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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 211204 IA-CA 2 RV's to Davis CA ... spending the night at Rocklin CA I still had the other half of my reuben hot stack to eat for breakfast. Too bad, as they had omelettes and bacon. But my sandwich was still good, hot. It didn't taste so good cold. 20 degrees this AM, a little frost on the windows. If we had gotten going a few minutes earlier I would have gotten a really good picture of the sun just raising over the hills behind our RV's. Now the sun was up and once we started them it the pictures look like they are both on fire combining the exhaust and the sun. The cop just west of Elko was in his usual spot. Right side of the highway with someone pulled over. This time it was a truck not a transporter. We didn't seem much, if any, transporters today. Twice today, once before we got to Battle Mountain and once later there was a message that popped up on our RV computer screens that said 'Major fire ahead.' The 1st one gave exit numbers, the 2nd one did not. We did not see a fire anywhere either time. 1st stop was an hour down the road in Battle Mountain for fuel at Maverick. I got $.02 off a gallon with my rewards card. We are not sure why but BB is getting a little better mileage than I. It could be that I have something strapped to the left side of my RV, no idea what it is. I did the math between our remaining miles and my range and divided the difference by my current mpg. When I was done fueling I had a six extra miles range, but with 300 miles to go that should change. By the time we get to our next stop I have gained another 10 miles range. 200 more miles and a 6,000 foot drop into Sacramento and I should be good. 2nd stop was the Port O Subs in Lovelock. The gal ahead of us at the counter was 'open carry.' The only time that bothered me was when her kids started horsing around and one of them grabbed for their Mom as they started to fall. Reno was having a parade today. Looking online I see that they are also having a parade tomorrow and Monday (?) also. The street was all fenced off so no one could run out into the parade route ... and at the one intersection I could see, they had National Guard trucks parked cross ways in the side street to keep traffic from driving into the parade. Is that what it has come to? We exited NV with 45 minutes to spare. We had taken an extra 15 minutes today, and yesterday, for lunch. At the produce inspection area they were just waving us through. First time here that I had only seen one lane open, maybe for a lot of other people too as they kept wanting to start a 2nd line ... even though there was only one green arrow. 3rd stop was Donners Pass rest area. No cell service up here so we will wait and reserve a hotel room ... from their parking lot. Things aren't looking quite as good. I have lost my mileage range that I had gained the first 100 miles and then some. But we still have a whole long way down. BB doesn't try to keep up on the way down. I forgot that she would rather do 55 mph on the ups and downs of these mountains. By the time I get to our exit, I have gained back the mileage range I had lost. Right back where I was when I left Battle Mountain. This is the 2nd trip where we haven't gained any range going down hill. 4th and final stop - Union 76 for gas. Two gallons. I do not want to risk getting to my 'final fuel' with less than 10 miles range. Now I should have about 30 miles range. I'll be good. BB has that same range and she didn't add any fuel here. Next we reserve a room and check in at the Comfort Inn. Someone is parking in 'our spot' so we park in with the cars. Tonight it is too cold to sit outside and eat so we want be going to the German place. Instead we walk to the sandwich shop and get it to go. Lots of good food within walking distance and three fast food places in the hotel parking lot. The hotel is a little pricy tonight but we like the large parking lot, close food and safe area. The Denny's that used to be in the hotel parking lot has closed since last time we were here. The gas station I stopped at actually has a 2nd set of pump, which I hadn't noticed before, so a good place to fuel too. Except for the price ... $4.75 a gallon. Load board US - 299 IA - 139/137 MN -0- WI - 6 Tomorrow is a 'reset' day. No travel. We are 37 miles from our drop and we will do that Monday AM. A high of 55 degrees Sunday and Monday. We should be able to get a walk in if it isn't too smoggy. It was pretty thick coming in today. 211205 IA-CA 2 RV's to Davis CA ... spending the night at Rocklin CA No alarm No leftovers for breakfast. Eggs, bacon and yogurt. Had to ask for bacon as there was an area with just crumbles. Good bacon. This place also has signs that say 'limit 1 or 2 items.' Not sure if that helps. At noon we ordered online from Kathrine's Biergarden and walked to pick it up. It is about a half mile hike each way. I got something similar to reuben balls and onion soup. BB had a salad. Later in the afternoon we went for another short walk, about another mile round trip. That was enough walking for BB so our evening meal was going to be fast food from one of the places that shares the parking lot. Taco Bell was the closest to the door so we tried there first. 'Lobby closed due to staffing issues.' So Arby's was the next closest, they were open so we ate there yet again. There are a lot of things on their menu I like but I would have preferred to have a 'non-standard' food when I can. But I wasn't that hungry so I also didn't want to walk and get something huge. I spent most of the day today working on setting up family pictures to upload to my website. Trying to get them somewhat organized, but I do not carry all of the with me so it is a work in progress. But at least now I have a start. Tomorrow we will be up close to our usual time, get delivered and then have half a day to get the 100 miles to the next trip. If and wherever that trip is heading. 211206 CA-UT 2 RV's to Davis CA (delivered) 1 Bus to Salt Lake City UT ... spending the night at Rocklin CA Breakfast (no bacon) Eggs, sausage, yogurt and water (disgusted as juice) At 8:30 local we check out. 1st stop is at a Velero in Davis for dealer fuel. We each had a range of under 40 miles so our low fuel lights were on. But it looked like the gauge was still showing about 1/8th of a tank. A few blocks later we were at the dealer. Between the station and the dealer we saw a couple of people dragging their suitcases ... when the saw me they waved. I'm guessing they were other transporters. The guy who checked us in to day said there had been eight RV's dropped today. (I didn't ask if that included ours) This place as been working on their parking lot for years (?) and it is finally done ... until they think they have to change it again. As soon as we got our stuff out of the RV's, BB headed out walking to the the rental car. We had one reserved for 9:30. The location had called and asked a lot of curious questions a couple of days ago. But they still didn't have our car ready and the one they gave us was an SUV. Not a big deal, we are only driving it a couple of hours. My inspector notices a piece missing. I hadn't, but they are correct. So I have to call that in after they sign and send in a photo. Then I call west coast dispatch to let them know I have empty, looking for a trip. It isn't even 11 AM so we head down to Livermore taking the shortest route. 2nd stop is In-n-Out Burger in Livermore. When we drop in the west, that is our next meal. I used to get a 'double double' but that is too much food. We order inside and eat in our car. Some people are eating outside on their tables but it is about 50 degrees today. From there we cross the parking lot to Walmart and pick up a clipper to cut the cable ties on our license plates and some juice for me. Before we got to In-n-Out we drove past the shipper to see what they had. NYC, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, Pittsburg and others. The lot is still full. After Walmart we head to the outlet center. It's close, it has bathrooms and a place to walk. But it is too crowded today to walk so we sit in the parking lot for three hours. Yes, there are bathrooms but not everyone uses them. Right in our line of sight, someone got out of their car and relieved themselves on their tire (luckily this person was facing AWAY from us.) Then they proceeded to tear off tags from their new clothes and put them on in the parking lot. Shirt, socks, shoes. Dispatch calls me before it is time to call them back. We are going to ... Salt Lake City. 700 miles. We get to the lot before my paperwork is ready, my bus is easy to find. I just have to move one other bus to get to it. Once we are done inspecting we have some time to view the other buses. One is missing one window, the next is missing a different window. The MLW is missing one of the marquee signs. When we do get our paperwork the dispatcher asks if we are coming right back. We say no, because of the weather. He says it is only for one day ... and to 'keep in touch.' We talk to two other drivers, one long enough to find out he is going to Knoxville. The other one would have talked the rest of the night. Today he had been driving one of the shippers electric buses for a few hours. Now he is heading to Pittsburg. He just came back from NYC after driving a 55 mph bus there. He has also been the test driver for the electric buses when the shipper is demoing it in different cities. Interesting stories but I wouldn't want that much together time. We had talked about staying in Livermore tonight if we were going north but decided against it. This time. We did get a reservation made for a car from SLC home for a good price and now we are looking for work along the way. Going up through Miles City would add a few miles but it is a 900 mile run, longer than this one. It is now after hours for the rental car place so BB will just have to drop the keys so I don't need to give her as much of a head start. Where I pick her up is just at a corner and cars seem to be coming around the city street at about 50 mph. There are two driveways next to each other in front of the building so I have room to get out of the flow of traffic. But when I want to get back on the street I have to be careful that no one is coming for as far as I can see. Tonight when I get that chance, I start pulling out and look ahead ... someone is making a left turn in front of me into one of the driveways ??? Close, but no accident. It's been dark since before we got our paperwork. So two plus hours driving in the dark tonight. Almost all city traffic so I'm more likely to hit a wondering pedestrian than any wildlife. 3rd town - We get back to the hotel we spend the last two nights at and the truck parking is full, as is our usual spot. But there is one spot left long enough to park a 40 foot bus across empty parking spots. Once we are checked in at the Comfort Inn, we walk next door to the Jack in the Box, drive thru only. So back to Arby's. It is 8 PM local and we just want to eat and sleep. We split one rueben. Load board US - 317 IA - 138/135 MN -0- WI - 5 211208 CA-UT 1 Bus to Salt Lake City UT (delivered) ... spending the night at Las Vegas NV Bang, bang, bang ... sometime during the night I hear three shots ring out. A pause and then a single shot. Then two more. But I realize I do not hear any sirens or screams. I hear a few more, then my heater shuts off and with everything silent I hear nothing. So I roll to my back and ... Bang. That one was close. Right next to me ... it was all my wife's version of snoring :) Either the hotel knows it's customers or the customers have adapted. While we were getting our yogurt, a couple of construction workers came through and pocked their HoHo's and some fruit. They didn't even look at anything else. No eggs or meat at this location. We head out at 8 AM local. The UT scale is closed but a whole bunch of cars are there. I'm not complaining. 1st stop was the Flying J in Tooele. There were two pumps empty so I took a chance and drove around and came in backwards. If it is crowded I will back in so I don't loose my spot. Not sure I will get so lucky again, ever. I stick my fuel tank and it is right where it is supposed to be at delivery. I have 30 miles to go so I add another 5 gallons. Then I add my DEF. When we leave the Flying J we head to the airport. I haven't looked at the airport other than to see there is a Greyhound stop there so I know buses can get in. So when we get there I follow the bus signs ... until I see that you need a pass to get past. Opps, luckily there is a crack in the concrete barriers that I am able to get a 40 foot bus through. I end up back with the cars. I drop BB off and I am gone. I had looked at the map to see where the roads went, but not at the road numbers. But I guessed correct coming out of the airport and in a few minutes I was at my next stop. 2nd stop was the Blue Beacon in Salt Lake City. Five trucks ahead of me and two wash bays open. Not sure why but the people ahead of me miss guessed and I end up behind a trailer washout and a cargo van. Just a few minutes each and it was my turn. I did have enough time to call back my insurance company about a chip in the windshield of a rental from last month. Easy call ... then two hours down the road in todays rental and ... crack. We caught another rock. This one hasn't spread, yet. Insurance isn't going to like paying out <> $500 a month for windshields. As soon as I am done I pull across the street to the Flying J and meet BB. When she got there the lot was full, when I got there there was a nice drive thru spot. A couple of minutes to move stuff and gone again. 3rd stop - Straight down the street past the Blue Beacon and Flying J and I am at the back of my drop. This place I had looked at so I knew where I was going, but I was expecting a security guard (per my phone call.) No guard so I had to guess where to go. Within a few minutes someone told me the person to check me in was on their way. This time I did remember to take off the plastic but forgot to write down the mileage. While I was waiting someone was asking me how to get hired on doing what I do. No issues, 12 noon and we are ready to go. Go where. We decide to head south through Las Vegas. It will take about three hours longer but is a sure thing. Going back I-80 could get us delayed in western NV or over Donners Pass. Even a few hours delay would delay us getting work until the next day. For a minute or less we think about taking one of the trucks on the load board going back to CA. Without the weather situation we might have. If it was a different dispatcher we might have. We don't. 4th stop is at a Chik-fil-A in Sandy. We waited until the highway was down to less than five lanes each direction before we stopped to get something to eat. 5th stop was at a Flying J in Scipio. Eagles Landing. They have one location in Avoca IA, I didn't know they also had locations in UT, NV and TX. The ones we saw out here today are new, new since the last time I was this route. The one in IA is old. As long as we were stopped we get a DQ. Good but not as good as custard. Two or three of the rest area's on our list were not there that is how we ended up at the Flying J. We both remember being at this Flying J before but it wasn't a Flying J yet. It was snowing and they had no power. They were not supposed to let anyone in but they did let BB in to use the bathroom but I think she was the last. 6th stop is the Pilot in St George for fuel and restroom. My rewards card still isn't working right, I am going to have to get yet another one. When I go to leave I am not watching the street signs and the 2nd round a bout must have six roads attached, I got on the frontage road instead of the freeway. Two miles down before I can get on the freeway. By the time we get to NV it is dark. So another hour of night driving. We had wanted to get to St George tonight because the snow in this part of the country was going to be just north of there. We made it. But BB had done the math wrong and we should get to Las Vegas tonight in order to make it to Livermore tomorrow. So we push on. 6th and final stops are in Las Vegas. There is a Capriottis' just a mile from our hotel. We ate at one in Reno and it was really good. We got one here to go. It was good, but it would have been better if they had remembered to put cheese on our CHEESEsteak sandwich. :( Comfort Inn in Las Vegas. We have stayed here before but I do not know with what or when. Load board US - 312 IA - 133/132 MN - 2 WI - 9 Tomorrow if we get going by 8 AM we should be in Livermore by 3 PM. We will find out then where we are going. We should be far enough behind the storm to go I-80 if needed. BB has been watching the weather and it keeps getting worse in WY and Donners Pass. This AM it looked like we could have headed home via MT and ND but not so by afternoon. The forecast had shifted. The maps are a lot of pretty colors. .. the trip continues HERE |
