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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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200122 IA-NV On our way to Carson City, NV with 2 RV's. Made it to Albert Lea tonight ... at least a dozen people in the ditch and it took about 50% longer. Plan was to be home to spend time with family on Saturday and then head out. Ended up weather was bad so we almost canceled but didn't. But we wouldn't be able to call in for work until Friday and by then dispatch had pulled everything off the board because the weather was worst in IA than MN. By Monday we had decided we didn't want anything on the board, something better always comes along ;) During the day Monday they put out two RV's going west of LA. But BB didn't want to drive in LA traffic and by the time I showed her we could avoid LA in the same amount of time ... the runs were gone. Then there were RV's going out by Glacier, but it's cold out there. Money was good though. On Tuesday while I wasn't home there were two going right to Sacramento where we like them, but BB didn't want to call in and talk to anyone so she called me instead. I was driving and by the time I got stopped and she did call in, they were gone. So by Wednesday we were really ready to go. These two for Carson City showed up and we grabbed them. On these we will make the least on the fuel of any of the RV's we move. Sounds like on these you have to run at 55 to make any money on the fuel. Weather was supposed to be clear anywhere on the route that BB looked. Guess she didn't look here. It took us an extra hour on a two your trip. Only had one semi come over on me, I hit the shoulder and blew the horn. Other than that it was mostly 30-40 mph. I guess. My dash light burned out a couple of weeks ago and I haven't gotten it replaced yet. Had planned on getting custom placards made, never made it to the top of my list ??? Now I'm wishing it had. On our way down, we had stopped at the clinic and then Honey Baked Ham in Burnsville. Made it as far as the Comfort Inn in Albert Lea. 200123 IA-NV 2 RV's to Carson City, NV ... made it to Lincoln, NE for the night. BB had looked out our window as soon as she got up and saw a truck going really slow and she was thinking ... oh, oh, it's bad. Then she realized that the driver was stopping on the side of the road. Today breakfast was open at 6 AM like the sign says, we've been here when that is when they start setting up. This place's meat was like a sliced ham sausage. Good. Then I was going to open my yogurt and it opened too easy. Usually it spits at me, this one didn't even pull hard until it was partly opened. I decided to just throw it. Pulled out about 6:30 ... 10 miles down the road and ... BANG ! ! ! ... our world went dark. Then I realized I could see a couple inches of light at the bottom of my windshield. The hood had come unlatched, flipped back against the windshield and cracked the windshield into thousands of cracks. Blindly got stopped on the side of the road and hoped out, flipped the hood down and realized how may cracks were in the windshield. We thought about what we should do for a few minutes. We weren't sure how strong the glass still was. I pushed on it very little and it didn't seem soft. So I ran tape over the smallest pieces. Not sure it did any good but it made me feel better, like I had done something. Luckily I had a bungee cord cord in the van that was strong enough to hold the hood down, doesn't everyone carry one of those ??? So slowly we headed out again for another 20 miles. Plan was to drive slowly. Turned out that wasn't an issue, a few miles down the road there were a dozen trucks parked on the side of the road, not sure why, maybe they couldn't make it up the hill last night. But from that point on we were able to follow someone who was going 35 mph with very few passing us. I tried to think about other things, not all the pieces of glass that could do major damage if the windshield gave way. Running a little late this AM so the office was open when we got there. We had clickers on the keys so the RV's were easy to find. Took a while to melt the snow off the windows before we could move them. After the front window was clear, BB was going to flick the wiper to get the snow off of it and it came off in her hand. So she had to get the shop to put it back together before we could move it. Then after we've killed a lot of time, I'm standing next to BB RV when I notice the windows are so tinted that I can't see her placards, the company ID's that are supposed to be able to be seen from 50 feet. We try the only other window and it's not large enough so back in the office to get the experts. Not so much experts as it is there call on a lot of this stuff. We ended up making a shrunk down copy on the copy machine and putting that in the window. More time killed. And while all this was going on I had asked one of the locals for a place to do my auto glass. I called the place I thought they were talking about and they gave me a number of someone 30 miles away. I talked to them but didn't set anything up. The van would need to be inside at 50 degrees before they could work on it. I didn't have such a place and didn't feel like waiting until spring, but we did talk about it. Then later when we were in the office they asked about the windshield and I mentioned I had called one of the places. They sounded surprised they wouldn't do windows. We finally realized I had called the wrong place. I called the right place and we could drop the van off right away and pick it up weeks from now. Finally, two hours later than we thought we'd be leaving, we use one of the RV's to shuttle the van to the shop and come back to get the 2nd RV. 1st stop is a half hour down the road at the Kum and Go in Clear Lake. Diesel is cheaper here than the truck stop. This is the place we had said we would stop but fuel was $.03 cheaper at the Casey's across the street. BB needed to run in and use the restroom so I was watching both pumps. While I was watching hers I hear liquid running ... my pump didn't shut off and it was running on the running board and then on the ground. Not sure how much I ran on the ground. BB's stopped the way it should. Neither RV was on E which is always a good sign. Somewhere before I got to Clear Lake my cruise quite working. These things always seem to be playing some tune. All kinds of warning systems and some can't be shut off. Like the cruise, if the radar sensor gets dirty, the cruise won't work. And what are the chances of the sensor getting dirty ... in the winter, in the country any time of year. So I've been driving with out a cruise most of the day. BB's works some times, some times not. 10 miles down the road from fueling and my check engine light comes on. I pull over and call dispatch. I'm OK to run, but I can't deliver until it is fixed so that likely means dropping in Reno instead of Carson City. And we need to call to make delivery appointments and get permits, all before the weekend. The fun of this job. 2nd stop. We get to the Bonanza buffet in Des Moines just before 1 PM. Good food. Too much food. We take 45 minutes. Traffic is finally going the posted again. Some playing tag with other truck drivers up and down the hills but other than that nothing else exciting. I hope we've had our fill for the day, week, month. IF we had filed auto claims on all the issues, this would be the fourth one in four weeks. We likely will just pay out of pocket. 3rd stop is the rest area in Adair. Otherwise it is 150 miles to the fuel stop from Des Moines. I park behind an RV in transport. Not ours but I know the plates. Before I get out someone is walking over to me. They are the drive of this one but also work for the company we are driving for. So we talk for a bit, about the work load, about dispatchers. Interesting stuff be we are already running behind. They pull out when we go in. When we get to Omaha we catch up to the other RV. They must be running closer to 60. My cruise worked for a bout 50 miles before shutting off again. Lots of stuff in the ditches. Cars that look like they will be buried under a drift with the next wind, a semi completely on it's side. Maybe a dozen more today. 4th stop is the QT, in Omaha. Not to be confused with the Kwik Trip. Other than no receipt at the pump, no issues here. But when we went to leave I could see cops coming with their lights on. Just before they got to us, someone in a '70's passenger van pulls over and they pull in behind them. Before I pull onto the street there is a 3rd cop. This isn't going to be a routine traffic stop. But I can't stick around to watch. BB and I had talked about the scales we'd have to cross. IA is 10,000# and over so we knew we wouldn't have to stop there and it was closed. NE has signs that say exit only if instructed and usually the little RV's don't even trip the sign to say anything ... but today they said 'must exit' ... So someone was watching and could tell we were a transporter, even if we were under weight. I'm thinking this is not a good thing and as I'm waiting in line I'm trying to think of all the things they might be looking for. But they just weight us ... and maybe were looking at our plates and placards ... and gave us the green light. 5th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Lincoln. We had hoped to make it to York or beyond. But it's getting dark and it's snowing and the temps are dropping. Likely to get slick soon. We check in and then walk to the Tractor Supply next door. These RV's use a new kind of screw head to anchor the plates on. We didn't have any tools this AM so we had just taped our plates on the inside of the window. But when we had someone from the office out looking at our placards they saw what we had done and said that is a no-no. The plate has to be under a plate light. Aw, that makes sense. We have tied them on with tie-wraps before, never knew why we weren't supposed to do that so we kept doing it. Tie wraps, one less thing to carry around. Which brings us back to why we went to the TSC. They had one set of screw drivers and one set of hex type set. We ended up with the screw driver type because they were magnetized and we have dropped these screws in the snow before. After that we walked to the new Perkins. This is the 1st time we have been here since it has been opened. In the past we had to walk a few blocks to either Arbeys or a Gyro place. Food was good at Perkins. Chicken salad sandwich, soup and we split a pie. Easy order, we both ordered the same thing. After we got back to the room I had to make sure the new tools worked, they do. BB did the planning for tomorrow. Pretty easy now that we have done this run a few times. We know what rest area's are closed, what other places are good and quick to stop at. We should make it to Laramie on Friday and then SLC on Saturday and to Reno by Sunday. We did meet four buses in transit and I was so busy looking for ID each time that I didn't look in my mirror for a plate, didn't see placards on any of them. And didn't focus on the details to see if they were the same brand as we move. IF we make it to Carson City, it is about 100 less miles paid and about 100 more miles more on the rental car. So timing should be any different to get down to Livermore for a bus. Oh, BB's check engine light came on after 5 PM so she will have to call dispatch in the AM. Maybe neither RV will get to Carson City. Long day, it's 8 PM and BB is already asleep. Our lives, this job never seems to lack for excitement. 200124 IA-NV 2 RV's to Carson City, NV ... spending the night in Laramie, WY. At some of the motels they slide the bill under the door so it makes for a faster check-out. This AM we had two bills, one for our room and one for the room above us. We paid less :)* * Bacon was included in today's breakfast. We were both us early so it was no rush getting going by 7 AM. Sun wasn't quite up but not too many miles in the dark. Signs said slippery and there were a few in the ditch including a couple of semi's. So we didn't set the cruise until the messages signs weren't saying slippery. Today's issue. I want to drive, I do not want any help or ??? from computers. Start the unit, the radio is blaring. It doesn't matter if you have had it off, muted, volume all the way down. It re-sets its self. This is not the first one I've had like this. Then you put it in gear and step on the gas ... lots of beeps and buzzers and a kid could get up to speed faster on their bike than this thing will let you. Step it all the way to the floor, no difference. Cruise works when it want's to, dirt doesn't seem to be the issue anymore. And half the time when you get near any line it applies the brakes ... fun when you are trying to pass someone and the breaks come on and they go sailing ahead. Not sure I'll ever buy a car built after 2010. I may have to spend the money and invest in a 'classic' car so I can drive the way I want to. Today would not be a good day to have to have my blood pressure checked. Pretty much 100 miles between stops today, or less. 1st stop at a rest area near Grand Island. 2nd stop was going to be another rest area, but I am not doing well on fuel. We've had that issue before heading into the Nebraska winds. Unexpected fuel stops and one time we did make it, but down to 50 mph so we would. So instead we stop at the Casey's in Cozad. Cheaper fuel than any place beyond so we fill. BB's first pump never starts pumping, the 2nd one denies all her credit cards so she has to go in and pay ... and then the card companies put a hold on them because she swiped them too many times. Once her pump starts, it is slow and it only moves at all if someone is holding to pump faster than any latch on the nozzle. The pumps display three digits after the decimal and you could right each number faster than the pump was moving. We finally stopped at $.43. And I stopped there because BB had gone in (again) to use the restroom and I wasn't watching my pump ... until I heard liquid running ... again. 2nd time this trip I have run fuel on the ground because the nozzle didn't shut it's self off. So that is going to cost a little extra. And it ends up taking us a half hour instead of the usual 15 minutes. 3rd stop is Ogallala at Wendy's for food. Fast food today, no buffet ... yet. One of the help had their kid's in the seating area. Sounded like because they were suspended from school. BB had a signal and I had a double stack. Before we went in to eat I called dispatch to tell them both RV's have still have check engine lights on. Instructions were to continue on and hope they go off.* * * * After we eat I call the drop, this location we have to call 24 hours in advance and they only take 4 units a day. They offered to take us in at 8 AM but that is the same time the shop opens, if we have to stop there first. So we set them up for 9 AM and will hope for the best. Then we called to get NV permits. My phone wasn't working there so I used BB's. Not sure the issue, two different calls and repeated calls to the same number wouldn't work. We will need another fuel stop before Laramie so we decide to fuel here at the Walmart. Only one island has diesel and one person on each side has the lanes tied up. Then after one of them is done fueling, one goes and talks to the other person, with two of us waiting, not sure what they (weren't) thinking. 4th stop is at the Loves in Sidney. Because back at Ogallala when I called in for my permit I looked at my legals and dispatch give me a book three weeks ago with only some of the legals updated. Nothing is unique, I just have to have a copy with me so we had copies made at Loves. $1.34. The old IHOP is gone from Loves and the new Taco Johns is open. As we are ready to pull out, BB calls me ... her check engine light has gone out. +++ 5th stop, POE, Port of Entry. We got the new guy. so it didn't go quite as fast but no one ahead of us so not slow either. We should make it to Laramie so BB makes a reservation. 6th and final stop. Comfort Inn in Laramie. Lot is full of kids, must be some event in town tomorrow. We get checked in and walk over to the Iron Skillet ... didn't need another buffet but it is the closest, fastest and only thing without crossing the freeway. When we got off the freeway I had noticed a city bus at the truckstop. When we were about half way to the truckstop walking, the bus pulled out so we couldn't see who or what it was. I'm guessing it may have been one of ours. Sometimes I will call ahead to let the bus dispatcher know I'm on my way, but didn't today. Too many if's. Buffet was good. Nothing special on the menu. Said there was, but didn't see it. Cost was more. I still walked away stuffed. That was our walk for the day. Dispatch pulled everything off the board which they often do if they don't want to work the weekend. Still plenty of stuff out of IA. Chasis from Scranton to MS not sure what happened there. Maybe got delivered to the wrong location and now we get to move them. Not me. Fuel is $.30 a gallon cheaper one exit back so we will likely be back peddling to start the day. $.03 isn't worth it but $.30 is. We should get going just before sunlight again tomorrow. We'll likely shut down in SLC, much nicer motel than getting to Wendover. 400 miles Saturday and then 500 miles on Sunday. If my check engine light is still on, we will stay near the shop in Reno. Then go get a rental car from the airport before dropping my RV at the dealer and BB heading to Carson City. That part of the trip is still up in the air. 200126 IA-NV 2 RV's to Carson City, NV ... spending the night in Fernley, NV, just east of Reno. Because of our permit, we can not enter NV until 9 AM Pacific so we can sleep in a little longer. BB uses some of that time to use the fitness room. I walked to Arbeys last night plus went down for cookies three times :) so that was my workout. This place had papaya mango juice, it was pretty good so I had two glasses instead of my usual partial glass of apple-orange juice. A little wet out this AM, fog/dew. We had to wipe down the windows and mirrors before we headed out. For a good share of this first leg the visibility was 1 or 2 10ths of a mile. Couldn't see the hills in NV until we were within a couple of miles, usually it is somewhere between 50-60 miles. 1st stop is the Sinclar just east of Wendover. We saved $.50 a gallon by fueling there instead of at the Pilot in West Wendover at the next exit. We cross the state line/time zone at 10 minutes after so we are legal. 2nd stop is the Sinclar west of Elko, we eat at the Port O Subs. In and out in our half hour. Just after leaving Elko it starts to rain, I had said "it's desert, how bad can it be." We found out, it did rain hard at times and the wind got quite strong also, BB ended up on the shoulder one time so we backed off on the speed. One plus of this units is the wipers, washer fluid comes out of the wiper about every inch. Also the 1st two settings are automatic. The harder it rains the faster they go, if a semi passes and splashes, they are on full speed. No reason to take the hands off the wheel. A second plus is these units hold the speed and the RPMs. The Fords want to down shift and tack out 4,000 RPMs both up and down hill. These units will hold it within 5 mph going up hill and hold almost exact going down hill, RMPs haven't gone over 3,000 the whole trip. Did see three deer walking toward the road today, other than that nothing of note. Yesterday I did see a lot of sheep near the frontage road where it didn't look like they should be. Then a short distance later, I saw the cowboy, he must have been moving them. 3rd stop, Winnemucca. It was supposed to be a rest stop but I was using more fuel again. I could make it to Fernley ... maybe. I was down to 20 mile range to spare and fuel stops are 50 miles between. We stopped at Pilot as planned, I should have stopped at the Mavrick, it would have saved us $.50 a gallon again. Between the two of us we put in 10 gallons so we 'lost' $5 on this stop. Had mentioned stopping at the new Loves but only if I saw billboards for it. No billboards. Only the shell of the fuel canopy is up so far so it will be months before it opens. Along that line, the Hampton back in Wells is still under construction. That one may be on year 2 or 3 of construction already. Not sure what the issue is. 4th and final stop is at the Comfort Inn in Fernley. We would have had daylight enough to make it, but we decided back at Winnemucca and had just spent the last two hours driving in rain and wind. Didn't want to be doing that at the end of the day on two lane roads. Drove out of the rain after Winnemucca. My cruise started working about 30 miles before Fernley and had worked for the first 30 this AM. The rest of the day was no cruise which isn't helping my MPG. After we checked in we drove to the Black Bear. There is a Wendy's and DQ next door at the Pilot but they are on the other side of the rail road tracks. Steep grade, no shoulder under the over pass. At the Black Bear they no longer have the chicken salad sandwich so I went with the meatloaf, senior size. Got the full size. BB had the fish. No desert. 50 miles left to the drop. And breakfast isn't until 6:30 AM. Once we drop we have almost a four hour drive to Livermore. 200127 IA-NV 2 RV's to Carson City, NV, delivered 1 Bus to Austin, TX ... spending the night in Santa Nella, CA It is now a day and a half later, and breakfast is a blur as likely are other things. I had enough fuel to make it ... if my range didn't change. Not likely. The range seems to go down faster than the miles on the last quarter tank. So I thought I would put in two extra gallons, then rounded it up to three and a half. $10. 1st stop was next door to the hotel at the Pilot, I got fuel, BB did not. Even after I put in $10 she still had a longer range than I did. That's what we get for talking to each other while we were filling. Off the interstate today. Two lane highway for about 50 miles. I had thought there wasn't any fuel stops but I did see them as we went past so I could have waited until closer to put in any needed fuel. 2nd stop - Mostly from memory I found the rental car place. I led BB in, she parked her RV to get the rental car and I went to fuel. Only one hose working at this place. I put in final fuel and headed to the drop. Company pays for final fuel and it has to be in the same zip code as the drop. 3rd stop. I got to the drop a half hour before our appointment so I went inside to ask where to park it. Nope, they were ready to inspect now. Then BB got there and we went back to get the 2nd RV. It was about two miles back. She fueled and then followed me to the drop. They were still inspecting mine when we got back. I wasn't planning on giving them my paperwork when I got there so I hadn't taken it out of the bag it comes in ... they ended up keeping my bag, so now I have to keep my paperwork elsewhere until it's filed at home. I got a clean inspection, BB almost did, then we both noticed that one of the decals was coming off. Opps, not our fault but an issue. Oh I did have an issue too. My fuel gauge and range would not go up after I put in my final fuel. But it still showed as 1/4 from my morning fill so they were OK. It should have been showing 1/2.. I've had units do that before. They don't want to reset. I and they shut it off and back on, nope, wouldn't reset. 4th stop. We drove up to the Reno airport to get a car to take to Livermore. We saved about $200 by using a rental car to go get a different rental car. I dropped BB off and then waited in the cell phone lot until she had a car. They we both headed back to Carson City. I hadn't really looked at a map and tried to come in from a different direction. I wouldn't have had an issue if I would have come in either the way we came in or the way we left. But it's a 'small' town. State capital. So I was able to guess my way around and got back to the rental car place. But on my way I was stopped at a light when I noticed a homeless gal picking up her bags. Not sure if she saw me looking but she walked straight towards my car across the traffic lanes. I had stopped looking directly at her but could see her peripherally. Thought she might try to get in the car, but she kept walking past ... down the traffic lanes. 5th stop - Then I had to fuel the car before returning it. We had only driven it 60 miles but had to put something in it. At first it the gauge wouldn't move ... and then it did, past where we had picked it up at. 6th stop - BB and I parked on the back side of the rental car place so we could move all our stuff from one car to the other ... and then she could return it as she had rented it. 7th stop. By now BB was hungry so we went to a place in the same parking lot. The 395 Grill. It is on US highway 395. Lots of character. The first thing I noticed was the steam powered blacktop packer. Then I noticed all the bottles and bottle caps on the walls. Then the pictures ... then the picture frames. The picture frames were made out of pop/beer cans. Then ... after we had gone to the restroom we noticed when leaving ... looking at the door heading of the restroom ... it was made to look like you were looking at the backwards lettering of the opposite. Made you stop and think, even if you were sober. Food was good. BB got a fish sandwich, I got a reuben and onion strings. Too good, too much. 8th stop - seeing we were only a mile from a cemetery, we headed there. As soon as I turned in that direction BB reminded me that we would be short on time. I didn't see that as an issue. I'd looked online and comments were these people were helpful. They would have been more helpful if I had had the names correct. But we found what I came for. This time it was a 2nd cousin of mine, her husband and son. By now it is 1 PM and we have a three and a half hour drive to get to Livermore. I wanted to go the 'shortest' route which was a road we had never been on. Another plus. A few miles down the road we saw the signs about tire chains ... hadn't thought about that. But it was a clear beautiful day so we shouldn't have any issues. Clear and beautiful at least at the bottom of the pass. It wasn't too long until we were up in the snow. The roads were mostly clear. But there were places they were not and lots of gates, open today, but to block the roads when the roads were closed. The cruise was not used much today. Lots of curves hugging the mountain. BB took lots of pictures for me. But I doubt they do it justice, I haven't looked at them yet. I know she missed a couple of pictures ... the signs that said avalanche area and a two second opportunity of distant landscape. But lots of pictures showing the snow banks higher than the cars. This next could have happened anywhere. We come up to a flag person, My lane is coned off and a stop sign lying on the ground, person talking on the phone. So I look at the oncoming traffic. I am seeing the 'slow' side of that sign so the oncoming traffic must have the stop. I start to go around the person in my lane, they wave ... to me it looks like they are pointing where to drive, so I aim for there and THEN they get excited. NO, I need to stay stopped, we are at a cross road and the side traffic has the right of way ... opps. I call the bus dispatcher again, I had called from our drop to let him know we were in town. This time he tells me he has one from KS. And yes, time is now an issue. All this slow and go through the mountains has eaten up a lot of time. Once we are out of the pass area we stop at a Wendy's to use the restroom and eat. Only the drive threw is open. Not sure if they have 'to go' cups for someone that really has to go ... We didn't order and kept going until we got to Livermore. 9th stop - McDonalds in Livermore. Then fuel at an ARCO in the same lot. We put in $5. In CA, the ARCO are cash or debit card only so we had to prepay. When BB picked up this car they told her the car was full of gas, but the gauge didn't work properly so bring it back on a quarter of a tank. So we got 3/4 of a tank free. Then we BB returns the car she asks, no, the pickup location did not mark the car as 1/4, but we do enough business with this location they just changed it. 10th stop - Picking up the bus. As soon as we got there, he told us we were going to TX instead of KS. Less miles paid, more miles and motels to get home. At some point when we were driving BB asked how many hours I had left to drive this week. I didn't know. No issues with the bus, asked the dispatcher a few questions ... which were all answered on my paperwork once I got it from him. BB called just before I pulled out wanting to know if it was OK to return the car. It's now dark and she doesn't like having to drive in the dark so she left as soon as everything was moved from the rental car to the bus. It was still daylight then. I took her route this time for the 1st time. Seems longer than the route I have taken a couple of dozen times. But there was a film on both the inside and outside of the windows that made it harder to see in the dark. It didn't wipe off with just a dry towel. Picked up BB and now had an hour drive in rush hour traffic to Santa Nella. 11th and Final stop. Quality Inn in Santa Nella. I have a place I like to park here, but I have to back in around a corner. I didn't have the feel for it tonight and it took a few times. And like sometimes, there are people that want to get past and have to go around the building a different way. Finally got it. Then realized tonight I could have parked a couple of different places on the street. Next time I'll look at those first. Almost a 14 hour day. Now to do the math. I have 25 hours to work in the next three days, then 10+ on Friday. But the drop closes at 3 PM on Friday. We won't know until tomorrow and we are past LA if we have a chance of making it Friday or if we wait and deliver on Monday.  |
