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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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220510 IA-CO 2 RV's to Grand Junction CO (Wednesday) ... spending the night at home Because we thought we were going to be home for a week or two we had started to fill up our week with plans. Even before we got home from our last trip we had workers coming out to our house on Monday and Tuesday. And when the plans fell through for this week I was able to get in for a hair cut on Monday and into the dentist on Tuesday. But we still did not grab work right away, I had a little more to do in the yard/garden and BB wanted to see how a weather system was going to play out. Finally about 4 PM we called for two trips to Grand Jct CO. Yesterday there had not been any rental cars from Grand Jct home, but there had been from Denver. Today 'Our' brand was gone and those that were left from Denver were $400 a day. So we went with the Grand Jct. More miles and it will be our only trip before next week. When we looked in the AM there were eight trips to Grand Jct and at 4 PM there were still eight, so not hot movers today. Not sure if this is something new but we are getting 'something' extra because these RV's are over 30 days old. It all helps. We should do pretty good for a one legged trip. There had been 'auction trucks' for a while coming from Grand Jct back to IA. What are the changes that will happen again? ;) Load board US - 662 IA - 303/299 220511 IA-CO 2 RV's to Grand Junction CO ... spending the night at Grand Island NE Alarm at six (?) It was nice to have a couple of days off :) Left the house 'about' 7:30. We thought we would miss the storms but they were moving pretty slow this AM. Owatonna was getting dumped on this AM and the fields were already flooded. That had been our planned food and fuel stop but we would have gotten soaked. So ... 1st stop was at Loves in Albert Lea for food and fuel. Croissants from Wendy's. Fuel was actually cheaper here than it would have been in Owatonna so we topped it off. 2nd stop was the shipper to pick up our RV's. No one else picking up to driveaway. Three drivers picking up to haul away. Not sure how long these RV's had been sitting here. BB's was almost stuck from sitting in the holes from when it rained a month ago. (actually a sticky note on my paperwork said my RV is from Feb, but it is dated April. It also looks like they are billing the shipper more than they are paying me ... I don't think that sticky note was supposed to have stayed on my paperwork) Before we got to the shipper we looked at gas prices and the cheapest gas is in Williams, 74 miles away. So we said we would either need to have a range of 100 miles or a half a tank of fuel. I got the half a tank of fuel with a range of 53 miles. When I got to Williams I still had a range of 53 miles but much less fuel. Shortly after we get on the freeway, poof ... there goes the loose end of my passenger seat cover out the window. I am able to grab it and get the window rolled up at the same time. It wasn't until I stopped for fuel that I realized how much bag was still outside my window flapping in the wind. So I guess it is an AC trip. Or remove the seat covers. 3rd stop was for fuel in Williams at the Flying J. Someone stopped to talk, they wondered if we were transporters. Their husband has worked at the shipper for 45 years. And per them some of the RV work is done in Mills City, where they live. 4th stop is at the Kum and Go in Adair for Subway. We had a late breakfast so we are having a later lunch. I did hear on the local station that up near the shipper there is a tornado warning until 9 PM tonight. BB has Sirius but my is not turned on :( 5th stop is Lincoln at the Shoemaker truckstop. The gas is Shell so I used a gift card, and my rewards card. I can only get my rewards discount once a day ... today I saved $.03 on .48 gallons. There wasn't even $2 left on the card, but now it is -0-. At one point we had planned on only putting in enough fuel here to get to cheaper fuel but that would cost us an extra stop. The drop closes at 2 PM so we want to make sure we are there by noon Friday. We also need to call 24 hours in advance. 6th and final stop was our Quality Inn in Grand Island, but 1st we stop at Bosselman for food. There is an Arby's in their parking lot, it used to be in the hotel parking lot. And inside there is a Krispy Chicken (closed due to staffing,) a Little Caesars 15 minute plus wait or Subway (no line.) We end up getting cold shelf food. Actually pretty good food for shelf food. Lots of wind today, the cruise kicks off often but can be easily re-set. Almost to the point of having to slow down but not yet. Sure is not doing our gas mileage any favors. We are missing all the MN. Our grand-daughter who stays at our house has a weather app on her phone. She got a notice that there was just a lightening strike .39 miles from our house. She said it was pretty loud. Lots of rain for the corn I planted on Tuesday. Load board US - 651 IA - 292/284 220512 IA-CO 2 RV's to Grand Junction CO ... spending the night at Avon CO As I am sitting on the couch this AM I kill four ants on my legs, then I moved. I had one last night on my computer screen but didn't think much of it. BB killed quite a few on her night stand and I also got one in the bathroom. Breakfast is in a currently un-used attached restaurant. It is laid out like the typical buffet with people being able to serve on both sides. Only the basic's, nothing special. Eggs and sausage for me, and OJ. When we head out first I notice a transporter stack leaving. Then I see a bus parked across the charging stations. By the time I get close I see that it is charging. So as soon as get my RV inspected I walk over and see the driver is sitting in it. He seems to be on an endurance run. Right now he is heading from Seattle to the east coast. One of the other major bus companies has electric buses ready to sell and the other major one is not even trying. This guy is one of the five our so company drivers. When the buses are shipped to the customer they use transporter drivers. He know a lot about the company that he works for and their major transporter carrier. But we are working so I cut the conversation short, checked out and were ready to go. (Later I post a picture of that bus on FB and a co-worker of this driver reply's) Somewhere early in the day, I see a pickup pull out of the median in a construction zone. I am too far away to see what is in the back but it is pieces of neon-yellow. As I get closer I see it, traveling at close to 65 mph down an interstate, there are five people in the back of pickup bed. They have their neon-yellow on for safety ... but riding in the back of a pickup? (did see one of the guy's caps go with the wind) 1st stop was the rest area in Cozad. Thought about using the toilet when I was there but no one has been cleaning. Looks like there is a car on site but I didn't see anyone working. So far this AM we have had mostly a direct cross wind. That wind has caused a deafening whistle for BB in her RV. Surprisingly my fuel mileage is still going up. 2nd stop is the WalMart In Ogallala for fuel. Fuel is still under $4. From here we have 450 miles to the drop with a range of 350 miles and climbing. WHAT? I see the side of a truck on the freeway. Someone is coming 3rd stop is the Wendy's in Brush. Now that we have a headwind, the whistle in BB's RV is gone. ?? I have a large chili which is too much to eat in a half hour for me. Interesting sign across the street. We can see that the highway sign has a Phillips sign placed over the Shell sign ... which is placed over a Subway sign. From here the wind is worse. Not enough to shut down but enough to slow us down and throw us around. One travel trailer we passed was going about 50 mph. I varied a lot. I finally found that if I slowed to 57 mph that the RV would not tac out at 5,000 rpms. These Rams were good on the past trips but not here in the mountains. And the cruise kicked off a dozen or two times because of the wind gusts. Luckily with these it is just a matter of hitting re-set. 4th stop is at the TA in Wheat Ridge/west Denver for a break. Fuel is cheaper here but I am hoping I will gain some of my range back once we get out of the wind. I had gained sixty miles before we hit the headwinds. Then I lost 80 miles range. But I do not gain range, I continue to loose once we hit the hills. I-70 is not fun in anything but a car. Hills, turns. Like UT and CA but it goes forever. As we pulled out of the TA I saw I guy walking across a vacant lot. Walking normal. Then he starts lifting his knees way up for a few steps like something is wrong with him. Then he stops and puts his head down with his hands on his knees ... and I was gone. As we pass Loveland I see people still skiing. I looked online and they plan on closing this weekend. That will leave only two ski area's still open, one usually closes in June. 5th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Avon/Vail. The snow is long gone here, or so it looks. Not sure where the ski area is but they just closed this past Sunday. Once we check in we order from 'Bob's Place' across the street. Food will be ready in 15 minutes and we walk over. Food is ready. ... I got the wrong soup, too spicy for me to eat. And I got a Philly, too dry and too chewy. It took a long time to eat. BB's was good and too much so she did not want any of mine. From our room we can see the snow covered mountains in the distance. I came in with a range of 40 miles so I will need to add 10-11 gallons in the AM. Not cheap here. No work that works for us on the return trip. A few local trips in the MN-IA-WI area if we were home. I had thought of calling my local company but they have a habit of talking me into something that I would not have taken if it was a loadboard situation. Load board US - 677 IA - 328/324 220513 IA-CO 2 RV's to Grand Junction CO (delivered) ... spending the night at Fort Morgan CO Last night before we went to sleep, we could here some guy yelling 'F' this, 'F' that. After that I went to sleep, but BB said she could here them 'enjoying themselves' through the walls. Doesn't happen too often but it happens that we do not get silence with our room. Breakfast. The basics. But riding up in the elevator, because we were on the 4th floor, when the elevator stopped, it stopped so abruptly that it spilled half my apple juice. Elevator was carpeted so no slip hazard just a wet spot. Yesterday coming through Denver it was 90+ degrees. This AM when we have to walk outside to get to our breakfast it is down in the 30's. Glad we looked and I grabbed my jacket last night. Different time zone, we head out at 8:30 AM central time. 1st stop is across the freeway at Shell for fuel. We have 140 miles to go, I am/I was getting 13 mpg so I put in 10 gallons hoping my mileage will go up so that I do not need to stop again. 2nd stop is at Rifle at a rest area. BB's limit is about 120 miles between stops and this was 140 so we stopped half way. We are trying something new, again. BB parks her RV at the airport and walks to get the rental car. Then she comes to pick me up from the drop. 3rd stop is the TA/Conoco for final fuel about a half a block from the drop. 4th stop, the drop. No one ahead of us but it takes them an hour for each unit. That, compared to our drop in Manteca where it takes about 15 minutes per unit. They did write up a couple of scratches on mine but they had moved my RV a few times by the time I got my paperwork so I did not get any pictures of it and am not too worried about it. We get back from picking up BB's RV about the time they are done inspecting my RV. There is a truck in SLC going back to WI. It would tie in nicely so we spend some time talking about it. We started before we saw how long it was taking them to do the inspections. At first we thought we would be able to get the five hours to Salt Lake City before the shipper closed. Then we realized that that was not going to happen so it would have to be a Saturday pickup. If it is a Saturday pickup, that means we would have to do 1,500 miles in less than three days as I want to be home Monday night and the drop is four hours from home. We did a lot of talking, options, what-if's. Then as BB is looking online at the info she finally saw ... MONDAY pickup. That's not going to work :( So we will be deadheading home. When we are done there we head to McCallisters for lunch. We eat outside in the shade. Busy place, even after 1 PM. Someone ahead of us commented about the line ... and the reply was an apology ... followed by ... 'and another employee just walked off the job today.' By the time we are done eating and ready to leave it is after 2 PM and we have 1,200 miles to go in less than two days. 5th stop is No Name rest area near Glenwood Springs in the Glenwood Canyon. I did take a couple of pictures there but then when we were deeper in the Canyon BB took more pictures. As she put it ... when we see the sights we are seeing 360, the camera sees about 100. Huge difference what the camera can capture. Beautiful area. No one skiing today at either Loveland or Copper Mountain but still lots of snow in the higher ups. 6th stop was at a rest area in Georgetown. It was not in our 'travel book' so it was an un-planned stop. 7th stop was for food at an Arby's in Brighton. They forgot our water, then handed us bottled water and said 'water is free.' (I think they just didn't want to do a void) And they gave BB the wrong salad dressing and didn't give her a fork. But I did get a chicken salad sandwich, they are back. Wait, that is also what I had for lunch. :) After we left there a pickup and a car flew by us at 100+ mph, we were doing 75. Later we saw them on a ramp, not sure if they were together or one was chasing the other. 8th and final stop was in Fort Morgan, first at the Maverik for fuel, under $4. Then two miles to the Comfort Inn for the night. Load board US - 588 IA - 299/295 From here we have a 10 hour day tomorrow, at 70-75 mph and then the last three hours Sunday morning. Not likely we will pick up any extra work coming back, tomorrow is Saturday and very, very little gets put on the loadboard over the weekend. 220514 IA-CO 2 RV's to Grand Junction CO (delivered) ... spending the night at Albert Lea MN First a couple of notes from yesterday ... Us - by evening we were scratching. Seems we stood out in the sun to long Friday waiting for our RV's to be inspected. Got a little sun burned. Then the afternoon heat made it itch. I was OK overnight, BB was not. I'm <> allergic to sun shine. Instead of tanning or burning I get huge blotches that crust over. If I can get sunshine if very small doses I do tan. My hands and face are not an issue. My arms are some years and anything else is never OK. A half hour in the sun in shorts and I am swelling up. Car - When we put the car in park, the computer sets the parking break. However it does not always release the parking break when we put the car in gear. Some times it takes some playing with. The 1st time I drove it was from the drop to eat yesterday. After we parked I saw that we were not supposed to park in that area. So I went to move the car, it was like someone had chalked the tires. I even got out and walked around my car to see what the issue was. Then I saw the parking break light on. ... and the radar on this car is NO fun. It seems to be set for distance only. It does not take into account that other cars are going faster than I. Almost every time someone passes me, when the pull back in front of me, the radar slows me 2-5 mph because they pulled in too close. If I want to pass someone, I have to stand on the gas, almost to the floor to get the radar to let go of the car I was following so I can speed up. Makes it real fun in heavy traffic. Didn't find a way to shut it off. And the shortest following distance on this car is the furthest following distance on most cars. By the end of the day, BB was getting car sick from rapid slow down every time someone would pass us. TODAY We head out at 7:30 local/8:30 home time. We have an estimated 10 hours to get to our car today. 1st stop was in Southerland ??? at a rest area. The rest area at the two hour mark was the one near Ogallala and it is closed because of road construction. From there I called on to check on 'my other activities.' It sounds like I may get rained out ... for the year. Usually I keep busy for a couple of weeks, this year 2-1/2 days. But now we have other things lined up so we still need to be in town. 2nd stop was in Alda. We have gift cards for Shell so I had suggested the Shell at the TA. It did not click that the Sinclair at that exit was $.05 cheaper per gallon ... could have saved some money and used the gift cards another time. We also got 'food' here. All this truck stop has is a Country Pride, sit down place and shelf food. BB got a yogurt buffet ?? and I got two roller dogs. 3rd stop was Ashland, the east most rest area on I-80 in NE. 4th stop was in Clive at the Loves for fuel. We are not on 'E' yet but we will not make it to the airport and fuel here is cheaper. 5th stop was still near Des Moines at the Jimmy Johns in Ankeny. 'Drive thru only.' Not good, I had not used the rest room at Loves because I was going to use it here. Then we get to the drive thru there is a list of things they were out of 'ham' was one of them. All of the Jimmy John sandwiches I have eaten have had ham on them. Strike two. Then we get to the window and it has a sign on it that says 'drive thru closed.' I didn't ask, I didn't have a sense of humor anymore. 6th stop was to pick up our car at the shipper in Forest City. 7th stop was the Comfort Inn in Albert Lea. We could have made it home but it was be closer to midnight. It has already been just about 12 hours with few, short stops. We saw a lot of transporters today. Wish I would have counted. Also wish I would have counted how many were towing. There are a few drivers that insist that 'no tow, no go.' But that is not the majority. Load board US - 577 IA - 291/287 We should be home tomorrow / Sunday afternoon. Monday evening I have a meeting, Wednesday afternoon we have an house inspection. By then it is supposed to rain even more. I will plan on getting some yard and gardening done while we are home. We MAY do local work for the local company, but BB also has things on her list to get done that didn't last time we were home. 220515 IA-CO 2 RV's to Grand Junction CO (delivered) ... spending the night at home We have less than two hours to the airport so we do not need to leave until after 9 AM. Breakfast was sausage, not bacon or ham. Eggs and yogurt. The Peterbilt that was sitting here last night is still here this AM, I'm guessing it is delivering to MN on Monday so whoever is in no rush. The drive to the airport was pretty low key. I did notice that the power lines that were taken down by the straight line winds near Faribault. Just before we reach MN-77 there is a sign that says MN-77 closed at ... It would have been nice to have known that while I was still on I-35. I stay on 35E up to 494. BB 'follows the detour' until she didn't. It took her a little longer to get to the airport. That gave me time to spend at Fort Snelling, something I have not done for months. 1st stop MSP to drop the rental car. We drove through my local driveaway office. One bus in the lot and two drivers cars sitting there. They are not likely to need my help on Monday. We end up eating at Gorman's. BB had a chicken Philly wrap and I had a chicken Philly sandwich. And I got a blueberry malt. Our waitress said she was allergic to blueberries but she could serve it ... Later I had throat issue. 1st time in almost a year on food. In the last year it has only been on pills and rare for that. No work plans yet. Should get some yard and garden work done the next few days. |
