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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2023 10 15 MN Load board (Thursday) US - 201 IA - 4/3 MN - 8 WI - 5 Load board (Friday) US - 187 IA - 3/1 MN - 7 WI - 5 Load board (weekend) US - 189 IA - 3/1 MN - 6 WI - 5 Load board (Monday) US - 177 IA - 3 MN - 5 WI - 8 Load board (Tuesday) US - 161 IA - 1 MN - 9 WI - 5 Load board (Wednesday) US - 176 IA - 3 MN - 15 WI - 7 Load board (Thursday) US - 165 IA - 0 MN - 10 WI - 5 Load board (Friday) US - 154 IA - 2 MN - 8 WI - 2 Load board (weekend) US - 148 IA - 2 MN - 6 WI - 2 2023 10 21 MN-MI Later ... 2023 10 23 MN-MI Computer running too slow to function. Picked up this AM in New Prage, will drop near Detroit tomorrow. BB is riding with instead of following in a car. Load board US - 127 IA - 1 MN - 8 WI - 4 ---- ?1 tank truck to Troy MI ... spending the night at Schaumburg IL We didn't quite get going by 7:30 today. Left out of home, we both had leftovers from last night. Move food than we usually eat for breakfast. I'm usually pretty good when it comes to maps, locations and time estimates. But on this trip I was guessing it was going to take a lot longer to get to the drop than BB. And BB was mentioning hotels in that town that I didn't remember. It wasn't until this AM when I looked at a map that I realized that New Prague was not the same as NEW ULM. :) My paperwork said to call them ASAP, they don't open until 8 AM so BB called and I talked, left a message as no one picked up. We got to the place before 9 AM. Locked up, the kind of place with no receptionist and just a phone and list of numbers. My contact was still not picking up but I did finally reach someone who said to wait where I was. Before that someone got to the front door, someone else arrived at work and asked who I was waiting for ... it was them. They were just getting to work at 9 AM. And they asked if I had called 24 hours before pickup like they ask. Nope, I didn't get this trip until Saturday and you were closed. It wasn't too bad, it was about a half hour from the time I got there until I had the truck, inspected and was leaving. Interesting conversation while I was waiting. They do ship quite a few trucks, this was the first I had ever heard of the company and I have quite a list. Also they thought this was going to a different address so they had to check that out. My paperwork was correct. 1st stop was the Kwik Trip in Elko. We wanted to make sure all of our luggage would fit, if it didn't, then BB would have to follow me in a car for the 700+ miles. Lots of room. Two side storage area's and room in the cab. 2nd stop was a quick stop at home. BB drops the car and was waiting when I pulled up. Oh, found out right away that if anyone opens a truck door when the truck is in gear the horn starts beeping. It happened a few times but we learned. Sometime early there is a truck near our house that BB could have dropped in route. But by then we were already a couple of hours into the trip. Then IA puts out three RV's going to 1,000 Oaks. Plus other good trips out of various places and dispatchers. But we are committed to this now. Nothing is added that works with this trip. 3rd stop was for fuel at the TA Express in Osseo. Plan was to put in 30 gallons but the tank was full at 25 gallons. When I came back from getting my receipt I noticed that the gauge was not showing full. That is when we looked and saw we had two fuel tanks. And they had already start to level. I did get about 10 gallons of 'free fuel' when I picked it up. It wasn't down to low fuel when I stopped but this was the last cheap fuel before it would have been. When I got to this station, all six fuel island were full but only one was fueling. I mis-guessed and that was the first driver to leave. So a little longer wait than I like. We should have eaten here but neither of us were hungry. Then we realized how late it was and decided we'd eat at one of the deli's. But that would take too long so we ended up at the Kwik Trip in Mauston instead. We each picked out our shelf food and were walking up to the counter when BB dropped her hard boiled eggs. Staff was there right away as they heard the noise. But no mess. BB went and got more and we paid, or didn't pay, for both of them. We didn't get a receipt so we don't know if they rang up both packages or not. Then we sit at the stools inside and I hadn't brought in my notepad so I was reading my bottle of Naked Juice ... peaches. PEACHES? By then I had opened it but not drank any. So here was the 2nd item we paid for at lunch that ended up in the trash. BB does not like juice. I needed a half hour off from my driving log so I'm thinking we could have done that at the deli ... The last rest area for trucks before Chicago is Janesville. There is a car only rest area for IL but nothing for trucks. So that is where we stopped. We were also watching to see if I would need more fuel before IN/MI. We decided no. Schaumburg at the Comfort Inn it is. We had hoped to be past Chicago to save on time, but it is after 6 PM when we get this far and it would be another hour to get past. 6:30 was sunset. Often I am the only truck. Today there are four other trucks already here plus a pickup with trailer. I can't park in my usual spot. BB looked for places to eat but it is late so we just walk next door to the WildFire. Turns out there is also one in MN. 2023 10 24 MN-MI ?1 tank truck to Troy MI (delivered) ... spending the night at Maumee OH (trying to make my ramblings easier to follow) We stayed last night at the Comfort Inn in Schaumburg IL. Breakfast here is sparse but enough. Once we had dished up our plates we were walking to the elevator ... "Stop. You can not take food to your room." ??? That is a first for the last tree years. We just looked at the person and sat down and ate our food quickly. When we have our food in our room we are multi-tasking as we eat. We had been on a roll to get going a little early this AM, before that. ... then as we are walking out of the hotel room, BB turns on the bathroom light so she can see to dump the last of her coffee. She did, and then I saw ... ... her iPad was laying on a towel on the bathroom floor. Glad I waited for her and was looking that direction. As is our usual routine, I check out my truck and start it before we check out. All is good. As I check out, they ask how the stay was. I mentioned not being able to eat in the room. Ants. Seemed they had an issue with ants. And if any are found in the room, they can not rent that room until ?? Anyway, they finally did a test of no food in the rooms and the ants were gone. OK, I understand. This mornings trip was likely half again as long as it would have been last night. Lots of traffic. I had noticed a 'thing' mounted on my dash yesterday but didn't really look at it too much until today when we were sitting. It shows how close the car/truck in front of you is and how fast they are going. Now I know for sure. Yes, people do drive 20-30 miles over the posted in road construction in Chicago. The fastest I saw anyone going was 94 in a 60 mph zone. Another thing I found about the truck and the cruise, safety system is that in normal traffic, it wants to keep you 300 feet behind the truck ahead of you. There were times there were three trucks in that 300 feet in the text lane over. It is open space and people want you to fill it. The furthest from a truck that it slowed me down was a truck coming on from a ramp. The truck was going 45 mph and it started slowing me at 500 feet. Also I could not increase my cruise speed until the car ahead of me was 300+ feet ahead of me. I could use the gas pedal, but not re-set the cruise speed. And if the cruse was not on, the thing would beep at me if I was too close to the car ahead of me. Which I had to do, or if I got in the left lane 300 feet before I was going to pass traffic would be passing me on the right ... and likely blowing their horns. Traffic was bad, incoming traffic was worse. 1st stop was the TA in Porter to put in another 25 gallons of fuel. I thought that would be way to much, it was not. It got us there plus. Unlike yesterday, there is no-one at the fuel pumps, so when I am done I just leave it parked while I go in to get my receipt. About 10 AM, IA puts out two more RV's going to 1,000 Oaks ... and we are not there or available. About that time I remember that I had not done my daily check in call. Opps. Someone does call from the main office but they don't leave a message so I don't call them back. 2nd stop was the Schlotzsky's in Battle Mountain. We parked at the Walmart and walked across the parking lot. Right were I parked someone had been working on the curb and just left everything there including their tool belt. Nice hammers, etc. We ate ordered and were rolling on our 30 minutes. We stop again another hour down the road at a rest area in Chelsea. It is the only rest area between here and the rental car and the rental places don't always have restrooms available. Another hour plus and we are at the rental car place. We had a place not far from here picked out to move our stuff from the truck to the car but now we see there is room here. This is at the rental car place in Troy, about 3 miles from the drop. The first car they give BB, they tell her there is a check engine light on, but there are no issues. WRONG. When she starts the car, the check engine and five other lights come on. Car #2. It has a cracked windshield and a few dings. It is supposed to be a hybrid but it never charges over 1%. Once we move our things, I'm off to the drop. As I walk into the shop, someone is just walking out of the office and they ask if they can help. They can't, but they point to the person in the shop who can. I'm in and out in about five minutes. They are happy to have the truck as their customer has been waiting for it. No good work to grab so we head to Maumee for the night. Not exactly on the way home, but closer to other work than here in Detroit. It is now close to 4:30 here and rush hour has started. The GPS has a bypass route for us that takes 20 minutes a couple of places waiting on the on ramps. Makes me wonder how bad the main route would have been. It was all freeway. Detroit is one of the places I will not take an off freeway short-cut. Once we are clear of the traffic, BB makes a hotel reservation. Both at noon and again tonight I am telling BB where food is that she can't find on the map. I can't remember all the details but am close. As we get off the freeway near Toledo I point out a place ... that is where we ate. I don't remember the food or the name, but it was near the freeway between Cracker Barrel and a breakfast only place. :) Tonight we are at the Comfort Inn in Maumee. Load board US - 156 IA - 2 MN - 4 WI - 1 Monday AM when we picked up, we had lots of options once we got to the MI/OH/IN area. They went quickly and nothing new and good has been added. There had been two trucks coming back to Ankeny IA and BB was willing to drive one. One went right away as did another truck to IA. There also had been an RV to IA. Now all there is is one to Ankeny. Not sure if that will pay to do. Also this truck to Detroit did not pay as well as the last tanker I did. So we would have been better sitting and waiting for the IA trips ... IF BB will cancel her appointment ... and then we'd miss family events this weekend. ... the trip continues HERE
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