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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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191210 CA-MN Backpack stolen, computer and legals needed to drive. So heading home on a rental car. Going to make very little if anything this trip. May not post again until I get a new computer. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< (The following is written up a few LONG days later) Breakfast was the usual ... just hang around until about 9 AM. Left to go switch cars, we wanted to be done with the damaged one so we didn't have any delays when we were ready to leave town. Stopped a fueled part way between the motel and the rental car office. Plan was to go do some walking here in Livermore once we were done here. The main person we deal with was back today, he came out, took some pictures and got us a different car. It was getting close to 11 when we were done there so we decided to go eat before we went for a walk. About 10 miles down the road is a Black Bear that we've eaten at a few times before. Family type diner. When we pulled in, there wasn't any room on the entrance side, drove across the side and them came back and parked in the 1st slot against the building nearest the front. We both had soup and then BB had a turkey sandwich and I had the meatloaf. As we sat there we notice that there was plenty of parking in the back of the building, right next to the window. There had been a couple of trucks when we pulled in so I hadn't realized it. When we went to leave, I paid and BB took the keys so she could get walking shoes out of the truck so we were not together when we walked out. By the time I'm coming out the door, BB is waving at me to come there (to the car.) As she unlocked and opened the truck she noticed it was light inside the trunk ... and that some of our bags were missing ! ! ! Someone had broken the right back window, pulled down the back of the seat and taken out two of our bags. I called 911, BB went back in to the restaurant as we were parked right under one of the camera's. 911 is the highway patrol so they gave me the number for the local police. This happened just after 11 AM, two sides of the building were full of cars, people coming and going. The only thing inside the car that someone could see was BB's winter coat. Everything else had been put in the trunk 10 miles away. Very unlikely that someone would follow us 10 miles through town not knowing how far or where we were going. I started making calls, my backpack was gone. My computer and ALL of my legal's I need to drive were gone along with a whole list of other things. (I'll add the list later) I called the local dispatch and told him that after waiting four days, I am no longer available. I called both drive companies to tell them we had lost our plates. I called the computer companies to try to lock my website and back up. That was an issue as I don't deal with them on a regular basis and didn't know enough information. The police finally got there and we had to answer a lot of questions including a lot I didn't, and still don't, know. Like what brand of backpack was it. What model of computer, etc. Then they started asking BB about her bag. She lost the bag with all her driving stuff in it but no electronics. We had noticed a plastic glove on the ground and thought maybe the thieves had used them, no, the cop figured they dropped it the last time they were here (I should have asked how long ago that was.) The cop did go in to look at the video but came out saying something about the manager was not ... I'm not sure it made a difference, no one is going to go looking for theses thieves. They just want our information if they find something. The cop did ask if we had any tracking devices on our computers, we don't. BB was in charge of calling the rental car back ... they didn't have any more cars for us. We wanted to return our 2nd damaged one in the same day and they were out of cars. They gave us the OK to go to Oakland Airport and return it there, same price. BB had already looked at cars and that was where the cheapest cars back to MN were out of ... more on that later. During this time, BB gets another call. It's only been about an hour since we called the cops (they are gone now) and BB gets a call from a citizen, they have found our bag in Oakland a couple of miles from the airport. ??? They looked at the address on her paperwork and then used Google to find our home phone number. The home phone rolls to BB's cell. Now we know where her back is, we don't know what is in it yet. As soon as we saw we were broken into, we did something we try not to do. We made a snap decision to head home. We should have, paused, spent the night and thought about it. At some point I called my pharmacy as ALL of my drugs were gone. I had been real good the last few years about keeping some in two different bags ... until the last two trips. And being in a rush to go, I had us picking my meds up in Roseville, a few hours away. The person who had called about BB's bag was a truck driver who was sitting in the parking lot of another restaurant and watched the pickup (?) pull in, bust into someone's car and then throw two bags from the pickup on the ground before they left. We knew where the restaurant was and after almost an hour in traffic we were there. Yup, the glass is on the ground from the car they broke into ... right in front of the front door with floor to ceiling windows. The thieves don't care who sees them, who is going to try to stop them? This was at the height of the lunch hour. We found someone on the place who spoke English and they had us come around to the back. Yes, one was BB's bag, but the other wasn't mine. They wanted to know what to do with the other bag? I took a picture of the airline tag and sent it to the airline with a message, I never head anything from them. Not sure how often this happens, someone finds your bag and lets you know within an hour of you knowing you lost it ... 30 miles away. THANK YOU. And the only thing missing is an envelope that her paperwork was in, and that may have been the citizen using it to contact BB. Another few miles down the road and we are at the rental car company. Luckily we were the only ones as it takes a few minutes. In the process of doing the paperwork, the agent tells us that they have one local restaurant that five of their cars A DAY are broken into ... plus all the other locations. While we are there I see a row of them yet to be moved. That might be why there are very few cars available out of Oakland right now. We are switching agents here because of the price, it turns out the car we are taking back to MN is in the next lot. We don't even have to do any extra walking, go in a building our anything. This agent has almost no cars in the lot either. When BB is waiting in line, both people ahead of her are returning cars ... because their car's were broken into and their laptops (and other things) were stolen. One had six years of data that he had never backed up. I am good in that area, I use a backup service to backup to the cloud that runs anytime I am on WiFi ... and I back up to CD about every six months anything I can think of on my computer that is not a program. So for me, it is just a big pain. I may loose a day or two's worth of data, but most of what I do is on the internet, not stored on my computer. Now that we have a new rental car, we need to get another 150 miles down the road before the drug store closes. And it's bumper to bumper in SFO traffic. At some point BB decided to peg in the directions to the drug store and finds out there are two drug stores in that town and we did not pick the one we thought we had. Then we are talking about which airport we will drop at back in MN, usually we drop at a remote location as it is often cheaper. So BB is looking at the paperwork and we have rented a LOCAL CAR for a week, this one needs to be returned back in Oakland, CA. Another reason we should have just gone to a motel and thought things through. BB looks at Kayak first to see who has the cheaper cars, then goes to the company's site to book them. What Kayak was showing was a 'managers special' for one specific car at $50 a day, that is the same rate as a local and why she didn't catch it. This one is twice that and no one else has a better price and some no cars at all. ... this we are going to sleep on. We do get to the drug store with about an hour to spare. My drugs were $8 each. Afterward we realize that we should have gotten a couple of weeks worth of pills instead of a few days. It was likely the same minimum price. We go up the road another couple of miles, BB wants one more In-and-Out burger before we leave town. This time we only get singles, no double-doubles. Back across the freeway there is a Verizon ... agent. So not everything is Verizon, I could have likely bought the same stuff at WalMart. But I needed a phone cord. Tonight. Back track a couple of miles and we are back at the Comfort Inn in Rocklin. We are going to be using our rewards points for most of the rest of this trip, and still will be lucky to break even. -0- on the board out of IA. CA bus dispatcher still didn't know if he would have had work tonight our not when I talked to him at noon. 191211 CA-MN More mistakes, this time our fault. Still heading home. 1st stop Flying J, Fernley, NV 2nd stop TA Taco Bell, Mills City 3rd stop Sinclair, Elko 4th stop RA Wendover, UT 5th stop Arby's and Comfort Inn, Tooele, UT At this pace we should be home Saturday AM. Won't leave out again until close to the new year. Depending on the mileage, we will make real close to -0- this trip. Not including what we lost to theft. //////////////// (The rest is written a few days after the fact) By morning we are starting to think things through ... we realized that everything we/I needed to drive we could have gotten online or from the local dispatcher. The big think, my plate, I still had. Now BB had all of her stuff back so all I was missing was my DOT medical card and I we could either get that faxed from one of the companies or find it in our email out box from six months. But we were still so keyed up that it is very likely would still be not thinking things through. BB called to get the car dropped in MN. They were now out of cars (due to broken windows?) Yes, it was going to cost us double what we thought and get us real close to -0- income for both of us for our 10-days/two weeks. We also call one of our companies back and told them that BB has her plate back, but I do not have the required original paperwork to turn into the shipper. That ball is in their court now. As we are walking down to breakfast we are behind someone and when they round the corner, BB quietly says that he looks like a homeless guy wanting a free breakfast. I did keep an eye on the guy and he seemed lost in looking for stuff. And then the staff comes over and asks which room he is staying in ... I guess they had their eye on him also. When we went to check out, I asked the staff about him. His room number checked out and so did his name. I guess there is construction crew staying here that works the overnight and sleeps days. He could have been one of them, just getting off his shift. We are going against rush hour and because of the calls we had to make this AM we are running a little later than usual. We can tell there is new snow on Donner's Pass since we went though last. ... and we paid special attention to where the first NV inspection station was. It's a good thing we did. It is before our first motel coming from the west. I had thought we could get to the motel and then get a permit. Not so, we would need to stay somewhere in Truckee. And today the inspection is open. 1st sign is blinking, the 2nd one isn't. But they were open. 1st stop is the Flying J in Fernley, it shouldn't be. It is on the wrong side of the freeway and a pain to get to, not so bad getting out. A Pilot at the exit before is on the correct side of the freeway. At up to 80 mph we are making good time, but it doesn't put us at our usual spots. It also doesn't do much for the mileage, and neither does a 10 gallon tank. Out here and a few other places it can be 50 miles between fuel stops. Once we realize we aren't going to make it to Winnemucca, we slow way down. Then decide to not try. Out in the middle of nowhere is Mills City, NV with a TA and a Taco Bell. Food and fuel. We sit inside as Taco's aren't easy to eat driving. I actually got a quesadilla so I would have been OK. We were down to under a 40 mile range when we stopped and the range had been dropping twice as fast as the miles for the last 50 miles. Winnemucca ... is getting a new Love's. They are just starting to move the dirt but I can see the sign in the driveway from the freeway. Just SW of the Flying J on the opposite side of the freeway. 3rd stop, back to the Sinclair in Elko. Quick in and out. I did get a couple of munchies. We are listening for the rocks that did a number on my RV, no rocks, no snow, and not following any of those gravel trucks. We had talked about stopping in Wendover for the night, rooms are a lot cheaper and there is a buffet, but at some point we decide to push on past dark. 4th stop is the RA/Welcome center in UT. About mile marker 9 heading east. At this point it is still light and we have another 90 miles to go. Sun sets, moon rises. Full moon over the salt flats. Would make some great pictures with a time exposure. With a phone it just shows up as a white dot. 5th and final. We decide to stop to eat before we go to the motel. Neither of us are up to a sit down and the only two of them are Denny's and Country Pride. We decide to try the new Arby's. It went up sometime during the summer when we weren't driving. I had noticed it on our November trip and posted pictures on TripAdvisor. When we got there, we were about the only ones there. The gal at the counter was having issues trying to find what we wanted on her register. We went and sat down right by the drive thru lane. For some reason I took not of the cars and pickup in line. We got our food, BB's was wrong, if they had repeated it back to us I wasn't paying attention. BB started walking up to the counter but by now there was a line and we had heard the person at the register was having issues with other customers and someone else in the kitchen was really getting cranky. BB decided to eat the sandwich. I'm not a fast eater, we are usually pushed to get in and out of a fast food place in 30 minutes. So I'm guessing we were here at least 30 minutes. The drive thru lane had not moved, not one car. Even as we drove out, they were all still sitting thee. ... and when we drove out a semi decided to pull out just as we were going past. He'd been parked there and just started moving right then. Missed us. Traffic was bad this time of the day, no light to get back on the highway but people that were stopped did leave us enough room to cross the traffic. A block away was our motel, the Comfort Inn in Tooele/Lake Point. They had cookies :) Much better than the Grandma's brand I had bought earlier in the day. I am lost at night without a computer and it is too hard to try and type on my cell phone. So I read a few things, was able to get a couple of passwords changed and went to bed early. They are putting a few things on the board out of IA, but when it is at -0- the runs come and go pretty fast. 191212 CA-MN 1st stop RA at Evanston, WY 2nd stop Loves in Wamsutter 3rd stop at Iron Skillet /Petro in Laramie 4th stop at RA in Pine Bend, WY 5th stop in Ogallala, NE. Walmart for fuel, McD's to eat, Quality Inn for the night. <<<<<<<<<<<< (Being written up a few days later) Breakfast, they had a different kind of yogurt I wanted to try ... and then I looked at the date, a week past. So I looked at all the dates, all but one was a week past, and that one was over a month past it's expiration date. I told the staff and they quickly cleared everything out. And when they brought out the 'new' stuff, it was less than a week from being expired. Rush hour traffic was no worst at 6:30 AM than it is at noon when we usually head through with RV's. A few miles and we are going up the hills and out of the snow. After daylight I am cruising along on the passing lane passing trucks. I'm doing 70 mph but haven't seen a speed limit sign since the speed in the hills was 65. I see a cop in the median but I don't slow down, if I am over, I am 10 over and he already has me and someone else is right on my bumper. As soon as I pass him I see the cops break lights come on, he is putting it in gear. I pull around the truck and slow to 65 mph. 1st the car passes me, and then a truck with the cop right on his tail. I'm coming up on a truck so I pass that and the cop follows me from one lane to the other and back again. FINALLY the cop passes me ... and pulls back into the median. Not sure what is interest was, and I wasn't going to stop and ask. That would have been one more thing to add to this already expensive trip, a speeding (or other) ticket. Before we left UT, we met three dump truck boxes. Just google 'super sized dump truck boxes' and you will see what I am talking about. Each box had two police escorts in front of it, plus one behind it, plus the two paid escorts. No one was going to pass those loads anytime soon. No need for fuel yet so we stopped at the RA/Welcome center in Evantson, it is at an exit but on the correct side of the highway and the truck stops are not. 1st stop of the day. Going past the big dig we got a good look at the digger but I didn't think of it until a few feet before we could see it so no pictures, not much time to second guess at 80 mph. 2nd stop is the Love's in Wamsutter, not our favorite place but it is two hours and we need a quick break. Easy in and out. High wind warning and we are rocking, even with a car. Gust's to 60+ but we don't see many pulled over to wait it out. Three days of this is what I think BB said. Lots of semi's in the ditch somewhere, I don't remember now if it was here or not until NE. But there was one about every 10 miles for an hour or so. At 80 ... OK, with the wind, the variable got down to 45 so so did we ... in a car. Still in places the trucks were passing us at closer to 80 mph. Anyways ... at 80 mph we are stopping every 160 miles instead of very 100 miles like we do in the RV's which kind of throws us off. 3rd stop is at Laramie at the Petro / Iron Skillet. I never leave hungry but almost everything is Mexican and hot Mexican today. No good deserts either, and not my usual favorites on the salad bar. Still beats another McD's. In this parking lot there were a few transporters pulling travel trailers that were not risking it, we did see a few that did risk it. 4th stop at the Pine Bend RA/Welcome center in WY. Again it is at an exit but on the correct side of the highway. I don't remember when and where but we have seen a lot of transporters this trip, and in all kinds of rigs. Not too many RV's but lots of other kinds of things. 5th and final. We make it to Ogallala and again we are having to slow down to get the mileage range up where we can make it. 1st stop is Walmart for fuel, it's a couple cents cheaper than anyone else. Then the drive through at McD's, then the Quality Inn for the night. I really need to read when I am signing for. This place only has less than a half dozen cars in the lot and no more in the morning when we go for breakfast. -0- on the board tonight. Not sure what or where but yesterday and today seemed like non-stop events to write about while I was driving, now I remember very few. 191213 CA-MN 1st stop, RA near Kearney, NE 2nd stop, Omaha at Flying J for fuel and Arby's to eat. 3rd stop just North of Des Moines on I35 at RA. 4th stop in Story City at the Pizza Ranch to eat and Comfort Inn for the night Have local work lined up for Monday. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< We stay on our schedule, up when breakfast is served and rolling. Yogurt was outdated again, and the juice was bad, I didn't feel like complaining ... they charged me for a safe that was in the room last night. This is really rare, I didn't have them take it off, just tired of complaining. BB was going to watch the sun come up but because of the hills, 1st it wasn't up, then we came around a hill and it was. next time. I'm pretty sure nothing exciting happened in NE, it seldom does. 1st stop a RA near Kearney. 2nd stop was for fuel in Gretna at the Flying J, it was a cheaper with the discount card than anywhere else ... and again we had slowed down to make it. From here on we don't run that close on fuel. Somewhere in NE I had gotten behind a truck and with the cruise set I stayed right there for well over a 100 miles, didn't gain on him, didn't loose him. Then we pulled off. The 2nd 2nd stop was still in Gretna at an Arby's at the next exit, all Flying J had was a Denny's and roller food. BB got the correct sandwich at this Arby's. We had planned on staying Ankeny, but it was only 2:30 when we got there. BB is really missing her walks, we haven't had time to walk since Monday before the theft. There is another Choice motel 45 minutes up the road in Story City. But it has been over two hours so ... 3rd stop in Elkhart at the Rest area. YES, I was sure I had seen a sign showing that these places were also inspection stations and then the signage was gone. This is the first time we have stopped since. Yes, there are marked places built and marked for truck inspections, just the signs on the highway are gone. Earlier today I had called local dispatch, they called back while we were at the rest area so I talked to them. Working local on Monday ... 4th and final. We get to Story City and the Comfort Inn. Check in and then go for a walk. Plan was to walk in the parking lot next door, it used to be an outlet 'building,' but that closed a year or two ago and it has been redone and the one customer than originally moved in is gone already. But there is a great big paved lot ... of ice. So we got off the ice and walked on the grass and then the dirt road for most of a half hour. Got back to the motel and waited until closer to 5 PM to go eat. Eat at the Pizza Ranch, more things that were stolen, my perks cards ... and the card from my surgery 35 years ago. When you order they ask if there is any kind of pizza you want. We should have said yes. The whole time we were there they did not put out one pizza with white sauce. At first there wasn't many pizza's as there wasn't many people, but they did keep bringing out new pizza's, just nothing better than the time before. There were a couple of non-pizza items that were good. A drink came with the meal so I tried the Hi-C, everything else had caffeine in it. Wow, I am not used to anything other than water and juice. Yuck. Back at the room, again, nothing to do but read random stuff on the internet. Boring. 191214 CA-MN Back home ... will start filling in the past write-ups. 1st stop, Clear Lake at Pilot for fuel and logbook (no logbooks) 2nd stop, Kwik Star (Kwik Trip) in Garner for logbook (none) 3rd stop at lot to pickup car 4th stop, Kwik Trip in Owatona, no logbooks a few more local stops and then home to shovel. <<< This write-up is for today. We made it back home and I have a computer :) Kind of a forced delay to get going this AM. Breakfast is not served until 7 AM here on the weekends. Circles of bacon, they also had biscuits and gravy. This is they 3rd motel in a row that seemed to have less than a half dozen people at it. 1st stop was Clear Lake at the Pilot, fuel is cheaper down here. 2nd stop was the Kwik Star, where fuel was actually cheaper, (BB hadn't looked) that at Pilot with the discount. 3rd stop in Forest City, Less than 20 RV's in the lot, -0- on the load board and 100-200 in the lot next door. Not sure when they will hit our lot. Doesn't make much difference to us right now. We are off until Jan. BB keeps the rental car and I pickup our van. Starts right off but was frozen to the ground. 4th stop for me was another Kwik Trip looking for log books. This place had lots of log books but they are all the same layout. Not sure the reason to have different brands of the same book. After that I was 'in town,' running errands for a few hours before heading home ... to shovel. Those living in our house don't shovel if they can drive over it. Comes off fairly easy on the backtop vs the gravel but some of it is stuck on until we get an above zero day. Now to start buying replacements for all the stuff I lost. So far all I have done is changed a few passwords. If there is work, we plan on heading out shortly after Christmas, and be back in mid January for a family get-together. |
