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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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210114`CA-CO 1 bus to Denver CO ... spending the night at Livermore CA BB didn't even go down to look at breakfast. I went down and got juice and a pastry. I had thought about going across the street to Carl Jr's (Hardee's) for a hot breakfast but didn't. We waited until 11 AM check out time to check out. Then drove to ... In-n-Out for a burger. Sat in the lot and ate it. From there we headed to the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery in Santa Nella. I have one new grave to find. The online info was wrong, but we found it. Lots of lawn work being done and one funeral. One van of family (1-2 people?) and the bugle and one other military person. Keeping it small. We spent about a half hour walking, part of it was after we had found the grave. From there we headed to a cemetery in Turlock. We had been there before, but now I have added more people to my tree/forest. When we get to the cemetery, I take a shot in the dark as to where it may be. Near the other markers we found. BB doesn't like that idea, so we head back to the office. I go in for a map. I do have locations on about two dozen people. Now with the map it narrows our search to a small city lot sized area to search for each person. We spend about a half hour walking and looking before BB gets tired. Leaving now will get us about half way back to Livermore before it is time to call dispatch. I call. Denver for us it is. The bus company had released a bunch of buses. And then put them back on hold before the end of the day. To Denver we are going to take I-80, and it is two hours up to our motel in Rocklin in the dark. I decide to stay in Livermore at the Best Western or La Quinta depending on who has parking when we get there. We fuel the car and fuel ourselves. We stop at Jimmy Johns. Then we head to the bus. We get there about a half hour before the dispatcher but that gives me time to check out the bus and be waiting. Security now starts earlier than they used to so we can get on the grounds earlier. I find the bus but I can't start it. ??? I final start it the 'back up' way. No issues doing that so I am missing something. After we have done all of my pre-trip and I am driving the bus to the office, I see what I missed :) So I shut the bus off and re-start. Not an issue. Usually the dispatcher hand types the bills of lading at the bus office. Today everything was pre-typed and he just handed my paperwork out the window to me. We are ready to go. BB wanted to get a copy of the paperwork when she dropped the rental car because of all the changes we have made in the last week. , But they now close an hour earlier than they used to. Less than 10 miles from the pickup we are at the Best Western. They still have room to park a bus. They have four truck parking spots but I came in from the wrong direction so it takes a couple of tries to get backed in correctly. We have a free night from BW that has to be used before February and they will take it without making a reservation through their main office. Now we are trying to figure out the cheapest way out of Denver. 900 miles home so we aren't going to try to make it in one day. We could have waited here in CA another day but this way we only have to do 400 miles a day and we are heading home. We have been here a week. Not all a bad thing. It would have been better if it had been planned. Like we planned to stay in the SE for January a couple of years ago. If we had planned on staying in CA we would have been watching the load board and been moving trucks when there wasn't a bus to move. But by looking at the buses in the lot, we could have been moving CA buses almost daily this week. Load board US - 285 IA - 140 MN - 3 WI - 9 We are moving. Finally. We'll see how the pay works out. Likely better than me driving solo to Winnemucca 210115`CA-CO 1 bus to Denver CO ... spending the night at Winnemucca NV No alarm, awake a few minute before it would have gone off. Breakfast was the to-go bag that we had filled out last night. It is Friday and the permit company is busy so I am on hold for a while. That means we pull out of the parking lot a little later than planned. When we leave the hotel and enter the freeway, we are going up hill. Up enough of a hill that I don't get over 45 mph until I am to the top a mile or two later. Then as soon as we start down the other side ... ... one of my side panels has come open and is sticking in the next travel lane. No shoulder to park on right away so I had to put on the four way flashers and straddle two of the four lanes. As soon as we were to the bottom of the hill, we loose one lane, but there is still pavement for a little further and that is where I parked. I remembered to check the panels last bus and they were good. Every time they need to be checked I guess. Morning fog. Once the lanes narrowed to two north of Stockton, one lane was going 55 mph and the other was going 60 mph. In a 70 mph zone. Fog finally lifted 100 miles later as we came into Sacramento. Coming through Sacramento I noticed ... Two cops talking to someone on the shoulder of the road but no car around. But there was a 'homeless' tent up against the sound barrier wall behind them. We pass the end/start of their light rail. The parking lot has 250 spots and used to be mostly full. Today, Friday AM, there were less than a dozen cars. 1st stop is the rest area at Gold Rush. No stop this trip at the Donners Pass rest area. This morning I had ordered my permit to start at 11:30 AM. We crossed the state line at 11:32. If we had gotten out of the motel on time this AM we would have had to wait at the border until 11:30. Because, as soon as we cross the border there is an inspection station, and today it is open. Open, but only two cops working out of one pickup. But they are both busy checking out one truck so the rest of us keep moving. 2nd stop is in Fernley at the Loves for fuel and food. Some trips I am really good at doing the fuel, other times I really make a mess. Today was one of the mess days. First fill I am getting 6 mpg. I will only need one more fuel and then maybe a top off before dropping the bus. Last night we did a lot of research and math and found it would be cheapest to get a car from the airport. But if I didn't want to drive the bus into the airport, it would still be cheaper to get a local car, drop the bus, pickup a 2nd car from the airport and drop the 1st car. Then we thought about 'Covid' and decided we will stay away from the airport and all the people. ... at Fernley we got food from Arbey's and ate standing by the bus. Today it seems to be warmer outside than in the bus. I am plenty warm up front but the heat doesn't seem to be working in the rear. And we are now 100's of miles from the pick up. 3rd and final stop is at the Quality Inn in Winnemucca. It is 3 PM but we have most of the first 400 miles behind us. (hours later we realize that we may have been better to keep going. We need to be out of the state by 11:30 AM tomorrow and now have to be out of the motel by 7 AM to make that) After checking in, we go for a walk and then walk to The Pig and order food. It is ready in 10 minutes. I got my usual Philly with Au Jus but this time I got chips instead of potato salad. The potato salad is good, but too much food. Chips don't need a fridge. Load board US - 264 IA - 123 MN -0- WI - 8 Nothing new on the IA load board today, that means 17 RV's were taken off the load board today. Plan is to stay in Evanston tomorrow night and Cheyenne Sunday night. That will get us down to Denver about 10 AM and deliver by noon. IF we deliver by noon, we should be home, or in MN, Tuesday afternoon. We could leave again, maybe. We would have 10+ days to make another run to just about anywhere but the west coast. 210116`CA-CO 1 bus to Denver CO ... spending the night at Evanston WY CHIRP!! CHIRP !! CHIRP !!! I look at the clock, it is 5:15 AM, so I get up and go to the bathroom. It is only then that I remember that my phone clock stays on Central time. Here in Wendover it is 3:15. And the smoke alarm is going off again. Some time around six or seven last night the alarm started chirping so we called the front desk and two people came up. First time without a ladder and the 2nd time with a ladder. I did watch them so I know what to do, it is the same as most alarms. Then it started chirping again at 3:15 AM. At least that is the first I heard it. At this point we are not going to change rooms so I grabbed a chair and was able to reach the alarm and get it loose. Then take the battery out. CHIRP!! CHIRP !! CHIRP !!! So I disconnected it from the wiring. CHIRP!! CHIRP !! CHIRP !!! Then I laid the alarm between two pillows and went back to bed. I guessing I slept some again but not too soundly. About 6 AM I call down to order, to order breakfast. It was ready in 10 minutes. This time it was five strips of bacon each. Good bacon, don't want it to go to waste (or waist.) We don't have much for rear heat in this bus, so last night after we stopped, I re-set all the circuit breakers in one panel of the bus. Then this AM I noticed the marque was on. :) That is a circuit breaker I do not want on. If it is off, the CALL 911 button can't activate. We pull out at 7 AM local. Before we get to Elko, we see two of their four DOT cops sitting in the median. Then a 3rd that has a truck pulled to the side. It will be after Elko that we see the fourth one, also with a truck pulled to the side of the road. But no inspection stations open. 1st stop is Elko for the restroom and we pick up Port O Subs to eat later. We cross out of NV at 11:10, we had 20 minutes to spare, which isn't enough time to have taken a lunch break in NV at Pilot. Instead we plan on eating our Subs at the rest area a few miles in to UT. 2nd stop ... POE. PARK. I get the PARK sign so I park and gather my stuff. The scale house person meets me at the building door. No need to go in, I am getting a level one inspection. That is everything. Me, the bus and the paperwork. This time they just came out to the bus and scanned everything. My bill of lading, drivers license, all my logs, the vin plate on the bus, placards, the works. Then the 1st person has me pull around into the shed and drive over the long pit. (Not sure if anyone has ever driven in to the pit?) Then we do the basic's. Check the lights, the horn, wipers. Then he comes inside and asks me to check my emergency exits. ??? Not sure what I might have said, but I was just kind of staring at him. "The ones you check during your pre-trip." Then I start staring at the drivers window. Lots of times there is one there, but not on this bus. Yes, I did know what he was talking about. But I have been inspected a few times before with a bus and have never had someone ask me to do that. And on this bus every window is an emergency exit. So I open and close each one, they all work. Then he wants the ones on the roof opened. To do the front one I have to brace myself between the two wheel wells. This one has a guard rail one one side so that made it much easier. Back one is easy. In the past I have had issues closing the top ones, but everything today went like clock work. And some point a 2nd person comes out and goes down in the pit under my bus. The whole thing took about 45 minutes. Then they said I had passed and they would email me my report. I pulled outside and waited. They checked a couple of times to see if I had gotten it before giving me a printed copy. That was eight hours ago and I still have not gotten an email. 3rd stop. A couple of miles down the road to the UT Welcome center for restroom and food break. The sandwiches are not as good hours after they are made. Here we sat at a picnic bench in the sun instead of by the bus in the shade. 4th stop was at the TA in Tooele for fuel. Fuel was two cents cheaper than the Flying J. (But I would have gotten those two cents as perks so it would have been even) Still made a mess today, I don't have the touch. This fuel should get me to Denver. Then I will just have to guess at the delivery level. 5th stop was the POE in WY where I have to buy a permit. This location the staff was not wearing masks but all the drivers were. When I walked in, one agent opened up. When I left there were six people in line behind me. No issues getting the permit, I had all the answeres. 6th and final stop was the Comfort Inn a couple of miles down the road. Yes they have truck parking, and lots of craters. Now that we are here I see that they do have more parking behind the building. I think that is where I will park from now on. After we are checked in, I call to the Lincoln Highway next door and order food. 10 minutes and it was ready. Good food this time but way too much. I never need a 1/3# burger but that is all they carry. Load board US - 244 IA - 114 MN -0- WI - 8 210117`CA-CO 1 bus to Denver CO ... spending the night at Johnstown CO Breakfast. Hot eggs and bacon. I wasn't sure if I would dish some up but it looked like we might be the first ones down this AM so I took a little. Plus some yogurt. We pull out right at daylight. 1st stop is Rock Springs for DEF (diesel exhaust fluid.) I wasn't sure which place I was going to stop but then realized if I stopped somewhere random, I would have to go in to get the pump turned on, likely have to leave my credit card and go back in for a receipt. So Flying J it was. Flying J has changed since I was here last. The entrance to the pumps used to be facing the road. Now that is where you exit. Either way I need to go in backwards for DEF. All pumps were full so I backed into the closest pump. People looked confused with me sitting there backwards. As I am watching the guy at the pump I am waiting for finish up, and someone knocks on my door. "This isn't a parking spot" I explain that I have to get DEF from that side of the pump and he is OK with that. He is waiting for the area to clear so he can empty his tanker. As soon as the other truck moves I back in and the tanker pulls in behind me. I swipe my credit card and enter all the needed info. Once I am set to go, I grab the DEF hose and open the DEF on my bus. It is a 'fast fill.' There is is no way to fill it with a regular nozzle. So I clear my data from the pump and pull out. Now I will either be bringing the bus in on DEF fumes or I will have to have to wedge the 'fast fill' open and pour in some DEF an ounce at a time. We are back on the road and BB looks at the weather and road conditions. There is now a blizzard warning starting at 2 PM between Rawlins and Laramie. It runs through Monday evening. There is also currently a high wind warning until 2:30 for the same area. We talk about not stopping until we are past the area, but that is four hours non-stop. We decide to stop to use the restroom in Rawlins and keep going. 2nd stop is the TA in Rawlins for the restrooms. The bus is heavy and rides close to the ground so I am not worried about the wind. But I am concerned about how the wind will effect others. And the wind doesn't catch me, much. When I feel something I just let off the gas for a few seconds. But there are a few places where the snow is blowing across the road and I slow down for those also. One of those snow blown places there is a car along side of me, that just hangs with me. If either of us spin out, we will take the other one with us. I slow, they slow. I speed up, they speed up. Finally I hit the breaks and slow to 20 mph, they finally pull away from me. At the Arlington exit there are <> 20 travel trailers sitting near the exit, waiting this wind out. The rest of the stretch is un-eventful for us. 3rd stop is in Laramie at the Pilot for Wendy's. We eat at the bus. From Laramie to Cheyenne the road was about the same as from Rawlins to Laramie, except without the official warnings. In Cheyenne we turn off our familiar road and on to I-25. 4th and final stop is at the Comfort Inn in Loveland right next to a Scheel's. Here is the first I hear that tomorrow is a holiday. I hope they will still take the bus. I have 'stuck' the fuel tank a couple of times and it looks like I will have to add about 12 more gallons of fuel before delivery. I was hoping that I would get better mileage with the high winds. But the winds weren't as much tail winds and cross winds today. We have about 40 miles more to go tomorrow before the wash and then another 10 to the final drop. And then home, or IA at least. ... the trip continues HERE |
