 |
|
|
|
|
...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
|
2 RV's to CA ... spending the night at Ankeny IA Most days these write ups are done at the end of they day. For today, I am going to start by updating as things change. 8 AM - 21 on the load board 8:10 - 20 8: 20 - 18 8:30 - 15 and Jct City is gone, we no longer have a match to get west. The WA are gone now also. 8:40 - 14 8:50 - 15 with the new one being a Davis CA :) but just one so far. Doing a lot of talking about just taking the Davis. We won't make as much money and BB needs to drive to stay current. 30 days will be coming up since she's driven. Then I need to do my DOT and then she has Dr's appointments again. Also looking at the DOT exemptions for Covid ... 9:50 - 15 10 AM - 21 - We grab two for CA ... more later. 8 pm - it is now later. A Davis CA run had shown up on the load board just before 9 AM and we debated on taking the sure one and waiting for a possible 2nd and then running with just one if needed. We pretty much will still talking about it when a 2nd CA run showed up an hour later that works. But at the same time three Sandy UT no-tow trips show up. We make a little more for the trip with the no-tow, but then we are still a day away from the bus, so by the time we get to the bus we are behind. We call dispatch. Actually I call dispatch first and my phone makes the call but then my screen doesn't give me the dial pad so I can't select the extension. BB quickly dials and hands me the phone, but she has it on speaker and that doesn't work for me ... a few seconds later and we are talking. We get the runs and start to get ready. BB was already packed and ready before the call. I have to pack, shower and get ready. We are working again! First stop is for gas in Lakeville. $1.99, lots cheaper than local. 2nd stop is in Albert Lea for food. Wendy's inside of Loves. One of the guys in line didn't have a mask and they would not take his order. The customer tried to hold his cap over his mouth but that was a no go. No big seen, he just walked away. 3rd stop at pickup. Only two drivers in the office at a time. We are the only ones there. We get our temps taken and get our paperwork. Dispatch seemed in a good mood so I asked out all the flat bedded RV'.s "Per customer request." I'm guessing it had a lot to do with all the rock chips last winter and I was one of those drivers. :( They told us there are bigger rigs ... but we responded that there are now less total trips and those runs paid better. It takes us our usual hour to do our inspection. While inspecting, another driver starts talking to BB and must have found out where we were going and started telling her about the cheap motels in Wendover. (been doing this for years but) Thanks for the info. There are still rental RV's waiting to ship, and right now there are eight 'shells' ready to ship. Those are the RV's without the guts that will be converted by the customer to a mobile police station or vendor demo unit. We used to move one of those for 3M. 4th stop is at the Kum and Go in Clear Lake. Both gas and diesel are cheaper there. I have the gas, with an 80 gallon tank. Gas is $1.69. Five cents cheaper than Pilot and $.30 cheaper than down the road. IA doesn't have the 'mask law' (yet,) and it already doesn't seem normal to see people coming and going without masks. But every state, every area, is different. Non-stop to the hotel. 5th and final stop is the Sleep Inn in Ankeny. We then call ahead and later walk across the street to Outback. Instead of my usual pasta, this time I get two cups of soup. One onion and the other baked potato. Someone new at the desk at the Sleep Inn and he was the first person at this motel since Covid that actually took my card to look at it instead of looking while I held it. I was going to start to run a dual log electronically but their computer knows what devices I have and will only load it onto my (non-working) cell phone. I want it on my laptop. So that is not happening on this trip. IF we ever get to do more than one trip a month, we might go somewhere other than CA. We were getting close this time, we wanted to work. Been off 11 days for me, five more than that for BB. "Driver RV's, see the country" and then we do every trip on I-80. :) I did send a message to our safety director about when I need my DOT done by. BB was looking on line and the Feds say if you have a DOT card that was good for more than 90 days that your current card is good at least until September. Had been until June and it got extended. So I'm thinking of not rushing to get mine if I don't need to. Loadboard US - 110 IA - 20 MN - 5 WI - 7 200730 IA-CA 2 RVs to CA ... spending the night at Sidney NE Awake during the night, sound asleep when the alarm went off. Woke up a couple more times while BB showered. Then I had to really wake up, sit up, and get ready for the day. Breakfast was the same as last time, a couple kinds of fruit, pastries and yogurt. I have yogurt. BB gets toast and finishes off her chicken from last night. The trucks have cleared out by the time we are ready to go so I am able to drive around the motel instead of backing out onto the street. Today is a day of drivers ... all kinds ... lots of them. First driver of the day is someone coming down the next ramp after I got on at the same speed as I am. I am slightly ahead of them but they make no move to either slow or speed up so I finally get over one lane. As soon as I move over, they kick it down from 55 to 75. If they had done that a few seconds earlier I wouldn't have had to switch lanes twice. Somewhere past Des Moines we have to pass an over sized load. From what I understand these drivers are to take up only one lane unless someone is blocking the other lane for them. This driver was just driving down the center of his lane, tires on the trailer were over the lines on both sides. Anyone wanting to pass had to get way out on the shoulder and it most places there was shoulder but people were careful about passing. 1st stop is Adair rest area. When I come out someone is talking to BB. They have asked if we can give them a jump. No, we can't. But the next person they ask will. Same trip, different week. Mostly the same stops. 2nd stop is at the Quick Trip in Gretna for fuel for BB. I won't need to fuel every time she does so I don't. This trip I am not trying as hard to save time at every stop. We aren't up against a vacation this trip like we were last trip. NOTE: Tonight after we stop for the night I looked at the news. Two stories I have been following are the 2 year old that was found in FL and then the 46 year old mother and 19 year old daughter that 'disappeared' and how they cops have been able to trace them using camerall the way from packing their car in FL to Memphis where they lost them. Well they found them yesterday AM. At 6:40 in the morning, the 46 year old mother collapsed at this gas station in Gretna ... she was ambulanced to the hospital and there she died. 3rd stop is at York at the Arbeys for lunch. We are able to order inside. Staff is all wearing masks and most of the customers in line are also. When we walked in, there were about 10 cars at the drive thru. I made note of a pickup that would have been about number 5 or 6 in line, it was number 2 in line when we walked out with our food. Both lines were moving quickly and they were fully staffed. 4th stop is Cozad at the rest area. Lot is full so I park with the big rigs and BB parks with the cars. We take a half hour break here and make some calls including calling our drops and my calling the CA dispatcher just to let him know I am on my way. Lots of trucks have to go straight through today as there is no where to park. When it is time to leave there is a rental truck parked behind the cars where you are not supposed to park and there is no room to park. He moved his truck a few times to let people past, showed them how to get past and then someone would park so no one could get past again. And in the truck lane where I was there was a truck that just pulled in ahead of when I was leaving that couldn't get all the way in a spot, but his co-driver hopped out so I knew he wasn't going anywhere. He did move for me and pulled out to the entrance back to the freeway ramp. But in NE they have posts so that there is NO PARKING on the ramps. But he got over tight to one side and I had less than six inches to get past him on the other. Lots of road construction today. 55 mph makes for good gas mileage. And the usual people that don't want to merge ... I saw a lot of people who were driving with their tires on my white line, but BB said it didn't look like it to her. In North Platte there used to be a Kubota dealer ... web page says there still is. It used to be on the north frontage road with a small building and some equipment, mostly tractors, out front. Went past today and there is a Chrysler dealership there. Building(s) are four times the size, cars everywhere. No Kabota sign, just a few pieces of equipment parked in the grass on the opposite side of the street. 5th stop was Ogallala for fuel at WalMart. One outside pump is open so I can get into that one but can't get far enough in to fuel until the person ahead of me leaves. Once they leave BB realized that there is no diesel at this island so she has to go to the outside pump at the other end. First interesting thing was someone trying to figure out how to charge their electric car, they parked in front of each station before parking at the next, and the next. Then when it was time to go, some person pulled into the other side of my island and parked at the first pump and one person went inside the store. They weren't getting fuel. Another person parked behind them waiting until they realized they were blocking me ... and ended up getting in a line that someone else was already in ... except the person who was already there was back a ways to not block traffic. I still can't go anywhere because the person who is back a ways ... is blocking me from getting past them. I finally decide to back up, even though I can see two cars behind me. I just honk and start backing. And we are moving ... what a zoo. Oh, the WalMart pumps cut off at $100 so I had to restart my pump to get a fill. I came in with a range of 60 miles and BB was just a little less. I had had a excess range of 120 miles most of the day but we must have finally caught a headwind somewhere. Plan was to stay here at the Quality Inn, but BB looked at the prices and the Comfort Inn in Sidney is only $10 more. And a world of difference. Well worth the extra one hour drive. 6th and final stop is at the Comfort Inn in Sidney. As soon as we are checked in we call and order food at the Mexican place. I make sure it is the Sidney location, not Denver like last time. :) Food was good but it was cold, not sure how warm it ever had been as the cheese in my enchiladas wasn't melted. Transporters - saw a few of them today. Not really a transporter, but we saw one of our (?) Phoenix 60 foot buses being flat bedded back east? Not sure if I am going to ask about that one or not. Then both BB and I saw a short bus, like my last one, heading east in Omaha but neither saw a name on it. We also had one of our RV's pass us, going about 75. And they wonder why they can't make any money of the fuel. We also saw a few utility lift trucks, flat beds, stacks of trucks. Three of them are sitting in different corners of this freeway intersection tonight. We have our <> plan for tomorrow. The price of gas goes up going west. How often do I want to stop to save another $4? Not sure where we will stay yet. Original plan was for Rock Springs, now we can make it to Evanston or past. Load boards US - 156 IA - 49 MN - 7 WI - 2 2 of the IA are coming to Davis, so we could have waited ... we didn't have time to look at the board today so no idea how many other loads came and went or where they were going. 200731 IA-CA 2 RVs to CA, 1 to Davis, 1 to Manteca ... spending the night at Evanston WY The marquee sign says 'Hot Breakfast.' And I mentioned that to the staff this AM. They know. It hasn't been changed. This place has things in the fridge you can microwave. BB had a croissant, I had a french toast sandwich and there were also burritos. Plus individual cups of juice and yogurt. All that food took a little longer to eat and warm up, so we left after 7:30. Not much happening today. A few stretches of road construction but not enough traffic for it to be an issue. No lines at the merge but people bunched up by the time they got through. 1st stop is the POE / port of entry at Burns WY. Faces masks are no longer required, but recommended and cash is once again. Staff is wearing masks, some people are, some are not. As we are walking out a guy without a mask is walking up and stops. I tell him they will let him in without a mask ... he asks "What do I do?" ... guess he hadn't been here before. I said just go in, there are three people behind the counter ... As we are getting ready to leave, I see an RV go past on the frontage road. Where there should have been a slide-out, there was a canvas slighting flopping in the wind. A few miles down the road I see him again, this time on the opposite side of the highway. That sided doesn't look much better. One thing I noticed was his replacement entrance door isn't as tall as the original :) Just west of Cheyenne there is a dead cow in the pasture, first saw it there last winter. Now it looks like leather laying over a skeleton, guess it will be there as long as it takes nature to get rid of it. 2nd stop is the Exxon in Laramie. $1.99. It is an extra fuel stop but saves me 20 cents a gallon on 25 gallons. I have to wait for a rental RV to fuel and them I am next They need a stop light to get out of there place, and now they are putting a Sinclair across the street. Busy place. I think less than half were wearing masks here. BB doesn't fuel. 3rd stop is Rawlins. BB goes to Walmart to fuel and I go straight to the TA and wait. We get a Subway. Sign on the door says masks required. BB had forgotten as did the next two that came to the door. Those two went back, but a few inside were not wearing masks. Busy at Subway, line. Two people working the counter and one mostly trying to keep up refilling everything they were running out of. We sat outside on the loan bench in the shade. We were just about done when someone came out the door, stood there and finally asked us if we were from around here. "Not even close" was my reply. Then I pointed to the RV's and we started talking. She and her husband are also transporters, dead heading to KS, then up to MN then down to KY. She wanted to know who we drove for and how much we got paid. She didn't know the city they were going to so when her husband walked out she asked him, he said the name and kept walking ... I guess that was her queue to get going and she was gone. When they left I saw they had their placards on the sides of their car so I'm guessing they tow. Here BB and I had the discussion ... again ... about how far we were going tonight. Because of one question I asked, BB thought that meant we were stopping in Rock Springs. No, that was just a question, I ask lots of questions. We remembered to call for our NV permits while we were stopped. They were emailed to us 4th stop is at Cruel Jacks in Rock Springs for a rest stop only. If we had stopped here for the night it was not even 3 PM. No good ice cream so I just got two lemonade. I had tried running with the AC on a few times when it got to hot but it never really cooled things down. But it is a big steal box. Finally after this stop I was paying more attention. At times the air seemed a little cooler, but later the air coming out of the vents was hot. No matter how hot the air in the RV is, the air coming out the vents should be cool/cold. I finally gave up and opened the windows again. 5th and final stop, Evanson. I stop for fuel at Flying J and BB goes to the motel. I should have gotten the discount card from BB, I could have saved another $1. I don't need fuel here yet, but gas was 40 or 50 cents a gallon cheaper here than at our next stop. We are now 740 miles from my drop and at 8 mpg I should be able to make 640. So ideally I should be able to make it from my next stop to the drop ... I'll check again in Fernly. Quality Inn is are stay. Price and reviews are better than the Comfort Inn across the street. We have never stayed there. Closest food is the Lincoln Tavern across the street. We've eaten there a few times but BB's chicken last time was not good so she didn't want to go back. So we looked at the Japanese steakhouse in the attached building to the motel. Two kinds of steaks, all most everything else was fish. One of those steaks was $25. I doubt anything there does not come in contact with fish so we passed. We looked at delivery but decided to get burgers across the street. I tried calling but they couldn't hear me (one more thing wrong with my phone?) So we walked across and ordered. Nope, this time it was not my phone. The person who answered was in the cooler. We waited about a half hour for our food. Maybe a dozen people inside. Didn't see anyone come or go. No one wearing masks (except us) Didn't see much for transporters today. A few stacks of trucks was all I remember. Supposed to be warmer tomorrow. Can't wait. Loadboard numbers US - 113 IA - 16 MN - 6 WI -0- 200801 IA-CA 2 RVs to CA, 1 to Davis, 1 to Manteca ... spending the night at Winnemucca NV Breakfast - a bottle of water and an apple in a paper bag. Plus a very small Walmart muffin and a breakfast bar. Better than nothing, almost. More health issues. In the past couple of months I have un-explained large black and blue marks on my arms. Today just after I got out of the shower, BB noticed a huge one on my butt. Again, no idea where it came from or how long ago it started. When I was down picking up my breakfast bags this AM I noticed that someone had parked behind me. So I looked closer and it was the name of my local MN company. So I walk outside to look at it because something doesn't look right. It's not. There are maybe 200 total transport companies in the US and there are two with the exact same name? This one is out of OH. It's Saturday, not a whole lot of traffic. No issues at the scale or the down hill grade. Did see one semi get pulled over on the down hill, don't remember him passing us so it could have been for something other than speed. 1st stop is at the Flying J in Tooele UT. At first I was only going to put in five gallons, BB thought at least 10 so I split it and put in a little over seven. When I got to the station I had enough fuel range to get to the drop. When I get back in to drive I see that I now have an extra range of 100 miles. Most, not all, are wearing the required masks in UT. We did a quick pull off at a rest area so I knew for sure where BB wanted to get fuel. 2nd stop is at the Sinclair just before Wendover. Cheapest diesel, 30-35 cents cheaper than the Pilot five miles down the road. So even on 20 gallons it is worth it. I didn't need fuel so I just stayed in my RV. Noticed the pickup next to me was covered in salt, even the bike hanging over the back of the pickup bed was covered in white like it had been in a snow storm ... maybe a little rust in their future? 3rd stop five miles down the road at the Pilot in West Wendover at the Arbeys. We ate inside again. Fairly big eating area and most of the time it was just us eating. Others would order and go. 30 minutes indoors without a mask. French dip for me. Beats another burger. Ended up taking another 15 minutes after we were done eating ... just because, I guess. 4th stop is at the Sinclair at Elko. It is now 99 degrees. I get an ice cream cookie sandwich, BB doesn't want any of it. It is big and frozen so it takes a bit to eat. I should have gotten more lemonade. Water just doesn't cut it for me. I have realized that as soon as my RV downshifts, the AC shuts off. And there are a lot of hills that force the RV to down shift. I'm still kicking the cruise off every time it down shifts to fourth to try and keep the RPM's under 4,000. Not sure if it is doing the mileage any good by kicking the cruise off but it is saving on the engine. On the down hill it seems that if I keep the speed under 60 the RPM's will stay under 4,000. Leaving from the station to get back on the freeway we see a transporter. He was still on the freeway and had to highway patrols parked behind him. Better him than us. NV scale wasn't open today and the next one I don't think ever has been, yet. That was pretty much all we saw for transporters today. Did see a few stacks, but no singles on than this guy and the one at the motel. 5th and final Winnemucca. First I lead BB past the Maverick so she can fuel. I keep going and get off the road, it is only a couple of miles from the motel. Yep, still 99. Feels like 99 so it must be dry. No long walks tonight. We are back at the Quality Inn/Model T Casino motel for the night. Masks required but we see a few without. Shortly after checking in we call across the street to the Pig to order to go. "Ready in five minutes." ... it will take us longer to walk there than that. That was plenty far to walk even without having to wait for traffic either way. Streets are pretty quiet. BB had pulled pork and a salad. I had the philly and potato salad. I left some of mine, too much, too good. But I'm sure I'll be feeling better in a few hours than if I had eaten it all. Need to be out of the state by 11 AM so we will be out of the motel before 8 AM. My range has dropped from an excess of 100 miles to an excess of 60 miles. Still not sure when or if I will add more. Plenty of stations so that isn't an issue as long as the gauge is correct. Usually we gain miles going down the pass. And I should still have a range of 140 when we start down the pass. Load board US - 100 IA - 15 MN - 4 WI - 1 Short day tomorrow, about five hours depending on where we stay. We have stayed in Rocklin but last two times the lot was full of tree trucks. Maybe we will pull in and see if we fit. BB has also looked at a Days Inn a mile from the drop. Says online they have RV parking. 200802 IA-CA 2 RVs to CA, 1 to Davis, 1 to Manteca ... spending the night at Rocklin CA I was awake or awoken about 2 in the morning by people talking loudly in the hall. BB had heard people last night walking or exercising in the room above us. Neither of us heard what the other did so both of us got some sleep. Breakfast, always too much food here and we forget to say hold some of the bacon. With this motel, you get a free hot breakfast at the in motel restaurant. We get the two eggs, meat, toast and juice. The meat is four slices of good thick bacon. I don't know if we have ever both eaten it all, not because it is bad but because it is too much. And I don't get toast. Usually there is just one person waiting on all the tables and most of the tables have stuff stacked on them waiting to be cleared. This time she is there, plus two more and for a while we were the only customers. This is another place we have eaten indoors. We hadn't planned on it but the place was empty so we did. Pulled out before 7 AM local, BB had been up since 4:30 local so we were ready to go. And this is the second time that I have dropped my face mask in a parking lot, retraced my steps and found it on the ground. Helps to have a unique one. But I should be getting a new mask. I don't wear it for long at a time, but have been wearing it for a few weeks. And now my nose has a really bad case of acne. Half a dozen blood scabs right now. One the way out of town I see an RV like BB's in a parking lot with OR plates. Couldn't see if it was a transporter or not. 1st stop Fernley for the rest room. This time we park with the big rigs instead of trying to fit in with the cars. As we are walking up to the building we see an RV with writing on the window so I am looking closer. One of our transport tags are in the side window so I step back to the drivers window, he rolls the window down, and we talk for a couple of minuets. He is heading to Mogan Hill dealer with an RV out of Indiana. He said there had been 10 RV's on the load board that day. I haven't been watching so I didn't know we were ever getting anything anymore. We see the driver again as we are walking out and he is walking in. Because we are going to be getting to the motel very early anyways, we take a half hour break here and just walk around the parking lot. And we see a flat bed with two of our small RV's on it. If the timing had been right I would have asked where he was going. But I'm guessing I will be waiting for him tomorrow AM. 2nd stop ... was supposed to have been Gold Run rest area ... but. We didn't make it that far. When we left this AM and still when we left Fernley I had an excess fuel mileage range of sixty miles. I lost it. I had told BB that I wouldn't worry about the range until I was down to a 50 mile range, which should have been never. But I got down to 50 at Emigrant Gap and I had 48 miles to go. I do not want to be pulling into the motel with 2 miles to spare ... and the sixty mile excess had been past my drop 30 miles down the road so I lost a 90 mile range. Shell was crowded but I lucked out and pulled right in while others waited in other lines. I didn't pay attention and to get the Shell rewards discount you need to swipe their card first. Didn't do that so lost out on $.27. At first I was only going to put in 5 gallons, then 10, then saw that fuel was $3.59 a gallon instead of under $2 so I stopped at 9 gallons knowing I may have to put more in later. My range went from 50 miles to 170 miles on 9 gallon, that is over 13 mpg. I am getting 8.5. It had been 8 mpg in IA and NE, then up to 8.5 in WY now after fueling and on the down hill side of the mountain it has gone up to 8.7. Lots of traffic. And I find the slow ones and stay behind them. Mostly because I can't get over but also because we are not in a rush. Might have lost that 15 minutes we gained taking the long break. 3rd and final stop. Short day. Rocklin at the Comfort Inn. We do not make a reservation until we are parked. This place has at least a dozen tree trucks. And when we get here someone had blocked the spot I wanted with a pickup and boat, taking up six spots. Not a big deal, there was also a spot outside the trees of the main lot that I fit in, taking up two marked spots and staying within the lines. There were a couple of other places where I would have taken up 5-6 spots but it would have been tight. No rooms ready yet so we walk to Sourdough and Co, a Subway like place. We've eaten here before but now they have most of the area inside blocked off. Only three people allowed inside, order at the cash register and wait outside. The only people at the outside tables were the ones waiting for food, except us. And later someone else. I had a chicken salad sandwich and broccoli soup and BB had a sandwich and a drink. I could have gotten a smaller sandwich or no soup. When we get back there is an RV in one of the spots I had eye balled. The guy is still checking in so we said a quick hi. He says he is delivering in West Sacramento. (I think his paperwork is wrong and I will see him later in Davis) But I just said we used to deliver there but we now deliver in Davis. We've looked at all our stops for tomorrow and my hours. Not sure how but I have 10 hours a day left for next week through Friday. It doesn't look right but all the numbers are there. So we can get the bus and go ... I hope. We checked in before 3 PM and finally at 5:30 we walked to the closest fast food. Taco Bell. No seating inside but we can order inside. This is the first Taco Bell that I have seen that self order/self pay stations. We have our food in a couple minutes and walk back. I didn't look at the time but it was supposed to be around 99 degrees. Not a good day to take a two mile hike on the asphalt so we didn't. ... the trip continues HERE |
