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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2024 09 18 CA-CA 1 boom truck to Vallejo CA (delivered) spending the night at Livermore CA We were up at (?) 4-5 local. 6 AM we ate breakfast. Then just before 8 AM ... I text the other west coast dispatcher telling them I was still interested in their Stockton truck and would call them at 8 AM ... Seconds later I am looking at the load board, I had forgotten that one of the other trips is less than a half hour from where we spent the night. It would have been a much better fit and we would not have had to driven as far last night. But now I have <> committed. 8 AM I do call and we get the Stockton truck. I go down to print but the printer is not working. Something I could have found out last night and saved time this AM. So this took a few more minutes but not a big issue. I got my copies from the front desk. ... and I called the shipper and they have the truck. 1st stop was for gas at the Loves in Ripon, less than a half hour from the shipper. 2nd stop was the shipper. Here I only had to talk to the front desk, I signed, they signed and I found my truck. Blocked in. So that took a few minutes to get moved. Again, not a big issue, but little things add up. Good news, I have enough fuel to get to a major truck stop. 3rd stop is the Loves in Lodi. We had talked about going to the Flying J across the street but their lines were longer. BB had gotten behind me a ways so she didn't know I headed to Loves and instead walked the row of fuel islands looking for me. All fuel island were full at Loves also. I ended up behind someone who was at the pump and no one ahead of them. Not sure if they ever fueled, but when they came back to their truck they just left. And as I was fueling, a UPS truck pulled in behind me, both drivers got out and walked inside. I was done fueling by the time they were out of their truck but it looked like it was just a parking spot for them. And when I pulled in there was a semi blocking another pump. I thought about cutting in front of them but did not. Later I could here that truck driver being called by fuel island number because of how long he had been blocking the pump. At first I was going to put in fuel based on 10 mpg. Then 7 mpg. Then I had glanced at the UPS drivers as I was fueling and put in fuel based on 6 mpg. While I was stopped, I called the drop and looked at the route. I had not looked at the route up to this point, only drove based on what BB had told me. From here I did write down the routes. Easy as this Loves is on the first side road I will take, that merges into I80. From there two exit numbers and two street names and I'm there. On an island, so even if I do get lost it won't be for long. Right as I am about to pull out, BB calls. The GPS is now routing us a different way because of an accident. By the time we are done talking, the GPS is back to taking the original route. No accident where the GPS had said but there was something that had us stopped for 15 minutes in both directions. Interesting but busy cross country state road. Only two lanes in most places but did have miles of concrete center median. And other places it just had poles down the middle of the road. I do not miss any exits this time. Once we are on the island I realize it looks like an area in Alameda where we dropped buses. It's an old military base that is now being re-used. This one is Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Somewhere there is now is an area that is part of the National Parks system. The area was turned over to the city of Vallejo in 1996. Lots of old building and booms still standing. It would be easy for me to spend a day there. 4th stop was the drop. They did walk around it but it was a quick in and out. And we are off ... Before we get back to Livermore it is time to call the bus dispatcher so BB calls and puts him on speaker phone. Today he finally asks if I want to drive an electric bus to Seattle. Then wants to know if I will take a CNG bus to Seattle tomorrow. I say no again. The CNG one is going to the port. Any issues and I would still be there on Monday. Even without issues we would still be on the west coast on Friday night instead of pulling out Friday AM. Unlike other times, the bus dispatcher is still holding out hope that there may be a bus heading east. Other times he has just said, 'nope, not this time' and we are heading home. So now we wait again. IF ... we had done the other truck this AM, we'd be able to do the Stockton truck tomorrow. But neither of us are the the mood to drive 400 miles to move a truck 50 miles. And so far nothing new on the load boar out here today. Because it is a known, we stop at the outlet center for a while to talk and think things over. We decide we are staying right in town, not driving an hour to a nicer area. And first we will stop and get food. I want a cheese stake and BB will walk across the parking lot to a real grocery store. I forget that this Cheese Stake place has a Sourdough right next to it. We have lots of places we like to eat in this town. 7th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Livermore. The front desk said she recognized our name when we made the reservation. She's good with faces and names and has been here most nights when we have stated over the last 5+ years. Sometime today, BB realized I had not been paid for yesterday. Then she realized the info had not been sent. She's not sure why but thinks it is because of a change that Outlook made that we have been getting emails on. She finally got yesterdays resent. Load board US - 177 IA - 1/0 MN - 0 WI - 6 I'm guessing we will just hang out most of the day tomorrow. Bus dispatcher did say he would talk to us in the morning, but not sure why. We've been gone from home for two weeks already with likely another week to go. Then we will likely not be gone more than one or two nights at a time until mid-October. ... the trip continues HERE |
