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REFER ON AN INTERNATIONAL - NEW - TO DENVER,
CO
REFER ON A HINO - USED - FROM DENVER, CO
Sunday -
1/23/11
Customer wants delivery Monday so 'we' need to leave on
Sunday. Had hoped to head out again last week but the customer wouldn't do a
weekend swap. Customer wants a noon swap the rest is up to the driver. I'm in
the area on Saturday so I pick up my paperwork and see who the other driver is,
someone I know so I call to see what time he's running. There are supposed to
be other drivers leaving also but I don't see their paperwork and their trucks
are gone by the time I get to the lot.
I get the lock open, brute
force. Truck starts, but I notice right away … no heater fan. When I try
to move the truck two more warning lights come on. I call dispatch, no answer.
The other driver calls me, it's the weekend, dispatch won't answer until 10 AM,
it is now 8 AM. So I'll be burning my driving hours before I get moving. I
wait. I should have gone and fueled, it would have saved me 15 minutes down the
road. Didn't. Just stayed in my van and kept warm. 14 below this AM, I wouldn't
get very far before the windows started frosting over.
Repair shop
gets there and has me going four hours later, now I'll be up against the clock
again … third Denver trip in a row. Ice, no wipers, and now no heat. All
that sitting and I didn't even have my log book ready, more minutes wasted.
I have enough fuel to get to the first truckstop, by now it's almost
noon and I get some food, nothing looks good but finally settle on a cheese
burger off the shelf. For all I know it's a Deli Express on a different shelf.
By now the other driver is four hours ahead of me, no running together on this
trip.
Not much new in IA, I-80 exit 40 is still a Wings, but
co-branded Pilot. All I could see last time was the sign was being changed. I
have NE plates so no permit needed this trip. I stopped in Des Moines at the
Pilot, Sunday, not quite as long a wait. Next fuel stop is Grand Island where I
pour in the rest of my 'anti-gel' don't need any other issues. Don't shut my
truck off today, seldom do. Don't want to deal with the fan, the guy left the
panels open so I "could kick it (the fan) if it stopped working."
It's
Sunday but I still call the drop to tell them I will be late, I can't make up
all of the four hours lost. They give me a number to call Monday AM to confirm.
Another ½ hour and I'm out of hours, Kearny, no place cheap?
$49 for a Motel 6? Lucky I had stopped in IA and picked up coupons … Days
Inn for $39. Was thinking I could eat at the Country Kitchen but that is now a
pizza place.
>>>>>>>> TRIP ADVISOR - Days Inn,
Kearny, NE <<<<<<<<<<<<<
"Great
value, a coupon makes it less than the Motel 6"
3 of 5 stars
Date of
review: Jan 25, 2011
The Motel 6 sign said $49, the Days Inn coupon
rate was $39. Nice place, not bare bones because of the price. No problems at
check in, room was warm enough that I forgot to turn the heat on before I went
to eat. Right next door to a Perkins, other food close by.
Had all the
basics, shampoo, conditioner, lotion. Five pillows, plenty of room. Couldn't
find any mold in the bathroom (and I looked), couldn't find any 'paint
splatter' on the door frames, another sign that shows what a motels standards
are.
If there was a free breakfast, I didn't see it. (not an issue for me)
* Reviewer ratings for this hotel:
o 4 of 5 stars Value
o 3
of 5 stars Rooms
o 3 of 5 stars Location
o 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
o 3 of 5 stars Service
o 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
* Date of
stay: January 2011
* Visit was for: Business
* Solo Traveler
*
Member since: November 28, 2010
* Recommended by this reviewer? Yes
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Monday - 1/24/11
Truck starts, fan starts but when I try
to move the truck it doesn't want to run, never dies but smokes and coughs for
about five minutes. Rolling.
Two more fuel stops today, customer wants
them full on delivery. A couple of trucks in the ditch from sometime, not much
else of interest today.
I've gained two hours on the other driver
… should have been three but he is there early. They want to give him my
truck but dispatch doesn't' want to change the paperwork, and that is not up to
the swap, it's up to the customers corp. So I could have swapped trucks at 10
AM instead of noon, mine is sitting there ready. By the time the other drivers
truck is back from it is route and they cross-load the freight I meet the
driver about 10 miles from the customer … I'm gaining on him.
I
haven't even looked at my paperwork, this customer only has one location per
town and I've been here before … but it still helps when I see one of
their trucks pull ahead of me and I can follow them in. With no freight to
cross-load, I'm in and out in a half hour.
Then things get exciting,
I'm trying to drive in Denver traffic and I get a call from my (ex) Mother
in-law saying I need to call my folks right away. (long story for another
place) That keeps me on and off the phone for the next few hours until
everything is settled down.
Four hours later I get a call from the
other driver wanting to know where I am … "If you just pulled on the
freeway … I'm right behind you." I tell him. It was him, I'd gained the
four hours on him, I catch him but can't pass, it takes me an hour to gain a
½ mile on him.
Cozad has a cheap motel so that's where I'm
spending the night, the other driver still has hours so he keeps rolling.
>>>>>>>> TRIP ADVISOR - Best Value Inn, Cozad,
NE <<<<<<<<<<<<<
"Best deal
within a 100 miles"
3 of 5 stars
Date of review: Jan 25, 2011
I
stopped here for one reason. Price. Coupon for $29, wasn't sure why it was $29,
but it may be for the same reason I stopped here. Had it been anymore I may
have stopped in another town. But now that I have been here, I would likely
come back even if the price does go up. The adjacent restaurant is closed but
there are five others within a half a mile. The place is old, still uses keys
instead of cards for the doors. My room had a thick carpet and a full sized
fridge ... things I don't remember seeing before. The tub area had the small
tiles, but didn't see any mold. Shampoo, conditioner ... and Hill Bros coffee.
I don't drink it, but I noticed it because of the name.
Heater was off
when I got there, but once on was able to keep up, and free wireless. If I have
any give in my hours / miles when I pass through again ... I'll be back.
More photos
* Reviewer ratings for this hotel:
o 4 of 5
stars Value
o 3 of 5 stars Rooms
o 3 of 5 stars Location
o 3 of 5
stars Cleanliness
o 3 of 5 stars Service
o 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
* Date of stay: January 2011
* Visit was for: Business
* Solo
Traveler
* Member since: November 28, 2010
* Recommended by this
reviewer? Yes
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Tuesday - 1/25/11
5:15 … Uggg. But that's my 10
hours and it'll get me back home before rush hour. Didn't ask where to drop the
key so I leave it in the room, motel office isn't open yet. Once on the road I
see that the gas station next door had diesel pumps, could have saved a couple
of minutes by not getting on/off the freeway, but I keep going.
Bad
choice. I remembered there being truck stops from Sunday but I'm thinking they
are before Kearney. Wrong, they are before Grand Island, another 40 miles away
… so I'm running flat on 'E' for the last 30 miles. Ahhh the things I do
for excitement. But I make it, this will be only one of two fuel stops this
direction, five fuel stops going the other way. Bigger tank, smaller engine.
Fog, ¼ mile visibility at times. Then clouds the rest of the
day.
When I emailed dispatch from the motel I said was I was available
and suggested AZ or CA, two places I know we are moving stuff too … AZ it
is. Leaving Friday, but that means I can't deliver until Monday AM, I had it
all planned in my head to delivery on the third night … not remembering it
was Sunday until someone reminded me. On well, leg two has changed again so it
now makes little difference.
Second fuel stop is in Williams/Boondocks
IA, likely could have made it to Clear Lake but it really wasn't that much fun
running on 'E.' Can't get the fuel pump to work, station had issues a while ago
and now the 'satellite' pump only works if the main pump is on/pumping. Problem
is I don't have a tank on the 'main' side. Slow right then so I drag the hose
from the next isle over and use it instead.
No good food here so it's
another cheeseburger. Other driver calls me again, he just left the station I'm
at. Keeping it close. I think I see him later at a truck stop so I think I'm
ahead of him. Later meet one of our trucks but can't see the driver. Back at
the lot the other driver pulls in behind me. Turns out it was NOT him at the
truckstop but was him that I had met. He got off at one of these exits that
only come to/from one direction so he had to go six miles back to get turned
around.
Home again … safe at last. |
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