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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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We make that call as soon as they open this AM. Then I call to get details on trucks leaving OR, but they are class 'A,' truck and trailer. I also emailed the 3rd company letting them now we will be in WA on Monday, they have never had anything for us in three years but I keep asking. We could have set this up last night but waiting until this AM, that cost us an hour plus. Then we stopped for gas, then breakfast. I didn't know fast food places still made food in advance. We stopped into Burger King today and they were just switching to lunch and had a dozen sandwiches from breakfast still on the warmer ... we took four. We did get to Forest City at 11, but it took us an hour and a half to get out of there. I had an issue with a lock on one doors, they ended it up sending it as is. We had to call for permits, and had to wait for fuel. Everything is taking more time today. The permits weren't ready when we left so we had to stop at a truckstop, then I had to email my permits to our office so they could fax them back to the truckstop ... it all takes time. Then we need to eat, neither of us in hungry so we just grab stuff off the rack at Holiday, it calls itself a truckstop but they have no tables other than in the adjacent family restaurant. Sirius XM has added the Weather Channel because of the weather ... BB is set. Stop 1 was Caseys in Forest City for fuel Stop 2 was the BP in Worthington for a fax Stop 3 was the Holiday in Mitchel SD for food Stop 4 was the Quality Inn in Oamaca, SD for the night Tomorrow will be a long day, or a short day. There isn't much or anything between Billings, MT and Sheridan, WY. 20170909 - IA-WA Motel had breakfast, but the OJ tasted like water, the apple juice tasted like water, the cranberry juice was empty ... so I drank water. The yogurt was not outdated, that is the best I can say about it. A few miles down the road I remembered that I had not printed our MT permits, this could be a hassle ... or not. Turned out not, I called the POE / port of entry scale and asked if they could print them when we got there. Yes ... Whew ... Not everyone is that cooperative. Stopped for fuel and the key pad wasn't working so that was a slight delay, besides having to make the POE call. Stopped at the Flying J, it wasn't time for lunch yet but the next food was another couple of hours down the road. We ended up eating the salad bar at the Country Market. Country Market used to be the restaurant that was in most Flying J's. When Pilot took over Flying J they replaced almost all of them with Denny's, Subway, etc. They were still servicing breakfast when we got there but switched over to lunch by the time we left. Other than the lettuce was wilted, the food was good. When we got to Sundance, the scale was closed ... so I had to make another call. We got the OK to drive to Sheridan and get our permits there. Fueled in Gillette because fuel was 'cheaper,' and we would need it before we got to Billings. Sheridan POE was 45 minutes instead of a 5 minute stop. 1st we talked to a couple of other RV drivers. I84 in Oregon was closed because of the fire when they came through and the smoke lasted until Missoula. They somehow got a trip to Oregon and then Oregon back to Elkhart, IN ... nice run. I guess they also do testing at the POE and the guy at the counter was not passing. Didn't understand 'buckle up,' what to do when he sees flashing lights, etc ... and there was a line ahead of us, plus a couple of people crossing the scale that made it all interesting. Our guy said things (to others) like "Do you need a permit? No, can't you read? Get out of here," "I don't think they understand English." Plus he had to go out and wave to a guy on to the scale because they didn't respond to either the lights or the speaker ... and other guy was over weight and over sized ... but mostly light hearted. The have changed the road in Sheridan so the Country Kitchen is no longer at an exit, they have removed it and moved it a mile down the road. Stopped in Hardin at the new Loves and ate at Hardees, the Hawiian chicken I got looked nothing like the ad's. We got to Quality Inn in Billings right about dark, 580 miles today. Two days in a row the clouds in the west came in just in time to make sundown driving much easier. 1st stop Murdo, SD at Pilot for fuel 2nd stop Rapid City, SD at Flying J for lunch 3rd stop Sundance, WY for a permit, ended up being a rest area break 4th stop Gillette, WY at Flying J for fuel 5th stop Sheridan, WY for permits 6th stop Hardin, MT for food at Loves/Hardees 7th stop Billings, MT at Quality Inn 20170910 - IA-WA Today ... real breakfast, made to order at the hotel included in price. The trees kind of overhang the parking lot at this motel as I had to take the long way out. It was OK getting in because the lot wasn't full of cars yet. Five miles down the road and we get flagged into the scale, someone is ahead of us so it takes a few minutes. The guy crossing the scale when we walked out got flagged for a full inspection ... to the shed driver. Then 40 miles down the road we stop again, this time for my 'final ? fuel.' I like to do this fuel when I think this tank will get me to my drop. This place was actually short miles wise but there was nothing where I wanted a station. When I left the station it said I would run out of fuel five miles before my drop, hopefully the fuel range goes up. Bozeman, MT is the next stop, a rest area. Today there are eight RV's and no trucks in the lot. There have been travel trailers and motor homes all over, more of them that trucks this weekend. Maybe they are all leaving the fire area? Deer Lodge, and the 4B's. Soup. Tomato soup. I thought I should have something besides so I got pie :) ... I commented on how good the soup is and someone gave me a recipe. (it's a very bad copy, but) we'll see how close we can get it to taste. Missoula for a break, the driver we have seen a few times this trip is there ... at least the RV is, we didn't see him. Did not get flagged into the ID scale, so we stopped at the Saltese rest area. Air's not bad, you could smell the pine over the smoke so the smoke must be blowing out. Road construction for quite a ways before Post Falls, and then an accident that slowed us down about a half hour to go three miles. Then I get flagged into the WA scale and BB does not ... she wasn't ready for this and didn't have her GPS on and got lost. When we stop at the motel it is like we ran over a bee's nest, they are attacking our rigs .. enjoying all the deceased bug kill on our grills. 1st stop was the Billings scale 2nd stop Columbus Pilot for gas 3rd stop Bozeman rest area 4th stop Deer Lodge 4B's and fuel for BB 5th stop Missoula Flying J for break 6th stop Saltese restarea 7th stop Spokane Super 8 and Iron Skillet for supper Long day 12 hours - 540 miles 20170911 - IA-WA Two hour time difference, awake at 5 am because that is 7 am home time. Bee's are still busy on our RV's in the AM so we let them be. Guessing on the fuel range, I should have enough fuel plus 35 miles but there could be a lot of 'splash' in an 80 gallon tank so we both put in an extra 2 gallon at Ritzville. But on these big tanks the fuel range does not re-set unless you mostly fill them. So the extra fuel does not change my range, but I know it's there. My low fuel light comes on 10 miles from the gas station and and BB's light comes on while waiting at the wash. Quick wash, they know they are not supposed to use brushes on RV's going to dealers so that helps. Tight fuel stop, likely will use a different one next time with if I have a big RV. Flying J in Pasco looks like a dump from the outside but well kept on the inside. Maybe five miles to the drop, this trip we will use a taxi instead of picking up our rental car on the way. That gives us time to adjust if we change plans. At the dealer we park on the street and wait for them to do the inspection, then call the taxi. Once at the airport I call to find more work. The first one I call has work for both of us but BB declines the 2nd unit. Of course plans change right away, they add a short run right away, on the way. As they double check that everything will work we finally eat, by now it's after 2. Only one deli at the airport and the sign says 'back soon.' They do finally come back, food is good, lots of it but pricey. $24 for two sandwiches. Before we knew for sure where we were going I walked up to the rental car counters to see how much a car would be to Seattle, WA. Hertz was almost $400 and we would have to bring it back to Pasco. Avis had one for $150 to Seattle or I could get a 15 passenger van for $150 if I brought it back to Pasco. Alamo would let us change our rental and drop in Seattle for $63 so that is what we are doing ... sometime. Because we already had a car, I decided to do the Spokane to Moses Lake first so that is where we headed. Only to find out the car I am supposed to move won't be ready until tomorrow. This is why we don't move cars very often. I'll get paid $64 to move the car and we will both have a full day (delay) into it. Once we are done with that we will head to Kent, WA where there is a car back to MN that can go to storage. That one we will make fairly good between the saving on the rental car we would have had and what they pay. Tonight we are in a motel a couple of miles from the dealer where we will pick up our first car ... sometime tomorrow. 1st stop - Ritzville, WA at Loves for fuel 2nd stop - Pasco, WA at truckwash 3rd stop - Pasco, WA at Flying J for final fuel 4th stop - Pasco, WA at delivery 5th stop - Pasco, WA at airport to pick up rental car (we ate there too) 6th stop - Ritzville, WA at Loves for break 7th stop - Spokane, WA at Comfort Inn 8th stop - Spokane, WA at Applebee's 20170912 - WA - MN Tried to call my pickup early this AM but no answer and then left a message, finally got a call back much later ... it would be noon before I can pick up the first car. Breakfast was good, real eggs, bacon. So we had the AM to kill until checkout. This part of the trip is not the money maker, a full day lost for <> $50. After we check out we go to the dealer, my contact had to go pickup the plates. Not sure what happened. Then I get to use our companies new phone app ... I don't get it to work and have to do a paper copy. Fuel gauge is below 'E,' so I stop at the first station. It's prepay and I do the math wrong and only put in half as much as I had intended. But it's enough to get me down the road an hour. Then I stop and put in the balance of what I had planned on putting in. When I get to the delivery town I find a car wash, self serve and wash the bugs off. Then put in another half gallon to keep the gauge above 1/4. We find the delivery, the house is in a golf course on a lake ... and there are not may lakes in that part of WA. The person does not want to sign my notebook because they can not see what they are signing for. So another paper copy. I understand why corp wants the computer copy but the end users do not. Finally on our way. I call Seattle and they are already locked up so we will pick up first thing in the AM. 7 AM. Not sure traffic will have cleared by the time we are ready to leave. One stop for fuel in the rental in Ellensburg and then to the motel in Federal Way just south of Seattle. We had to stay a ways out to get a motel for less that $100. And this one is almost that much after tax. One of the Best Westerns was $400 plus ... a night. I turn where the computer says and it's a well kept but vacant lot, twice around the circle and I know where I should have turned. We check into our Quality Inn and walk to the Taco Bell for supper. 1st stop is Spokane at the dealer to pick up the car 2nd stop is Spokane Connoco for fuel 3rd stop is Ritzville Cheveron for fuel 4th stop is Moses Lake car FAA car wash 5th stop is Moses Lake Shell for fuel 6th stop is Moses Lake to drop car 7th stop is Moses Lake park for rest room 8th stop is Ellendale Loves for fuel 9th stop is Federal Way Quality Inn 10th stop is Federal Way Taco Bell  20170913 - WA - MNToday seemed to be a better day, no major delays, opps or ??? ... at least not that cost us anything. I did realize during the night that I had not sent in all my paperwork for billing so that was an early AM call. Told our storage lot we would be there by 7 am, which was when they opened. Traffic was a little heavier so we were a few minutes late but close. This place is only a couple of blocks from where we have to get our buses inspected in a city park ;) ... ??? We found the car, luckily it wasn't blocked in. No issues, it just takes about 45 minutes to do all the pictures and paperwork. Did find it interesting that the back plate was being held on by less that a 1/2 turn of the screw ... like someone had left it that way in case they needed a plate some day. Car had been sitting there since April, seems the person it was supposed to go to moved before it got delivered so now they need to do new legals and paperwork. And for us it is a paid ride back to MN. First stop is fuel, we end up fueling at the same place we fuel the buses so these are roads we have been on. Next is dropping the rental at the airport, again it was nice to have been there before so we knew where we were going. Traffic was slow for about a mile on the way to the airport but once BB was in the car we could use the HOV lane and we were out of town. Breakfast was early and lite so we were ready to eat by Ellensdale. A little soup and sandwich place, good food that wasn't off the roller at a truckstop. Because fuel is more expensive west we are only putting in enough to get us to the next lower price. That was a place called George ... George, WA. Fuel was cheaper but $.10 more if you used a credit card. I was only putting in a couple of gallons so I didn't walk in to pre-pay but had to walk in to get my receipt. Next was the Flying J in Post Falls, here I did top it off. We made it through Spokane today before evening rush hour ... and about an hour after the school shooting that left one dead. Evening meal was at a place that advertises their 'Huckelberry shakes.' It was good. So was the rest of the food. That is where we saw the smoke from a fire that is only 12 miles north of town. That is where we realized why the smoke had cleared from Saturday to Sunday before we came threw. I thought the smoke was from west coast fires and had just blown in. No it was from a Montana fire that they had just put out. I'm guessing if we were traveling in the dark we would be able to see the light from the flames. Off the road by dark, staying at a Sleep Inn in Missoula. 400+ miles today, 600 Thursday and Friday. Then we get to go get our car. 1st stop Kent to pickup car to MN 2nd stop Kent at Ernies to fuel 3rd stop Seattle at SeaTec to drop rental car. 4th stop Ellendale at Soup Bowl for food 5th stop George at AmBest for fuel 6th stop Post Falls at Flying J for fuel 7th stop St Regis at Jaspers for food 8th stop Missoula at Sleep Inn for the night 20170914 - WA - MN .Left out of Missoula and first stop was the Flying J in Butte. Town Pump co-brands most of the Pilot/Flying J's in MT and they don't honor the Pilot discounts so I didn't get to save my $.03 a gallon. But it was still the cheapest fuel around. Lunch was next in Livingston at the Cafe at Clarks Crossing. We've eaten here before when we are driving cars. Anything else would get hung up on the railroad crossing. Food was great but it was 12 noon and there was one other couple there the whole time we were there. Not sure why it was so empty. It is in an old 70's Country Kitchen building. Next stop was the Billings Flying J. While I was fueling someone from a college came and asked me a few questions. I've had that happen before, just questions about our visit to the state. He did distract me (likely would have forgotten anyway,) I was only going to put in enough fuel to get to Beach where fuel was $.20 cheaper. Miles City and more 4B's soup :) This time I did not have the pie with it. Beach, ND was our next stop ... There is a new Flying J in Glendive, MT. By now it's getting dark but we want to be home Friday night so we are going to push on to Dickenson. Quality Inn in Dickenson is our motel. 660 miles and we did not get an early start. 1st stop Butte/Rocker, MT at Flying J for fuel 2nd stop Livingston at Cafe at Clarks Crossing 3rd stop Billings at Flying J for fuel 4th stop Miles City at 4B's 5th stop Beach, ND at Flying J for fuel (see a pattern yet?) 6th stop Dickenson at Quality Inn 20170915 - WA - MN Good breakfast, lots of food. Just none of the huge bismarks they have in Bismarck. :) Rain, and it will rain most of the day. Hopefully they are getting some of this in MT. Our first stop is at a rest area just east if Bismarck/Mandan. Then on to the Pizza Ranch in Jamestown. Then fuel in Fargo. For some reason my fuel has been dropping since I got out of the mountains. It was up to 24.5, then it dropped back to 23.1 before going up a little on the last leg in MN. Could have had something to do with a strong headwind. Dispatch had called yesterday AM and asked if we could pick someone up in Alex and take them a few miles to Sauk Center. Sorry we are still in western MT. Today they call and ask if we can pick someone up tomorrow in western MN. Sorry we are going to be home by then. It would be nice to be able to help but there usually is little to no money in it ... even if the timing was correct. After Fargo it was to a rest area near Alexandria, then to pick up a rental car in St Cloud. We chose to pick one up in St Cloud because we weren't sure we could make it back and it would have been close. Even with no traffic. We got to our lot in Eden Prairie and I did my photo's and paperwork, then our electronic logs. BB and I have been practicing with them even though we are exempt as driveaway drivers. It's interesting. Got to meet the current / temporary boss as we were leaving. Then a final meal at Schlotzsky's by Southdale Mall. I guess this is the last one in MN. The Mall isn't doing that good either. Recently they had added Gordman's and the mall was looking mostly full. In March Gordman's pulled out and just last month Penny's pulled out. Now we are home, but we do need to use the rental car to go and pickup our van tomorrow, so that will take over half the day. The next 10 days I am working local before we take a trip/vacation to CA. 1st stop was Bismark, ND at a rest area 2nd stop was Jamestown at Pizza Ranch 3rd stop was Fargo at Flying J for fuel 4th stop was Alexandria at a rest area 5th stop was St Cloud to pu a rental car 6th stop was Eden Prairie to drop of the car from WA 7th stop was Edina at Schlotzsky's 8th stop was home |
