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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2024 01 21 NC-IA 1 Tree truck to Cedar Rapids IA ... spending the night at Durham NC No keys, no paperwork ... spending another night. Alarm at 6, breakfast at 7. Bacon. Running a little slow so we did not get out of here until 7:45. Temps cooler than forecast. Half hour trip to the shipper. Can't find my paperwork in the box. There are 12 sets of paperwork plus four that have already been picked up. Then BB comes over and goes through everything again. We look by first digits, by last digits by VIN. Then we drive out to see if my truck is there, it is ... so no one has taken the wrong truck. Now we know what it is and that our things will fit. It is a 750 Ford. Then we go back to the office and wait. Plan was to wait until 9 AM to call dispatch. I email right away but no call back on the email. We notice a couple of cars drive through the parking lot. The first one stops to ask something that I can't hear. Finally I get out and go over to their car. Lion Foods, where is Lion Foods ... sorry, I am from MN and have no idea. 2nd car goes through the parking lot a couple of times and then stops and walks to the mail boxes. I have parked where I can't see them but when I realize it is taking them longer than it should, I walk over. Then I can see that he has our company box open. So I start talking to him. First he says everything is OK ... but I can see he still has not found his paperwork. So I ask if he is going to IA ... yes. And your paperwork is missing ... yes. So we go through all of it again. No paperwork. By now it is 9 AM so I call dispatch and they pickup right away. Get a hotel. Dispatch didn't suggest it, but there is one truck here going to GA that we could have done today and been back here sometime on Monday. Instead we will just be back at 8 AM Monday when they open. Talked to the other driver some. He is heading to IA, same place as us. Has already called the drop. Already has a car back to IN. Did get his number in case we end up on the same time table. Not too likely, we drive 8-9 hours a day and he drives 10-11 hours a day. Looking for something to do in sub freezing weather. There is a mall next to the rental car place. Looked online. Closed. Completely. Used to have 2-3 anchors. Sears, Macy's, etc. Sounds like they were going to knock it down a couple of years ago but it still stands. This area seems nice enough but the mall had security issues including one fatal stabbing. Shortly before noon, we head to the rental car place. This time they would not let us keep our car. Where we had picked up this car, they had upgraded us to a nicer car. This place would not let us keep it. They had re-rented it and had a 'correct' size for our price. No big deal, just doesn't happen often like this. Next stop was Cook Out ... this one was drive through only so we ate in our car. We each got a malt ... on a sub freezing day. Their malts are not that good, but we keep hoping and trying. Burger was good. Next we went to Sarah P Duke Gardens to walk. There is a fee for parking but not to enter. It covers 55 acres and has signs by the trees and bushes. There is a Asian area, historical area, etc. We were there about an hour and walked over a mile. Warm in the sun, if you are dressed for it. Back home to the hotel until meal time. We order from the Italian place again, this time walk across to get our food. Tonight we split one order again. Tomorrow we will try it all over again. 2024 01 22 NC-IA 1 Tree truck to Cedar Rapids IA ... spending the night at Corbin KY ... we are working again ... Spent last night in Durham NC. No leftovers so we ate breakfast. Half an omelette and a small yogurt. Still full from last night. Rolling about 7:30, after we scrape the frost off the windows. It was a few degrees cooler than forecast. Got to the shipper about 8 AM, still no paperwork so I call them. They ask a few questions to make sure I have looked before they start looking on their computer. Then they can see who dropped the ball ... they would have the paperwork out within five minutes. And they did. But no apologies, just 'here's your paperwork.' And they did not bring out the paperwork for the other drivers trucks. We knew where the truck was, we found it yesterday. No issues with pre-trip. Side storage is all locked so we put our luggage in the box in the back. Looks like we left the hotel, waited for someone to bring the paperwork out, found the truck, inspected the truck and fueled the truck ... all within a half hour. As we were moving our things from the car to the truck, that is when BB realized that she had forgotten her shoes. She has an extra pair she likes for when we walk. So yesterday she had brought them into the hotel ... then forgot to wear them when we walked. And forgot to take them when we left. We will go right passed the hotel when we leave but this is her motivation to get a new pair. Fuel. I usually fuel at a Speedway. It is on the correct side of the road and it is as cheap as everywhere else. We had gone passed it yesterday twice and this AM once. Didn't notice the pumps were taped off until I was ready to pull in. Every pump. Price sign makes it look like they are still open. So I had to go across the street to the BP. Small place. First I was going to back into a spot but someone got to the pump before I got to reverse. So I pulled into a different pump. IF the on-coming driver had pulled in straight, I could have pulled straight through. But he didn't, so I had to back out. BB had more fun today at the rental place. Today they wanted to charge her more than agreed because she drove it less than 75 miles. First person rings it up that way, BB complains so they ask the boss ... he agrees to the higher amount. BB has to point out that they can charge more on usage under 75 miles ... IF the renter doesn't fuel it. BB had fueled it and had already showed them the receipt. BB won, but we usually don't have to put up with this stuff with this company. I pull in and pick up BB and we are off. About another 20 miles down the road where fuel is cheaper. Loves in Mebane for fuel. After lots of back and forth we finally agree to stay south and add about 90 miles to our trip. It's going to cost us about $50 in fuel and an hour and a half in time but hopefully we miss the ice storm that is coming through. I thought being delayed one day would be enough for us to miss it, nope. BB also looks at staying south all the way to Nashville, but that would add 200 miles instead of 90. Next stop is for fuel at Pilot. 15 gallon so we have enough fuel to get to the next cheaper fuel. Then we park and eat at Subway. It's been a month plus since we have eaten at one. 4th fuel stop is at the Loves in Newport. $2.49. This truck showed I was getting .9 mpg when I picked it up. Yes, less than one mile per gallon. By the end of the day, that number is up to 5 mpg. Still not good. And still less than I am getting paid for. I gained 4 mpg today, I'm hoping for another 2 mpg tomorrow. Usually trucks start getting better mileage after the first 1,000 miles. This trip is 1,001 miles. So maybe one good mile? We could have made it a little further tonight but the Quality Inn in Corbin is cheap, and has good food across the street. So we shut down about a half hour before sunset. We are hoping to miss the ice tomorrow, but not the rain. So we are trying to decide what to do about our luggage. We thought of bungie cords to keep it up off the floor, but finally decided we will try to have BB sit in the middle of the truck with the luggage on the right. We've done it before, but a different style cab. We ate at Sammy's BBQ. Mine was good. BB had chicken and it was dry. She still ate until she was full ... that is her new diet. Order things she doesn't like so she doesn't stuff herself :) No traffic issues today. Came through Knoxville at 4 PM and I seemed to be the slowest one on the road. Light traffic, at and above the posted. Load board US - 79 IA -0- MN - 4 WI - 8 If all we hit is rain and no ice, we should be able to <> 500 miles tomorrow and get to Peoria. That would get us to the drop about noon on Wednesday. From there it is three hours to the RV's so we 'could' make it in time to pick up on Wednesday if it is the ideal trip. (nothing good so far) As of tonight, there is a rental truck a few miles from my drop. Something we could do if nothing else shows up. 2024 01 23 NC-IA 1 Tree truck to Cedar Rapids IA ... spending the night at Galesburg IL Awaken by the alarm. Breakfast is not much, but all I want today is yogurt and they have that. All juice seems to be really watered down, like that is the way they have it set. Today we get to arrange for close quarters. It takes a couple of times but we make everything fit. Didn't take long for me to have a good scare ... BB was trying to do something and said she was claustrophobic. I was thinking that this was a pull over moment but she just needed enough run, (not rum) to get her jacket off. Then all was fine. But many times today, one of us would try to move or adjust and poke the other. 1st stop of the day was at Loves in Richmond for fuel. 2nd stop was near Batesville IN for break and cookie. We had thought of eating here but it was only a little after 10 AM. (home time) 3rd stop was east of Indy at Pittsboro at a Loves for fuel and food. Food was Godfather's off the shelf. In and out in 30 minutes. 4th stop was for fuel at a Loves in Le Roy east of Champaign. Now I have spent more for fuel than they have paid me. But ... we did drive 90 miles out of route to avoid last nights freezing rain. So I don't see that as the companies issue. When we are all done with the trip, I will do the math and see how much more I spent ... less the extra miles. Earlier today, there was a truck in Tamp FL coming back to my home town :( Not last Tuesday when we were still there ... but today. And there was one from Raleigh NC back home ... that is where we spent the weekend, Raleigh-Durham. Again, after we are gone. And the one today would have paid better. Also there were two trucks from NE heading to FL today, they did not last long. BB was checking the load board often and never did see any RV's out of IA. There are other short trips we might do, but we are coming up on the weekend so we need to plan. 5th and final stop was in Galesburg at the Baymont. It would have been dark by the time we got to Davenport so we stopped here. We have stayed here a few times. We have also stayed at the Best Western across the freeway but it looks like their restaurant is now closed. We walked down to the HyVee gas station for food. Hot shelf food. BB got a grilled chicken and I got a quesadilla. Lots of snow here. Not very well plowed. Likely the deepest snow we have seen all of this year. Load board US - 73 IA - 4/0 MN - 5 WI - 10 We are less than three hours from my drop. I left them a message saying we would drop around 1 PM before I realized how far we were getting tonight. We could have dropped at 11 AM. Now the person has not called back so we will stick with 1 PM. That SHOULD give us enough time to get back to the RV lot and pick up our car and drop the rental. Then decide what we are going to do next. There are trips in IA, MN, WI and IN that will work. They would work better if tomorrow was Monday. 2024 01 24 NC-IA 1 Tree truck to Cedar Rapids IA (delivered) ... spending the night at Clear Lake IA Breakfast was a nuked muffin and yogurt. This AM we were running a little later than usual. The drop has not called back and I had given them a much later arrival than needed. And we wanted to wait until the temps rose a little to reduce the chance of ice. I think we left around 8 AM and there were more employees in the hotel than cars in the lot. Everyone who had stayed is gone. Next door at the Holiday Inn it looks like about half their guests are still there. 1st stop is the Loves in Davenport. Lost another 10 miles range in the first sixty miles this AM. So put in enough to get there, plus the 50 miles range to keep the low fuel light off, plus enough to loose a little more range. Not sure what the difference was, but yesterday we got all our stuff in and I could still see all my mirrors. This AM, not so much. Finally we stood one of the suite cases up against the back of the seat. Now I could see but it was a loose projectile if I were to hit the breaks. We did cross quite a few scales this trip, no issues. Once we got to IA, we started seeing cars in the ditch. There were still a couple of dozen in the first hundred miles before Cedar Rapids. And lots of places where there was debris, tracks in the ditch or where the ditch was cleared of snow to make it easier to find debris. OPPS ... I did not look at street view of the Cedar Rapids airport. No trucks. Can't think of anywhere that has been an issue before. Weight limits, height limits, yes. So I got BB as close as possible and from there she would have to walk. The first place she tried, she had two walk a little ways across the stacked snow ... and then it was a four foot drop to the sidewalk. That didn't work for her so she did find a way through parking lots, and fences? that got her to the building. Inside was an issue also. No cars for the people ahead of her that hadn't pre-booked. Need to have a credit card, etc. No issues for her. She did wait until she was in this car before she canceled our other car. We had booked two, because of price and drop location. I had called the drop again from Davenport and gotten the OK to do a blind drop. One where no one will be there to sign. But BB and I did not change our plans to meet and move all the stuff from the truck to the car before we get to the drop. We like to do that incase the drop is in a rush to grab the truck or lock the gate behind us. Our plan was to meet at the Pilot truckstop at the same exit as the airport. Small lot, smaller because of the snow. I did find a place to park out of the way but not in a spot. Before BB gets there, another driveaway driver pulls in with a mixer. Before he leaves we talk a little. He works for a small, 10-15 driver company out of GA. BB arrives and we move luggage and I am off. I can see where the other like trucks are parked. Address is wrong but this is where we drop. Mud lot so moving luggage at the truck stop was a good idea. Got the truck parked, hid the keys and took pictures. Off to food. We both thought of Pepper Jax but that would take a while and be a mess to eat in the car. So Freddie's it is. Not BB's favorite but I like their custard malts. Non-stop from there to the Pilot in Clear Lake. We meet six RV's on that leg and two more before we get to the lot. We have not seen that many on the load board recently. We did see three on the load board at one point today. BB timed it. Three minutes and they were gone. As we left the Pilot, BB was looking at hotel prices before checking the load board. When she did check there was 1 going to 10,000 Oaks. Usually they ship two at a time. Did we miss our chance or was there only one today? When we got to the lot there were 8 class B RV vans and a dozen class C and another half dozen class A's. Plus a couple of dozen to be flatbedded out. That is the most I have seen of those in a while. So MAYBE there will be more work this week? After picking up our car, we head to return the rental. Then we stop at 'our' Italian place to order food. No other customers, a dozen people just standing around talking. I ask, they get busy at 5 PM and it is only 4 PM. I've never been there later in the evening when it was not busy. Because we still had a gift card, we end up at the Best Western in Clear Lake instead of the cheaper hotels in Mason City. BB is non-CDL. The smaller units. Usually our load board has 50-100 of those units somewhere in the country. Today at one point it was 9. Slim pickings. I ended up loosing money on the fuel on this one. About $50, plus another $50 because I went out of route and added more miles than I was getting paid for. We still made money. Not enough, but we did make money. Even after spending almost a week in FL without working but still paying for hotels and a rental car. And we missed the worst of the midwest weather. Load board US - 112 IA - 4/1 MN - 2 WI - 8 Tomorrow we sit and hit re-fresh on the load board. We'll need to be out of the hotel by noon. If we don't eat our left overs, we'll then go eat somewhere and likely head home about 1 PM if there still isn't work. ... the trip continues HERE |
