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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2024 06 17 MN-KS 1 trash truck to Galena KS ... spending the night at home There was no work for over the weekend so we have been off since I dropped at 8 AM on Friday morning. Over the weekend I had dropped off the paperwork for my last trip so they would have it by the noon cut off. There was paperwork for seven other drivers. One was for a bus going to MA. But there wasn't a bus here and the shuttle wasn't gone. (I know that driver, and today his car was not in the lot so he did not go to MA (?) ) This morning we were up watching the load board. Nothing anywhere. At one point the country wide board was down to about 50, that is less than half the usual low. Shortly before 10 AM I saw that there was one RV going to WI. I called and was put on hold because all dispatchers were already busy. When they got to me, the trip was gone. Early afternoon, there were a few RV's going to MT. Those trips would be 1,000+ miles, each way. And I had wanted to stay more local. We passed. But by then we decided if I wanted to work, I needed to call local dispatch. The local dispatcher that has the most work for me was off today. (Explains why I hadn't gotten a call) They said they had one going to KS ... again. It worked for us last time, we'll see how good it works this time. At the end of the day we drove up to the office to get my paperwork. Once the office closes they put all driver paperwork out so we can see everyone else's trips. There is another truck out of Dodge Center tomorrow ... going to WI. I did know there was other trucks, because they asked if I wanted to ride down in the 6 AM shuttle (they are not used to working with me) But I did not know the where, WI also would have worked for me but I'm guessing it was easier for someone running solo to get out of. Load board weekend US - 106 IA - 1/0 MN -0- WI - 3 Load board - Monday US - 71 IA - 1/-0- MN -0- WI - 1 We plan on leaving out at our usual time, that should get us past Kansas City tomorrow night. That will leave about two hours for Wednesday. From there we are within 1-2 hours of two of our closest shippers. ... some of these dispatchers work 24/7. The KS dispatcher just put three trips out. One to KS and two to IN. I may call on the KS in the AM. 2024 06 18 MN-KS 1 trash truck to Galena KS 1 box refer truck to Park City KS (Wednesday) ... spending the night at Harrisonville MO We don't quite get out of the house on time this AM but not too late. Part way to the shipper I decide to pull off for fuel so we don't get to the shipper with a single digit range. Both credit cards are 'declined' so I pay cash. No fraud messages so I'm guessing their reader wasn't. Lots of water this AM, BB said there is flood watches somewhere down in this area. And more to come. Even with the stop we get to the shipper within an hour and a half. I see one other driver twice, didn't get a look at his placard either time but he might have been with my local carrier. 1st truck I look at is a CNG so I know it's not mine but dispatch has made mistakes before. So the second truck is mine. Makes it easy. Some name I have never heard of on the paperwork but one of the main brands on the truck. New take over? Today we are in and out in about a half hour. Before I pull out, I call on one of the KS trips we saw last night. No answer so I test them. This is a front end loader with my local company so off to the scale I go. 3rd stop of the day. Kwik Trip in Kasson to fuel and scale and make calls. Dispatch wants this units full before we scale so I manage to put in another 10 gallons. And I scale legal so off we can go. But first I make phone calls. Local dispatch to say all's good. Text my KS dispatcher and I get that trip. And call the drop, it's not a central switch board ... yet, but this AM it is an answering machine. Once I'm rolling, the drop returns my phone call, I pull off at the exit for the shipper. BB thinks I have issues but I just need to take the call. 60 mph. And no cruise. It's going to be a long trip. And almost 600 miles. Not sure how I missed that. I try to limit them to 500 miles. Tomorrows trip is only 125 miles ... and good money. 4th stop is the rest area near Ankeny for a break. So far it has been raining off and on and I've had the window open. But something is wearing on me. Standing on the gas? The tight seat belt? The heat? It was 80 degrees by 8 AM again this AM. After this stop I put the AC on and start drinking water. I wasn't sure how far I would get on the tank of fuel so BB had looked at a few places. I had guessed Eagleville or Kearney. 5th stop is Eagleville. I still had over a 1/4 tank at Osceola IA when I passed the Pilot. 40 miles later and I am half way into the red. I'm guessing I had about 10-15 miles range left when I fueled. About 5 mpg on this diesel, less than that on the last CNG. BB is there so we decide to wait until we get to the hotel to eat, it's just over another two hours. Hours. I wasn't watching that close but I am going to come in right up against my eight hours when I get to the hotel. This AM I had taken extra time and eaten part of a free donut at Kwik Trip, plus a sandwich after I scaled. So that was my half hour break. If I had not done that I would have had to stop just short of the hotel for another half hour break. Saw one box truck towing a second box truck ... and the DOT following them at 45 mph off the freeway ramp. Also saw lots of transporters, mostly decks but some singles. And I saw BB a few times. She doesn't like to follow me at less than 65 mph so she tries to stay behind me. Takes longer breaks so she will catch up to me once I am close to my next stop. Only one slow down going through Kansas City. Right way construction had one lane closed and three more lanes were merging in. Other than that it was 60 mph for me. 6th and final stop was the Comfort Inn in Harrisonville. Food was a half mile down the street at the Best Burrito. Only one car in the lot so we drove past first to see if they were even open. Open sign was on. Sign in the window listing times said they were open. They were. And they had a few customers. We have eaten there before. Even their beans were a little to spicy for me but what I ordered was all good. We each ate half of what we ordered and took the other half to go. Long day in that truck. Feet hurt. Not much room to move. On the plus side, I was able to print tomorrows paperwork in seconds this evening. Load board US - 50 IA - 1/0 MN - 2 WI - 3 Wednesday. We have just over two hours to the drop. Then one hour to the next shipper and then two hours to the second drop. Then we need to find more work. 50 is not good. We'll be watching the load board. 2024 06 19 KS-KS 1 box refer truck to Park City KS (delivered) 1 box refer truck to Independence KS 1 box truck to Brandon MN (Thursday) ... spending the night at Augusta KS Up at our usual 6 AM, ate leftovers for breakfast and still weren't able to get out of the hotel on time. So we started the day a few minutes late. 7:45 AM. I had fueled about 120 miles ago and had about 120 left to go. I had used 1/4 of this tank of fuel yesterday so I figured I'd be leaving this 1/2 full. I do need DEF today and decide to stop at Sapps and be done with it first thing this AM. I usually do not get DEF at the big truckstops because I need to come in backwards and they usually have all fuel islands full. 1st stop today is Sapps here in Harrisonville. I get on the freeway long enough to pass the scale and then off at the next exit. I have to pay inside because I'm using my personal credit card because I'm only getting $10 of DEF. Plenty of water standing in this state also. Sounds like norther MN got 7-8 inches in places. That will keep the water falls going for a while. I had mapped out the last few turns of my trip last night. A few turns before my drop, I fall in behind a trash truck. This is going to be easier ... until they pulled down a side road and started picking up trash. These were not the best roads and may not have been truck routes, but they were all paved and had a center line. 2nd stop is the drop. In and out in 15 minutes. As we were leaving we saw a little spotted fawn walking out of the woods. Also saw a few today that didn't make it across the highway, little spotted ones. Saw a few turtles today that didn't make it either. 3rd stop was in Riverton for gas and a restroom. The station is no longer a Conoco and has half their pumps removed and remaining ones only sell one grade of gas. I fueled and BB went inside. It is no longer a convenience store, it is now mostly a head shop. That might explain the person as we came into town. There was a person walking across the grass in a gold cap and gown, high heels and nylons ... long flowing blond hair and a beard. As we are getting ready to leave the 'gas station,' the dispatcher for my next truck calls. He has another truck at my drop coming back to the same shipper if I am interested. Sure. And he has one going to Houston TX. That one I pass on, we want to get back to MN this weekend. 4th stop is the Arby's in Independence for food. We eat in instead of getting it to go. 5th stop same town is the shipper. I've done this routine so it doesn't take long. And I have enough fuel to get down the road where there is a station with truck islands. No fuel discounts in rural KS so we won't make as much money off the fuel. 6th stop is Pete's 66 truckstop in Fredonia. I had thought of putting in fuel based on 10 mpg and then decided 8 mpg might be closer. This truck is governed at 65 mph but it does have a cruise so that is a little better. Somehow the math looked so easy for today. We thought we'd be dropping this one by 2 PM. Instead I am pushing it to get there before they close at 5 PM. My low fuel light comes on as I am going through Wichita so I need to stop again. The first place I see out of town with diesel is an old Phillips 66 station with one diesel pump in their parking lot. But that is all I need. That was the 7th stop. 8th stop is the drop and pickup. The guy signs for my truck and moves it. Then prints out my next BL for me. I had called ahead and asked about it, otherwise BB had said she could have stopped at a Fedex Office in Wichita for me. This was easier. This truck is on 'E.' So we do a quick inspection and I forget to take pictures. Not needed with this carrier but I want to stay in the habit. Rush, rush ... BB says there is now a truck going back to MN ... and the hotel back in Independence is $175 tonight. And I want to get fuel before I run out and it is almost 5 PM. So BB offers to get my last trip released. I head to the fuel station and she heads to a different one, with better restrooms. 9th stop is the same fuel place I just fueled at. It works for fuel. Jump start. Once we are done fueling we make phone calls. I call the dispatcher with the MN truck, this dispatcher usually does horse trailers not anything driveaway. Once I know the details I call BB back, then the dispatcher back, I will take the trip. It will get us back to MN and is only three hours from this drop. After doing the math to see that we can make delivery Friday even if we do not get back to Independence tonight we decide to stay somewhere cheaper. 10th and final stop. Comfort Inn in Augusta. But this will leave 100 miles to the drop tomorrow AM. BB had looked at the map for this place and there was a nice big dirt lot for truck parking. Nope, that is now a car wash. And the 'road' to get to the hotel is the line into the wash. I wasn't ready for that and there were cars coming out of the wash so I couldn't make the turn. Sometimes it is easier to make a wide left turn. So I went up and made a u-turn in Casey's gas station. And this is a small lot. I did find one stop where I could park with my back end over a non-parking spot. Likely we won't be staying here again. From here we walked a block to the Wendy's and both got us some chili. Two nights in a row I have been able to print out paperwork. Load board US - 94 IA - 1/-0- MN - 2 WI - 6 Tomorrow ... breakfast here is not until 7 AM. We will likely leave at 7 AM, get to the drop by 9 AM. Go through a drive thru and eat breakfast in the car after that. That should get us to the 2nd truck by noon and then it is 5 hours to Albert Lea. Maybe ... ... the trip continues HERE
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