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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2024 03 20 OH-IL 1 refer truck to Romeoville IL 1 tanker truck to Blaine MN (Thursday) ... spending the night at Van Wert OH Woke up just before 8 AM local and got up. Had been awake during the night because I ate way too much food yesterday. So breakfast was one small carton of yogurt. We watch the board, we do the math. We almost call on a trip that didn't pay any better than the one we turned down yesterday. And this one would get us another 400 miles from home. We even looked at how far we would have to drive in a rental car to get to a long trip. We talked about heading home, but there is no work and there is bad weather coming in so we'd be off for a few days. IN did put out an RV to SK this AM, then an RV to MI. I ask BB about it but she wants to do math and I want to call. It took a minute or two before I called and it was already gone. It would have paid better than any of the other trips we had been looking at. But I did find out how that location pays, what they pay. It would have been worth it. Then the gold mine :) ... Two RV's to AK. That is <> once a decade trip to have two going. And we are right here, within a couple of miles from the RV's. ... we pass. It's winter, we aren't ready for it. Maybe next time. And we would have to talk ahead of time to see how we would get back home. Flying is not at the top of my list. Right now it is a little cold for a coast cruise. It would have been 3,500-4,500 miles depending on where they wanted us to cross the border and which roads they wanted us to take. Finally I looked again at a trip I had seen a few times but it was too far of a dead head. But now we were looking at total trip miles, not just the dead head after the drop. This one has a long dead head to the truck but we drop in Chicago. Closer to home and closer to where the trucks are here in IN. I call dispatch, they don't know off hand how much it pays but 'it will be worth it' I wait to see the money before deciding, Yes, we will net almost 2.5x as much as either of the other two trips we have looked at. I wasn't ready to walk out the door, should have been. But we were <> waiting for dispatch to send paperwork so we can use the hotel printer. They didn't send it so we we left the hotel. And rental cars are getting to be an issue. We've had to adjust our plans as to where we will drop the car. We are in the car, leaving the hotel, when BB finally gets on the phone and changes how / what we are going to do with rental cars today. Plan and reservations had been for us to drop this car at South Bend this AM and switch to a Avis. Avis was cheaper and easier to changes plans ... next time we need to. Instead we keep this car, saving us an hour plus, and will drop it where we picked it up. We thought that would save us money, it usually does, but today a local was the same price as a one way. Lots of lots of RV's, travel trailers, buses, work vans. Some places there are 20, 40, 60, 80 acres just for storage. And sometimes they are empty, others are mostly full. Plenty of work once the buyer decides what goes where and when. 1st stop is at Edon at a Loves. Usually the cheapest fuel. Still no paperwork. So we fuel and go. Paperwork does come in and goes to our junk email. BB spends a while looking for somewhere down the road where we might need a stop anyways where we can print my bill of lading. Finally we decide to stop where we know there is a Loves, Perrysburg. Another hour only between stops. But they do it right and cheap. So Loves in Perrysburg was our 2nd stop. We also got food from Arby's. I had a slider, that was plenty for me still. Another hour and we are off the freeway for the last few hours. Most of this was two lane, at one point the car was up to 50 mpg. It likes the slower speeds. Didn't see much for Amish today until we were almost to the shipper. And I don't think they were Amish, Mennonites most likely. Living on city lots, riding electric bicycles and more colorful clothing. Somewhere in the cross country, BB sees a trip in Elgin going back home. We want it, she's looking for her phone so I assume she is going to dial in for it. Nope, she figured I was going to stop when I got a chance and call. Still this communication thing. By the time she does dial my phone, we have gotten to a town and I've pulled into a parking lot. Yes ... I have my tanker endorsement. No ... I do not tow. And this one I will need to scale, in MN. We do it with the buses for one shipper, it's just extra time. No scales between the border and the drop. South St Paul will be the closest. It was quite a while later that we remembered that there was a storm coming in and we did not want to be in MN this weekend. Oh well, we may not make it to MN this weekend? 3rd stop is in Ashland at an gOasis. We didn't know it was not a TA until we got there. (another interesting story I had to look up ... Goasis) From here we are less than an hour to the shipper, the last 10 miles won't be a truck route in a lot of area's of the country. Not here, but other area's we went through some interesting cities. Houses, likely 200 years old, built close together and near the street. We find the shipper just as they are shutting down for the day. Not an issue as it is 'self service.' I find my paperwork but not my truck, there are five right where mine should be but not mine. But I have keys so I know it it ready ... hopefully on the outside of the now locked gates (we had wandered what could go wrong now that we have our week planned) I call dispatch and they know where they park the overflow. It was there ... and had fuel. Often times these new trucks are on fumes. When I call in to get dispatched, I asked if these trips always pay this good ... he says yes, he wants drivers to come back to do another trip for him. We leave out from the shipper just a few minutes later than guesstimate Plan is to get as the rental car returned and stop at the first hotel. I have enough fuel to get half way to the airport tonight before fueling. Loves in Upper Sandusky is that fuel stop, BB also buys food. And we decide that it will really be 8 PM when we get to the airport so we change our plans to stop short in Van Wert. After I leave Loves, I notice that my dome light is one ... and there is a sticker on the dash that just says 'dome light' but is not a switch. I try a few different times to shut it off but then assume a door is open or something. Finally I put two and two together. This truck has all kinds of camera's. It likely can not watch the driver if there is not enough light in the cab so the dome light has to stay on. And yes, once I shut the truck off. I could turn the dome light off. ... this has been a while. We get to the hotel and no where to park. Once spot left and it is taking the last six spots and is against the building. This would have worked better with one of those self parking cars. I get parked using all six of the available spots. Someone is going to wonder how I got in there without damaging their cars. Food for me tonight is the 2nd half of BB's sandwich. So light meals today. Load board US - 157 IA - 1/0 MN - 11 WI - 2 2024 03 21 OH-IL 1 refer truck to Romeoville IL (delivered) 1 tanker truck to Blaine MN ... spending the night at Black River Falls WI We got going early ... and late. Breakfast, another day of yogurt. We got going at 7 AM our time, that is early. We got going 8 AM local, that is late. By being late, locally, the parking lot was mostly empty so I was able to get turned around without much issue. Still, it is a small lot compared to most we stay at. As we are leaving, there is a semi on the exit ramp with two sheriff's cars. And a highway patrol may or may not have come from that stop. But by the time I saw him he was moving on my direction and following me. Luckily it was short lived. Wouldn't be a good way to start any morning. Almost right way this AM I noticed I am low on DEF. Not sure why I didn't notice that last night. So that was my focus for the early AM. The low DEF light had not come on when I got to the first Pilot so I kept going to the airport. The cell phone lot was full this AM so I had to circle, and then find a second place to park as BB had not called yet. ... and why hadn't see called? She had left before me and was driving faster ... Senior moment? She had gotten to the airport and parked in the cell phone lot waiting for me. When she saw me go passed, she realized there was no reason for her to be there. We had not agreed to meet there and we had no luggage to transfer. ... like me yesterday. I guess I passed a number of 70 mph signs before speeding up. I hadn't 'seen' them. From here I decide to put in DEF before getting back on the freeway. About two miles straight north of the airport is a Pilot. I had stopped at one truckstop this AM, but all their fuel was Pacific Pride ... company fuel cards only. No head wind today. My current mpg was 5-6 when I was driving 65 mph. And went up to 8-10 when I slowed to 60 mph. But I had used too much fuel last night with the head wind that now I was going to need fuel before we dropped. Coming up to my third stop, there is a turn lane for the cars to go in the first driveway and then a turn lane for the trucks to go in the second driveway. Traffic was slowing down because the light for the second driveway was turning. But I didn't want to be in the turn lane passed the driveway so I hadn't gotten over yet. Suddenly the truck ahead of me is stopped. NO break lights. Then I did hit the shoulder and go passed him. He had stopped early to let a truck coming out the car driveway in. Luckily that truck had not started moving yet. 3rd (or 4th) stop was at the Pilot in Valparosia for fuel. I decided to put in 7 gallons. More than I needed as we need to deliver with more than 1/8 tank of fuel and I came in at 1/4 tank. So I have left 10+ extra gallons of fuel in the last two trucks. This took longer than it should have. When I was done fueling, I backed out because someone was still sitting ahead of me and I didn't want to be blocked in. But nowhere to park. Someone was even blocking the driveway so trucks were having to cross the scale. Not sure how good that is for the scale, but it works. Until someone actually wants to scale and then there is a line. I finally go all the way around the building, not finding a spot. And end up back in the same spot I had backed out of. Just a few minutes wasted. A few miles down the road and another almost bad situation. I'm in the center lane coming up to stopped traffic at a light. Light changes, so I switch the right lane that is empty. Not going fast but not crawling. Once I can see passed the trucks, I see a semi is running the red light. I had switched lanes and gotten passed the parked traffic because I had seen the light was green ... so it had been green for a while. No crash ... should have used my air horn. Traffic going into Chicago today is not bad. I do have to cross a scale but do not get stopped. Next stop is the airport. Small airport. Avis is the only rental car. Only personal planes coming and going. Terminal is about the size of a convenience store. No security so I park in the parking lot and wait for BB. Once we move the luggage, I head to the drop and BB stops for food at Jimmy Johns. I get to the drop. There are a couple of people in the office but the three people they are looking for to sign for the truck are not there. So this person decides to sign for it, they do have a shop guy also do a walk around. And then I am ready to go. From here it is less than an hour to the next shipper. Eat as we drive. Somewhere during that hour we see a tanker on a flatbed that I guess is going to my shipper. And yes, we follow them in the parking lot. I call my contact and he meets us at the gate. We have seen each other before so we <> ,know each others routines. I sign for the truck before I start it because I know they will make right anything wrong. When I do start it, there is a check engine icon on. The warning is low DEF. So they add more DEF and more fuel :) The warning goes away but the icon stays on. He gives me the OK to run with it ... it should re-set. I check with dispatch who also gives me the OK. Whew ... for a few minutes it looked like our perfect plan was falling apart. Now I have enough fuel to get to WI where fuel is cheaper. By now BB had changed the drop location. Originally we were going to drop it at the Rockford airport, but later she found a mall location that would save us about an hour travel. She leaves, I follow. Once we leave town the speed limit is 70 mph for cars and 60 mph for trucks. So as I am pulling into the mall parking lot BB is calling. Calling by accident. So wasn't ready to be picked up yet, but was outside by the time I was at the building. We are planning on getting as far as we can tonight before the storm hits. Depending on how bad it is, we may not be able to leave first thing in the AM and we want to be close enough that we can leave late and still get it dropped tomorrow. I had thought about stopping at the WI welcome center but BB says she can wait until the truckstop in Janesville so we keep going. But by the time we get to Janesville, I decide it is best if I use the restroom before fueling. It's been about nine hours for me since the last time I used one. Luckily it isn't busy so I'm not blocking anyone from fueling. As with the last two trucks, I put in 35 gallons and hope it is close and not too much over. The rest of the ride is uneventful. Next stop is in Camp Douglas at the Double Nickels Deli. It is at a truck stop so plenty of place to park. When we get our food, BB is ready to take it and go. I was expecting to eat it now so it is not 8 PM when we eat. We eat there. Ends up being a 45 minute break because it is 'slow food' and slow eater. (just remembered now that the other half of that sandwich is still in the hotel fridge.) I only ate half and took the other half for breakfast. It is within minutes of last light when we get to the Comfort Inn in Black River Falls. Lots of deer and other wildlife out. Would rather not be driving for that reason. We had reserved a king bed but all those rooms were still dirty. Something about how their computer works, if a room is not rented, it is available on the internet. The people in these rooms had checked out after the cleaning crew left. So the rooms show as empty, but they are not ready. Load board US - 169 IA - 2/1 MN - 13 IA - 8 2024 03 22 IL-MN 1 tanker truck to Blaine MN (delivered) ... spending the night at home Alarm at 6 AM ... even though we were not planning on leaving until 9 AM. Snow. It had snowed overnight. Snow was deep enough that it covered the grass, but didn't stick to the pavement in most places. Breakfast was OK, plus they had passion orange guava juice. It was good, I even took an extra cup to re-fill my juice bottle. I call local dispatch and tell them that I will not be able to move a truck for them today. Still not sure what will happen with the roads and my check engine icon and they want me to commit to a pickup time on a Friday afternoon. Cutting it too close for me. Because the weather was good, we did end up leaving at 8:30. The ramp to get back onto the freeway is closed so we had to go through town. I'd never been in down town Black River Falls before. No issues with traffic, but I soon notice that the DEF gauge has dropped to near the low line. So first stop is an unplanned stop at the TA Express in Osseo. At first I only see one pump with DEF at the pump. Then I see that it has DEF on both sides, the only other station I know of that has that is in Fargo ND. As I drive around to get to that pump, I realize that all pumps have DEF, they are just not all in the same side of the pump. When we get to the MN scale, the scale is open so we will need to cross. But we do get the bypass so we do not see how heavy the truck is. Then we back track to get our car. We had talked about how we were going to do this, as long as I didn't 'know' how much my truck weighed ... we were going to drop BB at the door. Problem this time of year is that the city streets have weight limits on them. When we left Monday AM we even did a U-turn on our street so we could read the weight limit sign. 9 ton, per axle. ... and today the sign was gone :) they have removed the weight limit so that is no longer an issue. But we did not adjust. We had made plans to meet in the driveway of the soccer fields. We didn't want the truck to be on the city streets any longer than needed ... but that was no longer the issue. When I got to the soccer fields, I realized that that was directly across from the DOT scale. So I kept driving. The old driver training place looked to be the better option. No fence, no snow on the pavement. While I wait for BB and I call dispatch to see what I should do about the check engine icon that is still on. I will deliver and only deal with it IF the customer refuses it. Then I call the local dispatcher and ask about work. This carrier used to send out emails at the end of every quarter saying they need drivers ... they no longer do that ... so ... BB and I have talked and I may start doing a trip whenever we are in town and NOT be around at the end of the quarter. We seem to do a lot of sitting waiting for the 'right trip' as I only end up doing short trash truck trips lately. They have one going to IL ... I said I would call them back. We wanted something going directly south, away from the next storm. BB arrives and we move the luggage to the car and I head to the scale. This truck needs to be scaled and the closest one is in S St Paul. I could have asked for extra mileage pay but did not. It would have been another <>, $20. I'm in auto mode when I get near the truckstop and get off at the wrong exit. But I know the area, just not where the roads go now. I have been coming to this area since it was all cattle yards. Now all the meat packing plants are gone and the buildings are on their 2nd-3rd owners. I add two more gallons of fuel to cover the last 20+ miles to the drop. Then I scale the unit. The truck is 9,000+ pounds on the front axle. Just over half of the legal weight limit on the streets. NOT an issue. That was at the Kwik Trip in South St Paul. There are not a lot of scales in MN, at least not CAT scales. This one is closest to the drop. From here we head up Concord / US-156. I know I used to be on the road some, don't remember why, and don't remember most of the buildings. Lots has changed but not the lay of the land. I looked at a map to know where my drop was. Next to the Anoka airport. Just didn't look to see what streets to take to get there. But I followed my nose and then could see their drops other trucks from the street I was on. Someone at the drop knew about the truck and quickly looked at it and signed for it. I parked it while they made copies and we were done. BB and I talk a little about the IL trip and finally decide not to take it. IF we took it, we would want to leave Saturday for a 400 mile trip. There is not that much extra money in the trip and then we saw that some models say this storm could track the direction we were heading. So we could, could end up getting snowed in in a hotel. So I called and said we'd talk next week. I had thought about offering to work Saturday, but the storm is to be moving in late Saturday and sometimes we don't get back with the buses until late, late. And the buses are 60 foot buses which can be a little tricky on slick roads. Food ... the closest place was the 'Ole Piper Inn.' I think the place has been there close to 40 years but today was the first time I've been in it. Good food. I had a philly, BB had a rachel. When we left, we heard sirens. Close. Once we were in our car we saw them. This place sits at the corner of a stop light and there had been an accident. Maybe a dozen squad cars, fire truck and an ambulance was just getting there. And then loading someone in. We decided to go out a different way. We stop for food on the way home as we will now be home for a long weekend. Depending on where the storm tracks. Load board US - 142 IA - 4/2 MN - 5 WI - 9 We will now be off until the storm clears. MN has not had any short trips with our long haul carrier, IA has had a few RV's. One dispatcher has had a few trucks out of MN, two to NY and then one to OR that we saw. We talked about dead heading to KS to pick up a truck but that would also involve extra time to wait for the storm to clear.
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