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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2 - New Pickups 20180123 - NC-OH-IN NOT a good way to start the day. No issues with the motel and we were on the road earlier than we had planned. But before we get on the freeway we make a U-turn to find a better route. Not sure if we did. It took us two hours to go just over 30 miles. We should have driven those 30 miles last night and they would have taken less than 30 minutes. So now we have cut deeply into our buffer time for the day. First time at this location, but they have big signs to where the lock boxes are and the 'bull pen' is. Found the truck on the first trip through, before I was done with my inspection the yard man stopped and asked if I had questions. It had been raining all morning but let up by the time we got to the lot. This one is a full sized truck, still not a CDL, but they are giving me CDL pay for it. Not something BB wants to drive. Someone else came to pickup their truck while we were there. Found their truck, hoped in and were gone. No inspection, no plate, just gone. Good news is that I have a half a tank of free fuel. Fuel had been cheap at the closest BP but the price had gone up since it was listed on GasBuddy 'a few minutes ago.' Two hour drive to the airport in Winston-Salem where I parked the truck. I went in the airport to see if it was OK but the only two people there were the two rental car people. So I just left it. We have a two hour drive down to get BB's truck. Shortly we stop in Mocksville at Wendy's to grab food. That took a while so we called it another half hour break even though we got the food to go. Almost to the pickup we remember ... that BB forgot all her stuff in my truck. But being it was non-CDL we were able to piece together enough stuff to be legal until we got back to my truck. That ALMOST was the end of that trip, it would have delayed us another half a day if we had gone back as we wouldn't have made it by dark and I wouldn't want to leave my truck there overnight. Oh ... and before this ... I remembered that I had forgot my cell phone in my truck. Left my phone number in the window of my truck, and my cell phone inside. Not all a good day. Once we got to the lot things went good. A small Toyota pickup, half full of gas. We were in and out in 15 minutes. By now I had to stop for fuel in the rental car, so we stopped at Exxon in Shelby. Now the shortest way was not the same as it showed last night, or maybe this afternoon either. We didn't look this afternoon, we just drove based on last nights estimates. Had to stop once more right before the airport and do final fuel. My truck is still there. We have an hour to spare. Now we can get to the motel 30 miles up the road before dark. I'm down to 1/16 of a tank of fuel by the time we get to the motel. Not real good mileage and very gutless, down to 50 mph on even the smaller hills, not sure what it will do tomorrow on the big ones. BB has already said she is not going to follow me at those speeds. Just as we did a few weeks ago, we stayed at the Sleep Inn and walked across the street to the Mexian place to eat. Over all not a bad day, but more of a push than we do most days. Now our big issue is that cars out of IN are not cheap. We may have been money ahead to get a cheaper car from the coast and not moved trucks. My son's grand-father-in-law died but we didn't hear about it until we had taken these trucks so we won't be making it back for that funeral. Tomorrow we will deliver BB's truck and plan on doing mine on Thursday. 20180124 - NC-OH-IN Last night when I stopped it looked like I had about 1/16th of a tank of fuel, this AM I couldn't get it to move off of E. Fuel had to be still there but not a good feeling. I drove about two miles to the station and filled the tank. 50 gallon tank and I squeezed and squeezed to get 34 gallons in. Not sure how much is usable. In the morning we ran our own ways. I needed fuel right away and it was cheapest here. Had I waited until Wytheville where I wanted to stop I'd have paid $.20 or more per gallon. Cheapest gas was in Lambsburg just across the state line so that is where BB filled. The other reason for going our own ways was I would be running slow up the hills and she could do 70. I was down to 30 mph going up some of the hills. Had another driver moving the same style of box AND towing going flying past me ... in a Ford. At first I was wondering why the truck wasn't down shifting going up the hills, then I figured out how to use the brains of the thing :) But the only difference was I could run higher rpm's at the same speed. Early on there had been a semi accident, mostly cleaned up but still two loads of lumber, lots of trucks, tow trucks, police. One Canteen truck passed me, we moved those with the 3rd company we used to work for. And another tree truck past me. I did pass one semi going up a hill. I was able to do 40 mph on that hill and he was down to 35 mph. First break was at Beckley rest area. BB had texted and I just replied 'yup.' Called her as I was walking back to my truck and realized that I hadn't read the text. She was sitting in the building waiting for me ... Next stop was Ripley at the Loves for lunch at Chesters. These stops have only been about 100 miles apart, but we only have 300 miles to get to BB's drop and it's taking me most of two hours to do the 100 miles. Too much overhang on the truck so my I-pass wouldn't work at the toll booth. That slowed things down a little more. MAJOR opps when I pulled off for fuel in Logan. It was the wrong exit and when I saw the price of fuel I just cut into a station to make a U-turn. BB called right away to say we were at the wrong spot and while I was talking to her the cashier came out to tell me I was OK, I was clearing the over-head ... hadn't much thought about it. Other than to see there was no height listed. The bucket in the front of the truck is the highest point so I thought I was good ... nope. The station was at a slight angle at the road was flat, so when I got to the road the BACK of my truck ... just cleared the overhead by a couple of inches. BB was watching all this, I was clueless until she told me later. We stopped at the next exit at Walmart where fuel was cheaper and the clearance was higher. I put in enough that I might get to the drop if I was getting 10 mpg. I'm not. Stopped at Millersport for BB's fuel, not place to park and the clearance is really close, I get out of there and park on the road. BB finds her drop and is in and out in less than 15 minutes. But now we have a new issue. My break light will not go off. It had beeped at me earlier but went off right away. This time it wouldn't so I drove a few miles then stopped in a driveway. Finally shut the truck off a couple of times and got it to clear that way and then kept driving. Colubus in rush hour, road construction and snow. We make it a couple of hours to Mason, OH and the Comfort Suites. Food is next door at the Out Back. All I had was soup, plus onions, plus desert and I was stuffed :) Lots of food within walking distance. Now I need to call dispatch in the morning to see if I need to drop this truck at the show or deliver it. I thought I could not put the break on, just leave it in gear but alarms would go off so I just put the break on. Nothing else good on the board heading to IA or MN. Did find a car under $200 so that helps. We could make it home in one day IF we didn't pick up our car but then we'd have to take a day to do that. Already seem to have my days 'off' filled. 20180125 - NC-IN We weren't really good at getting going early this morning. We couldn't pick up our rental car until 8 AM, but we didn't get going until after 8 AM. ... we were within walking distance of the entry gate for Kings Island amusement park. But it was the off season or we would not have been staying here for the money we paid. Avis was in the strip mall attached to the Kroger store. And Kroger was where I fueled for the day. I did call dispatch this AM and they said I was OK to drive as long as the 'brake' light wasn't on while I was driving. A little over an hour to my drop. Four roads so not too much chance of getting lost. I had picked the Shell as my final fuel. It was up on a hill so I was very careful, very slow to pull out from under the canopy. Much more aware today. As I was leaving I saw that fuel at the Kroger across the street was $.10 less. Found the drop location with no problem, showed them the brake issue and it looked like maybe if I had pushed the brake down a hair after releasing it it might have gone off. But it's there issue now, not mine. Worked less than two hours this AM and now we are on the way home. I did call the other driveaway company but all they had was a truck going from IL back to IN, doing that would not have gotten us back to MN by Friday night. Later they called back with a truck coming out of OH and we were almost to IL so that didn't work either. Called dispatch about my trip from GA to FL that no longer shows on my history. They did pay me today, but it still doesn't show in my history. Brownsburg is our food stop. We knew there was a Jimmy Johns there somewhere but we guess where wrong the first time. In a few minutes we were back on the road. Stopped at a rest area near Congerville then on to Knoxville Loves for fuel. Didn't need it yet, but most of the fuel as been in the $2.59 range and here it was $2.39 ... $2.55 across the street at the BP ... no one was buying anything there. On to Cedar Rapids, plan was to stop at Riley's Cafe, after getting lost trying to find, we found it was only open until 2 pm. Not listed correct online. We ended up eating at Los Compadres a few blocks away. Good food, filling. Quality Inn is our stay, it's right across the street from the former Clarion. Clarion still has all there signs up even though they haven't been able to use that name for about a month now. Looks like we will be home for about five days before heading back to IA for a safety meeting and out on our next run. Work numbers are going back up, back up to 42 out of IA tonight. There also was an RV out of Wilmington, NC for a few minutes. And a truck out of NC to WA but we are no longer around for either. It's been a long month, but it doesn't look like we will have any problem keeping busy and making money without our third company. We would have made really good money if we had been able to find two heading out of the SE earlier. But the weather and timing just weren't right this trip. 20180125 - NC-IN Rolling before sun up and the only rush is to just be home. Fuel is cheapest in Clear Lake even though it went up four cents since yesterday. We stop and fuel and then on to Forest City. Forest City had been closed because of the weather recently so we expected to see more snow. No, just enough to cover the ground. We stop in and get the tabs for our plates ... down the road, BB gets a call that she left hers at the office, not sure how that happened. Lots of units dumped on the board early today, NC, IA, IN. When we are pulling out after returning the rental car, we have to wait for a blue car. BB is talking so I am listening, not focused on the car. A minute later BB gets a call ... it was our daughter. Neither one was expecting to see the other there. Then five minutes before we get home, we get a picture of our driveway. Another daughter just went by the house. One of our grand-daughters has her learners permit and they are out driving. The another grand-daughter had been in the car but got out to see us ... and ended up shoveling the feet of snow in our driveway. Waist high of from the snow plow, nice heavy stuff. Between the three of us we shoveled enough to get the car off the street. We will have to work on it again tomorrow. Lots of work left on the board, doubles to any corner of the country. Also lots left if we get down to the SE. But that is all a week away. I will work Monday for the local company. Sounds like a three legged run to Crookston and back.  |