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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2 - New RV's 20180514 - IA-AZ Off for a few days for a number of reasons. The board out of IA has stayed between 140 and 240 for the last three weeks. No shortage of work. We were packed and ready to leave last night and then didn't. If we had, we would have been able to make it to CA and back before my dentist appt. Now we have an appt earlier in next week so we will be back by Sunday. Didn't call in for work until after 9 AM. Had other calls that we had to make first. We grabbed two for Tucson. Cars are still cheap out of AZ. Stopped on the way down in Albert Lea for lunch. I needed glasses again, they seem to last between two weeks and two months. While we were at Walmart getting glasses, we got Subway to go. That was my half hour noon break. Got to Forest City, only one person in the office so it took a little while longer. Then before we were done inspecting, BB found a nick in her paint that was going to have to be re-done. So we gave up our Tucson RV's and took one going to Mesa and one going to Phoenix. There had been two Phoenix this AM but one was gone now. Over two hours at the lot today. BB has a diesel and stopped in Forest City, I have a gas and fueled in Clear Lake. Diesel had been $.19 a gallon cheaper in Forest City so good she fueled there. Next stop was the Burger King in Des Moines. It is at a QT, very limited truck parking and there wasn't any so we parked with the cars. Another half hour break and we were on our way. Diesel was $2.79 at a Kum and Go in Bethany, about $.70 cheaper than the closest Love's. BB fueled, I waited. Motel is the Quality Inn in Kearney. Same as last time this way. Got here a few minutes after sun set. We got poured on right before the IA-MO line. Rain drops the size of sand dollars were hitting the windshield. Without a second leg, this was the best paying run on the board per day. CA runs were longer but paid less per day. 20180515 - IA-AZ Not an early morning, finally got going by 8 AM. All they had for yogurt this morning was strawberry banana. My guess is there was a piece of banana in mine but when I felt a chunk of something go down I quit eating it. Other flavors do have pieces of fruit, just no used to banana ... if that is what it was. First stop was 90 miles down the road at a rest area in Williamsburg. No issues going through KC at 9 in the morning. Next stop was at a Kwik Stop in Newton, then a few blocks away to an Arbeys. Watching the fuel prices, not a huge difference between area's. Bigger difference between stations in the same town. Thought we may get to Tucumcarri tonight but we ran out of daylight hours and would have been tight on driving hours. The rest of the day didn't help much. Quick stop in Greensburg. Cenex is the station on the right side of the road, not much there but the restroom works ... and this time we bought a water and a pop. Stopped for a break in Liberal, KS. 40 miles later we stop in Guyman, OK for fuel. GasBuddy said gas was $2.29 but that station was closed so someone is just updating it to get their rewards (not to keep things correct) Diesel price was correct at the Love's but GasBuddy had the E10 price listed as the Unleaded price. Unleaded was $.20 more than the other stations in town. I didn't notice the price until after I swiped my card. It would not cancel. Tried typing in the zip, then taking the nozzle out and replacing it. It would not cancel. I finally put in $.10 of gas and it allowed me to cancel. Then it wanted me to go in to get a receipt. I didn't. 20 miles later we stop at Texahoma for food. They had food at Guymon but no where to park other than at the pumps. We both had Chesters this time. They were out of coleslaw. They charged both of us for meals but I didn't get any potatoes or biscuit and BB didn't get a biscuit. Food was OK though. While we were eating I looked at gas prices and here was as cheap as I would pay. We have been running at 65 mph and it looks like I will still make $$ on the fuel upcharge. Another 45 miles and we are in Dalhart. Best Western with train noise. Did have a few places where US 54 was down to one lane. Only had to wait one time for about 10 minutes or so. Back up to 150 on the board out of IA. 20180516 - IA-AZ Only heard three trains last night. One before 10 PM and the other two after 5 AM, so either those were the only ones or I slept right through them. It was a late night so we didn't get going until 8:30. Still hope to make it 600 miles (something we haven't done yet) At the NM scale we show are permits thru the window and are on our way. Not a whole lot of traffic today, or everyone is going 65 mph so no one catches up to us. First stop is in Tucumcarri, I stop at the Flying J and put in what I hope is my final fuel. It's cheaper here than anywhere down the road. I put in 15 gallons and now my range says I should have 10 miles left when I get to my drop. We'll see how that holds. BB goes to the next exit and stops at a Shell. Their diesel is $.20 less than Flying J. We meet up there before heading out. Next stop is Moriarty. Lots of places we could have stopped in town, 27 I think. But we went to the TA and the Burger King because we knew there was parking. Called after lunch to set up our drops for tomorrow. Then to Grants. BB has to fuel again. This time at the Petro. POE at the AZ line. It took us an hour today for just us. Those behind us weren't too happy. Normally we go to Flagstaff and down I-17 but the routing to Mesa takes us through Payson where we are supposed to wash the RV. That was today's problem. Their million dollar computer would not suggest a route and would not accept the route the people keyed in. Not sure what the issue is, but Google route's us around the logical route. Must be something going on that is not showing up where we can see it. And because we spent an hour there, we did NOT make it to Payson tonight. So tomorrow we will have to up early and rolling. Not a whole lot of time to spare because we have two drops. We stop at Tom and Suzie's Diner before heading to the motel. BB had chicken quesadilla's and I had the daily special, meat loaf. More than enough food. This place is not listed on TripAdvisor but they said they have been in town for 13 years and the last few at this location. It used to be a Pizza Hut but I don't remember when it changed. Wish they would have put it next to the motels. That place is still empty. I noticed when I went by that the motel lot looked full. We had to park across the back of the building where there are not marked parking spots. Quality Inn is where we are. One place there were a bunch of goats on the shoulder of the road grazing. Shortly after that there were cows grazing on the frontage road but on the correct side of the fence. Reminds me, back in KS it looked like someone had been mowing around a dead cow in the ditch ... 20180517 - IA-AZ Yesterdays BK did not sit well with me so this AM I just have two cartons of yogurt even though there are eggs and sausage. Back off the Interstate. The reason we are taking a detour is right near Holbrook. They are replacing a railroad crossing. The road is mostly like I remember it. The first leg to Payson is two lane, curvy and narrow. I much prefer divided highways and 10 foot shoulders. There are guard rails in steep hills but not where the drop off is only six feet. As many times as I have hit the rumble strips this trip, it is both hands on the wheel and no sight seeing. Did see a few deer and a horse grazing next to the highway but no elk. Not even at the elk crossing. They have one test area for elk crossing, motion detectors will let drivers know if an elk or anything is crossing in that narrow area. First stop was Payson for BB to wash. Self service. We put in $5 and got off what we could. We both needed fuel. I had thought I would have 20 extra miles when I got to Mesa but not in these hills. I put in another $20 and it said I should have an extra 80 miles range. From Payson to Mesa it is mostly divided highway but still lots of hills. Lots of the RV wanting to kick down to 2nd and run at 4,000 rpms. BB later said that her MB had kicked down to 4th a couple of times on the steeper hills. The road that neither the POE or Google wanted us on had no restrictions. Not sure what the issue was. And the QT that was suggested to stop at showed on the computer that there was a highway median. Turned out it was only a brick median at road level, there would have been no problems crossing due to the median, just due to traffic. We stopped at a Mobil on the correct side of the road. I didn't need any more fuel so I walked over to BB's RV and she was already in panic mode. She had left her wallet in the restroom back in Payson. She made phone calls while I fueled. She first called the wrong location, when she got the correct station they had her wallet. Now our only issue was getting a rental car without her ID. RV place was a little congested but BB was next in line so we were in and out in less than an hour. Then off to Hertz. Turned out not to be a big deal. I was able to park the RV on the street in front of their lot. I showed them my ID and we were good. Being a Gold Member has it's perks. It's only about 20 miles from Mesa to Phoenix but it took me an hour and half including Hertz and final fuel. Stopped at the Flying J because it has a big lot and is only a couple of miles from the drop. From the Hertz to the Flying J I was watching my range drop about a mile every block in stop and go traffic. Pulled into the Flying J with a range of 23 instead of 80 but I made it. Thought I would take a different way out. Google shows the side road past the Flying J is a through road. It's not. So I also turn at the next road ... again, not a through road. Not supposed to take a left out of Flying J right now, but taking a right adds another 5+ miles. Got to the drop about 1:30 local. He was just finishing up one ahead of me and I was next. It took about an hour. Not sure how long it would take and no known fast food close so BB didn't run and get food, so we got food after we were done ... eight hours after we last ate. Whattaburger. Way too much burger. Traffic wasn't bad getting out of town. Got back to Payson and picked up BB's wallet. Had thought we would be staying in Payson for the night but it was only 4 PM local so we drove on to Holbrook. Same motel as last night, Quality Inn. Road was now open so that save us 20 miles. Ate at Denny's, soup. 20180518 - IA-AZ Early for the west coast. We had eaten breakfast and were rolling by 7:30. Very few other cars had left yet. Today is mostly freeway, retracing our path back to Forest City. First stop is a rest area across the highway from the City City Truckstop near a town called Acoma Pueblo. From BB drove so I could make phone calls. Dr left a message this week that I needed to be seen before they would renew my meds. Instead of calling ahead and giving me six weeks notice, I got about 10 days notice. Luckily I was going to be in town for other reasons, otherwise they would just have to wait. BB had also gotten a call this AM wondering why she hadn't made her followup appointment. She didn't know she was supposed to have. By late afternoon it was all taken care of. Second stop was the Shell at the TA in Moriarity. From there we drove through town to Lisa's truckstop on the other end. They have a little diner in their place. Picture one of those former Phillips 66 gas stations that had the pumps on both sides and the store in the middle under one big canopy. Then imagine half of the inside of the building being a diner and the rest being truck stop items. It had about 10 closely placed tables. And the place stayed just about full the whole time we were there. BB had a salad bowl and I had a patty melt. Good food, but too much so we both left some. One more stop at the Love's in Tucumcarri, I finished my morning phone calls and BB used the restroom. I thought once we got on the two lane at 65 mph the fuel mileage would go up, nope, it went down. The car seems to run better at 70-75 mph, at that speed it is tacking just under 2,000 rpms. We decided to stop at Guymon, not quite 600 miles. We are back at our Quality Inn and ate at the PUB. Last time BB had a bad meal but she didn't like the other options within walking distance so we went back. Her food was good, mine the potato soup had hard potatoes in it. I like them soft with more broth. Back in Moriarty, there is a Witt Bros gas station that has been redone. It looks quite fitting. Just one island of pumps, a couple of days ago when we went past there was someone out front sitting on a sack of onions. Witt Bros from what I have found was a truck stop that pre-dated the interstate. There are a number of rusty signs still standing across the southwest. It looks like some of them also had motels. Wish there was more info on them. Also on the Grifth truck stops. Looks like we might only get two more short runs in before the last half of July. From July on our calendar is wide open. So far. Board is back about 150. 20180519 - IA-AZ Scenery hasn't changed much in a couple of days. We are following the same route and stopping at most of the same places coming home as on the way out. First stop is Mullenville at a Cenex. Didn't stop there on the way out but did stop here the prior trip this way. This was going to be our rest stop but fuel is cheaper here than anywhere before MO. Also picked up something to drink for each of us. Arbeys in Hutchinson is our second stop, same place same meal as on the way out. They have two Gyros for $6. They actually are pretty easy to eat driving. Road crews weren't working today but the cones were still up, speed limits were still low and a couple of one lanes with automated signals. Did almost see one roster pheasant get hit. I just missed it as it flew across the road, but a truck from the other way hit it. We heard it and saw the feathers floating in the air. From Hutchinson to Williamsburg rest area. Then somewhere north of there we first noticed cops on our direction of traffic where people had rear ended each other. Then in the oncoming traffic there was a semi in the ditch and a car with all its air bags sprung and all its loose stuff in the median. Behind them were a dozen trucks and one car. One truck tried taking a U-turn in the median and got stuck. Likely a death, as the accident had happened before 1 PM, per the news, and it was now after 3 PM and no traffic was moving. All other traffic must have made U-turns, and after that traffic was being directed off the Interstate two exits back. Two hours put us in Holt, MO at a rest area. Then most of an hour to Bethany where we first fueled at Caseys and then ate at Tootes.The buffet was mostly fish so I passed. Should have just gotten the soup and salad but that was more than the Philly. Another two hours and we are in Ankenny IA at the Comfort Inn. Quality Inns are a couple of bucks cheaper but this place is nicer. The next two weeks will be time juggling. We have two appointments on Monday, one on Tuesday and one on Friday. We want have them come out and do our flooring while we are in town but not until we know the results from our appointments. Flooring will take 3+ days so it may be after Memorial Day. I wanted to go to Fort Snelling to take pictures Friday, but they are not putting up flags until Saturday that will be pushed out until next week too. We might be able to do short runs but we will have to do the math and see if it is worth it with Memorial weekend pricing. 20180520 - IA-AZ We did make it home Sunday. The usual trip, stop past Forest City to pick up our car. Fuel the rental car before returning it to the airport, terminal two. We have it down now so BB drives the rental car from Forest City, stops and fuels it. I drive our car 65 mph without stopping and get to the airport within a couple of minutes of when she does. We had to be back early Monday AM for a Dr appointment. From there we'll call the flooring people, we are also having a new sidewalk put in, I have both a dentist and Dr appointment. Plus I want to get the garden in this weekend and haven't started. Looks like I am less than a week late compared to most years. Work should get the board back up over 200 by this weekend. Last year it had been in the low double digits and got up to 150. This year it has stayed close to 100+ so the bump should put it over 200. We'll have about a week before we have to be back in town again.  |
