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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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20170818 - IA-VT We have 2 RV's, mine is going to NY and hers is going to VT. We aren't on the road very long and someone cuts me off, I don't think they remembered they were pulling a trailer. Laid on the horn and they got back over. A few miles later, someone pulls out in front of a semi from a sideroad, I was a couple of blocks back but it came close to being really bad. Spent the night at the Clarion in Cedar Rapids. I don't understand this place. It's the cheapest place we stay at, but is maybe the nicest Clarion we've seen. Even as a 'concierge.' And a bar/restaurant that has three people working but we've never seen more than a half dozen customers at one time. They also have a huge breakfast with made to order omelets. They most have larger crowds on the days we aren't there. 20170819 - IA-VT Our 1st stop this AM is for fuel, Flying J in Davenport. 2nd stop is a rest area at Minooka IL, it's still too early for lunch so we head to Portage, IN. We make it thru Chicago with almost no delay. 3rd stop as at the Oasis in Portage, they have taken out the Hardee's and replaced it with a Ludson Grill. We didn't want to wait so we grabbed a burger off the rack ... it likely had been there a few hours by the taste of it. 4th stop was the rest area at Howe, IN. Just a quick bathroom break. 5th stop was at the Flying J in Perrysburg, OH for fuel. This will be my last fuel stop. I have an 80 gallon tank and it now shows a range of 600 miles (When i went the 600 miles, I still had a range of 150 mile so I left a whole lot of fuel) That's the risks of a huge tank and a short run. You never get a real idea of what the mileage is. 6th stop was for the night. Quality Inn in Elyria. We stayed before, but will we stay again? After we were in bed we could hear water dripping ... the people upstairs were taking a shower and it was leaking into our bath tub. 20170820 - IA-VT Only 500 miles left to get to my drop today. 120 miles to West Springfield rest area. It is the welcome center for PA. 140 miles to get past Buffalo to a Flying J in Pembroke. Hadn't remembered there was a oasis just down the road, but BB wanted fuel here and it is usually cheaper off the tollroad. We ate at Dennys. 120 to the rest area by Syracuse NY 120 miles to Albany NY for the night. Another Quality Inn. The closest food was Sake, but nothing on the menu was to my liking. So we went to an Italian place, they seated us in the middle of the crowed and the music was way to loud for us old folks. After BB asked them to turn the music down, we still ended up getting our food to go. 20170821 - IA-VT Started the day by using the airport shuttle to go pick up our rental car. Then BB left for NH and I fueled my vehicle and went to delivery. Eight units ahead of me, and they inspectors were having a meeting. But once they were out, I was cleared to go within 15 minutes. A short walk back to the motel to get the car and I was heading to NH. 150 mile and only about 10 was freeway today. That is rare, we do about 99% freeway miles. The 150 was about a four hour trip, a lot of 45-50 mph zones and often the curves were safe at less than that. BB was at her drop when I got there but the unit wasn't inspected yet. We decided not to check for other work, instead we will just deadhead back. We had thought about switching cars tonight and getting a few miles down the road, but they are sold out of cars. We stopped at Ruby Tuesdays for a 3pm lunch, half the crew was standing outside looking at the sun. I tried to take pictures but none turned out. Took the same route back to Albany but decided to stay in a different motel. This one had a DQ across the street and that was our supper. 20170822 - IA-VT Started the day with a trip back to the airport to change the car from a local to a one way. No problem, it just took about a half hour before we left town. 1st stop was at a rest area in Canastota, NY. In, out and gone. 2nd stop was at a rest area just before Buffalo for lunch. Tim Hortons to go. Saw one semi that had been rolled over by the NY/PA border. It seems like we average seeing about one crash every other day. This being our first this trip as been a good trip. From that same area coming from the west is a good view of Lake Erie. Just before we got to town of Erie PA it rained heavy. At one point we drove a few car lengths where we couldn't see beyond the windshield, no hood, no road. For maybe 20 minutes it was raining so hard that we were traveling well below the posted and dozens of cars and trucks simply parked on the shoulder. 3rd stop was at Conneaut, OH. The welcome center. 4th stop was at Westlake, OH a suburb of Cleveland. Paid $2.00 a gallon thanks to info from GasBuddy.com. And recently we received a <> $1,000 rebate from our many motel stays so we are paying for our gas with that. 5th stop was at the exit rest area in West Unity, OH. More fast food ... Burger King is easier to eat in the car than Sbaros, so BK it was. Spending the night in South Bend, 700 miles down, 700 more to go tomorrow. Hopefully Chicago traffic isn't too bad at 9 am when we go through. 20170823 - IA-VT Another 700 mile day ahead of us. Yesterday BB had gotten a call from company #2, today she called them back and they wanted their license plate back because she hasn't driven for them in 90 days. (no work) ... So we did send it back before we got home. We'll see how this works out. Stop 1 today was in Minooka, IL at the rest area. Stop 2 was in Walcott, IA for Arbeys and fuel Stop 3 was in Nashua, IA at the rest area Stop 4 was in Clear Lake for DQ Stop 5 was in Forest City to pick up our vehicle. ... then home ... 700 miles is a long day, not much for excitement, but looks of work on the board for next week ... all that work we thought would be out there last week is out there now. |
