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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2024 09 30 NY-IL 1 bus to Chicago IL spending the night at Buffalo NY gas? taxi, sign in, 55 mph, hotel parking, Tim's closed, McD's .... written up two days later I know the rental car place does not open until 9 AM and I want a receipt so I wait. So far I think I have all the time in the world. Two plus days to go 900 miles. Shortly before I leave the hotel I remember ... I need to fuel this car before delivery. All those things that BB usually does that just kind of slip my mind. So first stop is the Mobil station. Right on the way but it all takes time. 2nd stop is the airport. Small, only two rental car places. No security. I get my receipt and ask them about taxi's. They use their phone and call a cab for me and when connected they hand the phone to me. 81 year old driver, lots of opinions that he is very willing to share. I think we heard this last time we were here a few years ago. This shipper is leaving town because their tax break has ended. Last time we were here was 2-3 years ago and they are still here. I do remember I need to be dropped at the front door. Bill is $17.50 so I give him $25. The rest of the routine I do not remember as well. I first need to find my bus and bring in one of the load sheets from the window. Then security will find my paperwork and I go back out to check the bus. They still want us to fill in the carbon copy paperwork from my carrier, they did not want the pages I printed out. Once I'm done inspecting I bring the paperwork back inside and they sign off on my copies. (And they need to be able to read my name. They need to type it into their computer.) I also need to put down a delivery date and time. I guess 9 AM Wednesday. I did find the battery switch. It is behind a locked door. Other than that all was pretty routine. It was almost 10/11 AM when I pulled out of the shipper. As I get on the freeway ... I realize ... 55 mph. That will add about three hours to this trip. 1st stop with the bus was at Pattersonville at the rest area. I get myself a cup of soup. Didn't seem like much but it still took a half hour. 2nd stop was Warrens at a rest area/oasis. 3rd stop was Ontario rest area. By now the sun has set and I realize I will not be making it to Erie or beyond tonight. I call BB and she makes the hotel reservation where the lot is the biggest in Buffalo. We've stayed at a few places here before so I thought I knew the area. BB had explained in detail, except for one turn. And I had the area wrong in my mind so I end up turning the wrong way. Realized it right away and pulled into a parking lot that wasn't much bigger than my bus. By now it is past dark. I look at a map and see where I should be, what I don't see is that the road will be divided so I can not turn into the hotel lot. So when I get there, I have to go past the hotel to the next turn. Plan was to go into someone's parking lot and turn around but instead I was able to follow the back parking lots all the way through to my hotel. The lot was big and luckily there were still a few places to park and to turn a 40 foot bus around. Short back and fourths. I get parked and check in. The only food close was Tim Horton's but they closed between when I drove through their parking lot and I got checked in. Now the next closest food it four blocks away. McD's or a bar. The hotel says they have an airport shuttle that will take me wherever I want to go. I pass on that offer. When I start to head out walking there are a couple of guys talking by a car in an empty lot so I have a few 2nd thoughts. Then decide to walk. McD's it is. I had hoped for a McRib but not in this town. I had seen adds earlier, sometime within the week for them. Thought I was hunger so I got fries. By the time I got back to the room the fries were cold and old enough they were not to my liking. But it was food. Load board US - 186 IA - 4/0 MN - 2 WI - 4 Now I have 500 miles to go tomorrow at 55 mph. 10 hours just driving, plus two fuels and a bus wash. I may not make it all the way to IL tomorrow. 2024 10 01 NY-IL 1 bus to Chicago IL spending the night at Holiday City OH Broke down ... Alarm woke me up at 5 AM home time. Down for breakfast, including bacon. Bus inspected and ready to roll by 6 AM/7 local. This hotel is on a street where I need to take a right to get out of their parking lot. No good place to make a u-turn so I head out of town the way I came in. Guessing it added 10 miles. I could have cut through the Tim Hortons like I did last night but didn't want to get my 40 foot bus stuck in their morning coffee line. Last night they, and other other lots I cut through were all closed. I hadn't looked to see the price of fuel in NY. This AM my fuel gauge had dropped so I knew I was not going to get as many miles on the bottom half as the top half. Fuel in PA was over $4 and I thought it had been under $4 in NY. I was going to stop at welcome center in OH, but the exit for the welcome center is also the scale exit so once I got the bypass for the scale I kept going. I did pull off at the next exit to look at how much I had paid for fuel in OH on the prior bus. But by now it was clear I was not going to make it to that station. First there was a Loves, then a TA but they were on the wrong side of the freeway. I knew there was a Flying J coming up, it was in the right county, just not the city name I was thinking of. 1st stop was for fuel at the Flying J in Warrens. Not sure what they are doing. It looks like they are taking out an old scale and maybe building a new shop? They have already added an EV charging station. 2nd stop was near Elyria at an Oasis. Plan was to make a quick call to the drop and grab a cookie. Quick call turned into long calls. Multi-switch boards. Finally got someone who said the person I wanted to talk to was no the correct person and they gave me a new name and number. That number was for a apartment rental company, so I hung up. But not quick enough. Now they are following up on my phone call wanting to know when and where I want to move. So I tried again to go through the switch boards, ended up with someone different who put me through to someone's voice mail. I left a message, no one called me back. 3rd stop ... was the side of the road. This bus has all kinds of beeps for being too close to the white or yellow line, too close to the car ahead of me, too close to the car beside me. But there has also been a quick beep of a different tone ... Not sure if it was the same one, but now I had a red icon on. I looked at the chart behind my drivers seat and it says 'FIRE DETECTED.' So I walked to the back, couldn't see one, hear one or smell one so I called dispatch. By the time I talked to dispatch the second time it had been 15 minutes and no issues so they said I could go. The light went out about 10 seconds after I stopped. I did not shut the bus off. But I did try to take a video of it. Tried. Like a lot of my video's, they start when I think I am stopping them. So this one does show the icon for a second, then it shows me taking off my seat belt and then shows my face ... just whatever way the camera was facing until ... I don't know why it stopped. I do know that I can no longer take pictures or video's for now. Anyways I started driving again ... 4th stop ... this time I was right at an exit. It beeped once, I kept going. It beeped again, I pulled off. It's miles between exits and they don't all have hotels. Now I was off the freeway so there were not trucks going past me six inches away at 70-80 mph. Still no fire. Again the beeping/warning stopped after 10-15 seconds. I call the shipper. After getting disconnected twice and having them on the line for a long time while they did whatever on their end ... they finally told me that because I was over 100 miles from the shipper that I would need to call a different number. (that could have taken 10 seconds, not 20 minutes) I call their 800 number and get someone almost right away. Someone who has never dealt with a call like this before. So they ask all the basic questions, my VIN is not in their system, they have no idea what other questions apply to this bus. I answer the ones I can. It seems like there is 2-5 minutes between each basic question. Finally they say someone will call me back, if no one calls me back in 90 minutes, I am to call again. 90 minutes goes past and no one calls. I call again and all they can do is leave another message with those that should have already gotten the message last time. I call dispatch and they say head to a hotel. If customer service didn't call back during working out, the chances of them calling back after 5 PM are slim. So I have sat and napped off and on for the last hour and a half. My cell phone is under 30% and loosing charge just sitting here. And my notepad is already in the red. I wasn't planning on actually using my phone. It often lasts a week plus on each charge. This bus did not have any place to plug in a USB. Another reason I did not want to get further down the road and later into the night. So I pull the rest of the way off the ramp and into the hotel. Some one I stayed at last week. Huge parking lot and in-house food. I call BB. I had planned on waiting to give them another hour to call back but BB talked me out of that. (As of this writing it is now two hours later and they still have not called back) Final stop of the day is the Quality Inn in Holiday City. Food today is the potato soup again, but this time a steak sandwich instead of a second bowl of soup. Load board US - 212 IA - 5/3 MN - 6 WI - 4 Tomorrow? Who knows. There had been two trucks in WI heading back to MN but they are both gone as of now. 2024 10 02 NY-IL 1 bus to Chicago IL spending the night at Hammond IN Up at 6 AM in case I get a call on the bus. Finally at 8 AM I call them. I'm on the phone ... mostly on hold for 13 minutes before I get cut off. I call back for another 15 minute call, they still can not reach anyone. A few minutes later someone else calls from the same department. Once I tell them I was just talking to someone they can see that I was on the their issue log. Close to 11 local, I call for a late check out. Close to 12 local, I have thrown my stuff in the bus and the phone rings. It is finally someone from Tech support about the bus. They ask a couple of the same questions others have asked and say they will call me back. I have time to check out and do my pre-trip, but they do call me back. They say it is likely a faulty sensor and it is OK for me to drive it ... But I ask "... will the computer see the warning as real and will the computer shut the bus down?" He doesn't know and will call me back. So I finish getting the bus ready and am still trying to contact the drop when Tech calls me back ... 'they are going to tow it to Chicago.' A few minutes later, I get a call from the answer center who is working on setting up the tow, I ask about getting a ride with the tow driver and they tell me where the bus will be dropped in CGO. Not my drop, but a shop. So I remove all my placards, plate, pack up all my stuff and wait ... and update my dispatcher. Then I get a text from the dispatcher ... NOW someone from the shipper wants to talk to me. About the first thing they say is get the tow canceled. They also ask a couple more questions and hang up. I finally get through to the answer center and who ever answers is able to message the person talking to the tow company. I had them put it on hold for now as I don't know what the shipper has in mind. But the person I was on the phone with was reading their messages between the two office people to me so I understood it was canceled. Shipper calls back and starts asking questions ... 'is your DEF tank full?' I kind of bluntly asked him why he was asking that and he just had me start at the beginning of the issue. He also wanted to know the name of the person who was going to send the tow ... At first the shipper was all over the place, had me going one place and then changing his mind. Finally he was going to have me pull resistors. I didn't know what I was looking for but I was looking at what they were describing. At one point they even tried to get me to connect to a Zoom type tie in but I never got the invite. After a long time of me trying to get things apart I finally was asking them questions. Turns out there were two more zip ties on what I was working on than should have been there. And it was far enough into the bus that I did not have a clear visual. Finally got the OK to clip the extra ties and surprise. It came right off. Now that I knew what I was looking at the 2nd one came off easy. Then they ... OK, maybe I would write the rest of it ... But I took a picture of what I had done and sent it before I left. No issues so it worked. That all took less than an hour after waiting for over 22 hours. I still have not contacted anyone at the drop so I will not try to deliver the bus tonight. I'm barely on the road and the phone rings, I'm afraid it is the tow driver. Can't answer so I do pull off at the first open Oasis. 1st stop - Howe rest area. All I did was listen to my messages. One was three minutes long, I listened to dead air for a few seconds and deleted it. The last call had been from central dispatch. As I am listening to the message, another dispatcher calls ... "Can you help me move some chassis ..." 'NO' and I explained why ... they still said they were really in a bind as they hung up. They even called BB who is not listed as a CDL driver. The trucks are going to Canada. We rarely have trucks going to Canada so I had seen them piling up, wondering why we were even getting them. Still don't know the why, but we are to be getting 100 of them. Sorry. ... I did tell them that I will drive a chassis ... across the street, but that is all the further I will go. Another two hours and I am at the wash ... Before we get there, there was a semi that had come flying up behind as most do when I'm going 55 mph. This one had gotten over in the left lane, then like his steering wheel was stuck or something he starts coming right at me. I was way on the shoulder before he corrected himself. And even earlier, when I was sitting in the bus, I saw two semi's make u-turns on a two lane road next to me. One of them had plenty of time, with the other one I could hear other trucks hitting their breaks to slow down for him. I-Pass worked today at all gates ... 2nd stop, Flying J for fuel. There is one open pump and I am able to back into it while another driver sits and waits ... hoping that is not what I am doing. When I'm done, I am able to turn around and go through the same fuel island to park while I get my receipt. Self service kiosk is actually working today. Then I find the Blue Beacon Wash in the parking lot. Signs said it was there, somewhere. Three bays at this location. Another Blue Beacon is in the next parking lot over. Today there is one person waiting for each wash bay. I wait to pull up until one of the bays empties. But I wasn't the lucky one today. The next person behind me got in the next line over after I was in line and he was washed and gone before I got in. While I sat and waited I called BB and she made a hotel reservation and a new rental car reservation. 3rd and final stop is at the Comfort Inn in Hammond. I parked cross ways across car spots. Later I see everyone else is parking IN car spots and sticking out into the parking lot 40-60 feet. Hope no one blocks me it. From there I walk two blocks to White Castle. Ordered five sliders and a large onion ring. Could only eat half that much. I did ask before I walked if it was a safe area, they said yes. I know five miles away I wouldn't walk across the street to get food and wouldn't park there unless the lot was gated and guarded. No work for tomorrow right now ... so likely heading home. Load board US - 260 IA - 8/7 MN - 6 WI - 4 2024 10 03 NY-IL 1 bus to Chicago IL (delivered) spending the night at home Rough night ... written up a few days later ... Middle of the night and I am awaken by the neighbors. At first I think they are right outside my windows based on how loud they are talking. When I go to look, I realize we have an adjacent door and they are in the next room. Using their full outside voices at 2:30 AM. ... but that was not all a bad thing. I quickly had to run to the bathroom. At first I thought it was the sliders from White Castle that did not agree with me. Then I remembered I only ate half of them as I just didn't feel hungry ... and that was after not eating anything all day. So not sure what it was. Didn't feel bad otherwise. I spent a long time in the bathroom and by the time I was back in bed, the neighbors were mostly quite. Breakfast was ... nothing. I had not set an alarm and didn't wake up again until almost 7 AM. Last night I had parked cross-ways across some car spots as I most often do with a bus. When I went to get my food I saw that two other trucks had parked so I would not be able to get out of my spot. But by this AM, both of those were gone and the next closest one was far enough away from me to not be an issue. Most of the morning traffic was not too bad, no real slow down until I got to where I-94 and I-57 meet. Once we were past that traffic was moving again. Today I had looked at the map enough times that I knew were I was going. There was a train stop right where I got off the freeway, with the train cops parked there. Flashbacks to years ago when someone and I tried to board a train in Chicago and the cops told we should get a taxi. At the next bus stop there was also a transit cop sitting ... Found my turn, lots of room to park so I pulled all my plate, placards and paperwork before finding anyone. Then I got to security (?) the guy had no idea where I was to go or likely what I was talking about. I still had not gotten anyone on the phone. Another person walked up that knew where the other buses were sitting so I headed that way. Got there, couldn't see them. So I asked the next security gate that I had gotten to. The buses were just to my left, but I couldn't see them because of how crowded it was. I park with the rest and go in the closest front door. Someone at the window finds someone right away and they come out to do the inspection. And inspect they do. Three of them looked at it for close to an hour before signing off on it. This location has 157 (or 175) more buses to come before the shipping plant closes down in March. This guy is not sure they will make it. That is one a day if they took them 7 days a week. AND they were shipping daily, which they are not. This location will only take two a day, which is why I was supposed to be here on Wednesday. They sign and ask how I am getting out of here ... I don't know. Riding a bus/train did not sound like fun from this area so I called an Uber. I haven't done that before so I was surprised when I saw an account was already set up. Something I put in the phone tied it to the account BB had set up. Someone will be picking me up in 0 minutes. It was closer to 11 minutes but still not bad. Good news is the driver had his GPS on so I knew he was not adding any extra miles. But the guy spoke very little English so we didn't. And he had his radio on some non-English talk station ... not for the enjoyment of his passengers. I was busy watching the area. There were a few boarded up buildings and some graffiti, but mostly well groomed lawns. Once place I saw a local walking down their street picking up trash, other I saw a guy grooming the sidewalks. In most areas the store fronts either had roll-up doors are bars on the doors and windows but other than that, it didn't seem to be a bad area during the morning. Didn't notice much for homeless people so I'm guessing gangs are more the issue. The driver tried to ask me where to drop me, but he only seemed to know the airline names, nothing more. By then I wished I had looked at a map and had him drop me at the rental car lot a mile away. But not going to try explain that to him. Again, I just followed my nose when I got out of the taxi. He dropped me at departure and I needed arrival. Here we have to take a bus to the rental cars but it is one bus for all cars. No one in line ahead of me for the rental cars. It took me a few minutes to find my car location 200 something. The 200's were not on the overhead signs but I found it. Then when I left the lot I realized I should have also looked at a map. I expected there would be signs to the freeways. There was only a sign to one freeway and it was not the one I wanted. So I headed where I knew. I just forgot how far it was. My way added about 10 miles and maybe a half hour. Now I am heading home. Traffic in Chicago was normal. No food that looked good at the oasis so my 1st (and only) stop is in Janesville at the Steak n Shake. Garlic burger and apple shake. Zeigler has closed their Ag only location in De Forest. Looking that up now, they have closed four midwest locations. Not sure if they were all Ag only or if the others also did construction. Zeigler has also cut ties with Claas. The articles I read did not say anything about them getting out of the ag business. This happened on the way out of town, not the way home but I didn't mention it then. I was following a semi that was loosing it's tarp. The tarp was long enough and enough off the load that it was covering half of the lane next to him. It was rural three lanes right there so not a big issue. Got home before 6 PM without stopping for fuel ... or stopping again after Janesville. I was awake and just kept going. At some point local dispatch called looking for their paperwork. I told them they would have it tomorrow. Load board US - 273 IA - 2/0 MN - 8 IA - 8 |
