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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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201211`CA-PA 1 Bus, heading to Johnsonburg PA ... spending the night at Edgewood NM Train runs right behind our motel but I don't hear it unless I am outside. Breakfast is hot food. But you have to come in the correct way or they will not serve you. Even if you are the only ones there. Scrabbled eggs, choice of ham or sausage, hash browns. That was plenty, we didn't need any yogurt or pastries. Somehow there seems to be less time driving 500 miles a day heading east than heading west. After we were done eating last night I had one hour to do paperwork, plan, check emails. Then this AM I wanted to look up a couple of things before we left and very quickly out of time. We left out at 7 AM local. before sun up. Sky was clear but then we hit fog. It would have made for a lot of good pictures if one wanted to stop and take pictures. Looking down from the hill top, some area's are covered in fog, others not. Some places the sun was shining in under the fog. Some places we were driving under the posted because of the fog. Other places we could see a few blocks ahead. Once we got past Williams it was after 9 AM and that was the last of the fog. Closer to Flagstaff, there were short hills and taller hills. The trees on the taller hills were covered in frost, the lower hills were green pines. 1st stop is Williams at the Loves for a rest break and DEF. Most pumps open when we got there so I drove in backwards instead of backing in. When we were leaving a few minutes later every pump was full. 2nd stop was going to be Holbrook and Popeyes, but we stopped 10 miles short at Joseph City at a Loves and had Chesters. I ordered a combo, because I didn't see a price for a non-combo. I don't like biscuits and the only side that looked good was deep-fried corn on the cobb. Not that good. We stood outside the bus and ate, lots of droppings from the deep fried food. Birds will be happy later. BB fed some of the biscuits to the birds while she was waiting for me to finish. The small birds seemed to be a little cautious before they would approach the food. Then we saw the huge crows overhead ... hmmm. Even fast food it is a push to be in and out in 30 minutes. Just before we were ready to leave we saw one of our buses head past on the freeway. One of the ones from Wednesday night with no markings. We have seen lots of transporters the last couple of days. Also saw a couple of new Amazon van trucks being towed. It looked like that may have been the way they planned on moving them. Not sure why. We've seen lots of RV's, UPS vans, bucket trucks, tree trucks. Stuff. When we got to the NM scale I noticed that no one was getting the by-pass. Usually 3/4 of the trucks do not have to enter but today everyone did. By the time we had been in line and off the freeway, trucks were backed up out onto the freeway. So when we got to the booth everyone was getting waved past. No stopping until the freeway was clear I'm guessing. 3rd stop was Jamestown at the Flying J for a break. This software can not find Jamestown so it shows as Gallup, even though if you zoom it it shows the PILOT - JAMESTOWN on the map. 4th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Edgewood. I guess we will not be staying here again. BB can not adjust the temp. The temp is fine, but she can't adjust it. It is not to hot nor too cold. But back to the Quality Inn next trip I guess. Once checked in we order food from the China Chef next door. Twice as much food as we could eat so I'm guessing the other half is breakfast. Didn't ask what time breakfast was, but we want to get going by 6:30 so I am driving mostly daylight hours. Today we were off the road by 4 PM local. Sun was still up. This may be the only day this trip though. Another very uneventful day. Here. As I am writing this, we get a call that our car that a grand-daughter is using was broken into so now we need to get that fixed. It was sitting at her Mom's house overnight. They have lived there for years and this is the first issue. And our car. The bus dispatcher finally gave me a 'stick' to stick the fuel tank, so I have been using it the last two trips. I stuck my tank our 1st stop and it still showed mostly full as did the fuel gauge. So I didn't stick it the 2nd stop, and then at the 3rd stop it is showing less on the stick than what I thought the would match to the gauge. So I may have been shorting my drops for the last 3 years. Not even any road kill to note. No major accidents, but we did see some huge black smoke right behind us when we stopped in Jamestown. Could have been a lot of things, but it was the kind that also comes from vehicle fires. Another 500 mile day tomorrow. Same route as last trip, and most of the same stops. ))) finally enough time to do Wednesday's write-up now ((( Load board US - 291 IA - 124 MN - 5 WI - 2 201212`CA-PA 1 Bus, heading to Johnsonburg PA ... spending the night at Oklahoma City OK Leftovers for breakfast. Then on our way out we stock up on more emergency supplies, breakfast to go. My first trip out to my bus the parking lot lights were on, but the next trip the lights were off. They must be on a timer to go off at 'first light.' We pull out of the hotel at 6:30 local. Then seven miles down the road to our first stop. 1st stop - Moriarty at the TA for fuel. Luckily I picked a line where, when someone did come back to their truck, they fueled and pulled ahead. When I pulled in, no one was by the truck ahead of me. Still, that driver came out, fueled and left before any other truck we could see had even moved. The truck to the right of me never did move the whole time we were there. No idea where the driver was. These places need a yard cop. No one leaves their truck when it is anywhere in line at the fuel island. I don't have the receipts from last trip, but I seem to be making the same mileage with a short bus as I did with the 40 foot bus. I hope the pay is the same. Not too long after we got back on the road, I am watching a Penske truck (rental) coming up from behind in the left lane. The sun is just coming up and I can clearly see the driver. He is looking down and doing something. When he gets closer, he drifts into my lane. I hit the breaks and the shoulder and let him go past. Not too much later, the same truck drifts from the right lane all the way to the left lane and then back to the right shoulder. And then got off at the next exit. Good idea. Not sure where this was, but early. Miles before we got to it, we could see the fog in the distance. Visibility was down to 2/10's of a mile in places. It was interesting when we first saw it, we were above it and it looked like a band of snow around the hill tops. We would go down into it, then up out of it and back down into it. From the hilltops we could see it went on far miles, in some directions it was as far as we could see. When we went past the Pilot in Santa Rosa I looked at their fuel lines. Every island had a truck in it that had fueled, one that was fueling and one or two that were waiting. So at the big truck stops it is a waiting game. 2nd stop - Flying J in Tucumcarri for a rest break. Usually this place is a transporters hangout. Last trip there was no one else here, this time there is one RV transporter. So lots of room to park. 3rd stop - Loves in Amarillo and the Subway. Parking lot is a lot more crowded that Thanksgiving weekend but still not full. OK scale says closed, but it is only closed because it was full. Good timing for us. I had planned on changing things up and putting in DEF in Sayer, the next town past Erick but I was still not down to a half a tank on DEF so I will plan on doing that tomorrow. And that will mean one fewer times to put in DEF. 4th stop is at the rest area near Erick. But not likely again. They are remodeling so it amounts to parking spots and two out houses. Both were empty, the first thing I noticed was the last person had not lifted up the seat. Then I noticed what looked like a industrial sized roll of toilet paper in the tank. So when I was done, I checked and yes, that was the toilet paper, none available to use. When I walked out BB wanted to use the one I had used because hers was just as bad, plus hers had a 'driver's jug' sitting in it. I hadn't noticed, but BB did that the remodeling crew had their own out house. She used that one. It was clean. So if they are not done remodeling by next time, it will be Sayer even if I don't need DEF. Another two hours and we are in OKC. 5th stop - the east TA in Oklahoma City. The same TA I had issues with last time. But my issues were with trying to use my personal credit card for DEF. No DEF this time so no issues. Another 15 minutes and we are at the motel. Getting there we go past their local amusement park. I think the park is spending more on electricity for holiday lights than they earned this summer by being open. 6th and final stop - Sleep Inn in north OKC. Same as last time. Even the person at the front desk recognized us. Once checked in we order Mexican from next door. Chips are extra :( but the food is good and quick. I wish I had been counting transporters today. Maybe close to 100 driveaway units plus another almost 100 travel trailers. Plus all the stuff that was on flat beds that we sometimes drive. Buses, 4 Van Hool coaches, 1 city bus driven (1 other on flatbed), school buses, short, long. RV's of all sizes. UPS vans, many including 4 in one group. Lots of white UPS style vans. Cement trucks, trash trucks, water trucks, bucket trucks, boom trucks. Bottle trucks, stacks of trucks. Truck tractors, truck chassis. Weather has been great again today. Forecast is not so good for tomorrow forward. We are catching up to a storm. Load board US - 279 IA - 113 ... so IA got rid of 11 from the load board today. Sorry. We don't expect to drive for them again until next year. 201213`CA-PA 1 Bus, heading to Johnsonburg PA ... spending the night at Edwardsville IL When we wake up it is raining. When I carry the first luggage out it has started to snow. When we check out the cars are covered in snow. Our good luck has worn out :( Breakfast was a 'you-pick' grab bag. I had yogurt and a pastry. BB had Fruit. Rolling at 7 AM which is now before daylight. When I check out the day shift person is behind the desk. He warned me that the roads were slick and he had been late because he was driving 35 mph. He is also the same person who in the past has told us how bad the roads can get in OKC. In about two miles we are on the toll road. A couple of miles later there is someone sitting crossways in the travel lanes, traffic is getting past them by driving on the inside shoulder. That was the beginning of a very long day. Not too many multi-car accidents but 25-45 mph on a road that is posted 60 mph minimum. Only a couple of trucks were doing the 60-80 allowed by law. It took us 2-1/2 hours instead of the usual 1-1/2 hours to get to Tulsa. BB stayed distracted so she wouldn't be screaming. One place where the road is three lanes wide, traffic was only using the far left lane ... someone had pulled out of that far left lane and parked. But that meant they were parking, straddling the white line between lanes 2 and 3. If I had realized ahead of time where they actually were, I would have passed them on the right so they would know they were parked in the center of a very busy freeway. Other than the slow and go, and hanging on, there was nothing major heading to Tulsa. 1st stop is at the Flying J in Tulsa. I was planning on adding DEF while we were there but the trucks were backed up out onto the street. Trucks parked everywhere, including crossways so one of the fuel pumps wasn't being used. I parked in a no parking zone and let BB run in to use the restroom. Then I saw that one of the pumps was coned off / not working, so I backed in front of that and parked while I ran in. Leaving Tulsa was worse. A few miles down the road I saw a truck a ways ahead of me hit the shoulder. So I hit the breaks, the semi behind me was able to hit the breaks, but the pickup behind him almost lost it. Almost hit the median, then came back and almost hit the semi before regaining control. And the reason people were stopping was that someone was parked crossways across the left two lanes of traffic. Because of the snow, people were only using one of the 3+ lanes of traffic. The guy was just sitting there on his phone, I couldn't see any damage or where he had hit anything. BB went back into hiding and didn't want updates. But in the next few miles there were lots of cars in the ditch, crossways in traffic, and one semi that spun out on the entrance cloverleaf so he was blocking traffic. Once out of Tulsa traffic was back to 25-45 mph. The lanes to Tulsa had not been plowed at all, so traffic tried to follow the tracks ahead of them frequently crossing over white lines. I tried to straighten them the best I could. It helps to be driving something big with good tires. The lanes leaving Tulsa had been plowed, but the new snow quickly lost that advantage. About halfway to Joplin, the roads cleared enough to run at 55 mph. Strange. Traffic had frequently been almost bumper to bumper on both sides of Tulsa. Halfway to Joplin is the 2nd toll both. After I pulled out of the toll both I did not see one anything behind me for the next twenty minutes. No cars, no trucks. Then in the last 20 miles before Joplin, 3 cars and 3 trucks past me. On coming traffic was about 10-20 cars a minute / mile. Not sure what happened behind us. 2nd stop was at the Petro for Taco Bell in Joplin. Parked in the back lot even though it was still snowing and cold. We ate standing in the bus, holding our food out of the bus and sticking our head out of the bus to take a bite. My hand was almost froze by the time I was done eating. And there was a big salad on the ground from my taco droppings. Because I parked so far away from the building and other things, we ended up taking a 45 minute break. For about the next hour I continued to drive about 55 mph as it was still snowing but the slush on the road was getting less. Finally it was clear enough to run at 65 mph again, but by now we have lost well over an hour, an hour of daylight driving. 3rd stop is at the rest area near Conway. 4th stop usually is at a rest area, but I do want to add DEF today so we change and stop at the Flying J in Sullivan. Lots of pumps open so I drive in backwards instead of backing. The first island the DEF is not working so I still get to back, out. Then drive into the next island. Once I'm done, I make a U-turn and park. Because we are running so late, we get shelf pizza here instead of waiting until we get to the motel. Again, eat at the bus. 5th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Edwardsville. Sunset was while we were at the Flying J so the next hour plus is night time driving. No snow, not much construction, just dark. Before we get to the motel the low fuel light starts coming on. I have never had that before on a bus so I don't know how much fuel is left. I should be getting 8 mpg, so I should be able to get 640 miles on the 80 gallon tank. We have gone about 525. 10 more to go to our fuel stop in the AM. BB and I finally both look at our rental car location, motel location, bus wash location. She changes the rental car location twice tonight :) The original location was near downtown Akron. Way out of route and near downtown ... and no easy way to get out of with a bus. Next was one near our planned hotel. But again, way out of route and almost country roads. The final one is an hour nearer the bus drop and just a couple of blocks off a freeway. Our motel may change too, depending on how tomorrow goes. And I found there are two truck washes close to each other so I will try the 2nd if the 1st is backed up. I could see there were lots of transporters again today, but most of the time my eyes were glued to the road. For some reason this bus seems to leak more cold air under the front door than most so we had been putting our luggage in front of the door to block the breeze. But today it was leaking more than air, our luggage got soaked. Not our clothes, but our work stuff. Nothing damaged, it all dried out by the end of the day. 2,000 mile runs are better. If this was one, we'd be here and dropping tomorrow and home in one day. Anything over 2,000 miles adds extra days driving the bus and the same extra time added driving the rental car home. 201214`CA-PA 1 Bus, heading to Johnsonburg PA ... spending the night at Wadsworth OH Woke up a few minutes before the alarm this AM instead of the middle of the night. Breakfast was a muffin with egg and cheese, nuked. Plus yogurt and juice. The AM desk person has almost always been the same person and was again today. We talked briefly about reaching 62 and SS. I haven't done the math but don't plan on quitting working in March next year. We pull out at 6:30 AM, still not first light. But the low fuel light is now on and the gauge is laying on 'E.' I 'know' there should still be about 10 gallons in the tank if I am getting 8 mpg. But instead of 8 mpg, I am getting 7.50 mpg. And I have driven 50 miles further than I had remembered. I won't do that again ... this trip. 1st stop was at the TA in Troy, seven long miles from the hotel. Only one fuel pump in use, I pull into the next one. But the '1' on the key pad doesn't work so I can't type in the correct info. As long as no one else is there, I swing around and pull in backwards so the nozzle is on the correct side of the bus. By the time I am done fueling, all pumps are being used. Good timing. 2nd stop is at the Loves in Greenup for a break. I will fuel somewhere else today so I do not come in tonight on 'E.' But all pumps are being used so it will be later. BB looks at the Naf-Naf but they don't open for another two hours. We need to roll now. Must have been zoning out some today. We passed the 'Welcome to Indiana' sign, I didn't notice. We went across the scale, I didn't remember it was the IN one. Finally at mile marker 11 I realize we have crossed the line. 3rd stop is another Loves in Mooresville for food and fuel. All pumps are in use when we get there so we go in and get our McD's. BB is freezing in the bus so she wants hot food today. I look at the menu and for signs and no where does it say 'McRib,' but I ask. Yes they do have it so I have it. Back to the bus topic, on this bus I can not set the degrees for the heat, it is either off, cool, vent or heat. When we walked back to the bus after getting our food, most of the fuel pumps were open. But we ate food first so it would be hot. When we were done eating, I fueled. Still a couple of pumps open. Today we ate and fueled in 30 minutes. And under the new rules, that counts are our '30 minutes not driving' instead of the old rules of '30 minutes not working.' 4th stop is at a rest area near Eton OH. While here I call the drop, small town attitude. They were fine with the 'about noon' drop tomorrow. We crossed another scale in OH but sent on our way. 5th stop was going to be at a truckstop north of Columbus but I had already fueled so we stopped a couple of miles before at a rest area. Faster off and back on. 6th stop was at Burbank at the Pilot for my final fuel and DEF. One fuel island was empty but others had trucks fueling and trucks waiting. Someone had parked so it longer to back in, but we got it. 1st I put in DEF, only a couple of gallons. Did just slightly better on fuel, I got 7.75 mpg today. Still not the 8-10 I had hoped, but maybe I need to do more math on past trips. We finally decide we will shut down in Wadsworth. That will get us in and eating before 8 PM. 7th and final stop is at the Comfort Inn in Wadsworth. Food is from the Bob Evans next door. BB gets fish, she has had better. I got the eggs and bacon, it was good. It is a long time between hot eggs nowadays. She had also looked at the food on the other side but it was much more and likely would have taken longer to get the food. Last night my local dispatcher emailed the drivers wanting updates on who can work the rest of the month. She didn't get any cities on the buses like she sometimes does. I emailed her back this AM saying we could work over the holidays but that I would call her back next Monday to confirm. (Later family messages us saying they would like us in town even if we aren't getting together ... too late.) Load board US - 278 IA - 121 MN - 4 WI - 2 Still multi units going to CA, OR, WA and AZ. ... the trip continues HERE |
