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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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1 trash truck to Elk Grove Village IL ... spending the night at home On our way back from our last trip, we had been listening to our Governor's Covid update. Sunday AM BB is looking online and there are places in the northern part of the state where she could get a vaccination on Monday. So Sunday AM we head up to Bemidji and spend the night there. Local dispatch hadn't called on Friday so now they were just going to have to wait. I called in at 8 AM, one dispatcher didn't have anything and the other one was on the phone. The hotel was about a block from where BB was going so I just waited in the hotel until she came back. And dispatch called while BB was gone so I had to put the trip on hold for a few minutes. We are heading to Chicago with another trash truck. I hadn't heard this at the time, but this shipping location quit making cement trucks last year ??? Don't know the why. ... later I searched online ... Jul 29, 2020 McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing says it is moving its concrete mixer manufacturing operations out of Dodge Center, where it has been for the last 50 years. The company says manufacturing will be moved to London, Ontario, Canada, and Oshkosh, Wisconsin. My trip is not a hot rush trip so we will just leave out Tuesday and delivery first thing Wednesday morning. And then ... ??? On the way up to, and the way back from Bemidji we stopped at a few cemeteries so I could take pictures and we walked. Load board - weekend US - 453 IA - 208 MN - 2 WI - 5 Load board - Monday US - 441 IA - 205 MN - 1 WI - 3 Still over 200 RV's on the load board out of IA. I expect 100 RV's on the loadboard will be this years -0-. We went past an RV dealer in Brainard that had only two RV's in their lot, one new, one used. They did have a lot of travel trailers. 210330 MN-IL 1 trash truck to Elk Grove Village IL ... spending the night at Schaumburg IL Breakfast? I had fresh mango. I much prefer the processed stuff. We ended up leaving at 7:30. Last week we tried to leave at 7 and got going at 7:15 AM Non stop to the pickup location. 1st stop is at the shipper in Dodge Center. Things go quicker today after being here last week. Someone pulled in behind us but got to the door first. So I waited outside. When they came out, I asked where they were going. Instead they said they had an issue with VIN's. Then the driver said they truck drivers were from Canada. And only the shuttle driver talked after that. He was wearing a cap from my long haul company but he works for himself. The shuttle driver had seen the name of my local company on my jacket and said he used to work for them ... 20+ years ago. And he named off the locations the office had been in. So he would have left about the time I started. Now he has been driving shuttle for the long haul company drivers, not sure how he got connected to that. We didn't talk long. I got my paperwork and went to look for my truck. I started where I ended last time, and worked my way backward. This time my truck was 10 from the last unit in the lot so I am getting better. I do a complete inspection and find that ... clunk, clunk, clunk ... every time the wipers moved. SO ... I get to make phone calls and wait again. Someone was able to fix it, but it took an hour again. Good thing we were not up against the clock trying to deliver today. 2nd stop, my 1st stop with the truck is the Loves in Oakdale for food. BB had made an extra stop at a rest area and caught up to me as I was coming up the ramp. Hardee's. We order and then eat in the car. I end up taking 45 minutes, we aren't in a rush. For a short while, I was thinking it was a good thing we were not in a rush, I could only get the truck to do 55 mph. Turns out it is one of these that the gas peddle is governed at 55 mph, but the cruise will let me run at 63 mph. 3rd stop is the rest area near Janesville. I call the drop from there to confirm the address. They are more concerned that I do not get there before 8:30 AM. I had completely forgotten about the I-Pass until BB had them in her hand and walking up to me. BB is running low on fuel and doesn't realize she should have fueled in WI instead of IL until she is at the pump. Gas is quite a big higher in IL. 4th stop (for me) is the Loves in Hampshire for fuel. I do the math and put in 20 gallons. I need to leave the truck on 1/4 and picked it up on 3/4. If it had been full at pickup, I wouldn't have needed to fuel it at all. Here we need to know which motel we are staying at. BB has been in the car working on it. Thinking she would be done working on it, I leave my truck in the line at the fuel island and walk to the car. But she still has questions. We have looked at a lot of hotels. We end up with a Comfort Inn about five miles from the drop. One of the other hotels we looked at, did not give us a discount so the pricing was not what we had expected. I write down two street names and am gone. BB makes the reservation and follows. I didn't realize we were already that close, just another half hour and we are at the hotel. 5th and final stop, the Comfort Inn for the night. And Smash Burger for the food. This hotel is next to a major shopping area that includes an indoor mall that still has a Macy's, Penny's and Nordstrom's. And used to have a Sears and maybe more. And there are dozens of food places around the edge of the mall and we have a car. Some of the places we looked at sounded good, until we saw the price of a sandwich was $25. Load board US - 508 IA - 217 - 1 MN - 1 WI - 8 We are looking at the load board. I am done with my local company when I drop this in the AM. Before we had been looking at doing a 2nd leg somewhere. But it looks like the money will be in heading to Forest City and getting two of the shortest mile no-tows. But we need to be picky. Only Rockford and Davenport have cars going back to Mason City. No where in Chicago does. So we can't do the longer runs without having to drop the car at MSP, which adds more logistics, miles, etc. We found a pair of RV's that works and we can get dropped by Friday and get home. We could take a trip to OH and still make delivery on Friday, but not get home Saturday night. We have the night to think about it. We may call the first thing in the AM. ... the trip continues HERE |
