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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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191230 MN-SC Zero on the board for the last few days. Finally today they started putting a few out. The 1st few were gone as fast as we could hit re-fresh. Late in the day they put out a few that stayed so we had time to look at them and think about it. We would have had to been on the road this morning if we we going to make it to CA and back in two weeks. We weren't, so we are going to the southeast. Right now they have a dozen or so trucks coming back to IL. Over the past few weeks they have had a few coming back to MN, that would be nice. But just as long as we get something. Back to last trip and our stolen stuff. I couldn't find the computer I wanted and finally picked one up at the store one so I would have it before next year. Now that I am loading stuff on it, I realize that it only has about 1/3 of the memory as my old computer and only 1/4 of what I thought I was buying. I guess at some point I got too focused in having a CD and lost sight of memory. But before I got this far, I had a long issue with my cloud backup. I have done it by myself the prior times but something was wrong this time. After a couple of hour long phone calls to 'tech support' and the holiday, I finally got to someone who sounded like they might know something. I cut them off as soon as they started talking ... "Will the download work when it says 'disabled?' I asked. I had asked that a few times before but I never got a response. This person looked into and no, it won't. He got that corrected and we were off the phone in about five minutes. First it was going to take a couple of weeks to download, then a few days, then one night when I went to bed it was going to take another half a day and by morning it was done. Then I realized that my pictures hadn't downloaded. So back to tech support. This time I got someone right away that could talk my language and I soon realized that I had shut the picture backup off because it was taking too long. Opps ....Lost about six months worth of pictures. Not sure there is anything I can do about that. I talked to both Verizon and Best Buy and Best Buy could give me a name of someone, but he said they start at about $1,600 just to look at it. Online I can find things for $50, but I'm guessing there is no guarantee. Because of the changes on my new computer, I don't have Outlook and other stuff I am used to. I thought I could get it through the company I still do tech work for, but when I called who I was supposed to I got cut off pretty quick. I do have an Office 97 :) that i might try to install if all else fails. Not sure where I got Office 2013 that is on my old computer. Plan is to go with Google online software for the basics. So, back to today. We are going to head out about 7:30 tomorrow AM. Get down to IA about 10 and hopefully get to Moline, IL. That is our usual stopping spot. Heading to Greer, SC. 191231 MN-SC 2 RV's, heading to Greer, SC ... got as far as Moline, IL tonight. Original plan had been to wait until after 9 AM to get going. Then we did the math and realized if we were going to make delivery on Thursday, we needed to get going earlier. Alarm goes off at 6 AM. I hadn't looked out to see that it had snowed overnight. But I did get out about a half hour before we were to leave to get the van running and move the car. More snow than expected. And I hadn't cleared off the van after it rained so the doors were frozen shut. Well the locks were frozen, that was the first problem. Luckily we still have one clicker to unlock the doors. One door opened. Later we were trying to get the other doors open and I was inside kicking on them and BB was pulling on them but no luck. Then I got outside and pulled on one ... got the door handle right in my hand ... Opps. So we put the bags in the van through the front doors. Slow going but not much traffic. I94 was was mostly clear but I35 had lots of icy spots. No issues on the drive, just everything was taking longer. Just as well we didn't get here any earlier. FedEx driver delivered the 2020 plate stickers while we were in the office. So now we have everything we need for the year. No issues, but in the ice and cold it took our full hour. Usually doesn't take quite that long on the small ones. But no issues so we are ready to go. As we pulled out of our parking lot, I could see where something where a set of duels just about didn't make it. The right tire tracks went way down in the ditch, cutting the corner to short. Must have just happened because the tracks were on top the plowed snow. First stop is for fuel and food in Clear Lake. We always stop at the Pilot, but today Caseys was $.10 a gallon cheaper. But we were already at Pilot so we fueled. We thought Subway was lunch until we saw the line. And Pilot was out of hotdogs. So we looked at the line again and found a cold sandwich. Mine wasn't too bad but BB's was not good, not as in food poisoning but just yuck. 2nd stop was at the Sinclar in Center Point for a break. We often go past Cedar Rapids to the rest area but this split it more even. While we were there we made our reservation for tonight in Moline. Once we got south of Clear Lake the roads have been clear. Not too much traffic so not much to write home about. 3rd and final stop is at the Quality Inn in Moline, IL. The rate is somewhere about $50. Not a great motel but the price is good and the staff is nice. I can see our food when we pull into the motel and it looks busy. I had thought of driving down but it looked like parking might be an issue so we walked. "No tables for two" was their first comment, then they found us one and seated us right away. Then ... we looked at the menu. Steaks and Fish. That was it. So we politely said thanks, but no thanks. (I also found the person who seated us and said the same) It is New Years Eve and the place was packed with huge groups. They wouldn't even let us get just the salad bar. Even if we had wanted something off the menu it would have been four times what we could eat and about that many times what we usually pay. SO ... our New Years Eve mean was McDonald's. :) It was kind of like a Perkins at 2 AM. A few people sitting there for hours and not much traffic. Not much help either. After we had our food at our table, I went back to the counter and stood for a few minutes. No one came so I sat down ... but someone had seen me and came to our table to ask if they could help us. Not something you get every day at McD's. The water isn't high yet this year, at least not this far south. But one park had drained their pond and I could see a lot of dark below where the water line had been. As I got closer I could see that it was tires. It looked like maybe 100's of tires had been dumped in the county park pond. Could be why they drained it? Looks like there should be five of us in Greer on Thursday based on what we have seen posted. And there are still 14 trucks coming back to IL out of NC so I shouldn't have a problem getting one. Hopefully they will take delivery on Saturday. If not, it's still a paid way back. It would have been nice if they had one of those coming back to MN, but I'm not sure they will put anything else out until these are gone. There were a few more that had been on the board that were already grabbed going to the same place. And now what's left are all flagged as hot. Not sure the point of flagging them hot. They don't pay anymore. Maybe some people are just the 'good guys' and will focus on them? Hope to get 500 miles tomorrow, past Lexington, KY. That will leave about six hours and delivery for Thursday. From delivery, it is another 3 hours up to the next truck. Not likely we would get to it before dark. So we would have had to have been in Forest City this AM at sunrise to have made everything fall in place to make delivery on the 2nd truck Friday. 200101 MN-SC 2 RV's, heading to Greer, SC ... got as far as Lexington, KY tonight. HAPPY NEW YEAR. BB was up before the alarm, we were down for breakfast before 6 AM. One other guest was down eating and started talking to us. He had gone from MI to CO and was on his way back. Yogurt was all expired, juice was ??? so I only had a little. So just eggs and sausage. Windows were frosted this AM, but good dose of washer fluid got that off the front window, had to scrape the side windows. Did our inspection at 6:30 so left out about 6:45. First light was at 7 AM with sunrise at 7:30. Not much traffic so headlights weren't an issue. Did almost get to see the start of the sun rise. IL is really flat but when we came out from a freeway overpass we could already see a little of the sun. Doesn't take long to be all the way up. (Not that I was looking AT the sun) Last night after we went to bed we had talked about fueling right by the motel as the gas was cheaper. But that would change everywhere we had mapped out so we decided to stick with plan A. Good thing we did. New Years Day and the gas station was still closed as was McD's. at 6:45. Not sure what time they opened. Shortly after daylight I saw a fox in the ditch who looked like it wanted to cross the highway. I honked the horn and it shrank down. I thought it was going to try to cross between me and BB but it waited until no one was coming. 1st stop of the day was for fuel in Morton. My low fuel light was on and it was no longer giving me a range. I'm guessing the range was about 20 miles. This place used to be a Mobil gas, but now it is just Circle K. When we saw the Arby's was closed we first thought that it might be hard to find food today. Then we realized it was only 8 AM (and most Arby's don't serve breakfast.) Stopping short this AM for fuel threw our whole day off to try and only stop 3 times. About another 100 miles down the road we stop again. 2nd stop is the rest area/welcome center in IN. Covington is what the mailing address is. Quick in and out. 3rd stop was the Jimmy Johns in Brownburg, just west of Indy. We had thought of McAlister's Deli but that sometimes takes a little bit so we went for freaky fast. :) And yes, but the time I had paid and got my water, the sandwiches were done. Should have gone for one of their new 'slim's. But I thought I was hungry, until I was 1/2 done with my sandwich. Huge parking lot. It's in a strip mall that used to have a K-Mart that is now used for truck parking. Early AM was really quite on the road, some of the rest area's didn't have any trucks and very few on the highway. By noon was we got close to Indy, there was more traffic but still not bad. No slow downs around Indy, went through at the posted. This let was the full two hours. 4th stop is at the Pilot in Henrysville just north of Louisville, KY. We had planned until stopping at the rest area until we realized we'd need fuel. These fuel pumps were all being used and there was not a good place to wait in line. But we just waited until there was. Also made our reservation from here. We had thought of going a half hour past Lexington and would have had daylight but it really wouldn't gain us anything. 5th and final stop was the Comfort Inn in Lexington, KY. We have stayed here at least once before, back when we were working for three companies we had issues with the licence on a truck and had to wait until the sent us something. It was a pain but we were finally getting the routine down when we left. It was still kind of early when we got here so we waited an hour or so before walking across the street to Cracker Barrel. BB got fish and I had the meatloaf. Food and service were good ... BB likes their veggies. Looking at the overall numbers for the last three years. This is just the totals of what was left at the end of each day. It does not reflect how many were on the board and gone before the end of the day. 2017 = 12,787 2018 = 25,778 2019 = 13,108 My plan for tomorrow is to wait until we deliver before I commit to my next trip. Maybe they will have something going closer to home? I did look at a truck going to OH. The plus side of the OH would be I would pick up Thursday an hour from the drop. Down side is that it is a truck and trailer. And even if we make Friday delivery, we would still not get home until Sunday and would have a two day rental car. So the income would be about the same. 5 AM alarm would be 4 AM central ... 6+ hours of driving tomorrow before we drop. 200102 MN-SC 2 RV's, delivered to Greer, SC ... got back to Mount Airy, NC, ready to pickup next truck tomorrow AM. Even in the earlier time zone, no alarm clock. Down for breakfast when they open at 6 AM. I was not feeling real hot this AM, in fact the opposite. Usually by the time I wake up I am sweating, today I had the chills and my nose was running. Planned on just having liquids for breakfast until I saw the cheese omelette. So I had the usual, eggs, sausage and yogurt. Pulled out just after 6:30 AM, sun rise wouldn't be until 7:30 so we had most of an hour in the mostly dark. BB said she does OK in the early AM, not so in the evening. 1st stop is at the rest area/welcome center in Jellico, TN. Quick stop and roll. More traffic today. Somewhere east of Knoxville the signs said left lane closed ... and traffic came to a stop. Took us about a half hour to go two miles. I jumped into the center lane as it was shorter ... and everyone past us for the next 30 minutes. Turns out both the left and center lanes were closed by the time we got up to the accident. A semi had taken down the guardrail for a few truck lengths. Lots of fire and emergency trucks on site. Glad I was in the backup and not part of it. 2nd stop was at a WalMart for fuel and Wendy's for food in Newport TN. For some reason my range showed a lot less than BB's so I put in 10 gallon and she put in 5. (Opps) Then we went next door to Wendy's and took our half hour break to eat. While we were at Wendy's I called on my next trip. Not sure what it might be yet. First I called on a school bus that just showed up while we were eating. Just a few miles from our drop. But ... I called and they wouldn't take Saturday Delivery and not sure we could make it Friday ... that one was going to OH. And I'm not sure which licence I need for a school bus, with BB on it. So I passed. I also called on the ones going to IL and found we 'should' be able to do a Saturday drop. There is a <> 30 mile stretch along here where the speed limit is 50-55 because of the curves. We were slower than that most of the time. First we were following two mobile homes that were taking up both lanes. They finally pulled over to let everyone pass. Then it was just lots of traffic that kept everything slow. And I wasn't in the mood for driving fast and taking chances. Last time we were this way there were big slowdowns by Asheville due to road construction. Same this time. Google said we should have been to Greer by 12:30. We got there at 2:30 ... that included our breaks. Google also wanted us to take the back roads, but I prefer the freeway with new stuff. Time was the same, but freeway was more miles. I got to our final fuel with a range of more than 100 miles over what I had planned. And this time I had not planned on arriving on fumes. So I left a few $$ in the tank. After we fueling, BB parked her RV and hopped in with me, it's about two miles to the airport for the rental car. I drop her, now she knows were they are being not our 1st time here. I head back to the drop, when I call I tell them my wife will also be here ... in about 15 minutes. Nope, she was there a couple of minutes after I hung up so no issues for her. Once the person came to check us in, I walked back to the truckstop to get the rental car. BB had parked the rental and brought her RV. It took me about 10 minutes to walk there. I had asked the guy doing the inspection if there was a short cut. No .... well there is, but with all the rain he guessed I would likely leave my boots somewhere in the mud ... so I stuck to the roads. We were in and out in about an hour total for both units. Once we were delivered I called and got a Mount Airy to IL truck. There has been about 20 over the last few days ... out of NC, not all out of Mount Airy. Now it is down to 4. So now we have a plan. BB is hungry and there is not a DQ close so we head to CookOut. We've eaten at one a number of times. This time we got got burgers and shakes. These are not In-and-Out burgers but something different from the usual. And the shakes. BB's was OK, pretty hard to mess up vanilla. I had a blueberry, or that is what I ordered. It tasted purple. The first thing that was off putting was a hunk of ice ... the kind you get when ice cream has been open in the freezer too long. And I did find a few blue specks, but no berry's ... and it didn't taste like any blueberries I have ever eating. And the whole time it tasted like ice cream that had been in a cardboard container too long :( Burgers were good though. It wasn't too long and it was getting dark. Most of two hours tonight driving in the dark ... plus the hour this AM. But now we are <> a mile from my pickup in the AM. Final stop tonight is the Comfort Inn in Mount Airy. Tomorrow after we pickup, we need to backtrack to drop the rental car. Cars were a lot more if we had dropped it further down the road. I needed my paperwork printed out for my truck tomorrow so I asked the front desk if they could do it. No, but they were going to show me how on the 'guest computer.' (Something I have done a 100 times.) Once I found out that I would have to send it to their personal email, I said I'd do it myself. But I couldn't remember the passwords for my throw way accounts. Haven't gotten that info moved to this computer yet. So I had to use an active email but it seemed to clear the data when I logged out. Hopefully. Plan is to drop in IL on Saturday AM and then be home by Sunday AM ... depends on what work show up on the board, we have a full two weeks yet before we want to be back. But I'm not sure we'd risk it and take a west coast. This trip, with two legs is going to pay as much a day as the last trip did total for two weeks :) ... the trip continues HERE |
