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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2023 07 30 IA-CA 2 RVs to 1,000 Oaks CA ... spending the night at 1,000 Oaks CA We have 150 miles to go today so we are in no rush to get going. Up at 4:30 local. Finally take a walk about 5:30. After one loop, my leg started feeling different so we did two more laps around the parking lot instead of a long lap. That was enough for me, BB did one more lap around the parking lot before coming back to the room. By then the sun was up and the air was starting to warm up. After another couple of hours we went down for our free made-to-order breakfast. Not as big as the Quality Inn in Winnemucca, but good food. Two more hours and we are ready to head out when we need to be out of our room. First thing I did was look over my RV again anywhere I might have made contact last night driving under the canopy. Nothing. When we pull out this AM, before we get to the freeway we see a homeless kid, his dog, and all his belongings ... in a grocery cart. Instead of taking the '210' across the north LA metro, we are taking the back roads. The second half of the first leg is mostly rural two lane highway. Up and down, a few curves for no real reason. I didn't record or remember the exact mileage as to when we should get to our stop. I'm watching the signs. 9 miles to ... 7 miles to. Then something clicks. I notice something, not sure what ... but we turn here. I'm in the right lane and I should be in the left turn lane. BB is able to get over first and make an opening for me. I was expecting the Flying J to be right on the corner of where we turned. It is not. And there were not any billboards or signs before the turn. The station is too new to be showing on any area aerial photos. The pumps are crowded, but not the parking area. I now have enough fuel range to get to the drop and was only planning on putting in a couple of gallons. BB puts in three times that much ... (we both end up with a range of over 100 miles. A lot when fuel is $5+ a gallon.) Once we have fueled, we get food. Subway is the fast food but BB sees pizza at PJ Fresh so we get that instead. Another hour and a half to go ... now it is 129 degrees. 100+ five days in a row. A few more turns than I like so I have written them all down. I also have looked at them enough times to remember and recite the route. No issues and we are soon at the hotel. It is not cheap but is less than a mile from the drop. There was a Choice hotel next door but it is being worked on and no idea what it will re-open as. Nice hotel, huge parking lot. Food on site. Nice open air atrium right outside our door. Later in the evening, we ordered to go food from the in-house restaurant, the Pizza Cookery. We ordered one chicken Philly and split it. Still plenty of food. I also got a cookie ice cream sandwich out of the cooler. Ate most of it until I got to a part that looked not right, thought about going down to get another one to see if they were all that way :) 1 PM - leave hotel 2:30 - food and fuel at Flying J in Palmdale 4:30 - arrive at Best Western in Thousand Oaks 2023 07 31 IA-CA 2 RVs to 1,000 Oaks CA (delivered) ... spending the night at Santa Nella CA Breakfast. Good food. Usual stuff. Before breakfast we went for a mile plus walk. We are on a frontage road that <> dead ends in to a major mall which doesn't open until later so no traffic. Mall has three anchor's and then it looks like they added on additional mall space 'open air.' We can't deliver until 9 AM local so we have time to sit around again today. Not sure yet if we will head straight up to Livermore or stay here for an hour or more. We leave out with the plan to get to the drop at 9 AM. First we need to stop for fuel. I go over by $.01, BB hits the final fuel number right on this time. Didn't look at the final range but we each had a range of over 100 miles before we put fuel in. We are at the lot before 9 AM, some people are already working but we have time to clear our stuff out of the RV's before they want to move them. It sounded like BB's was already sold. No issues with either other than my cracked windshield. They guy wanted to know where it got that hot ... so I listed some of the places :) Once the inspector talked to us, we got the OK to walk down to the rental car place. It was locked up when we got there with one person ahead of us. She was only going to Stockton, said her company would fly her but with all the delays before, during and after the flight it is faster just to drive. She got the only car they had. We had to wait until someone returned one. Got to listen to a lot of calls to and from customers. Not sure what people expect someone in the office to do when they have NO cars. "Get me one ..." they did apologize when they were face to face and not on the phone. After a half hour I walked back to the RV dealer so I could get the paperwork. They offered to take us to another rental car place if needed. Haven't had that offer for a while. The dealer hadn't turned on the AC in the driver waiting area so I went and sat out on a ledge on the side of the sideway. At least there there was a breeze once in a while. I call BB as soon as our paperwork is signed off. Someone just came in with a car so as soon as the 'clean' it, we can go. I was back at the rental place a while before it was cleaned. Not really cleaned, but ... At one point the rental offered us a Tesla and we passed. Later I asked about it and they didn't really have any answers. They have one, it has to be returned to that location. They had no idea about one ways, what charge it has to be left at, etc. From the rental car place we headed back to the hotel. It was nice to to have to leave all of our stuff at the RV office while we picked up our car. As we are leaving, there is a car carrier in the hotel parking lot loading up cars. We decided to just head to the buses in case there is one. If we can leave yet today we can make it back to the mid-west before the weekend. Some time, some where about an hour later ... I remember we never checked out of the hotel. Once everything was in the car, I should have driven up to the office. Instead I got side tracked by watching the car carrier and BB was likely looking at directions. So we called the hotel and they checked us out. Never got an invoice yet. First stop was the In-n-Out Burger in Lebec. Parking lot is packed and we had to wait for a car to leave so we had somewhere to park. Line for the cash register was out the door and they had three cashiers working. All tables were full so we got ours to go, planned on eating it in the car. Did notice a couple standing next to us ... ate their burgers just standing between the rows of tables. Not sure why they didn't want to eat in their car. Or outside. After we got our food and were leaving was saw tables in the shade so we decide to eat here. Cost us $20 :( Some 'beggar' came up to us and asked for gas money. He had a long story, didn't look the beggar type. Not sure how far $20 was going to get him with gas at $4-5 a gallon. This time may have been the first time I did not call the bus dispatcher from the drop. Once it got to be 3 PM, BB dialed but they did not pick up. As soon as we got to our stop, I called again. No buses, no hotels paid. The shipper is clamping down on costs. We rarely got our hotel paid unless it was a breakdown so I'm guessing others did or it would not be an issue. Hopefully work tomorrow. Where we stopped there was a Wayback Burger place in the gas station. We stood for a while trying to decide which shake we wanted before deciding that no shake would be better if we were going to eat in the next 1-2 hours. We had our minds set on split pea soup so we head another hour to Santa Nella. We make a reservation from where we are. Once down the road, we realize that there were trucks down in the LA area that we could have still picked up tomorrow AM and gotten dropped before 3 PM tomorrow when we will call the bus dispatcher again. Another case of 'plans changed, now let's make a snap decision' ... like getting a hotel NOT where there is work. We get to Santa Nella and fuel before heading to the hotel. Then check in at the hotel before we head down for Split Pea soup. BB has the soup. I have a chicken salad sandwich and potato salad. More than enough. Almost ... had a throat episode. Just sat there a while and it cleared. It's been over a year now so that has been nice. There is now a second food truck across the street from the hotel at the gas station. We almost debated going to the food truck instead of Split Pea but decided not this time. Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow. Temps today were 100+ again. Heading to the ocean sounds good. Walking cemeteries does not sound as much fun. 10:45 - leave hotel, fuel, drop (all in less than a mile) 12:30 - leave rental car place, leave hotel 2 PM - eat at In-n-Out Burger in Lebec 3:30 - break at Firebaugh at Wayback/Union 76 4:30 - fuel at Loves, check in at Quality Inn in Santa Nella 5 PM - eat at Anderson Split Pea. Load board US - 88 IA -0- MN - 4 WI - 1 2023 08 01 IA-CA 2 RVs to 1,000 Oaks CA (delivered) ... spending the night at Livermore CA (still the same trip so not changing months yet) Breakfast has improved here. Used to be packaged rolls and donuts. Now they have eggs (?) sausage, a fridge with yogurt and waffle machines. Before breakfast we went for a walk around the parking lot a half dozen times. This area is all businesses. No houses near this exit. And lots of trucks so even where there is sidewalk you are dodging trucks. Most of the homeless trailers are different. Just one coach style bus at the end of the street is the same. We leave the hotel about mid morning so that we will arrive in Monterey about 11 AM to eat. We had planned on eating at the Red ... something, but as BB is looking on line she sees the food we have gotten in the past was breakfast. And they only serve that until 11 AM. So she looks at the #2 place in town and we end up going there instead. Also a little house (?) with a few tables. We were able to park on the street a couple of blocks away. Looked like we could have parked much closer on a different street. Food was good. Got to watch a deer walk down the street while we ate. Finally thought of taking a picture once it was a ways away but can still tell it is a deer. Saw more deer at a cemetery near the lighthouse. Saw them both coming and going today. Then saw more in front of a school as we were leaving town. The beach we stop at doesn't seem to have a name there. It is near where singer John Denver died and there is a memorial rock for him. People have now placed shells on his rock since the last time we were here. When we got there, we walked mostly along the street as the beach is close to the road. Saw dozens of some time of ground squirrels in one place so someone must have just feed them. Not very crowded today. At one time the temp was 59 and misting so not walking weather for the locals. Then we sat in the car for a while and watched the waves. I dozed a little. Then we took another walk the other direction. Finally timed that one on the way back. So the second beach walk was about 45 minutes. Plus the earlier beach walk and the early AM walk today. When 3 PM arrived, I called the bus dispatcher a few times until he answered. No bus today and he first suggested I do not wait around. He didn't seem to be in a rush this time so we talked a few minutes and by the end of the call he said to call him back in the AM (?) We do plan on staying the week but likely not the weekend. After that call it took us a while to decide where we were going to go and what we were going to do. Now that we have time to do other trips, I realized that the RV near LA can not be moved until Friday. The truck in Reno is listed as a straight (box) truck but looking closer, other places it is listed as a tractor, which is a much different ride. And the rental units that there are usually plenty of are -0- while we are here. There is some in MN :( right now. We finally decide to head to Livermore so we can switch cars and get one for half the current daily price. Hotels are cheaper close to here, but if we get one near Livermore then we can spend part of the day in the hotel instead of checking out at 7 AM ... the car needs to be back about 9 AM. After looking at a few places to eat, we end up at a Black Bear in Gilroy. Good food, good huckleberry malt. More than I needed, but good. By the time we are done eating the traffic has mostly cleared. The only place there was still a backup was where a Tesla truck had stalled in the travel lane. That was the first one I had seen. Then we saw a second one just as we were to pull off the freeway by the hotel. The second one was a center drive. Not sure if they all are. There is one stretch of non-freeway coming from the south where we did and there is currently road construction. First I was in the lead when it was one lane and then the slow guy when it was two lane. I was almost going 15 over the limit and cars were passing me like I was standing still. We did drive past the buses. 10 buses in the (mostly) done area plus another five for LA. The partially done lot still has 100 plus but most of the LA buses are gone now. Two of the 10 look like Duluth buses. I find out when I look at my computer that the only bus driver I am in contact with is on their way to Duluth MN. ... now if they had just staying in HI a couple of more days, I might be on my way to Duluth already. We check into the Quality Inn in Livermore. No major plans for tomorrow. Load board US - 110 IA -0- MN - 3 WI - 1 2023 08 02 CA 2 RVs to 1,000 Oaks CA (delivered) ... spending the night at Morgan Hill CA Un-eventful day. Breakfast, such as they serve here. 9 AM we go and exchange cars, or paperwork. They let us keep the same car. Interesting that the person here asked us about our experience at the location we picked it up at (?) 11 AM, I call the bus dispatcher and they just say to call them back at 3 PM. At some point there was one more in-state trip that could have worked if we were ready to commit on a moments notice. 12 noon, we check out and go to Mr Pickle for lunch. I get a half, BB gets a full sandwich. 1 PM we go for a walk at the local park. Path is still closed a ways in, it doesn't seem as the like they have started fixing any of the spring damage. 3 PM and I call the bus dispatcher "Nothing good" when I asked if things were better today. No buses. I did get a half laugh out of him before we hung up. BB and I had talked enough to decide where we were going if we didn't get a bus. We check out prices and head to Morgan Hill. Then likely to Santa Cruz tomorrow. Just north of Morgan Hill and we have a 20 minute delay. As we get to the 'incident,' the first two fire trucks were pulling out and the rest of the fireman seemed to be walking back to their trucks. A few more minutes and the lane would be open again. Timing. We check into the Comfort Inn in Morgan Hill. Interesting that the sign on the laundry door says 'open 6 AM to 12 PM.' We haven't asked them yet ... Later we head to Erik's Deli. We have eaten there before so we headed there again. BB only gets soup as she had a full sandwich at noon. I get a reuben and mac salad. They were out of carrot cake so I get a brownie instead. Haven't talked to the driver yet, but the driver heading to Duluth has posted they are broken down in Cheyenne WY. We were not close to the shipper at 3 PM so we didn't drive past today. Load board US - 101 IA - 9 MN - 7 WI - 4 2023 08 03 CA 2 RVs to 1,000 Oaks CA (delivered) ... spending the night at Lathrup CA OUCH ! Got a call from the bus dispatcher today saying there will be no more buses this week ... so we are now deadheading home after waiting three days. Last night I was going to ask the person at the hotel desk about their mis-leading sign on the laundry room. But I never saw anyone when they weren't helping a customer and it wasn't a big enough deal to wait for. I should have. Shortly after six this AM, we load our clothes into the washer and try to figure it out ... then I go to the front desk where I am told "Someone told the front desk clerk last night it was not working ..." The AM person tried to help us but no luck so we are out the time, Tide and how every much money we put in. Breakfast was real eggs and sausage, the sausage was not to spicy for me so a good breakfast. We watch the load board this AM but nothing great enough to call on. Finally at 11 AM we check out and head to Walmart. Random things we were out of. When we left the hotel this AM, BB dropped her water bottle and broke the handle off it. It didn't make it onto the Walmart list so we forgot about getting a new one. We hadn't talked about where we were going to go. We pretty much wait until the last minute. And sometimes BB is tired of picking so today I said we'll eat at the Strawberry patch, go to a cemetery and then a state park. All are in or near Watsonville. It's about two hours from there back to the buses so not too far away. Great food at the Strawberry Patch. Little coffee shop serving breakfast and lunch. My sandwich was ham with apple slices. Plus I had a pineapple/mango malt and a piece of carrot cake. We'll stop again. Sometime on the last few days an 'ad' for the Strawberry Festival in Watsonville showed up on FB. The carnival starts tomorrow but the rest runs on Sat and Sun so we'll miss it. After we were done eating, it was about two miles straight on city streets to the cemetery. The gate from the main road was mostly closed with no-where to stop so we drove around looking for another way to get in or place to park. As I'm driving, BB is looking online at the aerial maps. There is a way in, just before we get there .... ring, ring ... it is the bus dispatcher. Not a very happy bus dispatcher. No work for me, no money for either of us. But call next time I am out. We were already at the cemetery so we drove in. We've been here before but we must have gotten the locations for the cemetery across the street as I do not have any info on the dozen relatives buried here. I drove through the cemetery and did find one of the markers. Before I got out ... BB and I talked a little about our options. Then I took my pictures. Then I called local dispatch ... they do have a truck in CA. But it is six hours the wrong direction and is a garbage truck ... and is going to TX, not back to MN. I passed. No work on our main board going that far. There had been something going to CO but that was earlier and I think was also a garbage truck. Sometimes we jump too quick when plans change but we think we have looked at all the options. So we, BB, was able to change our current car to a one-way for a great price. Most places we looked at had 'no cars.' No cars if we want to make a new reservation but we can change this to a one-way. No problem. So no state park today. No looking for more graves today. This is going to turn out to be one of our 'minimum pay' trips. Overall. But that is because it took us five days to do a four day trip. Then sat on the west coast for three days 'waiting for work' before heading home. We will continue to watch for work. Sometimes things come up. By the time we get back to Livermore, BB needs a restroom so we plan on stopping at Target. But first we swing past the buses. Almost the same eight as yesterday AM. One troolly was new from before. Also was we drove past, we saw there is a storage lot of buses on the south side of the building now too. 100's of buses total between the three lots. When we did stop at Target, there was someone with a dolly full of produce that they were trying to sell. We avoided them. Plan was to get to Rocklin yet tonight. But the ETA kept getting later and later. Then I mentioned the food trucks in Lathrup and we decided to stop there for food and the hotel a couple of blocks away for the night. Supposed to be 27 food trucks, we didn't count them. We looked at the all. Only one serving ice cream. No cookies, no brownies, no deserts. We ended up getting Italian. No what we think of for food truck food but it was good. We each ate about half of our food and will eat the rest for breakfast ... or forget. If we drive 10 hours at 70 mph we will be in Salt Lake City tomorrow night. Checked in with the bus driver that is broke down in Cheyenne ... they are not having her stay with the bus (?) So it sounds like they are really clamping down on the hotels, I've stayed three weeks once. Down time and hotels paid. No more ??? Our rental car is getting 48.5 mpg so far. Not sure it will keep that at 80 mph but we'll watch for it. Load board US - 80 IA - 5/4 MN - 7 WI - 1 .. the trip continues HERE |
