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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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191114 CA-PA Santa Nella to Kingman ... on our way to Williamsport, PA with a city bus. Breakfast was the same as yesterday. No other drivers here last light. 1st stop at the rest area in Coalinga. Other than being really dry, there is not much new from the last trip six months ago. ... When we came out from the restroom, we noticed a huge puddle under the bus, size of a serving plate. This bus has three cooling systems and the sight glass for one of them was down. I could see where something had been dripping from but never saw a drip. It was quite a large puddle for only being there 10 minutes. Now warning lights and no water to add so we moved on. Actually got to pass a few trucks, this bus only goes 55 mph, drops to 45 mph on the steeper hills but holds its own on the more gradual slopes. 2nd stop is at PJ's at the Flying J in Tehachapi, we split the meatloaf meal, same as other times. Came back out to the bus and there was only a little puddle under the bus, about the size of a quarter, and the sight glass was up again. CA-58 is ALMOST done. They are still working on the second bridge over the railroad so it is one lane each way over the bridge that is done. Pilot still seemed to have business even though it is further from the highway now. Did see two people walking along this stretch, one had a two wheeled cart and the other was pulling his grocery cart. Not sure what is on these people's minds when they decide to move from one place to the other. 3rd stop is in Barstow for fuel, CNG at the city pump. Down to one set of pumps, the other pumps have the hoses taken off. My guess is that the city uses these pumps so not much chance that they will drop the up-keep completely. When the pump shut off, the computer crashed, or maybe that is why the pump shut off. Either way, I was not able to get a receipt for my fuel so I took pictures to send in for reimbursement, hope that is not an issue. 4th stop was in Needles at the Subway. Two and a half hours, likely the longest we will go between stops the whole trip. 5th stop is the PEO in AZ ... it is open, hasn't been a few times lately. But they are working out of a temp office. The guy checking was standing outside. He asked me to turn my tires, he looked at something and then said I was good to go. I wasn't. I needed a permit, so I pulled around and went inside and waited in line. Always interesting. 1st were the drivers getting over sized permits talking about other drivers. Then a driver that had gotten pulled in had to give his ELD, Electronic Log, to the officer. A few minutes later I hear the officer saying ... this signature for this load looks a lot like yours, and this picture of the person who signed for the load looks a lot like you ... and your log says you were off duty that day. Didn't stick around to hear the rest. Lot already had a few trucks that were spending the night due to violations. 6th and final stop is in Kingman, AZ ... Quality Inn. A lot cheaper than the Best Western. We've stayed here before, always the same night clerk. And again I have to get him to print my NM permit. We look at our room number wrong and walk all the way around the building before getting to our room. We are parked right next to a Volvo bus, driven by the company out of St. Cloud. I will have to look up the story on them. 191115 CA-PA Made it to NM ... have decided not to try to make delivery Tuesday so we don't have to push as hard. (NOTE: This write up is being done a couple of days after the fact, finally have time) Up and going before daylight. This place plugs they have REAL scrambled eggs and yes, I can tell the difference. When we are ready to leave, I have the bus in gear before BB reminds me I need to check out. I have been checking out AFTER the bus is running, just in case there are issues. 1st stop of the day is Williams at the Pilot for fuel. I've always been fueling in the car islands, but today while BB was walking she saw there is also a CNG pump in the truck area. At this station there is plenty of room to fuel in the car island and I don't have to 'come in backwards.' But I do have to wait. Today when I get there the person at the pump is already done fueling, but then they go inside to do their business ... without moving there car. So I wait. I get a good fill and we are in and out in about a half hour. Before we get to Flagstaff, we see an Elk carcass on the side of the road. And lots and lots of deer carcass'. Some are so decomposed that I can't tell what they are. Also before the get to Flagstaff the Camping World location that used to be there is closed. Not sure if they moved or ... This location was a ways out of town. Camping World is one of our bigger customers for our RV's. 2nd stop is Holbrook. McD's. Or walk a little further for food that isn't any better. Trying to keep our days short so it is fast food. 3rd stop is Jamestown, NM. No issue at the scale, but this person actually looks at the permit before waving me on. The stop at the Jamestown Pilot was just a restroom break and rolling again. 4th stop is in ABQ for fuel at the Flying J. Not sure why I forgot about this place. We used to fuel at the airport but that is about 10 extra miles and off the main drag. Then I was fueling at the Love's in the car area, but this location is very congested. No issue getting to the pumps, just with the pumps. I try to use my usual credit card and I am getting errors. But the phone number to call is only on the screen for a fraction of a second. I finally did a video of it and it was so short it was hard to catch it on the video. Finally get the help desk and then I try a different card. It works, but I have wasted 15+ minutes. (After having the same issue in St Louis, I think it has something to do with that credit card) It is still early enough that we decide to wait until we have checked into the motel to eat. 5th and final stop is at the Quality Inn in Moriarty. I thought I would park on the street but the only spot left would have meant me driving through pot holes that were deeper than my clearance. So I backed out and drove into the 'cars only' area. Only the staff's car is in the lot so far tonight. I should have parked in a different area of the lot, too many cars and it will be hard to get out. Closest food is closed and for sale, 2nd is Blake's so we head to Liza's Truckstop a mile away. That is our walk for the day. It was beautiful today but the temps have dropped and we didn't dress for it. At Lisa's BB had enchiladas and I had a reuben. I thought it was pretty good for a truckstop diner, BB was not impressed. We have eaten here before and it must have been better. But it wasn't fast food, it was our first 'real' food in two days. 191116 CA-PA Moriarty, NM to Oklahoma City ... heading to Williamsport, PA. Breakfast was the usual, except for the host. The front desk person was putting out the food and he had on a three piece suit. They also had a yogurt machine ... he said they had gotten it because they had won the 'Gold Award' for their chain. A few more cars had pulled in last night, very few, but they all parked where I wanted to drive. But I was able to make the turns without hitting them or the curb. Headed out at 6:30 Mountain time. 1st break was in Tucumcari, at the Flying J. Looks like they are going to widen US-54 in town anyway. Maybe they are working on it further north too. A couple of semi's parked in the car lot, I'm guessing they were from overnight. One of our trucks was in the car lot also, both the placard and the plate in the front window. Did see a lot of transporters today including a trolley bus and a double decker bus. Mostly super-suckers and bucket trucks. People put their placards anywhere and no where. They are supposed to be on the sides of the unit. One RV had his right where a passenger would be looking out the front window. A school bus transporter must have made copies of theirs, they had the whole perimeter of their front window lined with placards, plus a few in the side window. As we were coming into Shamrock, OK I saw a cop in the trees ... thought, 'there is my friend.' I had been stopped here a few years ago, no fine to me, but the company got fined. So I figured if he is sitting there, the scale in town shouldn't be open. A couple of miles later, I'm watching the scale sign to make sure the lights don't start flashing, they don't ... but then I look in my mirror and the blue lights are flashing. BUT there is one car between the cop and me and it was them he was after ... whew. Got the by-pass at the TX scale a few miles later. 2nd stop is the rest area in Erick, OK. A quick in and out. Then two and a half hours to the Love's in Oklahoma City. Still light when we pull in ... grrr this Loves has the CNG pumps backwards for what I need. So I have to turn around in the travel lanes and back in. At first I seemed to be backing blind but soon things made sense and the rest was easy. Credit card not accepted. So I went inside and waited in line. Finally got it turned on. After we left I remembered that IF you swipe your Loves card, it will accept your personal credit card. And I would have gotten my rewards points. That was a $.62 mistake. Another 20 miles and we are at our motel. The Sleep Inn. This is the one where a goose followed BB on her walk and back to the motel and then stood outside the motion detected doors as they opened and closed after BB walked in. Since we were here last, they have opened a new Mexican place next door. Good food. Even have cheese sauce if you want instead of hot sauce. Lots of deer carcus' on the road, no bugs on the windshield anymore. Lots of people stopping to look at the cars in the field west of Amarillo. At some point today we realize that I will be very close on hours this trip. Too close. Don't want to have to do a 36 hour shut down and then take the bus the last 50 miles. We will need to do some planning. Not much I can do about drive 55 mph. 191117 CA-PA Oklahoma City to Pontoon Beach (E St Louis) with a 40' bus. Down for breakfast at 6 AM, 1st people down again. Sunday, they have bacon. So I still have both bacon and eggs ... and yogurt. Am not really back to doing one or the other yet. Parking lot lights must be based on time, not light. They went off right at 6:30 and it is still dark. But all is good and we are ready to roll. We are on the toll road today, and the company doesn't pay tolls for this run. The total for today is $10. Our EZ-Pass doesn't work in OK so we have to pay cash. 1st stop is Tulsa at the Flying J. When I come down the ramp, there are three lanes. I pick the middle one thinking I will swing wide ... guess this lane is to go straight ahead. But I've got my blinker on the person who pulls up in the correct lane seems to understand what I am up to. We are waiting for cross traffic and one of the semi's takes a left in front of oncoming traffic. Luckily the other person was able to stop. It's Sunday at the Flying J and the car lot is full of bob-tail tractors. We end up parking along the curb, then in and out in a few minutes. 2nd stop was in Mt Vernon. When we get off the freeway we see that the ramp to get back on the freeway was closed. Detour is to head back south west two miles and make a U-turn. Today is another Subway, this time in a TA. This TA also has Champs Chicken but in the other building. Strange layout. I just looked up Champs and it is served in most of the states except the NE. In MN there are two locations in Mpls that serve it but not under the Champs name. Sandwich was good, we were in and out in a half hour. I wasn't looking forward to back tracking and BB mentioned she had seen a sign that was facing the truck fuel pumps, I went and looked at it and it listed taking the frontage road to the next exit (instead of back tracking.) So that is what we did. The closest thing to excitement on the freeway today was seeing a burned out pickup in the on-coming traffic. We met the fire truck leaving and later the tow truck coming. So fresh. 3rd stop was at the Rolla rest area. Except it is no longer a rest area. It is now listed as truck parking, but it has an outhouse so we were good. Fast in and out. 4th stop was for food and fuel. We had talked about going to the Hen House, but I guess they serve 'family style.' Where they bring enough for the family, in a common dish and everyone dishes up there own. We don't need that much food and don't have a way to take it with us. This locations seems to be on it's own. There is a chain of Hen House's near Kansas City and I have seem the name other places. Not sure how related they are. We end up at Denny's. 1st the server brings us food before we order, I get them stopped before they set it down. Then when we are ready to go we get the wrong ticket. Food was good, we both order off the 55+ menu. The only thing I like is the omelette, so that is what I have been getting. This takes an hour instead of our half hour. Then we go to fuel. I realize that I have driven into my parking spot at the Flying J and everyone else has backed in ??? CNG pump is in the rear. It still doesn't like my main credit card, but after one try I switch to the one that has worked elsewhere, it works. Fueling takes about 15 minutes. While I'm fueling some driver parked close by comes over and starts talking about his trailer. Some of his 'wind' deflectors is coming off. I told him that could do some damage if / when it does fly off and hit someone. Motel is three miles away without getting back on the freeway. We are on the east side of St Louis so we will be going against traffic in the AM. Comfort Inn. Only a couple of cars and a few trucks when we get here. We'll see how full the lot is in the AM. Re-did my HOS (hours of Service) this Am based on miles instead of days. I should have over 5 hours to deliver on Wednesday so not an issue. The next couple of days will be about 400 miles instead of the 500 we've done for the last four days. No fueling tomorrow. Just had a huge bug walk up my screen as I type this. Not sure where it came from, didn't move too fast so I'm not worried about there being more. I could have brought it in on my bag ... or it could have been here. 191118 CA-PA Pontoon Beach, IL to Flint, OH ... heading to Williamsport, PA Read bad news this AM. Petro-TA where we like to eat the buffets is converting it's restaurants to IHOP's. No more buffets at truckstops. First it was Flying J, then in the midwest it was Kwik Trip and now the last one. No other major chain has sitdown food anymore. 25 cars in the lot at the motel this AM, last night there had only been three. Decided not to eat both yogurt and eggs this AM ... so I had Cheerios instead. Also ... big black bug running across the floor where we sat. I squashed him, any more and I'd say this place has an issue. Ah ... the reason I always try to take up extra parking spaces. This motel was less than half full and someone needed to park right behind me. I think if someone ever does that in front of me, I will just pull up to their car door and go back to my room. Easy route today ... I get on I-270, that heads straight into I-70 and I'm on that until 20 miles from the motel. Did see snow as soon as we were out of town and here and there all the way into Indiana. 1st stop was in Effingham at the Petro for the rest room. Driveway sign said auto's only but I made it in lots and lots of room. 2nd stop was for lunch at the Country Pride / TA in Clayton. This location doesn't have a hot food buffet, only the salad bar so we both ordered off the menu. Not sure we've ever done that before. I got the beef stroganoff, it was pretty good. BB had chicken. I did ask our server about IHOP, they said this location will be converted within about two years. 3rd stop was the welcome center in Eaton, OH. I'm trying to save my hours so we took a half hour break and walked. (It's just the way the law is written) Once we got going again we did not have any heat. In the past I was having issues, some things worked sometimes and not others. Now nothing was working. Still above 50 degrees, and we both were bundled up. Scales today, IL was closed. IN was open but I got the 1st green arrow so I didn't cross the scale. OH was closed. Should only be one PA scale left for tomorrow. 4th and final stop was at the Comfort Inn in Flint. The Comfort uses Columbus as it's address but it is north of the beltway and other places in the area use Flint. After I was stopped and before I could get out of the vehicle, someone from the front desk was telling me I could not park there. They wanted me to park a block away at an overflow lot, they were going to be full tonight. (We'll see) As the guy walked away it registered that the shipping containers next to the building were no wider than I, so I asked if I could park against the building. "Sure" ... so I did. I did have to watch out for the bushes so they didn't scratch the bus. We walked next door to the Texas Roadhouse to eat. We both ended up eating off the appetizer menu. And it was still more than enough food. BB had the shrimp and I had the ribs. Good. Another 400 mile day tomorrow. So should be able to do it all in the daylight. Loads out of Iowa are down to 11. Looking at the last couple of years they should be dumping loads out soon, into the high double digits. I see lots of things that are interesting, to me, every day. But most are fleeting and forgotten by the time I start writing things down. We will have been out two and a half weeks by the time we get home, I will be out of hours ... and I am way overdue to be back to the clinic. So home we will go as soon as we drop this bus on Wednesday. ... the trip continues HERE |
