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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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200601 IA-CA Here goes ... We are taking the plunge, we called in this AM and got a trip. And it looks like the covid numbers might actually be heading down, too early to know for sure. The other thing we have been watching is the protests turned riots, both here and on the route we will be traveling. That is one of the reasons we did choose CA. SC would take us through more big cities sooner. We call in to dispatch at 8 AM when they open, we are both redialing until someone answers, and it's on my call. I tell them which two I want and start giving them our information, then they ask which ONE I want. When I say both, they say only one is available. ??? I say no thanks then, they ask if I want a different run and I say no. About 10 minutes later dispatch calls back and asks if we still want the run, one of the orders had been mis-placed, not taken. So we are back on. I don't think this location has ever called us back before when things change. They need drivers. Today is the 11th day in a row the load board has been over 90. At the end of the day, our 2nd choice is still out there, SC. And there are other CA that would have worked, but it would mean dropping at two locations instead of just one. So we will be heading out tomorrow AM after my wife's dentist appointment. My appointment was canceled because of covid but she goes to a different location and her's is open. If it was going to delay our trip she would have canceled hers also but we still have five days to go under 2,000 miles. Dispatch wanted us to deliver Friday but I didn't agree. We would have to do 600+ miles a couple of days and they only require 500. I may talk to them about that, to see what is changing. We will have to wear masks at pickup and delivery and wipe things down when we deliver. Other than that we just have to still carry a document saying we are working for those area's still under lockdown. Our big change will be that we have to wear a mask at some truckstops inside. And we'll have to eat outside for lunch if can't eat indoors and we still can't eat in the RV's. And we'll be getting our food to go in the evenings if they don't have out door seating, our choice. I will call the west coast dispatcher on Friday to get his input about any work out of CA. Total, CA still pays better than SC. But SC would have paid better per day. But the riots did play into our choice also. If we had talked to the west coast dispatcher on Friday, that may have played in to it also, but I didn't. We really didn't talk about leaving or what was on the board on Friday, and just a little on Saturday. We were not watching to see what was out on the board and what was being taken. We just looked at some point on Sunday, did the math and picked. Not sure what we are going to do about my working for the local company, I'm not interested in riding up 300 miles, cramped in a van with a mask on. So far, I'm only good for about 15 minutes. Did a quick trip to Walmart today and it was OK. Quick, as in they were closing early because of the riots and we didn't know that. Last week when we went to the grocery store we were in for closer to a half hour and I was done. CA here we come. 200602 IA-CA 2 RV's to Manteca CA ... spending the night in Ankeny IA <<< Photo BB had a dentist appointment this AM so we finally got going closer to noon. Once we were on the road we got started talking about the face masks that someone had left in this car, so we messaged to see who's they were. A friends of our grand-daughter who gets them from work. BB tried one on and fit much better than anything we have so we laid them in the sun to air out and we'll use them if needed. Not sure yet where that will be. 1st stop was in Burnsville for food at Arbey's, drive thru. It would have been faster to go to Honey Baked across the block. But before we got there we met two squads with lights flashing. The closest I can find to the match I remember is the US Army Military Police. Next stop was at the Welcome center in IA to use the rest room. We aren't sure if we can use the restrooms at the office. Shortly after we get back on the road, we hear noise from the car. It's only a few more miles so I keep going to the exit so we aren't stopping on the freeway. We did find one cable tie that had busted but it wasn't long until we heard the noise again. Oh well. We are driving 'crash,' we left our car for our grand-daughter that lives with us. We would usually take our van but the tabs are expired. We ordered tabs, but they never sent them and now with all the issues, health and otherwise, we can't get a hold of anyone to ask. We get about halfway from the freeway to the office and the road is closed, with a detour. We follow it for a ways and then BB looks online and even after going five miles, it is still faster to take a U-turn and go the opposite direction. This ends up taking taking us most of an extra half hour. But we have nothing but time this trip. At the office we have to call and someone will bring us out our paperwork. They did come to the door and take our temps before they can hand us our paperwork ... and then they let BB in to use the restroom. Then we use our car to go find our RV's. When BB gets out of the car is when she realized she had left her purse in the restroom. So back to the office and make another call. Purse is still there. 100 degrees ... And we are doing our inspections. I usually shut my RV off anytime we are stopped to save gas. Not today, AC is on and RV stays on except when I have to shut if off to make sure the second key works in this RV. Our inspection takes the usual hour. Heat slows us down, having been off the road three months slows us down. One change here is that we no longer bring our inspection sheets back into the office, we use the 'tiny scanner' app and send them to the main office. Lots of people picking up RV's, a couple with masks. The rest of us are not wearing masks, no one in the office is. And a sight I didn't like to see ... RV's being flat bedded out. NO. We like to drive them. But the load board is back up over 100 tonight. Gas is cheapest in the Caseys here in Forest City so that is where we stop. And we go inside to use the restroom and buy water. We had water in another car at home but we didn't get it moved to this car. Talked about it a few minutes before we left and then ... didn't. None of the customers at Caseys were wearing masks, all the staff was. But every place has little signs where you are supposed to stand in line, six feet apart. The Super 8 in town is now an off brand. We've stayed there a few times when we were cheaper. From Forest City to the rest area in Huxley non-stop. Did see what looked to have been an accident on US-20 but I was busy watching someone making a U-turn on the freeway so I didn't get a good look at the accident. I didn't go in at this rest area, or the prior one. Limiting my contact where I can. Other than that I guess I am more aware but not using extra caution. We had talked about stopping somewhere else in Des Moines but ended up at our usual Sleep Inn in Ankeny. We know the area, the food, and being in a dead end area, roads are all dead ends, not likely to get the 'down town' trouble that is going on right now. Check in has changed. Used to have to initial a half dozen places and then sign a paper. Then use their pen to sign the credit card machine. Now, they hand you the key. Yes :) We ordered on line and then walked next door to Outback. Limited menu right now. They do have inside seating but we aren't ready for that yet. So we brought our food back to the room. What I get is often too spicy for me. And it was again tonight. So we trade chicken, BB's is pretty bland so she enjoyed the trade and so did it. We'll need to call the drop tomorrow. Delivery is by appointment only. We did get over 100 miles today :) Likely get close to 500 tomorrow, we'll see. New cases, hospitalizations, deaths all down today for covid. We thought we were jumping the gun but maybe not. In normal times, we might have stayed home a few more days. BB has an aunt that is doing very badly, but no one can see her at the hospital, not even her husband. And funerals now are either small or not at all. She had had a couple of stokes and they did some follow up tests and she went down hill from there and now 'out of it' and needs help breathing. One day down. 200603 IA-CA 2 RV's to Manteca CA ... spending the night in Sidney NE I'm now convinced my breakfast at the motels are 'free.' Because when there isn't anything ... the price doesn't go down. Instead of bacon (meat) and eggs and waffles and fruit there is now about 1/10 of the stuff and it is all pre-packaged. I had juice and a muffin. I did ask on the way out why pre-packaged yogurt wasn't available ... they ran out. We got going a little after 7 am. Rain had come through overnight, we heard the thunder a few times but all is clear today. We've done this trip enough so we know where our stops will be. 1st stop, was the Adair rest area. At some point today an RV just like mine passed us. Then later we passed one of the RV's that we'd seen at the office. He was going 55 mph. 2nd stop was at the QT for fuel. $1.69. 3rd stop was in York for lunch. No Iron Skillet for me, not ready to eat indoors yet. I didn't see any out door tables at Wendy's so we head to McDonalds. As I get out of the RV someone in the lot tells me that only the drive thru is open (and we don't fit.) So we go next door to Arbey's. At Arbey's we can order indoors and there is a nice shady, grassy area. There is also a table but that is in the sun. While we are stopped, I call the drop. We make appointments for 9:30 and 10:30 on Monday. Hopefully they don't take an hour a piece. I also asked how things would handled when we got there. 4th stop, Cozad rest area. Often times it is the Cozad Caseys because we know we wouldn't have enough fuel to get to Ogallala. Today we both still have a range of <> 100 miles once we get to Ogallala. While BB ran in, I called the west coast dispatcher. He said call him on Monday ... so maybe ?? 5th stop. Fuel in Ogallala. $1.59 at Walmart. So that is where we go, and when it has the cheapest gas it is busy. Drove around the pumps a few times before pulling in an open island. And then when we left there was only one of six working pumps in use. Timing. At one point our plan had been to stop for the night here in Ogallala. But it is only 3 PM local so we decide to keep going to the more expensive/nicer hotel in Sidney. Lots of hay being made. Lots of brands of hay balers, the big round hay balers. Some people are still doing field work, other places the corn is six inches high ... where the deer haven't eaten it off. Saw a couple of places today where the irrigation circles were leaking, major. Someone must not have checked them when they turned them on. 6th and final stop is at the Comfort Inn in Sidney. Then we call in an order to the Mexican restaurant and go to pick it up. They don't have it, so I show the person the number and what time I called ... Denver. Opps. So BB orders at this location and I go outside and call Denver and cancel that order. Here is where we should have gone outside for the 15 minutes it was going to take to make our food. We didn't. The staff was all wearing masks, but until the last group that walked in, no one was wearing a mask and the place was staying '50%' full. We took our food back to our room. Good food. Then we went for a walk, our only exercise for the day. Load board is at 109 out of IA. And if we had headed to SC instead, there is a run coming back to within 20 miles of my house. We'd have been done with our round trip on Monday. Work is issuing updates on where all the hot spots are for protests. We'll keep watching them. As of now, we plan on being within a few miles of our drop on Saturday and then take Sunday off, just in case I get a trip. 200604 IA-CA 2 RV's to Manteca CA ... spending the night in Evanston WY Limited breakfast. BB had leftovers from last night. I had two containers of yogurt and a cup of apple juice all eaten in our room. 1st stop in the port of entry in WY. We must have a mask to come in, they would prefer if you have a fax in your truck ?? that they can fax it to you. Same routine as usual. And BB had to go back in, this time to get her water bottle. 2nd stop was for fuel at the Pilot in Laramie. Diesel is cheaper at the Exxon in town but not gas. My rewards card still is not working, some day I will try again. I am still using a lot less fuel than BB and getting paid more per mile. We had to go inside to get our receipts, all the staff was wearing masks, none of the customers. Snow, somewhere we started seeing snow in WY. Just little spots in the ravens ... little as in less than the whole mountain side. 3rd stop was at Burger King in Rawlins, lobby not open so we went to the truckstop and got a Subway. I ate outside, BB did not. It was too windy. Country Pride is still closed and indoor seating for Subway is also closed. Again, staff wearing masks, but not the customers. The Big Dig east of Rock Springs has moved. Now it can be seen best about a half mile further east. There is an exit there so maybe some trip we'll pull off the freeway and try to get a better picture. 4th stop was Shell in Rock Springs. Here their rewards card does work, but the messages on the screen don't line up with the buttons so I had to do it twice. A&W is still being gutted from the fire but most of the store area is open, just not as full. As we get there another transporter pulls in that had passed us earlier. He has a cab and chassis and then two flat beds anchored on. After I fueled and used the rest room I went looking for him, found him heading down the road. Wind. These trucks are great on the down hill, they hold the speed without down shifting. But these are always downshifting on the up hill. And there is no speeding up just a little. I can put my foot half way to the floor and then it finally downshifts two gears. And then it is tacking out at over 4,000 rpms. Not much else to see, lots of cows, a few deer. Did meet one of our buses just before Evanston, but it was behind a truck so neither BB nor I got a good look at it. White with blue on the top, no markings on the back. But heading east on I-80. 5th stop is the Quality Inn in Evanston, WY. There is a Comfort Inn across the street but this place is a lot cheaper and gets better reviews. It's old but seems to be kept up. Here we were back to the same routine. Show them both my credit card and drivers license, initial, intial and sign. Walked across the street for to go food. They had in door seating and no one was wearing masks. We ordered and then waited outside until our food should have been ready. It was, they were just bagging it. We've eaten here before, nothing special. It's closest and not fast food. Its about a mile to the place inside the Best Western. That food was good. After we were done eating in our room we went for a walk. Found a Knights Inn, and it has a steak house in it. And it was busy. Knights Inn's are usually the last resort of a building before it goes to being a Mom and Pop place. Loadboard out of IA is up to 121 tonight, including good runs to CA. Over half the runs on the total board are out of IA again. Looks like we'll spend tomorrow night in NV and then two nights in CA. 200605 IA-CA 2 RV's to Manteca CA ... spending the night in Winnemucca NV Rough couple of nights for sleeping. I sleep, but not well. The good news is I haven't been tired during the day.* * * * Bad news this AM is that I have a bruise on my arm that looked like it just happened, and it got darker during the day. I also had a huge bruise on the other arm a few weeks ago much bigger and darker than this one. I have no idea where or how I got either one of them. Looks like I'm starting to have 'old people's issues.' Other bad news is that my BP is back up to where it was before I started taking this last medication. So I see another phone visit with the Dr in my future. Breakfast today is a bag lunch. Bottle of water, an apple, a muffin and a breakfast bar. Motel price is good still, under $50. We get going around 8 AM local. It's (almost) all down hill for the next two hours. I gain a range of about 40 miles. We have to cross the UT scale, haven't had an issue here with this company yet. Coming down the hill in places I would tap the breaks to keep the speed down. Brake light comes on and stays on. 1st stop is past Salt Lake in Tooele/Center Point at the Flying J. Sign says masks must be worn except at Denny's so we go back to our RV's and get our masks. And we are the only people we see going in, in and heading out that are wearing masks except the employee's. I had checked the break fluid when we got to Flying J and when I re-started the RV to leave the break light was out. Whew. When we leave UT we have to cross a second scale. Right across from this scale is the inbound scale ... and a bus ... going to Duluth MN :) 2nd stop is for fuel and food at Pilot in West Wendover. I see transporters parked, see one person who says Hi as I'm fueling that I think is a transporter. Then when we park to go in we talk to the guy I had seen earlier. He used to work for our company but now works for companies out of IN where he lives. I had called for our NV permits before we left the motel this AM and gotten mine emailed to me shortly after. We can't find BB's in our email so I call. Finally at the same time they re-send, BB finds it in the junk box. But wireless service here is so slow it hadn't updated before I had called. We eat at an Arbey's inside Pilot. And we eat indoors, first time since March. Only one other couple in the sitting area and maybe four customers at the counter the half hour we were there. Other transporter was still talking to other transporters when we left, we never did see any of them again. 3rd stop is in Elko at our Sinclear for a break. Didn't pay attention to see if anyone was wearing masks, BB did so I did this time. Somewhere between our 3rd and 4th stops we saw three more Duluth buses. That would be nice but how may is Duluth getting? I couldn't find anything online. 4th stop is the Maverick in Winnemucca for fuel. Neither pump gives us receipts so I end up going in twice. With no mask. Another couple of miles down the road and we are at the Quality Inn for the night. The attached casinos just re-opened yesterday AM and we thought maybe this place would be busy, it's not. Neither were the little casino area's at the other places we stopped. Not busy, but no one taking much for precautions. Desk clerk had on a mask, but the restaurant seem to be open with no (visible) restrictions. We called to order food across the street from the motel at the Pig. Food would be ready in five minutes and it was ready when we got there. This town used to have little flags you were supposed to carry as you crossed the street. They have all been removed for now. Not sure if is because no one is in town or they could carry covid with so many uses per day. I had the French Dip, BB had a chicken salad. Good food. haven't had bad food there yet. I think all the staff there had masks, some where on their face ... or neck ... or forehead. After we were done eating we went down for a walk, first we noticed all the people, then the sand. Everyone seems to be lining up like they are waiting for a parade, but nothing is listed on any of the event websites in town. Maybe this is what they do here every Friday night. We walked a total of eight minutes out and back. Sand blowing, even the hills in the distance are hazy from the blowing sand. So far BB is still doing the cleaning every night at the motel. I had given it three nights, this is night four. She wipes down all the surfaces we are likely to use with Lysol wipes. Load board has been over 90 for the last 15 days, and over 100 for half of those days. We are still debating where we are going to stay for the next two nights. Because of our permit we need to be out of NV before noon tomorrow, otherwise we might have stayed one of the nights in Reno/Verdi. I am not a big fan of the area from Stockton to Bakersfield, in general it seems to be not well kept. And I've stayed in the area 10 years ago and didn't feel safe walking then ... We know the area up at Rocklin now, but staying there would mean 80 miles Monday morning or drive that 80 on Sunday to stay in two different motels. That would mess with my hours but I don't see that as being an issue this trip. We've stayed at a nice Comfort Inn west of Manteca where we will be dropping. But they have very limited parking and not much food close by. (And last time we were there we saw someone eating out of the dumpster) ... it's also there that I had my last eye issue. Nicest motel is less than a mile from the drop, a Best Western. I've spent a lot of time looking at the area and it does seem to be OK, not as nice homes as Rocklin but didn't see any rolled barb wire either. It does share a parking lot with a Chic-fil-a and there is an In-n-Out across the street. And there are stop lights. We'll have to decide before we get too far tomorrow. 200606 IA-CA 2 RV's to Manteca CA ... spending the night in Manteca, and tomorrow night BP was still an issue today, I was able to get it down on the 3rd try. Three tries is what they give us at the clinic. So on my log of readings, I use the the 1st number where the top number is over 100 and under 140 up to three try's. Yesterday I had mentioned that people were lining up along the highway in front of the motel. This AM I asked the desk clerk what the occasion was. The only thing they knew of was the protests. Didn't know that was something that spectators came to watch ... small town. Breakfast, same as usual. Free at the Motel T cafe. I think the is the same server we have had in the past. European accent and very disorganized. Food was still good. Eggs, juice, toast and 4 strips of thick bacon. They only place I go where I can't eat all the bacon. All the tables in the center were open, but every other booth was roped off. And by the time we left most of the tables were stacked with dirty dishes. The server didn't pick up any of them as she walked past empty handed. Got going about 7 AM local. Sand isn't blowing this AM. Not a lot of progress on the Loves on the west end of town. There now is a sign that says opening soon, but there still aren't any buildings ... just acres of fresh blacktop. 1st stop is at the Flying J in Fernley. Noticed one of the help working with food had their mask around their neck. Also the on-site casio must have been boarded off. Now it is open enough to get into the casino but still lots of plywood. It used to be mostly open to the rest of the store on two sides. On the curves like Evanston to SLC and over Donners Pass I have been slowing down to 55 mph. And on the hills today I slowed to 60 mph both up and down and that has kept the RPMs under 4,000. It takes a few minutes more but we have nothing but time. Snow on Donners Pass is gone but still some on the higher hills and the ski area's. 2nd stop is the rest area at Gold Run, we had talked about stopping for food but the Burger King that used to be a couple exits away is now closed and we had a huge breakfast. We made our motel reservations from here. After lots of checking we decided to stay right in Manteca, less than a mile from the drop. We also checked to make sure we had enough fuel to make it the rest of the way. BB started the day with a range of 30 miles more than we needed. Usually we gain miles coming down Donners Pass we gain lots of range. But ... we knew ... and there was ... slow traffic on CA-99 south of Sacramento. Lots of signs saying to find a different way, we didn't. Should have gone the extra miles, we spent about an hour extra in traffic. It took three hours to go less than 120 miles. Because one lane was closed for a quarter mile. Two squads sitting in the closed lane but no one working and visible road damage. Some times we have gotten into the lane that says 'lane closed ahead,' that is the one that usually moves the fastest and did today, but we didn't get into it. I ended up with a range of 40 miles more than I needed and ended with 80 more than I needed. BB started with 30 more and ended with 40 more. Between the two of us we made $50+ on fuel. No special pricing, just looking at GasBuddy and driving 65 mph (requirement of the shipper.) When we pull off the freeway, the cross street is at a dead stop. I kind of guessed the reason, but once we got closer I could see ... A new Chic-fil-A. One lane of the main street is backed up for a couple of blocks to get into their lot, then the lane becomes two. I'm not sure I'd ever want to park and go in, no way to get out. 3rd stop, Best Western in Manteca. Checked into the motel and then called Chic-fil-A to see if the lobby was open, it is not and they do not take walk ups or do delivery. So we walked back to the motel office to see who was open. Everyone. They just have different options. The closest Mexican place came highly recommended but we ended up walking to a Panera instead maybe a block away. Unlike the Chic-Fil-A, the staff outnumber us, their only customer, 5-1. Again I got a 2nd cookie that I didn't order, but I didn't complain. We didn't go for any additional walk but the area seems safe enough. I'm guessing there are the usual homeless camps close by, it looked like a couple just on the other side of the freeway sound wall from us, but they were kind of hidden by the bushes. When I look online to view what an area looks like, I look for fences. With barb wire on top. Or razor wire on top. That was a good way to tell how safe the area is. Until last night I was searching Google and found out that razor wire is illegal in Fresno ... and who knows where else. So if it is illegal it won't show up on the street view and you won't know how safe the area is ... mmm. I didn't see the why of it being illegal. Lots of food within walking distance, looks like about 25 places within three blocks plus the places that deliver. We're good. Loadboard dropped five runs from yesterday. It's Saturday so nothing new on the board. As of right now Monday's plan is ... drop, call dispatch. If dispatch says no work, we'll leave right away. If they say maybe, we'll stay until after 5 PM. If dispatch says yes, but not today we will stay. Or if he says come and get it, we will. Now that I will have Sunday off we can get anywhere west of the Mississippi by Friday and not run out of hours. Anything beyond will be Monday. Covid. Our MN numbers had come down for two days, then were back up and now slightly back down again for Friday. The average for the last four days is lower than any four days in the prior few weeks. Protests. There are signs reminding people of curfew, other than that no signs of groups of people or damage. 200607 IA-CA 2 RV's to Manteca CA ... spending the night in Manteca CA Re-start day. Mostly because we were ready to go and the loads we grabbed likely wouldn't be available the next day. Breakfast was another packaged 'to go' bag. Today's had a bottle of OJ, orange, pastry and a breakfast bar. A couple of hours later we went for a walk through the residential area. Very quite on a Sunday AM, the area looked OK, but it also looked like people were doing the minimum to comply with local ordinances. It was an early AM here so it was still cool and cooler that it is back in MN. At noon we walked across the highway to In-n-Out Burger. All the employee's were wearing masks. We could go in-doors to order but no indoor seating. In the out door seating area there was one of seven tables that was NA. Not sure why. Didn't seem to be due to percentage or closeness. Maybe half the people coming in were wearing masks. Some took their masks off as soon as they saw others with no masks, others took off their masks as soon as they walked out of the restroom. We ate outside at one of the tables. Did not wipe it down first, but also didn't eat off of it. It was in full sun, no canopy. Sat indoors all after noon and then in the evening we ordered pizza delivered. Only ate half so now we have breakfast and our motel breakfast will be to go. Tomorrow AM we will likely leave about 8 AM to go get the rental car. My drop is at 9:30 and is a mile away. But we do have to put in final fuel first. We might do that just to the west of the motel. We need somewhere to turn around and we might as fuel while we are there. MN load board didn't change since yesterday. MN covid - Loosening restrictions more on Wednesday. Must wear masks in hair places? Maybe I won't be getting a hair cut any time soon. Not sure what the guidelines were before but now some things can open at 25% and others at 50%. One long day. Not used to sitting indoors all day. At home at least I have long places I can walk. Not ready to just sit. |
