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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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220219 IA-CA 2 RV's to El Cajon CA ... spending the night at Cameron MO Today we can eat in our cars so we thought we might get going early. Nope, I guess it isn't breakfast that slows us down. I'm not quite ready to leave the room so BB heads out ahead. When I am ready I just grab my things and go, halfway down the haul ... CLUNK ... my computer fell out of my back pack onto the floor. Somehow the zipper opened all the way up while I walked, as I am packing I realize that I hadn't zipped any of the pockets on my backpack. ??? It is 3 degrees and windy this AM. I start my car and go back in to check out and get some breakfast before heading out. Hmmm on our car we can not lock it with the car running and the keys outside the car. Oh well, I have the keys so no one can move it. Last night the desk clerk did not know how to print our paperwork but the AM person did. This location does not have a business center for people to do things themselves. Breakfast - bacon, yogurt, juice. By the time I went from the building to my car my bacon went from hot and limp to frozen. Even my juice felt like it was a little icy. Good bacon. Some places have stuff that looks like bacon. Here it tastes like bacon :) Non-stop to the airport. At these temps I am not going to walk the cemetery and take pictures of graves. I go to the cell phone area until I think BB should be ready. I'm close when she calls, she wants to use the restroom before I pick her up. So once around the loop and she is walking out as I am pulling up. And we are on our way back to Forest City. 2nd stop is the Kwik Star for food and fuel. The only fast food in Forest City now is the A&W so we decided shelf food from Kwik Star was just as good. As I was fueling there was an employee who came past to scrape off any the 'I did that' stickers off the fuel pumps. For food I did get my rib sandwich. 3rd stop was the shipper. It is Saturday so the building is locked and our paperwork is in a filing cabinet. No trips had been removed from the load board this AM so we thought they might be closed. Nope, there were two dispatchers in the office and the boss was outside doing inspections of more RV's that were being brought over today. Besides they ones they were parking in the lot today there are now 50+ in the company employee lot to move as soon as there is room. I think 300 RV's is likely the max the lot will hold. There is one other couple picking up RV's while we were there. Not sure if we had seen them before or not. No standing and talking at these temps. There also was one guy loading a flat bed with RV's, he was wearing just a t-shirt and was in no hurry. Today it took us our full hour to do our inspections. Part of that time was warming up in our car which we left nearby and running until we were ready to go. No more RV trips made it on the loadboard today so they must be stock piling them for when people take trips later. 4th stop was the Loves in Ellsworth IA. We both had enough fuel to make it an hour without fueling. I'm surprised they did let us leave with the wind speeds what they were. Sometimes they hold the orders until the winds drop. 5th stop is the rest area in Osceola 6th stop is the Loves in Eagleville - we were not low yet but we would not make it to the next Loves if we didn't stop here. Lots of places to stop every half hour along here. The wind takes its toll on my wrap and I have to stop at an exit. I stopped quick enough so none of the wrap was damaged and I was able to get it re-anchored. For now. 7th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Cameron. It is right at dark and there is a McD's next door. That is food tonight. Load board US - 557 IA - 299/296 We have our plan for tomorrow. Lots of stops because of fuel. Weather should be good, but there could be wind. We have shut down before on this route because of the wind. And we are driving bigger units this time. LOG 7:30 - Albert Lea MN - left Comfort Inn 9:00 - MSP - drop rental car 10:30 - Albert Lean MN 11:15 - Forest City IA - Kwik Star - food and fuel 11:30 - Forest City IA - shipper 2:00 - Ellsworth IA - Loves - fuel 4:00 - Osceola IA - rest area 4:30 - Eagleville MO - Loves - fuel 6:00 - Cameron MO - Quality Inn 6:30 - Cameron MO - McD's 220220 IA-CA 2 RV's to El Cajon CA ... spending the night at Guymon OK Breakfast - just yogurt and juice. We were up early so we get going a few minutes early. Rolling at 7:15, sun is just coming up. It is Sunday morning, traffic is very light right through down town. I kind of missed a speed limit sign that I know is there. It is 45 mph on the freeway near downtown. A couple of days ago the roads were a mess. Today they are mostly dry except where the roads turn and the melting snow is draining across the travel lanes. 1st stop is the Loves in Ottawa for fuel. This person ran both fuel pumps through on one transaction. That saved us a $1 transaction fee :) It all adds up. Always changes where ever we go. There was a new TA Express sign being put up along I-35, another place where there used to be a Phillips 66 station there is now a new Casey's. Down the road in Newton the old truckstop is now a Pilot. The old Red Roach (Red Coach :) ) hotel looks to be open again. 2nd stop was in Newton at the Arby's for lunch. We might have stopped at the Pilot had I remembered it was changing. I had read about it being bought but had not been this route since the change was made. No sign that they had fast food though. Newton does have a Freddys Custard but BB doesn't care for them. It is a small town to have a Freddy's but their HQ is just a few miles away in Witchita. 3rd stop is in Hutchinson at the Loves for fuel - While I am getting the pumps set up, an old guy comes past to talk about RV's. He has his 199? Winnebago parked right in front of ours. He asks what ours are running for price. I don't know, but look later. $215. When I asked this clerk to put both pumps on the same transaction she didn't know she could, but she did it so she learned something new today too. 4th stop is at the rest area in Bloom. From there we decide to call it a day at our next stop. We are getting better mileage finally so we do not need to stop again today. 5th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Guymon. Food is next door at the Pub 54. Changes in this town too. Hotels change names, restaurants move. The Hampton Inn next to us is finally done. It has been in various stages of being built for the last five plus years. We had time to make it to Dalhart but every hotel in town is within a block of the railroad tracks and they are used 24/7. The Best Western where we have stayed even gives away ear plugs when you check in. I had a check engine light come on today, I am hoping that it goes off before I have to call it in tomorrow. Now when we stopped tonight we see that BB has an axel that is throwing grease. I'm more worried about that then a light. Hope we don't have to leave one or both here, that really hurts the profit/loss. LOG 7:15 - Camron MO - Leave Quality Inn 9:15 - Ottawa KS - Loves - fuel 11:30 - Newton KS - Arby's 12:30 - Hutchinson KS - Loves - fuel 2:45 - Bloom KS - rest area 5:00 - Guymon OK - Quality Inn 5:30 - Guymon OK - 54 Pub 220221 IA-CA 2 RV's to El Cajon CA ... spending the night at Gallup NM (this was written up a day late because the website was off line again. I am trying to keep close to current in moving the stories to my personal website so I do not loose massive amounts of info if the site gets completely shut down) Breakfast - none - we wanted to leave out earl to beat the winds later in the day. I wiped all the grease off of BB's front wheel to see if it was still leaking when we got 20 miles down the road. 1st stop was for fuel at Love's in Texhoma. No new grease. It looked more like a black spider web. It was not greasy to wipe off. Most towns along this highway do not change much from trip to trip. Sometimes they clear a city block and put something new in. Other times the same cars/trucks have sat in the same spot as the building falls down around it. There is a new La Quinta hotel in Dalhart, it is the only one I know of that is more than one block from a train track in that down. We might have to try it. :) That is our main reason for not staying in Dalhart. Train noise. At the NM scale we display our permit and sail on past. Before our next stop there is a semi that catches up to BB and at times tries to pass but there is always a hill or an on coming car and they pull back in behind BB. But when there isn't any oncoming traffic they don't pull out ??? 2nd stop is at a Valero in Logan where we stop to use the rest room and buy some liquids. :) just about 24 hours from when my check engine light came on, it goes off. Things are good, no reason to call dispatch or get delayed finding a dealer. They finally have the new bridge done just south of town. Coming into Tucumcarri we have to slow to 25 mph way before town, I look at the signs for those leaving town and those signs say 45 mph. I think someone forgot to take their signs down. Finally back on the freeway. I-40. 3rd stop is for fuel at the Loves in Santa Rosa. BB had thought be might keep going to say ahead of the wind but she is getting hungry. So Carl's Jr (Hardee's) it is. My burger does not have any onions on it so I go back up. They are out of onions? BB ordered so I don't know if they said that before she ordered or not. 4th stop is the Flying J in ABQ for the rest room. Some farmer has his horse trailer parked all the way across the front of the drive thru RV parking spots so everyone has to back out. It looks like he is selling saddles out of the trailer. It looks like there are now four food trucks within a block of the Flying J entrance. 5th stop - BB pulls out to pass me and when she gets closer I can almost hear a horn ... she is waving me over. As I slow down I can hear the noise and when I look in my mirror I can see that my awning is flapping in the wind. 1st we stop on the road and then we pull ahead a mile to park on the exit ramp. We are at the middle exit for Grants/Milan. I call dispatch and they want me to get to a 'sheltered area.' Good luck. We do go across the almost mile long RR bridge and park near a McDonalds. BB parks so she is trying to break the wind so I can run the awning in and out to try to tighten it up. That seems to work so we take the back roads to our fuel stop. 6th stop - Loves in Milan. When we head out from Milan I am watching my awning. I do not have a good feeling about it so I pull off at the next exit 10+ miles down the road. 7th stop is a parking lot near Buewater. BB says she thought she had seen the awning come loose once but it could have been just reflections. But everything looks good so after talking about it and not finding a place that would be out of the wind, I decide not to run the awning again. But as I am heading down the ramp to get back on the freeway the wind catches the awning again. Both BB and I back up the on ramp and go back to the parking lot. We are trying to figure out what to do when dispatch calls me to see how things are going. Winds are now up to 40 mph and gusting. They give us a new wind website we haven't used before https://www.ventusky.com Now we have 10 miles back to Grants or another 50 miles forward to Gallup where our hotel is. We got ahead of ourselves today. Usually we either wait until our last stop before we shut down or once we are in the parking lot of the hotel to make a reservation. We decide to go forward. We go forward at 45-50 mph on a highway where the speed limit is 75 mph. We run with our flashers on. Only once did the awning puff up and that was when a semi passed. We made it. LONG hour driving. 8th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Gallup. In the past we have either stayed at the Quality Inn or Comfort Inn in town. This one is closer to the train tracks but I didn't hear anything all night. Tonight this was the cheaper hotel. I-40 is listed as the Purple Heart Highway and this hotel has a lot of displays with Purple Heart photo's and stories. Our choice tonight is either Dickey's BBQ or Denny's. We go with Dickey's, BB did not care for her food but my pulled pork sandwich was good. We both liked the cookie. Ibce we were at the hotel I planned on running the awning in and out one more time to tighten it up. But first I forgot to turn on all of the switches and then forgot that I had jammed stuff in to try to stop the slide-out from moving. But I had remembered to set the parking break, which I now can not get to release. I leave it for tomorrow. Load board US - 588 IA - 337/334 LOG 7:00 - Guymon OK - Quality Inn - leave hotel 7:45 - Texhoma OK - Loves - fuel 10:00 - Logan NM - Valero - rest break 11:45 - Santa Rosa NM - Loves - fuel 12;00 - Santa Rosa NM - Loves/Carl's Jr 2:15 - Albuquerque NM - Flying J - break 3:30 - Grants NM - issues 4:15 - Milan NM - Loves - fuel 4:45 - Bluewater NM - issues 6:30 - Gallup NM - Comfort Inn 7:00 - Gallup NM - Dickey's BBQ 220222 IA-CA 2 RV's to El Cajon CA ... spending the night at Winslow AZ Breakfast - none again - trying to beat the weather. I go out and try to get my parking brake released. No luck. I send a text to the after hours help number but no response. It is not an emergency so I do not call. At 8 AM I call. Everything I had read online said do not put pressure on the parking brake handle. Dispatch says to pull as hard as you have to. They have never busted a handle and have always gotten the light to go off. So I pull, finally on the third try the light goes off. One hour wasted. I do go back in the hotel and look at breakfast. Eggs, sausage, potatoes, canned juice and bottled water. I take a water. A lot less wind today so I start out at 62 mph and then 65 mph. No issues, but I am watching very closely. I have one mirror focused on the awning instead of the lane next too me. 1st stop is at the Loves in Joseph City for fuel. Weather is not getting any better so we plan to stop again in the next town. 2nd stop is at the Flying J in Winslow AZ. Between here and Flagstaff is only another hour but winds between here and there are 40 mph gusting to 60 mph. We are to shut down when winds are over 30 mph or gusts over 40 mph. As BB is looking at weather I see a driver come out to the RV parked next to us. When I see the driver out doing his walk around I hop out and talk to him. He is deciding if he wants to keep driving because of the snow around Flagstaff. So I tell him that we are shutting down because of the wind, not the snow. He hadn't heard about that. He did know it was windy, the wind already blew a piece off of his awning. We talk a few more minutes before going it to eat. He is heading to Phoenix. That driver also mentioned that a few months ago he had to drive his RV back from Davis CA because he hit the branch of a tree a few blocks before delivery. Sounds like he had to do the drive back for free because it was his damage ... We decide to eat breakfast at Denny's and see what changes. Denny's is packed, just like the good ol' days. People waiting and the only tables not filled are the ones waiting to be cleaned. 1st time eating in a place this packed. Good food, or we were just hungry. The weather forecast has not gotten any better in the last hour so we get a hotel in town and call dispatch to let them know we will not deliver on time. We looked at the Best Western across the highway from the Flying J but it is well over $100. The Quality Inn at the next exit is half that price. We go the cheaper route today. Next we stop at the Walmart to pick up a few items. This Walmart has steel barriers and signs saying NO SEMI PARKING. We thought that might buy enough time to be able to check into our room at the hotel. Not today. They had a full house last night and are still cleaning. It is 12 PM local, we can check in at 2 PM. So we get their password to their WiFi and go back to our RV's and wait it out. 2 PM we check in and sit in our hotel for the rest of the night. We ask, their in-house restaurant closed in 2016. The help knew so they must have worked here for a while. Finally closer to 6 PM we decide to get food. There is an Asia place on our side of the street, plus a McD's, a Taco Bell and a local Mexican place. We end up at the grocery store. The 1st thing I look at is a chicken salad sandwich, but it is on a dill croissant. I end order a custom sandwich instead. Philly ... as they are making it ... they tell me it will be pastrami instead of beef. And it will come with no peppers. So basically it was a pastrami and onion sandwhich. I did get a cup of potato salad, that was closer to what I expected. No single cookies so we bought a box of cookies. Load board US - 604 IA - 350/347 Tomorrow - We are looking at the forecast. The 1st thing we realize is that because my computer is home time and BB's is on Mountain the forecast is showing different times for movement. We have about a one hour window tomorrow AM to get the 60 miles from Winslow to Flagstaff. If only that was the only issue. It has been snowing in Flagstaff since sometime today and will still be snowing in the AM. How much snow will decide if we are going to leave tomorrow AM. BB had mentioned before that if we do not beat the weather we will be here until Thursday. So far Thursday still looks like a good day, both the wind and the snow(ing) will be gone. LOG 220223 IA-CA 2 RV's to El Cajon CA ... spending the night at Winslow AZ We stayed in Winslow. No travel advised near Flagstaff today. We were up at our usual travel time this AM. The winds looked like they were giving us a bigger break than was forecast yesterday. But before we left we saw the 'no travel advised' because of the snow. We drive in snow, but not on the edge of the mountain at 7,000 feet. Later in the day I-17 is closed because the trucks can not make it up the hill. Two rules of (truck) driving. Go down a hill in one gear lower than you can go up the hill. (There is no gear lower than -0-) If there is not enough traction to get up a hill, there is not enough traction to stop coming down the hill. For lunch we walked to Taco Bell across the street in the grocery parking lot. In the evening we walked across the parking lot to the Oriental place. The plan was to split a meal but there was nothing we both liked, so instead of getting a pick two and each eating our half we each got a full plater/container. As I was paying I felt light headed for a second, I told BB about it on our walk back to the hotel. I ate a little of my food but I didn't feel like eating or doing anything at all. I put the food away and lay on the bed until it was time for lights out. No idea what it was. The only food I had eaten before that was Mexican. I hadn't had more than a few ounces of liquid to drink. I had been staring at a computer screen for most of two days. The air in the hotel had an odd smell. Could have been any or none of these reasons. Load board US - 620 IA - 350/348 .. the trip continues HERE |
