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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2023 09 11 MN-IL 1 trash truck to Elk Grove IL (Tuesday) ... spending the night at home No great work on the load board, no dispatchers calling us so we take another day off. Finally about 10 AM I call the local dispatcher, they are in their meeting so I call again about 11 AM. No 'good' trips so I am taking another trash truck to Elk Grove, might be the same as the last one I did for the other company. The only difference is this one is diesel instead of CNG. Last time we picked up and dropped the same day. This one we will split the miles over two days, that is usually a good thing for as rough as they rode. We have an appointment Tuesday at 10 AM. Not sure what happens with the emails. The first notice of the appointment went into the junk folder but the follow up came through OK. Later in the day the rental dispatcher put a few midwest trips out so we will try to grab one of those, but not until after I am in this truck. There are also a few options of other 2nd legs but most heading further than we want to run with our personal car. Personal car, we have put enough miles on it that I had to take it in for an oil change. As I am coming down the street by the shop, I notice the car ahead of me is smoking/steaming and pulling off to the side. But when I get to the shop, the shop is blocking my view so I can't see the car. I do see some more smoke/steam later and it smells like smoke. When I get in the shop, I ask the help about the car ... it did catch on fire. Apparently there was some grass stuck under the engine. Not totaled so someone must have had a fire extinguisher as there were never any fire trucks. Load board US - 102 IA - 1/0 MN - 4 WI - 1 Tomorrows plan is to make it 2/3rds of the way to the drop so likely DeForest or Rockford. Then deliver by noon and pick up a passenger van coming back to the auction house in the cities and then do the same a 2nd time if the other trucks are still there. 2023 09 12 MN-IL 1 trash truck to Elk Grove IL ... spending the night at DeForest WI This AM when we are done with biz at our appointment, the person starts asking us a lot about our jobs. How we choice hotels, how fast we drive, how far we drive, what we drive, etc. Afterwards we stop past they local office and pick up paperwork. No signs of it being "driver appreciation week." Paperwork was sitting out so no reason to talk to anyone. I did drive out to the parking lot and there was one bus sitting, going to Mississauga. We haven't done a Canada trip since I started working for the RV carrier. Then we can't agree on where to eat so we end up at Kwik Trip :) Shelf food. We both got a rib sandwich. I wanted a free sample too but the person was really slow at setting up and we had somewhere to be. So not today. My truck is the same make, style and going to the same place as last week but when we got to the shipper we found out it was a different end user. And this one said it is going to NJ so I had to call dispatch to confirm. Yup, CGO is just for an 'upfit.' Quick inspection, no issues. Still took a half hour. Just down the road to the first exit ramp and I pull over ... I marked on my inspection sheet that there were not any safety triangles but never grabbed mine. So I grabbed them now. A few more miles down the road and I remember something else, so as soon as we are past Rochester, I pull over again. What trip are we doing next? All the ones I wanted out of WI and IA are gone so we decide not to call on anything hoping something will show up tomorrow. Now we run for two plus hours before stopping. BB does stop for fuel in St Charles and quickly catches up to me. This truck's top end is 60 mph. Doesn't make for much smoother of a ride. I am getting pounded pretty good again. We stop in Lyndon Station at the rest area and decide that DeForest is as far as we will go. BB refills her water bottle here but it is so bad that she spits it back out. She thinks it is about as bad as the one near Portage. Not sure why it tastes that bad. The Comfort Inn is our next stop. It has been raining off and on all day. It started as just a light mist at the shipper. At first I thought I was blowing mist from my truck as the sun was shining. But there was a small cloud overhead and it was rain. The Nordic House is closed by the time we get to De Forest so it is the family place again. I remembered that I wanted the Turkey Salad sandwich ... until I look on the menu and don't see it. Then I forget that was what I wanted and ordered the chicken salad sandwich. It tasted different, I even had BB taste it and then is when she remembered ... I had turkey last time ... with cheese. No wonder it tastes different. Soup was good. Potato soup. BB got breakfast. Breakfast. The hotel has a picture as part of their breakfast sign. Eggs over easy, sausage, ham AND bacon ... I asked what were the chances that my breakfast is going to look like that tomorrow ... "Depends on where you order it from ..." (just not from here) Storm warnings by the time we are heading back to the hotel from eating. Took a short video of the sheet lightning, plus a few pictures. Load board US - 114 IA -0- MN - 3 WI - 4 We did have a couple of slow downs today and one was enough that we didn't get to the rest area early enough to call the drop ... something else I could have done from the shipper. No big deal, I dropped there last week and know what the hours are and they don't require a call. I will call from the hotel in the AM. Still trying to decide how much fuel to put in. Getting good mileage without a headwind and only going 60 mph. Doesn't really make much difference. Truck is going all the way to NJ so if I put in more the next driver will have to put in less. Now we are doing the math to see what other trips on the load board pay enough to do them without getting our car half way across the country. There still is one in Indiana coming back to MN, we'll see if the math works. And there are now two more trucks coming to Elk Grove on the load board ... if they were not such a rough ride, they do pay good. 2023 09 13 MN-IL 1 trash truck to Elk Grove IL (delivered) 1 box truck to Little Falls MN 1 pickup to Shakopee MN (Thursday) ... spending the night at Schaumburg IL Breakfast was the usual, nothing like what was shown on the picture at check-in. We get going right about 7:30, my first stop is two exits down at the TA, still in DeForest. A few open islands. Last time I put in 40 gallons and left way too much fuel. Today I put in 14 gallons. I call the drop and my contact is not in the office today but says someone will check me in. Nothing too exciting on the drive today. A few farms are chopping silage and one field looked like it had been combined. Or maybe it was commercial sweet corn? Some places fields are mostly brown and other area's there aren't any area's turning yet. By the time I get to Janesville, the dispatcher for this truck is calling. So I stop by the rest area and give them a call back ... 'can you do another Chicago trip as soon as you get back?' I tell them I will need to call them back once I deliver. The pay is good, the ride is rough. Before I get to the drop, I hit a couple of bumps that almost make me hit the roof and feel like they are shaking my brain. I've done longer trips than these but some trucks/trips are just rougher than others. Most times I can 'read the road' and know when a bump is coming. These last two I did not, so I will likely hit them again next time. I pull into the drop, bring my paperwork into the office and empty my truck. I'm walking back out to my truck to take pictures when BB pulls in. I've gotten here ahead of her. Check-in takes about 15 minutes. Then another 15 to get the paperwork sent in and to make phone calls. I call back this dispatcher to say I am NOT going to take another trash truck this week. But I get his boss and we start talking about buses. They really need bus drivers, they did not know these buses were going to be given to our carrier. No other good trips have shown up. We grudgingly agree to take a trip from IN to MN. It's going to pay about half as much per day as the others but it does pay. Most trips when I move these trucks from IN, they are right on our route coming back from somewhere. This time we have to dead head three hours to pick up the truck and then another three hours after we drop it in MN. 1st stop is at the oasis for lunch. FREE lunch. It is driver appreciation week and we could get a free meal every day from Dunkin. Other years it has been one meal from the TA/Petro but they have closed enough of those it's hard to find an open one. BB and I each got a breakfast sandwich and a donut, plus I got a juice. Next stop was the Love's in Goshen. If we had stopped in Gary it would have been less out of route miles but I've been staying away from Gary. BB had forwarded my paperwork to the Loves so they could print it out when I got there. Not sure what happened but it never sent, is not in the sent or even in the draft folders. That took a little longer. As we are pulling out of Loves, BB is looking for work. There is one in MN. I stop and call right away. I usually do not call before I am in my current unit but this is a short trip almost right in route for coming back home from the one we are picking up. I tell dispatch what I want and then we dis-connect. After that it goes to voicemail so I start driving again. Dispatch does call back and BB puts it on speaker phone. They had their driver appreciation event Monday ... four drivers showed. He is down in FL and his trips are all over the US, not like some locations where most of the driver base lives near the main shipper. Three big lots in Bristol. Mostly empty. Four trucks in my lot. Two RV's in the middle lot and a few travel trailers in the third lot. Lots are each big enough to fit hundreds. And likely did a couple of years ago. That makes it easier to find my truck. All checks good. I call the drop and they are open until 6 PM so we should, should be able to make delivery tomorrow. And they will have a check for me. My first COD with this carrier. Back to the Loves in Goshen for fuel. This is a gas. Love's $.10 savings adds up to $2 on this fill. And it is a nice big lot. No problems getting in or out today. I have had issues with both in the past :) When I get to the toll booth, it will not read my transponder so I have to take a ticket. That is why I almost always go in a lane that has a ticket option. Somewhere today I saw a semi in an EZ pass only lane where the driver was out walking around, likely wondering what his options were when the EZ / I-pass doesn't work. When I got to the exit of the toll way, I hid the I-pass and paid the ticket. But the booth was out of paper, so now we need to look online to find out how much I paid. I didn't see it anywhere on the screen. I was paying with credit card so it just took my money. At this point I lost BB. Traffic was heavy around Chicago but it seemed like I was usually in the fast lane today. We had hoped to be to the hotel by 5 PM, I got there at 5:45 and BB about 6 PM. We had made reservations from back in Goshen. Our next stopping place is Rockford, another hour down the road. Would have been nicer for tomorrow but a long day today. Both my local dispatcher and the rental dispatcher call while I am driving, neither leave a message. When we checked in, they insisted they know the plate numbers off each unit. BB walked back out because neither of us could remember. I found it in a picture about the same time as BB got to the car. After we checked in, we went to Chik-fil-A. No Smashburger today. Too much food. No deli close. Now I see I did get a text on the MN trip. I got it, I'll get the paperwork sometime tomorrow. Load board US - 131 IA - 1/0 MN - 5 WI - 4 We have eight plus hours of driving tomorrow so it will be later in the PM when I drop in Little Falls. Haven't seen the paperwork for the MN trip so no idea when we can pick up there. And there is not much for great hotels up in that area. We may end up back tracking to make the last pick up on Friday AM instead of Thursday PM.
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2023 09 14 IN-MN 1 box truck to Little Falls MN (delivered) 1 pickup to Shakopee MN (Thursday) ... spending the night at Elk River MN When we leave our room for breakfast we see that the person across from us has stacked their 8 pillows, some towels and their coffee maker in the hall with a not saying that they wouldn't be needing these things ... ... and then there was a broken bottle in the hall by the elevator. Breakfast was spread out and plain. No colorful signs or proper spacing of food items. We are ready to roll at 7:30. BB mentions that there is an easier way to get to the toll way than the way we came in but that is the only way I know so that is the way I go. Once we are on the freeway we get off at the first exit so I think I want to be in the right lane when I turn to the ramp. Nope, this is a frontage road and only the left lane is the entrance ramp so BB and I both have to get over two lanes quickly. Once on the toll road we see the easier way, so next time. Two hours down the road I stop in DeForest for fuel. BB had mentioned last night that all stations were the same price so I stopped at the Kwik Trip, it is on the correct side of the road and sometimes I get a small discount. Opps ... prices have gone up $.30 overnight at all stations except the TA at the prior exit. So I did something I rarely do. I back tracked for cheaper full. But $.30 on 20 gallons is real money. And I'm not on THAT tight of a schedule. BB calls from the Kwik Trip when I am at the TA. She decides she just won't fuel here instead of coming back to the TA. While I'm stopped I also call tomorrow's pickup. They close at 4:30 today (3:30 tomorrow) so no chance of picking it up tonight. Three plus hours to my next stop. BB stopped after 2 hours and got 'good food' at a Kwik Trip. By the time I stopped the good food was gone. But I wanted to stop at a station that was on my side of the freeway and not stop until after noon. This was the first place. Glenwood City. I got a breakfast sandwich and then threw the sausage part of it away. Roundabouts have been put in here and they have 'blocked the median so we now have to go a block through through the parking lot to get far enough away from the roundabouts to cross the street. We hit road construction a few places. I had thought we'd be to the drop by 4 PM, then 4:30 PM ... now maybe 5 PM. Glad they are open until 6 PM. At the TA I had planned on putting in 20 gallons of fuel but I was not that empty yet. And my range drops a little before I fuel again. When I fueled I had five miles more than I needed, more than 'E.' When I fuel again I am short 10 miles or so. But I can't leave it on 'E' so I stop as soon, or almost as soon as the low fuel light comes on. I fuel at the Holiday in Clearwater. I noted when the low fuel light came on, divided by my current mpg plus added an extra gallon. I was going to text BB but forgot. When going through the town of Clear Lake, I noticed a semi stopped almost on the side of the road in oncoming traffic but not quite ... wondered why until I looked in my mirror and saw the flashing lights. No one was getting out of the way in my direction. I ended up pulling up on the curb to get out of their way ... and then others followed them past me ?? BB had gotten ahead of me and stopped at the rest area near St Cloud. I looked over my shoulder and saw there was a red car but couldn't see if it was ours. I get to the drop a few minutes before 5 PM. My guy is gone but the others know all about the truck and the COD. Someone signs without looking at it and then follows me out and moves it as soon as I have my things out. I walk a few feet and start putting my things in a better order and BB pulls up. We are set to go. We know we are heading south so we head and BB looks for first hotels and then food. We will end up at a Country Inn in Elk River, our first time at a Country Inn. And we end up at Culvers because it is easiest. They are working on the roads and exit, cross streets are closed. If we can get there, will we be able to get back out? Cookies at the Country Inn. Load boad US - RON IA - 1/0 MN - 1 WI - 9 We are about 10 miles from tomorrows shipper. Should have it dropped before noon. Not sure what we are going to do for work from now on. Those trash trucks are really giving me a beating. There are not short bus trips. There are not any RV's at all. And not much yet for rental units. Some years it gets busy in the fall with rentals but not always. |
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2023 09 15 MN-MN 1 pickup to Shakopee MN (delivered) 1 pickup to Williamsburg IA (Monday) 1 pickup to Caledonia WI (Tuesday) ... spending the night at home Nothing strange at this hotel. Last night I did watch a pickup with a 5th wheel come in and run over the curb and still had no where to turn. I didn't stick around to see what happened, when they were coming in it did not look like they knew what they were doing ... 7:30 we are ready to go. Turns out this shipper is about a mile from the Country Inn in Albert Lea. But I had never looked at the map, I just remembered the one water tower we can see from the main highway. We let the GPS guide us and we get to ... road construction. Road closed. So we back track and come in from the other direction. The person I talked to yesterday is not in today. Someone walking past the counter said they would take care of me. They hoped in their truck and I followed. One problem, the truck has not been cleaned out. The guy starts grabbing things and then when he can't hold any more decides to get help and they pull the truck up by the dumpster. It only takes a few minutes with two people, one of them with a shovel cleaning out the box. After we sign off on the paperwork they ask if I had called. Yup, talked to the contact ... he did not say he would not be in, he did say you were open until 4:30 last night and then from 6:30 to 3:30 today ... Full tank of fuel to go 50 miles :) BB follows me to the first rest area where she pulls off. It was not raining when we picked up but it starts raining a little and then comes down in buckets once I am down near the drop. Lights, wipers on, cruise off. If it is raining like this when I get to the drop, I'll just wait in the pickup. Once I am on old 169, a semi comes over on me before I realize he has his blinker on. I didn't notice it was on because of the rain. There was no one ahead of me for a half mile or behind me for a half mile so they could have waited. Once I saw he was coming over, I backed off. He didn't really know where he was going. He was almost past the turn lane before he turned down the street I was taking. The rain let up quickly and just more than misting when I pulled into the drop. Someone I have seen before, rare. People don't stay here long. Lots of cars, I don't quite fit in the 1st row I picked so I had to re-park. And it is still raining. 60+ and rain feels cool. Nothing new for work. When I get back to our car, BB is talking to family that has locked their keys in the car. So that is our next task. When I am talking to dispatch on this last truck we just dropped, I ask if they have more trips that I don't see because we don't hit re-fresh quick enough. Not really. But a few miles down the road I get a call, the shipper just dumped a dozen out of WI on them. I asked about weekend pickups because we aren't quite ready to leave yet. We swing past home to pick up a set of keys and make work copies. Next stop is dropping off the keys, after that I drop off the paperwork at the local company. They have three buses and three trucks in the lot. I talk to the head dispatcher and they do not have anything under 500 miles that is not a cab over ... but they still have Canadian buses ... BB is not really interested in the logistics of going into Canada, we haven't decided if we would use our own car or get a rental. Our limit has been 500 miles for that company for the last <> 5 years. And no Canadian for either company for longer than that so this is nothing new. Waaaaaaaaay Back Burger. They have apple pie shakes, not sure why BB suggested it. I have 100's of times and it has always been a no. Good food, not too much. We did stop and mail the COD check before eating, so that is done too. By about 2:30 we decide there is nothing new and the rental trucks are the best option. We call and get two, one going to IA and the other to MLW. I also get the phone number for the person to deal with on weekend pick-ups. At every turn it was 'is there any way this can be done on Monday ...' So we will wait until Monday, and do the second one Tuesday. So now we can go to Oktoberfest tomorrow :) :) We will likely head to Appleton from there and take a <> vacation day near or on Lake Michigan. Load board US - 98 IA - 1/0 MN - 5 WI - 6 |
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