 |
|
|
|
|
...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
|
.. the trip continues from HERE 2023 12 08 SC-NV 1 tank truck to Sparks NV ... spending the night at Nashville ... IL Breakfast - Huge headed wok's of eggs, sausage, potatoes, etc. Two people working the breakfast area. This hotel has a construction company using part of their parking lot and I'm guessing a lot of the crew is staying here. And they want to keep it that way. Real eggs ... A decked set of tractors came in after we did, they kind of jack-knifed the rear tractor. Hope it did not damage anything. Truck starts :) without starting fluid or a jump :) We pull out a little after 6 AM home time. I had put in enough fuel to get us 70 miles down the road and that is where some of the cheaper fuel is. 1st stop was at the Weigel's in Newport TN. They have a fuel discount with our company, but the card doesn't work at the pump. I had to go in to get the pump started. New, young girl doesn't know how to do it so I have to wait for someone to help her. Same when I came back in, young girl didn't know what to do next so another person quickly hit the buttons ... Young girl says "I need to learn how to do this, you hit the buttons so fast I couldn't see what you were doing ..." 2nd stop was near Crab Orchard at a rest area. 3rd stop was for lunch at the PJ's in Lebanon. We split some meatloaf and sides. 4th stop was the Loves in Calvert City. I likely had enough fuel to get west of St Louis to our next fuel stop, but just in case, I stopped here and added 10 gallons. I was getting 12 mpg early going through road construction at 55 mph. Now that I am mostly running 65 mph it is staying closer to 9 mpg. I called the bus dispatcher from the fuel stop. As usual, I say "This is Jim ___" Before I can say more, the dispatcher is saying. 'No, still not good. Things are now terrible ...' Once I could tell him I would be there next week ... 'Call me then, have a safe trip.' So at some point, he is going to be buried in these buses they are continuing to build but can't ship. Plan had been to stop in Mt Vernon and then Lincoln tomorrow night. But where we are coming into Lincoln, there are not any hotels so we decided to push tomorrow to York. And that would be easier if we made it past Mt Vernon tonight. So ... 5th and final stop is the Best Western in Nashville IL. As soon as we check in, we get a load of laundry going. Then we walk next door to the Little Nashville restaurant. They were having a meeting so it took longer than it should have. We got our food to go and when it was ready, BB walked back to the hotel to do laundry. Food was good. BB had a wrap, I had a philly and we split a piece of apple pie. Load board US - 145 IA - 2/0 MN - 1 WI - 6 NV -0- So now our plan has changed so we get to York tomorrow. After that we don't know. Mile wise, we could make it to Rawlins. But the forecast for Sunday is 30+ winds west of Cheyenne ... with 70 mph gusts. I'd likely be OK, this truck is low and heavy. But I don't want to be around the other drivers who think they will be OK and won't be. 2023 12 09 SC-NV 1 tank truck to Sparks NV ... spending the night at York, NE Spent last night in Nashville IL. Right as we are going to head down for breakfast, BB realizes that she had the sun rise / first light times wrong. We should almost be walking out the door and we haven't had breakfast yet. I should have just had yogurt this AM, but they had b-a-c-o-n. We did get going 15 minutes earlier than planned. It is Saturday AM and not much traffic. Heading through St Louis, I can't think of anywhere in my hometown that is as bad as the parts of STL we see from the freeway. Piles of trash, buildings falling in, graffiti. 1st stop is in Foristell at the TA. No line. In and out quickly. Someone had posted this AM on FB how much their discount was at the same station yesterday. Mine was $.20 less than their lowest number. Wind. In SC/NC I had been getting up to 12 mpg at times. Today I am getting 6-7 mpg and we aren't into the headwind yet. Or the 70 mph headwinds. 2nd stop is in Higgensville, just before Kansas City, at the Pilot / Subway for lunch. Only one person working today so it took a little longer. We ended up with a 45 minute break instead of a 30 so there goes the time we gained by starting early. I had the same sandwich today as last time. The garlic something. Last time it was a little dry so today I had them put twice as much garlic butter on it :) Google had me going right though downtown Kansas City, I chose the beltway instead. No traffic issues, hardly any slow downs. Did see one place today where a car was hung up on the center cable. Yesterday we saw a semi laying on it's side on the freeway. Neither effected our travel. Still not used to this truck. I call it an 'electric stick shift.' The computer shift's it like a stick shift. And it sometimes takes longer finding the gears than I do. I have to make sure there is plenty of room when I pull into traffic. There is no way to ... step on the gas and make it go faster. Peddle all the way to the floor and it goes through every gear. 3rd stop was Mound City at a <> rest area with 'limited services.' Two one hole outhouses. And not well kept up either. Two transporters passed us today that had passed us yesterday. Mudflaps say SC. Then when left the freeway, they were on the side of the road ... smoking is my guess. Near Sidney IA, we get off the freeway for an hour between there and Lincoln. 4th and final stop is at the Best Western in York. I park in the back with the cars instead of in their truck lot. Lots of room is why we picked this hotel. We check in and they give us a room near laundry, again. This time so we can wash my diesel jeans and other heavier items. This hotel has an Applebee's inhouse so that is where we eat. Order, not eat. We take our food back to the room so we can keep an eye on the laundry. Ended up running the wash twice on the same load before we dried it. Load board US - 152 IA - 2/0 MN - 1 WI - 6 Weather maps are still showing 70+ wind gusts for tomorrow in WY. Other than that, we have our day planned. With mileage dropping from 12 to 6, we will be stopping a little more often. 2023 12 10 SC-NV 1 tank truck to Sparks NV ... spending the night at Laramie WY Breakfast? Good. Neither of us had slept great so we were a little slow getting going. I did go out and start my truck on time ... then to a break right away to finish packing to leave. Last night we were at the Best Western in York. The parking lot was not packed this AM but a nice crowd. Then we noticed next door at the Motel 6. ONE car, likely the staff. I don't think we have ever seen a major hotel with no-one there. Not even during covid. They have a large truck lot so usually there are a lot of trucks. Nothing. 1st stop is across the street at the Petro for fuel. And some Anti-gel. Opps, I have the bottle set on the running board when I open it and the vibration from the truck splatters the liquid on both my hands. Should have done it last night but didn't think about it. It was about 20 degrees overnight. At 15 is where it can become an issue. But we are not allowed to use anti-gel in Mercedes and so far we have not had an issue. 2nd stop was at the rest area near Brady. Back to back 150 mile legs, but Sidney is in 300 miles and anything less would have required a 2nd stop. 3rd stop is Sidney for both fuel and food. When we got there, all lines had a truck waiting for the truck at the pump. So I picked the last one, the person waiting was a transporter so smaller tank. About the time the person at the pump is done, the transporter comes back to his truck with his lunch ... and pulls out of line (?) Oh well, that means I'm next. Quick fuel and then lunch inside at Taco John's. Not much that is not too spicy for me. And now I'm wondering how much better Taco John's is for me than a roller hot dog? Somehow we ended up spending an hour here. 4th stop is at the Port of Entry for my permit. Someone different today and they asked for one of my legal's. I found it, but it was not right at my finger tips. First time this year I was asked for it and we'll be getting updated ones in a week or so. Plan had been to stop in Cheyenne once we heard about the wind but from York our next stop would be Rawlins.. BB watched the weather maps all AM and they were not even slowing traffic down where the speed limit signs are variable. So we decided to get to Laramie and see from there. Hotel is more in Laramie, and my mileage day one was 12 mpg. Today with the headwind I was 5+ mpg. A lot of extra money to get another 45 miles. No issue with the driving. I was one of the few who was going 65 even with the posted being 75 mph. I think most trucks where doing closer to 55 mph. And a lot of trucks had pulled off. Today there was a weight listed for who was save to travel. 5th stop was the Sinclair in Laramie for food. We were planning on picking up and taking it back to the hotel so we didn't have to go out again. Sorry, not making pizza today ??? It is really hit and miss with that place. So once we were in the hotel, we ordered delivery from the same chain, different store :) Only a couple of cars at this hotel tonight. I'm able to get 'our spot' to park. Now we should be able to get to Wendover tomorrow night and deliver by <> 2 PM on Tuesday. Winds are supposed to be closer to 'normal' tomorrow AM. Someone on FB is running the same route as we are. They did make it to Rawlins but saw three semi's rolled. They had almost stopped in Laramie also. 2023 12 11 SC-NV 1 tank truck to Sparks NV ... spending the night at Wendover UT Breakfast, we each have one slice of leftover pizza. Last night we each had three pieces. We didn't walk down for breakfast until the truck was started and I was dropping off the keys. They used to have cheese sticks and PopTarts and other grab and go food but not today. We pull out at 7 AM local. We spent last night at the Comfort Inn in Laramie. We only saw where one truck had been in the ditch recently. Not sure how recently. Today the winds were ONLY gusting to 40 mph instead of the 60+ yesterday. BB was watching the wind map as we went past the hot spots and the winds were less than 40 when we passed. Makes for better fuel mileage also. Not sure how you'd do the math to compare. Mileage on this truck changes pretty quickly. So it is showing the average for the last minute or five minutes. 1st stop is for fuel in Rawlins at the TA. There is not supposed to be any wind here but there is and it has a bite too it. In Sinclair a few miles back, there are two wind sockets on the freeway. One has a huge hole in it and the other just has a few threads left where it anchors to the metal ring. Not sure how often they have to replace them out here. 2nd stop is for lunch. Our Mexican place does not open until 11 AM so we go to Quiznos. We park in the Walmart parking lot and it is in a strip mall in the corner. Not much has changed in the two weeks and a few hours since we passed this way with our RV's. 3rd stop is at the Evanston rest area. From there I planned on calling my drop and ordering my permit. I call the number I have. They don't have a truck coming, but with the information I have they can see where it is going and they give me a phone number. The number they give me goes to an answering machine that says "... I will be back on Dec 4 ..." but it also lists a number to call for help now. So I try the 3rd number and it also goes to voicemail without any greeting. Not a professional or personal greeting. Then I try to call the corp number for that customer. "Press 1 if you are a new customer, press 2 if you are a current customer." Them were my choices. I finally got someone who passed me off to a 2nd person who gave me yet another 800 # that said "Press 1 if you are a new customer ..." I didn't. Scale was closed in Utah today when we went past. It looked like someone was working on the ramp. Another couple of miles down the road and my phone is ringing, one of the numbers I called is calling me back. They don't leave a message, they call me again so by now I am at the rest area and can talk to them. The person who was on vacation was in NM, this person calling is in Las Vegas. And they don't know about a new truck either. But they are helpful and say they will find someone who can help me and send me a text to follow up. As we are leaving, a semi can't get out of it's parking spot and we all have to wait for another semi to back up so the first one can make it's turn. Don't remember seeing that before. My mileage at the top of UT by the WY line was 9 mpg. We guessed it may be 12 when we got to Salt Lake City but it was back to 9 mpg again. But before we left SLC it was up to 13 mpg. Slower speeds, no wind. It all helps. 5th stop was the TA in Tooele for final (?) fuel. From here I call for my NV permit. I still haven't heard back from my drop but I need the permit to run in the AM. Crossing the exit weigh scale out of UT there is someone getting inspected today. This is usually just an empty scale that the scale house across the freeway keeps an eye on. Sort of. Finally got to see how much I weigh, almost 33,000#. 6th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Wendover. As usual, we walk to the closest food truck. Today there is not one in the parking lot so we walk another two blocks down the street. Good food. While I ate, I read some of the reviews of this place. Not all good. But we have been staying here forever and not had an issue. By now I had both gotten my permit and a message back from the drop customer. They may want to change the drop location but no one has followed up on that. Yet. BB was watching the load board today. There was a truck from CA to FL and an RV from CA to NJ. Both were too far away for us to pick up after dropping tomorrow so not within our / the carriers 24 hour window. There is one truck from CA to CA that we might do or at least call on tomorrow. Load board US - 143 IA - 2/1 MN - 2 WI - 7 CA - 5 Tomorrow, 2-3 more stops before the drop. MAY not have to add anymore fuel. But will need to get an OK from the carrier if the customer wants me to drop somewhere else. Then we will decide what we are doing next. There is a truck in AZ going back to NC :) it's only 600 miles from our drop. Home is 1,800 from our drop. ... the trip continues HERE |
