 |
|
|
|
|
...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
|
220317 MN-MN 1 tanker heading to MI (Friday) 1 bus heading to IL (Friday) ... spending the night at home No breakfast served here :) (we are at home) We pull out at 7:30 to get the rental car returned by 8:30. I haven't gotten back to taking pictures at the cemetery yet, so I head to the cell phone parking area and wait for BB's call. I guess it has been a while since I have flown or even paid attention. Today I am seeing airlines that I didn't even know existed. When BB calls, I pick her up at the usual spot and we head down to get our car we left in IA. It has been a long time since I have driven this car very far. No cruise. I'm not used to that. 1st stop is the IA Welcome center in Northwood for the rest room. 2nd stop is the parking lot in Forest City for our car, BB will drive that one home and I want to make some phone calls. First call is to the clinic. Here I get a helpful person and I am able to get done what I need to later today. My second call was to the Ohio EZ-pass, again a helpful person ... but as soon as they started mentioning Ohio I realized I had called the wrong place. I need NY. Thanks anyway. When I call NY EZ-pass I am told the wait will be 20 minutes. It ends up being almost 40 minutes with almost all of it on hold. Then the person I get pretty much sticks to the line that they bill the owner of the vehicle. We had already been able to get more info than what she could tell me by looking online. But it did seem that IF the I-pass was not read, it would be 10 days/2 weeks before anyone looks at the plate info (I still have some from last year I have not been billed for. I called, they said they will get to it) So my 'little' issue is not going to go away anytime soon. By now I have wasted enough time that I do not have time to get home before I go to the clinic. 3rd stop is the Loves in Owatonna for food. I do need to eat before going to the clinic. I wanted Ebert's but that takes too long so I went to Wendy's. The driver thru line was long, as was the line inside. I ended up with a roller dog. I should have stopped at Kwik Star in Forest City for a rib sandwich. Before I get up to the cities my local dispatcher is calling. They have one truck to pick up Friday. I double check with BB and we will do it. It won't pay much but it keeps me on their good side until I decide to work more for them again. 4th stop is the clinic. All is good. Before I get home I get a 2nd call from local dispatch. The truck they want picked up needs also be fueled and scaled before parking. Not sure what that is about, not something we have ever done for that customer. Also they now have a bus to move. I accept this one without double checking with BB. We now have a full day tomorrow. Load board US - 610 IA - 332/329 I don't think I have ever seen the total load board over 600 before. BB was looking at the load board earlier today and there was an RV in Elkhart coming back to Forest City. Always a day late. The six buses in NY are still there. Last night I had posted on FaceBook how bad my timing was. Good trips show up a day after I leave town (which they did again today) Someone else commented, and their issues were worse than mine. They also came out of IA with RV's and both broke down, one person. When they did get to NC they are the person who took a truck to MO that we had looked at. At some point they cross a narrow bridge across the Mississippi (I have been on it.) They saw a semi coming from the other direction and the semi was over the center line, there is no where to go when you are sitting on that bridge. The semi took off their left mirror and kept going. Not a good week for them. LOG (like) 7:30 - leave home 8:30 - MSP - return car 10:15 - Northwood IA - rest area 10:45 - Forest City IA - pick up personal car 12:15 - Albert Lea MN - Wendy's - food 2:00 - clinic 3:30 - home 220318 MN-MN 1 tanker heading to MI (stagged) 1 bus heading to IL (Failed inspection) ... spending the night at home This place does not serve breakfast ;) so we will eat an early lunch. 1st stop is the office to pick up paperwork. I see the 'senior driver,' he has been there 20+ years. He is the only driver who has been there longer than I. He is about 85 years old and looks better than lots of people in their 60-70's. His Mom made it past 100. We chatted a bit before I got my paperwork. I got to meet the newest dispatcher. This is the 3+ 3rd dispatcher since one quit during Covid. We decide to pickup the Plymouth truck first. No slowdowns for the end of rush hour traffic. 2nd stop is the shipper in Plymouth. The have my paperwork, they have my ... no, they do not have my keys. Or my truck. At one time there was seven people looking for it and this is a very small place. Within a half hour they did find it. It is not ready. But should be soon enough that there isn't a reason to leave and do the bus first. It would have saved us time today if we had done the St Cloud first and then the Plymouth but who knew ... The shipper still needs to put a few more decals on before I can have it. They also say it will just be a few minutes. Someone said I could start inspecting it but I'd rather not touch it while they are working on it. While I am waiting I have time to call dispatch. The bus I am picking up today is going to Rock Island. That is less than 500 miles from home so I ask if they need a driver, they do. When the shipper is done applying the decals, they ask if they should back it out for me. I said they could, we are not supposed to be driving into/out of buildings. And this way I got to check the break lights and backup lights myself, I don't need BB to do it this time. When the guy is done backing it out I ask him how long he has been there. My neighbor was their freight salesman 40 years ago. No, this guy had only been there 10 years (I would have guessed longer, I always remember him being there.) We talk a couple of minutes and he says today is his last day. He is going into the tree trimming business. 3rd stop was the Kwik Trip in S St Paul. This truck needs to be fueled and scaled before it leaves town. It also needs washer fluid and DEF. I remember there being a scale here, dispatch said there was a scale here but I don't see one. I even asked the person doing the trash if there was a scale here, they didn't know (I realized right away I should not have asked them) Then I called BB and she said there was one here. So I pulled away from the diesel pump and then I saw it. instead of a huge overhead sign there was a four foot high sign. But it worked. 4th stop is back at the carrier in Lake Elmo where I parked the first truck and left the paperwork need for the next driver. I talk to the #2 dispatcher about the bus, she hasn't talked to the #1 dispatcher ... she wants me to do her trucks instead :) (and the other dispatcher has been kind of busy today) 5th stop is the Culvers at about 11 AM. No line? This is the first custard I have had in weeks. 6th stop is for fuel at the Holiday in Monticello. I am in the wrong lane coming off the freeway so I miss the cross street and have to take a u-turn at the next street. 7th stop is the shipper in St Cloud. As I am ringing the buzzer to get in the building a security agent walks past. We need to see them 24-7 now instead of going to the front desk. Since when, I ask. He doesn't know but it has been that way since he's worked here, two years. I didn't realize it had been that long. I need safety glasses but other than that he seems assured that I know where I am going. As I walk through the building I see that all the lunch tables now have glass/plastic dividing them into halves or quarters. I find the shipping clerk at the same desk she has been at for the last 10+ years. She is the only face I remember here. She signs off and says the bus is parked outside her door. She follows me out to have a smoke and a quick look shows there are only four buses, all NYC. So back in we go and she makes calls to the other end of the building. And then she sends me on my way. I walk through their whole building and without an ID and no one asks me a thing. At the other end I find the person who should know, he is talking to a could of other workers and when they are done one says 'Today is my last day ...' (another one) At first the person I came to see says I need to go to the other end of the building, when I tell him that is where I came from he takes me to look out the windows where we are and he finds it. I am good to take it. ... or not. I know why it came here so I am looking for warning lights. Even before I start the bus I see the light is on, maybe it will go off when I start it. It does not. Also there is an alarm on. I've driven these buses enough that I know there is an alarm that goes off if you override the system. I shut the override off and can't move the bus. They had to override the alarm to get the bus to park it here. They knew it was not fixed but I was sent here anyways. A quick call to dispatch and they pull me off the trip. We are not waiting for them to fix it. I get paid the same for bringing back a bus or coming back empty. Non-stop back to Lake Elmo 8th stop is the carrier. The bus dispatcher comes to talk to me but I ask more questions than they can answer without the paperwork in front of them. So they go get it and do not come back for quite a while. ... and when they do? There is no bus. So BB and I are not going to Rock Island on Sunday. We had worked on all the time and ways to tie in extra work. We have even rented a car for the next week to keep the miles off of our car. Now we have gone from four trips to one for sure. Two more are a maybe still. I have the paperwork but they may give the trip to someone else before I get to it. I know the what and the why. During all this I am trying to do my paperwork from today but can not find it. I had receipts from the first truck for fuel and DEF and then when I dropped that truck here earlier I came in and made copies. Finally it starts to fall into place. I walk out to the truck and can see my receipts through the window, so I have to asks dispatch for the keys back. Because I had given them everything they needed the paperwork is sitting out for the next driver. I do talk to this, dispatcher #3, for a bit. He already knows my story, that I tried dispatching, that I have been here forever, etc. Not sure if that is good or bad. I finally finish my paperwork and am done for the day. BB has had a lot of time sitting in the car today waiting. There are six trucks in the lot going to Elkhart IN. I told dispatch that my limit is 500 miles. Elkhart is 511 miles. So I told them if they bring the truck to my house, it would be under 500 miles because I live about 15 miles away :) They also had three DC buses and one other bus, plus one refer truck. With more buses coming down today and I also heard a dispatcher lining up more drivers to bring down more of the Elkhart trucks. No shortage of work. Load board US - 567 IA - 332/329 With one St Cloud trip out of IA. There is also a short trip that would have worked out great if we had been able to do the bus, we could go right past the pick up and the drop coming back to our next trip. Easy money, but plans change quickly. LOG 8:00 - leave home 8:30 - Lake Elmo MN - pick up paperwork 9:15 - Plymouth MN - pick up truck 10:30 - S St Paul MN - Kwik Trip - fuel, scale 11:00- Lake Elmo MN - drop truck 11:30 - Maplewood MN - Culvers 1:00 - Monticello MN - Holiday - fuel 1:15 - St Cloud MN - shipper 3:00 - Lake Elmo MN - drop paperwork Plan for tomorrow is pick up our rental car for the week. Sunday we will leave for the Milwaukee area via Dodge Center. Not my favorite brand of truck but it's a shorter trip.
|
