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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2023 11 01 MN-MN 2 PU's to Shakopee MN (delivered) 2 RV's to 1,000 Oaks CA (Thursday) ... spending the night at Albert Lea MN We were home last night on Halloween. This year we had 8 trick or treaters, I'm not sure we were home the last two years, but in 2020 we had 2. Before that there were years we had 100+. Things change. Now we have lots of extra candy we don't need. This AM, BB had her appointment but we were both kind of watching the load boards. She saw it first, two pickups from Maple Grove to Shakopee. They each pay a days wages so we grabbed both of them and were done in a little over four hours. I did stop and add some fuel on the first one, I wouldn't have had to, it was still within range but when the pay is that good I feel guilty leaving them on the low end of what is allowed. At the pickup location we have to call to get buzzed in. Then I find the right office and ask about the trucks. They tell me where there are but do not want any paperwork and do not want to sign anything. Big lot but they were easy to find. BB found the 2nd one while I was doing paperwork on the 1st one. So we inspected both of them at the same time. No line at the drop and BB actually passed me so she was waiting for me this time. On the first one I stopped at a Speedway in Bloomington and brought it up over what I should have. After I drop it is after 1 PM so we stop to get food. Bo Diddley's, it is actually in Eden Prairie on that side of the road. We got it to go. Mine had so much lettuce on it that I dumped some of it off. BB tried to pick it up from my wrapper and got the dressing oil all over her jacket sleeve. While we are both eating and I am driving, the dispatcher for this trip calls. Nothing wrong, they want to know if I will do more work for them on Friday. No ... we plan on being long gone by Friday so we pass. 2nd pickup was easy, I knew who to call, no stopping at the office and the truck was already inspected. Just over a half hour later we are back at the drop. Then BB has to make a phone call. It does not go well, puts the blood pressure up there a little. Next stop was the clinic in Burnsville for me. (I'm right were I should be with my checkup) For a brief time BB wanted to stay in town, but then RV dispatch put out four RV's to where we wanted to go. We had to get ourselves together and make a decision. BB's good with leaving so I call. We get them ... ... and then I am called in so BB has to finish my call without me. :) Her and that dispatcher have a good repour so not an issue. Things have fallen into place. We go to our meeting tomorrow AM, leave shortly after noon and deliver on Monday. Weather looks good so we make take a rare trip through CO. It is the suggested route and saves us fuel for the extra 100 miles. We head south. When we get to Albert Lea we stop and put gas in the car. Under $3. Then we head to the State Park to go for a walk before sunset. We saw a few deer, was ran, the others just looked at us without moving. It was sunset by the time we pulled out. Then we went to Casa Zamora. Signs say they were the first Mexican place in southern MN. Good food. We got it to go. Full house. Tonight we are at the Comfort Inn in Albert Lea. No discount tonight. Two nights ago there was a discount. Sometimes we stay here, other times at the Quality Inn. So far the Country Inn has been too much $$. We get in our room and the temp is 54 degrees with the AC on. ??? My food was colder than usual by the time I got done eating. Heater works, the room was just not 'pre-warmed.' Load board was quiet most of the day until about three o'clock when we grabbed our runs. Now there are trips out of Janesville WI that would work if we needed to work. And even trucks in Minneapolis heading out. Load board US - 186 IA - 15/14 MN - 8 WI - 5 We'll eat at the safety meeting instead of the hotel for breakfast. Then leave out by noon and maybe make it to Lincoln NE. Maybe. 2023 11 02 IA-CA 2 RV's to 1,000 Oaks CA ... spending the night at Lincoln NE Spent the night at the Comfort Inn in Albert Lea. Up without an alarm. No breakfast as we'll be eating at our safety meeting. We had parked where the sun would shine on our windshield ... in a few hours. Once we were off the freeway, I had to slow twice within a few miles to let deer cross. We got to our meeting before 8 AM, everyone was still sitting in their cars. Once the food was dropped off we went inside, we were the 2nd-3rd people to sign in. Small group today, 30 had signed up, less than 20 showed. And our person from corp didn't show. I thought we were to start to eat at 8 AM so I was talking to the new office guy and he started opening the food up ... until the boss told him no. :( Opps. Then I looked at a picture I had taken about the event. Food served at 8:15. And it said the meeting was going to last until 11 AM. It lasted until 9:30. Things of note: Someone just rolled one of the larger RV's from a different shipper. Someone just burnt up there tow car a few miles from here. Someone had parked a stolen car in our lot ... Two the last four wrong fuel issues were people who have worked here 10+ years. One of our no-tow RV's will be changing to towable so less money for us no-tow drivers. A few drivers leaving out right after the meeting. The only driver we talked to was at the meeting, the boss got us together as our last names are spelled the same but we say them differently. He and his wife have been doing this 40 years. They are the couple that just quit doing the shows this year. Otherwise they had been the contact at every show for the last ?? 40 years. No issues with the RV's. Leaving the shipper I had to slow again for deer crossing the road. This time the third one didn't cross so I was watching for it to make a break for it. 1st stop with the RV is for fuel in Ellsworth at the Loves. We both had about a half tank of fuel at pickup. 2nd stop is at the Adair rest area. Here we each eat a cup of yogurt that we had grabbed not knowing what a 'light breakfast' at the meeting was going to me. It was egg back, fruit and donuts. 3rd stop was for fuel at the Loves in Omaha. We have the hours and the daylight to make it past Lincoln but we are ready to call it a day. 4th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Omaha. Once we check in we walk the half mile to the Cracker Barrel. Last time we ate at a Cracker Barrel we had our food in about five minutes. Today we are guessing it was 45. After a half hour they were bringing out biscuits. I don't nee more food that I can't eat. Food was good. Then the half mile walk back to the hotel. Load board US - 159 IA - 9/8 MN - 1 WI - 4 Tomorrow we plan on getting to Denver. Then Beaver UT and Barstow CA. That will leave about two hours for Monday AM. 2023 11 03 IA-CA 2 RV's to 1,000 Oaks CA ... spending the night at Brighton CO Spent the night at the Quality Inn in Lincoln NE. Breakfast was light. This location does not have hot eggs and meat. So yogurt and a hard boiled egg it was. Ready to pull out at 7:30 at break of day. 1st stop is the Grand Island rest area. They already have their 2024 State Fair sign up. 2nd stop is the Loves in North Platte for fuel, then a mile down the street to Penny's Diner to eat. Between a phone call and eating we took an hour off duty. We called for trip permits for Sunday for AZ and NV. It's been a while since we've done a trip that needed a permit. The Quality Inn we stay at in Ogallala finally has food again. Years ago, before it was a Quality, there used to be Country Kitchen there. I think the hotel was a Country Inn then. It used to be a Grayhound stop. After Country Kitchen it was a Denny's for a few years but now has been empty for the last <> 5 years. But not our stopping point this trip. 3rd stop today was the rest area in Sterling CO. We were about two miles from it when I realized this is where we were stopping, I had the rest area another hour down the road pictured in my head. While here I called the bus dispatcher and left a message and then the drop to let them know we'd be there on Monday. I looked at my notes from the last time we stayed in Denver and I had said 'I didn't know what all the six foot high fences and rolled barbwire were for.' So I was looking at other hotels than the one BB had picked out. Hotel wasn't bad, but she wanted to take a walk in the park across the street ... Instead we decided to take a walk here, there is a park across the street from the rest area. So we walked a mile on a paved path. During the walk, the dispatcher calls back wanting to know if I am in town ... no ... so call him on Monday. Guess he saw I called but didn't listen to the message. More promising that ... not looking good. Then when we went to leave the signal wouldn't change. Finally the semi, who was first in line, ran it. Then the rest of us took right turns ... and then we took a u-turn. Met two cops right after that, not sure if we could have flagged them down if we were still sitting there or not. We sat there about 15 minutes without the light changing. Finally we got a tail wind. When I picked the RV up it said the mpg was 20. I did not reset it until I fueled in Omaha. From Omaha to N Platte I got 12.4 mpg and then from N Platte to Hudson CO I got 13.4. We are getting paid at 11 mpg so anything over that is money in our pocket. Not too much exciting today. There are still a few crops in the field. Saw a new feed lot that I don't remember. One place I saw a semi hit a blow tire/road gator flat on. For a few seconds I didn't see it but eventually it came out the back. Hope it didn't do any damage. Once we get past Omaha there isn't enough traffic to get traffic jams even with one slow truck passing another. BB was kind of regretting taking the walk at Sterling as that was going to get us into the heart of Denver rush hour. So we decided to stop before Denver and do Denver Sat AM. 4th stop was for fuel at Loves in Hudson CO. As I switched the hose from my RV to BB's, I noticed that the hose was leaking and my hand was now soaked. :( I had noticed the pavement was wet but hadn't looked to see the why. From here we made reservations in Brighton, 11 miles down the road. 5th and final stop was the Comfort Inn in Brighton. As soon as we got there, BB remembered that we had not gotten our permits yet. And they close in a minutes. So I call and someone answered. (I have had issues where they stop answering the phone in the afternoons ...) The person who answers can see my info on the computer and if the person I talked to does not get it done, they will before they leave. 20 minutes later we had our permits. So all calls are done until Monday. As soon as we check in, we head to Heidi's Deli. BB didn't like the soups so she got a sandwich instead. I got my usual chicken salad. We got it to go. Good food. When BB was done, she realized that the pickle juice from her pickle had run out of the baggie, onto the lunch bag and ... But luckily it was only on the lunch bag, not the couch. I was able to get our permits printed, neither of the two computers in the office area worked so I had to go behind the desk again ... Looking at the rental load board, there are 2 trucks in Grand Rapids and 4 in Bagley going to Shakopee ... Sure! When we are not there. Load board US - 122 IA - 3 MN - 1 WI -0- Plan is to make it to Richfield UT tomorrow. Weather should be good, hills will still be there to cross. 2023 11 04 IA-CA 2 RV's to 1,000 Oaks CA ... spending the night at Richfield UT Last night was spent in Brighton CO at the Comfort Inn. Breakfast was ham and eggs. Pull out was 7:30 AM. NO slow downs on a Saturday AM going through Denver. Driving past the other hotel we had talked about, I remember it now, but when I looked online I must have gotten the wrong address on the same street. We are heading out just as the sun is hitting the tops of the snow covered peaks. Then hitting the whole mountain range and finally the whole city. Scale west of Denver is closed as will be the one west of Grand Junction and in UT. Only the Fort Morgan scale has been open so far. A lot of places we are up far enough that there is snow on the ground at road level. Some of the ski resorts are making snow, some are not. None of them are open yet. Traffic is light most of the day. Rare that I had to wait for more than a car or two to pass in order for me to pass. And pass we did. With these units I have not had to kick off the cruise because of high RPM's. That was/is an issue with the Fords. They like to tack out at 4,000 rpms. I don't think this ever got over 2,500 rpms on the mountains. And there were many miles of road where the speed limit was 45 mph for trucks over 26,000#. We past an RV a couple of times today that was towing their car, I'm guessing they were going about 60 mph. And someone in an RV past us once, going about 70 mph. That one is likely going to the same drop as us. We had seen one of those on the loadboard, but not the other unit. 1st stop was Edwards CO. I was surprised. Once we were off the freeway, I was following the blue signs. It wasn't until I saw the place that I remembered it. I was thinking of two other rest area's. One of those I saw a few miles down the road, the other I never did see. This first rest area has a bike path going right past it but it was early and still quite cool so we pass. I did not see anyone out riding the rapids today. Most of my time was spent watching the road but I did glance over a few times. This doesn't happen often, but BB saw some deer grazing in the road ditch and I had not seen them. Just a few miles before our next stop. 2nd stop was for fuel at the Loves in Grand Junction. Once we are done fueling we eat at Hardee's. Western burger for me. More than I need, more than I want. I don't eat most of the bun and am still stuffed. Fruita, between Grand Junction and the border, seems to have miles of paved trails along the interstate. 3rd stop is at the Loves in Green River for the restroom. At this exit there are two Loves, right across the street from each other. Pretty much from Fruita to Richfield this area is a barren wasteland. Some places there is nothing at all growing on the rocks. Other places there is scrubby grass or bushes. In places it is pretty. 4th stop is the Loves in Salina. Last time we were through here there was a Maverick that had just opened. Now there is also a Loves and a TA Express truckstops. Plus both a Peterbilt and Kennworth shops. We hadn't seen much for walking area's near our hotel so we were looking at other options. Three miles before our exit there is a trailhead to a 100 mile trail with an elevation change of 5,000 feet. Not knowing the area, we decided not to try that. Not sure if the trails are hiking or ATV's or how steep an incline. 5th and final stop was the Comfort Inn in Richfield. Once we checked in, we went for a walk down the road. Just a couple of blocks from the hotel, there was a residential section with sidewalks so we walked there. Between the hotel and there was farm fields and pasture. We had talked about ordering from Steve's Steakhouse or going to the Black Bear Diner but we had a big meal at noon. So we ended up with chili from Wendy's. I also got a baked potato, just the potato would have been enough. Other than the deer BB saw, there was no wildlife sightings today. One of the last couple of days I saw a drone over a freeway pond. The drone was the size of a dining room chair, it was huge. I suppose they come in all sizes, I just hadn't seen one that big before. No idea why it was over the pond. These are just ponds dug when the freeway was put in to get enough dirt to make an overpass. Load board (weekend) US - 119 IA - 2 MN - 1 WI -0- Less than 500 miles again tomorrow. One more fuel stop before Las Vegas. If we put any more fuel in later it will just be a few gallons. Haven't decided if we are stopping in Barstow or Victorville. Either way it is 2-2-1/2 hours to the drop. ... the trip continues HERE
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