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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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El Cajon, south of LA. The work was there, it's cold here and warm there. And right now there isn't much daylight so we aren't always making 500 miles a day. Computer routes us through Denver, but going south via Kansas City is 7 miles shorter. Until we stay on the freeway and go through Flagstaff, that will add about 30 miles. We've been the other route with the car and the roads get narrow and the elevation gets high. We looked at other runs since last Friday and not seen anything that was worth spending extra days to get there. Even this morning we were looking at runs to the same area and didn't jump on them. When these two came we jumped and got them. There has been 40-60 runs on the board since late last week. Last year there were less and the all disappeared on Tuesday after the holiday. This year they didn't, they kept adding more. First we stopped and picked up my tab and IFTA stickers for my other company. Two years ago we missed out on a return trip from LA because I didn't have that stuff after the new year. Then we ate at Keys. Great soup. Heading south we made one stop at Walmart in Owattona because BB had forgotten her water bottle and we had to get a new one. Then on to Albert Lea. We had picked here because we could use our points to get a free night at the Best Western. But when we looked at the price, we decided not to use points because the rooms were so cheap ... and as long as we are going to pay for the room we might as well stay at the Sleep Inn, which we did. Walked next door to the Iron Skillet for food. Buffet. Looked like someone had dipped a spoon in the soup and then thrown it back in the pile ... pretty disgusting when you think you are grabbing clean stuff. 20171228 - IA-CA Rolling by 8 AM, it is cold ... and snowing. We are close enough so we don't need any rest stops so we are there in under an hour. Getting our paperwork at Forest City takes longer than usual as they need to give us some of our stuff for 2018. But they don't have updated tabs yet so we will be running on out dated tabs for now. It's cold. Both our units are gas so that is some kind of a plus. They both start. I usually park my car in the prep area and then walk to my RV, this is the first time I've had BB give me a ride to my RV. It doesn't seem that cold for the first two minutes :) BB had a problem getting her plate on, it is anchored with one screw and just that took two times sitting in the car to warm up. Me too and I was using cable ties so I couldn't have my gloves on. Took us just over an hour. Ahh another thing we have never done before, we always check each other's break and back up lights. This time I was behind her on the phone and then pulled in front of her so neither of us had to stand outside ... we are getting to be a couple of winter wimps. As we left I counted the RV's in the 'staging lot,' there were about 150 besides the 100 or so in our regular lot ( plus RV's in various other lots waiting to be released) Since we have started working out of Forest City, a new Caseys has been built. A few months ago the only fuel station that had diesel island's closed up. Now the Sinclear station next to Caseys is just called 'Sid's.' No more name brand gas. It's rough on the locals. We don't stop at either if fuel is cheaper in Clear Lake which it is again today at Pilot. The plan was to stop at Des Moines for a buffet. Before we got to Ames there were two different backups because cars were facing the wrong way in the left lane up against the cables. So we ate at Pizza Ranch in Ames. When we got back on the freeway it was backed up again. Another car facing the wrong way, with a few rescue cars on the scene. Before Des Moines one more in the cables. But by stopping and eating for a half hour the weather really cleared up. No other issues all the way to MO. We did stop again at the rest area in Osceola before stopping for fuel at the Pilot in Kearney. Hadn't planned on stopping but fuel was cheap and on the correct side of the road. Quality Inn is just a couple of blocks away. We walk down to the JJ Homestead Family restaurants about a half mile away for our food. Great potato soup ... and a philly. BB had another BLT her new go to food. Tonight our board is up to almost 90, last year it stayed under 20 until late Feb. Earlier today there was a semi tractor out of CA going to IA, it was gone by the time we stopped. But there is a truck in NV going back to MO so I will give them a call on that tomorrow AM. Looking at the weather we made the right choice to go south ... winds in WY may be up to 85 mph tomorrow. We are supposed to pull off if the winds get up to 35 mph. 20171229 - IA-CA We had thought of waiting until 9 AM to leave to make sure we'd miss rush hour. Ended up leaving at 8 AM instead. Rush hour? Today is Friday but traffic was as heavy as it would be on a Saturday ... at 6 AM. No one is working? Did have to cross a scale in KS but they weren't flagging anyone in. Somewhere early on a cop made a u-turn right in front of me and caught up to a semi. Usually they fall in behind them and sometimes follow for a ways. This guy drove along side of him for a ways ... I was quite a ways back, but I'm guessing the truck driver was on his cell phone. Didn't see any issue with the way he was driving. Break was at a rest area in Williamsburg. Then on to Newton for food at an Arbey's. In the past we might have stopped at the truck stop to eat but today it was fast food. I did call the office because when I did my morning check in call the recording said we needed a certificate to go with our places even if we don't have the tabs yet. Oh yeah, this AM I called a dispatch to find out about a truck in Las Vegas. I couldn't put my name on it until Tuesday to pick up Wednesday and it was gone in a couple of hours. Another run out of AZ, same thing. Gone. By the end of the day nothing left we want. We'll have to see if we sit and wait after we drop or head back to IA. Once we pass Emporia we are mostly on two lane road. I've done these roads as slow as 55 mph for ever but this is the first time I can remember people letting me know they weren't happy. There are passing lanes every few mile so not likely that anyone was behind us for more than 10 miles, most for less than 5. And I was only going 5 mph under the limit ... so what is that? 30-60 seconds lost? One trucker laid on his horn when he did go past and another car gave me the one finger peace sign. Really? Over 30 seconds? We pulled into a Love's in Pratt but gas was up to $2.24 so BB had enough fuel to get to Greensburg where we got it for $2.21 :) I have a larger tank so I didn't need any yet, but my low fuel light came on before we got to Liberal. I paid $2.18. Another Wini has passed us a few times today, we caught up to him again at the Loves in Liberal. He was heading to Rancho Cucamonga. Not sure how often he was stopping because we aren't exactly speedy and we kept getting ahead of him. Quality Inn in Liberal, looks like an old Best Western maybe. A couple of doors down is the old Holiday Inn ... Next door is a Stockmen's Cafe and we ate there. Good food. Good buns, good cole slaw ... meatloaf, baked potato. Within walking distance. So that was my walk. BB had been doing extra walking most nights on the machines. I got our Oregon plate info printed out. And my protective hood cover taped back down. For a few months they wrap the hoods to keep the rock damage down. Our first 200 miles will be non-freeway, but from here maybe half is four lane through OK and TX tomorrow. We'll do over 400 miles one day, under 400 another and then the last day should be about 300. Not sure how far we will get tomorrow. We'd like to get further but the motels are almost twice as much the second town for New Years Eve. 20171230 - IA-CA Cold this AM, glad I went back out and got my gloves last night. When I told the desk clerk that all of the yogurt was outdated, they came and looked at it ... tipped the ones back upright that I had flipped over and left everything in there. Other places have immediately emptied all of the out dated stuff. Besides cold there is snow, just a little but enough to see. All the way down into Texas. Did notice going through Guyman, OK that there are a lot of Mexican restaurants, including a couple of food trucks that each had a table and benches set up. First stop is at Stratford, TX at the Pilot. New place. Did notice that a 1960's style DQ is now closed so that might have been put out of business by the Pilot, not much else in town. KS and OK were not too bad, but in TX the speed limit is 75 mph so the backups seem to happen a little faster. The old way of doing things was when someone wanted to pass, traffic in both directions drives on the shoulder and the passer drives down the middle of the road. Only tried that once today, I let a truck go past and then was pulling back in my lane not realizing a pickup was just a couple of feet off the trucks bumper, didn't hit him but we were close. That was about the same time that BB just pulled over and stopped to let everyone go past. But after they pass me, they quickly bunch up behind the next slowest driver ... Scale was open today, not usually open on Saturday's. But we just showed them our permit through the window and we were on our way. From there on the speed limit was 65 mph and that is what I was driving. Still had the same following. Easiest place to get in and out of is the Denny's and Flying J. There was a line when we got there and a line when we left. Service was slow, took us and hour and fifteen instead of the usual 45 minutes. Food was good. Staff was saying it's been busy like that since last week. Glad we were not in a rush. But the extra half hour it took helped us decide we were not going to Grants tonight. Instead we got as far as Albquerque, to the Quality Inn there. Seems quiet enough now, but a few years ago I stayed at the Motel six across the street and woke up to the cops arresting people on the first level. Walked to a Mexican restaurant called Mariscos Altamar, food was good but salsa was way to hot. Everything else was good. So tomorrow will be our longer day, we plan on making it to Phoenix. Sometime after dispatch closed, they added a bunch more trips. Up over 90 again out of IA, but nothing we want out of CA. ... but the temps here are in the 60's, down by LA are in the will be in the 70's ... and in MN, heading down to -14 tonight at the airport, -29 in Ely. We might just stay in CA an extra day :) 20171231 - IA-CA Up with the sun. As we left we noticed a 'Full - No Rooms' sign on the door. We had waited and made reservations from the parking lot, it's a good thing we got a room. Yesterday I had one fuel tank where I made over 10 mpg, today the first fill is down to 9.2 mpg. I won't fill again so I won't know for sure what I do from here. Stopped at a Flying J in Jamestown, NM for what I was hoping would be my final fuel stop. I remember it being a Pilot, Google map street view shows it as a Pilot but now it's a Flying J. Had told BB last night that it should be a Flying J, it has all the signs ... a Denny's, a repair shop, large parking area. Sanders, AZ POE is open. Only two people working today and very few getting flagged in but we had to get our permits. $15 later we were back on the road. Less than an hour down the road to Holbrook and a stop at McDonalds for lunch. This one has two self service order stations, then you grab your number and the staff will bring you your food. Sign outside said they also had 'Curbside Pickup,' I'm guessing you order on line and the staff will bring out your food when you show up? In another two hours there was ... was a rest area, but it's blocked now and the white lines don't show an exit. It had been closed the last few times I was past so we had looked online for something else. Stopping in Flagstaff would have meant an extra stop, so we stopped the next exit past the old rest area at a Chevron. Signs clearly mark the way to the rest rooms, lucky we got there when we did, there was a long line by the time we were out. From Flagstaff I kick it down to 65 mph. My rule of thumb in the past was, what ever mileage you get prior to Flagstaff, double it between Flagstaff and Phoenix. Not sure if we did that good but quite a long drop in elevation. Haven't seen, or been held up, by any major accidents in a few trips. Did see one young guy in Phoenix about to take a DWI test, and that was about 3 pm New Years Eve. Not going to be much of a party for him. Had called last night to a Best Western that was showing booked full for a few days. They weren't, they were just remodeling. Didn't end up staying there, ended up at a Comfort Inn in Goodyear using points. Did take a few minutes to find it as it is in a big commons area and the buildings all look the same ... and it is closer to a different road than the address lists. Nice place, even has marked spots for semi parking. First room we got had a noisy fan so we asked to be moved, and move us they did. The second room is a huge suite, the bathroom is as big as some hotel rooms, it has a deck a fireplace, kitchen area with a full sized fridge, island to eat at. The island came in handy as because it was New Years Eve, some eating places were closing early so we took ours to go. Dickey's BBQ, it was good and filling. Unlike some area's where there is absolutely no food within walking distance, this area had about has about 20 places to eat within a mile. Forgot about one option for work getting out of CA, buses. We met one heading to Atlanta, that would be a nice 2,500 mile run if they need someone. But they keep their core people busy first so I haven't been able to get one yet. Plan had been to make it to El Cajon Monday but in looking at the motel's they were not getting good reviews. Even the best motels were not in the best area's ... or maybe there are no good area's in El Cojon. So instead be are planning on only driving 200+ miles Monday and then do the last 100 on Tuesday morning. We've looked at where all are stops are and they are all very close. Gas station is two blocks from the car wash, and about a mile from the drop. After the drop Hertz is less than a half mile from the drop. Did see a huge animal in the ditch that had been hit by a truck. Couldn't see what it was but it had to be 1,000#'s plus by the size of it. Did see another Winnie heading west, but they kept going west when we turned south at Flagstaff. |
