuel stop was in Council Bluffs at the Pilot. Fuel was cheap so I topped off again. Easy on and off. No major delays. Somewhere down the road we hit fog, and rain and below freezing temps. I kept an eye on the temps. Interesting thing is I remember it raining for hours ... BB doesn't remember turning on the wipers except to clean off the windows. ??? I called the bus dispatcher and he said he's mostly moving stuff to Washington state. Not the right direction for me, but we will see.I've never seen yet where buses are only going to one location. We stop near York at a rest area and decide to make a run for it. We can still make it to Gothenburg by dark. We get there right at dark. A pickup with a long trailer is parked where we usually park our big rigs, but as soon as I started backing around him, he pulled out. We had been running with a good tailwind and knew there would be weather to deal with in the AM, wanted to get as far as we could. We checked in at the Comfort Inn and walked across the street to the Barn and Grill. Food was good, but decor was plain. Couldn't get my mouse to work this AM or tonight. Was able to look at a few things by doing it old school. ALT, TAB, CTL. 190309 - IA-CA Slept in this am. Breakfast was the usual. I was just going to stick with yogurt, but BB said this bacon was good so I had some of that too. Sidewalk was a little icy this AM, as were our mirrors. No one else had parked near us so that was good. Made it easier to get out. Almost as soon as we got going, BB was falling behind. I'd slow down until she caught up and then I d loose her again. I finally pulled over on an exit ramp. Turns out fuel was the issue. Yesterday we had a tailwind and were getting great milage. Today we are bucking a headwind. I've got a five speed and was only in fifth for a few minutes this AM. Most of the time in fourth or third and a couple of times in second. And this is on a 2% grade at 55 mph. We stop in Ogallala for fuel for BB, I wasn't sure I'd need any until we hit the wind. I put in 15 gallons, too early to know if that was enough. BB wanted to look at the weather so I went into WalMart and picked up a mouse. $6. It worked as soon as I plugged it in, no install required. BB looked at the weather again. She knew it might get bad, it did. We drive at 55 mph for another hour to Sidney. Now we sit. I-80 is closed in WY. Here in NE the roads are still open but the wind speeds are higher than allowed for RVs. It is now 11 am local and the advisor is until 2 PM. We will know more then. BB is watching the traffic Cam's online. We would already be shut down if we had gone through KS, with different RVs. Here we still have a chance the winds will die down enough to move again today. As long as we were stopped, we ate an early lunch at the IHop in Sidney. Very limited menu, I got the Philly with rings again. We ended up leaving almost as soon as we were done eating. We had been there a couple of hours and it would be 2 PM by the time we got to Cheyenne. On the first 10 miles or so the winds were really rocking me around. 40-50 miles an hour but after that we could drive the speed limit but we were still bucking the wind. The only time I got up to 5th gear before Cheyenne was going down hill AND if a truck passed me so I was in his draft for a few seconds. Getting our permits at the POE is easy with the RV's, we just show them our over width permit ... and I have a post it note with my plate number. That's it, that's all they need. From there we decided to go to the motel. Sign was still flashing that the road was closed. Plan was to park at the motel and wait, but we did the math and we would have had to have made it to Rock Springs to make Monday delivery. We won't. Even if the road did open right then, we still wouldn't make it to Rock Springs. Road JUST opened at 5:30, dark is at 6 PM. We wouldn't have made it before dark. And trucks are parked everywhere, regardless of No Parking signs. I didn't want to be in that first mess of trucks where slow truck is trying to pass slower truck going up the passes. We ended up staying at the Quality Inn, walked across the street to Denny's at the Flying J. Surprised it was not busy with all the trucks parked everywhere. We only did 250 miles today. Should do 500+. Now we will have to deliver on Tuesday morning. Donners Pass still shouldn't be an issue. 190310 - IA-CA Roads are still open. This AM at breakfast they had ham instead of sausage or bacon. Other than that the usual ... and strawberry-kiwi juice. Pulled out at 7 AM local. No issues at all on the first leg of the trip. Couldn't see where there had been any snow or accidents. Usually there is something left behind. Plan had been to stop in Larami for fuel at Love's as this Pilot is very small. Yesterday all stations in town were the same price. Today they had all gone up and now Pilot was $.09 cheaper a gallon and I put in over 60 gallons plus what BB put in. So it was worth the extra time to get in and out. Just past Larami there is a 'no brand' truckstop. I had been closed once years ago when I tried to stop there on 'E.' Now it has been open ever since. First as an Exxon and now no brand at all. Still the pumps are full when we go by. Others we never see trucks at. Saw lots of deer today, both big and small. Not sure of the names. But they are out ... one place they were standing in the median eating and the median was likely only about 30 foot wide there. Another place I saw one laying down on the shoulder of the road. Luckily no one honked their horn or there would have been fresh venison. Another place I saw one cowboy and a couple of dogs herding about 200 sheep. It would have taken more than one cowboy if they had been cattle. Before we got to Rawlins we saw a truck on the side of the road, as we went by I saw it was a truck from our company. But too late to stop. We stopped in Rawlins at the Flying J for the restroom and when we came back out that truck was sitting there. By the time we got to our RV's the driver was walking to the truck so I said a quick HI. Someone was riding with ... they were on their way to Seattle and like us and been delayed at Cheyenne. They were stopped to do a 'regen.' Must have been an older truck, the with the new ones they can all be done on the go. Also saw a Renigade RV. They are custom built in Indiana. I had never seen one in transit before, but this one had placards and a transporter plate. Also saw another bread truck in transit at the Flying J. That was it for today. Stopped in Rock Springs at the Clarion where we stay. They have an attached Mexican place. Food it good. Not much urgency or interaction with the staff. But we were in and out in 45 and stuffed. Lots more snow as we got west closer to Evanston. Some places the snow had been pushed back from the road 20 feet, likely with a front end loader. Piles up to 20 feet high. Some places you can't see the fence/snow fence. Lots of places the ground is bare. From lots of wind. We didn't have much for wind today. Actually could drive 65 in 5th gear today. At least have the time. Lots of hills. Yesterday I think I was only in 5th maybe 10% of the time. Today would be over 50% of the time. Shouldn't have filled completely in Larami, fuel in Evanston was $1.99. BB got her three cents off but I can't get my card to work at this station. ??? Could have saved a few more dollars. From here it's down hill to Salt Lake City. When I pulled out of Evanston I had a fuel range of 580 ... 80 miles later it was still at 580. Almost all down hill. BB wanted to top off again in Tooele but we likely had only used about five gallons so we didn't. It would have saved us another dollar but cost us time. Water is high across the flats. Most places where we usually see four wheelin' tracks was now under water. 100 miles to Wendover and most of that is flat. We've had to cross a few scales this trip but haven't gotten called in yet. At Wendover it is the Quality Inn and walk to the buffet. Good food but $40+ ??? It's either that or a Subway or a taco stand. Monday we need to get new permits for NV. They only give us 24 hours to get in and out and we had to get the permit on Friday before we left IA. And because of the delay in WY we won't make it through at the times the permit is for. We will also need to call our drop and two dispatchers. We have our day all lined up. We've been this route many times so that part is easy. We will shut down before Sacramento and then get past it Tuesday morning after rush hour. 190311 - IA-CA They are working on making this motel a better place, doing a few upgrades. First thing I noticed last night was they had moved the check-in desk. Some things in the room looked new and the breakfast area is now twice as big. Looks like they knocked out a wall to one of the motel rooms. I ate way too much last night so I was up at my usual time to use the bathroom, not waiting for west coast time to get up. And I only had yogurt for breakfast, still feeling too full to eat any more than that. BB had eggs and sausage. I could tell by looking at the sausage that something wasn't 'right.' I asked later, the sausage was pork AND turkey so it wasn't as greasy. Eggs looked and tasted like real eggs, not powder out of a bag. IA dispatch was already open before we left so I got that call out of the way. They didn't even ask the why that we wouldn't deliver today. We got going at 7:30, right as the sun was coming up. First stop was just across town at the Pilot for gas. It will be my final fuel. By the time we were done fueling the permit company was open so I called and got new permits because our current ones will expire at 10 AM. For the 1st permit I had to give them all the information, by the 2nd one they figured out the could just duplicate what was in there computer except for the dates. I had tried to tell them that but .... swish .... This trip was beautiful today. Got my camera out and took pictures where I could. Fresh snow on the hills above ?? feet. Clear blue sky, not much traffic. Next stop was at the new Sinclair in Elko. The sign was on last time we went by, but the place wasn't opened yet. Huge lot but not much of it marked for parking, mostly to give the drivers plenty of room to turn around. Just a break time this time, they have a Port O Subs so maybe next time. Two hours later we were in Winnemucca. This time we went past town to the Pilot so BB could do her final fuel and we could eat at Subway. I'm trying not to eat lettuce until I get my meds under control so this time I had a steak and cheese sandwich. When we got there, BB fueled and I called the drop and the 2nd dispatcher. Dispatcher just said to call when I delivered, he had plenty of people in town for tonight. The drops phone wasn't working so finally they took a message. While eating I got a call from NM, I usually don't pick up unknown but I did this time. The receptionist at the drop somehow emailed someone in NM that I would be dropping tomorrow ... Later I called the drop again and this time got someone who said they were in Davis, I repeated that they were in Davis. But this person didn't want to know anything about what I was bringing, but they did want me to know that I would be in for a long wait ... repeated it a couple of times. One more rest stop at the Flying J in Fernley. Then it was non-stop to our motel. At the produce inspection they just asked if I owned the RV or was a transporter and I was clear to go. Lots of snow. Got more pictures. Not too much traffic was it was a fast trip up and down. Based on the mileage range after prior fuel stops, I had filled in Wendover. I expected I should have fuel left for about 30 miles when I get to the final fuel. Nope, now it looks like I will have well over 100 mile range left. So I put in about 8 gallons too much. We should be getting a discount at the Pilot / Flying J's we stop at. I haven't gotten the discount the last two stops, but BB did. Not sure why. So I have emailed them to see what, if anything they say. Comes to about $3. When we checked into the motel the computer was down so someone had to go to our room to make sure no one was in it before giving the room to us. I had to stop back later to sign in. There are four places to eat in our parking lot, but we walked a few blocks to a fast food Mexican place. Plan for tomorrow is to wait until after rush hour. Once we get to the drop, BB will walk the block to the rental car place and get our car. Then wait for them to do the inspections before we head down to Livermore. Not sure if we'll have time to do anything else or not. Mid 60's here today :) 190312 - IA-CA Heading to Seattle with a bus. This is written thee days later. No early AM today. We are less than an hour to the drop, there will be a line and we don't want to drive in rush hour traffic. Traffic isn't bad for CA. But the right lane keeps ending so we have to keep merging. Our final fuel is at the 49er/Pilot. Card reader won't work so I have to wait in line twice, first to pay, second to get a receipt with the gallons on it. Also my Pilot discount card won't work so I don't get the $.03 off. Later I email Pilot and they suggest I get a new card. I think they have a limit on gallons or dollars as it is only an issue for me on long trips with large RV's. My plan is to get a second card, one for under 1,000 miles and a second one for once I am over the thousand miles. Yes there is a line. I get half way off the street and BB is parked on the street. This is the third location this same company has used in the three years I have been delivering here. I find their office and then the guy that we usually deal with. That is re-assuring. Finally I realize their gate is not electric and I can open it further than it is, so I do and can get myself and BB off the street. As we are waiting I start talking to a customer we have blocked in. He was here to pickup his RV but there is still an issue so he is waiting. He is a Polaris dealer. He does sell a lot of snowmobiles, from where we are in Sacramento it is only 40 miles to the snow. He has been to the Polaris locations in MN so he knew my area. We were at the drop for an hour and a half and no one came after us. This is a location where the rental car location is about two blocks down the street from the drop so BB walks down to get the car while I wait with the RV's. Once we are cleared I call about a city bus, yes ... likely Seattle. He is narrowing it down, yesterday it was just WA. As we often do after a drop on the west coast, we head to In-and-Out. We take an hour to eat and then it is about an hour and a half to Livermore. We head to our outlet mall to take a walk. Very windy. We have down three laps around the mall but we are down to one. We aren't being very active lately. BB buys a winter coat. We have looked before but hadn't found one she liked, Surprise, buy a winter coat in CA. It looks like this outlet mall is 100% or close. Buildings are being built on two side of the area, one side looks like more outlets, the other one is still starting. Heard on the radio that one mall that was started a few years ago was stopped in process due to lack of companies interest. Now it is being completed and and is 100% filled. At 4:15 I call back about the bus. Lakewood. The south end of Seattle. Knowing it will be late, we eat early. We order a two entree and split it at an Asian place in the food court. We arrive at the buses at 5 PM. We aren't the first ones there. Today the dispatcher is trying to show a teenager how to use his portable type writer :) Find the bus and get ready to leave. Lots of drivers today. I asked one how long she had to work here to get the ATL bus she was driving. 12 years. We talked a short bit. My paperwork was done. One fuel stop. CNG. Bus wash is a few blocks from the drop. Without looking at a map I am pretty sure that I have dropped there before. After BB looks it up, I know I have been. I am the first one out today, not sure what is taking the drivers who were there ahead of me. Sounds like I am one of the few drivers that doesn't drive full time buses for this location. I give BB a few minutes head start. I take a new route, less people crossing. We got to the rental car return before they closed so they had to check the car in before BB was done. She was still done and waiting by the time I got there. This time we head west on the freeway instead of east. It will be 7 PM local by the time we get to Vacaville so that is where we stop. Quality Inn, we stayed here a week ago. Now the office is down and we no longer check in via a split door. Lots of the room are still being worked on. Someone followed me to my parking spot so I didn't get lined up quite as good as I would have liked with someone watching and waiting. Here we park on the dead end street. We are the only two on the street tonight. Would have been nice to get another hour down the road but it was already 9 PM central time ... and by the time we do our paperwork and research for the next day it was too late to do the write-ups. ... the trip continues HERE |
