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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2023 07 04 MN Loadboard (Friday) US - 191 IA - 3 MN - 1 WI - 3 Loadboard (Weekend) US - 184 IA - 3 MN - 3 WI - 2 Loadboard (Monday and the 4th) US - 147 IA -0- MN - 3 WI - 2 2023 07 05 MN No work anytime soon. Was able to call in this AM and get a dentist appointment for this AM so that is taken care of for another six months. Then I stopped past the work office and dropped off last weeks paperwork. Pretty quiet, no phones ringing the whole time I was there. They did have one person walk in looking for a driving job. That was interesting to listen to as the copy machine is just outside the door. Best part was when HR was talking about the pay and mentioned 'breakdown pay.' The applicant said 'But these are new units, right? So there aren't any breakdowns?' HR paused a long time before answering that question. I almost stuck my head in but decided not to :) Loadboard US - 134 IA -0- MN - 2 WI - 3 2023 07 14 MN Friday, still at home and will be for a few days longer. Today there was an RV to Duluth but to late to deliver the same day. And there was still two trash trucks going to CGO followed by two box trucks going to Sioux Falls. (By Sat, only the two box trucks were left) Last weekend we spent our annual weekend in Grand Marias MN using rewards points for all nights. Plan was to be on the road again this week but now we have a funeral to go to on Monday so we didn't leave town last week. Then today, after the offices close I was eating a taco and one of my teeth just fell out. Dentist hadn't noticed an issue with it on Tuesday. So now I will need to deal with that before we head out also. Unlike the IA RV's, I do not keep a running list of daily ending numbers for units on the national loadboard. But todays 68 is about as low as we have seen it. Once we are ready to go, it is going to be slim pickings. But that is somewhat normal for July and partly why we take vacation in July. Loadboard (Thursday) US - 130 IA -0- MN - 7 WI - 8 Loadboard (Friday) US - 93 IA -0- MN - 4 WI - 3 Loadboard (Weekend) US - 87 IA -0- MN - 4 WI - 2 Loadboard (Monday) US - 97 IA -0- MN - 7 WI - 1 Loadboard (Tuesday) US - 85 IA -0- MN - 7 WI - 5 NA (Wednesday) IA -0- Loadboard (Thursday) US - 92 IA -0- MN - 6 WI - 5 Loadboard (Friday) US - 68 IA -0- MN - 2 WI - 3 2023 07 24 MN Loadboard (Weekend) US - 63 IA -0- MN -0- (back to 1 on Sunday) WI - 3 Loadboard (Monday) US - 50 IA -0- MN - 1 WI - 1 Loadboard (7/18) US - 94 (it had been down in the 30's mid-day) IA -0- MN - 7 WI - 5 Loadboard (7/19) US - 68 IA -0- MN - 5 WI - 1 Loadboard (7/20) US - 82 IA - 1/0 MN - 7 WI - 4 Laodboard (7/21) US - 55 IA -0- MN - 4 WI - 1 Loadboard (weekend) US - 63 IA -0- MN - 4 WI - 1 Loadbaord (7/24) US - 80 IA -0- MN - 4 WI - 3 Finally have an answer. I got a 2nd medical opinion and it was the same as the 1st. But the first opening I could get is almost a month out so now we have time for some trips before more time off. That was at 2 PM so most of the day and all of the RV trips were gone by that time. There had been one RV to CA and two to KS but nothing great. With the load board under 100 the trips go fast. Some within seconds, most within minutes. Rare that an RV lasts an hour on the board when it is this slow. Drivers have been sitting for over 30 days so they need to take anything to stay active including us. It's been over 30 days since BB worked and I should be getting my noticed in a day or two. There are still trash trucks that work. But if we are doing those we can't sit and hit refresh every minute or two. At the start of the day yesterday, there was a trash truck in MN going to IL, and IL truck to IN and then a IN truck to Duluth MN and a truck in Bemidji going to MO ... if we could have grabbed them all. The Bemidji truck is still there, but we both need to work so as of now we are waiting for RV's. 2023 07 25 IA-CA 2 RVs to 1,000 Oaks CA (Wednesday) ... spending the night at home We didn't find work yesterday so we both are hitting re-fresh on the load board today while doing other things. I had wanted to get another hour done in my garden but it rained overnight and was still raining a little. They did put some things out but nothing we jumped on. Finally after 2 PM, BB says they have added some CA trips. (Not sure why she didn't call them instead of tell me, those trips go quickly) By the time she got out to the dinning room, I was calling and got two. Dispatch is telling me about the trips and BB can't hear them and instead of telling her, I just wave her off. Once I'm off the phone I tell her that we will be getting no-tow pay for this customer AND we will be getting hotels paid because there is no heat or AC in the RV's. MELT DOWN ! When BB first started going with me, we took some buses to San Diego without AC and the first day almost did us in. We were not prepared. But this time we know ... and we have windows that can open and we have a extra day to get there so we can run early and shut down. After about fifteen minutes, we finally realize that ... the RV area likely is what does not have heat or AC. But the chassis, drivers area still should. I call back to dispatch and that is correct ... :) ... melt down slowed :) There were two other RV's going to CA that we could have grabbed that would have been closer to the bus shipper ... but with those we would not have gotten the extra pay for no-tow and hotels. Now I can go outside and garden. And somewhere in here I need to pack. Loadboard US - 63 IA -0- MN - 4 WI - 2 ... the trip continues HERE |
