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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2024 01 18 FL Grave Days Safety Meeting We had an alarm this AM. Breakfast was last nights Italian leftovers. Headed to our meeting at 7:30. We were not the first ones there. We sign in and talk to other drivers until the meeting starts. Unlike the annual meetings in IA where there are 100-200 people, today there are 12 of us including the safety director, local dispatcher and three people that are drivers but seem to have spent some 'office time.' The TV screen on the wall is hanging at an angle and looks to be ready to fall off. Not sure if their screen was the issue or the lap top running it but there were often computer issues. (Did notice when I was leaving that the main office welcome screen was also having issues) And I talked to one of the drivers who did stay there last night, they said they would not again. So, glad we did not. Most of the topic was on safety and very few stories being told other than by the host. Meeting still lasted four hours. Safety ... claims. Claims for last year will be about $5 million. Just part of doing business. And they went down the list including some pictures and some stories. Usually a story behind the claim. And when they dig, the person usually gets terminated. They did admit that the drivers who go to safety meetings are not the issue. It is the drivers not going, so kind of like preaching to the choir. Not sure about BB today. She had gotten her CDL between when she applied and when she hired on to this carrier. She has always kind of kept that quiet and always driven non-CDL here. Today at the safety meeting, she asked about it and then sent her info to corp to get updated. (and other times while on vacation this week, she is ready to be 'done' driving??) Before the meeting we spent some time talking to a driver that is on my FB group. It's noon when we are done with the meeting. We have no plans and no work. BB is kind of done with beaches and we don't have a walk planned so we are going to go to some cemeteries ... after lunch. Lunch is at Chicken Salad Chick. First time. Good food. Today everyone is getting an extra cup of their original chicken salad with each order. Too much food and at 78 degrees, no where to keep it. Besides my sandwich, and the free cup, I also got soup. Full. Next stop is Lee Cemetery in Lehigh Acres. By looking at the marking style on most crypt's (?) We walked about 15 minutes before finding the one we were looking for. The next cemetery was about a half hour away. This is the first upright marker we have been looking for in FL. Office is closed but we have a location. And it is <> unique so we hope we can find it. We drive a little and then resort to looking up other markers to see which section we are in. Most graves at this cemetery do not have the locations online so it took a while but we did find it this way. Then we did the math. It is another half hour to the next cemetery, at least a half hour to look and then another half hour to get back to the freeway. And it is already three hours to Lakeland from here ... that would make it 7 PM to the hotel. So we decide to skip the last cemetery and get a hotel in Sarasota instead. Comfort Inn in Sarasota. Same one as two days ago. We are in early enough that we are doing some laundry, just in case we get work. Work. There is a used tanker near Jacksonville heading up to VA, not where we want to go. Nothing in GA or SC. Nothing longer than a day out of AL or NC. So no plans. Load board US - 111 IA -0- MN - 3 WI - 9 Tomorrow we switch out our local rental car for a one one. With temps of almost 80 today I think the manatee's have moved back out to the gulf. No plan yet if we will be in ATL Monday AM or almost home. 2024 01 19 NC-IA A Walk in the Park Up before dispatch starts loading and eat breakfast at the hotel. I am still stuffed from yesterday so I just have a yogurt. TX puts semi tractors on early. Then there is one from FL going to Duluth. I grab my phone and by that time BB is looking at it ... Duluth ... GA. :( Then we see a 3,000 mile trip ... from RI to CA. That one actually stayed on the load board for about an hour. At 10 AM there is still one from FL to VA, GA to TN, and 10 from NC to NJ. There is also one local FL to FL. IF we had made it to Lakeland last night it might have worked, but now we need to get our rental car at 3 PM and it is not at the airport so some of these locations, if you are not there on time ... they give the car away and if you are there early they don't have one. And the pickup was electric. I'd rather have a few extra hours to do one of them. At 11 AM we check out and head to De Soto National Monument. Spent an hour walking, saw a couple of dolphins and a marooned boat. We had planned on also stopping at a botanical park about a mile away but the math wasn't working. Oh yeah ... a few miles before the park, BB is looking on the load board and there are three trucks from NC to IA. I call and get one. BB doesn't want one, it's not an RV :) So now we need to get back in work mode. We are supposed to have this car back by 3 PM and still need to eat and then fuel the car before returning. We end up fueling first, then returning the car and grabbing food from Chic-fil-A at the food court in the mall where the rental car is. Rental car place lets us keep our current car so it is only paperwork. But because we waited until <> 3 PM to do this, we will only get to Ocala today and then Durham tomorrow and pick up the truck on Sunday AM. Once we get to Ocala we get off the freeway and then hotels are few until Jacksonville a couple of hours later. With a Sunday pickup, we should be able to drop in IA on Tuesday. Somewhere before Ocala, the on coming traffic is down from three lanes to one lane because a tow truck is getting ready to pull a car out of the swamp and needs to be crossways across the shoulder and first two lanes. That would have slowed us down a little. Frost warning again tonight, even after a mid-70's day. It was sunning and warm today with only scattered showers. We ate lunch late so we waited until 6 PM to eat again. Murphy's Oyster Bar. BB loves their Po' Boy Shrimp Sandwich. I had a chicken philly, or half of one. While we were waiting for our food, we were sitting at one of the tables ... the person behind me was ... interesting. Had lots of comments about a lot of people that I'm guessing both people at the table worked with. One comment was ... 'she is a real waste of a human being.' Then when the waiter brought them their food, she said 'We ordered an appetizer.' The waiter must have started to walk away because next, I heard 'Take this food back, we want our appetizer first.' (when we left their table was still empty, no food, no appetizer) Load board US - 99 IA -0- MN - 4 WI - 9 Travel day again tomorrow. PU Sunday AM. 2024 01 20 NC-IA 1 Tree truck to Cedar Rapids IA ... spending the night at Durham NC No alarm but waited to leave until our planned time. Breakfast was our leftovers from last night. Mine were as good today as they were last night. When I went to check out, no one was at the front desk. So my 2nd place to look is the breakfast prep area. Today they were not the same person, but the person I found did find the front desk person. While I was looking for someone to help me, someone else got in line ahead of me. But they had less patience than I and left before the person got to the desk. While they were bringing up the computer, I asked if I was getting charged for the safe in my room ... and I wanted the charge removed if I was. They grumbled but removed it. $2. For something I have never used. If they want the extra $2, just raise the rates. 1st hour of the day is cross country, no freeway. Early on we saw an almost .... We are on a rural four lane road with stoplights. Light changes to yellow, the car one ahead of us stops ... the truck between us does not stop. It hits the shoulder and passes on the right. 100% red light before they are even close to the intersection. That is why you always stay behind the line for the stop light/stop sign. Other than that it was just slow down for every little town. Most were not big enough to have stop lights. Lots of fruit stands, but most were not open yet. Saw one setting up. Not sure if they buy from the major vendors, but that was the boxes they were using. First stop of the day was the Welcome center in GA just north of Jacksonville. 2nd stop was at the Loves in Yemassee SC at the Loves for fuel and food. Shelf food today. BB got a salad and a burrito. I got two items off the roller plus juice. 3rd stop was the rest area near Florence. We had thought that would be it, but I was having to keep adjusting my sitting to keep focused and we have daylight so we stop again. 4th stop is the rest area near Benson. Somewhere after that we saw another car with all the tires gone sitting on the side of the road. They throw blocks of wood under them, I assume so they can get their jacks out. This is the third one we have seen like this on the freeway this trip. This isn't in some rough neighborhood, this is on the major freeways. Just about 600 miles today. No walks, no long breaks. Speed limit 65-70 unless it was in town or road construction. We have 'a' hotel we stay at in this area, always the same one. Comfort Inn in Durham. Once we check in, we order food from across the street at the Pomodoro Italian Kitchen. It is below freezing by now so we drive instead of walk. Busy street, no close crosswalk. Today we split an item so we do not have leftovers in the AM. Too much Italian in the AM makes for a long day. Food is always good, carrot cake too, but the red sauce is nothing special ... the rest of the food makes up for that though. Temps were in the 30's this AM when we left the hotel in Ocala. At some point they got up to 41 but before night fall it was down below 32. Here, in NC. Looks like it will be in the teens tomorrow AM when we are inspecting my truck. Load board US - 87 IA -0- MN - 4 WI - 9 IF we are out of the hotel by 8 AM, in and out of the drop by 9 AM and back dropping the rental car by 10 AM here in Durham ... we could make it to Dayton OH. Most likely not quite that far. Anything we see Monday on the loadboard, we should be able to pick up on Tuesday ... hope it is heading south again. ... the trip continues HERE |
