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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 221210 CA-CO 1 bus to Denver CO ... spending the night at Barstow CA We were both slept good and were awake before the alarm. Never did get any warm water this AM, so washed my hair in cold water. Kind of like taking a cold shower. It'll wake you up. We were down when breakfast opened but was not all set up yet. BB grabbed oatmeal and I had yogurt. This place doesn't have a juice machine and I only saw one personal sized container in the fridge. Out the door at 6:30 local, before first light. 1st stop - the shipper. As expected, I had to move another bus to get at mine. Everything checks out good so I call for my permits. Yes, I can get both permits on the weekend. Todays call took a little longer, five minutes for two permits. But now I have a warning light on the bus. I am supposed to call their afterhours number, but not until 9 AM on weekends. This place is actually working today. First time I have seen that in the six plus years I have been picking up here. And someone happened past so I asked which parts were open. The part I need is open so I head that way. I don't think I have met an un-helpful person here. By the time I got to the person in charge, he asked is I was the one with the issue and named it. He had already been told I was on my way. Someone else sitting there grabbed their computer and came out to the bus. Yup, it has an issue. Then the person looked on his phone. The last picture on his phone was of my bus ... because it had an issue and he was expecting it back :( Another not nice thing was by the time I got back to my bus after talking to the man in charge, there were already people working on my bus ... doing things that had nothing to do with why I was there. It's like it had been dropped back in the production line. A few minutes later a 2nd person started working on something else, and then a 3rd person checking something different. ??? The person who checked my issue called the outside tech's to see if they were working today. They are not so the bus is going no where until Monday. I let dispatch know and they say grab the next bus and change my paperwork. Which I did, but when I found security to let me go. He would not. This is another new person, not sure how long people stay with that company but usually only a couple of months if I get back that often. I know the routine so I knew what he needed so we got by OK the first time. The second bus I found a different security person who was easy to understand ... but it was only his second day. Even he could not understand the first security person and finally walked away. Finally I got the first security person to agree to go to the man in charge. We got there and he wanted nothing to do with either of us. Not his issue. BUT he did call the person in charge of paperwork. And that person sided with security. Nothing moves without an original copy. ... and I did not go through proper channels this AM. I should have called the breakdown line and still need to so there is a paper trail. This bus is going no where so I park it where it was and call dispatch. Not happy. He'll make a call. Within a few minutes the first security person comes to my bus and says I am good to go. He just needs a copy with the new bus number on it and for him to take pictures of the bus I am taking. Finally :) ... Three hours later. I call the permit company again and get new paperwork sent. Only two digits different on the VIN but keep it legal. BB heads off to drop the rental car ... again. She had been at the car place when I called to tell her my bus was not leaving and she had to come back. While we were at the bus lot there was another driver I talked to that was road testing buses today and then at some point will take a bus to Las Vegas for a demo before dropping it in Norman OK. I didn't realize until later that the only buses in the lot going to Norman are electric. Not sure if we are driving those now instead of hauling them? I didn't ask. I did see the same driver later in the day on the freeway just driving around. And just as I was pulling out, a couple came to get the two buses next to me going to Denver also. They are the same couple that we talked to last time we were here (before yesterday) Just said 'Hi' as I pulled away. When I finally called the breakdown line, I was greeted by name. Not a good feeling when they know you by your phone number. BB called as I was driving down the street so I had to find a place to pull over and call her back. No room to turn around in the lot today so she will walk to the strip mall and I will pick her up there. That worked fine. 2nd stop was the rest area near Westley. Less than an hour down the road but it has been a long time since we left the hotel this AM. I take the last semi spot. A few small RV's are each taking up one semi spot. They could either share or park in the car lot. Small RV's, no trailers behind them. 3rd stop was at a Baja Fresh in Coalinga at a Shell. Looks like a has been place but the food was good and way to much. Really no where to park a big unit but this place had 6-8 truck pumps and no customers. The door to the truck islands wasn't even un-locked, we had to walk around to the side. Food was good, we'd both eat there again. There was also a Subway. We were the only customer the whole half hour we were there. We were there about 1 PM on the weekend. 4th stop was Tehachapi at the Pilot for the restroom. Bus is governed at 62 mph and does good on the hills ... until I get behind an even slower truck and then it won't get back up to speed. This is a short bus with a smaller fuel tank. Also the DEF tank is set up for 'fast fill' and I will likely need to add some before the drop. Most buses will go 2,000 miles before needing more DEF but this one is dropping fast. Didn't see much of the homeless today in Bakersfield. The city seems to have cleaned up the places they used to hang out. Gotten rid of the brush they used to hide around or in. Just past Bakersfield I see a Kansas City bus coming up behind me and then passes me. They must be governed at 65 mph. Then the driver pulled off at the next exit in the middle of farm country and I never saw them again. So they did have Kansas City buses and I didn't get one. That would have been more paid miles and less deadhead home ... 5th and final stop was Barstow. Not Kingman or Needles, that would have required the two plus hours we lost this AM. First I fuel, before that I stick the tank. Almost empty. I would not have made it even half way to Kingman. That is usually my first fuel stop as fuel is cheaper in AZ. But this bus I assumed has a smaller tank. Assume because I do not have paperwork for this bus, I had to leave all the paperwork in the first bus and dispatch will send me paperwork before I get to the drop. So I fill at the Flying J and bring it up to a half a tank. I have less than 200 miles to go to get to Kingman. I did 400 miles on this tank. (I think I will be sticking the tank again tomorrow) Then we check into the Comfort Inn. Short bus, it only takes up four spots instead of six. Once we are checked in, we walk across the street to Tommy's. Burgers and chili. I did get some chili. No beans in their chili, it looks more like gravy. Too spicy for me and I also had a quarter pound burger. BB would walk to In-n-Out next time. I was OK with this place, it's right across the street from the hotel. We have walked this whole section of town getting to food in the past. Just a few block area built around truckstops and an outlet mall. No houses. Load board US - 158 IA - 2/0 Rolling out early in the AM tomorrow. Make use of daylight. On I-5 they have been checking for chains ever since just after we went through there on Thursday. By afternoon they were not allowing trucks northbound, with or without chains. On I-80 over Donners Pass they were checking for chains since ... I don't remember. But by afternoon today both directions were closed. 221211 CA-CO 1 bus to Denver CO ... spending the night at Gallup NM Breakfast wasn't supposed to start until 6:30 AM and it looks like parts wouldn't be available until then. We were down at 6 AM and got eggs and potatoes. Juice machine and fridge were still locked. Other items not out yet. But time was a-wasting, it was already daylight when we were ready to head out. We pull out at 6:30 (local) Clear day, lots of straight on sun time. 1st stop is in Essex at a rest area. I stick the tank again, we have plenty of fuel to get to Kingman. 2nd stop is Kingman, the Petro just east of town. All pumps are full so I pick one. Turned out the next one would have been quicker. Not sure the why, but today the pump, this pump, had to be on supper slow to not blow back fuel. Ended up putting 55 gallons in a 75 gallon tank. That after adding 30 gallons last night. Usually this is my first stop. Luckily something clicked and I stuck the tank or we'd be sitting somewhere. Waiting for drivers and slow fueling took time so we were stopped over our 30 minutes. While I was fueling, BB walked into the fuel station and picked up a BBQ sandwich and we each had half. Pretty good, meat, bread, fresh. When we pull back on the freeway we are following one of our buses on a flatbed. Heading to Charlotte. An electric one. Caught up to the truck twice after that, the first time there was too much traffic to pass, the second time I did pass him and he passed me again coming out of the hills and we never saw him again. Somewhere near the '90 miles to Flagstaff' sign we first saw Mt Flagstaff (or whatever it is called.) Clear day. 3rd stop was for the restroom at the Loves in Williams. We had planned on eating here but then we thought we'd combine a fuel and eat stop to save time. That didn't work. This place is getting a new Maverick gas station across the street. That may effect how busy this place is. 4th stop is the TA in Holbrook for the restroom. We could have pushed further on some of these stops but we would still have had the same number of stops so we didn't see the point. At the New Mexico Port of Entry I did have to stop, Someone is standing in a small booth and looks at my permit from the distance and gives me the thumbs up. We used to stay closer to downtown but the last time or two we have been staying at a hotel. I'm guessing it is all based on price. 5th and final stop was the Comfort Inn in Gallup. We park and check in. As we are walking to food a few minutes later, we hear police sirens. They go past our drive and then make a U-turn. Then we notice the cars sitting at the end of our drive. Once we are out by the street, we see that one of the cars had hit something. Likely a horse, based on the size. It was on the opposite shoulder with the legs facing us and not a good look at the head. Yup, that is why I don't like to drive at night. We were within minutes of that being us. ... A few minutes later there were six squad's plus an ambulance and fire truck(s) there. Must be the most excitement they've had in this town today. We were walking to food at Dickey's BBQ and someone started talking to us about the accident, then about insurance ... At Dickey's we each ordered a chicken sandwich plus I ordered two sides. Potatoes and beans. Their idea of a potato casserole was instant mashed potatoes with a few pieces of vegetables mixed in. But I won't likely remember that next time. The beans were of the 'Bush's' variety. But it was the right amount of food ... by not eating the buns. We did see a few transporters today. RV's, package vans, food vans, tree trucks ... and one city bus. It was right behind another transporter and I was looking at the first one so I did not see what company was driving it or where it was going. I-5 into Oregon is now OK but I-80 into NV is still closed to semi's. So we'd be sitting if we had gone that route. Looking at our route, we should have a dusting of snow here in the AM but once we drop on Tuesday the only area that does not have weather warnings is to go back south. Or we sit and wait it out. Blizzard warnings. 221212 CA-CO 1 bus to Denver CO ... spending the night at Colorado Springs CO Today the alarm woke us up. Breakfast was hash, bacon and a western omelette. Plus packaged juice and sauce to go. The parking lot was still far from full so no one tried to block me in. Just the first hints of a beautiful red sky in the east before breakfast. A half hour later when we are leaving, the red is gone from the sky and it is now an orange/yellow. Still one of the other guests was taking a picture ... as did I. As we pulled out of the hotel, we could see where the horse/cow had been hit and thrown to the shoulder of the road. The carcass was gone but the splatter was still there. As was a 2nd one, that splatter ended in the center turn lane. Both seemed to be about as fresh ... We pulled out a little after 7 AM local. The first thing BB did when she woke up this AM was look out the window for snow. There was none. Then she looked at the forecast, the snow is coming in later behind us. It should be a good day. Just a few miles down the road there was a spot where one lone tall rock was lit up by the rising sun. Another couple of minutes and the whole area was lit up. Another sunny day, another morning driving into the sun. My plan is to stop at one of the stations on the reservation to put in DEF. I know it is going to take a while and those stations are usually not very busy. I don't like coming in backwards to a pump and then taking an extended time to fill when there are trucks waiting. I end up picking the furthers station even though I don't know the layout of that one. 1st stop is the 66 Casino near Albuquerque. Half the pumps have been taken out but no trucks are there so that is not an issue. The first pump I pull into does not have a DEF pump. The second pump I try does not work so I go inside ... no, that pump does not work, but the third one works they tell me. So I move and try the third pump ... and back inside. It would have been nice if they had told me that the pump works, but they have to start it inside. Everytime I went in there was a line for the counter. ... and this was fun. I should have timed it. (I really should have, because I have to log it) This bus already has the high pressure fill set up so we can't just put the nozzle in. I had to use the nozzle to push the pressure valve and then run the nozzle slow enough that the fluid doesn't run on the ground. I have to run that slow enough that I can count faster than the 1/1,000ths of a gallon. And it is hard work to hold the pressure valve open. BB guessed it took about a half hour but I got it done. Only one other truck fueled during that time ... and I can't use my company card to pay for DEF here. They only take it for fuel. While we were stopped, I also stuck the tank. I am doing better than I thought on fuel so I will want to stop sooner. Once we are rolling, we decide I should fuel in Albuquerque. Fuel is cheapest at the TA. 2nd stop is still in Albuquerque but 20 miles down the road. Open pumps here too, but too busy to tie up a pump for a half hour ... for me anyways. We notice the truck parked crossways ahead of us seems a little close. It looks even closer when someone pulls ahead from the next pump and there is not room for them to swing or anyone to drive between them. Two trucks have decided to park side by side in the travel lane at the end of the pumps. As I am fueling we notice a few horns blowing but no one moves. As I go into get my receipt I meet a security man heading to the truck. I tell him thanks. Opps, I have forgotten to hang up my second fuel hose, good thing I hadn't left it in my bus ... I have to lay it on the ground so the pump on the right side will work. When I go back in the second time to get my receipt security talks to me again. And when I come back out, I talk to him a third time. I had thought the driver in question just parked there to get a receipt or something and we were just waiting for him to come back to his truck. No, he is in his truck, in his bunk. He was parked there for the duration. He did move by the time I had to pull out. Saw a few homeless here, wrapped in their blankets. Not cold enough most days for own a heavy jacket. 3rd stop was the Loves in Las Vegas ... New Mexico for food. Ended up being Subway not Chesters. We both order a chicken sandwich. The last thing I tell them is 'just mayo' after it comes out of the oven. As the guy behind me is listing what he wants, the person who's working on my sandwich starts adding those items to mine ... ??? ... so they had to start my sandwich over from scratch. There are a couple of new trucks out of CO added today. The first one ended up having the ship date changed so that won't work. The other is from Grand Junction heading back to CA. That might work ?? BB is still watching the weather. Trucks were still not allowed over Donners Pass as of this morning. So we would have been sitting two days if we had tried to go that route. And the only way to get out of Denver will be south. Blizzard to the west, north and east. After looking in detail, we would be able to go home via Kansas City but then would still hit the storm from IA to MN. Or be right behind it. Before we leave Las Vegas, I call my dispatcher, I still have not gotten the needed paperwork and if he needs to get it from the office ... they close at 2 PM west coast time. 4th stop is a rest area near Maxwell. 5th and final stop is the Holiday Inn Express in Colorado Springs. We had talked about the Quality Inn but there isn't food close. We finally decided for the price and the parking that we would stay here. We walk next door to the Holiday Inn (non-Express) and sit inside and order a burger each. If we had thought about it, we would have gotten our food to go and BB would have washed clothes tonight. That didn't happen. Bus dispatcher calls while we are eating to say my paperwork is on it's way and to ask if I am coming back for another bus. He also asks about adding DEF. Sometimes I have gone 2,000 miles before having to add. This time it was 1,000 miles. And he was wondering if I had to pay someone to take the pressure valve off. (no, it just took me a half hour to fill it) I tell the dispatcher that we are talking about what we are doing after the drop now and I will call him tomorrow after deliver. Good food. Even without me getting fries, it was too much. Mine had a fried egg and ham on my burger :) Our plan had been for me to leave in the AM with the bus and BB to get a ride to the airport in the hotel shuttle and she would stay and wash clothes while I was at the bus wash. Not sure what happened but she decided she didn't want to wash clothes so we will just buy more if the need more clean clothes. (Even with buy clothes on the road, we still seem to wear them until they are thin so we somehow don't end up with too many) I do get my paperwork and still another request to head back to CA for one more bus before Christmas. ... tonight I get a 'memory' from FaceBook. One year ago this week, we had headed back to CA from Salt Lake City because the weather was too bad to head east ... Hmmm Load board US - 146 IA - 3/0 We still have not decided if we are heading home or back to CA. But we now have a rental car reserved going each direction. 1,500 miles back to CA and I will 'for sure' have a bus coming back to MN.' They got the first one today. Or if we head home, it will be 1,000 miles via Kansas City with no work lined up. RV's are slow and none left by the end of the day. That means a garbage truck. We will sleep on it. I have about an hour to go to get to the bus wash and may have to add fuel. I have enough to get there but the bus is sitting on a hill right now so not sure if I will need more. Only a gallon or two at most. Then from there it is a couple of miles to the drop. We have been there once before. Last time we were to Denver was a holiday and there was a <> three hour wait for the wash. Hopefully not tomorrow. IF we head back to CA, it is about 20 hours over three days so steady moving but not a big push. Then we'd be back home on Tuesday and I have told my local company I'd be available on Wednesday ... before I realized that most places are taking Thursday and Friday off because Christmas is on the weekend. If we were not up against the holiday, we might look at moving the Grand Jct to CA truck IF the roads clear. But even with clear roads, that is one more issue that we don't want to deal with when time is tight. We will still do OK on the money. 221213 CA-CO 1 bus to Denver CO (delivered) ... spending the night at Albuquerque NM Slept so-so. We were both awake before the alarm. Breakfast was bacon and western omelette. BB had the turkey sausage. I tried it but this one was too spicy for me. The weather and all other factors still say we head back to CA. It has snowed here and is still snowing closer to Denver. I'm ready and leaving at 7 AM. BB has a shuttle set up for 8:15 to take her to the airport to get the rental car. Getting out of here was easier that getting here. One main street past the hotel takes me to the freeway. Last night it was a dozen turns through residential area's. 1st stop is the Blue Beacon in Denver/Commerce City. ??? No one in line today. Last bus it was a three hour wait. As soon as someone opens the doors I pull in. While I am doing that I call BB to let her know I will not be late. She has just texted me that she is leaving the hotel but I hadn't read it. Quick wash and I'm done. There was one other truck in the other bay that I hadn't seen at first. No one in either bay when I left. I pull out and stick my fuel tank. Last night it looked low and this AM I drove it another 70 miles. I can't see it well on the stick, not sure why, but I decide to add more fuel. 2nd stop is in the same parking lot at the TA. At first I was going to put in 10 gallons, then 12, ended up with 15 gallons. Way more than I needed when I stuck the tank after filling. Here was my first delay. The person ahead of me at the pump pulls ahead and goes inside. It is about 30 minutes before he comes back. Same the the guy to my left. The person on my right is at the pump when I get there and when I leave, no idea what he is doing. I've done this route before but on city streets I often write down the street names. The overhead signs say that I-70 east is closed. That was our backup route if we were heading home. I am only on I-70 for a few miles and I meet five snow plows in formation in the east bound lane. Pavement is 100% dry here and they are holding up traffic. My guess is they were ready to tackle I-70 where it was closed. ... lots of I-80 in WY is still closed and they keep pushing the re-open time out. 3rd stop is my drop in Denver. I call my contact but no answer. When I drove in, I saw three people looking at a bus so I walk over to them. It is an instructor and two new drivers. The instructor shows me where to walk to the office. Part way to the office, I see one of the buses that left when I did from CA. And I see someone that had been looking at it. Lucky for me they wait until I am close ... pull my bus next to this one. Someone had an opps this AM. The couple that was also delivering here had gotten into Denver last night, washed their buses and went to a hotel. This AM when they started them, one of the buses sprung a leak. Not something they could fix so they rode together to the drop. This location does something I have never done before in six years of driving these buses or 15+ years of delivering buses. They had me stick the tank and they wrote down how much fuel was in it. Lucky I topped it off and then some. Only issue they found was one of the brochure holders had fallen off. It was just laying on the floor when we picked the bus up, we didn't know it had ever been attached. I might be back ... today we brought in the first two buses. There are a total of 30 of the 29 foot buses and 100 of the 40 foot buses on this order. As soon as I am done and am in the car with BB, we agree one more time ... we are heading to CA. Dead heading 1,500 miles. I call the bus dispatcher and let him know were are on our way. 4th stop is the closest McDonalds for the restroom ... and food. We notice some homeless before we walk in. We go to use the restroom and they are locked. Someone has to buzz us in. We weren't watching and as soon as they buzzed, one of the homeless went into the bathroom and I had to have them buzz me in again. :( We are one hour later than the math I was doing in my head. Most of that time was lost this AM in traffic, not that traffic was bad, I just did bad math. 5th stop is the rest area in Colorado City. 6th stop is a few miles down the road for fuel at a Loves in Walsenburg. We didn't realize we were not going to make it to ABQ before fueling and here is the next cheaper fuel. 7th stop was at a rest area near Waterous. Trying to stay awake while driving. Not dozing off, but loosing focus. It will be a few minutes after last light but we push on for ABQ. To our 'known' area. 8th and final stop is the Quality Inn in ABQ. before we get there, we notice homeless walking the streets. We used to walk for food and had planned on it tonight also. But, between the extra people hanging around and the cold we decide to drive for food. Good thing. We used to cut through the parking lots. One hotel has put up a new fence all the way around their building ... right across the former street/access. And our restaurant has put up a six foot high steel wall all around their parking lot. Things have changed here. Load board US - 176 IA - 8/4 Tomorrow will be an all drive day. We will leave at first light and drive until after last light. Plan is to be back at the shipper mid-afternoon on Thursday. And hoping there is work then so we don't have to wait until 5 PM and dark to leave with a bus. .. the trip continues HERE |
