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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 230208 CO-WI 1 step van to Burlington WI ... spending the night at Lincoln NE BB ate her leftover salad from last night for breakfast. I had the usual scrambled eggs, sausage and juice. Fruit cups included peaches so I passed. Headed out at 7 AM local just as the sun was coming up. Full moon was right over my truck depending on where I stood but it never shows up well on pictures. We had pushed last night to stay ahead of the weather. Today we saw an additional plus. We were on the outbound traffic instead of the inbound during rush hour. Weigh scale last night was closed for us. Today it was open but no issues, #2 of the CO scales. Right before we were going to stop for our first stop, my DEF gauge dropped to one so I need to put in DEF when we stop. 1st stop is at the Loves in Brush. Strange layout, lots of extra parking lot to get to the building and pumps. If I use my company card here, then I have a fee the 2nd time I use it today. But to use my personal car I need to go inside which takes more time. I decide the money is worth the time saved. I have no idea how much DEF this thing will use so I put in three gallons. On some units that brings it up to full. This time it added two (of four bars.) When I paid at the pump it didn't ask me all the questions so I knew something was wrong but it did start the pump ... so good. But no receipt so I had to go inside, 1st person couldn't get it to work, 2nd, then a 3rd person was there. I ended up putting it on my personal card so no fee's today. But this all took time I thought I was saving. 2nd stop was near Brule/Ogallala at the new rest area. I called dispatch while BB used the restrooms. The person I need to talk to is out to lunch again today. 3rd stop is in North Platte at Penny's Diner. Breakfast for both of us. In and out in our required 30 minutes and much better than fast food. We each had eggs, meat and hash browns. Lots of food. BB got a to go box for the rest of her ham and hash browns. While we were waiting for our food, I called dispatch again. They have not checked on my RV that broke down for a week. They said they would check on it and call me back but they never did. I don't get paid until it is at the final customer. :( For a while it looked like we could make it to the cheapest fuel in NE in Grand Island. But with 50 miles to go, the low fuel light came on at 1/8th of a tank. We went past a couple of truck stops before deciding the few cents difference per gallon was not worth the risk of running out. 4th stop was the Sapps Brothers in Odessa. I used to have a perks card, but I looked today and couldn't find it. So I lost out on both rewards and price by stopping here. But saved time and motel by not running out of fuel. But now I am sure I won't make it to Rockford tomorrow before fueling. Plan is now to stop in Davenport and likely again on Friday a few miles from the drop. We have time to keep going today but we are catching up to a storm so Lincoln it is. 5th and final stops are in Lincoln. First at the King Kong. It is a Gyro Philly place. We have eaten there before and last time was an issue. The person taking my order insisted my sandwich came with a side. So finally I said <> 'All I want is the sandwich, nothing else.' When we got to the hotel, all they had given me was the meet and the bread. Nothing else that usually goes on a gyro. This time I got everything. Way too much food for the bread and just too much food. BB ate her leftover lunch/breakfast. Final stop was the hotel, cheap tonight. Now we see why. They are re-doing it so some stuff is closed and breakfast is a to-go bag. Nice guy, might be the owner. We've seen him many times and tonight we got the upgrade to a suite. The issue we had with the rental car in Grand Junction was not taken care of today so I'm guessing it won't be. It's a few dollars but not enough to spend hours on the phone for and BB wants a break from those calls. We did get a notice today that that same rental car company has bumped us up in status because of our usage. Now if they would just give us a dedicated customer service agent. The major issue today was BB was too hot. Lots of glass on a sunny day and she was on the sunny side while I kept my jackets on all day. A few times she opened the door to the cargo area to cool herself down. We don't know how to open the windows on this thing. We saw lots of transporters today. When we first got on I-80 we saw one a mile, but that didn't last long. Load board US - 111 IA - 11/9 MN - 13 WI - 1 Tomorrow ... we watch the weather. There is a storm coming up from the south that is supposed to dump snow from Des Moines to Davenport. With the half way point getting <> 8 inches mid-day. We are hoping to leave at our usual time and come in behind it. Tomorrow I need to call the drop and call my dispatcher to see if I can come up with extra money seeing this unit is not <> what the said. We've looked at all kinds of ways to get home costing less, but we finally decided to just plan on it taking the extra day and pay for it. The money has still been good but always doing what we can for a great :) trip. Family is meeting up on Saturday so because we don't have anything lined up yet we plan on being there. We may head out right after or head home. As of now we don't have anything we need to be in town for until the end of March. 230209 CO-WI 1 step van to Burlington WI ... spending the night at Rockford IL Breakfast was a bag lunch. Apple, water, muffins and trail mix. At least their price relates to what we get. By 7:30 the sun is rising and we are ready to roll. Coolant level has dropped but no big puddle on the ground. All else is good. There used to be an Indian Motorcycle shop about a block from the hotel. Then it was gone and the building was empty for a year plus. Now, since our last trip here, it has become an Enterprise location. Car and Truck Rental. And they also have paved over a vacant lot for more parking. Close to the hotel but we haven't delivered much or anything to Lincoln. 1st stop is Adair at the rest area. While we are stopped I call the drop and leave a message and then call the dispatcher for this truck. They want to know if I have tried to return the tire chains/socks. I haven't. Once I am moving, the drop calls back so I pull to the side of the rest area and take the call. They are just concerned that I won't make delivery before 4 PM, but if I don't, they will make arrangements for me to drop it. Not likely, but good to know. Both the NE and IA scales were closed today. IA was just closed to me/us because the line was long. It would re-open as soon as the line is cleared. BB has been watching the IA weather since last night. She guessed it was OK to leave on time this AM. Sometime early there was a crash on west bound I-80 that closed the road for a while. But we still look to be staying behind the storm. We are close enough behind the storm that BB wants to stop early for food ... 2nd stop is the Loves in Newton at McDonald. But first we look at both the food at Chester's and the shelf food. The weather is staying far enough ahead of us that we only take a 30 minute break. While stopped, I check to see why I don't have washer fluid but BB's side does. I can't figure it out. And I call the closest Loves about my chains/tire socks. They don't carry them ... I guess I should have stopped right away in CO. It has been raining or snowing since Omaha and will still be raining when we shut down tonight. That means enough water to keep my windshield clear. Somewhere before Davenport, there was a stretch of 20 miles where there were seven semi's in the ditch that we could see. Plus cars. So, we are glad we missed that part of the storm. 3rd stop was the Flying J in Davenport for fuel and more DEF. Price was the same in Walcott but this was a few more miles down the road. We put in 13 gallons of fuel and one gallon of DEF. The gauge didn't move as much as I thought. AND, while I was putting my info into the pump to get it started, I had to stand to brace against the wind. I didn't realize it had gotten that windy. It has been behind us most of the day, usually at an angle but behind us. Enter IL we do have to enter the scale but someone was sitting on the scale with a red light and the driver looked like he'd been there a while. Lucky us, not lucky him. As soon as we turn onto I-88 we are heading north east and now have either a head wind or a cross wind. Mileage goes from <> 12 mpg to 8 mpg. I had put in enough fuel to get to the drop, 2/3rds of the way and we have used all of the fuel. All of the fuel that I was not supposed to leave in the tank. I think I will have enough to get near the drop where I will fuel again to leave the 1/4th required. 4th and final stop is at the Sleep Inn in Rockford. BB was looking for somewhere else to eat but most didn't have a big enough parking lot for my rig. She didn't want the place near the hotel because how much the food cost last time. Last time ... Last time she had the best fish on the menu and we topped it off with a nice desert. Once she found the prices of the cheaper items, she was OK with walking across the parking lot instead of finding somewhere else. Tavern on Clark is the food. Tonight we got to-go and came back to the hotel. We split a burger and fries, plus I had French onion soup which I did not need. Earlier today there was some nice work. 1 RV to Brainard MN, 2 trucks from IN to Brainard MN. 2 RV's back down to Greer. And one rental truck from IA to ND ... we went within a mile of the IA location today. Would have been a nice trip, if we were not planning on being home on Saturday. Tomorrow we can call for work for the weekend. Finally had time to call the IA dispatcher about my RV that I dropped at the shop. BB had seen the other RV back on the load board two weeks ago that it was fixed. And the dispatcher did have A answer :) At the dealer, a yard person was moving one RV and backed into mine ... so both had to go to the body shop before they could be worked on. They are still at the repair shop. (And all it takes is 24 hours and the engine light will go off :( ) Load board US - 99 IA - 18/16 MN - 5 WI - 1 Tomorrow we backtrack two miles to the mall and I'll drop BB off. Then it is about 40 miles to the Loves where I will top off fuel and move our stuff to the rental car. We hope to be out of the drop by 10 AM. That should have us back to our car in IA about 4 PM. Then we get to decide if we want to push it and get home by 8 PM or get a hotel and go direct to our family thing tomorrow. 230210 CO-WI 1 step van to Burlington WI (delivered) ... spending the night at home When I wake up, BB has already been up for a while and awake for longer. She runs through all the options of taking either the trips to TX or IN and the 2nd or 3rd legs we could do ... but by 8 AM we decide that we will take our chances in hopes that something even better shows up. (It doesn't) ?? Breakfast :( They looked like they might have been good scrambled eggs, what was stuck to the edges. I mentioned it to the desk clerk but they were busy. At some places the desk clerk is also the food person. ... and the sausage didn't look all the way done so I grabbed two yogurt. It is the brand I have been buying at home for decades (?) and this stuff didn't look right, either one of them. Then I looked at the 'use by date' and they were expired. But I don't think that had anything to do with the way it looked. So I ended up eating BB's muffins from yesterday. The desk clerk still didn't look like they cared so I didn't mention the issues with the yogurt or the room when I checked out ... 1st stop was dropping BB off. BB had the directions on and it took us all the way around the indoor shopping mall to within a few feet of where we had came off the street. Guess I should have been looking closer. I dropped her off and was gone. That was where her fun started. I don't remember the first issue, but then she found out the windshield washer didn't work. They poured some fluid in and it still didn't work and they didn't care ... walked away while BB was still talking to them. Today was sunny and expected to stay that way. If it had been yesterday with the snow, she would have stayed until they gave her a different car. If the washers aren't working, you can be driving blind. And we are far enough east today that there isn't any snow to throw on the windshield. 2nd stop was the Loves in Elkhorn. Truck islands are full with trucks waiting so I pull into the completely empty car pumps. No issue getting the pump turned on. I put in four more gallons to get me to the drop with 1/4 tank. The problem was getting wrung up. Two people tried 20 times before it finally took. And by then they had given up on scanning my rewards card so I lost out on my $.04 perks. :( Sometime while I was in paying, BB arrived and had all of the stuff moved to the rental car by the time I got back to the truck. (She was still a little wound up about the rental) I head out, she goes into the store. 3rd stop was the drop in Burlington. Finally this AM I did write down my notes to get to the drop. Once I was there I pulled in to the 'used truck' area and went inside receiving. The first two people I saw completely ignored me. Then next person I saw I started talking to as soon as they were close so they did not ignore me. I was in the wrong building and then pointed me where to go. Once in the correct building, the first person I saw was the correct one. He came right out and did a quick look of the drivers area, signed and asked me the last digits of the VIN of the truck. That was it. This place is huge and I was wondering why we bring in used trucks but don't take out new ones. Then I remembered where I picked it up, the guy said HE had gone to pick up his truck. That may be this companies method of operation. 15 minutes ahead of plan and we are ready to go. We follow the GPS but it doesn't follow my logic. Some times only a few feet or a stop sign and it re-routes because it is faster. We take the first freeway south (?) before finding a road to cut across on to get to the north freeway. 4th stop is at the Log Cabin Deli in Mauston. Right at the noon hour and it is busy, but we were still in and out in 10 minutes or so. Today we both had Cuban's, they were the special. And I had their wild rice turkey soup. I told the cashier I was going to drink it while I drove and they said it was too thick. They were wrong :) I did drink the whole thing but the last half spoon full that was stuck to the bottom. Took a while because it was too hot ... and it was too much. I only ate half my sandwich at noon and ate the rest a few hours later. BB is watching the load board all day and nothing good, nothing in pairs. Not here anyway. Grand Junction? That place were were earlier this week? NOW has two to Las Vegas. And the RV I called on going from Madison to Rockford yesterday? One shows up today two hours after we leave Madison. That was for the best though. It likely would have only paid $50 and it would have cost us another nights hotel and another days rental car. Our plan was to make it to Saint Charles for the Loves for fuel for our next break. But we hadn't taken in the fuel range ... We ended up having to stop before that which added another stop. 5th stop is the Kwik Trip in La Crosse. We THOUGHT fuel was cheaper here ... because they advertise a different grade than most stations. But we need fuel, we stop. 6th stop was the rest area near Albert Lea. 7th stop was the shipper where our car was parked. We are done looking at the load board and we lost. Likely no work for the weekend. They still have the 250 (?) RV's in the employee lot waiting to be moved over, and now, since last time, they have another 250 (?) in their campground waiting to be moved over. But when? Ring ... ring ... BB actually gets to the airport and drops the rental car before I get to the airport. I left shortly behind her and drop 65 mph instead of ? BB said the windshield washer did work once today, kind of. Then not again when she tried later. 8th stop was Zuppa's 9th and final stop was home. We have no work for the weekend or planned. Load board US - 88 IA - 11/10 MN - 3 WI - 1 Still hoping they will put something on the load board before noon tomorrow. We've done the logistics on a lot of the trips and realize they just don't pay enough. They pay better than staying home but if we do take one of these so so trips, then we can't take the good ones when they show up. Every year except Covid, there have been over 100 trips on the load board to choose from before month end, when that happens changes every year. And we don't need to work. Right now. We just made enough on this last 12 day trip to cover our bills for the month. 230214 MN Today, same as the last. Almost. Monday morning when I got up, BB had connecting trips all planned out. But by 8 AM she/we decided we'd wait for 'good' trips instead of taking 'OK' trips. The rest of the day we watched the load board and took nothing. Today/Tuesday, BB was OK with taking a rental trip from MN but by the time their loadboard was updated the trip was gone. Again we watched the loadboard all day and we'd look at trips ... and then the weather. Once BB looked at the weather, all trips were off except WI. And the only thing going to WI is a trash truck. A cab over that I am taking a break from right now. Local dispatch did call to see if I wanted to work 'Weds or Thurs' but we plan on being out of town ... just like we had planned on being out of town yet Saturday night if there had been work. Throughout the day there were two CDL trucks from MN going to FL but BB's not CDL. There have also been RV's going to CA and FL but only one at a time and only for a minute or so. Those have been grabbed pretty fast. There was a MN RV on the board for a couple of days but it is finally gone. Right now there are pairs of RV's going to NJ, UT, VA. OH and four sets to MI. We'll be looking at the weather again tomorrow. We seem to be waiting for them to dump the 100+ on the board at one time so we have even more choices. But now we are getting up against the weekend. We need to leave tomorrow by noon to do the <> 1,000 mile trips or sit for the weekend. (We already done three days of sitting here) Load board (weekend) US - 96 IA - 8/7 MN - 3 WI - 1 Load board (Monday) US - 102 IA - 8/7 MN -0- WI - 1 PTR - 2 Load board (Tuesday) US - 157 IA - 25/24 MN - 3 WI - 5 |
