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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2023 06 17 MN Sunday I drove through the local work parking lot and there were two trucks, one that was sitting there last weekend and the other was a tanker going to IN. And only two drivers cars out so that means they do not, should not need me as a driver on Monday. We've done the IN, not a bad trip but they need to keep those drivers busy, not just me. The OTR load board actually went up over the weekend. Someone put more trips out than were taken off. It wasn't in the three states I watch. Loadboard (weekend) US - 125 IA - 1/0 MN - 7 WI - 9 2023 06 19 IA-WI 1 RV to Chippawa Falls WI (Tuesday) ... spending the night at home ))) Hmm ... no write-up but found work. BB did this trip as she hadn't worked for a month. I called on it because BB wanted to play 20 questions and with no trips on the load board, these trips go within second or minutes. This ended up being on the only trip like this that we have seen in over a week and nothing this close on the rental truck board either ((( Loadboard US - 117 IA - 1/0 MN - 4 WI - 14 2023 06 20 MN-WI 1 RV to Chippewa Falls WI (delivered) 1 Vac truck to Elgin IL (Canceled) 1 trash truck to Muskego WI (Wednesday) ... spending the night at home BB is up earlier, I am up early but I take longer to get ready today. We do leave a little after 7 instead of the planned 7:30. Non-stop trip to Forest City. When we get there, there are two loads of RV's ready to pull out. Another RV pulls out with them and another RV is getting inspected. We do talk briefly to the 2nd RV that is getting inspected. He is heading to NJ. There were 5 other small RV' ready to go ... instead of 100's. There were another half dozen larger RV plus a few to be hauled out. Here is a 1st for us. After 7 plus years, we get an RV that is full of fuel. AND they did not take it out of our pay. When we first started, almost every RV that was over 1/4 of fuel, we got deducted for the estimated overage in fuel that we would not have to buy. Not sure why we didn't on this one. It said right on the paperwork that the RV was full ... and we still got the fuel surcharge. Two of us inspecting so it doesn't take long. Once we are done inspecting I call central dispatch to get the trip from Rosemount. But after them having it for two weeks, it has been turned over to my local trash truck dispatcher. So I call them and they give me a wrong phone number so I have to look it up on the web. They have the truck and I find out there hours. We will not be able to pick it up today :( There had been two more trips we were looking at out of MN but those were taken between when we got to the lot and were done inspecting. I agree to take the Rosemont trip ... and we are off. BB is in the lead as she is driving the RV today. At Albert Lea she pulls of the freeway and into Loves. She thought the car would need fuel by now, but we had agreed to stop at the Arby's in Owatonna. We are here so we decide to eat here at the Wendy's. Two tour buses are ahead of us in line but when we get close enough we see that this location has the self service kiosk. We order and have our food before we would have ordered by waiting in line. As we are sitting waiting for food, BB gets a message. "We did not see your plate on the rear of the RV when you pulled out of the shippers lot ..." (She had put it in the window because it is not a DOT unit and we are only going a couple hundred miles and over no scales. BUT because someone said something we put it on. Or try to. This is one where the holes don't line up with the plate. I was able to anchor it by using one each of the two sets of holes. Usually that does not happen either. In and out in 15? I fuel, BB goes on ahead. Stopping in Albert Lea instead of Owatonna did mess up BB's driving plan. She had planned a 2nd stop in Menomonie at the rest area but now that is too far between stops for her. BB pulls off in Baldwin. I had wanted to stop here and get fried chicken sometime so now I know what it looks like. We are just using the restroom this time. We talk about lining up the IL to MN trip but no, we don't like doing that. And by now we know that there is no way we will pick up the Rosemount truck tonight. Somewhere along here we see about 15 school buses in transport. We also see a city transit bus latter and a few trash trucks, mixers, RV's and other transporters. When we get to Chippewa Falls, BB stops for fuel ... even though it is still 1/2 full. Rules are rules. $20 of fuel at the station closest to the drop. I go direct to the drop and call the shipper back to confirm tomorrow delivery and double check the VIN. Then I call the drop but the number for the drop is wrong. By chance, I am using a sheet of paper from my last trip FROM where I will drop the truck so I call that number instead. Same person for shipping and receiving. They will be closing by 3 PM tomorrow so we will not make same day delivery. BB arrives and the drop notices a scratch on the RV, we all take pictures. I have taken a few pictures of the RV but only one at the shipper but not on the correct sided. But BB had taken pictures all around and the scratch was there at pickup. It is too high on the side to feel how deep the scratch is. We get less than a block down the road and I get a call from dispatch ... my trip tomorrow has been CANCELED! :( Before we picked up this AM, BB and I were talking about the trips then and she wondered why I wasn't more up on this Elgin trip. I had a bad feeling about it. The trip had been out there two weeks, then when I call Friday the trip date had been changed to tomorrow. Then once I see the paperwork, the shipper and drop phone numbers are both wrong and the drop address is wrong. And now they cancel before I get to the shipper so no 'free money' for a failed pickup. Nothing on the load board. We look at other options but decide on home. By the time we get to Menomonie we decide to call my other company from the rest area. They check, no work there either. We got nothing. BB decides she wants Erbert & Gerbert's, so no food from Baldwin this trip. While in Hudson, the RV dispatcher calls wanting to know if we can do a one day trip to Deerwood MN ... next Tuesday. I give a definite ... maybe. It needs to be picked up and dropped the same day. I was planning on driving for the other company next week. We'll see. Most dispatch locations close at 5 PM but at 5:30 we notice that MN is starting to put new trips on the load board. There is one for IL so I take a chance and call. They do pick up, but that trip is already gone. I should have asked dispatch to call when they canceled my other IL trip. An hour later, dispatch adds a trip to WI. I call, I get it. I don't like calling that late but I don't like sitting either. We did that Monday. The trip to Fridley is still there and the WI drop is almost the same miles from Janesville as the first trash truck. Pay won't be quite as good as the Rosemont trip but much better than sitting. 7:15 - leave home 9:45-10:15 - at shipper 11-11:15+ - at Loves/Wendy's in Albert Lea 1:30 - at Baldwin Truck Plaza 2:45-3 - at drop in Chippewa Falls WI 3:45 - at Menomonie WI rest area 4:45 - At Hudson Erbert & Gerbert's Load board US - 133 IA - 1/0 MN - 7 WI - 7 ))) Below is a truck similar to the tanker tip that was canceled (((
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