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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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230403 IA-SC 2 RV's to Greer SC (delivered) ... spending the night at Knoxville TN We are back to eating three meals a day. That starts with breakfast before we hit the road so we have been up since 5:30 eastern. Early, for us. It is the first time we have seen a sunrise in a while. 1st stop is back across the street at the Loves for fuel. Neither of us have enough (current) range to make it to the drop. So we decide to put in five gallons each. 2nd stop was the Dandridge rest area. Sometimes we park with the trucks, other times the cars. Today I decided the trucks, not realizing that there was also truck parking next to the car parking because the rest area sign didn't list that. As we are pulling in, there is a car trying to come out the truck entrance. Hopefully to get to the car area and not the freeway because they'd be going the wrong way. This lot was full, we had to wait for a truck to pull out so we could park. Luckily someone was walking to their truck and moved right away as we were blocking the path between the two rows of trucks. 3rd stop is the rest area/welcome center in SC. Landrum. Not sure I've seen this before. First I noticed that highway crew trucks were parked in both on-coming lanes. Then I realized that there was no traffic coming. A few miles down the road we see two cop cars pacing the traffic at about one mile per hour. And traffic was backed up for miles so they had been doing it for a while. Not sure why. 4th stop was final fuel at the Spinx in Greer. I arrive with a range of 117 miles. I likely would not have need to add any fuel, for sure not the five gallons. We need to find a station near Dandridge instead of the rest area. So that was $20+ we didn't need to spend. BB parks her RV and I bring her to the airport and go to the drop. It is lunch time so we have to wait. BB is there before they are ready to start inspecting. Today BB wants to sit inside, I don't think we have done that here before in all the times we've been here. It is raining a little as I walk back to the Spinx. I do get slightingly winded doing the walk. I'm on a mission so I am likely walking faster and there is a short 12 (?) incline up to the roadway. It takes me about 15 minutes to walk it and then another five to drive back to the RV's. They are done inspecting mine when I get back and done with BB's a few minutes later. 5th stop is at the Schlotzsky's in Greer, wrong direction from home be we aren't in a hurry, yet. Good food, sandwiches, soup and cookies :) There was someone curled up sleeping on the chairs outdoors but not right outside our window ... six feet or so from our window. Not sure the why, they never moved in the half hour we were there, other than breathing. Work. The best trip from here is NC to MI. It would likely add two days to our trip home and not that much money. We come to this area because of the work but it doesn't pan out very often. We are also looking at trips out of IN but with those shorter trips, they add enough time that the first $200 of the trip needs to go to an extra day rental car and hotel. By then we are almost doing the trip for free. There are also two trucks from Bagley MN to the cities that would work once we get home ... if they are still there and IF the weather is good. But for now we head in the direction of home. AFTER we pass a truckstop, BB asks where we are because she wants to use the restroom before we get to the traffic backup. Coming down this AM we barely slowed down. Heading back we will likely hit an hour or so backup. 6th stop is the Pilot in Waynesville. We are already into the backup before we get to the exit. After we are past the slowdown, traffic is still supposed to be 50 mph for trucks and 55 mph for cars. No trucks in the passing lane. It has been that way for years. I go the speed limit. Some truck comes right up on me and starts flashing his bright's at me. I'm not going to break the law so he can break the law more than he already is so I just leave my cruse set. I don't speed up or slow down. He does this a few dozen times. Finally another semi passes me, the one behind me hits the high beams one more time and goes around me. No other issue. Doesn't blow his horn, doesn't cut me off. I do move out of a trucks way some times if we are going under the speed limit and it is easier for them to pass us on the right. That is different, here he was already speeding and so was I. 7th and final stop is a Comfort Inn east of Knoxville. Food is from the Mexican place in the parking lot. Tonight they give us cheese dip instead of the bean dip we ordered. Not a big deal, just wrong. As we were checking in tonight there was someone else checking in at the same time with the other desk clerk. The guest had a dog so BB was far away. She was afraid the person would want to get on the elevator with us but the clerks were asking questions about the dog and that slowed them down enough. I had felt the dog sniffing up and down my legs the whole time I was checking in. I didn't say anything or even look at the do and the owner never called it off. Load board US - 260 IA - 16/14 MN - 5 WI - 8 Tomorrow we drive. And watch the load board and the weather and do the math. 230404 IA-SC 2 RV's to Greer SC (delivered) ... spending the night at Morton IL I had woken up a couple of times during the night, one time I thought I had heard BB taking tums as she sometimes does. I finally wake up out of a deep sleep at 7:30 AM. 10 plus hours of sleep. At some point BB tells me she had been taking her pills during the night because she had forgotten to the night before. It wasn't until we were packing up to leave that I realize that I also had forgotten to take my pills last night. I usually forget to take my pills about once every year or two. Now it has been twice in the last couple of weeks :( So far, I don't know of any other way I am loosing it. We leave the hotel at 8:15, we each grab something on the way out. I had gabbed a cup of juice. Actually good juice this time. Very light traffic for the end of rush hour near Knoxville. Just before 9 AM, I started asking BB about taking the IN to MN trip ... then I realized that IN would be on eastern time and the office had been open for almost the last hour. BB checked and the trip was gone. 1st stop is for fuel at the Buc-ee's near Richmond. We also get food. It is near the cutoff for breakfast so a lot of choices are lunch items. Un-like most time, there are lines to check out. Lines are long and a person in the next line would not get closer than six feet from the person ahead of them. I thought people were going to start cutting in front of them but that didn't happen. We decide to go through OH in case there are new trips that show up. As we are looking at everything, we realize that the weather is also an issue. There will be high winds in IN tomorrow and the shippers may not let anything move. Or we may not want to move. There is also a short trip starting right off our route, but it is a chassis. And we might be able to pick up tonight but not be able to deliver it until tomorrow. It is most likely being picked up at a repair shop so I would rather not have to re-start it in the AM ... and even that little bit might delay us so that we have an extra day hotel or rental car, or both. There are also trips in IA going to MN, lots of them. But again, there is going to be wind tomorrow and the shipper may not let them leave. We also did the math and we need to return our rental car first, then do the RV's. There are also two rental trucks in northern MN, but they are now forecasted to have a blizzard. Weather. 2nd stop was Batesville at the rest area 3rd stop was the rest area near Oakwood Traffic. That was my issue of the day. There were a couple of 10-20 mile stretches where the speed limit was 55 mph. I did, closer than anyone else. 45 mph zones? 70-80 mph was actual. That part was more annoying that a safety issue. The only thing that did concern me was near the end of the day, there was a semi that had been following me at a distance for miles. Then he pulled out to pass, got right along side me and almost locked up his brakes, pulled back in behind me and it almost looked like he was going for the shoulder. But he kept driving and the caught up to me again. This time he was only a few feet off my bumper, like I don't think anyone has been before. He stayed right there for maybe a couple of miles. I made sure not to speed up or slow down. He than passed and was gone. No idea what that was about. BB had mentioned Bloomington for the night but I asked where the storms were likely to be. And based on the forecast, Morton had the same risk as Bloomington but was a few miles further so we headed there. And that is where we often eat and stay, we don't have a place in Bloomington where we have stayed more than once. 4th and final (?) stop of the night is the Quality Inn in Morton. We order food from the Cracker Barrel and then drive to get it. We are watching the storms develop both on the TV and on our computers. We had been thinking about the storms when we picked this place and thinking about storms when we parked our car. But when the tornado warning and sightings got to be about 10 miles from us, we decided to pack up and get out of here. We drove back to Bloomington. It is not quite a right angle from the storm but close. Not only was there a tornado but also hail. One of the storm chasers car got hit by a baseball sized stone and busted his front window. Luckily, the storm just died out about the time we were leaving. The weather people were quite shocked to see that and played the radar over and over again. 5th stop was Bloomington. We parked in a closed Tractor Supply at the edge of town to watch the storm. But by then the storm had died out and the lighting show was also mostly gone. Edited to add: 6th stop was the BP in Carlock for fuel. Just as we were back on the freeway heading back to the hotel and I heard BB gasp. I looked down at my gauges. We had 26 miles to 'E' and 20 miles to the hotel. We stopped at the first gas station. 7th stop was the Quality Inn in Morton ... again. We got unpacked again and settled in. Load board US - 280 IA - 31/28 (8 MN) MN - 10 WI - 7 There are still two rental trucks in MN that are not in the above listed numbers and also one from IA going to IA that we are looking at. Mostly depends on the weather and timing. 230405 IA-SC 2 RV's to Greer SC (delivered) 1 RV to Ramsey MN (Thursday) ... spending the night at home Alarm goes off at 6 AM. By 7 AM we are ready to leave. By the time we reach the outside door, we realize that we have forgotten our cooler and items in the fridge. So I go back in and BB heads to the car. I grab everything ... except for my hotel keys. Can't remember everything I guess. BB and I briefly talk about doing the rental truck in IA this AM before pickup up our car. I go to run the miles, time extra it would take and can't find it. It was gone last night but we never looked later in the day I guess. We don't see any storm damage from last nights storm. We are driving between exits when it is 8 AM so BB dials in. First time is buzzy and by the 2nd time, our trip is gone. Minutes, or seconds, later. We instead we are going to Ramsey. Another 30 miles down the road. Dispatch doesn't know their holiday weekend working hours yet so we will have to check back. All of the MN trips are gone within the first 15 minutes of the day and the short IA to IA trip is gone a few minutes later. So no chance to do the Bagley trips as a 2 legged trip. 1st stop is the Loves in Davenport for fuel. The first thing I do is put on my coats. Yesterday it hit 80+ degree's. It was still in the 70's when we were out at 8 PM, by this AM it was down in the 50's. We also get food from Arby's for our breakfast. Croissants and potato cakes. On this leg we pass the Coralville Mall. I couldn't see it well today but on Saturday when we went past this place was packed. The parking lot was full to the edges. Some malls are closing down and other are doing just fine. 2nd stop is the Flying J in Evansdale for a rest stop. I looked getting some juice but the shelves are almost empty. And nothing I wanted, today. 3rd stop is the shipper in Forest City. There are now 100's of RV shells parked next to the done RV's. We assume they are just running out of places to park them. While we were there, I asked about their office hours. They will be open same as usual. 4th stop is dropping the rental car at the airport. Two flights must have just come in, the airport is packed. For our 2nd meal of the day we look at options. The first one we look at has had a fire and has had major smoke damage so they are closed. 5th stop is Tono Pizzeria for food. 6th and final stop is at home. It looks like a tornado has gone through our neighborhood. Trees and branches down everywhere. Load board US - 259 IA - 23/19 MN - 5 WI - 8 There are now three trips from Bagley. Tomorrow we will leave home and get to the shipper by 10 (?) Drop by 1 PM. Then maybe go to Bagley (?) ... this first leg will pay 3x any of the work we would have picked up along our trip home. That what makes picking up that extra work hard. |
