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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2023 10 02 MN Had to drop off my paperwork today from my local trip. They will not accept faxed or emailed copies. They didn't have any trucks in the lot but two of their shuttle vans were gone and one was just returning. There were RV trips on the load board right away at 8 AM today including one going to California. And later one going to TN. BB got all her stuff done today so we may call on work tomorrow. There is one close but it is with a California dispatcher so we may not be able to call until 10 AM ... leave out at 11 AM. By that time the connecting trips will likely be gone. Load board is about double what it was some days last week. Load board US - 189 IA - 2/1 MN -0 - WI - 6 2023 10 03 MN-WI ?1 trash truck to Johnson Creek WI (delivered) ... spending the night at Johnson Creek WI Change of plans. We were going to take a few days off before vacation but we got everything pretty much done on Monday we wanted to, so we are working. Problem is that the truck we want in the mid-west belongs to a west coast dispatcher. I text, I leave a message. Finally, while I am in the shower ... they call back "... we really don't start dispatching until 8 AM," which is 10 AM central. :( And by now the two connecting trips that were in WI are gone. So we take the one trip but now we have no return trips. We are pretty much ready to go when we talk to the dispatcher and get the paperwork printed. We are out in the car when I try to call the shipper "... he hasn't worked here for over 2 years" was the main point of contact. So I call the phone number listed at that address. No matter which department I try, the same person's name comes on the voicemail. Sounds like a one person operation. A couple of miles down the road we get a call back, the truck is sitting on the shoulder of the road, just grab and go. And that is where it was, parked on the side of the road with the keys in it. Used, well used. But all checks out OK, until I am loading my stuff in the cab and notice a mud flap ?? So I check. Missing one mud flap. So we try to put this one on. It has holes but only one hole lines up at a time and I have nothing to punch more holes. We finally line up one hole, bolt that one in tight and then use cable ties on two other holes to try to keep the mud flap level. This does take a while. And not planned. I try to call the drop from the shipper but no answer so I left a message. It is about a half mile back to the four lane. It is now almost noon and I wanted to have this delivered today. As soon as I pull onto the four lane ... CRACK ... a nice big rock chip in the upper left of the windshield. Had to be from something on coming. It is a four lane but because of the road constructions it is really a two lane right now. The pickup ahead of me was a block ahead of me so pretty sure it was the oncoming traffic. So I call dispatch and let them know. That was it. From there it was a almost five hour non-stop drive to the drop. Traffic slowed to a crawl a few places. I hadn't done the math on the trip, at some times I thought we'd be to the drop by 4 PM, other times it looked like 5:30. Ended up being 4:15. Web and door said they closed at 4:30 but all doors were locked. And I had never gotten a call back to make a backup plan. Finally someone drove up that had a key. There were people inside, thought so. There were still a half dozen pickups in the lot. Just no one in the front office. My guy, the one who let me in, asked if ___ was there, hope. He leaves at 3:30. So someone else said they would sign. I don't care. It is not 4:30 and I am good to go. Made it. And BB wasn't there yet. With me not stopping and me driving over 60 mph doesn't leave her enough time for all of her stops. No work that works on the load board. We check the hotel prices and decide to stay right here in Johnson Creek at the Comfort Inn. And eat a mile away at the Pine Cone. We have stopped here before for desert to go but never for food. I had German meatballs and BB had goulash. Then I got a lemon bar to go. The lemon bar was 4x what you get anywhere else. And good. Load board US - 168 IA - 4/2 MN - 6 WI - 4 No plans for tomorrow. We will give it time in the AM for a dispatcher to put work out but it can only be going home or in the direction of home. By noon we need to be heading home with or without work. 2023 10 04 MN-WI ?1 trash truck to Johnson Creek WI (delivered) ... spending the night at home Up at our usual time, go for a walk once it is light out. With our medical appointments coming up, BB is looking hard at doing things differently. Sitting all day and eating fast food is not the recommended way to live a healthy life. Breakfast for me was yogurt, for BB it was left overs from last night. Nothing good shows up on the load board so by 8:30 we head home. There were a few trips added heading to MN but nothing added from WI all day. First stop was the rest area in Lyndon Station. Both yesterday and today the back ups on our side did not seem to be as bad as the other direction. We still had our slow downs and road construction. This time coming into one of the merge area's there had been signs telling drivers to stay in their lanes until the merge signs. And this time traffic was pretty good at doing just that. I was just about to the merge sign when the car ahead of me merged so now I was the first car in the lane that was ending. The guy behind me flashed his lights at me and blew his horn. Guess they thought I should have hit the gas to get right to the end of the merge lane. I didn't. And when I didn't move any faster or out of the way ... they merged in and stayed away from me. Even when the car between us exited, they stayed two blocks behind me. MAYBE they realized they shouldn't have done that? Somewhere after that I finally got paid. BB was in shock. I had told her yesterday my hearing must be going because the dispatcher ... I thought had said $$. I was right. We worked 12 hours over the last two days and got paid 4x what our better trips pay. It was worth working on a day we had planned on taking off. It would have been even nicer if we had decided the night before so we could have picked the truck up at 8 AM and been back home by 8 PM. But we wouldn't have, because then we would have taken at 2nd and maybe third leg. 2nd stop is for food and fuel at the Kwik Trip in Menomonie. Another rib sandwich for me. NOW we are done for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks. Leaving tomorrow AM for Nashville and will be back Tue/Wed. Then appointment Thurs. Then lab on Monday, another appointment Tuesday. And have to make another appointment before we leave town, maybe 2-3 more. Load board US - 188 IA - 3/1 MN - 6 WI - 2
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