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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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210924 MN Local dispatch called today asking if I could go to AR on Wednesday ... no, I can't. BB has two appointments on Thursday and I have one on Friday. And we are not going to drive all night to get back. ... and I still need to do the math to see when on Wednesday we will get back. For our long haul carrier, there are short runs from Dodge Center to Omaha, from WI to IA and from IA to IL. So there would be work if we could work all day Wednesday. And I MAY work Friday after my appointment. We will see then, too early tell yet. Load board US - 123 IA - 46/45 MN - 4 WI - 8 210928 MN-IA 1 trash truck to Shenandoah IA (delivered) ... spending the night at Waukee IA I had picked up my paperwork last night so that this AM we could leave earlier ... and have fewer miles. Alarm at 6 AM, left at, or after :) 7:30. Non-stop to our 1st stop. The worst of the traffic is the farm harvest traffic. Tractors and equipment going 20 mph and having no where to pass. 1st stop was Dodge Center at the pickup. A lot fewer trucks to look through and a 1/4 of them are now mixers (?) I thought they were done building mixers. As I walk into the office, someone else is walking out so I say Hi. Then I see him again looking for trucks and I get a look at his paperwork. He works for my long haul carrier. We talk briefly, I tell him I work for that company too, but not today. Later I remember I am wearing the long haul carrier cap. Opps. I find a jacket for my local carrier but not a cap. Oh well, it is supposed to be in the 90's today when I drop, I won't still be wearing a coat or a cap. This driver also said he lives with the dispatcher (???) While we were at the shipper, I got a picture of the new cab-over Freightliner. Still haven't driven one. It doesn't look like they will have US-14 done before the snow flies. They do have the road poured on the west end and it looks like they are almost done with the dirt work on the east end. So should be next summer for sure. Then it will be divided four lane all the way from Rochester to Owatonna. Maybe to Mankato, or beyond. 2nd stop is the Arby's at Dows. BB stopped at a rest area and catches up to me as I am pulling up the ramp. Arby's is taking cash only today. I haven't been keeping up on my cash count but we have enough. I had hoped to make it to Avoca before I fueled but it looks like I might come up 20 miles short. And fuel is cheaper in Des Moines so I decide to stop there. 3rd stop is the Loves in Clive (Des Moines) for fuel. Boss/shipper is paying for the fuel so I just fill it. I used over a half a tank to get this far and I thought I was half way. Turns out I was over half way so I wouldn't have needed that much. BB stops in Ankeny and Adair at rest areas and then in Avoca for fuel. Flying J is STILL working on their gas pumps so they are closed so she goes to a Caseys instead. I don't realize it right away but she pulls out right in front of me and I follow her the rest of the way. Right out of Des Moines I pull out to pass an RV, after a couple of hills I slow and pull in behind him. I try a couple of more time to pass him but no luck. This thing is governed at 65 mph so that's my limit. One time I followed him right on his tail for two miles at 63 mph but as soon as I pulled out to pass he was back up to 65 mph ... then he pulled off the freeway in Avoca in front of me :( But he went right and I went left. 10 miles out of Shenandoah I get a call from the area code I am dropping in. It goes to voicemail but I hope it is not the drop saying they close at 4:30. 4th stop is the drop in Shenandoah. I was following BB, but she missed the side road and I didn't. She had looked at a map and told me where the drop was. But the map gave a word named street and the signs were numbered. Luckily I could see the building and the trucks from the main highway and turned where I should have. Two people are waiting outside and direct me in. They just wanted to be sure that I was going to get to the drop before 6 PM when they called. And they were glad they didn't have to take me to Omaha to catch a ride. Or back to MN. The inspection took about 15 minutes and I was ready to leave. BB faxes/sends my paperwork, but she has a new phone and we put the email in wrong so it comes back and we have to resend. I call local dispatch to tell them I am delivered and they want to know if I can go to Kansas City next Thursday. I get all con fused on my days and finally say I will call them next week. But next week BB needs to work for the long haul carrier to stay active. 5th stop is back in Avoca for food. I want Maid Rite but they are closed again. I didn't ask anyone else there but it looks like they are still open, just not today or this part of today. So we got Taco Johns and ate as I drove. 6th and final stop is the Comfort Inn. Another rewards/free night. Load board US - 155 IA - 63/61 MN - 6 WI - 7 We are still five hours from home so unless something is right on our way, we don't have enough time to do anything tomorrow. Another day would have been nice. There were a few trucks or RV's that were available that would have made for a 12-14 hour day. Too much for the day before an appointment. Not sure what the plan is for next week, I may be able to work all or most of the week. The following week we already have plans for the last half of the week so maybe Mon-Tues local. Then after that ... we have Dr's appointments again so we can only to short/local until November. 210929 MN-IA 1 trash truck to Shenandoah IA (delivered) ... spending the night at home It is going to be rough getting back on the road, we were finally up and heading down for breakfast at 8:45. They close down breakfast at 9 AM. Breakfast was a frozen breakfast biscuits. BB also had cereal and I had juice. I had two cups, the first one was half OJ but the OJ ran out for the 2nd cup. Back at the room we are eating and BB finally looks at the load board. ... WHAT ? ! ? ! There is a truck 20 miles from us that will only add 20 miles to our trip home. Des Moines to Shakopee. I start dialing but BB had to show it to me before I finish dialing ... but it is gone. Someone has spoken for it and another one but dispatch says they will check on it. They didn't say they would call me back and didn't. Another hour later and I call the 2nd time, yes, the other driver is taking the one I want. :( It's not often that a trip that perfect shows up. Who knows, we may have gotten it if we had been watching. Or we could have still missed out on it. Either way we are going home empty. 1st and only stop is in Clear Lake at Pilot for fuel and Culver's for a treat for me. BB isn't hungry. We kept watching the load board until we left Clear Lake, after that there wasn't a point. And we had lost a couple of hours this AM so we really didn't have many options that would work. 2nd and final stop is home. Yesterday on I-80 we were seeing lots of transporters. A convoy of four Amazon vans first and then five Amazon vans a little later. Plus lots of others. And it seemed like we were seeing new travel trailers about one a minute. Maybe one every two minutes, but an awful lot of them for the hour and a half we were on I-80. Today we saw a couple of tow trucks, a cement truck, a couple of trash trucks on I-35. Had another driver that wouldn't let me pass today. Other people could pass them but not me. Finally I saw a semi coming onto the freeway from a rest area and I got the jump on them and they couldn't get over. Load board US - 174 IA - 85/83 MN - 5 WI - 4 Appointments the next two days. And a likely meeting mid-week next week. Other than that we will try to do local. Local dispatch wants me to go to Kansas City the end of the week. Long haul has 17 trips on the load board that are under 400 miles that would work, plus one of the auction trips from Duluth that would be a two day trip.  Saw this one, have not driven this model yet. |
