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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2 - New RV's 20180609 - IA-CA Called in on Friday AM to get two CA runs. If we hadn't gotten those we would have just waited until something else 'good' showed up. We are heading to West Sacramento, same locations we've been to a couple of times recently. From there it is about a two hour drive down to get a bus, if there are any. We haven't decided if we will deliver Wednesday. It could be possible but usually something comes up and it doesn't work so we have told dispatch it will be Thursday. Tonight we only made it as far as Owattona and the Comfort Inn. We had a family event and it was either drive home an hour or drive towards work an hour. Need to be back on June 21 for a surveyor for our lot. Then a family pot luck, get our driveway done, 4th of July, a trip to the north shore, a day of genealogy, safety meeting and I think some appts. We may or may not work again before the 20th of July after this trip. 20180610 - IA-CA Left the motel by 8 AM, got to Forest City by 9:30. Don't remember if I mentioned it last trip, coming home we missed our turn to go to Forest City. Not sure how, we were both watching for it. In and out of the lot in record time. 45 minutes instead of an hour. Lots of people picking up today but didn't take the time to talk to any of them. We both have diesel's so we both fueled in Forest City. Next stop is usually Clear Lake, but we pushed it to get to Williams and stopped at the Flying J / Subway there. That was closer to noon, I don't like stopping too early are we will be eating again by 3 PM. Next stop was the rest area near Adair on I-80. A big red spot was showing over I-80 but we decided to stick to the freeway. The rain band was narrow enough we could have taken in US-20 or US-30 and stayed north of it. They had already gotten a lot of rain down here, fields flooded. Flood warnings, even evacuations. Stopped in Omaha for fuel. A BP has diesel for $.30 less than the truck stops so we fueled there. Lost BB in traffic, she merged as soon as she saw the first sign, I merged at the barrels. I was just about done fueling when she got there. We can make money on fuel on most RV's but the type BB is driving is one we can not. But this time it was one of the few matches and our best shot to make money over all. We have pretty much been driving 65 mph since the start of this year. On this trips RV that means I am tacking out at 2,400 rpms. I like to keep it under 2,100. Stopped in York at the Iron Skillet to eat. Prime Rib was the menu tonight so I stuck with soup and salad. I wasn't going to pay an extra $10 for food I wasn't going to eat. We pushed on to Kearney to the Quality Inn. From here we may be able to make it to Rock Island and if, if, if, we might make Wednesday delivery. If we hadn't made it to Kearney it would have been over 600 miles tomorrow and little to no chance of Wednesday delivery. High wind warnings again in WY but we hope they are dropped by the time we get there. Also we have a conference call we have to be on on Tuesday so that is time not driving. 20180611 - IA-CA BB was up early to do a walk before we got going this AM. Didn't look like I would make it to Ogallala on the fuel I have so I stopped at Shell before leaving town. One diesel island, one truck on one side one on the other. One was washing his windows for 15 minutes, not sure what the other one had bee doing. He was sitting there when I pulled in. Finally he goes in to pre-pay, once he did that it didn't take him long to fuel and he pulled ahead just far enough for me to fuel. I fueled and was gone before he was ready to leave. Ogallala was our next stop. Can't see the price for diesel at Casey's until you are on the ramp. Same price as Walmart so we went to Walmart. Tight area but we fueled and got out of there. The Denny's at the Quality Inn where we eat when we stay there is now closed. Next stop is Sidney and lunch at Arbeys. After we were done eating I called delivery. Had to leave a message so hope no issues. Port of Entry for our permits, just east of Cheyenne. Doesn't take long, they want to see our over width permit and our plate number, that's it. We need a over width permit because the awning is wider than legal for a commercial vehicle. Once it has been boughten it becomes a personal vehicle and no one cares. Past Laramie there is an Exxon in the middle of nowhere, but the fuel was $30 cheaper so that is where we stopped. Again, low fuel light came on just as I was going down the ramp. Went to this one once years ago and it was closed. Had to drive the 20 miles back on fumes because it had gone out of business a few days prior. Back open now for a few years. Big fire just to the south of Laramie, only a 100 or so acres so far. Started yesterday, thinking we were only about 20 miles north of it on the freeway. Wamsutter, Loves, Chesters. Three chicken tenders is too much. But it was quick and good. When we headed up the ramp I put on my four way flashers and stopped on the highway. A half dozen deer had crossed the freeway and coming down to the ramp. But we were already to close so they started going back up to the freeway ... we left. Not sure where the deer ended up. Rock Springs, Clarion. We ended up here because they have a bigger lot. Likely used to be a Holiday Inn or Best Western. Quality Inn would have been a few dollars cheeper but very limited parking in front of the door. Usual traffic issues. One semi with doubles between us hit the shoulder and then put his flashers on once he recovered back into the travel lane. Another truck cut someone off when they tried to pass me so the car passed the truck on the right shoulder once he was ahead of me ??? Lots of tag, passing trucks on the up hill, them passing us on the down hill. Saw one of our buses yesterday, saw another one today. We did make it just about 600 miles today. Six stops instead of three didn't help us make any time. Only a little over 500 tomorrow, or almost 700. Long stretch with no motels ... no brand motels. 20180612 - IA-CA Breakfast this AM is in the adjacent restaurant. It is set up the usual way, plus the addition of made to order omelets. Very few Clarion Inns were built as Clarion Inns, most were old event centers like Holiday Inns or Best Westerns. I don't remember what this one was when I started driving but it changed names many times over the years. So today when I checked out, I asked the clerk what this had been. It was built as a Hilton. First stop down the road was Evanston at the Flying J. We had to be available for a converance call at 10 AM. We got there a little early so we had time to use the restroom and get our NV permits before joining the call. The call took an hour, and we were stopped for an hour and a half. Also while we were stopped I talked to a bus driver that was parked in the lot. She had been working since January. Lives in Atlanta but flies to CA to drive buses. Sometimes has to sit in the motel until there is one for her. Also she didn't understand how we got the discounts on diesel. Not sure she's making too much money. She said on this trip she spent $300 to fly from PHX back to CA. A rental car would have been under $50. She was on her way to Kalamazoo. Great mileage going down hill today. Up over 15 mpg before dropping back to 13 on the flats. Next stop was the TA in Tooele, UT. Soup and Salad. Four kinds of soup, large salad bar, more than enough. The next cheap fuel was on the east end of Wendover on the flats. Little truckstop at the exit to Bonnieville. We were about an hour later than our permits were for so I miss-guessed a little. Quick stop at the Pilot in Carlin, NV before stopping for the night in Winnemucca. Quality Inn. We had made reservations back in Tooele and it only showed two rooms left after we got ours. A lot more miles than the map shows. But I just listed the towns we stopped in. Late night meal at the Model T in the motel. That is where breakfast will be also. They open for breakfast at 5 AM so we should be able to get an early start. We have about six hours of drive, etc time before we get to Sacramento. Internet is not working right tonight so I'm using my hotspot which can get expensive. Did not call about a bus, I will wait this time and do it after we have delivered. I looked up the bus we saw yesterday, a town south of Boston, 3,000 miles. That would be a nice run. I might have to delay getting home and let the surveyor do his job without us.. ... the trip continues HERE  |