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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2024 06 12 MN-KS 1 trash truck to Kansas City KS (delivered) ... spending the night at Kansas City MO We left out at our usual 7:30 and got to the shipper about 9 AM. Did see one other driver from my other company, he was heading to CO today. Found my truck almost right away. Usually I only look at the trucks that are the same brand, makes it go faster. Somehow this one caught my eye. It was an Autocar instead of a Mack like it said on the paperwork. Not sure why, but it took most of an hour to do the inspection. Part of that was being on hold with the drop. AI recording but this one was different. More choices and when I kept repeating the same thing it finally sent me to a real person. I a real person who actually was trying to help. But they didn't have a phone number either, just an internal computer message system so we will see if the drop calls me back. 2nd stop today was the Austin Kwik Trip for fuel. Truck was full at pickup and I thought about skipping the first fuel. Glad I didn't, these don't have a lot of extra fuel range. Somewhere today I saw a mixer, maybe the same one twice plus another one. I also saw a couple of trash trucks running together twice. And I saw one of our tankers pass me. IA scale was open and there was a line. Everything takes time. I do get a call back from the drop. I am right by an exit so I pull over but not quick enough to get their call and have to call them back. They are 'always open' and they were willing to give me a phone number for next time. On the way down we had talked about how far we would get today and what hotel to stay at. Now I know we can get there tonight. AND this truck will go 65+ mph instead of 55-60. This trip is short enough that IF I don't keep stopping, I will/should be able to make it to my drop before I need my mandatory break. 3rd stop is for CNG in Des Moines. One way streets today so I'll need to take an new way out. BB is there a few miles behind me and we agree to make delivery yet tonight. When I went past the scale in MO, I was watching as I was coming up to it and the moment I went past the open/closed sign I forgot what it said. I know it was not open, but did it say closed or was the sign shut off? Officers were still there and one was outside looking at me when I went past so I keep watching my mirror ... Easy directions, or easy to remember directions on the roads I have been on. I-35, I=29, I-635, I-70 ... But then I got to where I didn't know the roads. I knew that it was one of the first exits, I knew the state road number and the street name. None of that was listed on the exit sign, but there was a small detour sign that listed the state road so I got off. Then at the BOTTOM of the ramp there was the street name. I was in the right place but could have easily missed it. Found the fuel station and fueled. Talked to one of the Amazon drivers a little. But enough that I wasn't paying attention. I looked at my pump and it had stopped. 43.55. I thought that was the $ so I went and restarted the pump. Main credit card did a fraud stop on that card so I used the 2nd one. When I got back to my truck (remote pay) I realized my truck was full and the 43 was the gallons. All this and I wasn't really paying attention to things around me. I should have sat right there. Instead I pulled onto the road ... and stopped. A coal trail was moving slowly and then stopped ... a couple of times. The fueling took 15 minutes, the parked on the street took another 45 minutes. Glad the drop is open late. 4th stop is the drop. There were not street signs but I had looked at a map and guessed. But once I got on the property I could not remember where to drop. I finally stopped and walked in. I was in the right place, I just needed to pull it inside. There is one in door and three out doors. The place is huge with lots of truck in various states of repair. Lots of water too. Skids of cases of bottled water. One person who can sign, they do a walk around and open both doors. That is there inspection. Food. 5th stop is the Whataburger a few miles away. We ate there ... 8 PM. An hour later than it would have been without the train. We debate where to spend the night. Close to a shipper. The cheapest nice motel? The cheapest hotel. We decide on the Sleep Inn by the airport. Not good reviews but only $57. Then we find out that the $57 is an AARP rate. This location does not have discounts with either of our programs. For about $10 than that we got a room with the AAA discount. 6th and final stop is the Sleep Inn KCI Airport. We get there and we notice that there the lot is not full. The area that used to be for their 'stay and fly' guests is empty. We check in. When we get to the room we notice that the trash has not been empties. Then BB notices the AC will run for a few minutes and then shut off. Run again and shut off. Never getting colder than when we walk in. I go back to the front desk and they want to come up and look at it. They do, and then agree to have us switch rooms. As long as they are in the room, I point out the full trash. We go down and get new room keys and they come back up to check the AC and room. The room is warm but cools quickly. They check the bath room and I look at the trash in main area. 'Empty.' But they look closer. There is one liquor bottle in the bottom of the trash I had not seen ... We move rooms. Load board US - 111 IA - 1/-0- MN - 3 WI - 7 2024 06 13 KS-WI 1 van to La Crosse WI ... spending the night at La Crosse WI Up before the alarm ... wait, there was no alarm. We didn't have any work lined up. We didn't have a schedule planned but BB happened to look at the MO load board just before 7 AM (local) and someone was putting trips on the load board. As soon as she says there is one to WI, I am calling. And I get it. It is likely we are already running to late too make delivery same day so we are not even trying. I put the paperwork file on a jump drive and go the the hotel business center. It is out of toner. So I go to the front desk, they offer to print it if I email it. Again :) I email it to KS instead of KC ... and instead of KCI. So it took a while. And then it was a very bad copy but it was readable so I'll use it. Before we head out, we go down for breakfast. Super 8 style breakfast. So we decide to have yogurt ... but when we reached in, the yogurt was not cold. The fridge did not seem to be on. So that means the yogurt may have been sitting there for 3 hours this AM. But we had not looked, was the yogurt left in the fridge over night or was it jus put there this AM. Or has it been moved to this fridge daily ... We decided to stop somewhere else to eat. 1st stop is a QT / Quick Trip for breakfast. We both got breakfast burrito to eat on our way to the shipper. At our exit, a semi did not make a proper turn and had to wait the on-coming traffic to move so they could pull into their lane. No big issue, just interesting to watch. 2nd stop was the shipper. Or a block from the shipper. That is where we have decided to park the car and where I will do my inspection. When I walk in, there is another driver there who has a van for the same company. But he works for a different company. Today. But he also works for the same company I am driving for today and didn't know we were moving these. After a brief chat, I head into the office. I know the routine so it goes quickly. The paperwork part does. But todays van won't start so a 2nd office employee heads out with a jump pack. Once started, they suggest I do not shut off the van for 45 minutes. Still in Kansas City on the same street, I stop again for enough fuel to get to Eagleville. QT/Quick Trip. Just before we reach Bethany, there is a cop on the shoulder with a car stopped so I pull into the left lane as I passed. As I am passing, the car merges into the right lane ... while texting with both hands. As the car gets up to speed, it passes me on the right ... driver has both hands on his phone. A few miles later that car exits and I pass it again ... driver is still texting with both hands. They are driving among us. By now it mid-day when we stop in Eagleville at Loves for fuel. 3rd stop of the day. Fuel is cheaper here than anywhere else. I do the math at 20 mpg and the tank is not quite big enough. Then I pull over to put air in the tires, the tire pressure light is on on the dash. $2 and the tires do not look flat so I don't fill them. As I am sitting there and as I am leaving, there are four Amish buggies that pass the station. Didn't realize this was such a big Amish area but I did know it was just a 10+ miles north into MN. By now I have been able to reach the drop and have found out that the drop times are 7-4. We are not going to make it today. BB and I decide to stop to eat in West Des Moines at McAllisters. By then it was 2 PM. 4th stop is McAllister's. Same as usual, half sandwich and soup. Somewhere in norther IA I get a phone call from my local dispatch. I pull over at the next exit but miss the call. I guess that would be my 5th stop. They have a trip for me for tomorrow. I say I will have to wait until tomorrow AM to decide. I don't have the time to figure out the math. 6th stop was only a few miles later. Same dispatcher calls again but this time it is a few more miles before I reach an exit or in this case the rest area. This time it is not about a trip, they are looking for the paperwork that we sent last night. That they are supposed forward to the shipper at the time of delivery. It is now almost a day later. By the time I called, they had found it. It had ended up in their spam folder. 7th stop was the rest area just past Albert Lea. Not sure why. But when I pulled in, BB had just pulled in. I parked across the drive from her and called on the phone. From here we make a hotel reservation in La Crosse. 8th stop is the Loves in St Charles. I'm guessing that a range of 60 miles is where the 'E' light comes on. Because we are stopping at the hotel, I want to make sure I have enough fuel. I do the math but it ad's more range than expected. Fuel range goes up another half a mile per gallon. I'm going to be leaving extra fuel. 9th stop is the Comfort Inn in La Crosse. From there we walk across the street to the Panera. Basic order. BB's sandwich was the wrong sandwich. My soup did not have the croutons. We are eating again at 8 PM. Sometime during the day, local dispatch sent out an email that they will have buses this quarter end. Boston, ON and New Orleans. BB can't ride in those because she doesn't work for that carrier. So she has to follow, 1,000+ miles. Maybe I will do the one day trip to Crookston instead. This time of year it is light out until after 9 PM. A Saturday trip would be good, they leave an hour earlier so I would run out of driving hours before it gets dark. Load board US - 119 IA - 1/-0- MN - 1 WI - 7 2024 06 14 KS-WI 1 van to La Crosse WI (delivered) ... spending the night at home It's Friday and we may be on a tight schedule so I call my local office at 7 AM in case they have come in early. They have. And they have also given 'my' trip away. They do offer me another trip, more miles, earlier close. No way to make it. Breakfast is yogurt, eggs and sausage. At 7:30 we are pulling out. One mile down the road and we are at the drop. BB had used one hour when doing the math for today. I told her that most likely the person who signed would just sign and we'd be gone. It was even quicker than I expected. They signed, asked if I had left the keys in the van. They never even looked out the door to see if there was a van there. We pull out, not knowing where we are going. At first we planned on heading west to Austin or Albert Lea to be centered between our two biggest shippers. BB and I talked, we now had free time. We did not see any eagles today or yesterday near the river. This is usually a hot spot for eagles. Also the Mississippi is so high that all gates are open at the dam and the water is the same level on both sides. 2nd stop - rest area near Marion. I call local dispatch to let them know that I am <> available. But not for a Monday shuttle. They have nothing, but they now know that I will be around the next two weeks. 10 miles later I pull off at an exit. We want to do a walk in the park or visit cemeteries. BUT BB is looking at the park websites and they are wet, muddy the storms have knocked down trees. So we are heading home. BB did peg in Flapdoddles but they do not open until 11 AM. It is still closer to 9 AM. 3rd stop is the Menards in Rochester to get zip ties for the garden. When we get to Cannon Falls, we exit the freeway. From here we are going cross country. I've been these roads before so no active GPS needed. 4th stop is Selma's. Once we mentioned ice cream, BB wanted some. We ate there but BB was still hungry so we stopped at La Maria. We've tried it a few times but I haven't found anything mild enough there. What BB got today was mild enough so I guess that will be my go to here as BB likes this place. Next stop is home. By 5 PM there was nothing on the load board that worked and local dispatch had not called me with work. There had been one short MN trip but it only stayed on the load board a few minutes. Load board US - 74 IA - 1/-0- MN - 1 WI - 2
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