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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2024 05 28 IA-CA 2 to RV's to Davis CA ... spending the night at Grand Island NE We are making a run for it, hope it all works out. We'll be doing 12 hour days instead of our usual 9-10 hour days. - - - - - (five days later) I've been getting out and working in my garden for about an hour before the dispatchers start working. So today I was just getting up from sitting in the garden when BB comes out and yells "Come in NOW." At 10 minutes before they start answering the phone, they put 50 RV's on the load board. Almost all long ones. We hadn't planned on heading to CA but we didn't have a lot of other choices. All would be long trips and the others had a closer to -0- chance of getting any trip back home. We start calling before 8 AM, busy. After almost 15 minutes I email dispatch asking if the phone lines were working. Then BB gets though. We take two trips to Davis and leave within a half hour. We were not completely ready, we had figured we'd be getting a short trip. We could have taken two RV's to 1,000 Oaks for better pay, but that would have meant about a day deadheading back up to the buses. ... knowing what we know now, that would have been the better trip. And because we pushed such long days I needed a day off duty and that would have been getting to the bus. Otherwise I would have needed to take Monday or Tuesday off before delivery on a longer trip. 1st stop was the Loves in Albert Lea for fuel and food. We grabbed shelf food. We want to get as far as possible today so we can make delivery on Friday. Off the freeway heading to the shipper, we saw a bird in the road pecking at road kill. Usually they will get out of the way, this one decided late to leave and I just barely missed it. Until it dropped what it was trying to carry, it was going to hit my windshield. But as soon as it dropped the 'food,' it had no problem getting out of the way. 2nd stop is the shipper. It has been a while so it takes us an hour to do our inspections even though we are in a rush. And I talk to the break down dispatcher when he gets back from lunch. I always have issues with these MB so I want to know which warnings I need to stop right away for and which ones I can wait until the warning disappears on it's own. There are a couple of new issues I had not heard of so I'm glad I asked. I've got a full tank of fuel and BB has a half tank instead of the usual 1/4 so that will help on the total $. 3rd stop is the Loves in Ellsworth for fuel. South of Ames I notice a deer running away from the freeway and I watched it for a bit. Then I realized that I should have been looking the other way to see if there were any more coming. There weren't. Just the one. This time. I noticed up into MN that there was a lot of water in the fields. But we didn't really cross any rivers until we were down in IA. Over their banks, some higher than this spring because of the lack of snow. 4th stop usually is the rest area near Adair but by then BB knew she'd be hungry so we planned on the Flying J in Avoca instead. Good thing we did. The rest area is under construction. This is the first time we have been to the Flying J since they took out the American Pie sit down restaurant and the Maid Rite sandwich shop and replaced them with a Wendy's. That is what we had, Wendy's. They also still have the Taco Johns. 5th stop is Loves in Omaha for fuel. 6th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Grand Island for the night ... still more to come. Load board US - 85 IA - 2 MN -0- WI -0- 2024 05 29 IA-CA 2 to RV's to Davis CA ... spending the night at Rock Springs WY Good buffet style breakfast. Fire trucks are gone by the time we are rolling, I wish I had gotten a picture of them last night. Before we get going, we tape the seal on BB's right door that is flapping in the wind. 1st stop is for fuel at the Loves in North Platte. There is a converted school bus sitting at the Pilot across the street. It is now called the 'Love Bus.' And the half dozen people hanging around it look like they haven't showered in a few months. 2nd stop is for food. Arby's in Sidney. From here I call the drop, they already have people delivering in the afternoon but were OK with a 2 PM drop. 3rd stop is the Port of Entry east of Cheyenne. No line, no issues today. At some point today the traffic was single lane each way. Every time we would meet a truck we'd get sucked over. I finally started driving more on the shoulder. We saw a few prong horn deer. Also saw a couple of city buses being hauled. I assume they were both electric. 4th stop is the Loves in Laramie for fuel. Still no name on the hotel across the street and they are almost done with it. From here I call the west coast dispatcher. For two months they were backed up. Now it is slow. So I can call on Friday from delivery but chances are not good. And my options are narrow because I need to be home within the week. Before we get to Sinclair, I get a call from BB. We are almost to an exit so I pull over on the ramp. About six feet of one of her door seals is flapping in the wind. We try to put it back in place but we can't get it to stay in so we tape over it. We are not supposed to use tape on these units but the other choice was to take the seal off. 5th stop is a few more miles down the road a the TA for Subway. This one had their cover flipped up so we could not see them making the first part of the sandwich. I'm pretty sure they did not put either of the two slices of cheese on mine. But we were lucky, no line when we got there, five people in line when we left. BB was ready to shut down now, but that would make for a long day tomorrow. So we pushed on. It was a rough push. These RV's have 'wind assist' which likes to hit the breaks for a second during a wind gust. Today the breaks stayed on, all the way down to under 50 mph at which point I pulled off at an exit. As did a truck ahead of me. Once we were off the freeway, we were below the wind so we couldn't tell how long it lasted. BB and I talked briefly before continuing. There were two more places a gust hit us. The last one I was ready for because there was rain blowing across the road like it was snow. When I saw that I slowed but still got pushed into the other lane. Lots of while knuckle driving. 6th and final stop is the Clarion in Rock Springs. 619 miles today. FB topic today. Cell phones. One of the driveaway drivers got a ticked and was wondering what would happen next. Someone else mentioned that they got a ticket for having their phone in the lap. Police were look for truckers with phones. Load board US - 89 IA - 15 MN - 1 WI -0- 2024 05 30 IA-CA 2 to RV's to Davis CA ... spending the night at Winnemucca NV The restaurant here in the Clarion is closed. We used to eat here even if we were not staying here. When I asked what happened, they said they moved to near Walmart. Hmmm. There used to be an IHOP there that closed. Looking later, that is where the place moved. The person I talked to sounded optimistic that they would have something new in there soon. (I've heard that about the Quality Inn in Grand Island ... soon. And both in house restaurants have been closed since we started stopping there.) No eggs so we had to wait for made to order omelets. Good food and plenty of it. We were able to wait for them to cook the food, for us to eat it and still be out of the hotel on time. Most of the other big rigs that were here last night are gone already. There had been a semi parked in 'our spot' last night when we got here. This AM the semi was gone and there were two other trucks parked in it's spot. And they were also gone before we did our inspection and got going. The hotel across the street used to be a Baymont, now it is a Spark by Hilton. Never head of that one before. 1st stop was for fuel at the Loves in Green River. They won't let me fuel at the auto island again. The guy I was dealing with was quite snappy. So I was too. But we needed fuel so we pulled around back. When I came in to get my receipt, it was the same guy at the truck fuel desk. Then I noticed he was the manager. He didn't say anything about earlier and neither did I. But I did contact Loves again. Last time I contacted them they said 'they would address the situation.' And the next times I was there I could fuel at the auto pumps. We'll see. 2nd stop was the rest area in Evanston. Long line at the Port of Entry near Echo. It all takes time. It looked like there were three oversized trucks hauling one articulated dump truck box. Two sides and the center. I can't find anything on line about moving them, but it looked like all three were together then. When we went past the rest area at Echo it looked like there were two RV transporters there. But couldn't see the placards so I'm not sure. The reservoir at Echo is full again. That is an easy one to see. Not as easy to see of Salt Lake is coming back up. 3rd stop was in Tooele at the Pilot for shelf food. NOOooo. The down side of this job ... and a bad memory. Just got a text message that our tickets are ready ... for Sunday. THIS Sunday. We forgot. Three of our grandkids are in a play and there is no way (almost) to change plans when you are 2,000 miles from home. The only way would be to tell the bus dispatcher that I am in fact NA. And then FLY. We haven't flown in eight years. So we said for them to find someone to give our tickets too :( :( ... who knows if they will all every be in a play together again. They had meatloaf so that it what we split. Two pieced of meat plus two side, enough for two people. Food they have, tables they don't. So we sat on the grass outside. I don't care for their gravy so I asked for butter. They said they would have to go to the back and get some. They came back with a cup of butter that was almost as big as my helping of mashed potatoes. Couldn't / didn't eat all the butter. We have other choices at this exit. Burger King and Taco Bell are at the TA, but we have to get over two lanes in less than a block to make our exit. Or there is both an Arby's and a Del Taco, but there is no stoplight so we'd have to take a right and add an extra mile or cross four lanes of traffic which takes a while. Pilot is easy. From here we called for our NV permit. Ordered them for an hour before we could get there but we should be able to get out of NV in plenty of time. The computer at the permit company didn't like BB's VIN. They checked it, we checked it. We got the permit but someone buying that RV may have an issue if MB has no record of building that unit. A few miles out of Tooele a squad car passes us with it's lights on. Before we get to Wendover there are three squads and an ambulance. And a SUV in the median that has rolled a few times. Right over the safety cable. After we are a few miles into NV, I see a man in a wheel chair sitting in the crossover facing the other traffic. The closest car is about a mile away. My guess is that was his car, heading the way we were going but he wanted to get back where he came from so he was by the other lane. Not sure if he was trying to flag traffic down or not as there was no other traffic. 4th stop is the rest area at Wendover. I think the outhouses are always going to be there. No work in progress to fix whatever is wrong with those in the building. 5th stop is the Loves in Wells for fuel. Today I come in with a few more miles range than last time. Still too close. There isn't any services for about 60 miles and lots of hills. Makes it hard to guess. If we stop before Green River we are going to need to stop again before Wells. And I was hoping to get away from Green River ... Very little wind today. So better mileage 1st tank @ 13.5 mpg 2nd tank @ 17.0 mpg 3rd tank @ 17.2 mpg 6th stop is another two hours down the road but it will be, may be, should be our last fuel stop before delivery. Maverick for fuel. By now BB is hungry so we park and walk across the street to Port O Subs. Something wasn't quite right today. One person making the sandwiches didn't seem to understand everything we were saying. But we could see them make it so everything was correct. Then the wanted to charge me $3 for a cup for water. That took some explaining. Then they took the price off. That's where I got lost. there was one price on the register and another on what I was signing. Duh ... because what I was signing had the tip that 'I' had added. :) When we ate them is when we realized something was not right. We ate them. But they are not the sandwich I remember here or anywhere at a Port O Subs. We'll try it again here. But only so many strikes and we don't come back. 7th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Winnemucca. It was only an hour from the last stop. It goes much faster on a full stomach. RV temp said 105 when we got back in at Battle Mt. Someone parked in 'our spots' here also. So I had to drive around the lot looking for the right spot. Depending on where we park, we can take up two spots ... or six. Lots of changes in ownership just in hotels and food since we were this way a month or so ago. Des Moines The Denny's that had been attached to the Quality Inn will soon reopen as a liquor store. Omaha The Zoo Comfort Inn is now a AmericInn The Best Value next to another Comfort Inn has signage to reopen as an office complex. Lincoln The Perkins that has been closed a few years has signage to reopen as a Mexican place. Elm Creek The MaPa hotel that has had a dozen names now again is a BestValue. That's just a few of the changes we've noticed. Not new this time, but there is now a Comfort Inn in Battle Mountain which we may have stayed at if we hadn't gotten to Rock Springs last night. Closer to 500 miles today. 300 miles for tomorrow. Two stops, plus final fuel before delivery. Then pick up a rental across the street from the drop and head down to Livermore on the chance we get a bus. If we do not, we have a car rented for Saturday heading home. Load board US - 132 IA - 2 MN - 9 WI - 4 ... the trip continues HERE |
