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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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221222 MN-MN 1 bus to Lake Elmo MN (test drive) 1 tanker to Gary IN (Tuesday) ... spending the night at home I had told local dispatch I would be available on Dec 21. But, because of the weather, I didn't call them and they did not call me yesterday. Today they do call me after noon and ask if I am available. Their records never got updated. Today they are looking for someone to test drive a bus in a couple of hours. We'll make it work. We were just leaving the house to run errands so we had to speed that up. One of those things was to get food. Getting food and stopping at Target took longer than expected (during the holiday season?) so I only had a couple of minutes to eat before having to leave. A few minutes before I arrive, I get a call and a text. The bus is ready. Someone has flown in to fix this bus, it wasn't something a local shop could fix (?) Now it is my job to test drive the bus. AND the tech will be following me, which does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling. The bus is already running so no pre-trip by me. I get legal and am ready. The tech wants the bus run at different speeds so I mentally map out a route. Hwy 36 has both stop lights and a speed limit of 55 mph. Once we get to Hwy 36, I pull over on the side of the road. By the time I get back to the tech's car, he is coming to me with his computer ... no ... all I need to know is how fast this bus is governed. :) The issue this bus was having was causing it to run at a reduced speed. I wanted to make sure THAT was not the reason I was driving 55 mph. Yup. 55 mph max, that is normal. I drive for over a half hour and no issues. I return to the lot and turn the bus back over to the tech. He needs to download some info before shutting down. By the time I park, one of the dispatchers is walking to the bus. I'm wondering if he is the new bus dispatcher. Nope, he want's to know if I can go pick up a tanker truck yet today. Only if they have a shuttle driver ... and they don't so that is the end of that. I spend some time talking to the tech. Not sure who he works for or what their focus is, but he works on all four major brands of buses so we had lots to talk about. Then I go up to talk to the dispatchers. Ended up talking to all four. I am mostly talking to the trash truck dispatcher that I do most trips for ... we mention the bus dispatcher and I comment about her being new a few months ago. No, they laugh, THIS one has already been here two weeks. I didn't ask, how many has there been and how long do they last? Dispatch want's to lock me in on trucks for next week and beyond, all the way out for the next three weeks if I would (I won't) But, the one they need moved Tuesday, they won't have confirmation on until Tuesday. So I leave it that we will talk early Tuesday AM. Five minutes later, I a driving and have to pull over. Dispatch is calling. They now want me to take a truck on Tuesday to Gary. I call BB at home and ask "Does Gary work in Tuesday?" That lead to a long conversation. Had I asked "Does taking a truck to Gary Tuesday work for us?" it would have been a much quicker conversation. BB looks up rental cars and once she realizes Tuesday is not a holiday for most people we agree to take the trip. We are down to one car. We loaned one out last night and an hour later someone else has an issue so we are doing shuttles today and it also plays into how we will pick up things on Tuesday. Load board - Wednesday US - 264 IA - 2/0 MN - 6 WI - 10 PTR - 10 Load board - Thursday US - 270 IA - 5/0 MN - 6 WI - 10 PTR - 10 We will have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. Monday will will pick up the rental car. Then Tuesday we can pick up the truck after 6:30. Then it is 8 hours to the drop. Not likely we will make same day delivery. No second leg planned. |
