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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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200714 VI R US Loadboard Monday, yesterday US - 96 WI - 9 MN - 4 WI - 5 Covid - MN deaths are still down under 10 a day from a high of 30-40 a day. Other states are not doing as well. Cases and hospital stays are both going up, deaths and ICU are going down. We spent the weekend with one daughter and family on the shore of Lake Superior last weekend. That county has had two covid cases so far. One local person and one tourist. Most eating places are take out/to go. Even the big $$ places that we used to go for the atmosphere give you your food to go. It's just not the same. Some places allow you to sit outside, but your food is now served fast food style and you are to bus / clean your own tables. Most people, 75%+, were wearing masks when close to others in town. In the park and on hikes very few masks. On the long haul driver call today, the office was walking the line between those that don't want to wear a mask and customers that say you must. There may just be some loads you don't take ... Other than that the call was all over the board. One of the final calls was someone who had contracted on, but hadn't taken a run yet. Their questions made it sound like they had no idea what the term 'independent contractor' meant. BB had two of her appointments today, still has one on Thursday and Monday. Loadboard Tuesday US - 108 WI - 9 - only one is towable MN - 4 WI - 3 200716 MN-MN IA-NE Yesterday I send a email to our local company thinking it was already Thursday, telling them I was available on Friday. Shortly after I sent the email, we got a call and had pretty much agreed to a trip before we realized we had agreed to move a truck on Thursday. But in the course of the conversation we realized that dispatch had not been able contact the drop. Later on a 2nd truck / bus was added to our day. As of this AM dispatch still hadn't made contact with the drop but the shipper says the drop wants the truck ASAP. We agree to 11 AM and when I get to the office dispatch says they tried to call me twice to say that the original truck needs work and won't ship until Friday. And they still have not made contact with the drop. As long as we are at the office we go ahead and pick up the bus. Round trip takes an hour. No issues. Two more buses at the shop that will need to be picked up once they are ready. Today was the first time I had been in the office this year. Not much has changed other than we are not supposed to go through the office, go back out the same door you came in. I did see a lot of shuttle drivers at the office and no drivers. Not sure what that was about. We are now down to do the truck from today at 9 AM tomorrow. This afternoon the long haul company held a 2nd phone meeting this week. Bigger group but same topics. Sounds like we have new shipper out of OH as well as other places so they are 'begging' people to work as much as they can. Sorry, this is supposed to be the slow time of year. We took time off and will be back as soon as we can. Finally contacted my Dr yesterday to get my BP adjusted. Soonest I could get was Monday. But BB has an appointment that day also so we are not going anywhere. Covid. Major retail chains are now requiring masks nationwide. Lots of drivers aren't happy. That is why I am not in the shuttle, I find my own ride. --- I get a call in the afternoon, they want to add another truck. It sounds good up front, moving a truck from IA to NE. Once we did the math it is going to be close ... as long as everything goes as planned. Which should have been my first red flag :) The plan had been to pick up the paperwork at 9 AM. Now we have already picked up the paperwork tonight and need to be at the 1st shipper when they open at 7:30 in Bloomington. The trip to Buffalo is a one hour trip plus the inspections and paperwork so we will be lucky to be dropped and signed by 9 AM. Then it is a 4-1/2 hour trip to Ankeny IA so we should get there at 1:30. Truck won't be ready to go until 1 PM so no reason to get there much earlier. By now I will need my half hour DOT break so I will be leaving Ankeny around 2 PM. From there it is a 3 hour trip to Gretna NE, plus signing the paperwork and inspections. So I should arrive in Gretna around 5 pm and the customer closes at 5 PM. BUT ... the final drop has agreed to meet me there back at the shop if I am running late ... good chance I will be. So up and rolling early ... we aren't planning on making it home tomorrow night. Load board US - 146 IA - 4 MN - 6 WI - 6 200717 MN-MN IA-NE 1 truck from Bloomington MN to Buffalo MN (delivered) 1 truck from Ankeny IA to Gretna NE (delivered) ... spending the night at Ankeny IA Not looking forward to this day, I like it when I plan my own day and this one is planned too tight. Alarm clock wakes us both, but we are ready before planned so we head out early just in case. We thought traffic may have been an issue? Nope. Less traffic on a Friday AM during rush hour than during the middle of the day. No slow downs and we got to the first shipper a little after 7 AM. 1st stop - Shipper in Bloomington. Everything is locked up. We were told they open at 7:30 and nothing is open until then. I try to call but no one is manning the switchboard and no one picks up at the choices I selected. At 7:30 someone comes to the door, I said who I was looking for and it was him. By then there was someone else there also to make another pickup. The shipper re-locked the door and went and got his covid sign and temp taker. We had to answer the questions and my temp was 98 even. They do have a sign on the door, 'do not pound on the glass. Call your contact and they will meet you at the door.' The shipper opened the gate long enough to let me walk in and walked me to my truck and handed me the keys. It's a pickup for running on the rails. Inspection doesn't take long and then I have to call the shipper again so he can sign the paper work. I wasn't clear (I guess) as he first assumed I was a 2nd driver wanting to pick up the same load. This is a four door pickup so I can put my placards in the back seat windows without blocking my view. And then I tape over their plate and run on my own. Getting out of town is easy. I do see firetrucks near Hwy 5 but one is sitting and the other is heading home. Other than a bunch of highway trucks I couldn't see anything else across traffic. Traffic, there was some until the road narrowed to a two lane and then there wasn't much. Pickup had less than a 1/4 tank of fuel when I picked it up and we need to leave it with a 1/4 tank so I knew I would be adding some. 2nd stop - I waited until I was in Buffalo and stopped at the Kwik Trip. BB also stopped and used the restroom but I didn't wait for her so I lost her for now. BB had mentioned when we were at the shipper that the delivery address I have is now a McDonalds so maybe my address is across the tracks. So I was aware of that when I got to Buffalo but I first went to the address on the paperwork, no drop. But I can see it across the tracks. CP Rail. 3rd stop - I just follow the road until I get to a crossing and back track. Their building is actually in the middle of the tracks. As soon as I park I call my contact and he comes out. He signs, I clear my stuff and have to wait a couple of minutes for BB who also went first to McDonalds but took a longer route getting here. One down and I am only two minutes over my estimate. So far so good. We back track from Buffalo to Plymouth and back on to the freeway. At one of the first stop lights, it turned yellow and I was kind of judging if I could make it or not before putting on the breaks. I hit the breaks, woke BB up :) and the car behind me moved to the left lane like they often do. Because of how hard I hit the breaks BB says I could have made it through the light like the pick up did. Ahhh ... the pickup was the 2nd one behind me, they went from the right lane, to the left lane to the left turn lane and through the red light to make it. Yes, they made it through the intersection, but not before the light was long red. Not sure if they were just in a hurry or if they couldn't stop with the trailer they were pulling. Still not much traffic but now that we are on the correct side of the road we can see where the firetrucks were parked. A semi is laying on its side. Took the corner to fast. Can't read the names when they are laying on their sides. 4th stop - No issues or stops until we get to Clear Lake at noon. We pick Arbeys, they have two outside tables and we get one of them. I take my half hour DOT break here. That is one thing that was not figured into my day. Food is slow so I'm still eating when my half hour is up. I had planned on doing some paperwork while we waited. Didn't happen. I haven't been to this location in Ankeny in five plus years ... but 5th stop - I find it without directions. Not quite as I remember it but the shipper used to be in the middle of corn fields and now is surrounded by warehouses. They know why I am there and where my truck is. It is sitting out ready to leave. Opps, I never checked the VIN's on either today, but they were the only trucks leaving so I should be good. I do have one 'bell' light one but they didn't know what it was and said not to worry about it. They signed, I put my placards and plate on, covered up their plate and then made two calls. Left messages for the drop and for my dispatcher. I now had three hours to go and three hours before the drop closes for the weekend. Shouldn't be a problem. :) I didn't stop for the next three hours. But BB did. This time she stopped in Adair for fuel instead of the rest area. Later she was telling me that when she stopped to fuel she grabbed the garbage to throw away and had that in one hand and her keys in the other. Then as she's walking from the garbage can back to the car she realizes she still has the garbage in one hand ... NOT AGAIN. Yep, again. She threw her car keys away ... again. She found them, cleaned them off ... At about mile maker 10 on I-80 in Iowa I first noticed a helicopter in the on coming lane. There was also a cop next to our lane waving traffic to keep moving. (Don't cause another accident) Looks like one semi rear ended another ... hard enough that the engine of the 2nd semi was almost under the drivers seat. Did see one person laying on the stretcher waiting to be loaded. Not sure if they lived, I will look for stories later. Traffic was backed up for five miles. Both lanes were stopped at the accident, then at the next exit before the accident the road was blocked and all traffic must exit. Overhead signs were still saying to use other routes when we left town two hours later. I miss-judged my exit number so I thought I would have about 10 minutes to spare. I knew the exit by sight, but not by number. Instead I only have a couple of minutes to spare. My map only showed one side street near the freeway so I took the first one ... nope. Had to turn around and now it is past 5 PM. As I am heading back to the main street I see BB go past and turn onto the next street with no markings. Missed the drop the 1st time but then someone came out of a driveway and told me were to park it. 6th stop - The person who signed was out of the building before I was stopped. He signed, I forgot my back pack in the truck until he mentioned it ... and we were done ... about five minutes late. Not back but not the way I like to run. ... and BB is hungry but not for McD's and that is the only fast food at the exit. So we keep driving and watching the blue highway signs, only the basic's near the freeway in Omaha. So we end up back in Council Bluffs where we ate a few days ago. 7th stop. After driving past and looking at all the food at this exit, we are back at Jimmy Johns. This time I don't have a bus so we use the drive thru. Looking inside I see a few of the help are wearing their chin masks, only the person at the window has his own correctly. We pull into the parking lot and eat. Not sure what all used to be at this strip mall area but Office Max is the only major name left. For food there is Cracker Barrel, Applebees, Red Lobster, Golden Corral, McD's, Taco Bell, Frazolis, DQ, Jimmy Johns, plus HoHot (must be a regional name) and Beiging. Dickeys still has their ads in the windows but the name is gone from the building. These are all a shorter walk together than your average parking spot used to be from the mall. Besides food, BB had also been looking for motels. We aren't going to be heading home and we have already been on the road for 10+ hours so we are ready to shut down. But after reading the reviews of the motels in this area, we decide to drive another three hours back to Des Moines. We have stayed at a half dozen of the Choice motels in this area and they aren't bad, just not good. But they would have been cheaper. Signs are still saying I-80 is closed so we head north on I-29 and then east on I-680 / I-880. Had to look that one up after we got to the motel. I remember it as I-680 and we saw one sign that did say I-680 but the rest were all I-880. Some time last year the road was re-numbered, to make it less confusing. Nope, I'm more confused. When we get to where I-880 and I-80 merge there were trucks coming from the direction of the accident so the road either opened or they took a short detour. Before too long we were passed by an DOT van so I'm guessing things were at least winding down. I had been watching for a DQ/Culvers ever since we left Omaha. Didn't see any so ... 8th stop - Culvers in Ankeny. but first we took the road we should have taken leaving the shipper, it would have saved us at least five minutes. We wouldn't have had to wait for cross traffic and it would have saved us an extra mile or two. Gas here at the Fleet Farm and Sams was $1.67. At Culvers there is a line for the drive thru. We eat order a small/mini custard something, no food. Then we pull into a waiting spot. After the two people behind us get there food and leave I call out to the help ... he looks at the last ticket he just delivered. 8. Eight people who came after we did have gotten their food. A few minutes later we had our food. But that added about 45 minutes vs going direct to the motel. And BB hadn't used the restroom since about 4 PM and me since noon and it was now 9 PM. Usually it is a stop we make very two hours. 9th stop - Sleep Inn Ankeny. They ask our name and the last four of our credit card and hand us the keys. We like it that way. It is still 90+ degree's at 9 PM and the heat warning doesn't start until tomorrow. Loadboard US - 116 IA - 2 MN - 7 WI - 5 IA had been at zero a good part of the day. For those that are willing to jump truck to truck and do anything, there is a lot on the board. Nothing over 2,000 miles, nothing over 1,500 miles. Only 10 over 1,000 miles. Short stuff. Shortest is 125 miles. Just under half are non-CDL. sometimes 90% are non-CDL. Depends on who has stuff on the board. The shippers that used to make up the majority of the loadboard don't. It used to be IA, MN, NC and OH. Together those four used to be 90% of the board a lot of the time. Today less than 20%, so a lot of 'unknknowns. 200717 MN-MN IA-NE 1 truck from Bloomington MN to Buffalo MN (delivered) 1 truck from Ankeny IA to Gretna NE (delivered) ... spending the night at home. We slept in today, no alarm clock. Never did go down for breakfast but did each grab one thing on the way out. ... and when I checked out I relayed how we had come to spend the night in Ankeny than Omaha. More traffic on Saturday AM than their was Friday AM during rush hour. 1st stop is at Wendy's in Clear Lake at the drive thru. I ended up with a Baconator instead of Son of Baconator or the breakfast Baconator. 1st stop, second location, was at the Pilot for fuel and restroom. Fuel was $169. We saw six trucks out of Dodge Center this AM. Three were properly marked. On two BB and I could not see the placards, but maybe we missed them (?) On the last one the placard was in the front window. 2nd stop was Culvers in Woodbury. Had to wait again. But always good. No issues with food this time, it was ready when we got to the window. Loadboard only went down by five nationwide. Heat advisory for today. So not planning on doing anything out doors at home. I do plan on getting my paperwork dropped at the office this weekend. Then Monday we both have appointments. And life is up in the air after that. Nothing on the loadboard for us locally. We've talked about getting east and just moving short stuff but that sounds like more fun in the south east in the winter. |
