 |
|
|
|
|
...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
|
221126 IA-SC 2 RV's to Greer SC (Sunday) ... spending the night at home We slept in late this AM so we did not call in at 8 AM. After spending some time looking at the weather we decided it was best to not go west. So I called and got two RV's heading to Greer SC. But 1st BB made a reservation for a rental car home. If we get a car for two days, it is $1,000 but if we keep it for the week we can get it for $500 so we don't plan on coming straight home. Today when I called in I got the boss, so I asked about taking different routes which would add more miles. Not the same answer I got when I asked a couple of days ago. That's OK though because those RV's were heading to LA and the way it looks now, we'd have to fight the wind and snow if we headed back with a bus. So we will just stay east for now. This AM there was a truck a few miles from the drop heading to OH. By tonight that trip was gone but there is now an older trip heading to IN ... a better trip for us. And with either we wouldn't need the one way rental from there. We'll get a shorter one when we drop in the midwest. Today was another family day, a cookie making day. Load board US - 287 IA - 126/125 Our drop will take RV's until 4 PM. We told dispatch that we would drop on Wednesday, maybe we can drop on Tuesday ??? We will see. Lots of work in the east, we may not head right back home. It partly depends on how fast the IA load board drops. Needs to be something there to come back for. 221127 IA-SC 2 RV's to Greer SC ... spending the night at Morton IL Up before the alarm, eat the last of our leftovers before we head out. Leave out at 7:15 today. This trip we pack an extra weeks clothes to leave in the car in case we get back to return the car and want to stay out. Heading out of the cities this AM it seemed that about 9 out of 10 cars had out of state plates. People heading home after the long weekend. My guess is there would be almost no out of state plates heading into the cities today. Just a guess. Hmmmm. Dispatchers were not going to be working this weekend. There were two trips out of NC over the holiday, one that I was going to call on on Monday. They were both gone this AM, Sunday AM. And there was a new trip heading to IN out of NC. That would work even better for us. Plan was to email dispatch once we were in our RV's. But before we got to the RV's this AM, that trip was gone also. Now we have no trips close to where we drop so we will have to try and watch the load board while we are driving. BB wanted a rest stop but I was thinking about something else and she wasn't watch the road so that didn't happen. It was a non-stop flight today :) 1st stop - the shipper in Forest City. 50-75 RV's still waiting to be moved to our lot. Maybe two dozen other packets of paperwork in the box including two others for Greer. There were to other drivers there when we got there but didn't talk to either of them there. Then another driver pulled in as we were leaving. 2nd stop was the Pilot in Clear Lake. Under $3 per gallon. My low fuel light has been on most of the way here so no free fuel on this trip for me. Even with the gauge on the last bar I still had 3+ gallons in the tank. Only shelf food here at Pilot so we went across the highway to Wendy's. Big parking lot as there used to be a Shell station attached. No inside service today. So we drove back across the street to Arby's. Quick, the two stops combined took a half hour. Tail wind today. When we picked up our RV's, neither of them had a range they were so low on fuel. After I filled, I had a range of 199 miles. 120 miles later I had a range of 250. Our lane of the bridge is done at Floyd. No more stop sign, stop light or 55 mph speed limit. 3rd stop was the Casey's in Center Point for the rest room. 4th stop is the Flying J in Davenport. Gas is $2.75 but the pumps are very slow here. The person across from BB finally decided it wasn't worth it and shut the pump off. Then pulled ahead to the building and started moving things around in her car. Why not let the pump run while she did that? Two transporters parked here. Not much for excitement today. No one working, no one farming, no major traffic issues. Here we decided to make a run for it and get to Morton after dark. That should allow us to deliver on Tuesday. 5th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Morton. Almost no one here today. It is close to the Super 8 standards but an OK place. There is also now a Comfort Inn a couple of doors down but that must have been more tonight. There is food close, Steak-n-Shake, Arby's and Cracker Barrell. We had Arby's for lunch and Steak-n-Shake would be fasters so we ate there. Tomorrow - The computer has us going through Louisville but it is only three miles further to go via Cincinnati and Cincinnati has no tolls. Not sure why we don't do that every trip. Stops are planned out. We only need one more fuel fill plus a couple of gallons. We will try to get going close to day light and not run into the evening. 221128 IA-SC 2 RV's to Greer SC 1 pickup to Fort Wayne IN (Tuesday) ... spending the night at Pioneer TN Super 8 breakfast. Yogurt, cereal and bread. Made it easy to get going in the AM. This room had both doors to the inside hall and to the outside, made it easy to exit to our RV in the AM. 1st stop was the welcome/rest area in Indiana at Covington. We parked next to an old Allice Chalmers four wheel drive. I didn't know they made them like that. Now I have looked and there is a toy one 'my size' but it is part of a three pack and not cheap. 2nd stop was the Loves in Saint Paul. First we fuel. This is the only fuel this trip that we will pay over $3 gallon for. We only put in enough to get to our last fill. I guess it will take 9.5 gallons but I put in 10.5 gallons. The low fuel light has been on for a while so I want to have more fuel when I get to the next station than I had this time. Then we eat. We pick Subway over McDonalds. Dispatch has another trip in NC heading back to IN. There are two but BB doesn't want to deal with the 'logistics' of it. Might have netted us another $1,000 ... if it had worked. But looking later we would have gone over 10% to return the rental car to the pickup and lots of back tracking to return it there or anywhere else. Then getting another car at the drop ... I do get one of the trips so now we have leg two lined up. 3rd stop was our last fill in Georgetown at the Pilot. Math says I should need 24.5 gallons to get to the drop so I fill my 24 gallon tank. When I re-start my RV it now shows I have an excess range of 100 miles. My goal is around 40 miles. We'll see. No major traffic issues today either. Did see one backup in the on-coming traffic that was <> five miles long. Today was one of those days where I had issues with speed limit signs. 1st, no one else seems to be able to see any of them. Plus our RV's sometimes see the ones on the exit ramps plus some that are not there. But I was seeing reduced speed limits where there was no work being done. Another place there was a reduced speed limit sign about 40 feet before the normal speed limit sign. And other place there was one reduced speed limit sign in the middle of nowhere. Sign at the prior exit and next exit were both normal speeds. I'm sure I annoy a lot of drivers by holding up traffic. Did see a few transporters but no big count. Cloudy all day until sunset, that put on a colorful show. Waiting at the exit ramp we were behind a semi and there was lots of cross traffic. The ramp got kind of full so one car just decided to drive on the shoulder of the ramp, got to the cross street and just drove on the shoulder ... no waiting for them. 4th and final stop was the Comfort Inn in Pioneer TN. All that is at this exit is a BP and two truckstops plus a Hardee's and the Comfort Inn. No other houses or companies. Once we check in we walk to the TA. We end up getting shelf food. One sloppy joe, one bbq rib sandwich, one chicken salad sandwich and some potato salad. Are other choices would have been Subway, which we had at noon. Hardees. Or Popeye's which BB does not like because it is all deep fried. Popeye's did show they had turkey but we guessed it was a Thanksgiving day special as it was not on the main menu. Both the sloppy joe and bbq were good. We split both of them and each had half of each. The chicken salad was for if one of them was bad so we will likely eat that as part of breakfast tomorrow. We are now in eastern time so not likely to set the alarm for 5 AM (4 AM our time) Load board US - 272 IA - 104/103 MN - 8 WI - 1 We are four hours from our drop so we should be dropping by noon. Maybe 2 PM if there is a line. Another one hour to our 2nd pickup which may be a pickup. That should leave us about an hour or two to get down the road. We are still doing the math to see what we are going to do about rental cars. Right now we have a one-way for a week for 'bigger money.' But the logistics of doing three short rentals is work, but cheaper. 221129 NC-IN 2 RV's to Greer SC (delivered) 1 pickup to Fort Wayne IN ... spending the night at Asheville NC Great wake up ... BB decides that 5:30 AM (home time) is a good time to change one of her alarms. And to find the right one, she has to listen to them all. And apparently there was no way to turn the volume down? Surprised we didn't get a call from the front desk ... Breakfast was an egg patty and sausage. We ended up leaving the chicken salad sandwich in the fridge. We pulled out at 6:30 home time, just as the sun was coming over the hills here. Two hours to our 1st stop. 1st stop was the rest area in Waynesville. By now I had gotten a call from my local dispatcher wondering if I could move a truck to WI tomorrow. Nope. We also got a message from our 'house sitter' that they were in the ditch waiting for a tow truck. No snow here. 66 degrees :) There was a point yesterday that I thought I'd be leaving this RV with an extra range of 100 miles. Way too much fuel. Then today we were wondering if we were going to have to stop and add fuel. We didn't but I lost my range when I got in the exit lane for the fuel stop and BB had lost her range about two miles before that. We loose our range on these at about 30 miles. One place today had the highway signs saying 'thick smoke again - wild fire.' It was not too thick to see through but it was heavy in the air. 2nd stop was the Spinx in Greer for final dealer fuel. We made it. BB parks her RV here and then rides the <> mile with me to the airport to pick up the rental. 3rd stop is the drop in Greer. Right at 12 noon local. They are at lunch so we need to wait, costing us time when we are trying to make time. BB has picked up the rental car, gone back to Spinx, switched out all the luggage and gotten to the drop before they come out to look at my RV. As soon as someone is looking at my RV I get the OK to walk back to Spinx and pick up our rental car. My exercise for the day. By the time I get back, they are done inspecting mine and within a few minutes they are also done inspecting BB's. Once they started it took about 15 minutes a piece. 4th stop is the Burger King for a Whopper Jr each. It is the only fast food at this exit, anything else would have been shelf food. Now to make time getting to the drop. We've done this route a few times so I could do it without directions but we have them on today. 5th stop is the shipper in Greer. My truck is not a 'boom truck.' It is a standard pickup. BB had made it clear last night and again today that she wanted to keep the rental car for the week and just follow me. Now that she sees the pickup she has 2nd thoughts. (Haven't asked if she would have take the other one that was posted at the same time.) High stress for a while. BB was already on edge because when she was finishing her log today she put in 12 AM instead of 12 PM and that wiped out everything she had done. And she had lots of issues trying to re-create todays work. Enter one thing and it would wipe out something else. Finally she gets a car lined up to pick up in Fort Wayne. Then she has to call, something she hates doing, she has to call to get this car changed to drop in NC today instead of MN next week. They eventually say they can't do it, BB will have to do it at the counter where she drops it. More time wasted. Some of this could have been done in the car between Greer and Shelby but she had said no so I had left it alone. Then. We will drop our car at the first airport we will pass, within the hour. 6th stop is at the Murphy gas station a couple of blocks from the shipper. Good thing as the pickup is almost on 'E.' Not knowing what mileage I will get, I put in 10 gallons to get me to cheaper fuel. 7th stop is to re-fill the rental car before dropping it. Shell in Arden. 8th stop is the airport to return the rental car. I go park somewhere and wait. Fueling and returning the car together only took a half hour so not too bad. BB had gotten an agent that knew what they were doing. I had hoped to get further down the road today but the time we gained at the drop we lost at the next shipper. It is another 10 hours to the drop, it is almost dark here and BB made the next reservation for Thursday AM so we have to point in driving into the night. 9th stop - We stop at the next hotel north. Comfort Inn in Asheville. From there we walk a couple of blocks to the Waffle House for some breakfast. Good food. Beats the shelf food we have been eating :) There is a fish place next door but not much non-fish for me. There also was a place across the main street, but no cross walks at this intersection so Google Maps said it was about a 20 minute walk to get across the street. Load board US - 275 IA - 85/84 MN - 12 WI - 1 Most of the trips we have been looking at are still there for after we drop in Fort Wayne. Nothing good out of IA yet. Lots of rental stuff out of MN today, when we aren't there to cash in on it. 5 out of Minneapolis, 6 now out of Lake Benton plus others. Being we aren't picking up our next rental car until Thursday AM we will have to call on the longer trips to see if anyone will take a Saturday delivery. Otherwise we will have to do one of the shorter trips. But lots of work. Try to stay out of the snow? Heading west on I-80 still shows either wind or snow every day across WY. .. the trip continues HERE
|
