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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Because of previous plans, we could not drop our rental car until 8 AM today. So we were up and left the house by 7:15 AM. No major slow downs. I get to the rental car place in Burnsville in time enough to organize and do some of my paperwork for the day. Leaving Owatonna, the road narrows from four lanes to two and the speed drops from 65 mph to 55 mph. There is also road construction right there ... this highway will soon be four lane all the way from Rochester to Owatonna. So I am driving 55 mph and getting quite a following. I finally think I have missed a sign and kick it up to 60, cars and trucks still pass me. And one that doesn't pass before, passes as soon as the lane is wide enough to not rub door handles, well before the markings show two lanes. Then we see the 65 mph sign. Heading back the same route, I watch more closely. There are lots of 55 mph signs and no where on the two lane is the speed over 55 mph. Maybe they haven't seen anyone drive it 55 mph before? 2nd stop, Dodge Center to pick up my mixer. BB had didn't bring her driving stuff so she did not have a safety vest, so no help from her today. I have the box coded keyed into my phone so I didn't have to call dispatch again. One other set of keys left in our box. It looks like there are still six carriers moving trucks but Spirit out of Kansas City is gone. My truck was about 10 trucks down the first row I looked in. It starts, all checks good, it just takes a while to get it all done. It's a stick. It took me about 45 minutes this AM. Some trucks take an hour, some we do in 15 minutes. The doors on this truck are all decaled so I have to put my placards further back on the truck. The only thing BB does help me with is checking my breaks and back up lights when we get to the stop sign at the end of the drive. She gives me the thumbs up on both ... but ... this place now has security and the guy gets out of his car and walks over to me. He thought we were motioning to him :) ... nope. Have a nice day. Not sure if they have had issues here, sometime in the last year they put up a high steel fence and now they have a security guy in a car driving around. We pull out in the road and head into town. I have to stop to make a left turn and I get across the intersection but can't find my gears. Two miles down the road, when I turn from the city street onto the highway ramp, I loose it again. Then 10 miles down the road when I have to down shift to come around the clover leaf I loose it again. Have to come to a total stop all three times and start over. The new MN northbound weight scale north of Albert Lea was open today, first time I have seen it open. Noooo ... the IA scale is open. I decide to stop using the clutch. I slow down into the scale and speed back up with no issues. After having to use a clutch on the 5 speed yesterday I was trying to use the clutch on a split shift today and it was not working. No clutch for me, the other comes natural. Did see the officer at the scale walking out putting on his plastic gloves, but it doesn't have the same feeling as it used to :) 3rd stop is Dows for a lunch break at an Arbys in a MaPa truck stop. BB is there ahead of me. While we are stopped I call the drop and my dispatcher. We need to check in twice a day. I will be asking if we will need to keep doing that now that they can see our logs live on the computer. We eat in the car and adjust our plans. Next stop had planned on being Osseola IA. I won't make it. The truck did have 3/4 a tank of fuel but it has used most of it in the first 120 miles. I will need to stop sooner, and then I will not stop in Osseola to save time. I debated stopping at a Loves about 50 miles north of Des Moines, the gauge dropped just past the exit. But then it stayed before slowing dropping again. 4th stop is at the Pilot in Clive / Des Moines for fuel. The gauge is laying on the top end of the red, but no low fuel light came on. Pump doesn't work well. You are supposed to have the option to skip DEF but that button is almost punched out, I'm guessing from the prior people having problems. I just said OK on DEF and when it was time to put in DEF I just turned it on and off. That wasn't enough so I had to go inside to see a cashier. BB is there and we talk a couple of minutes. Next stop will be Kearney. MO scale is closed :) 5th stop is at a Pilot in Kearney MO for more fuel. From here I should be able to make it, at least to Joplin if not to the drop. We would like to make it further but decide on stopping in one hour. Just past Kansas City so we will be heading against traffic in the AM. Worlds of Fun is closed. Looked online and they are closed today, but open for the weekend. Must be on fall wind down already. Summer is over. Very little traffic for 5:30 rush hour in KC. 5th and final stop is a Comfort Inn in Harrisonville. The next Choice Brand hotel is in Joplin, another two hours down the road. It would be past dark. Maybe if we hadn't had to drop the rental car and gotten going a lot earlier. But as it is, it has been a long day. Even with everything going right. We are too used to being on our own schedule. BB looks at all the fast food online and then as we are leaving the motel parking lot she finally sees the Best Burito. That is where we end up. They have our food to us in less than five minutes and back to the hotel. Good food, too much. I am down to about 10 hours left that I can work. Had not been paying attention to that, but it will work out OK. Tomorrow should be no more than three hours driving and one hour other. Have already remembered that there is likely a 'coin only' for my exit off the toll way tomorrow. This AM I did email the IL toll company and the hotel about my missing points. Load Board US - 302 IA - 111 MN - 15 WI - 7 200904 MN-OK 1 mixer to Grove OK, delivered ... spending the night at West Des Moines IA ... Up before the alarm, too much food last night. Breakfast was ... not taking advantage of the situation. Some locations are not serving any breakfast, because they can. This place had everything out either directly or behind the table where the staff would hand you what you asked for. BB had a breakfast burrito, it was on ice but she could warm it. The yogurt and some things were out of reach so we had to ask. And they also had one hot item. Biscuits and gravy that the staff would dish up. Being creative within the guidelines. 7 AM and we were out the door. My plan was to only stop if I needed fuel, 180 miles to go. As I come down the ramp on to the freeway, my lane becomes the 3rd lane ... all the way to the scale. :) But it is closed and I soon see why, some lucky trucker is getting a full DOT inspection, right on the scale. The officer is out there with is 'creeper' and a paper, either for notes or inspection guideline. I had to look it up, a creeper is the thing people lay on with wheels to roll under cars and trucks. So this guy was getting the works, and I get the bypass. Nevada ... Nevada MO was where we had hoped to get to last night. They have a Pilot that is not in our truckers book. There is not a Choice hotel there, but there is a Holiday Inn Express, Country Inn, America's Best and Super 8. By the time I got there I had remembered that I had forgotten to do my AM call in. BB remembers with the other company and she does that online. I didn't think of it and she didn't mention it. I debated stopping soon, but I finally did the math and realized that I could call when I get to Joplin and still be OK. In Joplin I should know if I am going to need more fuel. 1st stop. Loves in Joplin to use the rest room ... yup, too much food last night. And I call dispatch and leave a message. Would have liked to have called from Nevada, just to get there attention. I am ... OK ... ?? ... of fuel. I decide to chance it and buy local if I need to. One last scale open scale in MO and I get the bypass lane. No scale on or before the turnpike. BB had looked up the toll price last night and I had taken enough quarters with me in case it is 'no attendant' at the booth. But this one had someone so I paid with a $20 and got a receipt so I can get reimbursed. But before the toll booth at the exit we had rain. A couple of dumps of rain, wipers on high, speed on low. No one pulling over though. Speed limit off the toll way was 65 mph, but the road was narrow and I drove 55 mph. About 20 miles to the town. Signs for a little bypass, trucks can't make the right turn between the buildings in down town so they route us a couple of blocks off where there is less traffic and we can swing wider. I had looked at the street view last night so I knew where to turn and where the drop was. The highway signs at that cross street are a car length or two beyond the street instead of on the corner post. Heading out of town I wasn't sure how far, but soon one of the mixers caught up to me and I just watched for his blinker to go on :) Then when I pulled over to call he motioned for me where to park. BB was already there, she had passed me before Loves in Joplin. 2nd stop, Grove OK, the drop. I saw I guy in the shop looking at me so I walked over and asked if he could sign. "Usually, but not this time. Go talk to the boss." So I went to another building and asked for the boss, and he said the shop guy was supposed to sign. I told them he wouldn't ... to which the boss said "That's because it is the wrong color." Yes, they were going to keep it. It is all white instead of the company colors. Both guys looked at it while I pulled my stuff out and then they were gone. So back to the office I go, nope the guy in the shop will sign. So I go to the shop and he says "Didn't the boss sign it?" The shop guy found the paper work and signed, but I said every box on the paperwork has to be filled out per the shipper. So he went back out to the truck and looked at everything as he checked it off ... I'm clear. BB scans the paperwork and we are ready to go. We had talked about staying out of the rain but the shortest way heads back into the rain. Light rain, no issues. We take the computer way back to Joplin. My paperwork had me on the toll way so that is how I went. Sometimes there are good reasons why the truckers route is different than the car route. 3rd stop. Schlotzskys in Joplin. We decide to eat a Schlotzskys, even though it is a ways off the freeway. When we got there the drive thru line was out onto the street and no other way to get in, so we went to Target next door so BB could use the restroom. When we get back we can get off the street into line. And we see that we could have gone in ... if we could have gotten into the lot. I get the original and a Mini-Cinni. Good food. We find our way out of town and back track past our stay last night on I-49. 4th stop at the Flying J in Peculiar MO for the restroom. I looked at the ice cream, didn't buy. But I should have gotten a lemonade. Because it is the holiday weekend I wanted to get off the road as soon as the traffic was bad, we even talked about Joplin. But the traffic never got bad, not for a holiday weekend, not for rush hour. So we kept going, and going, and going. We'd pick one town to stop in and before we got there we'd pick another. 4 PM I get a call from dispatch, they are wondering if I have delivered. Yes, and we sent the paperwork. Dispatch checks again and they do not have the paperwork. So BB looks. Opps. Somehow it didn't send. 5th stop is in Davis City IA at the rest area. Only 30 more miles to go to Des Moines. Gas is cheaper in Des Monies, Ankeny, so we planned on fueling there ... without checking to see if we had enough fuel to get there. We would have if I had slowed to 65-60. But I drove the speedlimit and now we have enough range to get there plus 5 miles. Not sure if we will try it or pay the extra $1 and be safe. 6th and final stop is West Des Moines. First we head to McAlisters Deli. But 1st we have to drive around some debris, and then we see a car in the middle of the road, minus one tire. Not sure how the debris was 1st, then the car and then the tire. But it had to have just happened. Seems like the tire just fell off his Jaguar and blew his air bags. He was still in the car but was ready to get out as we drove past. No cop cars yet and no one stopped to help ?? McAlisters. We order to go. Soup and sandwich for me, salad for BB. Five minutes tops and we were on our way. Cops were on the scene. Three cop cars. Must not be much happening in West Des Moines. Part two of our final stop is the Sleep Inn. Cheaper than the other Comfort Inns and Sleep Inns in the area. As soon as we are in, we eat. BB is not happy, her salad is a garden salad with a scoop of chicken salad. She thought she was getting a small chicken salad. But as she thought about it, this may be the closest they could get. The one she really wanted may not come in 'small.' We have another 5-6 hours for tomorrow to get home. We'll see if this is the start of our month off or we try to fit in a couple of more days. Lots to do at home if we stay home but she has to be careful. Dr office called her and left a message, BB called back but went right to voicemail so not sure why they were calling. Load board US - 263 IA - 100 (RV's) MN - 12 WI - 7 200905 MN-OK 1 mixer to Grove OK, delivered ... spending the night at home ... Opps, missed showing the 1st stop on my map. Breakfast was late, no alarm, no reason to get going. Breakfast was yogurt, muffins or one lone breakfast bar (left) and juice. 1st stop was five miles down the road. We decided not to risk it for a buck, or two. Pilot at Clive for fuel. It is 20 cents more here than 15 miles down the road, but 15 miles down the road we might be on 'E.' Corn is still lying down. One farm has already stalk chopped theirs. We tried taking pictures at 70 mph but they don't tell the story. We saw lots of cement mixes, mostly ours. Saw a few RV's and other trucks. 2nd stop is a Mexican place in Clear Lake. We sat out doors. It doesn't seem like anyone else going out to eat is taking it seriously enough to be out doors ... or distance. The person waiting on us spoke limited English so I got 1 beef and 1 cheese enchilada instead of 1 chicken and 1 cheese. Also got rice instead of beans. But the food was good. BB's was right this time. 3rd stop is at the office/lot. Starting to look empty. They are still using both lots, but their are empty spots all over. Soon I am guessing they will move everything in to one lot again. Three RV's were being inspected when we got there, all were gone five minutes later when we left. I counted 40+ rental RV's still sitting in the shippers lot. They have been lined up there for months. Un-eventful on the way home. Driving 65 mph in a 70 mph everyone passes me. 4th and final stop is home. I had thought of calling dispatch about a MN to MN truck but forgot and then it was past noon their time when I remembered. No work now for Sunday and Monday. We MAY look for work for Monday. Dr appointment on Weds and then surgery on Monday. Load board US - 243 IA - 95 MN - 9 WI - 7 |
