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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2- New RV's 171028 - IA to AZ - Day 1 We were ready to head out on Wednesday but we were waiting for the perfect run ... and to see which way the storm would go. A lot of high winds with this storm so no fun driving with an RV. We had though we would go SE where there is more work but no good runs showed up that direction ... and that is where the storm is heading. We waited until mid-day Friday to pick an run and there ended up being twice as many units to pick from by noon Saturday. But by waiting we missed the snow, so an easy run to IA on Saturday morning. After a quick stop at the rest area in Northwood we were at Forest City. It was cold so that motivated us to get in and out of there in less than an hour. And this unit has 'Willie Radio,' know to most as XM. Next stop was Casey's in Forest City, we both needed fuel and it was just as cheap here as down the road. Or so we thought, it was five cents cheaper in Gardner. We forgot we were going to need permits, so it will be a shorter day on Sunday. But we did remember to take our noon break and we did that at Williams at the Flying J. Subway. Another two hours down the road we are at Osceola, IA and a rest area there. This stretch has 5 parking/rest area's in less that 50 miles. Next fuel stop is Kearney at a QT, I make it with 30 miles to spare. Only diesel at one island and a pickup with a trailer gets in between us. But he needs more room and lets BB go ahead of him. We've timed this pretty close, we get to the motel less than five minutes after sunset. The Super 8 and Comfort Inn are about $5 difference in price so we end up at the Comfort. Not as much truck parking but we both have little RV's this trip. Non-towable so that is an extra $125 each. In the parking lot is an Applebee's so that is supper. BB had a good meal so we will be back, last time at a Applebee's it was not so good. I had a brunch burger, a lot more food than I needed. The next couple of days will be mostly off freeway. Not having the permit will cost us about 100 miles and a late start but we should still be able to make delivery Tuesday morning. If no work out of AZ/NM we will head back to IA and head out again. November was a busy month last year and so far the numbers are staying ahead of last year. 171029 - IA to AZ - Day 2 Left out before sunrise. We decided not to take the toll road, it is about a minute difference either way. Not taking the toll road gets us off the Interstate at Emporia and then heading west to Newton. Stopped at the Newton truckstop for our first break. The old Red Roach/Red Coach motel is still closed. It used to be a Best Western before it locked it's doors. Not too far after Newton a deer ran across in front of me. Not a near miss, but I did hit the breaks pretty hard. Nice rack. Lots of evidence of ones that didn't make it last night. Everything is still fresh that early in the AM. Not too far after that there was a dead skunk in the middle of the road, I missed it but it looked like BB was going to run right over it. No evidence that she did, she never saw it. Cotton balers ... I saw a few heading west a few months ago and couldn't figure out what they were, they looked like a JD garbage truck. Then last trip we saw the round bales. This trip everything is being done old style, cotton pickers, wagons, etc. From what we saw last week, they were leaving more in the field than a farm produced in the old days. If it wasn't for the bales, I would have said it hadn't been harvested. Machinery Link used to have a lot of equipment in Pratt ... I finally looked them up and they are out of business. They used to rent equipment to different parts of the county. Pratt, KS was our fuel stop and lunch. Fuel was supposed to have been cheaper at Love's but it had gone up. I was down to 20 mile range this leg. As long as we were stopped, we had Godfathers Pizza. No tables so we sat on the curb for our gourmet meal. This stretch of road varies between two and four lane. I should have dropped back to 60 mph on the four lane to make some better mileage. Looks like we will run 65 most of the trip and make almost nothing on the fuel. But we should still be in the plus by a couple of dollars. After Pratt there must have been an accident. We met a huge group of cars just as we left town and then down the road there were fire, tow, police and emergency vehicles. The road was scraped up but either they cleaned up quickly or it wasn't that bad. Another break at Love's, there isn't much for rest area's off the Interstate. Fueled, ate and slept at Delhart. We could have gone further but we forgot to order permits for NM. Now BB says we also forgot to pick up AZ permits ... We'll see what we need for AZ. For NM we can not call to order until 8:30 so we are loosing two hours there plus we stopped two hours short. Is nice to get off the road before dark. The first two places we wanted to eat at were closed on Sunday's so we went back to an Asian place we've eaten at before. The loaded baked potatoes are really good. Other stuff is too. That was also are walk for the day. We parked on the street and didn't want to give up our spots. It was about 15 minutes each way, not sure that was enough to walk off a buffet. 171030 - IA to AZ - Day 3 Late morning, knew we were not going anywhere right away anyway. We had to wait until 8:30 to call for a permit. Got thru right away but they had to do someone else's first. The other person got into a state without a permit and needed it now. The second issue we thought we might have is not an issue. Different RV, different rules. We had our permits by the time we ate breakfast and checked out. At the scale, the guy was inside the window using hand gestures so that we would show him our permits, he then waved us on. Next services 75 miles was the sign when we left Dalhart, this town doesn't have anything but a PO and a scale. Looks like it used to be a booming town. The motel is still open sometimes, but doesn't look like it has been open again recently. The rest of the town likely died in the 50's but is still mostly intact. First fuel stop is at a Shell in Tucumcarri, just because it will get us to Las Cruses and there isn't much between here and there. An hour and a half down the road we stop at Penny's Diner. Not sure why there is a diner and an Oak Tree motel in this little town, no other name brands, mostly vacant buildings. Most towns we go through today are more vacant than new. One 4 WD pickup passed us early today and a long time later we saw him on the side of the road with a patrol behind him ... he must have been there a while based on the speed he was going. Found the Shell in Almogorda, fueled and were on our way. I thought I was being smart/cheap and not filling because after fueling last time my range was 420 and we didn't have that many miles to go. I won't have enough fuel to make it but neither will BB and she did fill hers. It looks like we will both come in with money to spare on fuel. The White Sands is another National Parks area we haven't stopped at yet. We go down to Tucson cross country but go back mostly freeway because of the speed limits, so we don't pass it on the way home. We were going to stop once more but we pulled off and decided to get to the motel by dark. So our last leg was three hours between breaks. And we pulled in a couple minutes after sunset. Closest food was Mc'D's, our motel is a Comfort Inn. About 2 1/2 hours drive time left for tomorrow. 171031 - IA to AZ - Day 4 (I lost everything I just typed ... grrr) We were out of the hotel before daylight, and past the scale before it opened. First stop is the Pilot in Tucson, where we fuel and park BB's RV while we pick up our rental and drop off my RV. Then back five miles to pick up her RV and we get back to our drop just as the inspector is finishing up my unit. Another 15 minutes to check in hers and we are on our way. There was nothing on the board from this part of the country so I called my other company looking for work. The closest they have is TN, not quite on the way. BB pegs in Tucson to find a In-and-Out Burger and we head to it before realizing it was giving us directions to the one closest to downtown, not the closest one to us. U-turn. Once on the road our first stop was a rest area in Lordsburg, NM and then a stop at a roadside farm stand in Deming where we picked up some chili powder. Lots of chili peppers there, powdered, dried and fresh. We also got some dried fruit/candy. Lots more pepper stands in Hatch but we didn't stop again. Next meal was at Arbeys in Socorro. Not much for choices on this highway. But we go home this way instead of the route we came with the RV's because this is still more than is on that 2 lane highway. We end up in Albuquerque at a Sleep Inn. We will likely head out again as soon as we are back. Lots of work right now and we will be off the end of Nov and again the end of Dec so work while there is work and the weather holds. 171101 - IA to AZ - Day 5 We had not decided which route we would take home until we were pulling out of the motel this morning. We had a choice of at least three routes that were all within 15 min travel time and all were on two lane highways and all had limited motels until we had driven over 700 miles. I decided to take a new route and head up to Kearney, NE. This route takes us up I-25 into CO, then mostly two lane roads through KS and into NE. Our first stop was still in NM, we stopped at a rest area near Maxwell. Very windy, the cleaning crews plants were flapping in the wind, lots of tumble weeds most of the way. Lunch and fuel was at a Love's in La Junta. The 2nd Godfathers at a Love's this trip. Mileage is doing pretty well considering we have a head wind of up to 50 mph. The current average is 40-45 mpg. Lots of ghost towns, signs where it is only a block until the sign for those coming from the other direction and all that is there are some falling down buildings. Even most of the live towns are mostly has been with maybe a feed mill or a shop and a few houses. The road ranges from a few miles of four lane highway to some that has no shoulder beyond the white line. Lots of traffic in parts for 'back roads.' Feed lots and lots of ag. More sorghum than I have ever seen, and more grain being stored on the ground than I have ever seen. Our afternoon stop was at a Shell in Sharon Springs. That town had an Oak Tree Inn and a Penny's Diner. Most towns don't have much if any name brands. Sun set about an hour before we got to the motel, but by that time we were on a highway that had good shoulders. Our night is spent at a Quality Inn in Kearney, NE and we went through the drive thru at Taco Bell. We spent a lot of time talking about work numbers this AM. How much we've made in the last two years and what had to happen to make it. 171102 - IA to AZ - Day 6 Today's push is to get home to our airport before sunset, so we are out of the motel before sun up. First stop a few miles down the road is at the Pilot at Wood River. We had once yesterday that our range after a fill was 600+ miles but the last two are just under 500. So we'll be stopping at least once more for fuel. 2nd stop is the welcome rest area in IA, then another two hours until lunch at Ankeny at the Chik-fil-A. They no longer have the chicken salad sandwich. I have no reason left to go there ... Nope, didn't make for fuel so we stop at the Flying J in Williams / Boondocks. A quick stop to pickup our van and we are home before dark. Our plan had been to return our car and head right back to IA. There were a couple of trips that were good but we were looking for something better ... with 70+ units on the board we thought we could be picky. <> plan was to get to the southeast, 1,500 miles, and then get trucks out of NC heading back to the midwest. We waited, and some of the trips were taken. We were going to call from the lot and about an hour before then our last option was taken. So we just headed home ... driving in separate cars so no one was looking for work the last two hours of the day. We finally got home about 7 pm. |
