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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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210923 MN-MN 2 tankers to Plymouth (delivered) ... spending the night at home No alarm, we just need to be 15 miles down the road by 10 AM ... we were late. The Crookston run was running even later. Last trip of the quarter so things seem to go wrong. So a driver I haven't seen in over a year. He's the only one who has been there longer than I ... and he's 20 years older than me. Not sure the difference but I am getting paid quite a bit less than the last time I did this exact same trip. Different dispatcher? 2nd stop was the shipper in Plymouth. I found the man in charge and he showed me where my first truck was and brought the 2nd one out where I could find it easier. He said we could wait and do paperwork when I get back for the 2nd truck. Not sure why it took so long but the 1st truck/trip took 45 minutes to do the inspection and be ready to go. 3rd stop was back in Lake Elmo to spot the truck for another driver. When we were in the office dropping off the keys the dispatcher wanted to know if I wanted to take one of these trucks ... not today. 4th stop - food - we drove out of route to stop at Steak Escape in Stillwater. Good food. It looked like the crew working on the sign over the drivethru was trying to use a concrete drill to go through steel and it wasn't working for them. We were not too far down the road and I noticed that my nice juicy sandwich had dripped all over my shirt. Luckily I had my suitcase with, when I got back to the shipper I changed. 5th stop was for fuel at the Fleet Farm in Oakdale. It is usually ten cents cheaper than anywhere else and we are going right past it. While I am fueling I see I have a missed call. Dispatch. So I call back. Different dispatcher wants to give me more money to do a trip I turned down before. I say no again. But the truck doesn't have to move until next week so I agreed to do it. I don't like making plans that far ahead but I usually, or used to, work the whole last week of every quarter for them. When I do this trip it will be two days and the rest of the week I already have plans. 6th stop the shipper - again. This time it took about a half hour to inspect. Both trucks had enough fuel to get me back to the office. The first truck was a Peterbilt and this one was a Ford. By now it was almost two o'clock and I still disturbed the guy who needed to sign my papers. 7th stop was back at Lake Elmo to spot the 2nd truck and drop off my paperwork and keys. I didn't ask if they had more work and they didn't try to catch me. 8th stop - back home. Load board US - 132 IA - 30 MN - 20 WI - 11 Dodge Center has a couple of trucks that are under 300 miles, IA does not. WI does, but it gets me further away from home. But not an issue at this point. 7 PM tonight, I get a call from the CA dispatcher. The shipper released 55 buses today. Can I fly out? ... sorry (And by the time I can he likely won't have anything for me again) But this is 'normal' for us. I have been driving for 18 years and the only year I do not remember taking extended time off was the year that BB was laid off and I was our only income.  |
