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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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191109 IA-CA Elko, NV to Rockin, CA (California, not Canada) Breakfast was a little more crowded this AM than prior nights. Food was the usual, eggs, sausage, yogurt. Haven't gotten back to one or the other yet. This place had 'enhanced water,' I had the mango. Yep, it was water. Got going again close to sun up. As we get close to the freeway a cop pulls on the freeway ahead of me. By the time I am to the top of the ramp he is sitting in the median. A couple of miles down the road I can see flashing lights ahead, then a cop (not sure if it was the same one) passes me but doesn't stop by the truck pulled over. This cop goes up to another cop sitting in the median, and then the 3rd cop does a U-turn and goes back and helps cop #2. Not sure what kind of a system the have going on. Did see some wildlife today, pronghorn deer. Saw a few this trip, but the total we saw was smaller than lots of herds we have seen on most trips west. For the 1st couple of days I thought I was doing pretty good at keeping my speed close to 65 mph. BB never seemed to get to close or too far behind. THEN she told me that she had the 'accident assist' on. The computer was keeping her from every getting closer than a half a block from me :( Guess I wasn't doing so good after all. 1st stop was going to be the Chevron in Winnemucca, cheaper than the truckstops and not as crowded. But a Mavrick has a new sign so I pulled over on the exit ramp to check prices and we went there instead. It looked like there had been a new Mavrick at Battle Mountain too ... I don't remember those tall signs. $.42 a gallon cheaper. That is worth changing plans. I little off the freeway and have to go under a railroad bridge but worth it. Looks brand new. 2nd stop was going to be Denny's in Fernley at first but we looked for something else. We found it. Black Bear Diner. Lots of parking and not too far off the freeway. The don't have the chicken salad sandwich I liked anymore, but the meat loaf was good. Soup was good, sweet potato fries were good ... BB said my veggies were good. And this was the small portion. BB had soup and a half a sandwich. I might have if they had had a better choice of soup. Clear, or almost clear sailing through Reno today. Nice to not have the sun in our eyes. Lots of times we are trying to get to Boomtown by dark, not fun. Wore my 'new' glasses I got six months ago for the first time. Bifocals. Survived. Not a fan. I tilled my head down to look at the odometer through the top part more often than adjusting my eyes to the lower part. Took them off as soon as we got to the motel. 3rd stop, Donners Pass rest area. Today was a day of 2nd choices. If we are going straight to delivery, our next stop after Fernley is the Gold Run rest area. But I thought Donners would have a better chance of having snow ... it didn't. I like seeing the 1st snow the season and the last snow. Not so excited to see the snow in between. Also Donners was closer to half way between Fernley and Roseville than Gold Run. 4th and final stop. Roseville, Rocklin at the Comfort Inn. Nice large parking lot and lots of food within feet and lots more within a mile. Opps we should have filled in Battle Mountain instead of Winnemucca. We both still have a range of 150+ with 44 miles to go. Battle Mountain would have cut 50 miles off of that at the same price per gallon. And 40-50 range is where I'd like to be when I do final fuel. Once we were checked in, we went for our walk. I had looked at a map enough to see that there was a route where we wouldn't have to cross the street other than at the stop light by our motel. We usually walk for a half hour and at a half hour we weren't back yet, we were in front of the Beir Garten. So that is where we ate. Good German food. BB had a brat and cabbage and I had a reuben sandwich and soup. When the waiter said they had potato, vegetable soup I thought it was two kinds. Nope. a broth soup not a cream soup. From there we still had a 10 minute walk home. When we left the restaurant we thought it was kind of empty for a Saturday night ... it was getting dark ... but it was only 4:30 local :) Now we are here for the day tomorrow. Lots of good places to eat and likely will get a couple walks in, besides those that take us to and from the motel. It is 3,200 miles from CA to Bangor, ME. Not much chance I'll get that run but it's worth looking at. 191110 IA-CA No miles and still not enough time to do a write-up? We were down for breakfast close to 6 AM when it starts ... 8 am our time. Breakfast, apple juice option was straight water, some of the bacon was just how I like it, the fat crisp enough to melt in my mouth ... but the meat was hard enough to bust off a piece of my tooth. Knew right away from the crunch that it was more than just meat. Already have dentist appointment for a week from Tuesday. And it's a tooth that is in line for a crown for the last couple of years. Depending on what it looks like to them they may just grind it smooth until I'm ready for the crown. Mostly we sat. Closer to noon we went for our half hour walk and ended up next door to the Beir Garten at the Barn Burner for brunch. There was a line, I didn't ask how long but I did look at the list and there were seven groups ahead of us. The place is listed as one of the two best brunches in the area. Just now I looked online at StreetView to find the name. Google's Streetview had photoed the area in April of 2018, about a year and a half ago. Most of this mall was empty, today I don't see any empty store fronts. (Opps, the images switch from April, 2018 to July, 2015 depending on direction you are looking at them. Now I counted the stores, it looks like room for about 17 stores if every one uses two sections) Next choice is Milo's, we had walked past it on our way here. No line, one couple eating when we got there, a few to-go orders while we were there and no one there when we left ... at noon on a weekend. Food was good, gyro and philly. Now BB was looking for Diet-Caffeine Coke so we go to the CVS, grocery store, gas station ... it adds steps to our walk but she was no longer keeping track. Back at the motel we sat. We try to be back from eating by dark so we head out later to the Sourdough & Co, a place we had walked past looking for pop. Soups and sandwiches ... like a Subway only different. We are greeted with "We will be closing in 10 minutes." Yep, they are only open until 7 PM during the week and 5 PM on Sunday's. We ordered to go. One other couple came in with 5 minutes to go, then they locked the door. We got our food right at 5 pm and walked back to the room to ... sit. Between the two walks we likely did walk for close to an hour. Not sure we would want to over do it. Guess I haven't mentioned this before, big room at the motel. One room is just the bed and dress, about the size of a Motel 6 room. A second room is about about 15 x 30 feet, desk, table for two, couch and chair and sink area. Nice room when we have an extra day off. And we could like get a room like this for another 10 nights by the rewards points we currently have. We are about 100 nights behind where we were last year at this time. Last year we spent 175 nights in the three major hotel chains. That doesn't count the off brands or resorts. No big plans for Monday, we may or may not get a run but we plan on delivering about 10 Pacific time. And we will likely stay until we get work or Wednesday evening. 70 degrees here the last couple of days, snow in MN. :) 191111 IA-CA Rocklin, CA to Davis, CA ... or not. Then to Livermore, CA. Breakfast, not quite as much as yesterday, no bacon but they did have biscuits and gravy and maybe they did yesterday and I just didn't notice. Apple juice still wasn't working so I told today's help. They looked at it for a while but not sure if they got it fixed. It was full of juice but was putting out water. Still haven't gone back to eggs OR yogurt. Sometimes it is a late lunch on delivery day. Got going at 9 AM west coast time. Very light traffic today. Only 5 cars at the first train station in the median, usually there are dozens if not 100's. It's Veterans Day. Got to the Pilot/49er ... and my check engine icon came on. Fueled, restarted it a few times. Still on. We parked it at the 49er and took BB's to delivery. Can't deliver with any warning lights on and warranty work does not usually get done the same day. I thought I would just leave the RV in the RV section of the car lot. But the longer I sat there, the less I thought that was a good idea. Most of the RV's seemed to be being lived in. Parking here until they get kicked and them move to the next place. Lot's of them did come and go and they did not look any better. I parked in the back with trucks, they had an area too short for semi's which worked. I just need to be out in under four hours or I'd get charged $15. 10 miles down the road we are at delivery. When I called this location I was given two new contact names. But the guy doing the inspection has done them at their last four locations in the last three years. I think we were in and out in under an hour. As soon as him started on BB's, she walked to the rental car place a block down the street. He was done before she got back. Once BB was back to the RV place, we loaded up and went back to the 49er where my RV was. Light still on. I had looked at the 'best routes' on the computer and came up with my own. I prefer as few highway changes as possible and freeway, not city streets with oversized units. 14 miles back to the dealer. Not sure how that works for pay. This place was under construction and very congested. BB met me there and as soon as we had my stuff in the car she moved the car. Good thing, by the time I was ready to leave the was a line of cars parked in front of where she had been. I had been given a name for a contact when I arrived, I was no where near the office when I dropped the RV, but this guy walked out and said 'Hi' and covered the basic exchange of info. As soon as I'm dropped I call the bus dispatcher. It's too early to know if there will be work, but he has eight drivers in motels already so I know I will be behind them. This is a fill in guy, first time I have dealt with him. Both RV's dropped ... it's In-and-Out time in CA. There was one a half a block away ... two double doubles :) We've got time to kill so we head to the closest cemetery. I'm pretty sure I have been there before and once we get there I know I have. The office can only find two of the names, but it is one name of each couple so I'm good. It also helps to LOOK AT ALL THE INFO ON THE MAPS. As I was wondering around, someone sitting by one of the graves came over to me. We talked for a bit and he got me in the right direction but it took a 2nd person to help me before I realized the info I had missed on the map. The 1st guy that came over was from MN, his sister was born there ... and he thanked his Dad again for moving them to CA :) Today was Veterans Day and lots of people coming and going. Sounds like this is their thing. Him and his sister come and visit their Dad's grave on Veterans Day. By now we decided not to visit a second cemetery, instead head down to Livermore. A few miles down the road but BB doesn't get it answered fast enough and it stops ringing. It was the bus dispatcher. We pull off at the next exit and call back, no answer no voice mail. So back on the road. A few minutes later he calls back and this time BB does pickup, no work today. At least we know that already and he called me and before 3 PM. We decide to keep going to our usual spot. Rewards Points tonight as we are not working and 'our' motel is $150+ tonight. We get to the Quality Inn in Livermore and it is under construction ... again. We were here last year once and they only had a few of the 30 rooms available. Not sure how many times they can re-do it. After we get our paperwork sent in, we walk to a little Mexican place in a strip mall. We decide to split an entree, three chicken enchiladas. It was enough. And I found some of the juice I like so I bought three for the road. This place had two TV's on, both in Spanish. Food was good. It's two hours to Yosemite (and two hours back) so I don't think we'll go there. There are lots of cemeteries within an hour that are on my list. First we will switch our rental car from a one way to a local. That saves us 50-75% sometimes. ... and if the timing and price is right, I might go back up and move the RV, as I don't get paid until it is delivered. Last time I did that I got about $30. This time I am 100+ miles away. 191112 IA-CA From here to no where. We still don't have a run. Mostly staying on our time, eating breakfast as soon as it is supposed to open. We were down before the hot food was out. Not sure what happened here, but sometime last year we were here and most rooms were NA because they were being remodeled. Now they are remodeling again, so I asked when I checked out. All they would say was last year they did some major cleaning 'but that wasn't enough' so now they are doing a complete remodel. We just hung around all morning until check out, looked at the board a few times to see if my RV from yesterday showed back up. It didn't. When we went to check out, we couldn't find our car keys, neither one of us had them or could remember having them. Then ... FRIDGE ... I had put them in the fridge so we wouldn't forget our food :) We didn't forget it this time. Checked out and headed down to change the rental on our car from one way to local. Makes it about half the price. Did get it for two more days so we don't need to head back tonight if there isn't work. The only cemetery on I-5 close is down by Santa Nella an hour south. We got to town about noon and ate at Andersons Split Pea Soup. We've eaten here a couple of times. Last time I was able to get my Swedish Meatballs on noodles instead of ??? rice? This time I went for the chicken salad sandwich and BB had the tuna salad sandwich. Mine had enough lettuce for a salad, but I am trying to stay away from the green stuff. Before we started eating I called the bus dispatcher, he wanted to know if I could do a local, CA move. Four of them, then wondered if BB could do one. After a couple of minutes I realized he was not talking about buses but trucks. More details to the story but I told him I would call him back in an hour ... after we were done eating. We talked about it and the more we did, the less it sounded like a good idea. 450 miles down through LA, BB would follow in the car if we were going to make any money. That would take me out of moving a bus today ... or tomorrow. And if anything happened ... it's a used truck ... maybe not get back for a bus Friday. And we want to be heading home Friday, either with a bus or a rental car. So I called him back and said no. Then we headed the few miles out to the cemetery. Looks to be fairly new ... now I've looked it up. A rancher donated the land in 1989, so a few years after that. Only two graves to find, very easy at the national cemeteries. We walked from one end to the other and it took less than a half hour. Hot sun, no shade. Then we drove to the top of the hill where the turn around and the flag were. This is the 1st place we saw a bee ... then we saw the hives heading back to town. After fueling we decided to just wait in town until we heard if there was work. So we parked behind the Quality Inn in the shade. A (honey?) bee flew into the car, and we got it out ... and a few more times. I didn't want to kill it. Finally when it flew back in it landed on BB ... she didn't like it ... and screamed as she jumped out of the car and tried to get it off her without touching it. By now she wanted it killed. By the time I got over to her it had flown away and we got back in the car, windows up. It kept buzzing around the car so we drove away ... it followed us for a bit but after a couple of blocks at higher speeds we pulled back into the place we had eaten and sat un-disturbed there. Until 3 PM when I could call the dispatcher back. Phone was busy and I got a text. So we texted, no work. Only four buses today (Normal might be about 10 a day.) And he is giving the buses to those who have been sitting the longest. So to the motel we go. If that is all the buses he had today he should have had an problem finding a driver for the trucks. More later tonight. 191113 CA-PA We are heading to Williamsport, PA with a bus ... Livermore to Santa Nella tonight. Not up and down for breakfast quite as early as yesterday but still one of the first people down. Bus that came in last night when we were walking for food is still here so they aren't in a big rush. Still stuffed from last night so I only have a small yogurt ... then some Cheerios. Got going about 8:30, bus was still here. I had thought we were heading north and had recorded cemetery info for north. Then BB decides she would like to go walking at a park on the ocean. Almost opposite direction. So I quickly find places to stop in that direction. But first stop will be Gilroy for garlic. Garlic capital of the world. Lots of interesting (to me) farming. Some of it very labor intense. Lot's of covered crops, Ras or Blackberry's, strawberries all under huge greenhouse type covering, but it is all temp. They take it down to work the fields after the crop. Cherry season is past, ends about August. Which explains why all the shops are closed. This place didn't have any cherries except dried. So we got some of dried cherries and blueberry's ... some vegetable chips ... diced garlic ... salsa ... stuffed olives. Now to get it back home. By now BB had done more research and the trails at the park are closed ... maybe because of the fires? We didn't check it out any further. We did keep heading in that direction. I had looked up two cemeteries to stop at. We get to the first one flowers in half and concrete in the other half. Too big to find what I am looking for so I head to the church, they give me a number to call but we try to find it on our own first. Finally I call, just as the chimes start ringing, so I hang up. I try again five minutes later and the chimes start again. Top of the hour. Someone explained over the phone where I should be looking. No luck, so we head to the office a couple of miles away. At times, they seemed more confused than I was. They are now in charge of four cemeteries at various times they are referring to different cemeteries and different locations for the same person. It doesn't help that FindAGrave has the information wrong and that BB keyed in the wrong cemetery to start with. FindAGrave had both people listed at the cemetery where the office was, BB had keyed in a cemetery where the church. No one was where the office was, one person was a block away at a 3rd cemetery, one was at the cemetery where the church was, but not the location they gave us on the phone. Another family member, not on my list was at the 4th location. First we went to the cemetery a block away, did find that grave after a couple of minutes then hit the side streets across town to a cafe to eat. Cowboys Cafe. Lucked out on a place to park, place was full. Signs saying they will not seat people unless their whole party is there. Out of soup? At noon? I had a french dip and fries, BB had a fish salad. Her's was good. I must be loosing my taste for French Dip, the last few I've had were nothing special. Maybe they do them different in the mid-west? When I used to do reviews of food, a guide for the French Dip was how much au jus I used. Today was all of it on just over 1/2 the sandwich. Sometimes it is 1/2 of it on all the sandwich. But this was a huge sandwich. Back to the church cemetery. Found the grave within a couple of minutes. Then did find more family where they had told me on the phone, different stone than I was looking for so I hadn't read it. Now the back roads to the next cemetery. It's an old cemetery with maybe 100 people in it. Mostly old but now a few newer ones. And it is surrounded by an (almost) gated community. Interesting. The shortest way back is still through Santa Cruz, so we head that way. BB has no interesting in seeing, walking on the beach and the trails are closed so we just head back in the direction of Livermore. Computer says two hours for the next 60 miles. Tight turns on the first part, road construction and traffic on the last part. At lunch I get a text asking where I want to head with a bus, a little after 3 PM I get a call. I'm driving so my assistant :) picks up. We are going to Williamsport, PA. 2,700 miles, I want/need to follow the CNG route so it will be closer to 2,900. And things are being done differently with the sub dispatcher. We can grab the bus ... now. But we are still an hour plus away. (Written up two days later) As soon as we know we have a bus we start checking mileage, routes, motels, rental cars. Good thing we aren't still on the beach when we got this call, we wouldn't be back to the bus until after dark. At the lot, no one to let us in. I had to wait until one of the other drivers was leaving. Asked later and security doesn't start work until 5 pm. Not sure how the 1st driver got in, no one answered when I buzzed the office either. Found my bus right away, almost next to the gate. I start checking it out as BB loads it up. No issues, it still takes us an hour to inspect an RV and I have the bus done in 15 minutes. BB takes off to return the rental car as soon as the bus is running. It's getting close to dark, she knows the way but sees much better in the daylight. Saw five drivers head out while I was checking out my bus, only talked to one enough to know where to put the paperwork since security wasn't working yet. Head down the same route that we have now done a dozen times before. We are heading back to Santa Nella. I didn't work any yet today so we could run all night. But Santa Nella is the first Choice brand hotel and there is good food nearby. Quality Inn in Santa Nella, Anderson's Split Pea Soup for the 3rd time in two days. We each mixed the best from our prior two meals. ... the trip continues HERE |
