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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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OH was the only place that had a little one going that was enroute to anything else. We were still talking about it at 8 am when the company opened and we watched trips disappear while I was on hold. Finally got going after the traffic got lighter, made it to Iowa a little after noon. The RV BB left in WY is still in the shop, it wasn't a quick fix ... it's been a couple of months and she won't get paid until it delivers. Mine is a new type of RV, an Intent, first time I've ever seen one. It was laying flat on E with a range of about 50 miles so I stopped in Forest City and put in enough gas to get to Clear Lake. This is the first anything were you put gas in the rear of the unit that I've seen. Saw another accident that just happened near IA City. Last time I watched it happen. It looked like both times a trucker cut a car off and sent them into a spin and the cement median. We were able to get to Moline just after sunset but while it was still a little light. Montana Jack's is within walking distance. I had the salad bar and BB had pulled pork. Good food. Not much for salad toppings but the other items on the salad bar are good. Quality Inn ... heat is not on yet so they gave us a space heater. :) 171017 - IA to FL - Day 2 Got going this AM at sun up. First fuel was only 30 miles down the road, but that is where it would be cheapest until ??? First scale of the day, I have to cross but BB didn't because hers is under 10,000# DOT rules. Caught up to her this time. I do not like the new Intent I am driving, gas filler is all the way on the back and I'm blocking any traffic that wants to get past me if there is only one pump on each island. An hour or so down the road I hear something and look and see someone in my lane right next to me. They were easily going 10-15 mph more than me and they were gone. Then I realized the noise I heard might have been a scrape so I stopped at the next exit to look, no scrape so it may have been the wind whistling between the two vehicles. But while I was stopped, someone from the companies AL office called about driving a bus for them next week. I'm supposed to call back tomorrow. Farmer, IL was our first rest area break of the day, I have to cross another scale and this time I don't catch up until the rest area. While I was a ways behind, BB noticed someone flashing their lights at her at a high speed. First she thought it was a cop, but no blue lights, then she thought she had a blinker left on, but no ... she was just driving too slow on a curved entrance ramp on the freeway. Too slow for him anyway. Lunch is at Crawfordsville at Wings, Etc. We've eaten here a few times, firs time was because it was Sunday and there were no parking spots at the Cracker Barrel. Good food at Wings, I had the french dip and slaw, same as always. We had planned on taking our new shortcut by getting off the interstate and going cross country for a few miles to another freeway. But the GPS said there was an accident so we headed into Indy. Once leaving Crawfordsville, headed the wrong direction ... another time I left Indy on I-74 instead of I-70 ... today I missed the rest area we had agreed to stop at :) BB stopped and I kept going. A little over 400 miles today so we are in before dark, not too much before because it was dark when we walked back from eating. Food tonight was about 5 minutes walk at Panara Bread. Parking is a little tight at this Comfort Inn but we found a spot. Otherwise there is a Clarion across the freeway with lots of parking if this one was full. We'll see how the bus thing works out. If it does, there is a good chance we will drop the third company we drive for. It's getting hard to keep all three of them happy. We are about 20 miles from BB's drop and we can't drop until 10:30. Missed the 5:30 pm drop close by about an hour. So it will be late getting going. 171018 - IA to FL - Day 3 BB stopped and added a gallon of gas to get to the drop, then about a 30 minute drive to get there. We fuel about two blocks from the drop and as she is waiting to get back on the street, another RV gets ahead of us. We got there about 10:30, the guy who checks us in got there at 11 today. So we didn't get out of there until 11:30, late start for the day. They guy who checked us in wanted to look at mine, it is the first one like that he has seen. While we waited I talked to the bus guy in AL, I'm set to pickup on Saturday and drop on Monday in Oklahoma with a CNG. Half hour down the road we take a quick bathroom break at Monroe. At Georgetown, KY we stop for fuel and food at a Pilot, McDonalds ... sign said there was both a McD's and a Wendy's ... but it didn't say there was two Pilots. BB is riding shotgun for the rest of this trip, that does pay nearly as well. We'll see what the bus pays, rental cars out of FL are not cheap this time of year. We are swinging thru Jacksonville tomorrow to get the cheapest car we can find for the week. Then she will follow the rest of the way back to MN. Cheaper to get a weekly rental than to get two cars for two days each. Somewhere after BB was riding with me, there was a truck that had followed me for miles, maybe most of an hour. Then he decided to past and about half way past me, he starts coming over on me. I blow the horn and he stops coming over on me but doesn't get back in his lane. I hit the breaks because we are coming up to a bridge that has no shoulder. Once he's clear of me he comes over the rest of the way ... ??? Rest are was full at the border so we stopped at a Pilot a few miles down the road in Pioneer, TN. Then on to the Quality Inn in Flat Rock, McDonalds next door was our supper ... mmm. Long day tomorrow to PU the rental car and get closer to our drop, then back to AL by Saturday AM. 171019 - IA to FL - Day 4 Early day today, wanted to be able to get south of Jacksonville before dark. First stop was for fuel, from here I should be able to make delivery without fueling again. This RV really is a pain to fuel having to fuel it in the rear. The first pump I stopped at I would have blocked all cross traffic, so I came in from the other direction. Haven't stopped in the right place yet this trip, always have to pull ahead just a little more. I had a rough idea of how much fuel I wanted, but we were using gift cards, ended up using three different ones ... I was going to stop at 30 gallons but ended up putting in 38 gallons. Lots of billboards with lots of holes, look sort like a crossword puzzle. Storm damage I presume. Recognized a few places from past as we past. Noticed one RV coming up behind we who was over my line, he got over before he got to me and we noticed he was on his cell phone. While we could still see him, there was one time he went for a couple of blocks straddling two lanes before returning to his lane. He was even had his right tires over the line when he went past the cop. ??? I doubt a day goes by that I don't hit the shoulder at least once to avoid getting side swiped. I was watching close for overhead clearance signs last night online and today again as I neared the airport. Didn't see any until I was almost to it, took a quick turn to go where shuttles go, only to find a gate. I got out and pressed the talk button as a dozen shuttles and taxis lined up behind me. They buzzed me in, then stopped and talked to me, semi's go both on the upper and lower level so I would have been OK. Then he mentioned something about RV's not being allowed ??? I'll have to check that out before next time. ... and I had to get buzzed out again. Later I almost sideswiped someone, I wanted to move left to the center lane because someone was on the shoulder, right there there had been no traffic ... but someone was right in my blind spot. That is why I always move slowly. No harm done, no horns, no gestures. It looks like I will leave fuel for about 100 extra miles in the RV, so I should have stopped filling sooner. Even with leaving that much fuel, going over 100 miles out of route to drop BB's RV, I will still spend over $100 less of fuel than they paid me. Driving slower does pay. We had picked a default motel before BB picked up the car, because of a few issues at the airport, I was able to get to the motel first. They were down to only three non-smoking rooms, but I chanced it so we could make the reservation online to save a couple of dollars. We got a room, but there really isn't much room to park a big RV. I was able to make the turns but a poor parking job by someone could have easily changed that. We walked across the street to the IHOP and tonight we are at the Quality Inn. Friday after I drop we will head to AL and pick up a bus on Saturday. That's the plan. 171020 - IA to FL - Day 5 Early morning, didn't want to get up before the alarm was to go off so I lay there. Then I am up, eat a lite breakfast and gone from the motel by 6:30 eastern. Sun will be up shortly, the sky is just starting to lighten in the east. BB will leave later and catch up. First stop is fuel about a 100 miles down the road. For some reason Flying J has put posts partially blocking the one RV pump, don't think I will try to get in that one again. Then over to the wash next door, 8 trucks in line before fueling, 12 in line at some point after I'm in line but it only took about an hour. Two exits down the road and I'm at the drop, only one ahead of me today. And it's one of those that BB likes to drive ... where was it the day we were leaving. Must have shown up the next day. Got focused on that instead of getting my plate off the RV, but did remember before we left. We did talk to the couple that brought the RV down, they had dropped the other one in Tampa and they live somewhere in FL. Just less than the five hours I was expecting and we are off. We decide to take the toll road, it will save us about an hour and some gas and cost us about $12. First stop in the car is St Cloud at an oasis. Dunkun Donuts, a sandwich for each plus a donut for me. Mostly un-eventful ride out of FL. Feels like the temp is about 80 and the humidity about 90. Not sure what it really was. Can't find anything in the news but we may have met as many as 100 police cars so I'm guessing there was a funeral somewhere in northern FL or southern GA. Didn't quite have enough fuel to get into GA where the fuel was cheaper so we stopped in Lake City and put in three gallons. That got us to Tifton with fuel to spare. Where we stopped was the Magnolia Plantation, it's a Shell gas station. Now looking it up I see it is also a plantation ... didn't know. One surprise at the station was the rest room. I walk into the men's and it is all toilet stalls, I walk back out to make sure I am in the right rest room ... I was. Lots of nuts and canned goods, most from their plantation I would guess. While there I called about my trip for Saturday, I'll call again in the AM for final details. One more stop in Forsyth at Wendy's and then on to Anniston to the Sleep Inn. Long day, 15 hours by the time we got to the motel. The next two days should be less of a push. 171021 - IA to FL - Day 6 Didn't call my contact ahead of time this morning so we had to wait for him. I originally said we would be at pickup by 10, then later changed it to 9 AM. He finally got there after I called him at about 10:30. Mostly talked shop for an hour about the three divisions of this company. After he was done with us he was picking up two other drivers, one also going to OKC and the other going to Seattle. I guess I never counted but it looked like they had about 10 buses ready to ship with the paperwork in them. There also had been one listed on the 'board' going from Winnepeg to Seattle but the guy didn't ask me about any future work. It was almost noon by the time we got going so we drove about two miles to a Shoney's. We stopped somewhere about two hours down the road at a rest area. At that point BB headed out ahead to get to Memphis before dark and find a motel. Not a good day. First I hit a road gator (tire rubber) and later parking at the motel I rub the bus against some brush trying to park. What was I thinking ... either time. I-22 is the freeway from Birmingham to Memphis and is good most of the way, seems fairly new. Then a few miles from Memphis it ends into a city street with stop lights. That was about the only slowdown of the day. I-55 has a nice ... old ... bridge across the Mississippi. CNG at West Memphis is in the car lanes so I had to wait for an opening. Didn't have to wait long. But a very busy place, just a brief opening at the right time. BB's not happy, the WiFi isn't working, she's not finding a motel and it's getting dark. We settle on one about two miles away and she follows me. I pass the first turn, it's gravel, planning on taking the main driveway. Nope, that has a post in the center of it making it impossible even for me to make the turns. So I turn into a vacant lot and that is where I get up against the brush trying to avoid the holes. I end up having to take a five mile tour because our motel is on a one way street and I wanted the first driveway. No problem, just time consuming. I get parked and we go for supper about about 8 pm again. Cracker Barrell ... Again we have to go five miles out of our way because we are on a one way street. Quality Inn was our stay, only a mile from the Clarion but away from the residential area that gives the other place the bad name. Not a good first day. 171022 - IA to FL - Day 7 No alarm clock but still up and rolling by 8 am ... to do that five miles one last time. BB has to stop for fuel in Palestien, AR, but we don't meet up until lunch at Clarksville at Arbey's. Luckily there is a Walmart across the street for parking. This one even has marked spots for RV/big rigs and there are a few of them. That was a non-stop four hours for me, and another four hours after lunch. We did stop again in Webbers City, OK ... I was going to fill again but it was a zoo. Later BB told me I was lined up to fuel on the wrong side of my bus :) so that we have delayed things even more. I had more than enough fuel to get to OKC so we left. I to find fuel and she to find a motel. Earlier I had planned on washing and fueling on the east side of town, but once we picked a motel the west side made more sense. Only the truck ahead of me in the bay so not much of a wait. And when I got to fuel ... first Loves I've found with CNG in the truck lanes ... I had to wait for the other OKC bus. He was supposed to have called me to give me some hints ... never did, but that's OK, I've likely been doing this longer than he has. BB didn't like the parking at the first motel so we ended up at the Comfort Inn, then we went to the Olive Garden to eat. We are about three miles from the drop. I could have dropped tonight but hadn't talked to my company about it. Drop said it was OK but the company likes to know any changes. Tomorrow we'll drop and then look for work heading back to MN. If not ... it's most of a 900 mile drive so more than just a day. 171023 - IA to FL - Day 8 Delivery will take deliveries as early as 7 am, we got there about 8:30. It was only 5 miles. No issues at delivery other than I forgot to have them sign one document so I had to go back after I called our office. First stop was gas on the north side of OKC. We drove quite a ways on city streets just to get the cheapest gas. Strange pricing. We got it for $2.04 and about a mile away on the same street was another Shell for $2.54. Those seemed to be the two price ranges in town, just over $2 and others about $2.50. No work on the board for this company, called my local company in MN and they didn't have anything. Couldn't call the third company because they count my hours differently and I was over for them. Next stop was McD's on the toll road in KS. Later a quick stop at a rest area closer to KC. Speed limit was 75 mph a lot of area's so we moved right along. Second meal was at the Lakeside in Osceola, IA. A buffet, deserts were good, I had three. :) No work so we will just head home tomorrow / Tuesday and likely stay home a day or two until there is work on the board again. Spending the night in Des Moines at a Quality Inn, that leaves us about five hours tomorrow. Made a little over half of our daily goal this trip but it was a learning trip. A get to know ya. A cheaper rental car would help a lot, not having to pay for a week would also help. 171024 - IA to FL - Day 9 Up by the break of dawn even without an alarm clock. Breakfast and then a two hour drive to Forest City, but first a quick stop at Clear Lake. Nothing on our workboard that's good enough to keep us on the road. One final stop for fuel, actually two. First stopped at the Holiday station but gas was $2.56, so I put in enough to get me to a Shell where gas was $2.36 and there I got a $.10 discount because it was Tuesday ... Home. As soon as there is work on the board we'll head out again, maybe Weds but more likely Thursday. |
