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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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190318 - OR-VA A little twist on breakfast this AM. Egg patties, ham and French toast sticks. Headed out at 6:30 local. Still dark, but lighter than yesterday. A little bit of traffic to start with, all going to the next town of Sinclair for work. A little dense fog for just a couple of minutes and then clear again. First stop is at the rest area east of Laramie, about 20 miles of Laramie. But again, no other towns out here. While there I was busy reading my emails when someone was trying to get my attention. They wanted me to take a half dozen pictures of them in front of various displays in the building. Outside the area was not real well plowed so I didn't do a real good job of parking, not sure it was real easy to get around me where I landed. But no one hit me. All the way across WY we couldn't see where the road should have been closed. I'm guessing it has melted quite a bit already. Today's issue was heat. This thing has 'heat,' but think of trying to warm your house by turning on one burner on the stove. That is what it felt like today. After two hours we could still see our breath. We finally took some of the plastic off the furniture and hung it behind our seats to try to create a little cocoon for us. I also put plastic bags over my shoes, BB had extra jackets over her legs. When we got to Sidney it was only 10:30 and the places we had planned on stopping wouldn't open until 11 AM. So we stopped at IHOP again. BB stayed away from the turkey sandwich and all was good. Not a good meal last time. By the time we got done, the cab was warm enough that we don't have to bundle up, but still kept our caps and gloves on. A ways down the road, we past the remains of a truck in the median. The tractor was gone, but the trailer and the pop type cans were still there. But we were unable to figure out what had happened. There were cans behind the trailer, the trailer was almost flat and there where cans in front of the trailer. While we were still talking about that trailer I saw what looked like another truck on it's side ahead. I could see what looked like tires facing the road but we were still to far away to see in clearly. There were a number of vehicles on the right shoulder and some with there lights flashing. As we got closer, we could see where the truck had hit the left shoulder, went across to the right shoulder and then made a U-turn back into the median where it landed on it's side. There also was a second truck in the median just feet beyond the 1st trailer. We past. And as we thought about it, we realized that it must JUST have happened. None of the cars were emergency vehicles. Some cars were still in the travel lanes. The dirt from hitting the shoulders didn't look like it had been driven on. Who knows, we may have seen it happen if we hadn't been looking at the prior trailer in the ditch. We fuel in North Platte at the Pilot. Still making 7+ mpg. So that is good. Won't make great money on the fuel but should make something. Now I need to plan my last fuel stop for 600+ miles from my drop. We had planned on stopping at a rest area near Grand Island, but then decided to make it a meal. We looked at our choices and decided to push on to York to the buffet at the Iron Skillet. No bad food. Didn't need two kinds of desert. I had been thinking about pushing past Lincoln to gain some time. But I thought we would have 360 miles to go the last day, but BB says it is about 160 so no reason to push over 600 miles a day. So we stop at the Quality Inn in Lincoln. We've stayed here many times before. As we were parking, a trash truck pulled in and parked. As we were waiting to check in, I asked who he drove for. I didn't understand him, but he did speak better English than I speak French. I used to move those trucks from Quebec City to California. This guy was on his way to Portland. Saw lots of birds today. Interesting out 100's if not 1,000's will fill a pond and then none on the pond a few miles away. We saw a few of these ponds. White and brown birds, not sure which kind there are. Saw lots of transporters today. Lots of trailer homes both wheels down and on flat beds. Lots of 'our' stuff on flat beds too. Looked at my paperwork tonight and some of it was wrong so I emailed dispatch ... and got an answer back in a couple of minutes ... at 8:30 at night. I told him to take some time off ... he replied he would ... with my permission. 190319 - OR-VA When we were checking in last night we had to wait for the Red Cross people to check in. Not sure what was going on, but the desk clerk went and put a sign on the entrance door while we were waiting to check in. Seems there were quite a few of them staying here and for some reason they had left there stuff in the rooms, had to switch rooms, some were sharing rooms others weren't. The Canadian trash truck driver was already gone by the time we got going. Plenty of room left in the lot even with three big units. Not too much of a slow down going through Omaha. Seemed like more people were heading to Lincoln than to Omaha. Helps to have six lanes going each way. One river was high but couldn't see any damage from where we crossed. Detour for I-29 was to take I-80 to Des Moines and then south on I-35. Just a few extra miles. First stop was the rest area in Adair. When we got to Des Moines there was an accident that had two of the three lanes blocked. One lane cleared just as we got to the sight so not sure what had happened. When we went past we could see that the cops were looking real close at the truck that was parked on the shoulder. At Brooklyn IA we stop again, this time at the Pilot for fuel and food. Food is Subway, this location no longer has the steak and cheese so I go for the chicken teriyaki. In and out in a half hour plus my fifteen for fueling. The water is really high in Davenport / Rock Island. I-74 is closed, houses between I-280 and the river are again surrounded with water. They had been last winter and then the water level dropped, now it's up higher than before. Not sure what was going on today. First we see a semi backing up the freeway ramp because he made a wrong turn, then someone backs halfway around the parking lot where we ate, then someone in a car is backing up the freeway ramp as we are about to pull on. All within a couple of hours. Second rest stop today is at Woodhull, IL. Then a couple of more hours to Le Roy and Jacks. We had a choice of Woody's, McD's, Hardee's or Jacks. Jacks was likely the hardest to get into, we should have parked at Love's and walked the block over. Small parking lot. Good food. I had the gyro and soup. BB had a wrap and soup. All good, no room for desert. Finally I was able to get through on the phone about my family tree opps. I had been calling all day and each time it would say the wait was over 15 minutes. This time it rang right in. My opps, but they are able to re-ship no charge. Later today we saw one semi on it's side, looked like it got off the pavement into the mud and sank, then rolled. Also the trailer behind a pickup rolled. Pickup was still upright in the median but the trailer was wheels up. Two cops there when we drove past. Another hour and we are at the Quality Inn in Danville. Small lot, I double parked next to a truck. If someone parks in the stalls ahead of us the other guy won't get out. He did walk out to his truck as I was getting there so I talked to him. He's not leaving until 6:30, same time as us, so we will need to be out of here if he's blocked in. First time at this place. The Comfort Inn next door had one room left for over $100, the other rooms left were listed as $1,000!!! Big game in town, rooms are at a premium. Board is staying just under 100. We are watching the VA and NC boards, if nothing shows we head home in a rental. Looked at the airport where we are to pick up our rental. Doesn't look good so I tried to call. No human's, only a computer and no option that I want. I want to know how or where I can get an oversized vehicle close to the airport. We've looked at a couple of options that involve walking. Lots of choices by looking at the map, but when I look at street view, they are either one way or I can't turn the way I need to. I'll see if I can get a real person during day hours. Heat. It got up to 59 today so it was warm enough we didn't need gloves on. I still kept my jacket on all day with the heat on high. BB was on the sunny side and was able to take her jacket off for a while. 190320 - OR-VA Breakfast was eggs and sausage. I looked out early and there were two pickups blocking the truck next to me in, but they were already running. Those people left while we were eating breakfast so the other truck was no longer blocked in. We pulled out at 6:30 and the guy still wasn't up and around yet. BUT, won't stay here again with a big rig. We could have stayed next door for 10,000 rewards points and I think we currently have almost 300,000 points. OR, we could have driven another 30 miles down the road to the next town. Traffic wasn't bad around Indy this AM for a rush hour. It's been a while since we have followed the computer routing. We have two other shorter routes we have been taking but I didn't want to with this big thing. 1st stop is at Greenfield just east of Indy, rest area. Room enough for 100 trucks or so, they build them big in IN. My final ??? fuel may have been here in Jeffersonville. Instead of stopping the correct miles to fill it, we stopped based on the range and the mpg we have been getting. I put in enough fuel to get to the drop on 'E.' Once I fueled we went in and ate, Hardee's. BB got another wrong sandwich. Later we could hear the bosses telling the person at the register which sandwich was which after they had messed up someone else's order. We had talked about eating at one of the many other places but decided to try to keep it at a half hour. Cross Lanes was our 2nd rest stop. Not a good choice. There isn't a good choice around Charlston. It was either this or a Pilot that is always packed and hard to get out of. No car parking. Cross Lanes, Sheetz gas station, has a big lot but. Not big enough for this 45 foot rig. The area's we could see were full and too late I realized I was going to have to go into the fleet farm style parking lot. By the time I realized this I had to go down the row between the plants and fertilizer. Then I couldn't swing between any of the rows of cars so I had to go between the farm equipment ... no issue until I realized that this row did not go back into the Sheetz parking lot. Tight turn at the end because of the equipment and the foot high curb. My exhaust and tires missed the curb by about an inch without backing up. I now was at the wrong angle to get back to Sheetz so I parked it heading the wrong direction. When we came back out then I made another big U-turn and was able to exit via the Sheetz lot. Not sure where we will park in future trips. We have fueled at this place a few times with RV's and it didn't seem to be an issue. Two toll booths between Cross Lanes and Lewisburg in WV. Lewisburg was our next meal. We decided to park at a WalMart and walk to Shoney's. This WalMart was mostly full and I only had one way I could turn, again because of the curbs. Someone was just leaving so I was able to make a U-turn through the parking spots and get facing out. I landed it taking up about a dozen parking spots but facing out for me. So twice today I ended up where I shouldn't have gone. Then what looked like an easy walk wasn't. There was a fence where we thought we could walk, 2nd choice route had us walking in the ditch because there wasn't any sidewalk. Then Shoney's sat up on a huge hill that BB couldn't get up, plus at the top was the guardrail we'd have to climb over, so more walking the long way, this time there was a few inches of flat ground next to the curb and traffic. We made it. We had the buffet. Enough good food to fill us. I had forgotten that recently Shoney's had gone to having salad and then about half breakfast items and the other half lunch items so not a real big selection. Stew was good. Lots of fruit, canned and fresh. After Lewisburg it was another hour to Lexington, VA. Back to the motel we stayed at last month. Comfort Inn. Looked crowded when we pulled in, but we found my same spot plus there were others when we got here. They are filled now. When I filled last I was going to come in on 'E,' now I might have a range of 100 miles left when I drop. DEF gauge has dropped fast today. I was expecting a warning or the gauge changing to red. Neither happened and now I am down to 1/16th of a tank so that is our first stop tomorrow. Check Engine Icon came back on so now I have to go to the shop before we drop the RV. I think I could have the truck stop look at it, but they are less likely to have the parts if there really is an issue. So now we are going about 30 miles out of route to have it looked at. Didn't want to stop earlier because if there was/is an issue and they want to fix it but don't the time or parts, then we leave the RV and have to find a new way home for less pay. This way if we have to leave it, we will get paid (almost) the full miles and we will be 10 miles from the airport and the RV will be 30 miles from the drop. Earlier today there was an RV in OH going right back to the lot in IA but it only lasted a few minutes before it was gone. We'll keep watching but we are ready to head home. We aren't used to having to get up at 5 AM and then run 600 miles a day. Those two hours make a difference. 190321 - OR-VA Slept in a little today, we are on the east coast but trying to stay on central time so we didn't get up until 6 AM local. Quick breakfast and we were rolling. DEF was down to 1/16th so I needed to stop soon for that. Also the closest stations were the last major brand stations before my drop so I added 7 gallons of fuel. 1st stop was 20 miles down the road to a very crowded Pilot. Waited a lot longer for the pump and to be able to pull ahead than doing the actual fueling. Someone was waiting behind me so I sent BB in to get my receipts. She'd never done it before so I ended up going in afterward to get them. If I only get fuel, the kioks finds the receipt, otherwise I have to key in extra info and it still will only find one of the two receipts. Rain. Now I can clearly see that there is a chip in the windshield. Engine warning light is still on so we head to the shop, had thought about going to the airport first but it was raining so straight to the shop. Got there about 10:30 and was told that there were 4 trucks ahead of me for diagnosis. Sounds OK, it took the last guy about 10 minutes to check me out and clear the codes. Two hours later I check back to the service desk. Down to one truck ahead of me. Four hours later, they should be pulling it in soon. Six hours later, it's in ... Eight hours from the time we got there, they have ID'ed the problem but haven't found the cause. Nine hours later, they need to order a part and still haven't found the cause of the other issue. Depending on when the part comes, it may be or may be not done tomorrow. All day all we ate was a couple of bags of chips from the vending machine. No power outlets other than at a desk so not much to do. WiFi doesn't work. Finally about 6 PM we each ate a Hot Pocket out of the vending machine. We tried calling delivery but they no longer delivered. Once were told it wasn't going to be ready we had to get our stuff out of the RV, then call the taxi and then call dispatch. Taxi this time was our first time using Uber. Worked out OK. Everything done on line. This driver was very quite but that's OK. It was a very very long day sitting, waiting, with out food. Now I don't get paid until it is delivered :( Another reason we sat all day without pay to get it delivered. BB tried to call earlier to change the rental car but their phone wasn't working correctly. If she pushed any number it would hang up. No issue once we got to the airport. Reservation was still good. Most places the reservation is good for the whole day, unless it's a small location and they are short of cars. After we got our car, BB was going to make a reservation at the closest Comfort Inn. FULL, that is where we were going to park the bus had it gotten done, not sure what we'd have done with the motel full. So we end up on the west side of town ... heading home, at a Comfort Inn in Glen Allen. Dispatch had called this AM about moving a truck from here in Richmond. I was driving and wasn't going to commit to anything until this one was delivered. Now we are ready to head home. Looks like it will be Sunday AM. Sleeping in tomorrow .... 190322 - OR-VA Up before the alarm, so much for sleeping in when we can. Breakfast was pretty empty for being full. A few of the soccer players were down for breakfast, some with parents some with small groups. Pulled out at 8:30 local. Not too much of note the first leg, we were going against traffic but still slow on the hills where trucks are trying to pass each other. 1st stop was about two hours in, planned on stopping at a truckstop but there was a rest area just a couple miles prior. Faster in and out, it all adds up. 2nd stop was at Beckley. We usually, OK, always, have stopped at the Oais. This time we stopped at the Tamrack Mall at the same exit. It's listed as the 'best of WV.' Huge open area with small shops, WV based. Arts, crafts, music type stuff. But they also have a deli style eating area. I risked it and got a chicken salad sandwich, I was asking what kind of soups they had when the person handed me the sandwich ... it was huge. No soup today. Did buy a piece of carrot cake also which I am eating tonight. BB had chicken and veggies, veggies could have been better but at least it wasn't more fast food. We ate there. 3rd stop was for fuel in Nitro at the Pilot. When we were there I noticed I had a text letting me know I had not called into work today. So I had to call dispatch, short staffed and they didn't know what I was talking about. As long as I was stopped I let my local company know I could work next week. No work showed up today heading our direction. Forgot to mention an couple of things from when we came through here last. In Charleston we had stop and go traffic due to an accident blocking two of three lanes. This one we saw someone getting loaded into the ambulance. And before, west of that on the two lane traffic there was someone trying to use their car to pull down a security fence along the road. The road is high and narrow and two lanes wide. There is less than six inches of blacktop between the yellow line and where the shoulder starts to drop. I had seen what was going on in the distance and was able to get over into oncoming traffic. There had been a semi right on my bumper before that, no sure if he didn't seem them until just in time but after that that semi backed way off of me. Not a good way to be taking down the fence. Knock the fence and carry it away from the road one piece at a time. 4th stop was a WalMart in Washington Court House, or as the mapping software calls it ... Washington Church. It is listed on some maps as Washington CH. The way I read signs is that if two or more letters are capitalized that means it is two or more words. So if it was Washington Church it should read Washington Ch. Quick stop there, I called dispatch and left a message, no answer. Later I realized that they are likely still working on Saturday and won't know about Monday until Saturday or Sunday. 5th stop was in Dayton at a Wendy's. BB was hungry, too hungry to wait until we were out of town. This time we went though the drive thru and eat in the car. 6th stop. Eating in the car meant having to stop again. This time at a rest area in Centerville. Another quick stop and rolling. Seeing we are making such good time. We MAY try to get home Saturday instead of Sunday. We have the car until 8 PM Sunday night but we can return it earlier. Plan had been to stop in Crawfordsville just west of Indy but no rooms. Rooms at the Sleep Inn in Danville are down from $1,000 to $800 something for the top rooms. We ended up at the Quality Inn again, same place as a few days ago. Last light was a few minutes before we got here. Long day. Long day tomorrow too if we make it home. As we have to be home before dark if BB is driving one of the cars. 190323 - OR-VA Now that we have decided to get home today we need to keep moving. Up at 5 AM and rolling my 6:30. Breakfast was the usual. A couple was just checking in as we were checking out, didn't hear their story, but it did take them a while to check in. Will realize later that every minute counts. Frost on the windows this AM, had to scrape. We are down to 40 mile range when we head out so our first stop is fuel at a Pilot in Oakwood. Miles fly by, 1st stop after that is at the Spoor River rest area near Dahinda, IL. Still lots of flooding around the Quad-Cities. Water looks down, but less than a foot. At least it's not going up. I-74 is still closed but no water on the ramps where there was a few days ago. Later in Cedar Rapids the water was also up but didn't see any flooding. Two hours later we are stopped at an Arbey's in North Liberty just north of Iowa City. Food was good and fresh. We are north of Waterloo before we start seeing snow other than in piles. Then we start seeing it in shaded area's and drifts. Two plus hours and we were at the Pilot in Clear Lake with only a few miles to spare on the fuel. Cheapest fuel we found all trip. While we were there I picked up a 2nd gas discount card to use on the second half of longer trips. See if that works. While we were here, dispatch calls while I am in the rest room. Unlike some people who carry on phone calls in the stalls, I waited until I was out to return the call. I am working on Monday. We'll see how much, they said they had 34 buses to move the last 7 working days. Sometimes I work all five days, other times only a couple of days. Don't need to dig out the car. Snow is gone. Car starts. We move our stuff from one car to the other and are rolling. Lot isn't full but lots of RV's in the other places they park them including a bunch with a rental companies name already on them. This trip we parted ways. This past winter BB would follow me and give me a ride to the lab from the parking lot, but this time she headed direct to the airport. Minutes count. I walked into the lab at 4:29 and they close at 4:30. So they had to, or did, bring their computers back up and run my test. I hadn't been in any real hurry as I thought they were either open until 5 or 8 PM. Urgent care is, but they are not. BUT they are open on Sundays so that was good to know. I have been driving across town to the only place I knew open if I needed to get work done on a Sunday. BB was already done at the airport before I got there so no time to spend at the cemetery. We stopped in Newport for to go food before heading home. Snow was melted off our drive so nothing to shovel. Next week is local, then family stuff on the weekend then heading out of town on Monday if there is still work. April will be the last month we work 'full time' until September. Over the summer it will likely be one long trip a month or a couple of short ones. Load board was still at 80 so plenty of work heading into next week, hope it holds. No one seems to want the Sacramento RV's we like. There are seven of those on the board for a few days. Rare that anything stays on the board over a week unless there are 100+ on the board. Still getting trucks out of Marion, WI. I want to try one of those this summer when it is slow. They are all CDL so it would just be me driving heading out which we don't like but it's better pay than sitting home. |
