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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2023 07 26 IA-CA 2 RVs to 1,000 Oaks CA ... spending the night at Lincoln NE Should be a good paying trip. Taking an extra day plus to get there because that is when we had to pick up the RV's. Looks like most days will be close to 100 degree's the whole trip. No alarm this AM. I had wanted to go out to the garden and weed some more this AM before we left but it was still raining and thundering. We finally pulled out at 8:45 after we made sure that we had re-packed everything needed after being off the road for almost a month. Non-stop to the shipper this trip. Here's a few roadway notes that are not driveaway. The freeway past our place is being worked on and they recently switched traffic from the old road to the new road. The first two weeks the road was shut down a few times because of major accidents, all in the west bound lanes. Today was the first time we were on that section of freeway and we saw that they have ... 1) moved the white edge line in further from the dirt. 2) put the red highway posts they use for temp 2-way traffic every 40 feet at the edge of the highway instead of down the middle 3) lowered the speed limit Closer to the shipper we saw where a crew was re-doing the blacktop on a rural road. They had maybe a dozen trucks bumper to bumper. It appears that they were just re-grinding the existing roadway and re-laying it as new highway. No trucks were hauling anything in or out. We had taken that way because our normal route was closed ... and this was on the detour where we had to wait for a pilot car. $$$ This drop customer does not want us towing, so we get extra because it is now a 'no-tow.' And because these units have no AC or heat, we each get extra because we can not sleep in them (makes me wonder what the market for them is) But we are getting close to a $1,000 extra ... over and above what we would get for taking a similar unit to the next town. :) Didn't talk to anyone today other than a quick 'where are you going.' They were going to MI. Wife was riding with and they were towing. Cheapest fuel is right here in Forest City so we go and fuel and then park to eat. Both RV's have close to a half tank each of fuel so that will help also. 10 gallons at $3 for each of us. When we walk into Kwik Star (Trip) they are giving free samples of loaded mashed potatoes. I think the person was tired of standing there as I got about as much as I would take at a buffet, not just a little cup / taste. Neither BB nor I could find what we wanted but after we walked around a bit they did bring out more food and I got my rib sandwich. Today we ate inside at their shelf, too hot outside. On I-35 we passed to mixers that did not have their drums turning ... :( First stop is at the rest area in Ankeny. Yup, it's hot. 111 when I came back to my RV. Somewhere before Omaha we saw a place where a semi tractor was on it's side in the median and the trailer was on it's side on our right shoulder. It looked like a crew was there to start picking it up, or assessing the situation. Fueled at Loves in Omaha without issue. Some had been texting me while I was driving wanting to know how to get ahold of the Dodge Center dispatcher ... yeh, they don't answer their phone much. From here BB makes reservations. She doesn't want to order food yet so we'll doe that from the hotel. Scale is closed. But somewhere today we did meet a city transit bus. On a trailer, electric short bus. Didn't see a name/location, all the lettering was about it being electric. When we get to the hotel, I tell BB that she may need to speak up. The radio was on XM on 70's on 7 when I got in and I have left it there. Some of those old songs still need to be played at full volume :) Parked at the hotel and checked in. Once in, we order food from Cracker Barrel. When we go outside again, my glasses fog over it is so hot and humid. At Cracker Barrel, BB runs in while I double park so we are out and back in minutes. No walk tonight. 9:00 - leave home 11:15 - arrive at shipper noon - fuel 12:15 - break - eat at Kwik Star 2:45 - break at Ankeny 4:45 - fuel at Omaha NE - Loves 5:30 - hotel at Lincoln NE - Quality Inn Loadboard US - 80 IA - 1 MN - 2 WI - 2 2023 07 27 IA-CA 2 RVs to 1,000 Oaks CA ... spending the night at Fort Morgan CO No alarm. Cheap hotel so not much choice for breakfast. One yogurt is enough for me. Still 80 degrees at 6 AM. One of the things that showed up on FaceBook this AM was a message/memory that 85 years, and a couple of days ago it got down to 91 degrees overnight. After a high of 115. Not much excitement today. A few people don't want to be passed so the decide to speed up once I get along side of them. And there was one truck that we passed and it passed us a few times. We had the cruise set so they must not have. And twice we ended up following trucks for miles because they were driving 65+. Not sure if that helped the mileage or not. Another accident where the remains were still waiting to be cleaned up. This one was a semi and a travel trailer. Not a transporter because there were clothes, etc spread for quite a distance. Before we stop for a break we both noticed that one of the rest area's had trucks double parked. As in they were just coming in in the travel lane and parking and getting out of their truck ??? At least that's what it looked like from the highway. Then when we get to our rest area there is only one truck in the whole parking lot. At this rest area, when I came out there was someone looking in the window of my van. But by the time I got there, they were gone. Loves in N Platte is a zoo. We like to park across from each other and only start one pump, but here there was only one pump open. I pull in first and it looks like the people ahead of me are ready to go. While I am waiting they come out to their car, get in ... and sit. Finally they move ahead to park by the building. I have to go in to get the pump started, then I fuel. I pull away and BB fuels. THEN the car I had been waiting finally is backing out. Today we decide to eat at Penny's Diner instead of here at the McD's or Subway. Full house. We get a table, they now have a paper menu. I order eggs, bacon and hash browns. I thought they had more choices. When we get the food it is 1 egg, 1 slice of bacon and a half a plate of hash browns. Good food, but wrong proportions. There is one transporter parked in Penny's lot so I was sizing people up in the restaurant. But the truck was still there when we left so I'm guessing the person was in the hotel instead. The rest area in Jewelsburg has RV parking. The pavement is marked on the ground for large RV's/trailers but there are not signs saying that is what they are for so lots of cars were parked there today. 119 degrees on the RV gauge when we were ready to go. BB makes the reservation from here. At the hotel there isn't any 'large parking' so I look for a place where no one will be directly across from me. But away from the trees. BB gives up on me and just parks. We are at the hotel at 2:30 local. When we check in, we are behind a person and a dog that gets loud. When we get to our room, they are still waiting in the hall so we know that we are right next to them. I had thought about saying to the desk clerk when we checked in ... 'as far away from dogs as possible' but I didn't. After we are in for a while we order online from Mav's Kitchen. BB had shrimp tacos, OK but not great. And a salad ... she orders some kind of honey dressing but what she got was straight honey. I had the reuben. Not thin sliced like most, and I never found any 1,000 Island dressing on it so it was kind of dry. But good. And nothing to dip my rings in. So not fast food but not great. At some point today, we got a call from our carrier ... 'important phone meeting' ... in two minutes. Maybe if they would let us know ahead of time ??? Tomorrow we need to order permits. Sounds like we should make it to Green River. 7:30 - Leave Lincoln NE 9:45 - Break at Kearney NE 11:30 - Fuel & break at N Platte NE - Loves and Penny's Diner 1:45 - Break at Jewelsburg CO 3:30 - Arrive at Fort Morgan CO - Comfort Inn and Mav Kitchen Loadboard US - 98 IA - 2 MN - 1 WI 0- 2023 07 28 IA-CA 2 RVs to 1,000 Oaks CA ... spending the night at Green River UT HOW hot is it? ... hot enough to crack my windshield. Dash said 126 when I started the RV. That was at the end of the day ... It was actually cool this AM so we went for a walk almost as soon as we got up. Plan was to walk down one of the roads that were showing on Google Maps. But all three of the roads had gates, two were closed. The other gate had a sign by it that made it look like it was also private property. But what we hadn't seen on the map was a park. That is where we walked. Frisbee golf park but it also had a lot of walking trails. Right down next to the river so almost no inclines. The hotel did have breakfast but I only got a little and then finished my sandwich from last night. With the walk added, we were running late. It was almost 9 AM when we pulled out of the hotel. Five plus miles down the road is our first scale of the day. I had tried to call them this AM but forgot about the time difference. Or they just were not answering their phones. So we crossed. No issue. An hour down the road is our first fuel. Hudson at Loves. We were not paying attention when we left so we had to take a right out of the lot and go until we got to a round about to get back onto the freeway. :) Denver was slow and go. And a ways past Denver. It's Friday AM and people are leaving town. Lots of people must have already left town. I don't remember ever seeing so many people on the bike trails up in the mountains. Our next stop was in Edwards at a Wendy's. Crowded but we did find a place to park. Not as crowded when we left but then there was a line at the drive-thru which made backing out of our spots harder. While we were stopped at Wendy's, we called for our permits, called the bus dispatcher and the drop. We are set. There is a new Loves in Parachute CO that we didn't remember. We'd seen it but it was still not open. Even now the heart on their sign does not show they are open. But if we had remembered this one. We could have stopped at the Loves in Brush last night. Then here today and Selina tomorrow and had one less fuel stop. Would have saved $1.25. We fuel in Grand Junction but don't fill because fuel is cheaper in UT tomorrow. When stopped we make a reservation in Green River. The 'rewards member' pricing that was there yesterday is gone so we'll have to pay another $25 for the room tonight. The exit scale from CO was closed. The lot was full of construction trucks. Not sure if that was their gathering point or if the scale had pulled them all in. UT scale was also closed. I had taken a picture of the dash in Grand Junction because it was over 100 degrees. Then most of the 100 miles from Grand Junction to Green River the temp was between 104 and 106. We check into our hotel and then go to drive to food even though it is only 2-3 blocks away. It is hot. The temp shows it is 126 degrees. Then I notice the cracked windshield. It was not there a half hour ago when I parked the RV. :( We go to a place called Tamarisk. There is a line, because there is a group of 20 ahead of us. I thought we would get our order in before the group but we didn't. But it didn't take all that long. I had alfredo with chicken and BB had fish taco's. Not 'great' food but we'd go back. Looks like 400 miles tomorrow and then 300 on Sunday. 8:45 - pre-trip/leave hotel 10 AM - fuel at Loves, Hudson 12:30 - eat at Wendy's in Edwards 4 PM - fuel at Loves, Grand Junction 5:30 - post-trip/arrive at Comfort Inn, Green River 6 PM - eat at Tamarisk Loadboard US - 83 IA - 1 MN - 4 WI - 1 2023 07 29 IA-CA 2 RVs to 1,000 Oaks CA ... spending the night at Barstow CA Opps. Really should have made sure I had an extra foot or more clearance before going under the canopy at the hotel :( No damage done, good thing there were not AC or heater units on the top. Back to the AM ... we could smell bacon when we walked out of our room. And they had real eggs so a good breakfast. It actually felt cool this AM, we could have taken time for a walk but we were ready to go. I called dispatch about the windshield. No answer so we left. 1st stop of the day was the Maverick in Salina for fuel. Their posted price was less than our discounted price at Loves. I tried to call dispatch from here but no cell service ... in town. So we did a quickstop at a rest area an hour later, no cell service. 2nd real stop was at an Asian restaurant in Cedar City. We had picked Panda last night but BB is not a fan so she found this place. I got the sweet and sour chicken. I told them I did not want the soup but they brought it any how. I didn't want the egg roll or rice either but that wasn't mentioned so I didn't know it was part of the meal. I ate most of the chicken and just that was too much food. The rest went to waste. While we were eating, I finally had cell service so I texted dispatch ... without looking at my email I had sent in the AM. They had replied, I would not have need to try and call them. Wasn't thinking it through .. Another hour down the road and we are at another Maverick for fuel. We don't need fuel yet but it is the last 'cheap' fuel and MAY be our last fuel if our mileage goes up. 15.5 mpg on Weds 15.1 mpg on Thurs 15.8 mpg on Friday The firs tank on Friday had been at 16.9 but I wasn't keeping track of each one. I just remember that one. The scale at St George is now over 26,000# so we didn't need to cross. All inspection area's in NV were closed and scale in CA are trucks only. I wish I had had my camera out earlier this AM. Nice blue sky, rising sun shinning on some parts of the hills. Could have stopped a few times. And again coming through AZ. Very picturesque. North of Las Vegas, near what used to be Garnet, we stopped at a Loves for a break. Crowded but we did find a spot to park. They are adding on to the building, next they need to add on to the parking lot. Don't remember when, but again today the temp was 127 degrees when I got back in my RV. Once we got into CA it the temps were 116-118 for quite a while. We had stopped at Loves to decide if we were staying in Las Vegas tonight or keep going to Barstow. We had gotten going early enough that we would have been in Las Vegas by about 1 PM so we kept going. So we got in a 500+ mile day today. Sure didn't need to. But it kept us from waiting to check into a hotel and got us a hotel for half the price. Traffic was light in Las Vegas today. I think the slowest we got down to was 60 mph. Usually it is stop and go. Last stop of the day was a rest area near Nipton for a break. Back in Jean NV there is a new gas station claiming to have the most pumps in NV. That is the same exit where the huge casino closed during Covid and has never re-opened. Not sure about Primm. There is a huge amusement area that does not seem to have re-opened either. We get to the hotel and 'our' parking spot is taken. We try a couple of other and then BB wants to go back to where we came in. She goes out onto the street ... and that is when I go under the canopy of the hotel. No, no, no. But BB said I didn't hit anything on top, and I went up to steps at the hotel to look. No damage. Whew. Big party going on. BB thinks it may be for someone turning 15 ??? She had a name for the event. Fancy dress. Lots of suits. No idea. We ate at the in house restaurant. Full. Us, not the restaurant. Other happenings today ... 1st there was a Grayhound pulled over by three cops. 2nd there was a pickup pulling a travel trailer that rolled. Cops were there but the ambulance didn't get there until after we passed. Bot the pickup and the trailer were on their sides, but opposite sides. And there was a four-wheeler in the middle of the road. Not sure if it was from a different vehicle, on a 2nd trailer of this vehicle or had been on the top of the pickup. There was a gal holding a toddler sitting next to the pickup. 3rd was a car in the median that looked like it had maybe rolled. Here there was also a gal holding a toddler next to the car. A cop was there but the tow truck was just getting there. 4th was a car who came down the ramp onto the freeway and then tried to get over in the center lane where I was. No one ahead in their lane for a half mile. I blew my horn but I couldn't hear it. They didn't hit me, pulled back in their own lane until they were past ... later I tried my horn again. Not likely anyone would hear it unless I was on a residential street with no traffic. 5th was earlier today. Almost no traffic. I had been slowly gaining on a truck and finally pulled out to pass. When I am about half way past the truck he turns on his blinker ... and blows his horn. I guess I wasn't passing him fast enough and now he wanted to pass what he had caught up to. 8 AM - leave hotel in Green River 10 AM - Fuel at Maverick in Salina 11:30 - try to make a call from the rest area near Pagaonah Noon - eat at Asian Bistrow in Cedar City 2 PM - Fuel at Marerick in Washington 3:30 - break at Loves in Garnet NV 5 PM - break at rest area in Nipton CA 6:30 - arrive at Quality Inn in Barstow 7:00 - eat at Los Domingos in Barstow Loadboard US - 74 IA - 1 MN - 2 WI - 1 .. the trip continues HERE
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