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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2 RV's to Rancho Cucamonga CA ... spending the night at Albert Lea MN We spent the day doing the math on trips and hitting re-fresh. There were those runs that I mentioned yesterday that would all work, but I didn't want to set up anything until after noon. I had thought we might call the local dispatch but BB had stuff she wanted to get done in the AM ... and I wasn't that ready to add more work hours that I would have to wait to have drop off. Here is what the numbers looked like today before we got work. FRI 08:00 - 30 08:30 - 26 09:00 - 26 09:30 - 26 10:00 - 26 10:30 - 27 11:00 - 26 11:30 - 26 12:00 - 23 12:30 - 22 01:00 - 22 01:30 - 22 I had spent some time working on the yard and BB was completely packed when I remembered that I needed to make a medical appointment on my way out of town. I can't just stop in anymore. We weren't in a rush so I picked 3 PM, I still needed to get ready. We were hoping that dispatch would be adding new runs so we were not in a rush to grab any of the ones that 'would work.' Finally about 1:30 I'm realizing what is on the board may be it. So I decide I want to call the bus dispatcher in NY to see if we should head that way or if she has plenty of drivers. While I am still looking up her number ... BB comes out and starts saying what they are adding to the load board. ??? I had just looked at it a minute ago before looking for the dispatch number. That is how quick things change. 4 to Rancho Cucamonga. BB hesitates and then agrees I can call. She always wants to see what else they are going to put out to see if there is something better. She is still listing off the other new stuff they are adding as I am calling. We get 2 no-tows. We don't even check the price of cars. Now it is rush, not only do I have an appointment, we are leaving. NOOOoooo. As soon as I get on the freeway the check engine light starts to flash. There are three warning lights that are always on, but flashing is something new. I don't remember every calling my mechanic from the side of the road before but We were going to put 500 miles on this thing before we get back. I call and they say bring it right in. We have to go to the next exit to head back and the light isn't blinking, until I am heading back. They put the computer on it and it needs to be fixed, now. Or it could do major damage. So home we go to get our car and drop the van. Someone isn't happy because they thought they could use it for the weekend. Opps. We need it. All of this takes about 45 minutes so I will be late for my appointment. Not a big issue because when I called they said I could pick any time I wanted as they were completely open. Because I am late, I do have to wait for others who were on time but I am in and out in about 15 minutes. Sometime around now I realize that we will need to get permits on Monday AM. And that will delay us enough that we won't make delivery on Tuesday so we need to get that changed. Their preferred route is to go through Denver. But going through Denver means carrying chains. We will see what they say tomorrow AM. No major storms either way but I just try to avoid Denver any time of the year. The other thing that our 45 minute delay did is ran us out of time to take a walk. We could have still done a half hour walk at the closest state park but then we would be eating late. We pass. Our 2nd stop is the rest area just south of Lakeville. 3rd and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Albert Lea and to go food from the Skol's next door at the truck stop. I've gotten better food from there. BB got a southwestern salad, but they didn't give her southwestern dressing so that wasn't quite what she wanted. But her food was good. So now our plan is ... Sat - get past Kansas City Sun - get to Dalhart TX and wait until the permit co opens Monday AM so we can get our permits before crossing the next border. Mon - Holbrook AZ Tues - near the drop Not much chance we can do 500 miles before the end of THEIR day Tuesday. Once we drop we are 6 hours from the buses I move. I will be talking to that dispatcher once or twice before I head that far out of route. Load board US - 160 IA - 21 MN - 2 WI - 3 Of the runs that were there last night, NY, MT and WA are all still there. A truck I had looked at out of NC is gone, but now there are two Non-CDL to CO so with BB also driving that would have paid good. Also NC had 6 trucks to FL if we just wanted to stay south :) And two to MS, if we took those I would call the 3rd bus dispatchers. Options. 201107 IA-CA 2 RV's to Rancho Cucamonga CA ... spending the night at Ottawa KS Breakfast. Scrabbled eggs, sausage and yogurt for me. Hard boiled egg and toast for BB. We are ready to pull out at 7 AM. And I remembered to stay away from the motel building. They were shingling last night and who knows where all the nails ended up. Didn't sleep great last night, not sure why. It must have rained some, the trucks passing us were putting up a lot of road spray. We got to the office at 7:45 as I expected, they say they are open 8 to noon on Saturdays. But they open the doors a couple of minutes after we are parked so we are in and out of the office. They are still doing the 'temp check' before they give us our paperwork. Two semi's are there picking up RV's to flatbed somewhere. No one else is there until we are almost ready to leave, then a couple more drivers show up. Not much to check on these little RV's, we have it done in 45 minutes today. 1st stop with the RV's is at the Pilot in Clear Lake. I am still forgetting to get my rewards card re-set up so I am using BB's. Today it saved us about a dollar at this fuel stop. Head winds, but I had forgot to ask BB if she wanted to drive slower. So we didn't. The only issue with the headwind is the lower mileage. In the 70's again today so farmers are still out in their fields. 2nd stop is at Ankeny. It was going to be Panda but they are drive thru only. I tried to walk in but they let me know they were closed. So we walked next door to Chipotle. Not my favorite place and as soon as I bite into my food I remember why. Hot, spicy hot. Next time I will get just cheese :) Or walk the other direction to Culvers. I was eating slow and drinking water so it took us 45 minutes instead of just our 30. The area has lots of tree branches so we had to watch closely as we left. BB is getting less fuel mileage than I and when we are doing our walk-around after eating we see why. Her unit is larger and has an AC unit for a little more weight. 3rd stop was the MO Welcome Center near Eagleville. We parked next to a new mixer but I never saw the driver. I will have to look up the drive company, not one I had heard of before. MO weigh scale is closed. Somewhere along here there was a semi that came over into BB's lane. I guess she had been watching him before he got up to her so she was ready. When I saw him, I could see him waving his hand around like some people do when the talk. He was doing the same thing when he past me. Cameron - 1st I noticed the Motel 6 sign was gone. Then I noticed part of the building was gone. Fire. We've always stayed at the Quality Inn but I know where the other motels are at the exit. Cameron might also be where two other driveaway's pulled on. Not sure what they were doing in this area. They came out of Indiana. One was a tow-away and the other was an RV. 4th stop is at the Pilot in Kearney. Opps. This is one of those intersections where the road turns to the right before the stop sign. At that angle I did not see the semi coming and pulled out in front of him and then saw him in my rear view mirror. Peddle to the metal. That didn't help my gas mileage. We made our reservation from Kearney. It may have been good we did. I didn't do the mileage but earlier BB had said we should get to Ottawa by 5:30. And I didn't question it, then. Pretty much went through KC at the posted. Just north of downtown there was one place where the homeless are sleeping under a street bridge. Right up to the guardrail. But that was the only place we saw them. It may also be the only underpass we go under. KS weigh scale closed also. Just a few miles before Ottawa we see the transporter RV on the side of the road. It's still 70 degrees and in a good cell service area, we did not stop. 5th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Ottawa. Lots of work trucks and lots of ball players checking in. Luckily they are on the other end of the building. Grrr. What do you do? When the check in clerk keeps coughing into their hand and handing you paperwork? That was tonight. I noticed that the Burger King was drive thru only. Thinking the Wendy's may be too we walked to Freddies. As we are leaving BB says that we could have just eaten indoors for as long as we were in there. No we were not there that long. Sometimes it just seems like it. There is an Applebee's right next to the hotel, but we looked at their menu online and way too much food. But I did get enough at Freddies too. Pattymelt, onion rings and ice cream. I forgot that this is another place that does not put ketchup or anything on your sandwich. It was still 70 degree's but the sun was setting and it did not feel that warm. Both of us had short sleeves and not jackets. This was our walk for the day, about a mile total. I noticed that the Stockade we used to stop at is gone. There is now a car wash there. Stockade is a local buffet chain. We've looked at tomorrow and have our stops. We've also looked at our drop and the rental car, drop and hotel are within 4 miles of each other. If we can do 500 miles a day we should make it. And we are going with the sun so we get a little extra sun that way. Likely nothing new on the load board, but here are the numbers US - 144 IA - 16 MN - 1 WI - 2 201108 IA-CA 2 RV's to Rancho Cucamonga CA ... spending the night at Dalhart TX Slept better, not great. Breakfast. Down at 7 AM, lots of people at the same time. 'Hot food' was nuke your own sandwich, BB had one. I had yogurt. Someone this AM was not understanding the 'grab and go' breakfast bags. The idea is that no one else has touched what you grab. But this person was looking inside each one to see what was in them ??? We are not in NYC. When I got up this AM I could see a four lane highway out my window, but no cars. Finally saw a car, on the freeway in KS on a Sunday AM. Pretty quite. Nice sunrise this AM for a few minutes. Just a narrow batch of blue sky before the clouds. Had a little rain this AM but then the clouds cleared out. Saw two cops in the first mile this AM. But didn't see them up close, thank you. The motels in Emporia I used to stay at were the Motel 6 and the former Holiday Inn. The Motel 6 no longer has any name on the building and the Holiday Inn building was various names when I stayed there. It is now a Choice Hotel, a Clarion. Most trips we exit the freeway in Emporia and take the back roads and avoid the tolls. But today it is windy and the less time we spend on the two lane highways the better so we take the toll road. Grad a ticket when you get on, pay when you get off. One time we exited at El Dorado and had issues with the self serv pay. We were out of our RV's and I had to call someone to get the gate to go up. Don't remember what was the actual issue. So we decided to use a 'main' exit this time. 1st stop was just south of El Dorado at the oasis. Fuel was cheaper there than anywhere ahead so we fueled. Saw a truck parked with an OR 008 plate when we pulled in. Ours are OR 007. When I was done fueling, the truck had pulled to the truck fuel islands so I went over to say hi. Then I saw the placards and he drives for our company. We talked about five minutes. This is his first run with our company, it sounds like he has been, and still is, working for another company out of IN. He is on his way to IA. Back on the toll way and we exit at Witchita. Everything is self serv now. Person ahead of me was taking so long that someone behind started blowing their horn. And it took me a while too, 1, 2, 3 and I was done. BB had a couple of issues but got through also. Interesting going through these old area's that I traveled a lot 10-15 years ago. All the changes in names on the buildings. Stop lights are gone and it's all express way. I had thought that by going this way that we would have all four lane highway until just before Pratt. I forgot that there is another stretch of 2 lane between there still. 2nd stop, Arby's in Pratt. It's warm, we can still eat outside. BB doesn't like it though, she made a mess on herself instead of on a table ... Motels are changing here too. There used to be a Days Inn and a Super 8 across from each other right here. Now one is a Oyo and the other is a no-name/ma-pa place. I didn't notice any other motel changes in this town. Mostly two lane from here to Tucumcarri with some four lane and a few passing lanes. We spend the better part of the day driving 60 mph because of the wind. In BB's RV the cruise keeps kicking off with the wind gusts. Haven't had that issue even once with mine. But mine, if I set the cruise at 65 mph it tac's out at 3,000 rpms. If I set the cruise at 64 mph, it will mostly run at 61 mph but sometimes will tac out at 3,000 rpms to get the speed back up to 64 mph. Headwind. 3rd stop was Mullinville just for a stop. A stretch stop, we didn't even use the restrooms. It was just an hour down the road after mostly white knuckle driving. We had been driving 60 mph and a semi had just caught up to us. The lanes split just before the turn and a left turn lane is added. As soon as there was the new lane we get over into the turn lane and the semi follows and blows his horn. ??? My guess is that he didn't realize it was the turn lane, he thought were were going to drive 60 in the left lane ? Greensburg never did come back after the tornado a few years ago. The car dealer did rebuild but they are now gone. The bank is now just an ATM. Most of the north side of the highway is just slabs of concrete where buildings used to stand. When we were pulling out of Arby's back in Pratt, there was a driveaway RV at the light, but it wasn't one of ours. When we go through Greensburg that same RV is at the fuel pumps. Lots of crops in piles. I don't ever remember seeing this many piles of corn, beans and sorghum. Lots of Sorghum and cotton still in the fields. The other crops seem to be done. 4th stop. Loves in Liberal KS. Windy everywhere we stop. Luckily I parked far enough away from the pumps because the wind caught my door and blew it all the way open. Don't need a yellow dent in the door, that would be on me. When we were leaving there were two transporter cement trucks pulling in. Center drive. No thank you. Saw my 1st two Oyo hotels that used to be man-pa hotels. Before this all the ones I had seen had been Motel 6, Super 8, Red Roof, etc hotels. Multi-level buildings. Also saw a few reclaimed motels. Ones that had been sitting vacant for years that have now been cleaned up and re-opened. OK, Hooker, Guyman. Going through Guyman we see where a new Hutch's is going up. There are a couple of those down on I-40. They are a local truckstop. For a big town, there are not any major truckstops in or near Guyman. There is a Loves, but it is a 'car-stop.' It does have a Godfathers, Chesters and a sub shop. A few years ago we walked a couple of miles to this Loves as it was a holiday and this was the only food place open in town. Must have been Thanksgiving? Ahh. Learned something new today. The smaller Loves used to have their own Love's Subs. Today I saw a new sign saying 'Big Boss Subs.' Looked online and found that Big Boss is a subdivision of GodFathers. Somewhere today we had about 10 trucks, cars and RV's following us. But none were too eager to pass. At one point a semi was going to get a jump on us as we pulled out of town until he saw the cops and backed off. Later there was a semi with round bales that pulled in ahead of me. I tried to stay way back. I know of an extended family member who was hauling those bales when something happened and one fell off and killed someone. Luckily I was behind him less than an hour. 5th and final stop. Best Western in Dalhart. We park on the street as their lot is small. We usually walk down to a buffet, that is out for us. We also look at a BBQ and Mexican place that are both closed on Sundays. We start to walk to the DQ, but I knew there used to be a taco something across the street in the truckstop. But nothing was showing on the maps. It is now a WhichWitch. We went there instead. BB only plans on going again if it is the only thing in town. Mine was not too bad. Chicken salad sandwich was not too bad, could have used more mayo but good. The carrot cake I got was really bad, BB and I both had one bite and threw it. Tasted more like cleaner than any kind of desert. Tomorrow we have to call in for our NM and AZ permits before we can leave. So it will be after 8 AM before we can call. Likely after 9 AM before we get our NM. AZ usually takes longer so we may have to pick that one up down the road when it comes in. IF we get going and can make it to Holbrook, we can make it to Rancho Cucamonga. IF we could make it past Holbrook to Wenslow 30 miles further, hotels are half the price. I don't think that will be an option. 201109 IA-CA 2 RV's to Rancho Cucamonga CA ... spending the night at Gallup NM Lots of train noise. I'm guessing in this part of the country they have never heard of a 'no train horn' area. Not only are there lots of street crossings for the tracks but we are at the junction of two train tracks so we get them coming from all directions. And I just haven't slept good the last few nights. I'm guessing I have slept because I am not tired during the day, but I don't ever have that 'just woke up' feeling. We went down for breakfast and got our 'grab bags.' This time they were sealed shut. They also had yogurt and other stuff set out. I saw the 'milk' but not the cereal. BB saw the cereal but didn't take any because the 'milk' was 'silk.' Grab bag had an apple, muffin and a couple of breakfast type bars. Couldn't call for permits until 8:30 local. Usually we are on the road by 7:30. Then we didn't get our first permits until 10:15, and I had to go print them and pack up / check out. So we finally got going at 10:30, three hours late. Before we left the motel this AM there was a straight truck from FL to about 20 miles from my house. Where was that truck when we were in FL? BB was ready to push it a little faster today. She brings up the rear and sometimes the semi's come up on her a little fast. Speed limit has been 75 mph and we're doing 65 mph. But today that was not an issue. Most of the way on the two lane was road construction and the speed limit was 65 mph. Plus we got behind a truck that was going between 60 and 65. If a truck is in the lead, the other truckers seem to be a little better about backing off and just going with the flow. NM scale was open. We just held up our permits in our windows and the guy in the office motioned OK. Later BB told me that as she was coming up to the office she decided to lower her window some more ... electric windows, when they start going down they like to go down all the way ... and her paperwork got sucked down with it :) No damage done. 1st stop was the Flying J in Tucumcarri for a rest break. Saw the same RV transporter that we saw yesterday twice so I stopped and talked to her. She is running with two other drivers, one with an RV and one with a truck. The RV's are heading out to Port Hueneme by Oxnard just north of LA. About 100 miles straight west of our drop. Also saw one of our CA buses in the parking lot. Pink. No other markings and no driver. And right after we got onto the freeway we saw another bus, this one was red with no markings. Wind, we are still bucking a head wind. My mileage went from 14.8 to 15 mpg when I left Ottawa yesterday AM and has stayed at 15 ever since. It usually goes up as the miles go up. During the day today it dropped back to 14.8 but was at 15 by the end of the day. 2nd stop was the Pilot in Santa Rosa for fuel and food. TJ's didn't have any veggies so BB didn't want the meatloaf. We ended up with pizza and ate inside. Next time I'll likely eat outside by myself. She doesn't like eating in the wind. And we still have wind. After leaving Santa Rosa, we saw another 5 buses. 2 more pink ones and 3 'Port Authority' red buses. Maybe there will be work for me too? Somewhere today we saw where a truck had gone in the ditch, it stayed upright but hit a cross ditch in the ditch and busted the trailer frame. Not sure how that happened, faulty frame? 3rd stop was Albuquerque for a rest break. The same two RV's and a truck were at this Flying J also. Didn't walk over and talk to them again here. After we took our break, we decided to fuel, and then decided to make reservations for tonight's motel so it was a little bit longer than usual. Now for the fun. Somewhere around Grants it starts to snow, and quits. But I can see the roads are not very good but traffic is still moving at the posted. Somewhere around a town / area called Continental Divide we see a semi that just past us go almost sideways in the road, try to correct and then we see the other side of his truck. But he manages to keep it on the road and slow down. This was about a quarter mile ahead of us and no one between us. We slow down. I had noticed for the last ??? that the on coming cars and trucks all had their 4way flashers on. Now we know why. And now we do to. Right about where the semi went sideways there was a car down in the ditch that we couldn't see until we were almost up to them. Close by there were tracks where someone had made it to the frontage road when they went off the freeway and through the ditch. Luckily we were already heading up the only hill of any kind between here and Gallup or traffic would have came to a stand still. Lots of traffic exited but there were not motels and we already had a reservation. For the next 15 miles or so traffic went anywhere from 5 mph to 20 mph. At 1st when I would tap on the breaks I would just get that click, click, click of the EBS. Later I could tell the roads were getting better but the traffic was still slow so we went with the flow. Finally about 10 miles from Gallup we dropped in elevation and the roads cleared and back to 65 mph. A few cars and trucks past us, less than a dozen and then nothing. Nothing. They had been bumper to bumper behind us and I could not see any headlights for as far as I could see. ??? After dark. Good that BB has her new eyes. 4th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Gallup and the Cracker Barrel next door. BB orders online as soon as we are in our room. When we go to pick up our food, the people ahead of us are going to eat in and everyone in the group needs to have their temp taken to get in. All the casino's in the state look closed. One town has a sign that it was closed except for food and fuel. As we are eating BB looks at the weather. 14 degree's tomorrow AM. I decided it might be a good day to wear something other than a short sleeved shirt. I had planned on calling the bus dispatcher but it was too late by the time we got to the motel. And now we are most likely not going to make it to our delivery town tomorrow. We'll likely end up an hour or two short. Not an issue, just need to make new plans on how to pick up the rental and drop the RV's without using a taxi. Load board US - 132 IA - 19 MN - 2 IA - 1 ... the trip continues HERE |
