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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2024 04 08 OH-MN 1 lawn truck to Burnsville MN (delivered) 2 RV's to Grand Junction CO (canceled) 2 RV's to California ... spending the night at Lincoln NE No alarm, no breakfast. BB didn't remember that the car shop opened at 7:30 so she had paced herself to have time for breakfast, but then decided we'd eat later. 7:30, we pull out of the drive. A few blocks later I drop BB at the car shop. She pays the bill and returns home to pickup luggage. I head to the drop, light traffic for rush hour on a Monday. Another two turn's to the drop after I am off the freeway. Easy and I know the area. Fuel is still on 1/4 when I get to the drop, so I left about an extra three gallons of fuel for them. Someone is helping me within two minutes of walking in. I show them the cracked windshield, they look at it and them check with someone else. Not sure their plan but they accept the truck with a note on the bill of lading. They also have their check list to cover. All is good. BB is there before they are done checking it in. Local dispatch calls while I am being checked in so I call them back as soon as we are finished. I don't ask what they wanted me for. I just tell them I will be out of town for the next two weeks. I keep forgetting to call them as soon as I have other work so they can take me off their list. Burnsville. I think there were only two Holiday Villages and Burnsville was one of them. It is being torn down. Cub had taken both locations over years ago but kept using the old buildings. This one was an odd shape for some reason. Cub will be back at that location was the new building is done. We have two hours to talk about the what if's. Should we rent a local car and stay a day waiting for work? Should we grab the bus in PHX? Head to CA? Head to IA? 2nd stop of the day is the Wendy's in Owatonna for food. A little slow this AM. When I ordered I asked for 'candied bacon' on my sandwich. They have it on other sandwiches but they could not find how to add it on the computer. So I finally said forget it. About 20 minutes before we get to the shipper, the head RV dispatcher calls. We might want to talk to them so BB puts it on speaker. Our drop can not handle all the RV's coming their way. ... would we be interested in taking RV's to a different, closer RV location in CO ... or ... and they list three other locations. I didn't follow the conversation. I was expecting him to want us to take a different CO location because no one wants to go there ... and IF we do that, then we can get one of the other trips. No, we have our choice of where to go, no strings. One of those choices was CA. So we are trading a 1,000 mile trip for a 2,000 mile trip that ends us within an hour of where I pick up the buses :) :) :) ))) what did we do to deserve this? ((( So now BB only has a few minutes to cancel our CO rental car and make a new reservation in CA. As this is going on, there has been a cop with a semi pulled over in the oncoming traffic. As soon as the truck is in the travel lane, the cop makes a u-turn and follows me, but does not pass. I'm doing just over 55 mph but they can have a lot of reasons to pull people over. At one point he was only about one car length off my bumper. BB had made some comment about they pulling me over, I said no, there is only two of them. They will wait until the other three show up. (not sure where the 2nd one had come from by then) Then all of a sudden, they pull to the shoulder and both make a u-turn. I thought they were going to hit each other the way they did it. Last I saw of them, they were one in each lane heading the other direction, without their lights on. We have to wait a couple of minutes for our paperwork. The boss is doing it, not one of the other three dispatchers. Sounds like the shipper wanted to get rid of some two year old units, they are new, never used, but old style. They had 90, the dealer in CO took 80 of them. Once they started coming they realized they did not want them all at once. ... and, to get them moved, dispatch had not been putting other trips on the load board. So now those trips are getting old and need to be moved ... but again ... ))) what did we do to deserve this? ((( I talked to four other drivers, (six total, two were couples) All were going to CO. How did we get picked to not go? But glad we did. Makes life much easier. Hope the bus dispatcher is still looking for drivers where we get there. Small RV's but it still takes us an hour to do our inspections. It is 45 degrees today but a stiff wind. No issues with either of the RV's. But BB does ask if I have my tape with me, her RV is wrapped, poorly. We both have free fuel. They used to charge us for anything over 1/4 tank. They aren't doing that now. So that helps. BB has a 1/2 tank and I have 3/4 tank, and we can run them to 'E' before putting in final fuel near the dealer. Stiff wind will not do us any favors on the mpg. And we do get rocked around a little. We both have the same style RV but not the same chassis. BB has a Ford gas and I have a MB diesel. 3rd stop is the Loves in Ellsworth for fuel and food. We decide to split a philly burger. Good, but even half is plenty for each of us. People are using the Loves parking lot to see the eclipse. One person even had their camera tripod set up there. We are leaving about 15 minutes before max eclipse for this area. There are still scattered clouds. An hour ago at the shipper it was completely cloud covered. It was supposed to be 85% eclipse here but I didn't really notice when it happened. With the scattered clouds it would get darker every time a cloud went overhead. Signs on the highway were all saying do not stop on the freeway to view eclipse. 4th stop was when BB pulled out to pass me. I had not seen her flash her headlights at me. Her wrap is coming off and we either need to tape it down or take it off. We re-taped it for now. Very poor job of putting it on. And no way to change that unless we take it all the way off and start over. So we tape where we can and hope it holds until the wind dies down. After that we should be good. 5th stop was the rest area in Adair. 6th stop was the Loves in Omaha for fuel. I am getting 13.1 even with the head wind. Hoping for better because I am getting paid based on 13.2 mpg. 7th and final stop was the Quality Inn in Lincoln. From there we walked to King Kong for gyro's. We each got a chicken, almost. Maybe it was only a half chicken each, but it was a lot of food. That was our walk for the day. By the time we get back to the hotel it is almost 8 PM. Not much time to do things before lights out. Load board US - 262 IA - 32/29 MN - 8 WI - 4 Tomorrow we should make it to Laramie, about 490 miles. From there it is 507 miles to Wendover. And from Wendover to Rocklin CA it is another 508, so the stops are split pretty close. 2024 04 09 IA-CA 2 RV's, 1 to Davis CA, 1 to Freemont CA ... spending the night at Laramie WY No need for an alarm, we are both up before needed. Way to much food last night, that didn't help in the sleep area. Pillows didn't help either. All this place has for hot food is biscuits and gravy. So I had yogurt. Last night when we looked out our window we saw stuff, furniture stacked high. The hotel next door must be upgrading so they just have a huge pile of everything from the rooms. Not sure if it is free to grab? We did see one pickup leaving with a few couches. But there are also book ends, chairs, desks, lamps. 7:30 we pull out of the Quality Inn ... interesting sight as I was waiting for my bill. There was a younger gal sitting near the door. Then a car pulled up and she walked out and they left. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt and neon purple snow boots. That was it. No jacket, no other clothes. No purse, no suitcase. It wasn't even 40 degrees out this AM. 1st stop is the rest are near Grand Junction. Yesterday there had been six drivers leaving after us all heading to CO. We did not see any of them yesterday or this AM. But today we did see one other wrapped RV, first parked at the Sandhilll Crane Center and then again at the Flying J in Big Springs. Other than that we saw an old boom truck twice. No plate, no placards, not markings on the truck so my guess it was a transporter. We also saw one school bus transporter on the side of the road. But still have not met any of our buses coming from CA. We saw lots of highway patrols today but nothing interesting. Last trip we saw five cops behind one rental truck. But no story. I also saw a lot of turkey's today. Some I could tell were real, others I wonder if they were decoys. Other than that not much for excitment. 2nd stop is in North Platte for fuel and food. Food was Subway, we had talked about driving to Penny's Diner but this saved that extra drive time. As we were parking, I came within less than an inch of BB's RV. She had backed in first and then I was backing in, I had re-adjusted my mirrors so I could see I was centered between the lines. BUT I didn't realize that BB was not centered, or done parking. No damage, just a scare. 3rd stop is the Loves in Sidney. It had been planned as a rest area stop but when our fuel mileage dropped we decided to stop at Loves just in case. Then when we got to the rest area it was closed so we would have ended up here anyways. We both decide to put in fuel, we have less than 100 miles excess and a stiff wind can change that quickly. Before we are done fueling, a tow guy, someone who hauls our trucks instead of drives them was waiting for BB's pump. His truck looked like one of the ones we saw in Janesville last week. After we got out of the way, we didn't see him again. Truck was sitting there, but not him. 4th stop is the Port of Entry in Burns/Cheyenne. Line inside was long so they changed the sign so anyone not needing a permit did not have to come in. No issue for us, but when we left, there were three counters open. 1) driver had been there the whole 15 minutes we were and the last comment I heard was 'We can see you are taking your breaks, but not the full half hour." 2) 'Your insurance is not current.' 3) 'When was the last time you had a level 1 (complete) inspection.' 5th and final stop was the Comfort Inn in Laramie. From there we walked to the Iron Skillet/Petro truckstop to eat. We used to eat there a lot, they used to have a buffet and the place was full. Now half the area is roped off and the rest is still not full. It took us a while to get waited on, a person who walked in behind us was done and gone about the time we got our food. And the food was not good, not bad, just not good. BB has no intentions of eating there area. The last Country Pride at a TA was just as bad. Mileage today was, 15 mpg from the hotel to the first fill, 13.1 from there to the 2nd fill and 14.3 from the 2nd fill to the hotel. Load board US - 293 IA - 41/38 MN - 5 WI - 3 We run this route often enough that we <> know all of our stops. Tomorrow we will eat at a Loves/Carl's Jr to save another stop. 2024 04 10 IA-CA 2 RV's, 1 to Davis CA, 1 to Freemont CA ... spending the night at Wendover UT No alarm but we do have SNOW. None on the pavement but some on the grass and vehicles. No Pop-Tarts for breakfast anymore. No sauce cups either. This place used to have both. But they still have all the usual stuff. Yogurt for me today. Grrr ... no notice when I shut the laptop down last night. This morning it would not respond on the screen so I had to crash it. Finally after coming back up, it said it was updating. An hour later it was still updating and I had to shut it off to leave ... it resumed it's update when we go to tonight's hotel. Didn't time it, but even when it was done updating it was slow. So once I could see enough of the screen to do a re-start, I restarted it again. Now it seems to be OK. Ice on the parking lot in places. Lots of ice on the windshields so I start my RV as soon as I am done checking under the hood. I just let the heater run full blast as I check my lights and go in for my receipt. When I come back out, it doesn't look like it has started melting. So ... seeing I do not have an ice scraper (didn't realize I didn't have one, hadn't needed one all year) ... I decide to spray my windshield. But on this unit, the wipers run when you spay ... and I had my door open so a whole lot of ice dumped on the inside of my door. The ice was actually loose and came off on the first swish. There was a transporter parked on the street with a trash truck. He had come out while we were checking our units and I hadn't seen him. And he didn't stop by so we didn't talk. I think it was him again we could see at the Pilot while we were fueling. 1st stop is across the freeway at the Loves. Sun is just coming up, right in our eyes. A little fog did help a little but not much. There is one other RV here fueling but we don't talk to him until we are done and coming back out of the station. Then he is waiting for us, our carrier is one of the three he works for but is not working for our common carrier today. Between that little chat, the clerks not knowing how to run a company card and the ice this AM, it has taken us 45 minutes to leave town instead of 15-30. 2nd stop is down the road at the Flying J in Rawlins. One transporter there with a mixer from Dodge Center. Didn't see the driver. From there I called on my pay for the last trip, they had forgotten one line item. One call to dispatch and I was paid within the hour. That also saved me another fueling fee today. Did get a good look at the 'big dig' today. It was not running but I happened to look at just the right time. The hole they are digging has a wall 100's of feet straight down, not slanted. Not sure if the digger gets it like that or they do it another way. 3rd stop was the Loves/Subway in Green River. Last time I was here they would not turn the pump on at the fuel desk, they made me run it at the truck islands. Today, no questions asked again. Same as any other place. And they got it right the 2nd time. On the first fuel they ran BB's car so many times we thought they had locked BB's card out so I had to use mine. Subway was the garlic chicken. As we ate, the driver we had talked to at the 1st stop was there again fueling. We talked briefly again. He's dropping in French Camp tomorrow. Doable even if you only run 50 more miles a day than we are running. From here we call for permits. One of the questions they ask is what year the unit is. My paperwork says 2025. But based on the VIN, it is a 2023 chassis. ??? And BB had called her drop and made a 9 AM appointment. I also tried calling the clinic because they had billed my 'pre-65' insurance. But I got put on hold until we had to go so I hung up. Later, I'll have to call again later. 4th stop is the rest area in Evanston. Unusual sight coming into Salt Lake City. No smog. We could actually see the snow covered mountains. 5th stop is the Flying J in Tooele for the rest room. We had planned on fueling here, but once we got passed Evanston we lost the wind and it is almost all down hill. We now each have enough range to get to Wells tomorrow. If we don't loose range. From here I call the bus dispatcher. I just say I'll be dropping in Freemont about noon Friday ... they say call on Friday then. Short conversation. 6th stop is the Quality Inn in Wendover. Just a mile before the exit, I have an engine light come on. Now we need to have a new backup plan. We had talked about walking to the Copper Kettle to eat, a place we have not tried yet. But once we got here, we walked across the parking lot to the food truck. Always good food. When we are done eating, we go for a mile walk down the sidewalk. It's something. MONDAY - It was raining. And there were worms everywhere on the pavement. Strange sight where no one was driving. (just mush where people did drive) TUESDAY - We saw lots and lots of calf's. Just hours or days old I would guess. Also saw a few Sandhill cranes, but not many. TODAY - We did see a lot of prong horn deer. One place there was someone walking out to them, they were still a block apart and the deer were just looking at her ... and then we were gone. It is surprising how much the fuel mileage changes. Up and down a half mile per gallon just going up and down a hill. Best was when I re-set the gauge right after fuel ... as I was coasting down hill ... 99.9 mpg :) Most of the morning I was below 12 mpg, but gained enough just before fueling to be at 13.8 mpg average. The from Green River to Wendover it got up to 16.2 mpg. At that rate I can fuel in Winnemucca and make it to my drop. If that is where I go. Office was closed by the time I had the issue so we will call in the AM. Load board US - 293 IA - 36/34 MN - 4 WI - 4 1st fuel will be an hour down the road at Wells. Then BB now wants to fuel at Battle Mt as here last fuel, and I want to fuel in Winnemucca ... IF I am still dropping in Freemont and not somewhere sooner. Then we will stop in Lovelock for food and Gold Run for a break. And be to Rocklin mid-afternoon ... to keep on our midwest schedule. ... the trip continues HERE |
