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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 220904 IA-CA ... spending the night at Green River UT Breakfast - bacon, eggs, potatoes, juice. We fuel next door at the Flying J before heading out. 1st stop is a rest area near Nipton before leaving CA at a rest area. We noticed the casino in Jean did not have any cars by it so BB looked online. It is one of the few hotels that wen out of business during Covid. Huge place. Even the one at Primm did not seem to have too many cars and none of the rides were running. The truckshop casino I don't think ever completely closed. The Luxor in Las Vegas used to be at the south end of the strip. Now it looks like it is right in the middle. New stuff going up everywhere. The Petro truck stop that used to be alone with the race track is now surrounded. The Flying J pulled out of town and someone else runs it now. The Pilot is still where it was but is a zoo to get near. We did see a TA that I don't remember, it also is now surrounded. Second stop was going to be an Apollo Burger in St George, but then we got talking about other food and at the last second pulled off in Mesquite. 2nd stop was Peggy Sue's in Mesquite. Good food. I had a Philly with the au jus, plus potato salad (better than Anderson's) When we got there, they made sure we were willing to wait as they were behind. We were in and out in about an hour so not too much of a wait. A sign outside said 'Now hiring all positions, all locations.' But I can not find a location list. Just random sites using the same logo. The Peggy Sue's near Barstow does not use the same logo or menu. 3rd stop was the Marverik in Cedar City for $10 of fuel. That is enough to get us to where fuel is $.50 less per gallon. If we had stopped in Richfield we would have been closer to doing half the miles each day. And we kept talking about how far to go until we were within a few miles of the Richfield exit. We will push on. 4th stop is Salina at the Maverik for fuel. While there, a transporter pulled in to fuel with a shuttle bus so I had to talk to him. Only a few minutes. He picked it up in OH and is heading to CA. Loves the ride. 5th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Green River. We are both full from noon so we may not eat anything tonight. Only one sit down place is across the street, everything else we would have to drive to. "We have no reservation for you" Opps, BB reserved this hotel for tomorrow night, it the cancel time for that room was an hour ago. So we make a new reservation and deal with canceling when we get to the room. We are using points tonight so we are not out money ... and we have a months worth of points. (OK, at this rate only 10 days.) A sign at the desk says 'Free soup while it lasts.' So we each grab a bowl of split pea and ham soup before we go to our room. Our hands were even fuller but we have missed out before when we go to our room and come back. As soon as we are in the room I call about a refund. We are diamond members so we do get our points back. Good soup, mine is cold by the time I get to eat it. Then we jump in the whirl pool, if we are using points, we usually get the best room possible. ... and we decide we may go to a park tomorrow. BB wanted to get a walk in while it was still cool. We'll see. It did hit 108 today but we were going up and down hills so the temps were always changing. 220905 IA-CA ... spending the night at Denver CO Up before the alarm. Slept good but ... not ready to spend an extra three hours in the car at the Nat'l Park and guessing it will be too hot to walk anywhere. Bacon and eggs ... dry eggs. They brought out the fresh ones when I was leaving. Bacon was good. 1st stop was the Pilot in Grand Junction. Gas was $3.59 and we got ten cents off. That was as cheap as we would see it all day. 2nd stop was in Eagle for food. First to the Pickled Kitchen but they were closed. But not listed as closed online. So we went to the Red Canyon Cafe. Two tables inside, a few on the deck and a few on the sidewalk. Good food. When I ordered I asked if they had cookies ... they asked how many I wanted because our meal would come with one cookie each. But they didn't. So I went back in when we were done to buy one. Ended up with the same person taking the order now that did before. Yes, a cookie does come with the sandwich ... if they have them. They had them now so he grabbed two and handed them to me. (Hmmm ... I remember now seeing a long row of cookies on the counter when I ordered the 1st time. I think someone forgot) BB said we would be hitting slow traffic and we did. It should have been a two hour trip. The first hour went well. The last 70 miles took us three plus hours. Dozens of cars and pickups on the side of the road with their hoods up. One car was stalled in the center of three lanes, another car had been driving with it's four-ways on ... then it stalled in the right travel lane. For the first half the slowdown every pullout was full. We even saw a semi with a flat bed on the escape route in the on coming traffic, not sure I have seen that before. They had two large wreckers there to pull him out. And somewhere before traffic we saw someone in a tie-die tee shirt getting a roadside sobriety check. The plus of the slow traffic is that I did not have to deal with the RPM's. This car is one of those that if the speed drops one mile per hour below what the cruise is set at or if you hit resume when you are below the cruise speed it will rev the engine up to 5,000 RPM's until you reach the cruise speed. Which is a long way from the 2,100 it runs at even at 80 mph. 3rd and final stop was the Comfort Inn in Denver. It is an old and tired building. It was attached to a Expo Center that is being torn down. We walk across the parking lot to a Steak Escape. Not the same as the one near our house. Now we are within a half hour of two trips. We will start calling in the AM and see which one works. WOW ... I am on a few Face Book groups and always try to be polite and helpful and answer what they are asking ... tonight one of the mods asked me to 'get off their page' because of an answer to their post. Wow, if they held all posters to that standard 90% would be gone. 220906 CO-MN 1 'Mixer'/Chassis to Granite Falls MN ... spending the night at Grand Island NE I was barely up when dispatch called this AM. I had emailed them last night saying they could call anytime after 7 AM their time/6 AM my time and they did. I got the trip, CO to MN. They emailed my paperwork but this hotel's business center is NA so I have to forward the email to the hotel and they print it out. Breakfast - Stomach was not sitting well so today it is two yogurts. I had been rotating for a while but not when there is bacon :) The shipper needs/wants a 1 hour call before pickup so we wait at the hotel until 8 AM when they open. After that it takes us a while to get out of our room and it turns out to be a little over an hour drive time. 1st stop is the shipper in Ault. They found an issue when they were pulling the truck out this AM for me so they are working on that. That takes about an hour ... and it is not a mixer, it is a chassis ... and it is not new, it is used. Not something I would have taken or even looked at if it was listed as a used tractor/chassis. Good news? It does have a half a tank of fuel so I can get to Brush to fuel instead of fueling at a convenience store in town here. Sometime during the night I remembered that if we go north from the pickup, we will end up in WY and need a permit for that, so that is a no go. I had also looked at heading straight east from the shipper but I looked online and the road is narrow and later found out there is also road construction delays. IF I had had a full tank of fuel I may have tried that route. It isn't until we are on the chosen route that I remember there may be a scale depending on where this road meets the highway. The scale is not often open, but today it is. AND I can see two pickups in inspection mode. One is busy the other is waiting ... and standing out in the lane when I cross the scale ... yup, they flag me over. As soon as I stop and open the door, the officer gives me his name and says that they are going to do a Level 1 Inspection today. That is the most thorough and could likely take an hour plus repairs if they find any are needed. He askes for my registration, I say we run on a Bill of Lading and hand my to him. Then he askes when the last time I had a level one ... I say I just picked this truck up on Ault (an hour way.) He then asks if I am a transporter (My placards and Bill of Lading should have given that way. He steps back towards the rear of my truck where I can't see him, so I don't know if there is someone else there or ... ... but then he comes back to my door and says he is giving me a pass today. I told him I would not argue with that and I was on my way ... Whew. This is a used truck, 120,000 miles and was in the shop when I got to the pickup this AM. Not sure what they might have found. 2nd stop is the Loves in Brush. I still have over 1/4 of a tank of fuel when I get there. I fill and then go in and eat at Carl's Jr. The fuel stops don't match my range so I decide to fuel again in North Platte and make that my next stop. BB will stop as needed. 3rd stop ... is not North Platte, it is Julesburg on the shoulder of the ramp. I have warning lights on. I make a few calls and am cleared to keep going but I forget to get a name of who I talked to. But I do know they asked the 'shop foreman' for the OK to keep going so good enough for me. 4th stop for fuel at the Loves in North Platte. It is already 4:30 PM so as far as we are getting tonight is Grand Island. I had hoped for Lincoln but that would be between 8-9 PM. Not worth it, I have not called the drop yet. In the 100 <> miles between North Platte and Grand Island there are three grass fires. No flames but the trucks are still moving and spraying water on the hot spots. The first one included a car that was being loaded on a flat bed. The next two were just grass. 5th stop is the Quality Inn in Grand Island ... but they do not have our reservation. AFTER BB reads them the confirmation number, she realized she made the reservation for the Comfort Inn. $30 more and 10 miles away. It is too late to cancel online and I don't want to make calls again so I pay a $3 parking fee and leave my truck there and we drive into town. On the way we stop at Arby's. Most times we go to the truck stop in hopes of seeing something good but end up with shelve food. We are in a rush so we go ... try to go ... through the drive-thru but it is closed. This place is short staffed so they only have the lobby open. Then the real final stop for the night is the Comfort Inn, and they do have truck parking. Lots of it, semi's lined up outside our window. Long day, it was after 7 when we got to the first hotel, after 8 by the time we got to the 2nd hotel. Load board US - 223 IA - 70 I'd like to deliver the truck tomorrow but having not talked to the drop I do not want to get going at 6 AM and find out they close at 2 PM. So we are planning on leaving the hotel by our usual 7:30 and hope they are open until 5 PM. Or we will just deliver on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Should only be one fuel stop tomorrow unless I need to add a gallon near the drop. And a 2nd stop to eat, likely in Sioux City. Hopefully no issues. 220907 CO-MN 1 'Mixer'/Chassis to Granite Falls MN 1 Straight truck to Coralville IA (Thursday) ... spending the night at Marshall MN Breakfast - Walking down the haul I realized we did not get 'breakfast coupons' when we checked in ... then I remembered that we did not stay at that hotel last night. :) Ahhh there are a lot of days when we are walking down the hall for breakfast and I am trying to remember what town I am in ... So far I still remember where home is. We were, or talked about doing a quick breakfast this AM and getting going early. But then I saw eggs with bacon in them and took some. BB was done with her breakfast by the time we got back to the room. I had both hands full and hadn't started. We did get going 15 minutes early this AM, about the amount of time it took to get back to where I had parked my truck at the other hotel. There would have been room for my truck here, but it would have taken 3+ gallons of fuel to get here and back. Times $5 would have been $15 and parking was only $3. I saved $12. But this hotel is still $30 more and we aren't likely to stay here again unless we are using rewards points. The truck had lost all air pressure overnight so the pusher axel was down. So I had to wait until I had until there was enough air pressure for the alarms to go off and for the tires to raise. It is sun up and we are driving right into it. No clouds but the sun is red and not as bright as it could be. Still not good to stare into it. 1st stop is the Flying J in Grenta for fuel. Fuel was cheaper at the Loves a few miles down, but I get more rewards points here so I come out $.03 a gallon ahead here. And it is easier to get in and out of here. There are remodeling this place and I couldn't find the self service kiosk so I waited in line for a receipt. But when a 2nd cashier came they did not open a 2nd register, they stood next to all the new self service checkouts and showed people how to do it themselves. Including getting a receipt for fuel that you pumped outside. From here I called the drop and left a message. All I had was the address so I had to look up a name and phone number. I had to leave a voice mail. 2nd stop was the Pilot/Burger King in Sioux City. Whopper Jr's and cookies. Cookies were fresh and good. 3rd stop is the Blue Line/BP truckstop in Worthington. From here I call the drop again. I do not remember if I left a phone number for them to call me back. I try to leave a message again but their mail box is now full. So they are not likely in today. I call back and ask for someone else to talk to, they put me through to the manager. I have to leave a message with them also, but they call me back. It is 2:27 and they close at 2:30. And are open again at 6 AM. So we are heading to a hotel. Now that we have a drop time, I call the dispatcher for the truck in Coon Rapids. We realize later we never did the math to see what it will pay. It was just the closest truck to where we are dropping. The truck had been on the load board earlier and then was gone. When I talked to dispatch they said that was because the shipper could not find the keys ... While I am waiting for the prior call back, I pick up a 'spam' call. They want to give my business a loan, I tell them this is my personal phone ... they want to talk to the 'person in charge of finance.' "I am in charge of finance, this is a personal phone." They finally got the message ... Someplace in the rural countryside where people tend to be more conservative, there is a billboard over a business. The billboard is liberal and a small six foot high sign below it is clarifying that the billboard does not reflect the views of the business. 4th and final stop was the Quality Inn in Marshall, 30 miles from my drop. Plenty of street parking and we are early enough I got an off street parking spot in the rear of the building. And our reservation tonight was for the correct day and the correct hotel :) This place has laundry so BB starts that as soon as we get here. I am also able to print out my own Bill of Lading for my next truck. Then we call Mike's Cafe next door and order food. BB ordered a BLT and I ordered a Philly. I had not read the sides so as they listed them off I picked a side of cheese curds. Then when we got to pick up our order I added chili. I hadn't expected my side of cheese curds to be 10x as big as the ones at the state fair. Good, but way too much. I used them as my cheese for my chili, it was good but to hot ... temp wise. It was actually not too spicy. Load board US - 200 IA - 55 Lots of talk about tomorrow ... next trip ... next week. We have the rental car through Saturday but we want to get rid of it now that we are back. I was already to call to get things changed, I had the paperwork in hand when we realized that we should not make any changes until we know we are in the next truck. So that is on hold. But once we are in the next truck, we are hoping to drop the rental car a mile away and then BB will ride with me to Cedar Rapids where we will pick up a new rental car. Two reasons. Our current car is making funny sounds and we want to be out of it. And the car we pick up in Cedar Rapids can be dropped in Mason City and out of state cars can not be. By dropping in Mason City we will save 3+ hours of travel time coming back to the airport to return any other rental car assuming we are heading right back out. We will likely head right back out. The load board has lots of good 2-3 day runs right now but that number is dropping daily. If we wait until next week to move something our choices on the load board will be less and what works for us would also be less. We are coming up on quarter end for my other company and I want to get my week's work in there. .. the trip continues from HERE |
