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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 220922 MN-WI 1 trash truck to Omro WI (delivered) ... spending the night at Oshkosh WI Breakfast - so, so. BB just are her chili from last night. I got eggs and yogurt. At 1st I thought my eggs were ice cold, then I realized that my hand holding the plate was warm from the eggs. My juice or yogurt must have chilled the top of my eggs on the walk back to the room. Yogurt was part banana so that was not great either. We pull out about 7:45 again. By 8:30 I start calling the local dispatch. No answer and I don't leave a message. We try a couple of more times, no answer. We still were not sure which way we were going back and finally decided when BB mentioned she would need to use a restroom and we know where they are in US-218. 1st stop is the Kwik Star (Trip) in Janesville IA. I call dispatch again and they pickup and my call forwards. Another dispatcher picks up and then puts me on hold while he checks with the other dispatchers. No one has work right now, I tell them to take me off the list for today. Next call is to the other driveaway company. We get the trip heading to Omro and we should be to the shipper in two hours. We weren't, but we were to Dodge Center in two hours. 2nd stop was the dispatchers hours. He had told me where the house was but not where to find the paperwork. Through the window it looked like the garage was being used as an office so I walked in. Nope. So I knocked on the door to the house while in the garage. Dogs barked but no one answered. So I go back to the car and get my phone ... as I am calling dispatch I see a box on a fence post. That was where the paperwork was. This dispatcher has trucks parked at his house. Transporter trucks. Not sure why, but I'll ask someone. 3rd stop was the Kwik Trip in town for food and restroom. Free pizza samples today so I had one, then had my rib sandwich. 4th stop was the shipper. The person that I talked to in the office a few times yesterday didn't even look my way today. Different time, different day. On the way to the shipper my wife and I were trying to guess why my long haul carrier got this trip instead of my local carrier. All our guesses were wrong. This truck was almost the same as the one yesterday. Chassis was a little different, a lot different considering they were both Mack cabover trucks. No issues today. Before I leave I call the drop. The 'usually close by 5-5:30.' But give me a number to call later. We don't really have a plan on which route to take. There is a long gab of no hotels before the drop if we are not going to make delivery today. 5th stop is the Loves in Oakdale. I call the contact at the drop and they will be gone, but someone will stay ... if needed. It now looks like I should make delivery before 5 PM. I do not even get out of the truck. I call, I talk to BB and I go. From here it is almost all two lane roads for the last 90 miles. Had to pass one Amish buggy, luckily he was completely on the shoulder so I passed him at 55 mph. 6th stop was the drop. 4:45. So a little better than yesterday. But I prefer hours to spare, not minutes to spare. They were glad to see me, they did not want to have to wait until '6 PM or so.' They did a good inspection of my truck and I remembered to do all the things I needed to do. It helps if someone, everyone is not standing waiting on me when I get there. Before I got to the drop, local dispatch is calling me. But I know I only have minutes to spare to get to the drop before they close so I do not stop and call them back. By the time the paperwork is signed, those dispatchers have gone home, but they also had emailed me about a trip. De Pere WI tomorrow. De Pere would work for a one day trip, if I was home. They even did the paperwork and left it where I could pick it up. :( We sit in the parking lot at the drop a few minutes deciding where to go. There is one hotel that did not show up on BB searches earlier but that we saw driving past. It is about a half hour in the correct direction. Otherwise it is about two hours back to Tomah which would be 7 PM ... another 12 hour day. We head out ... and BB needs to use the restroom. We see a Kwik Trip ... and then a food truck in a park as we pass. We pull over and park on the street. Park, restroom, food truck. Today is this cities weekly version of a farmers market in the park. BB and I each get a pulled chicken sandwich. And one coleslaw. When we get back in the car we realize we are again facing into the setting sun. But this time it will be on a two lane highway. And because we have stopped, it will now be after dark in deer and bear country before we would get to Tomah. We aren't going west. We decide to head 10 miles east to Oshkosh and stay the night. 7th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Oshkosh. When we get there we finish eating our sandwiches before going inside. Good food. Now we are four plus hours from Dodge Center instead of the two we had expected. Too bad that truck is not coming from De Pere instead of going there, we are only about a half hour from De Pere at the hotel. Once we are checked in we go for a walk. And then use the in room jacuzzi, and it still is not 10 PM. ... last night, long after last light ... we were still on I-80 and passed a truck that was traveling with only it's four-way flashers on. There is no way that he could see well enough to be driving the speed limit in the dark. Load board US - 168 IA - 2/1 MN - 14 WI - 7 Tomorrow ... we do not know. It would be nice if a dispatcher would put a trip heading back to MN on the load board. One of the trucks sitting in the dispatchers yard was one that was made here in Oshkosk. Not sure he wants another one but I'd move one if he wanted. As of now, we will work Friday and Saturday but not Monday or after. 220923 MN-WI 1 trash truck to Omro WI (delivered) ... spending the night at home No alarm this AM. Breakfast is hash, sausage and egg bake (?) or egg mix that they didn't scramble. We pull out about 8:30. But first I call local dispatch a couple of times as they don't pickup. The trip they had offered me late yesterday had come in late so they just put my name on it, just in case, as they wouldn't have time to work on it until today. They do offer to call and see if the drop is open on Saturday but never call me back. This AM we find out we do not have plans next week until Thursday, not Wednesday so we can work Monday. If we find some. Dropping down to a southern more route would have saved us one minute but been more miles. So we decide to head back the way we came. So not too much to write about. 1st stop is in Friendship at a Kwik Trip for the restroom. Then we decide that we want to go to the Log Cabin in Mauston for lunch. It is now 15 miles south from here, so it likely adds close to a half hour to our trip instead of saving us a minute if we had headed there originally. 2nd stop is the Log Cabin. Just sandwiches, and a cookie, today. Yesterday would have been lasagna. Sounds like it is a hit, with local businesses ordering a pan for their crew. IF there is any left from Thursday they put it in the display for Friday but that rarely happens. Someday ... A few minutes from the Eau Claire exit I decide to exit, and I am in the left lane. I do make it ... 3rd stop is for personal reasons in Chippewa Falls at Blain's Fleet & Farm. I am looking for shelving and they are the last ones showing they still carry it. Seems as soon as I find something I like the stop making it. We check, they do not carry it either. So now I need to find a new brand to mis-match with what I already have. As we are leaving town there is a deer standing on the ramp shoulder in a residential area. When I point to it, BB looks at my hand instead of where it is pointing (?) 4th and final stop is home. Load board US - 142 IA -0- MN - 9 WI - 7 |
