 |
|
|
|
|
...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
|
210812 MN No where to no where No work for today, we did personal stuff. If dispatch had called we could have done a local trip but no calls for work. Later in the day I did call to see about work for Friday, they didn't have any then and never called back later with any so likely no work Friday either. So we will make half as much as we spent on groceries this week. Good thing there is a little food in the garden ;) I did get an email from the office, on the last trip I did I forgot to fill out part of my paperwork. I know at the time of pickup, once I could get it to move I didn't want to stop for anything. But I should have caught it before I turned it in. It was signed so it was legal when I was driving. Load board US - 252 IA - 99 / 95 MN - 9 WI - 13 One RV to Rockford that we have done a couple of times recently that would pay, but BB is on day one of her three day cleansing before her appointment on Monday. Didn't want to be running a long day. 210813 MN No where to no where again. Dispatch did call this AM but called back to cancel before we got to the lot/truck. It was a truck that was supposed to go to the shop so I'm assuming they got if fixed. Nothing else came up so we ended up going to a nearby county fair. (I forgot to grab Friday's numbers, so these are Saturdays) Saturday Load board US - 211 IA - 84 MN - 9 WI - 5 Monday next week BB will be drugged and can't drive. Wednesday we have family plans. Friday BB has another appointment and Saturday we have more family plans. The following week we only have one appointment on Monday so we might get a overnight trip in next week. We are supposed to work once every 30 days so I need to work again by the 29th. BB needs to work before that, I'm guessing ASAP. I'm surprised that dispatchers are calling us more, lots of work, end of the fiscal year for the RV's. 210823 IA-MN 1 RV to Brainerd MN (Tuesday) ... spending the night at home I called at 8 AM for BB's RV to Brainerd. I had to call 15 times before I got a real person and not a busy signal or a recording. BB had an 8 AM appt so couldn't call herself. She did get the run. There had been one RV to Sioux Falls for a few days the prior week and another one last week. It was still sitting there this AM but besides BB's appt we had also made an appt for our car so we weren't able to leave this AM. IF the car had gotten done right away and IF the run was still out there when it was, the plan was for me to do the Sioux Falls before we did the Brainerd trip. Didn't happen. We also had a 'failure to communicate,' BB and I. I finally called the shop and the car was ready so I wanted to pick it up right away. And we did within a few minutes. When we got the car home, I had opened the trunk assuming that we were going to be leaving right away. And get the Brainerd trip done ASAP. When BB didn't start packing up I asked what her plan was. She wasn't ever planning on picking up the Brainerd today or getting to a hotel tonight. ??? That does fit with what we had committed to, but those commitments were based on getting the Sioux Falls later in the day. Leaving our options open. A while after we 'talked' about it ;) BB starting thinking about the way I had planned but by then it was too late to get a good start today. So now the plan is to leave home in the AM, be picked up and on the road by noon and be to Brainerd by late afternoon. Depending on what time they close we will either drop Tuesday or Wednesday. We do have a hotel reservation in Brainerd either way. And that may be it for the week. Fair on Thursday, family things on Friday. Load board US - 234 IA - 112 MN - 5 WI - 4 210824 IA-MN 1 RV to Brainerd MN ... spending the night at Brainerd MN Alarm went off at 6 AM, we finally got going about 8 AM. It had started raining sometime overnight and was really dumping 7-7:30 so we were not in a rush to get going. 1st stop was the rest area, welcome center in Northwood IA. 2nd stop was at the shipper to pick up. No other drivers picking up. One driver stopped briefly, likely to drop off paperwork and someone else just got to the office as we were leaving. BB had over a 1/4 tank of fuel so we'll go the first 100 before we fuel. 3rd stop was the Loves at Wendys in Albert Lea for food. There was a line for food when we got to the counter, then they messed up our order. We could have had big sandwiches with fries if I had just grabbed the bags they said were ours. Once I got someone's attention they just set those bags to the side and re-filled our order. Not sure who's food it was ... maybe someone at the drive thru? As we sat in our car in the parking lot, the next three people who came to fuel all stopped at the first pump they came to instead of pulling all the way ahead? Is that something new? We could have done todays trip with one stop but instead we are doing three. 3rd stop is for fuel at the Pilot in Northfield. Fuel is cheaper here and BB will have a better idea how much more fuel she needs ... and her low fuel light come on before we got to the station. We've been bucking a headwind and more rain so we haven't been even going our usual 65 mph. We hear later that this area got over 2 inches of rain in the last day or so. Rain. Forecast I heard said they had gotten 8/10ths so far with a chance of rain within the next couple of hours. AND a chance of up to a half inch on Thursday and 2-4 inches Thursday night. Too late for most crops. Traffic around the Twin Cites wasn't bad. NW of the cities is road construction, not fun but it kept moving. BB's working so she is in the lead, I'm driving the 'chase car.' We had talked about the best way to get to Brainerd on the way to the pickup. I had my way. Then BB looked up Google Maps and said she would turn on the routing software. ... so when we got off somewhere other than where I expected, I figured she was following the directions. ... until I saw we were following the river the wrong direction instead of crossing it. I tried flashing my headlights at her but that is hard to see in the daylight. Within a couple of miles she pulled onto a side road and stopped. She had NOT turned on the mapping software and only remembered she wanted to turn in Monticello. She didn't know the town had two exits, and I don't know the town so I didn't know it only had one bridge ... I just knew we were heading the wrong direction. NOW she turned on the maps. 4th stop was the rest area before St Cloud. Earlier today I had called the local dispatcher and said I would be available tomorrow ... from Brainerd. Not much chance of work but more than if they don't know. IA now has an RV to Duluth ... Dodge Center had two to WI South St Paul still has two to FL so close work and long work close. 5th stop is the Comfort Suites in Brainerd. We check in and then try to order food on line but they all go through a 'service' so we call the order in instead. There is a place next door, sit down type. Plus a couple Arby's and Subway all in adjacent parking lots. A 2nd sit down place within a block but depending on what we looked at they were either open or not open. So we decided on the Black Bear. I called, food would be ready in 10 minutes. When I got there I went to the dining side and they asked if I had ordered soup ... I had. They said the food was at the bar. When I got to the bar someone was carrying the food to the bar so I was in and out in a couple of minutes. In a rare agreement on food, BB and I split a rueben sandwich and she got a side salad and I got wild rice soup. Then went for a walk on the sidewalk/bike path. Load board US - 280 IA - 138/136 MN - 6 WI - 7 We will deliver about 9 AM and then ??? 210825 IA-MN 1 RV to Brainerd MN (delivered) ... spending the night at home We can't deliver until 9 AM so we have plenty of time for both breakfast and a walk. Same walk as last night. Final fuel for the RV is across the street. BB doesn't have an issue but I'm trying to fuel the car and don't see the small ticker style messages across the bottom of the ads on the pump screen. By the time I do my card is declined so I have to use another card. I'm used to the ads stopping long enough to take my order ... Three miles down the road and we are at the drop. The lot is mostly empty with only one or two RV's that look knew the rest look used. Even with it that slow it takes a while for someone to come out and look at the RV. And when they do, two of them, they go over it closely. They even took it for a test drive before signing off. They did find two minor issues, should be anything driver related but we still have to call it in. We haven't seen anything work or gotten any calls so we spent some time at a cemetery. And then ate at Jersey Mikes, in the car, before heading home. One stop at the rest area between south of Clearwater. Load board US - 353 IA - 159 MN - 13 WI - 7 |
