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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2024 02 02 CA-LA 1 bus to ......................... ... spending the night at CA No plans for the day other than to get down to the bus shipper by 3-4 PM. Still getting up at 4 AM so we haven't adjusted to west coast time yet. Saw the the FB feed that more restaurants are closing in Oakland. Too much auto theft. It was a few years ago for us and it was 30 miles out of Oakland. We got notice last night that the driver who had been missing for a week has been found, but had passed. Not sure of the details yet. (it's 11:30 home time when we got to the hotel. Long day) Load board US - 97 IA - 0 MN - 0 WI - 2 2024 02 03 CA-LA 1 bus to Lake Charles LA ... spending the night at Blythe CA Up with the alarm this AM. Short night. Breakfast was yogurt and an egg patty. Rolling at 7 AM local, sun is already up. This hotel has a big dip where I came in last night. No issue coming in but I always drag going out. So today I went all the way around the building and no bottoming out. 1st stop is the Avenal rest area. When we come back out, we see the truck that just pulled in next to me has his chains hanging out his supply door on the passenger side. Didn't see him before we left, hope he does his 'walk around.' 2nd stop is the Petro in Lebec. We chose this one for the Iron Skillet and their buffet. But the Skillet is gone and it is now a IHOP. We went to Wendy's, not sure it was any faster. When I pulled in the parking lot here, I had ran over a Wendy's bag. When I did my walk around, I saw that the bag had a diaper in it. Likely an adult diaper and now it was a real mess. ??? If you are in the parking lot, most likely you are walking past a trash can going into the building. 3rd stop ... just a few miles down the road. I have a yellow STOP light on. So I pull off at the next wide spot and the light goes off. Back on the highway and it comes back on so I pull off in Gorman at the exit and call the after hours number. ... that light means the heater / AC is not working. I can keep going. (glad I am on I-10 and not I-90) Another hour or two down the road and I notice that my volt meter is not working. And them my STOP light starts blinking instead of being on solid or being off. 4th stop was a Kohl's parking lot. I fit. We had talked about going to a truck stop but I guessed on a Saturday in LA, Los Angles, it would be full. This worked. BB used the restroom, I made my calls. Volt meter? the red light on it that was flashing means it, the gauge, is not working. Keep driving it. I am starting to see a pattern here. I'm thinking they are all being caused by one yet unknown thing. OPPS ... I made my permit for the wrong day. My NM. So now I need to deal with that sometime tomorrow. Later tonight I do try to call on it but the line is always busy. Load board US - 96 IA -0- MN -0- WI - 1 2024 02 04 CA-LA 1 bus to Lake Charles LA ... spending the night at Las Cruces NM Spent last night at the Quality Inn in Blythe. Breakfast was yogurt and a mini cinni roll. I try to call the entry scale again this AM. Always busy. Finally I call a different location and find out that they ... can not change the date on my current permit and they can not sell me a permit over the phone. But ... I can buy one at the scale. That scale anyway. Online says the permit must be in hand when you cross the state line. It wasn't light until 7:15 local so we didn't head out until then. Good news, the volt gauge is working and the stop light is off. BB left the room before me so when I'm walking out I take one last look around. Her jacket. She seems to be leaving her clothing in different states ... When we were ready to leave, there was a guy next to us that was also ready to go. So I waited and let him pull out first. As soon as he moved, I told BB he was going to take a left when he got to the street ... and he did. Not a big deal, other than it is a one way street ... I ... take a right and go around the block. Almost full circle to be able to get on the freeway. 1st stop was a TA in Tonopah for fuel and DEF. All fuel lanes are full when we pull in, but as I am driving slowly to decide which lane to pick, one truck pulls out. It is too crowded here this AM to go around and come in backwards so I back in to the open spot. With smaller units, we can go 2,000+ miles on 5 gallons of DEF. Usually I can go 1,000 miles on a 10 gallon tank with the larger trucks. Today the gauge for DEF is going down faster than the fuel tank. So far so good, it looks like I am getting about 8.5 mpg without the help of a tailwind. Coming past Phoenix, there are plenty of homeless like other warm places. One place next to the freeway I noticed that someone had set up camp on the sideway and was using the neighbors fence as their main line. I'm assuming that the home was either vacant or was someone who was not able bodied because this homeless person was throwing half of the junk into that persons yard. Coming into Phoenix there was a walking bridge over the freeway where someone had set up camp about in the middle of the bridge. It looked like they had left enough room for people to walk past ... single file. I remember a few years ago coming out from my hotel in the AM and there was someone sleeping in the bushes right next to my bus. And this is one of the nicer hotels. Still no answer at the scale so I have resigned myself to pay the extra and call a permit company. But BB suggests I look up the phone number again. I have been using the one from the official NM DOT website. Google finds a different one. It works. And I can buy my permit at the scale. :) 2nd stop will be the TA in Eloy for food. There is room for me to park with the cars, which is usually the case at TA's and Petro's. I guess at one time their restaurants were a big draw. We eat at Sbaro's. BB gets veggies and a pizza, I get zeta. Sbaro's now has dipping sauce like Papa John's. It's pretty good. This TA location also had an A&W and a Taco Bell. Lots of truckstop's along this route. 3rd stop is a rest area near Benson. Took a picture there. Hard to tell how far away the snow covered mountains are. Mexico is about 50 miles away, I don't think they were that far away. Nice weather here, a little chili without a jacket. 4th stop is the Port of Entry. The person at the window does not ask to see anything ... just says they will see you inside. My guess is that the computer has run my plate by then and saw I do not have a current permit. Inside the routine is painless. $12.50 because I got the first one for the wrong day. Could have been a lot worse. 5th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Las Cruces. They have truck parking. There is only one restaurant within walking distance. Italian. We order by phone, they call back. They are out of lasagna. :( So we have to re-order. Good food. Tomorrow night we should be in mid-Texas. Rain and snow in California. Glad we got out when we did. We won't be able to pick our next trip until Tuesday. If the drop didn't close at 2:30 we might have tried to make a Tuesday delivery. But not driving at night to do it. ... the trip continues HERE |
