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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2024 09 16 CA-CA 1 bus to Oxnard CA (Tuesday) spending the night at Livermore CA ... I'll be writing up a few highlights of our vacation days ... We did not do laundry last night with the intent of doing it this AM. BB walked into their laundry room this AM and decided we were not doing laundry this AM either. After eating a little breakfast, we pulled out at 9:15 local. Most of the day was spent on Hwy 101. It goes from two to four lanes many times until you get to Santa Rosa, after that it is either 4 or 6 lanes to SFO. We are back tracking most of today so we just saw most things on this highway a few days ago. 1st stop was a Willits at the rest area, that was as long as BB could wait. 2nd stop was at a casino gas station where gas was $1 less than most stations. 3rd stop was back at Sourdough and Co, this time I checked the bag to make sure it was a sandwich and not a salad. And today the cashier asked lots of questions so I knew HE knew it was a sandwich. While we were stopped, I call a different west coast dispatcher. They have an RV to be moved less than 50 miles. Pay was OK, if we don't find other work. Then later they add a box truck so that it is close to a round trip. Should be able to get them both done in one day if we don't get bus work. From here it was close to three hours to Livermore. I-580 as soon as we got off Hwy 101. As soon as we get to 'our' outlet mall, I call the bus dispatcher. It is 3:15. First it was 'no, all the buses they released today were electric.' But then before we hung up it was 'Wait, can you do an Oxnard tomorrow?' It is a 350 mile trip so we can make it all in one day and dispatch is paying for the hotel (?) Dispatch hasn't been able to pay hotels for quite a while. Next fun was getting food. 1st we went to a 'super' Walmart that didn't have produce but did have a large food area. BB finally gave up and we went to a Safeway grocery store instead, they had everything but every stop is costing us time. When we got to our hotel, I called dispatch again. It had been well over an hour and no paperwork and it was now after 5 PM. He answered. In talking them time, he mentioned that I should make sure the bus is full of fuel at pickup ... 'because it was one we brought back.' So this bus has already had issues, that gives me a nice fuzzy feeling. Final stop is the Best Western in Livermore, not cheap but the boss is paying and we need to get clothes wasted. There are people ahead of us when we check in and the one staff is on the phone with someone so this all took a while also. Once we were done eating we started washing clothes. We didn't have enough change so I went down to the desk and had to wait so I watched a semi driver having fun. He went where he shouldn't have and another guest got to him before I did. The semi had to back the full length of the building and then turn around and back into where we had parked our RV's last week. Load board US - 188 IA - 1/0 MN - 0 WI - 3 Tomorrow, be to the shipper by (?) 7 AM, rolling by 8 AM. Six hours to the drop so no need to for a break. I'll stop once but not to eat. I've dropped buses from MN there but that was 10-15 years ago. BB will follow in the rental car. We'll get part, but not all of the way back to Livermore. 2024 09 17 CA-CA 1 bus to Oxnard CA (delivered) spending the night at Tulare CA Real eggs for breakfast. But they were so close to out that I didn't realize that until after I had taken mine. Then they refilled the pot and threw away the egg shells. I also had some of my bacon. We were ready to roll at 7 AM and to the shipper at 7:15. Found the bus and all went well. There was an ABS light on and less fuel than I wanted so I called my contact and was told to bring it to the shop. Once I got to the shop, I went to the shop desk and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally someone came past and asked if I was looking for someone. Luckily I had remembered the name I was given. I told him and he was he. He told me I could fuel while he fixed the ABS light. Actually the bus needed to be running while he worked on it so I had to wait. But I did re-fuel the bus at their pump. The bus already had 600+ miles on it so it had made it part of the way to the drop. We also found the paperwork from the last driver. 6 weeks ago. Then I called the drop, they seemed happy to be getting their last bus. The shippers paperwork was in the bus and it matched where I thought the shipper was located so that part all worked out. Bus does 64 mph. BB and I are not running together and with a bus that has had issues, I decided to stop a couple more times than usual. Traffic was not bad today. Lots of trucks and I passed most of them, some of them very, very slowly. Only a few were actually going 55 mph. And only a couple of them passed me. 1st stop was the rest area in Avenal. BB called while I was there, she is keeping up. 2nd stop was the Lebec rest area. BB called again, pulled in right behind me again. She had planned on eating her lunch at one of these stops but she hasn't been able to get ahead of me. There were only five turns to get to the drop. I had written them down and pretty much knew where they were. Somehow I missed the 2nd turn. I did not see any signage before the exit and only a disfigured '5' as I passed the exit. Luckily there was one more exit before Hwy 101. I got off there and tried to find a place to pull over. Once I did, I was headed the wrong direction. So, rather than turn around, I drove the side streets for two miles back to my original route. Doubt it took 10 minutes but BB got ahead of me. No one to answer the security gate and no one answered their phone. Finally someone leaving work for the day told me to honk. I did, but no one opened the gate so they went back in the building. Once parked, it was less than a 10 minute inspection. They didn't want me to remove the plastic so that was quicker. I asked him about the other buses he had sitting there. Their New Flyers were new in 2006. I didn't think we had the contract yet then but I remember coming to Oxnard with them. The plan on retiring those buses once they have these new buses ready to roll. BB had parked on the street and was finally eating when I got out there. 3 PM local. So I called the bus dispatcher. They still only have e-Buses. And he didn't train enough drivers to move the buses he has. He offered to train me once but then found a trip for me instead so that never happened. Still has drivers in the hotel. Then I called the other CA dispatcher. The RV I had called on yesterday is gone but the box truck is still there. We decide to wait until the AM to decide if we want to move it. Just after we pull out of the drop, I get a phone call from an unknown number. We don't answer. Then BB looks it up and it is RV dispatch. She calls back but it goes to voicemail. Then later we are thinking/hoping that they have an RV in CA that needs to come back so she calls again. ... wrong. They had trips to IN that were hot. (they do one little thing for us and they are already calling in the favor ... ) With no work, we could have shut down earlier than we did. But we decided to get closer to the shipper in case we do want to work tomorrow. Did a stop at Walmart. Lots of food but no produce section. They did have a few produce items, set up like an over stock store. But not what BB wanted. Then we went to In-n-Out for me. Long line. Fries were neither hot nor crisp. Final stop was the Comfort Inn. No rooms left on the first floor. No elevator to the 2nd floor. Load board US - 174 IA - 2/1 MN - 2 WI - 2 We now have a rental car set up to come home on Friday morning if we do not have work by then. ... the trip continues HERE |
