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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2024 09 03 IA-CA 2 RV's to Freemont CA (Wednesday) spending the night at home No word from dispatch before they opened so both BB and I call in. I'm calling the same number as she is and mine keeps ringing and ringing, it never goes to the switch board. BB gets right in ... and then hands the phone to me. The two we want are already gone so we put two others for Grand Junction on hold for a half hour. We want to have something as a back up. I ask to talk to the head dispatcher but they are too busy first thing in the AM so I will call back later. I end up emailing and get a vague idea of what is going on. We decide to chance it and call back in and let the two Grand Junctions go back on the load board. Today both BB and I have Dr's appointment. I go with to hers, she stays home when I go. Hers was a re-test for something that was inconclusive. Mine was my annual visit plus the routine they do when someone turns 65 :( I was shocked. My BP is usually over the limit anytime I see someone in a white coat. Today it was almost the same as when I took it this AM, low for me. The only issue I see with the appointment is they were doing <> a dementia test. They told me three words and asked me to remember them ... and then never asked me what they were. Not sure if I will still remember the words next year when I go back. Also, they didn't tell me we were doing any kind of a test and they asked me to draw a clock ... I asked 'a digital clock.' They didn't find that funny ?? Back home and near the end of the day we finally get work. We are going to Freemont. (there was only one for Davis, that was where we had a car reserved for) Our first choice for local cars in CA had theirs for $200+ a day. Then we talked about it and looked at canceling the local we have reserved for vacation out there and just renting one near our drop for the week. That was about $35 a day for the week. That works. And the only reason we were looking at leaving for CA today was so that we knew we would have work. By committing today we don't need to leave until tomorrow. And tomorrow they are having free food at noon at the office. So we'll get there for that and then leave out. Sounds like what happened with this RV's is they came over last week, but there were so many issues with them when our office checked them in that they sent them all back. That is why they knew what was coming and I was able to read between the lines. Helps to ask a lot of questions. Load board US - 319 IA - 69/60 MN - 1 WI - 5 Weds we should get to Des Moines, Thurs to Sidney, Friday Evanston, Saturday to Winnemucca and Sunday to Livermore. Then we are only 30 miles or two hours from the drop for Monday. Once we drop Monday we have until about noon on Tuesday before we pick up relatives at the airport and head out on vacation. It looks like it might work. 2024 09 04 IA-CA 2 RV's to Freemont CA spending the night at Waukee IA Finally pulled out at 8:30. That had been our <> plan. That would get us to the shipper about noon when they were serving lunch. For a while this AM we were doing the math in case we would get to Omaha or Lincoln today. 1st stop Owattona for fuel at Holiday/now Circle K. Plan had been to stop at the local bank and get cash last night but we forgot. We don't know of any banks close to the freeway so we decided to just use the ATM at the Holiday when we fueled. Tried it a couple of times and no cash. It just said it failed and to try again later. So we headed into town to the actual bank. First we tried the ATM there but got the same error. There was a line so it took a while here. After I had my cash I asked if they knew anything about why my debit card would not work. 'They are all down, and we are waiting on a 3rd party to fix them.' It would have been nice if the first one had let me know that. I was thinking I had an issue with my card. That all took over a half hour out of our day, just to get cash. 2nd stop was the shipper. It was later now so we decided to eat first. Small setting today. One person serving BBQ with potato salad and coleslaw. With a table for four set up. Last time we were here for one of these they had picnic tables set up outside and dozens of people were there. I ate their food and BB had her salad. Then we went and got our RV's. No issues but it still took an hour after we were done eating to do our inspection. Half a tank of fuel so that will help. Road out of town is still closed so we go via Garner. Just past Garner, my tire light comes on. I stop roadside, no issues. I call dispatch to let them know. They say that they haven't had a customer refuse an RV yet because that light was on. I stop again in Clear Lake so I am not in the weeds to look at my tires. They are all good. Then I find the tire display on the dash. The computer is only reading two of six tires. So the tires are not the issue. 3rd stop is Ellsworth for fuel. These are gas units so we each pay our own. Carrier is paying based on 11 mpg. I haven't gotten that yet. BB decides she is done for the day. We are running about an hour later than expected and she did not sleep well last night. Her appointment yesterday was really a pain in the neck, literally. 4th stop was the Sleep Inn in Waukee. Food for me was next door at Smoky Joe's/HyVee. A chicken salad sandwich and cheddar cheeseburger soup. Got to the hotel room tonight and walked in on someone again. It was only two weeks ago today that we did that last time. I remembered to knock for a few days but did not today. 2nd room had the door open but all else was good. Load board US - 356 IA - 70/59 MN - 10 WI - 5 Tonight we realized that we will be in Winnemucca on a Saturday night. Sometimes they are full or $$$. We may have to adjust our plan. That would be easier if our trip permit was for 3 days instead of 24 hours. 2024 09 05 IA-CA 2 RV's to Freemont CA spending the night at Sidney NE Breakfast was eggs, yogurt and juice. Getting ready to roll by 7:30 today. What I saw today ... ... a semi driver with his pillow rolled up against the window and he was laying his head on it. (He was also having issues staying between the white lines) ... a collapsible travel trailer laying upside down in the ditch ... a semi dragging/flying plastic that was twice to three times as long as his trailer. Not sure how he couldn't see it in his mirrors. 1st stop was Omaha Loves for fuel. 2nd stop was the Arby's at the Pilot in Grand Island for lunch. 3rd stop was the Loves in North Platte for fuel. 4th and final stops were in Sidney at Loves/Comfort Inn and Duncan Donuts. We had only put in enough fuel in North Platte to get to Sidney because fuel was $2.49 in Sidney. When I try to fuel, I tap my credit card and it asks for an ID ?? So I clear it and insert my card. It declines it and then declines BB's card also. So we use our other card which works the first time. But BB puts in more fuel than me and I'm getting worse mileage. So I try again, and it declines this card also. So now I have to go in to get the pump turned on. I was able to get another 2-1/2 gallons in so I hadn't squeezed enough in the first time. BB doesn't squeeze it in at all. She seems to usually get about 1 mpg better than I. Guess I am that much of a wind break for her. Today I got 12.2 mpg on the 1st tank. Then 12.4 mpg on the 2nd tank. On the last tank I was up over 14 mpg for a while but was down to 13+ but the end of the day. I didn't write that one down. After fueling we checked into the hotel, no one in our room when we got there tonight. Then I drove to DD to get food. Our company will pay for any food we get at DD this week. So I got two breakfast sandwiches for the two of us. And one donut. Load board US - 353 IA - 31/30 MN - 3 WI - 3 Tonight when we were mapping out tomorrow, we were taking into account that we need a permit for NV and it is only good for 24 hours and we need to get it on Friday. Hotel tonight was the first one in a while that was way over $100 but it is our normal stopping spot and the other hotel we have stayed at, we don't want to again. ... the trip continues HERE |
