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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2024 04 17 TX-CO 1 box truck to Colorado Springs CO (Thursday) ... spending the night at Corsicana TX None of the box trucks we wanted have shown up out of TX near where we are sitting. They did put trucks out of KS, but that is a 600 mile dead head to get to and a non-CDL so it is paying less. By 8 AM we decide to move a couple of mixers that will keep us in Texas and not to far away. After a few phone calls, the dispatcher finds out that someone else moved the trucks yesterday and never told him. Pay was OK, better than anything else we have looked at. While we are on the phone, he mentions other trucks that he will be putting on the load board. One was a tanker going to MS, but that was gone within minutes. The trips out of KS were gone fairly quickly. First the one to St Paul, and then the one to IL. If the St Paul one was a CDL it may have paid enough to deadhead 600 miles to it. (Now I'm starting to think that might have been the better deal) Instead we agreed to take a truck to CO and then dead head 900 miles from there ??? When we call on the truck to CO we find out that it requires a 24 hour notice AND pays less than some of the non-CDL's. But timing. All of these trucks were not on the load board at the same time. Now, after we have agreed to take the truck to CO, there is a truck from the closer shipper going 1,500 miles to PA. If we had waited. So today is a re-start day. I shouldn't have any hour of service issues for the next week and then we will likely be off for a few days/weeks. Once we knew we were in town for the day, BB found a Pioneer Park for us to visit. Also a Walmart for us to 'get one thing.' Then a place to eat called Napoli's. We decided to go to Walmart first so we weren't trying to eat with the crowds right at noon. Instead we got there about 12:30. There was one group of construction workers ... and one other person. BB usually walks out when she sees white table clothes but today we stayed. Great food. I did not have the salad that came with my meal and I still just barely finished it. Lots of it and good. It is in the 'historic' area of town. Most of the buildings are from the 1800's. The building across the street looked like it is being re-done. It is an eight story large block/rock building. We also saw the original town jail. In the down town area the streets are all cobble stone/brick. I think she thought we were going to walk a park but that didn't happen. We pulled in to the park area and she thought it looked like people were breaking in to the one car sitting there so we went to the Pioneer part of the park. $8 and it has the local history. A lot of the buildings are built from original logs for the original settlers. Everything in most of the buildings is 100+ years old. We spent a couple of hours there before it got too hot for BB. This area is next to a play park and two cemeteries but not cemeteries where any of my family is buried. Time for the hotel. Comfort Inn in Corsicana. BB had looked at the Quality Inn but decided to spend the extra $20. It also sounds like she will be following me all the way home. So we will have the rental car for the week. That is what she had to rent it for to get one, but often we return them early. But if we get one more truck after this, then the car will have been cheaper this way instead of getting different cars between each truck. Late, we walk to McD's across the parking lot. Our other choice was Subway in the gas station. Everything else was a get in and drive. There was anther place in town I would like to try but it closed at 5:30. A Bakery and Deli. Load board US - 181 IA - 1/0 MN - 5 WI - 2 CO -0- Tomorrow we will be at the shipper about 8 AM when they open. We should be able to get about 500 miles which will be Dalhart TX. Leaving 300 miles for Friday. So far no work for the weekend. 2024 04 18 TX-CO 1 box truck to Colorado Springs CO ... spending the night at Dumas TX Breakfast was the usual, eggs, sausage and potatoes. Today we had a few more minutes to get out of the hotel as we are only a few miles from the shipper and we can't be there until 8 AM. The room they switched us to last night had a jacuzzi. That seems to help both of us sleep better. Not there just being one, but using it. 1st stop is the shipper. I find the office, a portable office in their lot and walk in. Small one room with four people in it. After a few minutes one person who is checking their J D Edwards accounts finally says 'Hi' but that is all. When the other's start talking, I realize that the 'boss' is trying to get paperwork done for one of the drivers, but no 'just a minute' or anything. When he does finally ask for my info, my truck is not ready. And then says that the other driver still there has already been waiting a half hour. So I say I will check back in a half hour. It ends up being just about two hours before I get my truck and paperwork. And I do get to hear one of their stories of the shipper. The shipper crashed their computer a month ago. They just found out now that one of their trucks got wiped from the system. They found a record that the chassis had been dropped but couldn't find the chassis. My contact finally found it this AM. Done. Others were looking for just the chassis but it had been completed and just parked. They bring the truck out and we check it over. Not sure what all the 'beeps' are for. But the truck was beeping when we were trying to check it over. I just ignored it. Good news is there is enough fuel to get to the closest Loves. The truck has a 100 gallon tank so I didn't want to fill it. Dash shows I am getting 10+ mpg and I have less than 800 miles to go. So I only put in 60 gallons and it is full. Must be a lot of 'un-usable' fuel in this tank. This is not going to be a fun trip. The radar is set long on this truck and it is gutless. I had the cruise off more than on today and spent most of the time with the cruise off and my foot all the way to the floor. The truck will go 70 mph or more. But on little hills like going over an over pass or train tracks it will drop to 50 mph and then won't pick up speed until I am on the downhill side. I passed lots of trucks only to have them pass me again when my speed dropped for a hill that I couldn't even see was there. I didn't count the cars, but there were dozens. First I saw a squad without it's lights on, then in the distance I could see two more with their lights on. Because of the hills I lost them and then when I saw them again I realized that there were dozens ... and a hearse. Before that I had noticed one firetruck parked on an overpass. Didn't realize until the hearse, why they were there. I looked on line but didn't find any local stories. 2nd stop was for food at Pilot / Wendy's in Wichita Falls. And I had to make phone calls so it was over a half hour break. BB and I had planned on running together but when we got delayed two hours we decided to go our own speeds. Here BB pulled in behind me before I got out of the truck. 3rd stop was a rest area in Hadley. From here BB made the hotel reservation. We will run until 7 PM to keep tomorrows miles at about six hours. Earlier I had called the name on my paperwork. I doesn't match the location or the name so now I call the drop address. They are open until 6 PM tomorrow and until 4 PM on Saturday so no worries. 4th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Dumas. We walk across the street to the 287 Roadhouse. Great food. I had a Philly, I was surprised when it came on flatbread. Local dispatch did call today. They know I said I was NA this month but they keep trying. We should have time to do a couple of moves when we are home for a couple of weeks. Load board US - 138 IA - 1/0 MN - 2 WI - 3 CO -0- We may call in the AM on a truck from KS to IL. No trucks left out of CO. We do have about six hours drive to get to the drop. I'll need fuel but not sure how much yet. Once we drop we should get a few miles before shutting down. Then most of Saturday will be deadheading to the next shipper, then picking up. And Sunday will be less than a full day to get to that drop. Monday we should be able to get home from IL. 2024 04 19 TX-CO 1 box truck to Colorado Springs CO (delivered) 1 box truck to Peoria IL (Saturday) ... spending the night at Colby KS 2 cups of yogurt for me for breakfast. BB had a nuked sandwich, that was their hot food at this hotel. As soon as it was 7 AM local, 8 AM eastern, I call on the Peoria truck. It goes to voicemail so we end up doing the whole setup via texting back and forth. But I did get the truck. I hadn't asked which way to park in the parking lot and those who arrived after me parked crossways to what I did. I had planned on parking with the cars like I usually do but they had plenty of signs saying not to. BB had said she was going to give me a head start today but ended up pulling out behind me. I had less fuel than I thought so I will be stopping sooner and spending more. Wind isn't as bad today so the mileage gets back up to 10.1. It had been 10.7 when I picked it up but dropped all day yesterday. 1st stop was the Port of Entry / scale in NM. They just asked to see a copy of my permit which I had up on my notebook screen. So that only took a few seconds. They way they looked at my screen and their screen, I am thinking they already had it showing on their screen. Just making sure I had my copy. Next stop was a block or two down the street at a Loves. 3 truck fuel island. One is out of service. The one I pick has a pickup with a travel trailer. After sitting waiting for a while, someone comes out of Loves with a bag of goodies and starts to fuel ... but their card doesn't work so they have to go back inside. This all took time. When I get to the pump, I put in 24 gallons. Guessing that I am still going to be able to average 10 mpg. That part doesn't take long. BB and I talk while I waited and that is all we will see of each other until after the drop. On our travels today we passed the Capulin volcano. I guess BB got a better look at it than I did. There are others in the area and I wasn't sure which one I was looking at until I was mostly past it. There is also a sign for Sand Dunes ... <> 150 miles off the freeway. Crossing into CO, I needed to cross their scale also. The two trucks ahead of me got pulled in ... so I'm thinking ... either these guys or in a bad mood today and I'll get pulled in also. Or they now will be too busy for me. They were too busy for me and I got the green light. I wanted to call my tomorrow's pickup before noon today but the first rest area at an exit and across the freeway. (doesn't make sense with the 1st one being the Welcome center) So I thought I would find another one but did not before noon. So I stopped at an exit ramp and called. They seemed bothered that I had called. My dispatcher had already called ... We had gone this route on I-25 not too long ago with a bus to Denver so some things looked familiar. Last night I had ran the route for todays drop and wrote down the street names and turns. And I had that on my clip board ... but before long I saw the third turn before I saw the 2nd turn. Things were not adding up so I finally pulled over on the side of the road and keyed in business names I could see and how to get from there to the drop. Then I made a U-turn into a mall and did the same thing again. Then I got out on the main street and pulled off a third time. So with my new directions I got three turns into it and had to stop again and look. This time right on the street as there were not any easy parking spots for a truck. Finally I got going in the correct direction. Ended up going right past a hotel we had stayed at in the past and could see the drop from there. I have not run the directions again yet. But if I had not had the computer run the directions, I think I could have gotten to the drop in 3 easy turns. BB had gotten lost also but she got there quite a while before me. The guys see that the name on the truck does not match the name on my bill of lading, but it is the drops truck. They will have to find out which of their customers it belongs to. That is not my issue and they sign off. I did get there with plenty of fuel left. Even after my detours. Very frustrating but I was not up against a close time or worried about running low on fuel ... just how did this happen? (Road construction, missing road signs) A mile or so from the drop was a DQ. It was past lunch but I did not want to eat a lot now and then again later. And it had been a while since we've had a DQ. Then we stopped in the same parking lot for fuel. No more stops until the hotel. BB changed stops once she saw this one had an in house restaurant. We drive about three of our eight hours to the next shipper tonight. Final stop is the Comfort Inn in Colby. The layout is right but a lot has changed in the 10 plus years since I was here. I am pretty sure this is the town where I sat on the ground at McDonalds waiting for the Greyhound and watched as a tornado formed. It never crossed my mind to be taking pictures. By the time I realized this is real, the staff was ordering everyone into the restrooms. Because of the layout of the area. The tornado hit the hotel, it was a Holiday Inn then, it is the Comfort Inn now. The crossed the freeway. And because of the overpass, the tornado lifted a little, missing the McD's I was in before dropping to the ground again in an empty field. I do have pictures of it crossing the field. (somewhere) The in house restaurant is the City Limits Grill. BB got a burger and I had two trips to the salad bar. That was plenty for me. The Village Inn in the parking lot is new and closed in the last 10+ years. And now they are building a new Comfort Inn in the parking lot. This hotel will stay and become another name, they don't say which name. Load board US - 168 IA - 2/0 MN -0- WI - 2 Tomorrow we should get to the shipper and get about two hours down the road before dark. No Monday work lined up yet, so likely deadhead home from Peoria. (But we make enough in two weeks on this kind of trip that we don't need to work all month) But we do have lots of non-work lined up so we need to make money when we can. ... the trip continues HERE |
