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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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. the trip continues from HERE 221204 IA-ID 2 RV's to Boise ID ... spending the night at Laramie WY We had planned on getting up at 5:30, we were awake at 5 AM. After we were up a little bit we realized that we had a narrow window to get past Laramie. So we fast tracked getting ready and going, but we still ate breakfast because we were not planning on stopping until we ran out of hours. One of the better breakfasts we have. They don't have a huge variety but what they have is good. Scrambled eggs, western scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausage, French toast ... more. And the food was good. We pull out just as the sky is turning blue ... 6:30. 1st stop - Usually we we stop at the Cozar rest area unless we need fuel. But today we stop at the Casey's in case we need fuel. We don't, but it is one less stop to only stop here. 2nd stop is the Walmart in Ogallala for fuel. The TA truckstop is two cents cheaper today but this is our stop. Usually we stop in Sidney for a break as this leg will be two and a half hours. Saving time. 3nd stop is the Port of Entry - this time I go in as soon as we stop, not waiting for BB this time. Every minute saved counts. One Amazon transporter is pulling out as I walk in. I could have purchased permits for both of us but we hadn't talked about that ahead of time. While standing in the office we can see the weather reports. High winds ahead, nothing shut down. 4th stop is the Pilot in Laramie. No warnings of any kind on the overhead signs. BB checks the weather as we start fueling. All is still good, weather wise. But, for the first time in a long time I do not get my fuel discount. So I pay $1.50 more for my fuel than BB does. I had thought we should leave right away and use the rest of our time before our required break. But BB was hungry and not wanting to talk. We go to Wendy's. We order and BB sits down to look at the weather. ROAD CLOSED - to High profile vehicles. ... and the wind won't die down until tomorrow morning. It is good that we stopped to eat instead of leave. If we had left we would have either had to back track or be stuck on the freeway ramp somewhere. With the winds this speed we would not have continued. We also look at the 'other route' and that is shut down also. As we are sitting at Wendy's I see an Amazon truck come in and fuel and then go park, but the driver stays in his truck. When we are done eating I go and talk to him. He is headed to Portland and was supposed to deliver Tuesday AM. Right now he is looking for an 'alternate route.' There is one that runs down into CO but drivers have referred to it as a 'goat path.' BB makes a reservation at the / our Comfort Inn. It is a couple of dollars more than the Best Western but the Best Western charges extra for early check ins. 5th and final stop is the Comfort Inn across the street. They do let us check in early. Tomorrow - This delay will not likely change anything. We will just deliver a couple of hours later, but still on Tuesday. And, if we go to CA, we will still get there on Wednesday and will pick up a bus at the same time. Yesterday - If we had driven an hour later into the night, we would have gotten to Rawlins before they closed the roads. 221205 IA-ID 2 RV's to Boise ID ... spending the night at Burley UT Seems we are still on Eastern Time, up early again today. I just grab a small yogurt and eat the last of the leftover pizza for breakfast. We are ready to go early but we want to wait for daylight because of the weather. Wind, snow, black ice. We do pull out at 8:30, 7:30 local. We see to RV transporters at the Petro truckstop. As expected, the first 20 or so miles were OK to drive. Mostly flat area. That much we could do in the dark. Then from there the variable speed limit dropped to 45 mph. Snow on the road and 'wind gusts to 40 mph.' Once most traffic got down to 45 mph the drive was OK. A few places the visibility dropped below a quarter of a mile. Both hands on the wheel. It only took us a half hour extra to get that first 100 miles so I guess it wasn't all that slow. And not just slow, in that area they seemed to have rocked instead of sanded. Everytime something would pass we would get pelleted. No windshield chips that we can see, yet. Just before, like one mile before, the roads cleared and the speed limits wend back up ... there were three Amazon vans on the exit ramp, along with decked semi's. Didn't see anyone in the ditch today. 1st stop was the Flying J in Rawlins. One Amazon truck at the fuel pump. He left when I was still in my RV and it might have been the same person that I talked to yesterday. We have left the hotel before the permit office opened so I called from our stop in Rawlins. 20 minutes to get two permits. Someone wanted to take my number so someone could call me back. That doesn't work for me as I would be driving and couldn't pickup. Sounds like they got someone to stop in the middle of what they were doing to get our permits. But still, this person was very slow. No wonder I was on the phone that long. I've dealt with others that would have had them done in 1/10th of the time. No more bad roads. Saw the big dig today, it is now up on a pile of dirt so it can be seen better from the road. 2nd stop is the Loves in Green River. We had thought we might need fuel but I guess we get better mileage at 45 mph. Our permits are ready so I have them printed. $.50. And we eat at Carl's Jr (Hardees) As we are leaving we see one Amazon truck at the fuel pumps, no one near the truck. This one did not have it's placards on so it was a different one than this AM. Somewhere before Evanston we see one transit bus, heading to Milwaukee. So now I know they are still working on MLW and KC and likely Ames buses. Maybe ... a good trip back. We don't stop at the rest area in Evanston but I can see that the buffalo are still in the pasture near the rest area. 3rd stop is the Pilot in Evanston. We've gotten there without adding more fuel or even having the low fuel light come on. Based on prior fills, we should have a range of 360 after fueling. And it is 380 miles to the drop so we will be a little short ... we thought. Both BB and I travel just about 100 miles before our range drops below 380. We are likely going to leave 100 miles of range in the RV's instead the goal of 20 miles. So about four gallons at $3 each. We stop at a AmBest truckstop in Tremonton. It was the only one BB could find on I-84. I guess she was flashing her headlights at me to get me to stop at a Maverick or Flying J earlier. Those hadn't shown up in her book because I-15 and I-84 run together those miles. 4th stop the AmBest in Tremonton. From here I call the bus dispatcher who must have been busy with todays stuff and it takes a while to switch to Wednesday's stuff. Finally got him to say that buses have been steady ... that's all I need to know. That they are not shut down or that there are not 20 drivers in hotels. So now we are heading to Livermore from the drop. 600 miles deadheading. More than we normally do. Somewhere today I saw a couple of cowboy shacks. Can't find pictures of them online so I guess that is now the correct term. Two huts on weeks with a horse tied outside of each one. This were newer once with a window on the side, first time I have seen that. 5th and final stop was the Best Western in Burley. First day of the Best Western promo for rewards points but also there is not a Choice hotel in town. We got here right at dark, last light. This location has an in-house Perkins so that is where we ate. Meatloaf with soup. All good. And today was a 'free pie' Monday and BB didn't want any so I picked two :) :( Friday we dropped in Sioux Falls and deadhead almost 200 miles to our next trip. Today there is a truck in Sioux Falls ... all day. No one has taken it, heading right back to MN. Load board US - 229 IA - 20 Three hours to the drop, so likely five hours until we are inspected and ready to roll. Then another four hours to Winnemucca. Doesn't seem to be any hotels between those two cities. There is a truck near Reno heading to LA but at this point we don't have time to do it. Now that I have said we'd be in Livermore on Wednesday. 221206 IA-ID 2 RV's to Boise ID (delivered) ... spending the night at Winnemucca NV Beep … beep … beep. We had not checked to make sure the house alarm clock was shut off. Early wake up, didn't get much sleep after that. Ate too much last night so breakfast was mostly yogurt plus some eggs. Looking at the load board some more this AM and we see a couple of interesting things. We, our company, has four tree trucks heading from NC to CA today ... three of the four were gone before dispatch opened at 8 AM. And there was an RV in SC coming back to IA. Either of those would have been great if they were on the load board last week when WE were there. Later in the day there was one truck from norther NV heading back to the midwest. The person who moved it posted a picture online. A two door pickup with a boom so not much place for luggage. We waited until daylight to get moving as it had snowed overnight and we were not sure about the roads. Even after we were on the roads I was not sure about them. The left lane had tracks from the snow that could have been ice tracks but I never felt like I was sliding. But always ready. Inspected and pulling out at 7:30 local. Fog, but visability was a quarter mile plus. A few people were running with their four way flashers on. 1st stop was half way to the drop. A rest area near Bliss. Two other RV transporters in the lot, one left while we were there, there other was still there. 2nd stop was TA truckstop in Boise for dealer fuel. I use my discount cards even for work. Saved the company $.15 a gallon. Usually it is $.03. Wish it would have been in my own car. 3rd stop is Costco to stage BB's RV. Then back to the airport to drop BB off to get the rental car. BB has verbally told me the directions to the drop but I see better than I hear. I ended up back where we stashed BB's RV ? From there I looked at the map and I was about a half a mile away. I likely would have done better not trying to follow BB's directions. I could see the RV's but I was looking for a street name and never saw it, otherwise I would have just headed in the direction of the RV's. 4th stop was the drop. I got there at 11 local, BB got there about a half hour later. I went and found my contact and told them our second RV was here and asked if I could leave the premises, I can. I walk the about a mile walk back to where we had stashed the rental car, drove back and they still hadn't started checking our units. Finally they pulled out their unit they had been working on and moved both of our RV's into the bay. We were there for over two hours with no one ahead of us. Is that the reason these trips stay on the loadboard so long? They did find one chip on my RV, I did not go back and take pictures of it. As bad as the RV was getting shelled if they only found one, they didn't look very hard. 5th stop is the drive thru at McDonalds. We want to get to Winnemucca before dark and this is the fastest fast food that is easy to eat in the car. We head west and then south. I-84, ID-55 and then US-95 for the next 200 miles. I had guessed there would be about six places to stop in those 200 miles. We didn't count but I think I was pretty close. Once we left I-84, the whole rest of the time was on two lane roads. But a lot of it was 70 mph and not a lot of traffic. I was passing more people than were passing me, that doesn't happen very often. We did see one large herd of pronghorn today but a small herd compared to yesterday. Yesterday we saw one herd that may have been as many as 100 grazing near the freeway, a couple of miles down the road there was another herd of about 50. 6th stop was a Connoco in McDermitt NV right on the state line. When we went to get back on the road, we had to wait for all (?) the cars and trucks I had passed and then we pulled in behind them ... again. Then I pulled off right away again at the edge of town to get a picture. But it doesn't look the same as from the highway. I think some of the roadway where we could see for miles and miles would have made a good picture but I was the one driving. Another hour and we are in Winnemucca. 7th stop was The Pig for food to go. 8th stop was across the street at the Quality Inn. No call from the bus dispatcher so nothing waiting for me when we get there tomorrow. I'll call him again when we are in/near town. Load board US - 231 IA - 9 Tomorrow - We have about another 400 miles to go. There is still a truck near Reno but if I take that I won't be available tomorrow night. Plan is to be in or near Livermore by about 3 PM. .. the trip continues HERE |
