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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2024 09 06 IA-CA 2 RV's to Freemont CA spending the night at Evanston WY Before breakfast we both went for a walk today, down the sidewalk and around the parking lot. 1 mile plus. Breakfast was western omelettes, bacon and potatoes so I saved my last nights sandwich for later. This AM the elevator was not working so we, or BB, made two trips to take stuff down. Last night when we checked in, they asked which floor and I asked if the elevator was working ... 'yes, now.' Now we know why they said it that way. Pulled out at 8:30 / 7:30 local. 1st stop was the Port of Entry. Now they need to see the registration for our plates, before they just asked what our plate number was. Too many plates being stolen. As I was standing outside waiting for BB, there was a semi driver that drove through looking very confused. This is the only POE I know of where everyone has to stop and there is not weigh scale that everyone crosses. There is a scale, but only if directed, and I looks like most of those also get inspected. No body chased this guy down today. Did see where a semi had gone in the ditch recently. Tow truck was already there, a 2nd semi was pulling up. I assume to load what they could salvage from the rolled trailer. Also saw prairie dogs either last night or this morning. Lots of holes, some dogs and very short grass. 2nd stop was the Loves in Laramie. We looked, we are supposed to run 87+ octane in these RV's. Regular gas in CO and WY is 85 octane so we were paying a bit more. The new hotel at this exit finally has a name. Holiday Inn Express. There is a sign for a Super 8 right there but it has been painted over. Just looked it up, website says the Super 8 is still open. 3rd stop was in Rawlins at the TA to eat. We both brought our own food today so we just sat in the <> Subway area of the TA and ate. No one else there when we got there, two others there when we left. 4th stop was for fuel at the Loves in Green River. We should have looked to see who had the cheaper 'mid-grade gas' but we didn't. We put in the right stuff here also. Also called for our permits and I called the drop. Then BB made a reservation. 5th and final stop was the Quality Inn in Evanston. We often stay at the Comfort Inn but it was $90 more than the Quality Inn tonight. I walked across the street to a bar and ordered a hamburger to go. It was the only thing that didn't look too hot / spicy for me to eat. We usually make a hotel reservation about an hour or two before we shut down for the night. Tonight we already made one for tomorrow night at the Quality Inn in Winnemucca. Load board US - 286 IA - 21/16 MN - 4 WI - 2 Tomorrows stops. Tooele. Then Wendover to eat, if open, I will get food from a food truck at our hotel there. 3rd stop will be Loves for fuel and the TA/Duncan Donuts for free food for later. 4th stop will likely be Elko for a restroom and then Winnemucca for fuel, food and the night. 2024 09 07 IA-CA 2 RV's to Freemont CA spending the night at Winnemucca NV When I'm awake at midnight it is not a good sign. BB went for a walk alone this AM and when she got back we went for breakfast right away. Yogurt and one egg patty. Too much to eat last night, 1/3# burger and good onion rings. Should have passed on the rings. While we are eating, BB looks at our permits that we ordered yesterday. They are wrong. So I have to call and order new ones. There is only one person working Saturday and only in the AM so it can be hard to get through. I was on hold less than five minutes so I'm calling that lucky. And they could somehow see in the notes that the permit was supposed to be for today but then got entered for Sunday. Someone else's problem for Monday. Rolling at 9:30 home time. We noticed this AM that our RV's have issues with their head lights. We've had this issue before and then it corrects it's self. The main head lights work on normal and high, but there is a second light on each side but only one of the two works on each RV and not the same one. As we are leaving town, I notice that the only two gas stations we pass have both became Ma-Pa places since last time we were here. Both still their corp signs high in the sky, one was a Shell and the other a Chevron. But their smaller signs have a new name and the pumps have a new paint job. Scales open in UT, for us. Another transporter just blew past it. Coming into Salt Lake City I notice a new Comfort Inn, our favorite chain so I notice them. This hotel had been a Howard Johnson for maybe as long as 20+ years. Next door had been a KFC until a few years ago. Then it became one of the first Famous Dave's drive-thru's. Now it is a Drunken Kitchen. Changes. 1st stop is the Flying J in Tooele for the restroom. I stopped and washed my windshield first. I hadn't done that yet this trip and they were getting a little thick. Hazy today. Can't see the hills until we are mostly to Wendover. Sometimes we can see them from 40 miles away. 2nd stop was the rest area 10 miles before Wendover on the salt flats to use the outhouses. The building has been closed for maybe two years with no sign of working on anything. Spaced out. I was thinking about other scales when we came up to the exit scale before Wendover. I missed the flashing lights on the sign that would say if it was open, so I went across the scale. BB had seen the sign and they lights were not flashing so we did not need to weight today. 3rd stop was for food in the town of Wendover. Plan was to eat at the food truck in front of the hotel. It was closed. So we drove to the truck parking a block away. From there I could see two other food trucks so I walked back to the one we have eaten at before and got a quesadilla for me. If I had thought of it, BB could have come with me and then we could have sat at a table. Instead we sat in the sun on the runner of the RV. My food had more kick than I like but not too much so I couldn't eat it. But it was too much so we put the rest in a baggie and will put it in with the cold stuff once it cools off. My plan had been to stop at the Duncan Donuts in the TA in Wells and pick up a meal for tonight. As we are getting ready to leave Wendover, BB reminds me that our free lunch from Duncan was only Monday thru Friday. Oh well, change of plans. 4th stop is for fuel at Loves in Wells. Regular is 85 octane. When I looked online it said in NV regular would be 87 octane. But we are here so we put in 88, as that is what they have. We hadn't looked to see where else might be cheaper on the midgrade. Inspection station is not open today in Elko. 5th stop is for the rest rooms at the Sinclair in Elko. Wells to Wendover is too far so we stop here. It's a known. 6th and final stops are in Wendover. First we go to the hotel to check in, then we drive to WalMart for some frozen veggies and then back to the hotel to eat. I have the other half of the quesadilla plus a Naked Juice. BB has another salad plus whatever she adds to the evening meal. Not much for excitement on the road today. Still have not met any buses from CA. I finally took a picture BB's and my dash's today. BB is getting 15 mpg and I am getting 14.2 mpg. Drafting? Load board US - 282 IA - 17/16 MN - 3 WI - 1 Sunday's 1st stop will be in Fernley, likely at the Flying J as they have the bigger parking lot. 2nd stop is usually the Gold Run Rest area but I might want to eat tomorrow. Maybe not. Otherwise if our 2nd stop is North Aurburn then our 3rd stop can be for the night in Livermore. 2024 09 08 IA-CA 2 RV's to Freemont CA spending the night at Livermore CA ... and we are not in Livermore with a bus, or waiting for a bus. Up and down for breakfast shortly after 6 AM when they open. The hotel free breakfast is getting smaller and smaller. It used to come with four pieces of bacon and a large juice. Then three slices of bacon and today only two slices and the juice is now a small. Still plenty of food, just less. BB didn't want her bacon today so we took it with us. Somehow I used to eat my four pieces plus two of hers. We are rolling by 7:30 local, 9:30 home time. 1st stop is the Loves about a mile down the street. Here 87 octane is regular. So I guessed right and saved some money but not filling yesterday in Wells. But I am still spending more than BB on fuel being the lead dog. 2nd stop today was in Loveloch for food. We talked various options and decided to stop here and get a Port-o-Sub for me for later. Someone is building a new truck stop across the street. It looks like a Maverick but there was a sign on the fence for Port-o-Sub. None of the NV inspection stations were open this trip. And we had mostly clear sailing through Reno, very few trucks when we went through. 3rd stop was Donner Pass, Gold Run is our usual stop but that is after we stop in Fernley. We used the restroom but they now have eight food high fences keeping people from <> everything. We can't get to the picnic tables, sidewalks, overlooks. So we decided to drive the extra 30 miles to Gold Run where there are picnic tables and plenty of place to park. 4th stop was Gold Run. Other than a couple of bees, it was a nice 85 degree day in the shade. It would have been cooler at Donners' but we would have had to eat sitting on the steps of our RV and people only stay at that rest stop for a couple of minutes so there would have been trucks coming and going the whole time. 5th stop was the Loves in Lodi. It has a Subway, so I again order food for later. There is no food close to where we are staying tonight so I would have had to put more miles on to go get food. We had thought that we would gain enough mileage today that we could make it from Winnemucca to the drop. I didn't. So after I get my sandwich, I put in 2-1/2 more gallons of fuel. That should have added another 40 miles of range. It added 20. BB did not add fuel, yet. Lathrup. There are still 20-30 food trucks at their food court. It must be a money maker for them. Wish we had one where I live like that. They do have set ups like that for a day or two. And some of those charge admission ... 6th and final stop - the Best Western in Livermore. BB had not liked this place. Not sure all the reasons but we rarely stayed here. But with our RV's we didn't want to try and fit into the Quality Inn so we tried this again. So far so good. It even has a fridge with a separate freezer door. Grrr ... we found out more issues with our RV's. Not something I want to advertise. Tomorrow ... 20+ miles to the drop, fuel, pickup rental car, drop both RV's, walk to where car is staged and maybe done by noon? We had planned on heading out to the coast before picking up our inlaws tomorrow ... Forecast is for a high of 61 degrees. BB only brought clothes for the 100 degree weather forecast up in the valley. It hit 105 today, so no walk tonight. 2024 09 09 IA-CA 2 RV's to Freemont CA (delivered) spending the night at Miramar CA Delivered Vacation has begun. Last night after BB had shut down, I went out to the RV's to check the lights in the dark. Neither RV had an issue so nothing to document. Need to take a picture next time it happens. I did find out what the lights in question are for, they turn on when the blinker is turned on to light up the side of the car. To show where the driver is turning. Up and walking in the dark my 5 AM local. After 6 AM we head down for breakfast. Bacon ... Bacon, I still have some from two days ago. Bacon here was good so I had that, eggs and some yogurt. To pickup our rental car by the time reserved. we need to leave by 8:30. But we decided to leave at 8 AM in case we hit traffic or have any other issues. Hmmm ... BB decided she want's more fuel. And the closest place is two buildings away and we don't even have to get on the street. $1 plus more than most places but it's only for two gallons. I ask if she wants me to come with, 'yes, for moral support.' Glad I did, when she put her card in it said 'do not remove' ... forever. She went inside, they cleared the pump and then walked out with her. Same thing. So they asked her to move ... right as a semi was pulling to to a little convenience store and the trash was being picked up. She told me she was leaving but by the time she got turned around she could get to a pump so she tried again. Same thing. So she finally walked in and paid the $11 in cash. I was done pumping it by the time she got back. ... oh, there were two turkey's picking the ground just beyond the pump. Not much wildlife in this part of the country. That took a half hour plus for two gallons of gas. Now we are ready to go. Traffic was slow and go for the next 30 miles. Don't think we ever came to a complete stop. At times, the GPS has suggested we take a partial two lane road but I chose to stay on the freeway all the way. 2nd stop is the Shell in Fremont for dealer fuel. From there it is two blocks to where we stash the car in a Kohl's parking lot. That is within one block of the drop so an easy walk back to get it later. 3rd stop is the Avis rental car dealer. We did get a full sized car but not an SUV. Hope the family we are picking up only is carrying back packs and not three suitcases each. 4th stop is the drop. This could be interesting. On the one block street where the drop is, we pass a transporter unloading two RV's. If he has already talked to the drop, he may be ahead of us. Otherwise we are ahead of him. That could be an hour difference for either one of us. The front desk had said they called the inspector as soon as we drove in, but it was quite a while later when one of the staff came past and said they would find someone to check us in. First we saw two, but it looks like there were three different people checking us in. Still took us two hours to get inspected. Once they started inspecting my RV, I walked to pick up our rental car. Didn't get far, I started talking to the transporter that hauled in the other two. He used to do driveaway until after 2020. Then he rented a truck and trailer and has been doing this since. His daughter still does driveaway. It's all for the same company we work for so lots to talk about. I finally do walk and pickup the car and park it in the drop's lot. When I come back into the building the conversation starts up again and doesn't stop until our paperwork is done. 5th stop is In-n-Out. I follow my nose and find it. We've been there once before. From there we head to the ocean. Half Moon Bay. 6th stop is the state park on the shore. We spend a couple of hours there, sitting on benches and walking the shore. Saw a pair of glasses on the sand and as I was walking to pick them up a wave came in ... and washed them out a little. Before I could get to them another wave came in and washed them out further and after the third wave I never saw them again. We both had our shoes on so we didn't want to walk into the water. We did get wet once but my shoes are waterproof and it wasn't deep enough to come over the tops. A few minutes later someone we had just met (as in they walked passed us) was now coming back again. I thought they were looking for their glasses so we waited up for them. Not them. 7th and final stop was the Quality Inn in Miramar. By there the traffic is two lane and bumper but luckily there was a break in traffic and we made it. Barely. There are two places to eat in this town, one on the beach and one next door. Otherwise we would have to drive the four miles back to Half Moon Bay where there are lots of places to eat. Asian Kings Kitchen, we walk there. We are the only ones there when we get there but there are a dozen more by the time we leave. BB thought it was great food, maybe it was, or maybe it was the first 'real food' she has had for the last weeks that she has been on this diet. Food was good and there was enough that we each got a box to go and it will likely be breakfast tomorrow. We are off work until at least Saturday afternoon and maybe until Monday or Tuesday. Load board US - 227 IA - 6/5 MN - 0 WI - 2 2024 09 10 CA Load board - Saturday US - 198 IA - 1 MN - 0 WI - 2 Load board - Friday US - 206 IA - 1 MN - 0 WI - 2 Load board - Thursday US - 260 IA - 1 MN - 1 WI - 3 Load board - Wednesday US - 265 IA - 5 MN - 0 WI - 3 Load board - Tuesday US - 268 IA - 2 MN - 0 WI - 2 ... the trip continues HERE |
