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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2 Rv's to Junction City OR ... spending the night at Worthington MN ... Very quick stop at home. BB did our laundry, I mowed the yard. We ate some over ripe corn, a bunch of plantings of corn all got ripe at the same time while we were gone, they had been planted 10 days apart but the weather got them ripe at the same time. Didn't even pick any of the other garden stuff that was ripe. We talked about different trips and when we could leave, when we need to be back the next two times and decided to head out now. This AM there were three RV's to Junction City on the loadboard before 8 AM. We dial in at 8 AM and two are already gone. We decline the other loads they mention. At 8:20 there are still two Junction City loads on the board and a dozen or more loads have been taken off the board. So I try again, we get two runs to Junction City. What seems to happen is that people can call and put an order on hold for 30 minutes while they check their math. Or dispatch sometimes grabs everything going to one location so the driver has a choice of what they want. Either way, we got it. We had a few things to finish this AM. Shower, finish mowing, pack. And we had to stop and get more drugs. For some reason we must have had a bad connection yesterday when we called in and only half of our order was submitted. And we stopped at Jimmy Johns for food. An hour later we stop in Ellendale for gas. $1.99, one of the few places in MN under $2. Forest City. I have a 'transfer,' that is what they called used moves. About the only thing different is the document the customer needs to sign. Not sure if I am getting paid less for fuel? It seems less, but last time we did this run we both lost money on the fuel. We will see. Usually new equipment starts getting better mileage after the first 1,000 miles. This has over 5,000. I start out at 7.9 mpg and 200 miles later I am at 8.6 mpg. Before we leave we call to get our permits. BB needs to order 3, I need to order 5 and we both will need to buy our own WY permit. Mine, being used, does not have all the info I need and I sort of guess. These permits also need to know different things that we were not ready for. NV is the only permit that needs the permit start time. One of the ones today needed to know the length and the weight. We didn't have either ready. 1st stop after pickup is the Kwik Star (IA Kwik Trip) in Forest City. Mine is flashing low fuel so no free fuel in this one. I put in enough to get me to Sioux Falls where fuel will be a lot cheaper. At the Kwik Star I realize that I at some point lost my rewards card for them. Likely it was with the stuff that was stolen last winter. 1st town north of Forest City, speed limit is 45. Seems too fast so I am down under 40 mph when I meet a cop. No issue. As I am leaving town I look at the sign behind me heading into town ... 35 mph. Either I missed mine or it was missing. Lucky me. Final stop ... Comfort Inn in Worthington MN. 6 PM. We order online across the street then walk over to get the food. Bar and Grill has been in that motel for 10+ years and maybe five different names on the motel. Now it is a ma-n-pa place but the carpet still says 'TraveLodge.' Great food, too much. I saved some for breakfast. This place was over $100 so we used points. We are up to 300,000 points which is 30 plus nights free. This place also have free drinks and snacks when you check in. But we needed food so we just grabbed some olives, chips and celery. All the pop had caffine so no thanks. Lots more to say but it is time to shut down. Load board US - 265 IA - 90 MN - 11 WI - 8 200813 IA-OR 2 Rv's to Junction City OR ... spending the night at Gillette WY ... Morning. This place actually has hot food. Potatoes are in the warmer, the other warmer has wrapped breakfast sandwiches. But they are hot. I also grabbed my yogurt and juice. So that, plus my left overs from last nights sandwich and coleslaw and I have plenty. We go out and do our inspections and are out of there. SD has the message screens for their scales, I get flagged in, BB doesn't even trip it because she is under 10,000#. The scale has been re-done and it is not clear what to do so I stop before the scale, stop on the scale and when the lights don't change and I don't hear anything so I leave. I catch up to BB at the last stop light before our 1st stop. 1st stop is the Flying J in Sioux Falls for fuel. I can fuel with the big rigs with this one and get my discount. I have to wait for one truck but I pick the correct line, he pulls ahead so I can fuel and is gone when I am ready to leave. I pull over in the car parking area before I go in to get my receipt and use the restroom. I notice a man walking past as I talk to BB, then I see him again as we are leaving. Sitting on the entrance ramp to the freeway. 2nd stop is Chamberlain at the rest area. Quick stop. We are starting to see more bikes as the morning goes on. My mpg started at 8.7, went up to 8.8 but spent most of the day back down at 8.7. Finally after we got into WY and out of the head wind the mpg went up to 8.9. 3rd stop is at the Pilot in Murdo for BB to fuel and Subway. Bikes everywhere. It is lunch time. BB fuels, I park. There is one other truck parked where I do backed up against concrete median type walls. I'm barely parked and BANG. Another truck backed in and hit the wall at a good speed. I'm guessing he was thinking he would back up until he was even with the truck next too him. Their trailers were the same length but his tractor was almost half again as long as the one next to him. I end up going in and waiting in line before BB is done fueling. And there are still a dozen people ahead of us when she gets in. We order to go and sit on the steps of the RV. Seemed like a long wait but she fueled in 15 minutes and we were done eating within our 30 minute break. Lots of shapes and sizes of bikers. One I noticed was an 80 (?) year old lady with a mid-rift top and short shorts. Not a good look for someone that age. Also noticed 'bikers' who must have been hauling their bikes because I don't think they could still hold them up and ride. Also noticed one couple on a bike where the rider was leaning one way, (so they could see) and the driver was leaning the other. I would think that would get old real quick. At times we would see lots of loners. Other than those, most seemed to be in groups of a half dozen or so. Biggest group I counted was 15. Mostly single guy drivers, but a fair amount of two to a bike and most groups seemed to have at least one gal riding solo. 4th stop at the Flying J in Rapid City. We had planned to park in the back with the trucks if it was too crowded with bikes. Nope, the only bikes were at the pumps. In the parking lot there was a great big tent selling Trump merchandise, this isn't MN. While stopped, I call the bus dispatcher, I still have not been paid for the fuel on my last trip. And I call the dispatcher who has trucks in Portland going to Billings, leave a message with both. I had also messaged the guy on the Portland trucks this AM. Also tried to call the motel in Gillette but if I have to hit any numbers after dialing, I can't. So I didn't get through to anyone on that call. More bikes the closer we got to Sturgis. The Harley dealer in Rapid City looked like a county fair with all the big tents and semi's in their parking lot and in the adjacent lots. Lots of cops, but didn't see any with bikes pulled over. Saw one that really didn't make sense. First I notice the cop coming down the ramp with its lights on, then I notice a car taking a U-turn on the freeway before pulling over to stop for the cop. If the cop is already after you, why add an illegal U-turn to the ticket? 5th stop is at the Port of Entry at Sundance. I go across the scale and the light doesn't turn red until I am almost off of the scale. I thought I was going to have to back up, but then got the green. Same happened to BB but they did make her back up. Inside only one of the three behind the desk was taking cash, the other two were credit card only and we got those two. I guess it is up to the person now. Interesting that my person wouldn't take cash, but wasn't wearing a mask. Hmmm. BB commented on this later and it seems the one person who said they would take cash, actually wasn't. So it wasn't an issue for them, but the location, not the person, gets to decide on cash or credit. 6th and final stop is Gillette. I thought I was going to be doing fine on fuel so BB stopped to fuel while I went to the motel. Not directly to the motel, I hadn't looked at the map and got off at the wrong exit. BB was waiting at the fuel stop until I gave the OK that I could park at this motel. The lot didn't look very big and she thought it was on a hill (it isn't.) I pull in before looking at all the options. I am able to go ahead and back up to get around the corners because there are no cars. So instead of parking that direction, I head back out the drive and then back down the drive so I am facing out in the AM. One transporter is sort of messing things up with their parking ... but we walk past later and see bags worth of floor dry under his truck. I guess they parked where it landed. There is a deer feeding right next to where I park, the breaks and noise don't seem to bother it. When we come back with our food later it is laying in the grass a dozen feet from the drive as we walk past. It lays there. After we are checked in, I call the Mexican place across the street but no answer. So we walk over, someone is taking phone orders but either I had the wrong number or they were already on the line. We have our food in about 15 minutes. Good food, but tonight I eat it all. Other options were Hong Kong Kitchen, Subway, Pizza Hut and Burger King. If we had driven the same amount of miles each day, we would have spent tonight in Rapid City. Once I reminded BB of the motorcycle rally this week ... and the price of the motels ... we decided to make a long day of it and get to Gillette. Out here, this weekend, it seems that a campground is just a mowed area with a outhouse somewhere. Hundreds of tents and campers and the closer campgrounds. A few miles away and the campgrounds are not so full. Now that we are in the motel we look at fuel and find that the cheapest fuel for me is where BB fueled tonight, so back I go in the AM. Fuel there is cheaper than the truckstop after my discount this time. Load board US - 267 IA - 97 MN - 8 WI - 9 200814 IA-OR 2 Rv's to Junction City OR ... spending the night at Butte MT ... BUMMER ... I just completed this update, hit save and it said no internet. Lost everything I had typed. So here I go again. From yesterday ... Just east of Moorcroft WY there are 100's of train engines sitting. Saw my first self propelled hay baler at a Vermeer dealer in Rapid City And when we were just about to Rapid City, I realized that I still had the hotel keys from last night. We had never checked out. They had checked us out and sent us an email copy of the bill, even that didn't remind us what we had forgot. Breakfast, yogurt and juice. 1st stop M G Oil in Gillette - After doing the math last night, I realized I needed to get fuel and here was cheaper than later. And it's a good thing we looked both at my fuel discount and GasBuddy because this was one of those times when GasBuddy was cheaper. Right where BB had fueled last night. So back five miles. I take the freeway, BB takes city streets. BB beats me. Quick fuel, travel, inspection all in a little over 15 minutes. When we get near Sheridan I am looking for signs of the new 4B's. We had eaten at the location a few times when it was a Country Kitchen but then it was going to change. I couldn't see a thing from the freeway. Did notice that the freeway intersection was gone. Restaurant, truckstop, McD's are all on a dead end street now across from a now closed KMart. Looked online tonight and it had opened as a 4B's but is now closed. 2nd stop is the Port of Entry in Sheridan. We get called in, I'm guessing we always will as they typed our permit numbers from both WY and MT into their computer. 3rd stop was the Pilot / Town Pump in Billings for BB fuel and food. BB fuels but doesn't get her fuel discount (because it is a Town Pump?) and I wash my windows. We had picked this place because of the large 'deli' type food selection they have, but once there BB decides it is McD's today. We eat again on the steps of the RV. Just heading west out of town there is another scale. Today the guy at the desk is more interested in the gal walking from the inspection shed to his office than looking at us. We are clear to go. Today we see turkeys and pronghorns. Interesting that some of the deer were eating in the nice green irrigated field and others were eating a few feet away in the very dry grass. My fuel mileage had been going between 8.9 and 9, ending the day at 9 mpg. At 8 mpg I can make it to my drop from Missoula MT, that extra 1 mpg means I will have 70-80 miles to spare. I can live with that. I won't make much money on fuel, but I won't be loosing any either. 4th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Butte. We park a couple of places before our final park. Lot had just been re-surfaced and there were not any parking lines. So was it a drive area or a parking area? As we were driving around the motel lot, we had seen a stray dog a couple of times. The dog ends up walking with us to the front door, but I manged to get him to stay outside and the automatic door closes. But the dog is walking around and the door opens again and it walks in. We insist it is not our dog as it starts to roam the building. As we are walking to our room the dog is near one of the cleaning crew who asks if it is our dog. Then they decide it is thirsty and they grab it by the collar and that is the last we see of it. Once in the room we start looking at food. The Asian Buffet is right across the parking lot, but it is a Buffet and BB doesn't want Asian. We finally give up looking online and start walking. The Asian place is open for dine in. Found out the Mexican place was across the busier street and was inside a casino. The Taco Bell, A&W / KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut are all drive thru only. BB was ready to go back to the gas station for shelf food, but I convinced her to keep walking to Arbey's. The doors were open, we could order inside. So Arbey's it was. I did finally get paid today for last weeks fuel after three phone calls. I did not hear back about the Portland trucks after two messages, I may call again on Monday ... or may not. Less than 800 miles for the next two days. Not sure yet how we will spit it. If we spit it 50-50 the motel will be Best Western and well over $100. Quite a bit less if we go an hour less or an hour more. Load board (these are from memory as the website is now off line) US - 216 IA - 83 MN - 7 WI - 7 200815 IA-OR 2 RV's to Junction City OR ... spending the night at Pasco WA ... Breakfast ... 2 yogurts, juice. BB had hard boiled eggs and cereal. Very few cars in the lot, no trucks, two pickups with trailers were parked next to us. BB finally decided not to risk it and instead get fuel for her RV here. Her range showed she had 50 miles to spare, but there are hills and very few gas stations in the next 100 miles. Just a few miles after we leave the hotel we see an elk on the side of the road. Biggest, most intact one I've ever seen dead. Deer Lodge, from the freeway, it looks like the 4B's is still open :) 1st stop (for me) was for to-go food in Missoula at the Wheat Montana Farms & Bakery. There is a line. We are getting our food to go because we will be taking our break at the rest area. I've gotten lots of good things here, but today I want something to eat 'cold.' I get a ham and swiss on a croissant. BB gets a salad. 1st stop, part 2. We go across the street for fuel at the Flying J. Sometimes we get huge discounts, today it is just a token. Single digit. And the pump was fun. I typed in my info and looked at the screen and it had two numbers on the screen where it should have had six. I tried again, this time watching the screen. I typed in '6' and the screen showed '63.' I erased the '3' and typed '0' and the screen now showed '601.' And then it said to see cashier. I did. RV was only down to 1/4 of a tank of fuel and took over 60 gallons. Based on that ... E is E, no spare fuel. Then I restarted my pump using my personal credit card. It asks for a truck number, I type in '1' and it shows '13.' I left it. The DEF also showed 1/4 tank and I was able to put in over 9 gallons in what I had assumed was a 10 gallon tank. 45 minutes from when we got to this exit, we are ready to leave. New Loves on a different corner of the exit. Now TA, Loves, Flying J and a Ma-Pa place on the four corners. A 'no stop' at the rest area near Superior. I had just pulled out of the truck stop from fueling when I realized I had not gotten my Idaho permit out. I like to have them within reach in case the scale wants to look at them through the window. Quick stop, turns out I had had them within reach, just didn't know where. We pull in to the scale, but it looks like the shades are all down. We stop at the stop sign, and the light stays green as we cross the scale. We keep going. 2nd stop is at the Saltese rest area at the bottom of Lookout Pass. We eat our lunch and watch the RV's go past. Still seeing a few bikes and even fewer semi's. On the down hill side of one of the passes, I had been passing someone on the up side and was still in the left lane so I hadn't gotten slowed down before heading down the hill. And I didn't have the cruise set, not that this cruise holds the speed, it does not at all. So I had to ride the brakes a lot and could smell them for a long time after we got back to flat land. Didn't want to do that again so I started out at the top of the hill at 45 mph and got behind a semi doing less than that on the down grade. Starting out slow helps, but I was still on the brakes, 55 mph, then 65 as soon as the road was straight. Wallace, this is where we would have had to eat if we hadn't gotten our food back in Missoula. Instead we sail right over it. This section of freeway was not completed until 1991. I think my road trip with the kids was around then. 3rd stop is at the Flying J in Post Falls for BB to fuel. I have permits for WA and OR and BB will not even have to cross the scales. We plan on meeting up in Ritzville at the truckstop. I cross the scale but no problems. But that does put BB ahead of me, speed limit is 60 mph so I am not going to gain on her until we are long out of town. It is only 1 PM local so we are going to keep going. First I notice one Choice hotel co-branded with Main Stay Suite, then a second. There had been a Ma and Pa 'Porn Hotel' next to the Flying J in Spokane. Their Marquee sign always seemed to say something about 'XXX.' Now the motel is gone and a new Choice hotel is there. So new that it doesn't show up on the Google areal maps. I do finally catch up to BB about 20 miles before Ritzville. 4th stop is at the Loves in Ritzville for a restroom break. Crowded place, we park with the trucks instead of the cars. Lots of memories this route. 43 years ago. I'm not sure which date, but close. It was in the fall after rye harvest in MN that I came out here the first time to work their potato and beet harvest. Lots has changed. I now have grand kids older than I was then. 5th stop is a Shell station / King City truck stop in north Pasco. It is next to a Flying J, a Broadway Flying J, and this Flying J is the worst of the worst. Small and congested, like a convenience store trying to fit in some existing building. BB fuels at the Shell, final fuel. Then we do drive over to the Flying J because there is a food truck in the lot. It is closed. Then I make the mistake of pulling into a dirt lot. That should always be a no-no. No damage as far as I could see, but lots of craters to drive around or through. And this is supposed to be the truck parking for Burger King. I finally made it back on the street and into the paved lot. We order inside and get food to go. 6th and final stop is the Sleep in in Pasco. I stop at the front desk to ask where 'truck parking' is. Pretty much anywhere you can find it, or across the street in a dirt lot. I found a place. Actually lots of room in the back and on the side. Only the front had more than one car. I park the first open spot heading out. This place has us order our breakfast from a check list. Beats a grab bag with lots of food we don't want. We are now 300 miles from our final motel. Two truck stop stops tomorrow. Should only be one scale to cross if it is open, the others are not usually open. We've stayed at both Choice motels in Eugene. Either one works. Drop is 15 miles from the motel. Airport is half way between. Load board US - 204 IA - 72 MN - 6 WI - 6 200816 IA-OR 2 Rv's to Junction City OR ... spending the night at Springfield/Eugene OR ... We had to pick what time we wanted our bagged breakfast ready, but it wasn't. Two people standing behind the counter when we came down. I had time to walk out and look to see how the parking lot looked for cars. It was about 3/4 full. I could have still gotten in if I had been the last one it. So for breakfast I had two yogurts, a large cup of cereal with a carton of milk and juice. More than I needed. I didn't get to pick my yogurt so good it was strawberry n cream. No walk last night. There is a paved trail along the motel and the freeway. Close to 100 degrees yesterday and same for today. Dry heat. :) Didn't mention this yesterday. I have gone from 7.9 mpg up to 9.5 mpg last night. So little chance of needing more fuel. Now today, Sunday, the mileage goes back down to 9.4 mpg heading out of Pasco, a lot of up hill. BB looses mileage too but neither of us have to fuel again. End of the day I am up to 9.6 mpg. OR entrance scale is closed. That is the only one that is usually open. 1st stop is at the Loves in Boardman. And this may be the last time. There is a rest stop a mile before that exit, not sure why we always go to Loves. When we are at Loves I want to get a picture of our two RV's with the Columbia River in the back ground. I do ... and it has someone's work van right in the middle of the picture covering most of our RV's. Columbia Gorge, one of the most beautiful places. Not sure why I think so. Maybe because it is so focused. You can only look ahead or a mile to the north or a few feet to the south. Grass is all brown. Today we can see Mt Hood as good as we ever can. Multnomah Falls rest area is closed coming from the east. Doesn't seem to be any reason. Maybe just to cut the visitor count in half? I spend most of this leg of the trip following the 'Light.' The 'Light' is a travel trailer that is going between 64-1/2 and 65-1/2 mph. I would have to kick it down to 70 mph to pass him. I tried a couple of times to pass and didn't make any progress. I also tried to gauge the traffic so I would get in the left lane before them if we were coming up on slow traffic. But I drive with a 'safety zone' in front of me and that was always big enough for them to fit in. I finally gave up and backed the cruise off to 64 mph. I'm sure that cost me at least a minute driving, maybe two. 2nd stop is at the TA in Troutdale to eat at Popeyes. Crowded lot, couldn't get into the car lot because traffic for the car fuel pumps was backed up to the street. Found a place in the truck parking, we park in the same space so we take up the 60 foot space. As we walk in, a person is asking for money saying they lost their purse. Sorry. All three eating places are open, only Country Pride has inside seating. We go for Popeyes. It is OK, but it is still deep fried chicken. I don't see anything special about it. BB gets chicken strips and I get a three piece dark chicken. Two tables outside so we grab one. Someone else soon grabs the other one and someone is ready to grab ours as we stand up. Traffic is just under the posted around Portland. Lots of tents. Lots of tents back on I-84 also. But those seemed to be on a foot ball field or park and organized and no junk. So not a home less camp. Noticed on one of the rivers we crossed near Portland that all the river rocks were covered in people. Yesterday, back near Coeur d'Alene ID that the rivers were covered with rafters, like they do near us on the Apple River. Yup, plenty of fuel. I picked this up with 1/8, and will leave 1/4. 1/4 is about 20 gallons at $2.50 a gallon. Better than having to add more but it's the psychological thing of leaving money (gas.) 3rd and final stop is the Quality Inn in Springfield / Eugene. Not sure where the city line is. We have stayed at this motel before because it has a larger lot than the Comfort in across the street. We stayed here when we had the 45 foot RV going from Junction City to Virginia last year. Once we are checked in, and I find out why we didn't eat at Sheri's last time (last time it was either ? no cook ? long wait,) we ordered online this time. 20 minutes later we walk over and pick up our food. BB had forgot to add a tip ... and I knew they wouldn't give change without a purchase :) ... I ordered a 2nd piece of pie. Food was all good, BB had a salad. I had a chicken salad sandwich and baked potato soup ... and apple pie. The lemon pie might be breakfast tomorrow. Both our appointments are at 10:15 local tomorrow so we have to pick up our rental car and have both RV's to the lot by then. It's the weekend so no new load board numbers. ... the trip continues HERE |
