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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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220705 IA-UT 2 RV's to Draper UT ... spending the night at Grand Island NE We pull out a little after 7 AM. 1st stop is just south of town at an exit to call for our trips. We get them. 2nd stop is at Albert Lea at the Loves/Wendy's for breakfast. I should have checked my receipt, I did not get what I ordered but we were not going back in. There was a line for ordering food and a line after we order. We could see from the register that they were cooking up 'real' eggs so that is a plus. (I got spicy sausage instead of bacon) 3rd stop was the shipper. They are not working today. So likely they are not working the next two weeks. Some of our larger shippers take two weeks off at the 4th of July and Christmas for a plant shut down. If that's the case there will not be anything new put on the load board for IA for the next two weeks. Good time to take a vacation. ... while we are at the shipper we see that our 'rental dispatcher' has put six trips out of MN. :( After we have committed to a trip. Later today he adds more trips. That was what we spent most of our summer doing last year was his trips and we used our personal car as a chase car because rental cars were so hard to get. 4th stop was the Loves in Ellsworth for fuel and food/Hardees. Another long line for food. After we had ordered and were waiting for our food I noticed someone order and then grab a bag of food as he walked past. That didn't look right. Then after we got our food I noticed that someone ahead of us was still waiting. Before I said anything the person from earlier came back up with the bag of food he had grabbed and said it wasn't his ... by now he had had the food for 5-10 minutes. The person whos food it was grabbed it and left (tired of waiting?) I had a Frisco burger. 1/3#. Way too much food. 5th stop was the rest area near Adair. We see a few other transporters today. No one else at the shipper, but we do see a cement truck, dump truck, vac truck, plus stacks of trucks. 6th stop was the Loves in Omaha for fuel. 102 degrees. It stayed 100+ for a few hours. From here we decide where to stop for the night. We will run a little later tonight. We want to drop on Thursday and we have to beat a 3:30 close and pick up the rental car before we drop. The Comfort Inn in York is now a Quality Inn so it is a Quality Inn either way. We pick Grand Island. This time I counted. There were (still) 12 irrigation circles east of York that were rolled and 10 west of York. The re-planted crops are up so I am thinking that SOME of the circles may have been fixed by now ??? 7th stop was the Bosselmans/Pilot in Grand Island for food. All three fast food places are open today. Krispy Chicken ... I ask. All food is 'cajun' :( Little Caesars does not have any food on the shelf so we would have to order and wait. BB also looks at the shelf food that we had last time. She was hoping for soup but one bucket was missing and the other was empty. They did have Cinnabon's that is not listed on the signs outside. But we end up at Subway. They have a new menu and I did not get what I wanted. I did not notice they had not put the bacon on the sandwich and I asked them about the 'garlic' part of the sandwich and they said it was part of the chicken. No ... I looked online and the garlic is one of their eight sauces. Twice today. then to the Quality Inn. Load board US - 173 IA - 60/58 MN - 11 Tomorrow we will go 500-600 miles, we will decide at the 500 mile mark. There are only hotels about every 100 miles in WY. Plus we have a few fuel stops and one Port of Entry to slow us down. 220706 IA-UT 2 RV's to Draper UT ... spending the night at Rock Springs WY Breakfast. Nice setup, buffet style but not much choice. We were both up early so we were ready before our usual 7:30. When I checked out, they asked about our stay ... I said good eggs. Yes, they use fresh eggs, not from powder. We can tell the difference. Did see one dump truck in the lot that was a transporter. 1st stop was North Platte at the Loves. As usual I had to go in to get the pumps started. BB started fueling but before I got started they shut the pumps off. :) They had questions about my ID ... ... so we got an extra transaction charge from our work credit card because they re-started that pump. 1st time for everything, I guess. This is a rare time where we do not stop in Ogallala for a break, food or fuel. 2nd stop was in Sidney at the Loves for food/Taco John. I got a breakfast item and they gave me the combo. Didn't get a receipt so don't know if I paid for it or not. Do not need that much food. 3rd stop was the Port of Entry. Busy but no wait. 4th stop was the Loves in Laramie for more fuel. As I was getting out I heard what I thought was someone asking for 'help,' and I noticed a man putting fuel in a girls car before getting back in his own and driving away. Then the girl drove away but I did not see where she went. If people actually put fuel in the car instead of giving cash ... the tank should only hold so much fuel. ... as we were leaving I noticed that the original truck stop is now closed. They spent a bunch of money on it a couple of years ago to clean it up, but with a Petro, Pilot and Loves at the same exit I guess they could not compete. We tried fueling there once but we would have had to pre-pay because of the old style pumps then. We didn't. On the hills between Laramie and Rawlins we played 'tag' with a few trucks. There was one that pulled out to pass BB a dozen times but someone going 80 mph would always come up behind them before they made any progress. And I was following another truck that I could pass on the flat but then he would pass me on the down hill. So I just hung behind him at 64-65 mph until BB pulled out and passed us both. 5th stop was at the Flying J in Rawlins. From here we decided it was too early to shut down even though it has already been 500 miles. So we push on. Local dispatch had called last night but had not left a message. Then they called again today just before Rawlins, they need a receipt in order to pay me this week. It was something that we could get from the retailer on line so BB sent it. Then a couple of miles down the road local dispatch calls again. So I pull off at the next exit. But they want me to work tomorrow ... in MN. I am in WY. Rental dispatcher has been putting trips out every few hours for trips in or near MN. Sure, when we are not there. I'm hoping they put one out of CO but nothing ... because we are near ??? 6th and final stop was the Clarion in Rock Springs, with food from the in-house Mexican place. Too much food. First room had not been cleaned so back down to the front desk. Load board US - 165 IA - 42/41 It looks like we have close to enough fuel. We will likely stop at a small station about half way between here and the drop. We have less than 200 miles to go tomorrow but we do have to deal with the rental car. But SHOULDN'T be an issue. Still watching for work. Yesterday when we were doing our pickup there were about 60 units that will be flat-bedded besides those that show on the load board for us. No new trips added this week. Might be that way for two weeks? The main plant is not working but it seems like there are always some units that get finished or repaired that they bring over during the two weeks. Kind of like the buses. 220707 IA-UT 2 RV's to Draper UT (delivered) ... spending the night at Rock Springs WY Ugh ... rough night. We need to eat food that doesn't taste so good so we don't eat so much of it. I wasn't full last night until the last two bites but at 2 (?) in the morning I was up and in pain. BB was also up a couple of times. Good food, just too much of it. BB is up before the alarm but we still end up getting out of the hotel late. Breakfast is made to order omelets so that takes a little longer. It did give me time to go out and get my jacket. It was 52 degrees when we got up this AM, down a few from the 102 in NE. All the big rigs from last night are gone before we are, but there is one boom truck still in the lot so I have to see what company is moving those. :) 1st stop is 15 miles down the road at the Loves in Green River. BB decides she needs fuel so she puts in six gallons and I put in two. We park on opposite sides of the pump so we only have to start it once. Saves us the company fee. BB's range went up, mine did not. Not sure how these new computers measure things. They should be able to tell if I added 1/10th of a gallon but don't. 2nd 'stop' is in Evanston at the rest area. But only for long enough for a very short conversation. Last night we had talked about stopping in Evanston for fuel, that would be 100 miles from the hotel. Then we would stop again in Park City, 50 miles from Evanston and 50 miles from the drop. Then this AM BB said she wanted to stop at the rest area instead ... so I 'assumed' she was talking about the rest area in Evanston we have been stopping at any time we don't need fuel in Evanston. Nope, she was talking about the rest area in Echo that we have NEVER stopped at before. She knew, I didn't. So we headed out without 'stopping.' At the scale the line was long, from where I was sitting I could see the sign for the scale said 'Turn Right' ... instead of exit to freeway. It took a long time for the driver to finally pull off the scale and around to park. Then a couple of minutes after he goes in the scale house he is coming back out ... that was quick. Nope, he then goes back in with a lot more paperwork. That is usually what they want to see ... although one time they only wanted to see my license , to make sure I had the tanker endorsement. 3rd stop was the rest area near Echo. BB went in, I took pictures. Before we left I saw a guy who was sitting on his skateboard heading down the hill in the parking lot and out on towards the highway. Then he backed up, it must also be electric, and was gone. Then when we pulled out I saw a cop in the median a block down the hill. I'm thinking that guy was going to ride the board to the bottom of the hill on the shoulder if the cop wasn't there ... maybe? We do not need any more fuel so we head out again, BB will go her way and I will go mine. The reservoir near Echo is up to the flood gates, first time I may have ever seen that. 4th stop, yikes, is at a Maverick in Draper. There is a line of cars as far as I can see past the station on the street and cars are parked in line every which way trying to get out. But a lot of those in line are semi's that can't get going when traffic starts moving so cars do clear quickly every time the light changes. I don't want to be in that line, I want to be in the next lane over so when there is a break I cut across ... only half watch to see if no one is coming in the non-turn lane. No one hits me but they are right on my bumper. 5th stop is the drop for me in Draper. The 'drop' gate is closed so there is a line. I get just off the street but am blocking another driveway. I talk to another driver a couple of minutes before someone needs me to move. Then the gate opens and we pull ahead. I am told to park in a different area than the others so I don't talk to them again. Opps, BB has the one screw driver we have for the plate screws. I text her and she stops and calls. By now I have gotten the OK to leave my RV before it is signed off and I was expecting her to be here. But things took longer at the rental car area also. 6th stop is back at the rental place to pick up BB's RV. Traffic is crazy and BB is getting flustered. She decides to fuel at a grocery store instead. Right on the way and no hassle. By the time I get back to my RV the first driver has been inspected and is waiting for a taxi, by the time I grab my plate he is gone. He may have been the one we past on the way down the biggest hill riding his breaks but we'll never know. Then BB showed up and I got the OK to let her past the gate and helped her park. Then we waited in the 90+ heat with little shade. We should have asked if we could wait inside or in our car but we didn't and they were all on the other side of a fence. 7th stop was In-n-Out ... if there is one close to our drop, that will be lunch. Lots of MN rental work, plus a few out of Grand Junction CO ... heading to California. I was watching for ones from there heading east, but not today. I had talked to my local dispatch last night so they knew where I was if there was any work and they haven't called so we head home. Less than an hour down the road there are two trucks out of SLC heading to MO but we are just heading into the canyon and have time to think about it before there is a place to turn around. BB want's to be out of SLC, too much traffic. If we had still been in SLC we likely would have driven past to see what they were. The are list as tractor ... so they could have no where for a passenger or luggage ... or could be a cargo van, who knows. We won't. Cheapest hotel is the one we were in last night. We will not get extra perks because we are staying two nights in the same location. But the other hotel is $40 more. The math doesn't work to pay more to get perks this time. 8th and final stop is the Clarion in Rock Springs. We try to order online from Applebee's, then we try to call a couple of times ... the computer says 'Goodbye.' So we decided to drive over in case they were open. They were. And inside we got ignored also. Until we got the correct person. Then we quickly got our food, only issue was they stacked the soups and once spilled. But soup and salad was lighter food than another full meal. Load board US - 129 IA - 10 MN - 4 Not sure what tomorrow will bring. We made enough money with a one way trip we'll be OK. Another reason that BB wasn't wanting to grab a truck right away. Now we are 2nd guessing ourselves. 220708 IA-UT 2 RV's to Draper UT (delivered) ... spending the night at Gothenburg NE Made to order omelette again. :) ... and got going late again. Kind of hoping there would be new work before we left, but no. There is one transporter in the hotel lot this AM. A roll-off truck and a carrier I have not heard of before. 1st stop is Rawlins at the TA for the restroom. By then the local dispatcher had called to see where I was ... (didn't we have this conversation yesterday?) 2nd stop was in Laramie for fuel at the Tumbleweed. Plan had been to fuel in Buford but I had lost enough range that I would not be able to make it to Cheyenne if there was an issue in Buford. It showed I had a good range left but the gauge had been laying flat on E for a while. When we get to the Tumbleweed there are lines. Three pumps in one row and people coming in from both directions depending on which side their tank was on. We wondered how long we would wait but everyone was in and out quickly. Biggest issue was that people on the building side had to wait for all three pumps to clear to move ahead. But fuel was $.40 cheaper than anywhere else in town so it was worth it. While we are waiting I call the local dispatcher back to see if they have work for Monday. They only have one 1,000+ trip and I/we need to be back on Tuesday night. 3rd stop was in Cheyenne at the Little Philly ... closed, no sign. (I look now and it does say permanently closed on Google but did not say that on BB's i-phone) So Jimmy Johns a few blocks down the street. This is in down town. They had about six parking spots and they were all full. All other close parking spots had 'tow' signs. Not worth it. We ended up at Silver Mine Subs. They were open. Good food but my philly could have used some mayo. I didn't time this but it likely took us an hour to find and eat food. We are/were not in a rush so we ate inside instead of at the wheel. 4th stop was Sidney at Loves for the restroom. On the trip out I had noticed that the Perkins that closed a few months ago was being knocked down so I looked it up on the internet. A Maverick gas station is going in there. It did not say if they would have truck diesel islands or not. 5th stop was the rest area near Brady. As soon as we are rolling again BB is looking at hotels. More hotels are full, the prices have gone up and the cheapest one in Lincoln is one of those that is full. That would have taken us until 8 PM to get there, most other hotels are close to double that price. When I think that BB has already booked it, she changes her mind and wants to say in Gothenburg 15 minutes away. This will be our first hotel this trip that is over $100 so we have done good until tonight. 6th and final stop was the Comfort Inn in Gothenburg. Food from T Walkers (again.) this time we ate inside. Likely the first time we have had two inside meals in one day in two plus years. More than enough food, no desert. We couldn't agree on what to split so we each get our own. The place is just about empty when we walk in but has a dozen tables filled by the time we leave. Interesting place. When we walk up to pay it is someone we haven't seen today. They say $30 (+). Somehow they knew where we had sat and what we had ordered. When we had come into town for food we had to cross about six tracks, I had looked both ways but not really 'looked' both ways. As we crossed we heard a ding, ding, ding. By the time we were half way down the block we heard the train horn. It was close enough that I should have seen it (?) There were arms at this location and the blew the horn so it wasn't a safety issue, just I should have seen it. When we went to leave, train 5 or 6 was heading through town. So we decided to take a longer route which has a bridge. To get on that road we had to wait for a small fire truck. We both noticed that it has DOT placards in the windows, it was likely a transporter. We followed it to the hotel and then the driver into the hotel. When he was done checking in we asked where he had gotten the truck ... SD. So I looked it up, their main office is 10 miles from where I grew up. :) At just about dark it was cool enough to go for a walk, until the end of the walk. This town has a sod house a couple of blocks from the hotel. Falling apart but it still gives an idea of what it was like. We have a picture of a family member standing next to one. No info if it was theirs or someone else's. There is also a Pony Express building in this town but it is out the other end of town so we have not been there yet. We do go past the trash truck company when we head into town. They have three trucks sitting in the 'done' area but I haven't seen any listed with the two companies I work for. Load board US - 85 IA - 1 MN - 3 Still 2nd guessing ourselves about not calling on the SLC trip when we were still in UT. It was going to Springfield and there was/still is a truck in Springfield heading to Duluth which would take us right past our car. All paid miles. Oh well. There are a lot of rental trips that are coming and going. One that is likely still there but can't be done until Tuesday. And I don't like to commit to something short when there is still time to do something long. But now there isn't still time so I will likely call on it Monday if it is still there. By shutting down in Gothenburg we have a full day to get home tomorrow. 220709 IA-UT 2 RV's to Draper UT (delivered) ... spending the night at home (written a couple of days later) We pull out closer to 8 AM than 7:30. We did have breakfast, of some kind. 1 stop was in York at a Shell station. It was the cheapest fuel within our fuel range. And somehow I am getting a $.05 discount and BB is only getting a $.03 discount. Not much difference but it does add up. We had to go past the Petro truckstop and that stop light to get to our stop. I had noticed the pan handler when we went past the first time. Coming back, one of the truckers was trying to give him money. Where he was sitting is a concrete median about four feet wide, and right there it has a concrete barrier which he was sitting on. I thought he was going to fall under the truck trying to get off and back on the barrier ... And it took so long that only the one truck got through the long light because the driver wouldn't move until the guy was out of his way. Now that the crops are getting more lush, it is harder to tell that there was hail and wind damage. 2nd stop is in Shelby at the Loves/McDonalds. Not the crowd it was last time. Quick in and out. Not too much choice for rood in rural IA. 3rd stop is the rest are between Ames and Story City. Not much excitement on a road we have just been on, its a weekend and we are trying to make time. 4th stop is the shipper. The load board was down to 1, but I still counted 40 that will be driven out and another 40 that will be hauled out. 5th stop for me is near the airport. BB stops once in Lakeville to top off the rental car. Today I have time to take a few pictures at the cemetery. That was partially because BB's phone would not call out until she shut it off and restarted it. Sometime walking the cemetery I had thought that I should only spend so much time there even if she doesn't call ... just in case. On the way home we picked up Leeann Chin. Later that night we headed back to the airport, one of our family was coming in and if we had timed it right, we would have been at the airport. But flights get delayed and we are not back home until 11 PM. Late for us old people. So yesterday we ate inside twice and today we go to the airport. I thought this was the 1st time in six years I had been in an airport but we had picked up this same person a few years ago. (Then later in the weekend BB is listening to one of the podcasts that is still warning against eating out or any long term group exposer) We did see few accidents, after they happened. A burnt out trailer on the shoulder. A different pile of debris that was being cleaned up. A semi that flipped on a straight road. Looked like he must have gotten off the pavement, and the shoulder must have been soft. Flip. Load Board US - 83 IA - 1 220711 MN No where. Local dispatch knew we were back in town and they did not call us and I didn't call them. The dispatcher who had MN trips last week did not have anything today. So he gotten the Tuesday trip covered as well. And we watched the load board all day. IA is putting a few RV's out so they must have only had last week off. Not sure how many they put out, trips came off as fast as they were added. On FB, new drivers were asking about other companies to work for because their company is slow right now ... welcome to driveaway. We can still work tomorrow but it would have to be something short. We need to be home yet tomorrow night. We both have appointments Wednesday AM. Load board US - 99 IA -0- MN -0- There are more than 99 trips on the load board but we have been told to ignore those others. Seems we have bought another driveaway company and they are using our system but we can't take their trips. We noticed that last week and I recognized the company, I just didn't know the why. I don't know who the new carriers customers are but I assume they have a few.
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