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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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211129 IA-CA 2 RV's to Davis CA (Tuesday) ... spending the night at home Lots of trips on the load board and the weekend to think about it. Doing 2 no-tow Davis trips is our best pay. We had looked at other trips and thought about seeing if dispatch could come up with more money some older ones but they decided to just do what is there. I had to get going early this AM so when it got near 8 AM I pulled off into a parking lot and called. We got them. I kind of forgot that I was going to just have them hold them for an hour until we heard back on something. That something was my drugstore was out of one of my meds and without those I may not have enough to last until we get home from our next two plus week trip. It turns out that it was the only med I have an extra two weeks of ... and they got more in today so no issue. Again we will have an extra day to get to CA, but we prefer that to having to push. And again WY weather is a maybe. Right now it looks like we want to take our first two days slow and get there on Friday. But that may change in the next couple of days. This will be our first trip in the new 'Ekko.' Later today dispatch did put out runs that we likely would have taken over the Davis but Davis was a sure thing at 8 AM. Load board - Saturday US - 425 IA - 229/226 MN - 5 WI - 5 Load board - Monday US - 436 IA - 226/224 MN - 2 WI - 4 There are four trucks in IN coming back to MN that have been sitting there for 10 days, but we can't do everything. It was a good trip when we did do it. There is also an RV in IN going to MT that has been sitting longer than that. And IA has a Brainerd one that we could have gotten done today ... match that up with a Duluth back home with a auction truck and it would have been some good pay. At least four auction trucks we would have grabbed if we were going to be staying in town. We have time enough for one trip to CA and back but we never know how long the 'back' part is going to take. We should have a few extra days when we get back. What we do will depend on the weather. If it is below -0- we will likely head south. 211130 IA-CA 2 RV's to Davis CA ... spending the night at Ankeny IA We have six days to get to CA so we are in no hurry today. No alarm ... breakfast ... was at our house :) We got going a little after 8 AM, we had done the math and we could get to Omaha by leaving at 8:30. 1st stop - Burnsville for a clinic visit. 2nd stop was in Owattona for $2.86 fuel at Fleet Farm. We weren't on 'E' yet but it is getting cooler so we don't want to leave it on 'E' anymore this season. 3rd stop was at Jerry's Taco's in Forest City. It wasn't quite noon but we decided to eat before getting our RV's. Today I had two taco's, a pizza was going to take 20 minutes ... we were told it would be worth the wait. Still in Forest City we pick up our RV's. Today it took over an hour, we were in no rush and we hadn't seen one of these before so we both took our time. No issues, just going slowly. New people getting trained/oriented today. Others picking up, two of them were couples. One we didn't talk to at all, the other I asked a couple of questions to. That one had a tractor chassis there that was going to be dropped a few towns away, it was for a different driveaway company. 4th stop was for fuel in Clear Lake at the Pilot. We wouldn't have needed to stop yet but it is the cheapest fuel for the next day or ?? While we are there another driver came up to us and started talking. He had just gotten back from Phoenix this AM, now he was headed to KY. And he lives in Louisiana. The drives other things but loves driving the RV's. We talked long enough that even BB came over for a bit :) At some point going down the highway BB pulls out to pass, which she rarely does. I see that I am down below 65 mph but we are going up a hill so I think maybe this this is just gutless. Then she passes and I fall in behind her ... nope, this thing is not gutless. It has 'accident avoidance' and I was following a truck. :) I still have not had a vehicle yet that tells me when that thing kicks in, I wish they all would. 5th and final stop is the Sleep Inn in Ankeny. Not even 4 PM but the next town with nice hotels is Omaha and that would be another two hours and well past dark. We can still make Sidney tomorrow if we get an early start, that was our goal for day two. We walked !! We haven't done much of that anywhere. When we went out to get our food later we were reminded why. BB's knee is now hurting to walk on. Before it was her ankle. But we did walk. First we started walking around the pond, but that was a game of 'twister' to try to stay on the sidewalk and not step in goose pooh. As soon as there was a split we got away from the pond. Geese pretty much were covering the pond, sitting within three feet of each other, 100's of them. And then sometime they come out of the water to eat and ... Food was Outback. That is why we stay here instead of the one 20 miles down the road. All that one is near is the HiVee and Fleet Farm. I thought I was going to just get soup tonight but ended up with chicken alfredo again. Ate half and saved half for breakfast. Load board US - 439 IA - 240/235 MN - 2 WI - 3 Still lots of work on the auction truck list. :( ... when we are not going to be in town. Weather looks good for the next couple of weeks. 211201 IA-CA 2 RV's to Davis CA ... spending the night at Sidney NE Leftovers for breakfast and then yogurt and juice from the hotel. Headed out at 7:30, it looked like the lot had been mostly full last night. There must have been a light rain overnight and it left a dry spot each place a car had been parked. A lot of cars were gone by 7:30. Lot's of traffic and a couple of slow downs ... in Des Moines ... during rush hour. After that it was the usual 'tag' with other truckers up and down the hills. 1st stop was Adair rest area. The IA scale heading west on I-80 was actually open. Today may have been the first time I have had to cross it, ever. I'm a little worried about our placards as they can not be seen from … (we dropped WiFi so I haven't found the answer.) 2nd stop was for fuel in Gretna, we had planned on the Kum n Go because it is easier to get out of. But fuel was $.10 cheaper across the street at QT/QuickTrip so we stopped there. It may be a good idea to keep stopping at QT as the Kum n Go was full of Amazon delivery trucks. 3rd stop is in York for food at Arby's. Temp is 62 when we eat, it hits 71 later in the day, today being December 1. Last time we were here the lobby was closed so we ate next door at McDonalds. Today it is back open. Their 'Brisket' is my new sandwich, for as long as it is the special. A month maybe? 4th stop was supposed to be the rest area near Cozad, we both had enough fuel to get to Ogallala when we left Gretna. But the winds have picked up and my mileage went from 11.1 mpg down to 10.8 mpg. Not much but enough so that I now do not have enough fuel that I would chance it to get to Ogallala. So our stop is at the Casey's in Cozad and we each but in enough to get to Ogallala. I was going to by a case of water here but they don't sell it by the case. So we just got two bottles. This Casey's used to have a few tables that always seemed to be full when we stopped in. Now they are gone and it is just a big open area. The first NE scale was closed this AM but the 2nd one was open. Everyone ahead of me, and me, got the bypass. BB got flagged in to cross the scale. So I pulled off at the next exit and waited. Just had to cross, didn't get called inside the scalehouse. Yet. That will happen some day. We've been doing this almost six years and she has never been flagged in alone yet. 5th stop is Ogallala. All 10 fuel pumps are full when we get there, down to 3 being used when we leave. When we first got there I watched as someone walked out to their car and I thought they would be leaving. Nope, they moved it about three feet, then walked out into the parking lot and started talking to someone. I drove away and BB took the spot ahead of them. It is still early ... enough. So we make hotel reservations in Sidney. When we get back on the freeway there are two Amazon vans that pass me. No placards and running on temp plates instead of transporter plates. That was it today for other driveaway. Did see a few travel trailers, but I call that towaway. We saw one at a rest area that may have been towaway. It was just sitting there in the lot, no pickup attached. Not a logical place to leave it, it didn't look like it had a flat. It also didn't look like it had a plate so likely was towaway. Before we got to Sidney there were four cops that had a pickup pulled over. Cops were down on their hands and knees looking that one over. Must have suspected something. 6th and final stop is Sidney. First we stop at Margaritas. One car pulls in behind us but we get in the door first. We just ask for a menu and the others get seated. Today it took about 15 minutes to get our food and in that 15 minutes the place filled up. Had we gone to the hotel first it would have been a half to an hour wait for our food. Food. It is good, but the last few times it has been cold. And it comes in tinfoil so we can not nuke it. We need to carry extra plates. The other half of this place is a gas station and the two Amazon trucks are here fueling. Fuel here is $.30 more per gallon than back in Ogallala. Too bad we had to put fuel in in Cozad. That is the only place yesterday, today or tomorrow where we will have paid over $3.00 a gallon. So we are doing good on price, but our mileage is still around 11 mpg instead of the 15 mpg that we should be getting. The wind did die down after Ogallala so my mpg is back up to 11. Checked into the hotel and the person at the desk says it has been a while. I don't remember her but she remembered us and it was likely May or June the last time we were here. But we do stay here a lot. Load board US - 430 IA - 237/234 MN - 1 WI - 1 When I looked the auction trucks were up to 9 coming back to the Twin Cities. Later there was also one in Miles City coming back to MN, that would have worked really good on our last trip. We think we have a plan for this trip. Wind is still down for tomorrow and NA for Friday but we don't want to wait for no wind. So we should get to Rock Springs Thursday night. Then Elko on Friday night, and then stay two nights in Rocklin for the weekend. Once we are past the 'wind area' tomorrow, I will call the drop and the west coast dispatcher and let them know we will be there on Monday. 211202 IA-CA 2 RV's to Davis CA ... spending the night at Rock Springs WY CHOKE Choke choke. Both of us woke up sometime after 10 PM to the very strong smell of cigarette smoke. I remember smelling my pillow to see if that was where it was coming from. This AM when I mentioned it to the front desk, they said they had smelled it when they delivered the bills under the doors during the night. Likely someone smoking in the stairwell where there are no camera's ... Breakfast was leftovers again. There is a shuttle bus in transit that came in after we did last night, heading to Seattle. But we never did see the driver. 1st stop is the scale house in WY. A couple of transporters are just leaving. Quick in and out. Uggg ... as we are leaving Cheyenne, there is on the side of the road, standing on the top step of his truck in just his boxers, relieving himself into traffic. On the more amusing side, near there there was a moving van that must had had a platform past the door. And it was stacked full of boxes, totes and whatever else all the way to the top of the truck. And all strapped in. I didn't realize what it was right away or I might have gotten a picture of that one. Just past Cheyenne there a mom n pop truckstop. It had been closed for a while and now open for a while. Now they have just put up all new truck islands. Not all of them are biting the dust. 2nd stop was the Sinclair station in Laramie for gas. 3rd stop was at the TA/Subway for lunch. One of the guys making sandwiches reminded me of Forrest Gump. The guy just continued talking to the next person in line, and the next, and the next. Each person just hearing part of his story. Winds were gusting to 40+. But the driving wasn't bad. Mileage dropped from 11 mpg down to 10.9. But still hasn't gotten up to the 15 we are hoping for. 4th and final stop is at the Clarion in Rock Springs. The 1st thing I do is call the drop and let them know we will be there on Monday. Next I call west coast dispatch, all he says this time is 'you know my number, call again Monday.' It isn't quite 3 PM local but we check in. Then go for a walk ... and before we are back BB's leg is bothering her again. Closer to 5 PM we call down to in house restaurant. BB looked at an online menu and wanted fish. They do not have fish, so I hung up and we walked down and looked at the current menu. We ordered, walked back to the room and 10 minutes later our food was ready. Load board US - 341 IA - 166/164 MN - 1 WI - 2 Tomorrow we do a few more miles. We will need a permit for NV, that might be the excitement for tomorrow. 70 RV trips gone off the load board since yesterday. And there were lots of interesting auction moves that came and went. 211203 IA-CA 2 RV's to Davis CA ... spending the night at Elko NV Last night before we went to bed the heat quit working in our room, so I called the front desk and they said they would contact maintenance. An hour later maintenance hadn't shown up and the heat started working again. And was fine the rest of the night. Breakfast. I threw my leftovers and had a made to order omelet. Kind of unique to this location, they have a few other things but no eggs and sausage and no yogurt. We think we have enough fuel to get to Evanston and there is a TA about 20 miles before so we should be good. We see the truck of junk again today. Just as I was catching up to him he pulls to the shoulder. And I did get a better look. Still not sure what it is, but it does have windows in the 'box' area. So now it looks like a box that was converted to a motor home ?? 1st stop - Flying J in Evanston for fuel. We made it, our low fuel lights came on but our range was still showing when we got there. The wind has died down all across WY so our mileage is going up. While we are stopped I call for our NV permits. As we are sitting there I am watching the traffic come up to the stop light. A semi pulls up to the red light and his hood flies up. At first I thought I was seeing things but then he got out and anchored it so I did see right. I like these Ford's, the rpm's have only gotten up to 2,500 both up and down the hills. No having to use the breaks because they get going to fast. Huge change from the ones we drove a couple of years ago. Smog. Brown haze over Salt Lake City. Sign's saying to reduce trips. 2nd stop is at the Arby's in Tooele. Actually Lake Point, there is also one in Tooele. We've kind of avoided this place because it is hard to get out of but we didn't feel like Flying J pizza today. We had looked at a map and we could take a right out of Arby's and then a left once we were on the main highway and then make a large u-turn if needed. But traffic wasn't that bad today. The water along the highway west of Tooele was completely still today. It would have made a great picture of the haze wasn't so thick. 3rd stop was the rest area east of Wendover. Time for a break and we can't cross the border into NV until 3 PM. So we take a short walk on the salt. I hadn't noticed before but there are 'No Trespassing' signs at the edge of the salt flats. That doesn't keep people from walking and driving out there. We just walked along the edge for a while until it was time to go. I doubt it would be a big deal to be a few minutes off when entering or leaving the state but I drove slow so that we crossed into NV at about 15 seconds after 3 PM. 4th stop was Wells at the Flying J for fuel. We aren't on 'E' yet but fuel prices go up from here to the drop. We had planned on having our last fuel stop be Battle Mountain tomorrow, but our mpg has finally started to go up. So it may still be Battle Mountain but we may not fill there. 5th and final stop was Elko. First we check into the Comfort Inn and then walk to the Pizza Barn to order food. And we walk for another half hour along the store fronts. When we got back to the hotel we got an email asking if we were still looking at refrigerator at Sears ??? We had walked past a Sears on our walk but how does Sears know that and our email? A couple of days ago I had bought 'Ice Mountain' water at a gas station and paid cash. And an add for Ice Mountain shows up on Facebook. ??? We got our food to go and ate at the hotel. I had my hot rueben type sandwich and BB had a turkey sandwich. Even half of mine was too much. Leftovers for breakfast again? Load board US - 312 IA - 143/141 MN -0- WI - 6 Lots of auction stuff, I'm not even looking anymore. The trips from IN to MN are all gone at once, I'm guessing the shipper found someone else to move them. We still have not seen any of our buses heading east. One RV past us and we met a couple of transporters but not much. Another 400 mile day tomorrow, we need to be out of NV by 2 PM so we will get going about 7:30. .. the trip continues HERE |
