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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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220117 NE-IA 1 pickup to Williamsburg IA 1 RV to Ocala FL (Tuesday) ... spending the night at Waukee IA Up at the usual time, usual breakfast. It wasn't until we were walking out the door that BB remembered I had hash browns from last night that I was going to eat with my breakfast. I forget and we go down for breakfast at 7 AM instead of calling dispatch, I call as soon as we get back. I tell them I want to do one of the Worthington pickups, there are five left. IF no one in the chain is closed today. A few minutes later I get a call back that Shakopee is closed today so I can not drop until tomorrow. That kind of let the air out of our tires. We spend the next two hours trying to come up with a good plan. We didn't just go with plan 'B' which at one time had been to do a WI RV. At one point we are looking a Seguin TX, we found rental cars and there is currently other work in that area. But instead of calling and putting the trips on hold for an hour, we have to make sure all the 'I's are dotted and the 'T's are crossed. By the time we call, they are gone. We also look at doing an RV to MO, but then we see other work that would take us further and further away from our home base, will our car. We are trying to keep the chase miles short. We put over 2,000 miles on our car just last week. We finally decide to do the NE to IA trip. We will not get to the IA drop until Tuesday and we will still be somewhat close to the RV's. That trip pays slightly better than doing one of the single RV trips. When I call dispatch he is kind of unsure about that trip because his contacted has not updated him since Friday, that often means there is no work with that contact. BUT we know the contact is working because they told us that Shakopee is close. That trip has been sitting there for at least a couple of weeks ... We decide to head out without knowing if we have work. 1st stop is Worthington at a Holiday Station - It is two hours later and we still do not know if we have work. We had hoped to hear within the first few miles. I call dispatch again. He has not heard back, (not sure if he contacted them? from some of his comments.) But dispatch can now see that my truck has not been given to anyone else. Before we are too far down the road we get a call back from dispatch. The trip is mine. Shortly before we get to Sioux City I get a call from my local dispatcher, they have two trips for us. Before they can say anything other than hello, I let them know I am out of state. I never do hear what the trips are. It doesn't matter. A few miles later I am pulling off the road, there is now ONE trip to FL. I grab it. We aren't going to make much/any money if a second one does not show up but the weather is heading back to -0- and we want to be out of town. They are not often putting pair's of RV's out right now so we are just hoping for the best. 2nd stop is in Sioux City at Loves - They are the easiest to work with to get something printed. Most places still want things faxed. That means we have to get a phone number and then wait for dispatch to have time to fax it. At loves we just forward our email and they print out the PDF's. When we got to Loves I still had not gotten my paperwork. We used the restroom and got Godfathers off the shelf and went back to our car. By the time I had taken two bites I had my emailed paperwork so I went back in and had it printed. All of this took less than 15 minutes. I call my drop to let them know I am coming, the paperwork has the correct phone number and they will have my truck running when I get there. One hour down the road, by not taking the gravel roads. 3rd stop is near Carroll at the shipper. My pickup is sitting there running. I get the paper worked signed and do my pre-trip. If the 'foreman?' that brings the trucks up was still there I would have told him the truck was missing something ... 20# of dirt. Usually these trucks are dirty inside and out. This one still looks like it was just detailed on the inside. And it has a full tank of gas :) BB heads into town to get gas for the car while I finish up, then when I get to town I get ahead of her and wait until she passes me. I then follow her as she will be using the GPS. She told me the turns before we parted ways so I likely would have found my way back to the freeway but I think it was over an hour on the back roads. Including a very high, very narrow steel grate bridge over the Missouri River. 4th stop was a rest area on I-680 near Missouri Valley. BB makes our reservation. On the western end of the state we saw lots of guard cables down. Two entwined pickups in the median and one tired semi laying on its side. Lots of other debris, but no other intact vehicles. It is dark before we get to the hotel but there are not any 'good' hotels between I-29 and Des Moines the way we came. Mostly Super 8's. 5th stop is the Comfort Inn in Waukee for the night. We walk next door to the HyVee. This one has a gas station with a coffee shop inside and that is where we got our food. I had cheeseburger soup and a chicken salad sandwich. They didn't go together but each was good. Load board US - 272 IA - 75/70 We have about 100 miles to my drop tomorrow, then about four hours back to the RV's. We likely will not leave the RV place until BB has an RV or it is later afternoon. I do need to drop in Friday but the trip will pay a lot better if BB is driving also. LOG 9:15 - Leave the Comfort Inn in Albert Lea MN 11:15 - Worthington MN - Holiday Stationstore 1:00 - Sioux City IA - Loves and GodFathers 2:15 - Carroll NE - shipper 4:15 - Missouri Valley rest area 6:00 - Waukee IA - Comfort Inn and HyVee 220118 IA-FL 1 pickup to Williamsburg IA (delivered) 1 RV to Ocala FL ... spending the night at Cedar Falls IA No 'hot food' for breakfast, only some nuke food as main course and the usual other stuff. I had yogurt, juice and a rare (for me) pastry. While we were out, I talked to the person at the front desk. We have no internet this AM, he wants me to bring my laptop down so he can show me how ... Ahhh ... we stay at hotels 200 nights a year. We know how to access the internet if it is working, (do you know how to re-set the server?) Sorry, we are on a schedule and do not have time for that. Frost on the windows this AM, I got mine cleaned off with a credit card as fast as BB got hers cleaned off with an ice scraper. When we pull out from the stoplight the car ahead of me does some fishtailing. I slightly gun it a couple of times and tap the breaks to see my 'brake assist' come on. Today I run without my cruise for the next 100 miles, to delivery. Lots of cars and debris in the ditches. Most looked to be after the roads had been plowed clear but long enough ago that none were still active. 1st stop was Williamsburg IA at the drop. I walk in, someone asks if they can help. I say I need a couple of signatures. They sign at their desk and say I'm good to go. BB stopped for fuel when I went to the drop and I am standing there waiting when she gets there. Most of the drops for the auction trucks are easy like this. It is now after 9 AM and sunny so I set the cruise once I get in our chase car. Nothing new on the RV loadboard. BB watches it close. It is close to noon when they start putting trips on the board. Two RV's to IA but they are too far out of route to run with what we have. If they are still there later we will talk to dispatch and see if we can get permission to run out of route. Those two would have worked running together, but I already have a trip and they do not like switching once we have commited. 2nd stop in the rest area near Ankeny. 3rd stop is Culver's in Clear Lake. A sign in front of the door says 'DRIVE THRU' and this place has been drive thru only for months so that is what we do. Once we are in line we see someone walk in and then see a new sign on the order window with the 'dine in' hours. Today BB and I split a reuben and fries, no treats today. 4th stop is the shipper. I pick up new IFTA stickers and my paperwork. It looks like five new contractors are getting their training today. Inspection took about a half hour today, weather is in the mid-30's. Then we took an hour break sitting in our RV. We are waiting for a 2nd RV for BB going in the same direction. We could see the RV's coming over, getting inspected, see them when they hit the load board. But none are the right ones. At 3 PM we leave. Finally at 4:30 when we are an hour plus away they finally put something on the load board that would have been a good match. Too late. (And BB looks like she is enjoying ... 'being along for the ride' again) :) 5th stop is in Floyd at Loves. To get our discount I need to pre-pay. As soon as the person asks how much fuel I wanted I cut them off. They have never done this before. Neither has the 2nd person and she has been there 2-1/2 years. Then they get a supervisor who does the training. When I come back in the one person tells me my license has expired. I know, that is the card I leave with the desk. But they are the 1st person in two years that has noticed that. 6th stop is in Cedar Falls at the Comfort Inn. Food is from the Rice House a mile away. It is enough for the next 3-4 meals. Good, but not sure I want to eat it every meal. Tonight we received a new offer from Choice Hotels to stay two nights and get a $50 gas card. Easy money. Load board US - 296 IA - 89/82 They put about 20 RV's on the board in the last half hour. Lots of local work on and off the load board if we had wanted to stay in MN. Some of it may still be there when we get back in two weeks. I was messaging someone on FB so I was looking closer at the loadboard. Tonight we have semi-tractors that have been on the loadboard for two months. I think usually the oldest is one month. These are in southern OR going up to Seattle. Not sure why no one wants them. LOG 7:45 - Waukee IA - leave Comfort Inn 9:15 - Willamsburg IA - drop pickup 11:00 - Ankeny IA - rest area 12:45 - Clear Lake IA - Culvers 1:30 - Forest City IA - inspect RV 2:00 - rest break, waiting for possible 2nd RV (none came) 3:00 - leave shipper 4:00 - Floyd IA - Loves for fuel 5:00 - Cedar Falls IA - Comfort Inn and Rice House for food 220119 IA-FL 1 RV to Ocala FL ... spending the night at Clarksville TN BB was up early, I was up early so we went down for breakfast early and left early. Breakfast - Eggs, sausage and yogurt. The slush in the parking lot from last night has frozen solid, making it easy to hear every vehicle as it moves this AM. Today we pull out at 7 AM as it is getting light. Clear sky in the AM so the sun is in our eyes and the brisk wind is at our backs. It will be late afternoon before the temps get above freezing before heading back below overnight. 1st stop is in Mount Pleasant at the Pilot for a rest break. I got out to get the blood moving in my legs and then got back in when that blood started freezing in my legs :) As we are going through Hannibal a mixer in transport pulled up beside us. It was driven by a company that I had not heard of until this week. New names to add to my website. 2nd stop is in New London at the Loves. I fuel and BB orders food, she is just sitting down to eat when I walk in. We do eat inside, it has gone from -0- up to 10 degrees outside but today is an inside day. Very empty. Interesting place, mom, daughter and others working and very loud on non-work topics. There was a number of people who ordered food while we were there and it seemed to be a different person who waited on each customer. We sailed through St Louis at the posted mid-day today. 3rd stop was at Okawvill IL for a rest break at the Road Ranger. The only other time I was here, I was low on fuel, the exit was closed so I had to go to the next exit and back track to get fuel. The downside of running a truck to 'E.' Somewhere around now it started to rain/snow. When it first started the temps were still well below freezing so off with the cruise. We are debating how far to go tonight but that depends on the roads tonight and the forecast for tomorrow. I think my wipers were on from Mount Vernon until the hotel tonight. Heavy at times but not heavy enough to slow most traffic. Original plan had been to stop in Paducah for the night. So we had to decide by then if we were going to keep going. We decide to keep going, we know where there are hotels every 20-30 miles if things get bad. For a while my range looked like we would not have to stop for fuel yet tonight but then it started dropping 3 miles for every 2 miles driven. That would have gotten us to 'E' at the hotel ... or before. 4th stop was at Loves in Calvert City for fuel. At both fuel stops today and the one yesterday they had to have the manager ring up my fuel because no one else knew how. But it got done correctly. More rain, and now getting dark. The freezing rain is now about an hour behind us. Here the temps are now up to 40 degrees so little chance of freezing yet. 5th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Clarksville. Last trip it was the Sleep Inn across the freeway but tonight this hotel is $30 less. Food is ... left overs from last night. BB finished hers, I will finish mine for breakfast. It looks like this place only has hot breakfast on the weekends. Load board US - 314 IA - 100/95 By getting further today would should be out of this storm tomorrow night. That was another reason to push tonight. There is an 'other' trip in Orlando going back to WI, I will call on that tomorrow. There are also two trucks in NC going back to NE, not sure if we want to head back right away ??? There is also work in FL if we want to stay there a few days. But a sure thing is hard to pass up. LOG 7:00 - Leave Comfort Inn in Cedar Falls IA 9:15 - Mount Pleasant - Pilot break 11:15 - New London - Loves - fuel 11:30 - New London - Loves/Hardees - eat 2:00 - Okawville IL - Road Ranger - break 4:30 - Calvert City KY - Loves - fuel 5:45 - Clarksville TN - Comfort Inn - night 220120 IA-FL 1 RV to Ocala FL ... spending the night at Tifton GA Breakfast - meal three from the Rice House. The left overs are finally gone. I did look at the breakfast at this place on the way out and it was cups of juice, nuke sandwiches, fruit and muffins. Pretty slim. Lots of talk this AM about what to take for our next trip so we don't get out of our room quite at 7 AM. When we do walk out ... ICE. We were thinking this was really bad until we realized that it was just our one corner around the door. The rest of the sidewalk and road was dry. I called dispatch on one of the trips before we left the parking lot. It is a tool truck. We say no for now. I think they only have one seat, or maybe only one good seat. BB doesn't walk to ride on a jump seat for 1,000 miles. The roads are not icy but I do not use the cruise on the first leg of the trip through Nashville. 1st stop ... isn't there. BB uses a guide book and it said there was a rest area near mm 73. I didn't remember there being one, and neither did she. Because there is not one. It is on I-40, we are on I-24. The book is wrong. So we stop at Christiana again (we did last trip) this time we stop at the Shell instead of the Loves. I didn't go in but BB says they have re-built the inside. Nice. Now to stop there at lunch time for a good Philly again. 2nd stop was an hour down the road at the Loves near Jasper. Cheapest fuel on the trip. I'll need to add more at some point. After we are back on the road again, BB looks at the loadboard. 'Tampa to IA.' She is so excited she doesn't think to call right away. She calls and '... never mind, it is gone already.' The loadboard refreshed while she was talking and the trip was gone. Dispatch said something about it maybe being a repair or something. Something they have to activate to process and then remove. (Or they gave it to a favored driver?) Some day we will get one of those runs. We have seen them in the past but not when we are in the same state. It would have been a great trip. 3rd stop - Dalton again, different food. Schlotzsky's. Good food but we should have ordered ahead. Our first 45 minute lunch break in a long time. All inside. Big sign on the door that they are responsible if you get covid from someone at their location. I can't remember where I had my first Scholotzsky's. There used to be some in my home state but they are all gone now. Traffic - Atlanta Sign says that the two left lanes are closed ahead because of an accident so people start merging right. Some people. That opens up the left lanes for those who still want to drive 70 mph while the rest of us are stopped. I think we saw the remains of the accident on the right shoulder but all lanes were open by the time we got there. That was still north of town. West of town there was supposed to be a slow down in the left lane again. After we were past where it should have been we got behind a semi that was stopped in the right lane. As we went around him we saw that someone coming down the ramp (likely?) had gotten T-boned right by the merge sign ... where the actual lanes are still 20 feet apart. The car was likely trying to 'make a move.' In this case it didn't work out too well for him. Somewhere in this area we passed a tool truck. But we went past too fast to get a look at how the seats were set up. Our lane was moving and his wasn't. We did see it was a transporter. When we get to the south end of town we are stopped again. For a while the only time we moved was when someone pulled out of the exit ramp lane. 4th stop was in Jackson at the Flying J for a rest break. As we are walking out we see the same tool truck leaving. A few seconds sooner walking out and we may have gotten a look inside. 5th stop is the Buc-ee's in Fort Valley. Put in nine gallons of fuel, that should get me to my drop with 50 miles to spare. We will see. See a few other transporters here. Diesel here is cheaper than with our company discount. 6th and final stop is ... Cracker Barrell (BB can't find anything she likes at Logen's Roadhouse :( ) We had ordered online and it said the food would be ready in one hour. It was only a half hour but I thought we should stop first, food was ready and cooling. We think it had already been sitting there a while. Final stop is across the street at the Comfort Inn. As I am backing in to 'our spot,' BB sees another RV transporter pulling in. :( I move and he takes our place. He has a bus sized RV and is towing his car. We fit in a double car spot. We are OK. Food was OK, I got the Thursday / turkey special. BB got her fish. Load board US - 315 IA - 100/98 Nothing new today for trips. Now we are looking at what to do during out stay in FL. In the north it will be cold, below freezing overnight. In the south it will be raining. (but no snow) We will need to be heading home by mid-week. There was a truck from NC to CA but we don't have the time (and we don't make any money. But it is a fun trip) We also looked at the NC to NE trips and we won't make any more money both driving than just me doing a FL trip. Too much deadhead from FL to NC. We have tried that before. It works if we end up in WI, IA or MN. Local cars are about $50 so that is getting better. IF we keep a one-way for a week we can get a car, we can't if we want to just drive home in 2-3 days and return it. LOG 7:15 - Leave Comfort Inn - Clarksville TN 9:00 - Christiana TN - Shell - rest break 10:00 - Jasper TN - Loves - fuel 11:15 - Dalton GA - Schlotzsky's 2:45 - Jackson GA - Flying J - rest break 3:45 - Fort Valley GA - Buc-ees - fuel 5:00 - Tifton GA - Comfort Inn and Cracker Barrell .. the trip continues HERE
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