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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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220303 IA-SC 2 RV's heading to Greer SC (Friday) ... spending the night at home 8 AM I call, then call back because it goes to voicemail. 1st I get a non-dispatcher and then a dispatcher ... in the background I can hear them both wanting the same paperwork and then one of them asks who for ... both were grabbing it for me :) After spending a long time crunching numbers last night we decided to go with the known trip. The other trips were all in the snow belt and there is another storm coming in that would hit us either when we had the RV's or when we were heading back home. The VT trip would have required us to get one rental to drive to get a one way rental and then go back and return the 1st car before leaving town. And even with the extra dispatch was willing to pay, we would still be on the bottom of what we like to take home ... if nothing else goes wrong. So we are heading back to Greer, no, we are not helping out with the old orders but I think we have moved more RV's this year the first two months than we have any year. I will change and refer to the one dispatcher as the 'rental return' dispatcher ... he had two from MN going to WY today. If we had taken those we could have grabbed the 2nd truck in Gothenburg coming back to MN. The dispatcher in NC had five trucks going to CA today. Nice long trip if we didn't want to keep coming back to IA. Right now there are trucks in NC coming back to WI and CGO but I'll wait for something even better (because that always works so well for me) Load board US - 525 IA - 302/297 220304 IA-SC 2 RV's heading to Greer SC ... spending the night at Cedar Rapids IA We still have snow on the ground at my house in MN. There are some food items that I put in our compost pile and I did that this AM before leaving. I was able to walk most of the way across our yard on top of the snow. There were only two places where I fell through and the snow was about a foot deep, deep enough to get snow inside my high top shoes. Not often the snow is that hard when it is that deep. Not an early AM, we pulled out at 9 AM. By 10:30 we are running low on fuel and it is time to eat. 1st stop in Owatonna is at the Fleet Farm for fuel. It is not under $3 per gallon anymore but is cheaper than other places. Then we went across the freeway to the Jimmy Johns. The door was open but the chairs were still on the tables and most of the lights were still off. It took a while before the sole person working came out from somewhere. I made a comment about my wait but they didn't reply. BB wanted the special so I pointed to that sign and said that is what my wife wants and then ordered my sandwich. BB's sandwich had the right meat but the rest was not as it was listed on the special. 2nd stop was the shipper in Forest City. Full house today of drivers leaving. I see on a sign that today is the day drivers can leave taking RV's to the Savannah GA RV show, that may have been part of those leaving. We get our paperwork, no issues and no comments about us not taking older trips. The last thing we do before turning in our inspection sheet is check each others break and back up lights, something we can't do on our own. One of BB's break lights is not working. So we let the office know. Over two hours later the yard man finally stops to look at it. We had seen him many times go past us ... he is usually pretty good, not sure the issue today. Two minutes and he knows it is something he can not repair so we need a different RV. Not sure if RV was the 3rd one that had been on the load board or if they had to get one from 'elsewhere' but they brought us a Revel. I'm thinking it came from 'elsewhere' because they did not just have us go get it, they had an office person get it for us. Actually it was the boss, he was out checking on things right then. Later when I saw him again, he wanted to make sure I got a picture of the 500,000 RV built in IA. It has a special paint job and was getting flat bedded to the show in Savanah. The boss also asked when we would be back as he has more RV's going to the show that are not built yet. We won't deliver until Monday and that is when they should be ready to head out. Being delayed a few hours cuts in to how far we are going to get today ... No issues with the 2nd RV. Just not what BB likes to drive and she will not get the 'no tow' pay for this one. Also this RV is the one RV that we barely break even on the fuel with so she lost <> $200 by having to switch RV's. We had planned on stopping at a BP in Floyd because both units WERE gas. Now we have one of each. 3rd stop was the Loves in Floyd. Gas is not $2.99 anymore but it is still the cheapest around. But, even with our discount here, diesel would have been cheaper in Forest City without a discount. But we never looked, after the delay we just wanted to get going. This place was a zoo today, I drove around the pumps a few times. People who came in after me go ahead of me because they got to the open pumps before I did. And I am the one who knows how to get the diesel discount so I get to do it even when BB has the diesel RV. Another interesting thing was the back side of my pump only had high grade unleaded, not the two lower grades. A half dozen cars pulled up, swiped their cards before they realized they only had one choice. After a slightly stressful afternoon we talked about shutting down in Waterloo/Cedar Falls. But hotels were $150 tonight. Cedar Rapids, another hour down the road, the hotel was less than half that. 4th and final stop was Cedar Rapids at the Comfort Inn. As soon as we checked in we got back in one RV and headed to PepperJax for food. Great Philly's, we had them last time we stayed here. As we are leaving the hotel there is a semi trying to turn in our street. I can't see around him and he isn't going to move until I do so finally I slowly get out past him ... When we get back he is still trying to park his truck in the lot ... a half hour later ??? At PepperJax we bot got chicken Philly's. BB got mushrooms on hers. At the last minute as they are boxing them up I asked them to add black olives to half of mine ... I said both sandwiches were the same (I forgot about the mushrooms) I did remember the mushrooms before we got back to our room but once we opened the sandwiches we couldn't see mushrooms on either ??? We had watched them add them to the pile before they cooked it, but BB didn't find them and neither did I. My RV was half full of fuel :) when I picked it up with a range of 350 miles. So I figured I should get 700 miles on a tank full. But there is a little bit of wind so when I fueled it an hour later my range was 600 miles not 700. And it is still dropping. I'm not sure either of us is going to make money on the fuel this trip unless the wind turns and gives us a tail wind. By the time we were having issues with BB's RV there were two RV's going just south of Myrtle beach, both no-tows. And more miles. But they wouldn't let me switch once I had been assigned to the load. (We may have pushed the issue if they had not come up with another Greer RV) Lots of trips on the load board, but it more fun trying to match them together into a long trip than actually doing the work. There were a pair of pickups going from MN to CA, RV's going everywhere, tree trucks going 2,500+ miles ... Donner's pass is chains required again tonight. Earlier today the freeway was closed in WY. Still OK the route we are taking. Load board US - 509 IA - 310/302 Plan tomorrow is to get 500 <> miles. That means stopping somewhere new. Lexington is where we usually stop and that is 580 miles, long day. LOG 9:00 - leave home 10:30 - Owattona MN - Fleet Farm - gas 10:30 - Owattona MN - Jimmy Johns 11:30 - Forest City IA - PU RV's 2:45 - Forest City IA - leave 3:45 - Floyd IA - Loves - fuel 6:15 - Cedar Rapids IA - Comfort Inn 7:00 - Cedar Rapids IA - PepperJax 220305 IA-SC 2 RV's heading to Greer SC ... spending the night at Columbus IN Breakfast, we both had breakfast this AM. Eggs ... plus I had sausage and juice. We pull out at 7:30 - It is just us and the other semi that was having issues backing in last night. Yesterday I wasn't able to use the cruise control at all. The wind caught me before I got on the freeway before Floyd and after Floyd I was not even up to cruising speed when the wind got me. On these Ford's the unit has to be shut off before the computer will reset. Today I was able to get the <> 100 miles from Cedar Rapids to Davenport using the cruise ... and then wind finally caught me as I went across the freeway bridge to our stop. 1st stop was the Loves in Davenport. Both of us fueled there. My RV is so long that I have to full at the back pump of the island or my RV will be sticking out and blocking traffic. I do not remember how far I got using the cruise on the next legs of the trip today but it wasn't far. No cruise, both hands and white knuckle driving most of the day. I went over the white line a few times today, luckily no one was there when I did. Most of the day BB just had her cruise set and her radar would keep her far enough back from me. 2nd stop was the Steak and Shake in Morton. No snow today, I think the last time we saw snow was in Cedar Rapids this morning. Last trip this way was just after a huge storm so there was snow and rigs everywhere. The snow and rigs are both gone now. Still lots of debris on the shoulders. We were at Steak and Shake shortly after 11 so there was only one other couple eating when we got there and just before we left a few more came in but mostly we had the place to ourselves. I missed this, but BB said there was a pickup that pulled in between us at some point ... with the sheriff right on it's tail. We hadn't looked at this before tonight, but we were just a couple of hours ahead of the one of the convoys crossing the country. We left our next stop about an hour and a half before about 700 ... 700 were planned to arrive to stop and eat at the Pilot. I read that a local group planned on having about 2,500 hot dogs ready to feed the truckers. (We'll check later to see if anyone has closer numbers after the fact) 3rd stop was the Loves in Oakwood. We did see signs on the overpass, a few flags on vehicles, 'no parking' signs were posted along the streets and as we were leaving we did notice that a portion of the Pilot was blocked off with stands, at the time we didn't know what. (We also were ahead of the tornado warnings for IA) 4th stop was for me to fuel in Whiteland at the Pilot. I still haven't figured out what kind of mileage I am getting. When I start the RV it looks like I should be getting about 700 miles on a full tank (350 on a half, etc) But by 50 miles down the road it adjusts down to about 6 mpg. Tonight at the hotel I have a range of 300+ with almost 500 miles to go tomorrow. I will have to add more, later. It is not even 4 PM but as we look for where to stop we decide ... now. We had planned on going another two hours and shut down closer to dark. But we have been fighting the wind all day, it has been a long day. So we make a reservation at a hotel a half hour away, it is cheaper than those that are 10 minutes away. 5th and final stop is the Sleep Inn in Columbus. It has a nice sized extra lot at the end of it where we fit. There is also lots of room on the other end of the building but we would have to go past/under the entry to get to it. As soon as we check in, we order McAllister's from a couple of blocks away. Earlier when we were looking all we saw was IHOP, Culvers and McD's. So we knew we did not need to stop for food. No cookies from McAllister's today, we have brought our own Girl Scout cookies with. Our company has shut down our FaceBook page so we can not post. On the one hand I would like to start my own, I have thought about it long before this. But on the other hand I do not want to moderate any group again. I did it for a number of years, pre FaceBook. Load board US - 504 IA - 304/297 The best looking trip after we drop is a chipper with a trailer for me going to AR and a pickup for BB coming out of a different location going to OKC. Doing the two of them together would add about 20 miles to my trip and six miles to BB's trips so they are right on the way. But I am not a big fan of the trailers and doing this would end us up on OK not back in the midwest. We do want to keep moving the RV's but we also need to follow the money for us. And if we end up in OKC that doesn't leave us much time to do another RV trip before the March 15. That is <> the date I gave the other company as when I would start working for them for a couple of weeks. I can move that, some, but they are counting on it. As I am sitting here typing this it feels more like 8:30 than 6:30. It's a good thing we got off the road when we did. LOG 7:30 - Cedar Rapids IA - Comfort Inn - leave 9:00 - Davenport IA - Loves - fuel 11:15 - Morton IL - Steak n Shake 1:15 - Oakwood IL - Loves - fuel 3:30 - Whitewood IN - Pilot - fuel 4:30 - Columbus IN - Sleep Inn 5:00 - Columbus IN - McAllister's 220306 IA-SC 2 RV's heading to Greer SC ... spending the night at Greenville SC Usual breakfast. It doesn't start until 7 AM but that is 6 AM for us so that works. 1st stop is in Waddy for fuel at a Loves. I hadn't planned on fueling yet but I can see I am not going to make it so I put in a few more gallons. Rain, it rained a good part of the morning. Heavy enough to have the wipers on constant but not heavy enough to slow down. BB had had a check engine light on yesterday AM and by noon today it was off, a little over 24 hours on this light. 2nd stop was at a Wendy's in London KY. Interesting 'boss' at that place, barking orders like some 'egotistical chef' on TV. I wouldn't have lasted an hour under those conditions. AND my food was bad, not good. The bun was dry and the meat was too. It was food. 3rd stop was Dandridge at the Pilot ... BB had told me exit 415 so that is where I pulled off. No truckstops and no BB. She had pulled off at exit 413 where the Loves was and saw I wasn't there. I sat on the shoulder and waited until she got to where I was. At this exit there was just a Marathon. The sign said diesel but when we went to the station we couldn't find the pump so we left. That is when we got to Pilot at the next exit :) The Pilot only had one diesel pump, two sides, in the auto area. I pull up on the outside pump and wait for the people ahead of me, two people sitting in their car, not fueling. Someone had pulled in behind me so I had to wait for them to move before I could 'adjust.' It was clear the car ahead of me was not going anywhere so I backed up so that I could come it at an angle. That worked. I fueled and pulled out and the car was still sitting there. BB had been the one behind me but she pulled around to the other side and followed someone else to that side of the pump. The person went into the station, 10 minutes later came back out and left. Never fueled. It was just a good parking stop ... in front of one of two pumps at the station. When BB was done fueling she went inside to use the restroom ... she must have been upset because she actually talked to someone. She told the help that there has been a car blocking the only diesel pump for the last 20 minutes. They were just sitting there, sort of like Cheech and Chong. The 'help' went out asked them to move, which they did ... they left. The RV computer says I am getting 6 mpg but the fuel gauge has always shown I'm getting closer to 9 mpg. So I have kind of been guessing this whole trip, not wanting to put in too much fuel. The prior stop didn't get me as far as I thought so this time I used a lower number ... my goal was to get near the dealer with a range of around 50 miles. I got to the hotel with a range of 68 so I did put in a little more than needed. The next 100 miles took 2-1/2 hours. Road construction. They are re-building a bridge and all traffic must merge into one lane and then use the exit/entrance ramps. This area is slow already with the truck speedlimit set at 50 mph and right lane only because of the curves through the mountains. 4th stop is at the rest area near Landrum. It is only a half hour from the hotel but the prior rest area is closed because of road construction. And 2-1/2 hours between stops is better than 3 hours. From here we make our hotel reservation. 5th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Greenville. Just a couple of miles past our drop but it is a much nicer hotel than the Quality Inn we used to stay at. Once we check in, we use BB's RV and drive to Schlotzsky's. Same sign, closed at 3 PM, but today the drive thur is still open. Doesn't help us. This RV is 10 foot high and their canopy is not. So off to look for food again. We found a few places that looked interesting, and closed. We ended up at Jimmy John's because BB wanted her sandwich done RIGHT this time. Back at the hotel we spend time doing the math for tomorrow, and beyond. For the 1st time I can remember we have lost money on fuel with this company. BB will come up short. That type of RV has always been the worst and this time we added a fuel charge that was two weeks old and a headwind the first 750 miles and we lost money. (meaning the pay we received listed as 'fuel' did not cover the fuel) I on the other had did good, not great but way more than BB lost. Forgot to mention this yesterday - As we were coming through Champaign IL yesterday I saw a woman driving what looked like a 1920's Rolls Royce, with the top down. No picture :( LOG 6:30 - Columbus IN - Comfort Inn - leave 7:45 - Waddy KY - Loves - fuel 10:45 - London KY - Wendy's 1:15 - Dandridge TN - Pilot - fuel 4:15 - Landrum SC - rest area 5:00 - Greenville SC - Comfort Inn 5:30 - Greenville SC - Jimmy John's .. the trip continues HERE |
