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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2023 12 03 CA-NC 1 boom truck to Carthage NC ... spending the night at Lonoke AR Breakfast was eggs, sausage and some good potato mix. We had both been up before the alarm but decided not to leave until our planned time, once it was light. Out at the truck, we load it and ... it won't start. <> the same issue as before with the prior batteries. So they were not the issue, or not the whole issue. Now we had the OK to use starting fluid so we did after the first couple of tries. These batteries did not sound as good as the prior ones after a few cranks. We finally got it started and after it ran for 5-10 minutes, I got out to close the hood ... it dies. By now I have a message that the starter is hot so we need to wait until that cools down. The 2nd time, lots of tries, but the 2nd time it does start I do not crank as long each time. Again, after a while we do get it started. This time I ran the truck even longer at high RPM's. All seems to be OK so I get out and close the hood ... it dies. This time I notice that my left front blinker is not working. I check the rest of the lights and all else is good. So the 3rd time, we left the hood closed and shot the starting fluid in through the hood, it started ... eventually ... and stayed running. I go in to the hotel and check out. It has take us an hour to do what we usually do in about 10 minutes. As a precaution, we take the city streets a few blocks so if it dies we won't be on the shoulder of the road. No more issues today. There were two other transporters in the lot this AM, and the lot was almost full. One was running with no plate or placard and the other only had a placard on one side and no plate. There was another transporter at the service station ... again, no plate or placard that I could see. ??? The Irish Inn on the other side of the freeway is again the Irish Inn. I think that is what it was built as decades ago. Then in the last 10 years it has had at least a dozen different names including the Motel 6 and Oyo. Within the first few minutes on the road, we have to cross the OK weigh scale. I am directed in and have to weigh but then can leave. 1st stop is in Hinton at a Loves for fuel. Every island had a line, I pick one. Then someone in the next line comes back to their truck and lets me cut in line. :) Thanks. I fuel and when I pull ahead, he pulls up behind me. Then I realize he is ready to leave, not fuel. So I get out of his way and go park in the parking lot. I could have just pulled sideways if I had thought of it. It would have saved a few minutes. Our plan had been to stop in OKC where fuel is even cheaper but that would have added an extra stop. And the place with the cheapest fuel is right next to a big city Greyhound station. My guess is it is not a good section of town. Other places in OKC would have been cheaper than Hinton but we are also watching time, not just money. And today we have wasted most of another hour on this truck. ... front blinker did work once we got going. This thing has issues. 2nd stop was at the Loves in Okemah for food. We got a personal pan Godfathers and a apple pizza desert. BB doesn't like leaving the truck running with our stuff in it so we went back to eat in the truck. The lot was not crowded but someone decided they wanted to park next to me. After a few tries, he finally gets close to me. Too close. He was about a foot from my hood on his blind side when he stopped to pull ahead. While he pulled ahead, I had seen enough and pulled out of my parking spot and up near the fuel pumps. Finished what we needed to and was on our way. 3rd stop was in Van Buren at the welcome center. Just down the road I have to cross another scale. After I am in line, I get an arrow saying I can go without crossing the scale. 4th stop was not planned, but I am using DEF faster than expected. I thought I would be able to add DEF every other fuel stop. But I was not going to make it to Memphis tomorrow so we added a stop at a Pilot in Russelville just for DEF. Time over money so I will get charged for using my company credit card for 4 gallons of DEF. 5th and final stop is in Lonoke at the Best Western. We didn't make a reservation until we were parked in the lot. Not much for truck parking and if we couldn't fit, we were going next door to the Holiday Inn for $40 more. We fit. Then we walked a couple of blocks and ate at the Waffle House. Two larger groups were coming in at the same time we were so we sat at the counter. BB had a grilled chicken sandwich and I had breakfast. Sure beats fast food. Luckily we had no more delays today. I only had 15 more minutes I could drive, any slowdown during the day would have used that up and we would have had to found a closer place to stay. And it was just a couple of minutes before last light when I parked. I counted 39 transporters today. Zero towing. I expected it to be slower here and beyond. The trucks coming from the south and north all enter the freeway west of here. IF IF IF we can get going in a hour or less tomorrow AM, we can do another 500 mile day and then only have 300 miles left for Tuesday. Hopefully. 2023 12 04 CA-NC 1 boom truck to Carthage NC ... spending the night at Knoxville TN Good day :) Spent the night last night in the Comfort Inn in Lonoke AR. I'm not sure today's eggs were 'real,' but the were not bad. Plus other stuff including juice pouches. I had to grab one of those for later. We were going to get going at 6:30 but live takes longer than planned some times. We ended up being ready to go at 6:45. Truck started, first time. No starter fluid. No questions, I'll just drive. 1st stop today was the Petro in West Memphis. We had talked about stopping other places because the last Petro/TA's we have stopped at have had such long lines. :) One truck and the other 5 islands are empty. The first pump I pulled up to had an error message, and the second one wouldn't read my card but no line so not a huge issue. In and out in a few minutes. As we are leaving, the semi driver pulling in is on his cell phone, phone in hand. Yesterday I saw a driveaway driver using both hands on his phone while driving. $2,750 fine if caught by someone other than me. Then we get to cross THE bridge. The I-40 bridge that was closed a couple of years ago because of stress fractures. We made it across. When deciding out stops today, we use Google maps. It was showing us that traffic was being detoured between Memphis and Nashville off of I-40. One time it would be one detour, the next time we'd look it would be somewhere else but away from the same accident. Accident was last night about 11 PM and the road is still closed. Overhead signs coming out of Memphis still said the road was closed at mile marker __ But we just waited to be detoured and we were not. It looked like they had dragged (at least) two semi's into the ditch to clear the roads. So they were still working on it almost 10 hours later. 2nd stop was the Loves in Holladay TN. As usual, we park, get our food and come back to our truck. Today we both had gyro's. Good, and fresh. 3rd stop was a rest area in Buffalo Valley. We had to cross two TN weigh scales today. No issues. We also went past an inspection station, no scale ... that I thought I saw was closed. Then the trucker ahead of me, hit the brakes and went in and there was an officer there doing an inspection. A few miles later there is a cop coming up behind me ... then he passed me. Whew. At the first scale they were in full inspection mode. A dozen or so trucks pulled in and officers inspecting some of the trucks. Luckily not mine, again. 4th and final stop was the Comfort Inn in east Knoxville. They have no truck parking so we waited until we were at their lot and I could walk in and ask if where I parked was OK. Then we made a reservation. Truck parking is supposed to be on the street but there not really a place there either. I made their two lane area around their building a one lane. We have seen this done here before so we guessed it would be OK, it was. Then we walked next door. But first I asked the person at the desk which place they liked better. They told us both places are owned by the same family. Different, but good. I couldn't eat it all. And I still hurt. Todays count was 49 no-tows and 9 units towing or hauling a car. One was towing one and hauling one ??? Load board US - 175 IA - 11/10 MN - 1 WI - 7 Tomorrow we will fuel next door where fuel is cheaper than in NC. Then we have about four hours before we pick up the rental car, then another two hours to the drop. This thing has given us enough issues, we will be glad to be done with it. All the trips home from here are gone ... so our rental car is for home. There is a Gatlinburg SkyBridge pretty close to our drop, but I think we will pass ... 2023 12 05 CA-NC 1 boom truck to Carthage NC (delivered) ... spending the night at Durham NC Breakfast - Something wasn't right with BB's toast this AM so she popped it up early. That caused the other side, someone else's to pop up also. When BB's was done, so was theirs ... I saw them scrapping the burnt off their toast as we walked out. :( Almost had a 'throat issue' this AM, from yogurt. We are getting slower or having to move all of our stuff from the cab to the storage box every morning is taking time. We got moving 15 minutes late again today. Truck started first time with no issues again today. But we did notice that we were missing, as in not even there, a marker light. We're guessing it was never there and we and the DOT missed it every time. It was a tight wind through the parking lot this AM. Didn't hit anything, not even the curb. 1st stop was next door at the Pilot. Fuel islands open when we got there, fuel islands open when we left. Followed a guy in and out that had his back door open and skids to the back door. But I wasn't close enough to flag him down. Sun up, and dirty windows. And no washer and don't use the wipers. Being in and out of the hills helped. 1st stop was the rest area near Marion. Not sure if either of us have been on this stretch of I-40 before. Now we have been end to end, but not all in one trip. 2nd stop was in Winston Salem to pick up the rental car. We pick up from a place at the edge of an enclosed mall. Not too busy today. Not sure how many stores it used to have but it still has a Belk's, Dillard's and a JCPenny's. Both Macy's and Sears former stores are still empty. Plenty of room to park my truck today for us to switch out our luggage. I only briefly looked at a map of how to get to my drop and the drop itself. I knew I had to leave Winston-Salem on I-74. But when I get on I-74 one of the first exits I see is 59. I'm looking for exit 49 and I am supposed to be an hour and a half from the drop, not 10 miles. So I pull over at the next exit to look at a map. I-74 and I-73 merge ... and then they use the I-73 exit numbers. Earlier today we had to cross two more weigh scales and both were busy with inspections. By now I was ready to get off the freeway, I kept thinking there would be one more scale and THIS is the one that would shut me down. But there was no more. 20 miles non-freeway on a 2,450 mile trip to get to the drop. I had looked briefly at the map of my drop also. There was a long closed, park at the door hotel where Google said my drop was. I guessed the map was old and didn't bother to call my drop ahead of time. Hotel is still there, so I had to call my drop now. They live 10 minutes away and no one is at the office. The told me where to find their driveway, but I was headed the wrong direction and didn't find it. So I pulled off the road and by now BB was behind me. After we talked, she left with the car until she found the drop and called me. Much easier that turning around with a big truck. When I drop past it the first time, I had seen the big For Sale sign in the ditch, not their small sign on the fence. Someone was there within 10 minutes and signed. We talked for a couple of minutes and we were gone. (Opps on my part, if I had looked a little further from where Google pegged the address, I would have seen trucks and their sign. But that is on a different road than their address) Weather - It is supposed to snow in the hills of TN tonight and tomorrow. So we decided to head to Durham for the night. It is a known, to us. And it has the best chance of giving us work. Everything that had been on the load board that would have worked is gone. And we did not want to commit to anything until that truck was dropped and we were gone. Our only stop from drop to hotel was at a Circle C in Sanford. BB needed the restroom and I had not eaten since breakfast. But I didn't want to fill up so I just got a Naked Juice and cookies. US-1 - We have been on that in the Florida Keys and a few other places. It runs from FL to Canada, 2,390 miles. Fort Kent, Maine is the north end. We were on it today for about 20 miles. Google had us taking a I-440, but it didn't tell us it was a toll road. We drove about 10 miles further to avoid it. Comfort Inn in Durham is our hotel tonight. Pomodoro Italian Kitchen was our food across the street. Usually we walk, today we drove. Great food, I only ate about a 1/3 and I am stuffed. Today I counted 23 transporters, all no-tow. 10 in one group were small 'cable type' bucket trucks. That ended up being 236 no-tows and 11 using a tow car. 23 - 0 49 - 9 39 - 0 74 - 0 12 - 1 39 - 1 Tomorrow will be the first day since before Thanksgiving that we have not had to set an alarm ... we'll likely be up at daybreak. Load board US - 165 IA - 4/3 MN - 2 WI - 8 We hope to find work tomorrow. I will call on some things that are already there. There is one in town here, but we are guessing it is also one from the auction house. It is going to St Louis. If we don't find work, we will head home. We've made what we need to for this month already. It was a piece of junk, but it paid very well. 2023 12 06 CA-NC 1 boom truck to Carthage NC (delivered) ... spending the night at Asheville NC We hit re-fresh :) on our load board. We spent last night at the Comfort Inn in Durham. This AM I call on a truck that is right in route, but a short one. Dispatch tells me who the shipper is and I say "No Thanks." I call on a 2nd from where we are to St Louis. It's a 'tractor,' I have to call a second person to know what it actually is. I try a few times and then the truck is gone, someone else had taken it. That would/could have been a nice trip if it was something that rode nice, but we will never know. We get a late checkout so that we can eat our leftovers for lunch and are out of the room by 12 noon. BB wants to stay south of the snow line so we only want to get a few hours down the road yet today. Asheville was mentioned. We have the time, so we head east instead of west. To a national cemetery with one family member in it. We find it. Some national cemeteries are 100x the size of this one. This one is just has an outdoor kiosk to look up people, but I already had the location. Size wise I would guess it at five acres and it is full. Then we head west. After a couple of hours it is time for a restroom and gas. 2nd so is a Shell station in Clemmons. Before I could get my card to work at the pump, BB was back from the station. The restrooms were out of order. So we leave. 3rd stop was a few miles down the road at a rest area near Advance. 4th stop was a few more miles down the road at the Loves in Statesville for fuel. The dispatcher who has two major shippers in NC did not put out any new trucks today. Still hoping for those two to the west coast but that didn't happen. We wait to make hotel reservations until the dispatchers close at 5 PM. Then just before 5:30, BB sees a truck on the load board about an hour from here. We'll do the math and be on the phone in the morning ... and then it is gone. Those dispatchers work until 5:30 and someone grabbed it right away. It was a tanker and was going to CA another cross country trip. I am assuming it is a tanker, it was from the same town I drove my first stick shift as a driveaway driver. Killed that thing in the first intersection. We check in at the Comfort Inn in Asheville and then drive a block down the street to the Apollo. Parking lot was full, but we were seated right away and had our food within minutes. We both had gyro's. And more carrot cake to go. But this is carrot cheesecake. Sometime after 6:30 PM, the TX dispatcher starts putting out trucks from all over the country. Including one in OH going back to California. There are other trucks closer, but they either get us further from home, or we would need to sit the weekend on a <> short trip. We will likely go through the list again but as of now, this second, we will be heading cross country again. IF we can get the trip before someone else. Load board US - 154 IA - 12/10 MN -0- WI - 8 All depends on what trip we get in the AM. We should put together a list :) 2023 12 07 SC-NV 1 tank truck to Sparks NV ... spending the night at Fletcher NC ... long frustrating morning. Spent last night at the Comfort Inn in Asheville NC. Last night, dispatch put a nice trip on the load board <> after they are closed, and someone took it right away. Then later, the TX dispatcher put lots of non-TX trips out ... some that would work for us. At 8 AM, I called the main dispatchers to see about the nice trip from last night. 'It's gone.' I was hoping someone had just put it on hold overnight. Nope. Then before 7:30 mid-west time, I looked again to the TX trips and they were all gone. Someone was calling at getting trips before that dispatcher usually starts answering the phone. After hitting refresh on the load board every few minutes for most of three hours, we finally decided to head for home. We check out and with the car already running ... BB looks again at the load board. That really nice trip is back on the load board ... I call right away ... I don't have any paper ready to write on so I don't remember what I am getting paid. But I got the trip. A minute ago we were heading home and planning on doing some local work before Christmas. Now we have work that will take us back across the country and then maybe something back again. As long as we are still at the hotel, I print out my paperwork before we leave the parking lot. But I forget to call the shipper so I stop at the first rest area a few miles down the street. All they want to know is what time I will be there. 1st stop is at Landrum for fuel and food. Shell gas and Burger King. My rewards card doesn't work to well so I had to pay inside. This place turned on the pump for me and I went back in and paid. That doesn't happen very often anymore. I hadn't looked at where we were dropping the rental car, so we kind of came in from that direction so I'd be familiar with the streets. We get to the customer and I meet my contact in the parking lot. That was the good news. Bad news was they were still working on the truck but it should be ready in a half hour. Almost two hours later, the guy sees me again ... he had told the person working on it to bring it to me. They didn't. Then I had to go back inside because they had left some Haz-mat signs on the truck. I wasn't going to take them off, I didn't know what else I may be hauling. It's empty. No issue. Then I almost went back in again ... the seatbelt was as tight as a tiedown. When I tried pulling on it, the inside of the cab was coming off. Finally BB and I played with it enough that something happened and it came loose. Finally we are ready to go. When BB says the rental place is next to the mall ... we've been there before. A few times. But we've been lot of places so sometimes the setting doesn't click right away. 3rd stop was the rental car place in Spartansburg. We switched the luggage out there. This truck has a nice sized area under the tank that holds are stuff. No lock so we still need to empty it daily. 4th stop, fuel. The truck had 1/4 of a tank at pickup so I thought we might make it to a truckstop but once the tank gets to an 1/8th I'm ready to stop. There is one ma-pa place before the hotel so we stop there. Hendersonville. 5th and final stop is the Clarion in Fletcher for the night. We could have made it to Asheville or stopped earlier at places we've stopped before but this one looked like it would have more truck parking and it does. When we check in, we ask about laundry as we've been on the road two weeks now ... They move us to a room near the laundry. And it is out of order. They say they didn't know. Maybe tomorrow. We eat at the inhouse restaurant, Blue Agave. Interesting as the waitress knew limited English. Good food. And plenty of it. Back out at the truck, I had thought I was shutting the power off inside the cab. Instead I had turned on one of the tanker pumps. Opps. Glad I caught that before tomorrow AM. Battery would have been dead and the pump likely ruined. By the end of the day, NC had 30 trips on the load board. Luckily nowhere better than where we are going. This trip may not pay quite as well as the last cross country one, but the ride is nicer, the windshield wipers work, we shouldn't have issues starting it and it is clean inside. And it is an 'electronic-stick' shift. It's a pain getting up to speed as it goes through every gear, I don't always make the stop lights :) but it is nice not having to clutch. Load board US - 191 IA - 5/3 MN -0- WI - 9 NC - 30 Plan is for 500 mile days. Mt Vernon IL, then Lincoln NE, Laramie WY, Wendover UT and delivery. ... the trip continues HERE |
