 |
|
|
|
|
...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
|
.. the trip continues from HERE 220425 IA-CA 2 RV's heading to Manteca CA (delivered) ... spending the night at Livermore CA Breakfast - leftovers from last nights food truck. We get a late checkout and then leave the hotel about 8:30. We have less than a mile to go so not an issue ? Traffic is light enough at that time that we can get across three lanes of traffic and into the left turn lane to take a U-turn. 1st stop is the Valero for final fuel. Except they do not have diesel. Opps. And the station across the street also does not have diesel. So now we have to head back past the hotel to the Shell station. Taking a left here would be having to cross 5-7 lanes of traffic so we took a right and then got into the center turn lane. As soon as there was an easy spot, we took a left into someone's parking lot and made a U-turn. 2nd stop was the Shell station for final fuel. I could not read the screen on this pump so I did not know what it was asking. And when I tried to pull my card out it would get stuck. Tried it twice before going inside. Pre-paying inside does have its advantage. We are supposed to put in $20 of fuel. If you pre-pay that is all you are going to get. BB did not pre-pay and put in an extra $.07 which comes out of her pocket. 3rd stop was the drop. We are a couple of minutes late and the lot is full. And it gets fuller, people coming later have the tails of their trailers sticking out into the street. I was not standing so I could see if anyone was ever parked on the street. As soon as BB checks in, she heads to the rental car place. It is a block away. But they are not ready for her and the RV place has my unit inspected before BB is back. It takes about 45 minutes for my inspection and about 15 minutes for BB's inspection. They will only make appointments for one RV an hour but they got both ours done within the hour. 4th stop is back at the hotel for a couple of hours before we head out. We get our paperwork sent in, and we get paid before we leave. 5th stop is a cemetery in Turlock. That is our/my time off hobby that can be done anywhere. I have an online list of for the whole country that is 'never ending,' and BB likes having a quite place to walk. Temps today were close to 80 degrees but there was a nice breeze. Today we spent about two hours here, usually it is closer to an hour before we move on. Before we left the cemetery I called the bus dispatcher. Nothing today for me. There were a few buses but there also were drivers who have been sitting in the hotel over the weekend. Company is going to pay so we reserve a hotel near the shipper. If we were going to pay we could have gotten one for half that price but the hotel needs to be near the shipper, we found that out the hard way one trip. 5th stop is at the Quality Inn in Livermore. There is a line to check in even with the high rates. After we check in we order food online and then head past the bus place. No local buses for where I live, that was three months ago when we were here that they were building those. But we do see two Milwaukee buses, so maybe. Other than that the two we can ID are Sacramento and Delaware. Lots of red buses with no markings and just lots of buses including lots of electric buses that will be flat bedded out. There is a new fenced area to store buses across from the plant. It sounds like the shipper is 'dozens and dozens' behind and it looks like it. Then we drive past the Avis to see if I can get near the location with a bus. This Avis has a big lot, I should be able to pull the bus all the way around the building. And the street was wide and quite enough that if the bus is a 'short' bus, I should be able to make a U-turn in the middle of the street. Now we just need to find out if they will allow an afterhours drop. Those two stops took a little longer than thought so we are way past when our food was supposed to be ready. BJ's. Just one cookie this time :) and that was still more than enough. BB had soup and salad and I had chicken alfredo. For that price we could have almost had someone come to our room and cook for us :( But the food is good and we eat a lot of fast food. Load board US - 572 IA - 231/227 No plans for tomorrow yet. 220426 CA-TX 1 bus heading to Beaumont TX ... spending the night at Santa Nella CA Slept in again today. That is not going to last long. Went down for breakfast but they did not have any juice, yogurt or hot food. They did have nuke sandwiches but only biscuit or muffin so I ate my leftovers for breakfast instead of lunch. Before 9 AM we head out to switch rental cars. First I drop BB to pick up the Avis and then I fuel the Hertz. We had thought it may take four gallons to get it back to where we picked it up, 3/4 of a tank. I put in three gallons and it was almost at 7/8. Don't want to put in too to much at $6 a gallon. Then we drop the Hertz and head back to the hotel. Load board US - 567 IA - 224/222 Not sure how far we will get tomorrow. It looks like hotels in Kingman are close to $200. And it looks like we may be hitting some wind so it is good that we have an extra day. Actually we don't seem to have a limit on time to deliver a bus. But we CAN'T deliver it until Monday so we will not be pushing it. 220427 CA-TX (Just about midnight and we should be shutting down soon) Load board US - 593 IA - 233/231 220428 CA-TX 1 city bus to Beaumont TX ... spending the night at Holbrook AZ Alarm went off as usual, a little harder getting up after a long, long day. But we stayed on schedule until ... ... we went down for breakfast. It has been a while since we have been here, we forgot that it is a sit down, server, made to order breakfast. It took a while to get the breakfast and even longer to eat it. We ended up leaving a half hour later than usual. Before we headed out I had a little back and forth with email trying to find out more about up coming trips. By the time I got a non-answer the trips were gone. (Now there is a new one so we will try again tomorrow) I get in the wrong lane close to the freeway and am trying to get where I am going when I first see the bus. By the time I get on the freeway I realize that it is not likely a local bus. I follow it for almost 100 miles before I can get close enough to read the info on the bus. (These buses limited to very close to the same speed, but I have a fraction of a mile more) The bus is going to the Raleigh Durham NC area. Then ... 1st stop. We stop, they do not. The stop is the rest area near Essex for a break. When I get to the AZ scale, first I get a message to by pass and then if flips to must exit. I exited. I did not see anyone but a voice came over the PA saying I was free to go. The exit to the first truckstops is backed up out onto the freeway. Glad we are not to exiting here. Where we did exit in Kingman there were two left turn lanes. We almost always take the outside/right left turn lane so that we can swing wind with the bigger units. This time there was an older RV in the left left turn lane and as often happens people do not stay in their own lane, they came over the white line into my lane. I had no where to go but the sidewalk so I hit the breaks until they made their turn and got back in their lane. That is when I noticed that they did not have a right hand mirror. And in an RV you can not just look over your shoulder, this person was basically driving blind. So I backed off, they came over the white line again and then switched lanes and pulled in front of me. 2nd stop is for food at the Panda in Kingman. We usually like to stop at truck stops but in this area they are all 'zoos' to get in and out of. Some we looked up the WalMart and parked there and walked to the one of the closest food. 3rd stop stop is the Loves in Williams for fuel. It looked like the car islands are full so I pull around to the truck pumps. The one I need is opening up but I will need to back in. The place is busy and people are not moving their trucks but no-one blocks me in so I can pull out when I am done fueling. On my first two stops I could only get 3,000# pressure so I thought that the bus may have been set to that. But here I get my max of 3,600#. So I will not need to be stopping in Winslow. BB is looking online and the road north out of Flagstaff is closed because of a wildfire. We can not see it from the freeway. Freeway ... road construction. The road near Flagstaff was narrowing to one lane because of road construction. I backed off a little to let in an RV, and the car behind it came right over on me almost hitting my front bumper ... they never looked over their shoulder, just followed the RV ahead of them. But I do not need any kind of an accident on my record ... But Grrr... Loves still will not let me us my personal card on the diesel islands. I could for years, but then my 'rewards' card went bad and I started a new account. It's been three (?) years with the new card ... Somewhere before we shut down for the night I saw a couple of truck tires laying in the ditch. That was not the note worthy part. One of them looked to still have the original paper tags on the tread. That would be a few hundred dollars laying there. And somewhere today, we saw a dirty pickup sitting in the ditch. And the cops out measuring the skid marks. The truck had rolled but landed upright. Most likely not too long before we got there. Clear day. 4th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Holbrook. It is the nicest hotel in this town :) A few changes in this town since last time we were here. The restaurant next to the hotel has been 'opening soon' for the whole time we have been staying here. Now it is open, and the food is good. The place next door has a limited menu. 1/3# burgers. We should have just split one. Instead we each got one and cut it in half to save for breakfast. Then BB decides to eat all of hers so I do also. Bad idea. And she eats her half of the apple pie, that I did not do. I did save my for tomorrow. Very good pie. While we waited for our to go food we walked for about 15 minutes. Other than las night we have been walking a little again most nights now that it is staying light. Load board US - 593 IA - 217/214 220429 CA-TX 1 city bus to Beaumont TX ... spending the night at Amarillo TX Breakfast, they gave us a form to fill out but there was no one in the breakfast area so we just helped ourselves. I had planned on just yogurt but all they had was peach. So I had an 'egg over hard' and sausage. But earlier ... I was awake at 1 AM. Way too much food last night. And I didn't think I was ever going to get back too sleep, like being on a caffeine high ... until a dog jumped into my van and I was wide awake again :) Before I went to bed last night there was another TX to MN trip on the load board so I was going to call first thing this AM. When I brought my computer screen up at 8:02 this AM it was already gone. So as of now we are deadheading all the way home. At 7:30 local we pull out. When I go through the scale in NM they do look at my permit from a distance for a minute before giving me the OK to go. 1st stop is in Jamestown NM for a rest break. As I am walking I get a call from the shipper ... they want to know where I am and what I have heard about the bus. Interesting conversation. They had no idea that I had gotten fixed or when or how. Not happy. Good news is that I was fixed right away and no more issues. Then I make another phone call about my upcoming 'non-driving.' It looks like the weather should finally dry out enough by next week? Maybe? 2nd stop was the Loves in ABQ for CNG. The truck islands looked full from the street so I pulled into the car area. There was a trash truck fueling. When he was done he just sat in his truck, and I sat and watched him. He must have finally realized that I was waiting for that one pump and moved. And sat there for the rest of his break. I need to remember to use the company card at Loves. I started the pump with no issues, but it cut me off at $125. Then that same card was declined, as was my 2nd card. So I go inside and had the same issue, and a not too pleasant person to work with. Finally the 2nd card did go through and I finished fueling. BB did get a notice from the 1st card saying they had shut it off because of 'suspicious activity.' Then we had to find a place to park because it was time to eat. There were actually five spots that opened up close to the building but ... anywhere else I would have taken them but not that close to the building. We ended up parking in the truck area, no issues. For us. Some guy was trying to back his travel trailer into a spot. Very painful to watch with all the truckers waiting for him. Then they finally moved to a different spot and were trying again. Not sure what the issue was. Food was Carl's Jr/Hardees 3rd stop was the rest area west of Santa Rosa. Some semi driver had cut the corner too short and had to have a tow truck getting him out ... while lots of drivers, including us, watched. Smokie day. Wild fires both here in NM and in TX. 4th stop was the now Phillips 66 in Glenrio for a break. From there BB reserves a hotel. Lots to choice from, our 1st choice had only two rooms left and that means the prices go way up. 5th and final stop was the Comfort Inn in Amarillo. Food was from the Cheddar's nearby. Good food and not too much tonight. I just got soup. Load board US - 587 IA - 249/246 220430 CA-TX 1 city bus to Beaumont TX ... spending the night at Gainesville TX No alarm but I was awake a little after 6 AM, and thought it was the middle of the night. I must have slept well. Breakfast was eggs and yogurt. We pull out of the hotel at 9 AM, instead of our usual 7:30. Less miles to go today. 1st stop is 10 miles down the road at a CNG fueling station in the middle of a field but still in Amerillo. It used to be an ANG brand station, but today it is a Beyond 6. I guess as long as the pumps keep working we will keep coming back. Someone had posted pictures on Facebook of a unique gas station in Shamrock. Today we passed through that town but did not in town. But we did see that a hotel that seems to change names every time we pass this way. Today it is called the Irish Inn. Just past the hotel is a sign that has been there 'forever' for the Irish Inn. Not sure why the sign is there or what it was for. When we get to the OK scale the sign says closed and the message signs are off. As I pass the 2nd sign it says 'OK to bypass scale.' I'm guessing they just turned the open sign back on as I passed as some of those behind me were entering. The only scales I had to enter this trip were the two I had to have permits for. 2nd stop was the Welcome Center in Erick. A band was just setting up ... that is something I have never seen before at a rest area. 3rd stop was for fuel in Oklahoma City. Lots of stations but I have been stopping at the Loves even though I have to back in. One pump open today so not an issue, pumps were full when I left it was a little tighter. There had bene a vacant restaurant next door to the Loves, it is now a new Braums. But BB doesn't like those so we picked a McCallister's instead. Back on the freeway traffic was coming to a stop so I took an exit with a long light ... We end up on the side streets for the next couple of miles. It might have been faster if I had stayed on the freeway. Then ... we had picked this place because there was a WalMart. A large place to park. But this one had a bar over the top of every entry at 9 foot. At the WalMart, at the Target, and the Hobby Lobby. Then I see a vacant building on the same side of the street as the food. 4th stop is McCallisters. Good food. Half a chicken salad sandwich and a cup of potato soup. And one fresh cookie :) Getting out was much easier. Next stop was going to be a rest area but the blacktop had been torn out and there was no 'exit' sign. Everything else was still there. 5th stop was a Flying J in Ardmoor. Across the street from the Best Buy warehouse. Huge parking lot, few cars. This place has a Huddle House but it was closed. No sign, just closed. Today? Forever? This stop was only 30 miles from our hotel but BB had too much to drink with her meal. She usually does not drink with meals but today she had her diet soda. 6th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Gainesville. There is a Burger King next door but we walk to the Chic-fil-A across the freeway. Nice night so we sat outside and ate. Slow night at the Chic-fil-A Load board US - 608 IA - 278/275 IA has started adding RV's to the load board. They were able to get their loadboard down under 300 for a few days and now they are loading up the board again for the next quarter end. .. the trip continues HERE |
