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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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.. the trip continues from HERE 2024 12 04 CA-CO 1 Bus to Avon CO spending the night at Bakersfield CA Breakfast ... big Opps ... BB drops her plate of eggs and bowl of oatmeal. She had tried to balance it on the edge of the counter in the breakfast area. I stuck with yogurt this AM. Way too much food last night, I sure didn't need a 2nd side last night but am wondering what it might have tasted like. This AM, for juice they had small bottles of Simply Orange and then a jug of apple juice. I was half done with the OJ when I realized I could not remember breaking the seal on it and if there was a 2nd seal. Still wondering. No message from the dispatcher overnight. If we had heard something we might have gotten going earlier. My thinking was that he hadn't called because there wasn't any work from yesterday. I did take the time to call the permit company to get a copy of my invoice that they said they were going to send. And they said they would 're-send it.' Nope, never got it the first time but did this time. Glad I wasn't trying to sleep in this AM. Why do the trash truck companies think it is a good idea to pick up the trash at hotels before 6 AM. Clang, band ... 1st stop in our travels today was the Loves in Williams for fuel. Still no call by the time we got to Livermore so we went to get food. Once I was stopped, I called ... he was waiting for me to be near before sending the paperwork (?) I had it within minutes of talking to him. 2nd stop was the philly cheese place in Livermore. The door was still locked when we got there, two guys from the shipper were in line ahead of us. 25 minutes to get my food ... once I got the paperwork I should have just grabbed shelf food. BB had had time to eat some of her food while I waited, usually she would have been done but last night most of her food froze in the fridge and I guess it is hard to chew frozen lettuce. 3rd stop was the shipper. I sat in the car eating until I was done. Good food but ... times a wasting. 1,200 miles to go in two and a half days. No number on the outside of the bus so I had to check the VIN. Mine says Beaver Creek Resort (?) After the inspection, one of the first things I did was call the drop. No number on my paperwork so I look it up on Google. I guess that info is on a screen that we can only see between being offered a trip and accepting a trip ... The person who answered the phone put me through to someone who knew about the bus. First they said they'd like the bus between 7-3 Mon-Thurs ... but I said that would have to be a different driver ... I can't get it there until late Friday or Sat AM. We settled on Sat AM but I still need to call back and set up a time. I'll do that on Friday when I am closer, after I see what time I make. Saturday makes this a much better trip. Not to rushed, not two extra days in a hotel. And I call for permits for the bus. Because the rental drop will still be open, we decided I will wait at the shipper until BB is at the rental drop. That should give her time to walk to an area where I can ... usually ... pull through a strip mall. She is waiting when I get there. We had hoped to be out of the shipper before noon, instead it was 1 PM when I picked her up. But we should still get far enough that it will only leave 500 miles for the next two days. Only excitement was that when I turned on the defroster that steam/fog filled the front of the bus until I shut it off and left it off. And my left mirror keeps bouncing in until there was only a narrow spot where I could see anything coming on my left. I reset the mirror at the rest area but that only lasted a few miles. 4th stop is Avenal rest area. Close to three hours from the shipper and longer from when we bought food. We decide we can make it to Bakersfield by last light ... Final stop is the Comfort Inn in Bakersfield, from there we walked across the parking lot to the Taco Bell for food for me and a walk for BB (and me.) Once we were done eating, BB is going through her frozen food and cutting off the bad stuff. So now we will need to stop sooner for more. Load board US - 202 IA - 72 MN - 8 WI - 0 Still 7 RV's for the Sacramento area. If we had headed home, we could have called in the AM to pick up late on Friday and do this all over again ... Hope to make 500 miles tomorrow, that will be Baker UT. 2024 12 05 CA-CO 1 Bus to Avon CO spending the night at Beaver UT This AM we used the luggage rack to get our things back out to the bus. Then grabbed our breakfast. Two kinds of eggs, biscuits and gravy, bacon, potatoes. Breakfast at 6 AM, out of the hotel at 6:30. Spent more time trying to get my mirror to stay put. Lots of new tape every stop. I was hoping I'd get enough on it that it couldn't move, not today. Lost a few minutes today because of the mirror, I can see if I lean forward but I feel safer when I can just glance a few times before getting over. So sometimes today I stayed behind someone until it was all clear instead of judging how fast someone was driving. 1st stop ... wasn't. It was supposed to be the rest area in Borax but it was closed today. When BB made her route list it was open but now online shows closed also. So instead of making two stops before Las Vegas there will now just one in the Middle. The 2nd one was to have been in Nipton. 1st stop ended up being near Baker at that rest area. ... I had been noticing that my DEF gauge was dropping faster than my fuel gauge. Usually I can get two tanks of fuel for every one tank of DEF on these buses, not vs. Plan is to stop in Las Vegas for fuel but when we come back to the bus at the rest area, the red light in my DEF gauge is on. And pretty much all diesel units now are designed to shut down before they run out of DEF. As we leave we debate where to stop. There is not a truck stop in Baker, only stores that also sell diesel and MAYBE DEF. And I don't like stopping at the Flying J at Pete's casino. By the time we get that far the gauge has came back up and the red light is gone. But by the time we get to Jean, I'm ready to stop. I don't want to risk another 40 miles. And I don't want to try to fuel at the major truck stops because they are usually busy and it is a pain to back in and fuel. The station in Jean is now a One 9 and is also busy, there is a line so I decide to buy a jug instead of filling at the pump. Wow, 3x as much. I notice the gauge does not more when I restart the bus, I know with some units you need to drive them for a while for the gauge to come up. Then ... The LOW FUEL light comes on (?) I glance at the gauge and it is still over a half a tank of ... no, it is now full ... It finally clicks. They have switched locations on the gauges and I never looked close enough because they are both behind the steering wheel as I am going down the road. I have NOT been using more DEF than usual and it was the red light on my fuel gauge that had come on before, but not the low fuel light. BB had looked at it a few times also. Yes, there are different icons in the gauge but I never looked that close. So now we have wasted 15 minutes and am still low of fuel. I didn't want to stop here, fuel is a lot cheaper for me in Las Vegas. And I feel safer knowing the diesel is low than the DEF being low. 3rd stop is the Petro in Las Vegas but the race track. One pump one when we got there, most of the time we sat eating there was no one at the half of the pumps we could see. Timing. I did put in 90+ gallons so not getting great mileage and do not normally run it that low. The TA/Petro's that have a fuel building usually have hot food in them. I had lasagna and BB had hot vegies from there instead of her cold salad. And there was a picnic bench outside. 4th stop was a rest area in UT. I did call the bus dispatcher from here, I get to do the self service wash on the bus. Then he was wondering how soon I could get back. The shipper has 134 buses waiting on seats, and they want all those buses plus what they build the next three weeks delivered by year end. Sorry, we have family plans and won't be back ... actually until Feb after BB is done with her appointments. 5th and final stop was a Best Western in Beaver. The Crazy Cow is in the parking lot so that was my meal. French dip, onion chips and free pie. Dip and pie were OK, chips were good. That will be our free hotel breakfast in the AM. Kind of like WInnemucca. Load board US -150 IA - 40 MN - 12 WI - 3 400 miles, wash the bus, pick up rental car tomorrow and set time for Sat drop. 2024 12 06 CA-CO 1 Bus to Avon CO spending the night at Grand Junction CO It wasn't planned that way, but today was all junction. Fremont Junction, Crescent Junction and Grand Junction. Up and waiting for breakfast. I wasn't thinking about it but I should have started the bus before breakfast. A few minutes before 6:30, we take our first pile of stuff out to the bus and then walk over to the restaurant. It's still dark inside but we can see them waiting to open. When they do, we are the first ones in the door. I think about 10 people before I got my food ... and no cars outside. They were all walking over from the hotel. BB walked over with me and also ordered. The juice and bacon were for me, eggs and potatoes for her. While I was eating, I called payroll and told them they had made a mistake in my favor. Even with them looking at the paperwork they didn't really seem to follow the error. Usually they are right on top of those things. Temp in the bus is 26 degrees when I start it. Made to order food takes a little longer so we didn't get out of the hotel until 7:15. 1st stop was a rest are at Fremont Junction. 2nd stop was the rest area at Crescent Junction. By this one, BB was standing right next to me in the bus. Rest area - 1 mile. And then she's asking if we missed it. There is a green numbered exit sign and no blue rest area signs anywhere ahead. I quickly take the exit, it winds around and still not rest area signs ... anywhere. But the road only went to the rest area and back to the freeway. Today we are watching the fuel gauge, it doesn't move in the first 200+ miles. Glad to see the CO scale is closed. One of the NV ones was open yesterday but they did not flag us over. Still having issues with the left mirror. I have tried to add more tape to it every time we stop but nothing seems to help. 3rd stop is the Loves in Grand Junction. I am supposed to stick the tank, but the tank has changed and I'm afraid I will loose my stick. This bus also has a fuel gauge but they bounce about a 1/4 of a tank from running to parked. Running this shows I still have almost 3/4 of a tank. I am to leave it with 3/8 of a tank so I am way over. But I don't trust it so I add another 10 gallons to cover the last 120 miles. When I'm done fueling I call the drop and get the same person I talked to before. Anytime after 8 AM works for them, no need to set an exact time. ... so we are going to stay here in Grand Junction where the hotels are half as much and we already have a car reserved. Next was my self service bus wash. When I got there the owner was there and explained how he wanted me to park so the water would stay inside the wash. So I had to move the bus halfway done because I'm longer than the building. Not sure how long it took but at least it was somewhat warm by now. BB was walking around without her jacket on. From here I drop BB off at the airport and I head back to the Quality Inn. It is the cheapest of the three and it is next to Freddie's Custard. I decide to take all the tape off the mirror that I have been adding. It hasn't worked anyway so I'll just know that is how I will be driving tomorrow. By the time BB gets to the hotel and we move our things to the car it is 2:15. Check in at the hotel is 3 PM but they did have one room available so we check in. Once in, I walk to Freddie's. They have never heard of them having cherry as a custard flavor. My reasons for stopping here have dropped again. They are down to strawberry and banana for fruit flavors. I also got a patty melt and rings. There will be no third meal today. By the time we got to the hotel, it was after 4 PM east coast and no CO trips on the load board. It looks like we will be going straight home after we drop the bus. Load board US - 95 IA - 18 MN - 2 WI - 1 IF we get going right after breakfast, we should get to the drop before 10 AM, six hours from there is Gothenburg. Then we might make it home from there on Sunday if we push it. We were supposed to have picked up the car at noon today but it was closer to 2 PM. BB tried to get the people to change it but they just mumbled and didn't. Should not be an issue. We can't get there in two days but we don't need a full three. ... the trip continues HERE |
