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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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200128 CA-TX 1 Bus to Austin, TX ... spending the night in Blythe, CA Trying to get delivered by Friday, on limited hours. Every minute counts, so far so good. Still writing these up a day after the fact. Breakfast was the basic. We were up and ready to go so we didn't wait until our planned time. Almost still dark when we left, no issue getting out of the parking lot. We had used BB's glass cleaner on the front window and it was much easier to see :) than last night. It is spring time in CA already. Cattle is grazing on new grass, trees look like they are going to bud out in the next week or so. Lots of work being done in the fields already. Mostly was passing trucks today. Should have been passing more of them. The speed limit for trucks in CA is 55 mph. As a bus, I can run at 65 but they must use different speedometers. Plan was to stop after a couple of hours at the rest area near Avenal. It is closed for the next six months. So instead of stopping at a truck stop, we kept going to the next rest area. 1st stop - The rest area near Buttonwillow. If we are going to make delivery on Friday, we have to manage our time, and for the next three days we are going to do that. 2nd stop - But we are also going to mostly stick to our plan. So our next stop ends up being only 40 miles down the road because of our long first leg. The Iron Skillet / Petro in Morgan Ridge. Today there was so little good food that I just got the salad bar. Salad bar includes the soup and that was potato bacon. I'm good. From here is another long leg, should have been two hours, ended up being three. First we go up and down the passes, then we are in north LA traffic ... and then the rest area is closed. This bus doesn't have much get up and go once it looses speed. I does great on the 2-3% grade but 5%+ grade it is down to 35-40 mph with the trucks. Plus is I am not a truck so I get to run in lanes that they are not supposed to. And the speed governor does not hold the speed coming down the hills, every time I would get three mph over I would get an alarm. Lots of people with their hoods open on the up hills. Also got to see the river/spill ways in action. Water moves a little faster than in the canals. Over all not bad for LA traffic. Did have one place where I needed to move over one lane and no one was letting me in so I came over on the white line. Someone laid on their horn and hit the breaks. Like my cousin has said "My blinker is not a question, I AM coming over." And in this case it was in road construction and because of the trucks ahead of me, I couldn't see there was a stalled car in the travel lane. Once I was past the stall, I got back over and when the car went past I thought they were giving me the one finger salute. When I looked closer I saw it was the remains of their Christmas antlers on the drivers side. In this area there are no truck stops so we kept going to the next rest area. 3rd stop - White Water. Took another long break so we've had two 15 minute walks today. BB likes the longer breaks ... as long as she isn't driving. 4th and final stop - Another two hours across the desert and we are in Blythe. I think at one place it is 50 miles between services and longer than that between motels. And we want to get close to 500 miles each day. So in Blythe we stop at the Quality Inn and eat at a Mexican fast food place. I couldn't picture this place until we got here. We've stayed here ... and most places ... a couple of times before. Parked in the back with the trucks and checked in. Old person ahead of us checking in was having a problem with even the most basic questions ... what color is your car? What kind? He had to go out and look. And he had all the motel info written down. King bed, etc. As soon as we checked in we walked next door, we had made it before dark but 15 minutes later it was already dark enough that pictures weren't turning out. We walked past the sit down Mexican place we have eaten at before to get to the fast food style place. Good food. They had some different kinds of drinks so I tried the pineapple, it was good. Later I was worried it might have had caffeine in it. It must not have. 200129 CA-TX 1 Bus to Austin, TX ... spending the night in Deming, NM Finally back to current. Juice machine wasn't working this AM so I had a little milk, very little. Other stuff was good. All the other truckers were gone by the time we left at 6:15. At this place breakfast started at 5, wish more places did. Some places don't start until 7 AM on the weekends. First stop was six miles down the road at the AZ POE / port of entry. When I told them at the window I would need a permit, they said someone should be in the office shortly. Turns out they don't open now until 7:30 ... but this time of the year they are in a different time zone so by the time we got to the door they were open. One person ahead of us, then when the only person in the office got to us, they asked the next person in line if they already had their over-sized permit. They did, so the desk gal said she would quick look at it ... turned out not to be so quick as it took us almost a half hour to get out of there and we are watching every minute.* When she was done with us she asked the now next person what they needed and go kind of short with them when she realized they were parking in the travel lane. But once she realized they were not a trucker (and had likely never seen a POE before) her tone changed and we were gone. 2nd stop was for fuel. it's been 650 miles and the low fuel like came on when I parked at the pump. Put in 90+ gallons in a 100 gallon usable tank. This stop was the TA in Tonopah, AZ. I had pulled off at the prior exit because miles back I could see the colors of the TA sign ... and then when we were closer I was watching a set of pups ahead of me that were swinging from one white line to the other. Didn't look at the sign again until I was on the ramp and saw it was a Chevron, not a TA. Could have still jumped back in the lane but it seemed safer to stay on the ramp and come down the other side. A few more minutes lost. After I was done fueling I went in to buy DEF as these and all pumps are on the wrong side for buses and this place was too crowded to come in backwards. They only had one box and I wanted two. Turns out they had to go to another building to get the second box so that filled out the rest of my 15 minutes. Didn't gain any drive time at this stop. 3rd stop - 2-1/2 hours to Tucson for our meal break. That is just where the food is, not much closer with parking. Sailed through Phoenix at the posted which was a huge plus. At Tucson we planned on eating at the Taco Bell in the Pilot. We've fueled and parked here a few times with RV's but had never been in the back with the trucks. After I was parked, I realized that everything was 'reserved' parking. Didn't stick around to see what that meant. We went across the street to the TTT where we have eaten before. They have new signs up now, $15 per overnight parking. We ate at Omar's ... since 1954 ... and Omar was still working. Handing out menu's, clearing tables, filling in. Food was good, BB had a BLT and I had a chicken salad sandwich and potato salad. Mine came on bread instead of a croissant. They seemed to be short handed and this whole stop took an hour. Doesn't effect our hours but does make for a longer day. 4th stop - Another long rest stop at San Simon, AZ just a few miles before the AZ-NM boarder. NM scale is miles in, I pull up to the window and without opening her window the gal behind the glass is motioning for something from me. I reach out to had her my permit ... she takes it, looks at it, hands it back and nods. Didn't say a word. I left. 5th and final stop today is in Deming. Another half hour past where we had thought we would be stopping. We are making good time, no issues so far. We are at the Quality Inn in Deming, we have stayed here also at least a couple of times before. And we ate at the Lazy Lizard. We both had Mexican, again. Couldn't eat it all. At one point we thought we would have to get up at 5 AM on Friday to make delivery, now it looks to be a more normal day, we are making good time each day. But we also realized that the closest truck washes are 45-60 miles out of route, still waiting on an answer from dispatch on that. But we'll have time if we need to go that route. 25 RV's left on the board last night and up to 37 RV's tonight including four going to Sacramento where we like to go. But we are in route to TX and these will be long gone. Earlier today there were trucks out of TX, the best one heading to Sioux Falls but that one is gone. We'll keep watching the board to see if something works for us, otherwise we have a rental car reserved and we will be home Sunday afternoon. If we get home, we will likely stay for 24 hours ... unless something really good is on the board. 200130 CA-TX 1 Bus to Austin, TX ... spending the night in Sonora, TX Still making good time. Breakfast is served in the same area we ate last night. Sign says $9 or show your room key. We've seen a few of these that are open to the public. Not sure if they ever get any takers. Real, thick, bacon. I only had one piece today, plus eggs and yogurt. A server gets us our drinks and everything is real, plates, glasses, silverware. Pull out at 7:30 just as it is getting light. Traffic is light most of the day. 1st stop is an hour down the road, cheapest fuel we will find is just as we enter TX. Almost thought we were at the wrong place. Didn't recognize the sign. TA Express. We were looking for a Petro Express, but they have changed the name. Small place and only one truck but no quick in and out. After I swipe my card, it asks for my perks card. When I say skip, it says see cashier. So the cashier starts my pump after a few tries. But the pump won't start, so I have to have someone come out and look at it. They knew what the problem was before they got to me. The last person had not hung up the DEP hose hard enough so it was still on the prior transaction. From there things went well. Clean little place. (Huge savings) A little more traffic in El Paso, at one point there is nothing between the freeway and Mexico. Glad we were not heading east. Coming from the east, 1st there was stalled truck in the traffic lane so traffic was down to one lane. Then there was an accident, maybe death, as the freeway was closed and dozens of cop cars. All traffic was routed onto the frontage road ... frontage roads run on both sides of the freeway in most populated areas. Then there was road constructions which had traffic backed up for miles. We however sailed through at close to the posted. 2nd stop was at the McDonalds in Van Horn, big dirt lot with lots of craters, but no damage to the bus. We had picked here as the Pilot at the next exit was small and online it showed they were the Greyhound stop. Greyhound signs were gone today but it is still a small lot. Loves was at the next exit and the aerial shots of that showed trucks backed up out into the street. This was a real truckers McD's. As we were walking in, there was a guy on his cell saying he couldn't make it to LA because he didn't have the hours. Inside there were two guys talking about hours of service and a third guy at a different table taking pictures of his trucking paperwork to send in. 3rd stop was a rest area about 20 miles before Fort Stockton. We took our 15 minute walk here watching out for the snakes. Not too likely today, it is pretty chilly. Called the drop from here, pretty sure we will make it by 3 PM close tomorrow. Saw quite a few transporters today including a couple Carvana trucks. Even we could move those, haul our car instead of towing it. Speed limit in TX is 80, but a lot of trucks run at 65. Had one that was running point something less than me and I tried to pass him a few times when there were breaks in the traffic then gave up. Finally I had a long enough time to get half way past him before traffic started backing up, so instead of letting me get in front, he hit the gas and got a couple of truck lengths in front of me before slowing down again.Thanks. But later when we had to get over to go around someone on the shoulder, he did slow and let me past ... but that was a half hour / hour later. Only had one border check point today. They asked it anyone was with me, 'my wife,' and is SHE was a US citizen. Never asked anything about me. 4th and final stop was in Sonora, TX, two hours past where I originally thought we would be. Now we have less than 300 miles to the drop. Sonora, Quality Inn and Pizza Hut right in the parking lot. Cash only. Chicken and Bacon pizza, it was good. We finished it all. Called dispatch while we were waiting for our food. Need to know if it was OK to wash 60 miles out of route ... he said yes, or I could backtrack 400 miles to Fort Stockton. Sometime overnight they added trucks out of San Antonio going to NC, same town as some of our trucks. I called this AM on them but by the end of the day, IA had put enough good runs out that we are going to head home as soon as we drop. Board is up over 50 and will likely stay there until mid-March. And I have my DOT medical right in the middle of this. Used to be April but it is slowly creeping a little every year. Spent tonight looking at all the routes and using Google Street to make sure I can get my bus where I want to go. Three hours to the truck was. There are two Blue Beacon's in San Antonio across the street from each other and the next closest are 100's of miles away ??? From there we will drop BB off at the airport if we have time. And I found that the address I have is for the front door, buses enter off a different street. 200131 CA-TX 1 Bus to Austin, TX, delivered ... spending the night in Fort Worth, TX Did not leave out at 5 AM, got up at 5 AM. Breakfast was good, eggs had cheese and peppers in them. Couldn't get the juice machine to work, staff had to do it for me. Only issue with the hotel was the water in the tub was running and wouldn't shut off. Even with the door closed and the fans running I could hear it. I did let the front desk know about it when we checked out. We had mentioned making this a non-stop flight. 180 miles in one stretch. 1st stop - Did do a quick stop at the Kerrville rest area, didn't even log any time for it. In and out in under five minutes. Really not much for slow downs other than in the road construction area's. That is one of the reason's we didn't get going any earlier. Can't find it now, but there is an old truckstop that we have stopped at before that 'used to be.' Huge place, fast food inside, huge motel next door. Now all that shows on the freeway sign is the fast foods and I think those are kept open by the worker trails parked down the street. Trailer homes with doors every six feet. 2nd stop - Was going to be the Petro because they had the cheapest fuel. But the 1st sign said follow the detour ... and the 2nd sign was after you were on the detour ... we were not. There was no sign saying where the detour exited. So we missed it. The Flying J was only $.04 more so we stopped there instead of back-tracking. And the Flying J was empty so I could back in to get DEF. Place was almost full a few minutes later when we left. 3rd stop was a block down the road, I thought I could see the lines at the Blue Beacon when I went to the Flying J and there wasn't any. Any I could see ... as soon as I started turning in I could see both lines were almost up to the highway. I debated going to the other Blue Beacon across the street but we had no idea how long that line was. How long could it take here??? Well the 1st truck in our line took 25 minutes. If every truck took that long we would still be in town on Monday because we were going to miss our delivery. We had given our selves three hours to be at the wash. We were there 2.25. While we were there, BB walked back to the Flying J and got a sandwich off the shelf. At one point a truck came in the out driveway and around the corners, realized their mistake and tried to back out. Finally someone who worked at the wash must have gave them the OK to drive backwards through the washout bay. This location has one bay just for washing out the inside of trailers. So the truck was able to use that lane to leave. Two and a quarter hours, and my wash took six minutes. I called the drop and left a message saying I would be there in two hours. And we headed out. Lots of traffic backed up in the oncoming lanes. Lots of cop cars trying to get somewhere to the front of the line. So many that when I heard another siren I didn't think anything of it ... until I looked in the mirror and saw a firetruck in my lane behind me. Five lanes wide and he was behind me so I got out of his way. And just back into my lane before the lane I had been in exited. Got to the airport about 2 PM and dropped BB off to get the rental car. Glad I had looked at the street views last night. I don't like going into the airports with anything big unless I have seen the street view. At my home airport you can not get in with anything that big. I have seen them stop all traffic so that a bus could back blocks out of where they were not supposed to be. There was no direct route to the drop so I had written some info down. I was able to find what I was looking for, but I had not looked at street view and the route the computer suggested should not have been . When I came off the freeway ramp, I was supposed to take the 1st right. But the solid white lines said I was not to do that, and traffic was coming so I couldn't unless I stopped in the travel lane to take a right turn from the 3rd left lane. So I missed my turn, and my only directions were from that turn. A mile plus down the road was another right. I took it guessing I would run into a street on my list sooner or later. I did, but didn't know for sure which way to go. I guessed and got it correct. Then at my next turn I couldn't see the street sign until I was almost under it because of overhanging branches. Luckily someone behind me must have known that all the buses turn there so they had left me lots of room. My next turn was into the parking lot. Again, luckily I had looked at street view last night so I knew not to go to the address on my paperwork, that was the front desk. I wanted the bus entrance. I pulled in and parked and called the number on my paperwork. No answer, as I am looking for a second number to call someone starts knocking on the windows of my bus. They were here to help, they called a couple of people and found out where on the property to take the bus. By the time I got there, someone was standing there directing me where to park. Within five minutes they had signed and I was cleared to go. I asked if BB could drive in, not without a pass from the front desk. So the guy who signed off drove the bus and me to the front gate, I unloaded all our stuff ... I hoped that BB had all her stuff in one spot, turns out she did. By the time I had everything unloaded and was ready to text BB, she was pulling in. SHE had followed the GPS and had a real adventure, U-turns, no turns, driving until the computer could catch up to where she was ... in lots of road construction, At this point she was ready to put TX on my no-go list with NYC. :) We got out of town. On the way out, BB noticed someone coming on from another freeway with the back of their U-haul open. Within a mile stuff started falling out and we had to swerve around it. Someone behind them was trying to get them to pull over, took a while but finally they did and we passed. 4th stop - as soon as the traffic thinned we pulled off at a Schlotzskys. Right next door to an In-and-Out but I held my ground. It was now after three and I hadn't eaten or used a rest room since we left this AM before 7. I got the original and BB got the turkey. Interesting bathrooms. Sign said to lock the door behind you ... three toilets, but only toilet paper next to the one on the wall. No dividers between them ... yet. For a while it seemed like there was a Scholotzskys at every 2nd or 3rd exit. In MN we are down to one in the whole state. Miss them.* * * * Saw lots of accidents again today, most all in the on coming traffic. Miles of back ups. Saw a few Buc-ees gas stations, the ones with 60 pumps, 84 toilets. Also saw some OYO motels this trip, hadn't seen them before. The 1st one I saw I thought it was an odd name, then a 2nd one, by the time I saw the 3rd one I had to look it up. One new name doesn't pop up a few times in a couple of days without there being more to the story. OYO is the biggest hotel chain ... in India. 5th and final stop was the Sleep Inn and Chic-fil-A in Fort Worth. We had planned on going further but the motels were cheaper here. $60 or so for a Sleep Inn. All the TX trucks were gone. And lots of new ones out of IA during the day. Some that we wanted more than what was left at the end of the day. But we plan on calling in tomorrow AM to head back to CA. 78 left on the board at the end of the day, more than any of the other last four years that I have kept track. Most likely we will get something going to the same area, we only need two of the seven going to that area. Plan to get to northern MO or southern IA tomorrow night and then home about noon on Sunday, do a couple of things and then head back to IA yet Sunday night. 200201 CA-TX 1 Bus to Austin, TX, delivered, heading home ... spending the night in Osceola, IA Two kinds of sausage this AM, one tasted like maybe a turkey sausage? I didn't ask. 1st stop - Less than a half hour down the road we stop for fuel. Fuel was cheapest a few miles out of route, $1.84. But we had planned on stopping at a Buc-ees until we got there. Buc-ees was on the wrong side of the road and at Shell we get a discount. It varies, but today it was $.03 so we paid $1.89. BB fueled while I called in to get work. I must have hit it just right because my phone said 7:59, it rang once and they picked up. We area heading back to CA on Monday. We get home long enough to do a couple of things, pick up a car and head back down yet Sunday night so we are ready to go Monday. Our ideal run this time would have been to Bakersfield but those runs disappeared sometime yesterday. Bakersfield is far enough south so we could have taken the southern route through NM and AZ to get there but far enough north to get up to Livermore the same day. The runs going delivering down by LA, we can't back back up in the same day. 2nd stop was at a Pilot in Norman, OK just south of OKC. Used the restrooms, bought a pop. While here, I called my pharmacy. Two of my drugs didn't have any refills on them when I called them in yesterday and I need to pick them up tomorrow before we leave again or I will run out somewhere. Talked to someone in person, I'm good. 3rd stop was at a Valero truckstop in Tonkawa. We had planned on stopping at an A&W in Rock Springs, it had burnt down. We had thought of stopping at the A&W in Livermore, but McD's was next door and they are faster. So today we DID stop at an A&W. I got a burger, rings and a root beer. Onion Rings were great. At this place the root beer was out of the machine, just like canned pop. We have had it at a couple of places where it comes out of it's own tap, no mixing with carbonated water as it fills your cup. :( Burger was OK, not a fan. BB a 'grilled' chicken sandwich. Not sure how they get the grill marks on there ... We got it to go. 4th stop - Fueled on the OK turnpike, fuel was cheaper than anywhere close to the highway or where we got off. Matfield Green at a Phillips 66. 5th stop was past Kansas City at Kearney at a Jimmy Johns. We haven't been this way for about a year and this whole area where JJ is is new. This place was not 'Freaky Fast.' We used the restroom and still had to wait for our food. Food was good. Nice change from Subway. 6th and final stop is at the Quality Inn in Osceola, IA. Walked next door to Caseys to get ice cream. I didn't have my cookie tonight so I got ice cream and some juice. It looks like we did about 700 miles today. within a few minutes of 11 hours. Maybe an hour not driving, some of the places weren't any too speedy. The day ended with 60 on the board so 18 people took runs today. Still a couple left that would have worked for us. BB already has our trip planned, mostly using the same stops as last week. RV's are a little larger but are diesels again. Saw close to a dozen of our RV's today, easy to pick out this time of year because the nose is wrapped to protect from all the gravel they put on the road. Also saw a few other transporters. Passed one heading our way a few times. Noticed him because he had a semi tractor with his plate, placards and IFTA all in the back window. The last time we saw him he was just past the KS weight scale, with a cop behind time. Not sure what his issue was, but I could take a couple of guesses. Past another transporter right after that, we hadn't seen him before and we should have as much faster than him as we were going. We were thinking he might have just pulled out of the weight scale, after spending a lot of time there. That is the location that held me put a couple of years ago because they wanted to see my plate registration. I showed them what I had and they said it wasn't good enough. So I showed them what I run with for the other company, that is what they wanted to see. So now they knew I knew what they were talking about. Finally BB went out to the bus and got her drivers book. Showed them everything was the same as mine. They still weren't happy but they let me go. <> five hours left before the airport. Two fuel stops, maybe a rest room break. Granddaughter will pick us up at the airport. 200202 CA-TX 1 Bus to Austin, TX, delivered, heading home Should be home for four hours 2 RV's to Davis, CA ... spending the night in Albert Lea, MN Breakfast, the basics. No sausage, but biscuits and gravy. Fruit was past it's prime so BB had a rare cup of juice instead. This place is one of those that, to me, is a Super 8 with a higher class name. No elevator, creaky floors, cheap fixtures, small breakfast area. Left out before daylight. Clear skies and not much traffic the whole day. 1st stop was just north of Ankeny at a Casey's. When BB checked fuel prices this AM that was the cheapest. $2.02. 2nd stop was at the MN welcome center in Glenville at the IA line. 3rd stop, couldn't wait until we got home, was at a McD's in Lakeville, MN. 4th stop was re-fueling at the Holiday closest to the airport. 5th stop was at the cell phone waiting lot so we could move our luggage from one car to the other before dropping the rental. Lots of police in the airport area today. When we got close, they had traffic stopped because someone was heading the wrong way down a one way street. Our granddaughter 2nd guessed the computer directions and missed the the turn to where we were. HOME - for long enough to do three loads of laundry. We used to have enough clothes to be out a month at a time but I guess we haven't kept up on the replacement end. Home about four hours, then had three stops to make on our way out of time. Trip took a little longer tonight, our granddaughter had hit a curb on one of the icy days and the wheel seems out of balance. She never got it into the shop so we are driving it to IA so she doesn't have to drive it ??? Stopped on our way down at Arbey's. Got to the Comfort Inn in Albert Lea about 7 PM. Re-run of last trip, it will be pretty hard to follow the map in most places. |
