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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2 RV's to Junction City OR ... spending the night at Albert Lea MN This has been the down side of driveaway. Back in the middle of October we needed to be home for one evening and decided to come home early and get your misc errands done before the event. Then the plan was to head out right after. That was three weeks ago and we are just heading out now. There has been no work, at least none with two going to the same place or even the same direction. There was one a couple of weeks ago but we would have gotten there and had to sit over the weekend so we waited and someone else grabbed it. Then 10 days ago we went to IA to see with our own eyes if there was any work (There wasn't) There had been a couple of runs the Monday we were in IA but someone else dialed faster than we could and we lost out. I have been recording daily numbers for the last two years and there has been a spike in work then end of October, but not this year. I did do a little work for another company, but most days we sat and hit 'refresh' on our computer for most of the day. (Did have a little family issue during that time, so BB was the only one hitting re-fresh.) Finally the last couple of days there has been more than -0- at the end of the day. But now it is too late to get a round trip so this is a one way and we'll make the best of it. Because we were planning on being home for Thanksgiving we made dentist appointments for that week. Now we are the 'leftovers,' all our family has elsewhere to go so we could have stayed on the road. We are heading to Junction City, OR. We haven't been to the northwest is a year or so so this will be new again. We already ordered our permits, but this is one of the few motels we stay at that does not have a computer for guests and will not print anything for guests. We will have to have the office or pay at one of the truckstops to do it. The runs showed up to late in the day, too late to make it before it gets dark at 5 pm. So we will be there when they open in the AM. We are down to about 10 hours daylight for the next three months so it makes short driving hours for us. We did stop in Burnsville at Burger King and in Owatonna for gas on the way to Albert Lea. 20181109 - IA-OR 2 RV's to Junction City OR ... spending the night at Murdo SD Breakfast was so - so this AM. I could smell the juice was bad before I tasted it, both the apple and orange. Ended up drinking water. Sausage gravy looked fresh. Nothing was outdated so that part was good. Good news though, the person at the front desk was able to print out all our permits for us. :) Enough snow that the traffic is not going the speed limit. Got to the lot just as they were opening the doors, but they didn't have our paperwork ready so we had to wait a few minutes. Guess we should have told them we would be there before they opened, then they would have gotten it done last night. One guy had been sitting there since 2 AM because his RV wouldn't start. As I'm driving across the lot I see the boss walking out to his RV with him. Guess the yard gal wasn't there this AM, sounded like she does some of the paperwork in the AM for us. It was cold. About 19 degrees with a stiff wind. I just sat in my RV warming up for a while so that delayed us a bit. On these small RV's the inspection shouldn't take as long as the big ones ... if it wasn't so cold. Yes, it's still above -0-. By chance I had just grabbed my allen wrenches when I was looking for something else this last week. We had run the last two years without any, then today we needed them to put our plates on. Someone else needed to borrow the wrenches also. BB warned me that the screws were only about twice as long as the plate was thick so I was prepared. No issues, no damage. We stop for fuel within the first mile and top off. I had 'bonus fuel' that I didn't get billed for. Every little bit helps. Next stop is the rest area just west of Jackson. By now we realize we will not make it to Michell before someone needs to eat. So we stop in Sioux Falls at the Loves for Subway. I used the last $4 worth of points from my Loves card to pay for lunch. I ask for 1/2 as much lettuce as they give most people and she instead doubles it ??? She did take most of it back off ... and the person who was doing BB's sandwich grabbed a new bottle of mayo ... and held it the wrong way down when she squeezed it, and got mayo all over except on the sandwich. People seemed to be having issues with the pumps so we went across the street to Sinclair. It was cheaper at Sinclair and no line. Quick break at the rest area near Plankinton. Had planned on fueling at Pilot in Murdo, but fuel was $.20 cheaper at the Phillips 66. One one side of the gas station was our motel, on the other side was the restaurant. Both of us are small enough to fit into normal parking spots for once. We park at the Super 8 and checked in. Before we left this AM we were guessing how far we would get and BB saw that a few of the motels were sold out already. So we booked a room here as it had a 6 pm cancel policy. We got one of the last three rooms. Not sure why it is so busy this time of the year. After checking in, we walked for food. Food was OK. I was expecting better. Tripadvisor gives it 4 of 5 stars, I would have given it 2/1/2. Nothing was bad, but very plain. We were in and out in a half hour so that was good. We had to redo our plans for this trip as we had planned to make it to Wall, 90 miles down the road. With today being a shorter day, we may not get to Eugene early enough to pick up the rental car in daylight. Or we may just leave one of the RV's at the airport overnight until we pick it up for delivery. The load board is back down to 10. It had been over 20 for a few days. We haven't seen anything better than we got so still glad we grabbed it. This type of RV is rated at 16 mpg. BB lost money the first trip she did with one of these and did just OK on the ones since. My mileage dropped from <> 12 mpg down to 11.1 before heading back up. I ended the night at 11.7 and BB got back up to 12. Not sure yet where that puts us for for making or loosing money on the fuel. The SD scale is for 'over 10,000#' so we passed that one. Tomorrow we need to get permits in WY and I think all trucks have to stop at the 2nd scale. Looking like we will only get as far as Billings tomorrow. After that it is all Super 8's for quite a ways, but that might be how we make money this trip ... staying at the cheaper motels. 20181110 - IA-OR 2 RV's to Junction City OR ... spending the night at Billings MT Just noticed that the map locations are off by one day, I haven't found yet where I can change that. A couple of things I had noticed yesterday. People are still working in the fields even though there is snow on the ground. One guy was out spraying with one of the older large three wheeled sprayers. They used to drop foam as they went across the field so they knew where to come back. Not sure how well that was working for him in the snow ... but they are likely on GPS now. Queen bed last night. Smaller than we are used to. But I slept good until 3 AM :) ... but it was the only room left when we reserved it, other than the king suite for $$$ We found out in the AM why the motels were full. Hunters. Lots of them down for breakfast by 6 am and gone before daylight when we left. First stop was at Wasta. It showed there was a gas station on the map so it was our stop. We didn't have quite enough fuel to get to Gellette so we had to stop somewhere and this was it. When we got there, their highway sign didn't have prices on it and the station looked deserted. Turns out it is a self service station, so no problem. Fuel price was OK for the 5 gallons we put in. Saw lots of deer today for it being hunting season. A couple of dozen in quite a few groups. Stopped at the Port of Entry in Sundance to get our Wyoming permits. The rest of the permits we had gotten on line. Just two simple questions. 'Plate number?' and 'Manufacture to dealer?' And we were on our way. ... ah the good old days ... I would have been in the scale house, had my permit and gone by the time one of us got out of their RV. But I seem to remember that when I would run with anybody. It always took twice as long if I was running with someone. Less than an hour to Gillette and another self service gas station. This one always has the best prices on fuel. $.06 less than the station a block away. $.20 cents less than the stops before and after it so it's worth the stop. From there we got back on the freeway and off again at the next exit. Ended up parking at the Flying J and walking to Taco Bell. I ordered three taco's. Should have just ordered two. We ended up taking 45 minutes because of how long it takes me to eat. When we left there was one of the big pumpers at the Flying J. Could not see the name on the placards. I know it wasn't either of the companies I work for. Another interesting thing was it had two people in the cab. Next stop is at the WY-MT Port of Entry. We were going to stop even if they didn't flag us in. That is the last bathroom for 60 miles or so. But they were flagging everyone in. No one was getting weighted. They typed in the permit numbers from both the WY and the MT permits so if they have to do that I guess we will get flagged in every time. Mileage. We are not doing well. We usually make money on the fuel. Not this time, this time we are going to be spending non-fuel income to fill the tank starting Saturday ??? This morning I started out at 9 mpg and was up to 14 mpg within an hour. But that didn't hold and I am back down the the 13 mpg range. We got to Billings just before 5 pm. Fueled at a Holiday station across the street from the motel before going to the motel. We did have about another 1/2 hour of daylight but all there was down the road was another Super 8 and we didn't check it for rooms. We ended up at the Comfort Suites using rewards points. The bonus period for earning points expired two nights ago so now we need to use some of our points. We were up over 200,000 points and tonight was 12,000 points so we still have enough for another 10-20 stays depending on where we stay. Walked across the street to 4B's. I had two bowls of tomato soup. BB had a bowl of tomato soup and a sandwich, and we got pie to go. Soup was great, pie not so good. Tomorrow we hope to get past Spokane to our Super 8. The resent reviews aren't good but we have stayed there in the past and know what it was like. Tomorrow will be 30 more miles than today, hopefully we don't have to stop at any scales. Not likely we get any further. Out here the motels are an hour apart in a lot of area's. Still should make it to Eugene on Monday night and delivery Tuesday AM. The only two trucks on the load board are from Pasco back to Portland. That is it for the whole northwest. But there is still a chance they put something out from Junction City ... wishful thinking. 20181111 - IA-OR 2 RV's to Junction City OR ... spending the night at Post Falls ID A big crowd at 6 am breakfast for a Sunday. Not sure what they do or where they were going, but they all were dressed for 40 below. Last night I looked at the time on my computer and it was almost 9, BB had already gone to bed so I shut down. When I climbed into bed I realized that it was only 8 pm local ... so we were both awake before the alarm went off at 5 am. Breakfast was good. Eggs, sausage, potatoes and other stuff. I wasn't looking close and grabbed a 'light' yogurt. One taste and I realized what I had done. The juice this AM tasted like it was right out of a bottle. The only opps we had was when we checked in. BB said we wanted to be on the 3rd floor ... until we got in the elevator and saw there were four floors. We try to be on the top floor so no one is stomping on our ceiling. Fuel mileage started out at 13 where it left off yesterday. Then went up to 14 before coming back down. Good news was that by the end of the day it was holding at over 15 up and down the passes. First stop was in Livingston at the Town Pump. I miss guessed and we ended up in the grocery parking lot. Rather than move we just parked there and walked next door. Next stop was Rocker at the Flying J. GasBuddy said there was a place with cheaper fuel but I hadn't seen it before so we didn't plan on that. I looked when we went by so maybe next time. The difference when we are only putting in 10 gallons only amounts to a $1 a fill between the two of us so not a huge savings. I fueled in the truck island, not sure if I got my points or not, they don't show on my receipt. Roads are a little icy in places. Over one of the passes it was still hard pack in one lane so we just went with the flow until the road cleared. Lots of fine snow. Fine as in light, not as in I like it. Before we got to Missoula, my low wiper fluid light came on. I had noticed that it wasn't full but didn't know I was that low. Lots of 'auto' things on this RV. It seems like the wipers come on when they need to. And the beep-beep comes on when I cross a white or yellow line without my blinker on. And a light on my mirror comes on if someone is passing me ... and it beeps if I turn my blinker on when someone is beside me. Missoula, we stop at the Wheat Montana for lunch. It is one of our 'go-to' places in MT. Good sandwiches. BB had split pea soup and something, I had a french dip. I also bought my wiper fluid while we waited. Then we fueled before we left, we weren't sure we'd make it to Post Falls before needing fuel. Both scales today said 'trucks over 26,000#' so we did not enter. I've had crossed those scales for years in stuff under 26,000#, I guess I never paid to much attention. Just was in the habit of crossing. One rest area stop today at Salteze, then another hundred miles to Post Falls. Winding through the mountains the curves are posted at 45 mph ... suggested. Today some pickup was doing just that. Most semi's take the curves faster than that and we were, as soon as we could get around him. Most fuel is within a few cents coming across Montana. But in Post Falls we found it at WalMart for $3.31 and a few miles away at Flying J it was $3.85. We did stop at Walmart. We had thought we'd get past Spokane but the more reviews BB read the less she wanted to stay at the Super 8. A Quality Inn just across the Washington line had good reviews but no food within walking distance. So we ended up at the Sleep Inn in Post Falls. There is a good restaurant in the mostly abandon outlet mall. But that closed at 6 pm and we weren't really hungry after eating at Wheat Montana. Finally we walked over to Zipps. It's like a low end McD's. Looking online there are about 20 in WA and another 10 in ID. Also looked online and saw that a Country Kitchen we have eaten at in Sheridan became a 4B's a few days ago. 4B's doesn't have a website so I have to look for stuff that shows up in the news. I should have looked closer when we ate at the one in Billings. I did notice that it looked like there were more pegs on the map than there used to be. At one point I think they were down to 3-4 locations open before someone took them over and started re-opening them and adding new ones. Fuel. Not good. BB had already spent more on fuel than we are getting paid for. And we still have tomorrow to go. I'm doing a little better because I had bonus fuel in mine when I picked it up. But my fuel money will be spent with the next fill. Worst trip ever as far as fuel goes. This model is on the bottom of our list but it was the best there was this time. Looked at the map of our drop and it is a long block from where our big RV's are made in Junction City. So we will be watching the board. Still don't know how many or when they put RV's out. It was about a month ago when they last put out RV's that lasted overnight. If nothing shows up we will deadhead home after we drop Tuesday. Looks like our plan is to stay in Eugene. Then Tues AM take one RV, drop one person off to pickup the rental car. Then stash the 1st RV near the drop and go back with the rental car and pickup the 2nd RV. We should have time to get both of them up to the drop by our 10 am appt. We should be past the snow and passes, but tomorrow we go through both Spokane and Portland. 20181112 - IA-OR 2 RV's to Junction City OR ... spending the night at Springfield OR Opps, ran all day with my log showing 11-12-13 instead of 11-12-18. Plenty of sleep again last night, I just keep looking at home time on my computer instead of local time for going to bed. Breakfast. We were down before 6 am and most everything was out. Juice wasn't turned on so I just had water. But also had eggs, ham and yogurt. Enough to keep me going until my 2nd breakfast. Did have to scrape the frost this morning, or would we? By the time we had scrapped it, the heater seemed to be taking care of the rest. Not sure if it would have gone as fast with just the heater. Pulled out of the motel at 6:30 local. As soon as BB mentioned this motel, I remembered one of the bus drivers saying he had bottomed out leaving. Yup. Lots of scratches in the pavement. Not an issue for us, these RV's ride high. WA scales are for over 20,000# so we are way under. Traffic is not bad going into Spokane, maybe not the speed limit at all times but no stop and go. FOG - lots of it today, starting in Spokane. Couldn't see a lot in the distance, just eyes on the road. It got thicker and thinner but I don't think it really cleared before our first stop in Hatton rest area. In places I think it was less than a 1/4 mile. . .. did get some nice rocks from the sanding truck when we passed. And it didn't even look like he was spreading. Can't see any damage. We did take the 'shortcut' through Kennwick on 395. I guess there are eight stop lights, I had said there were only 7. More fog south of the Tri-Cities. Very thick in places, viability maybe down to a block or less??? It cleared as we dropped into Hermiston. They are working on the bridge over the river so traffic is down to one lane each way. Scale is only for trucks over 16,000# and it was closed. We stopped in Boardman and fueled at Loves, this should be our last fuel. My mileage got up over 16 mpg before it dropped again. Too little to late. I tried to use my rewards card at Loves but the computer stopped responding so I had to clear it and start over. The pump worked without the rewards card. This location has a Carl Jr's. Almost the same as a Hardees, same company, almost the same menu. I asked if they were still serving breakfast. Yes, for one more minute. I quickly ordered and before BB ordered, the electronic menu's all turned to the lunch menu. So I got my 2nd breakfast. This location does not have the croissants so I had to get a burrito instead. Egg, cheese and bacon. There had been a wind advisory in Portland and we could see the white caps on the river as we got closer. We stopped at a rest area near Mosier. We are down to one more stop for the day. Traffic wasn't too bad going around Portland on I-205. Lots of traffic in the on coming lanes for 1 in the afternoon. We passed a couple of more closed scales. Both of us happened to look in our mirrors and saw Mt Hood for a minute. I did see it again later after we headed south, BB was too busy watching the road. Should have stopped at a rest area a couple of miles before Aurora but we had said the Flying J so that is where we stopped. I had forgotten how much of a zoo all truckstops are on the coasts. Neither of us needed fuel, we weren't sure of that when we planned our day. Another hour and a half and we are in Springfield/Eugene. Easy directions, four turns and we are in the parking lot. Lots of motels and lots of food within a few blocks. We both had seen a sign for Sizzler, but BB looked at the reviews and this one is not getting good reviews. We ended up walking to the closest place, right across our dead end street. Some kind of a brew pub. No menu online but really good food. I had the philly and some soup and BB had a club. A club with candied bacon on it. Also got some apple crisp to bring back to the motel, but the motel had cookies so the crisp is in the fridge. I hope I don't forget it there. No work on the board coming out of OR. Still the two out of WA, Pasco, coming back to Portland. Too short to be any money in it. We will likely just drop and head east and not wait around. There hasn't been anything from the NW for the last few days that I have been watching. Sometimes there is, just not now. Not sure if I will call the MN company for work or not. Looks like we should be back on Saturday if we head straight home. We think we have a plan for tomorrow. We'll see if we stick to it. 20181113 - IA-OR 2 RV's to Junction City OR (delivered) ... spending the night at Bend OR Too many nights of getting too much sleep and we were awake at 3-4 am this morning. Breakfast was at 6 am. Breakfast was eggs, sausage and honey yogurt. Have never had that flavor before, it's OK. 7:15 we head down to do my pre-trip inspection. Rolling by 7:30. A little bit of frost on the windows but I just turned the heater on while I checked my lights and did my paperwork and it wiped off with the wipers. Traffic wasn't too bad for a rush hour. Dropped BB off at the airport to pick up our local rental, then off to get fuel. The closest fuel past the drop was a Shell, but the guy wouldn't fill it because they sold B20 and this takes no more than B5 (5% bio-diesel.) So I had to go down to the Chevron to fill. Currently the law in OR is full service only in county's of over 40,000 people. So in rural area's you can pump your own gas but not in the cities. Then I drove back to the RV dealer and pulled in right ahead of BB. We parked mine at an open spot in the adjacent lot to the drop. This dealer has buildings for about a 1/2 mile for various things. Took the rental car and drove back to the motel, got our luggage and checked out. Then I drove back to the dealer and BB went to fuel. I wasn't sure which of the buildings we were to check in at so I went in as soon as I got back, even though it was only 9:30 and my appointment was for 10. Found the right person, they told me where to park and before I got moved, BB was back so we got our RV's parked and they started checking them in. They ended up washing them and finding rock chips. Not surprising after driving in snow half the way here. When we gave them our paperwork, they told us about the good food next door. The RV place has it's own cafe. First we said no, but after an hour we decided to eat lunch. We could have ordered breakfast when we got there if we wanted, but they were just switching over to lunch. BB got a taco salad and I got a philly and fries with tarter sauce ;) Good food. By the time we got done eating they were done with our RV's, we signed off, took our pictures of the damage, called the damage in then headed out. Up to Salem to get a one-way rental. We are saving about a $100 by getting a local in Eugene and a one way from Salem and returning the Eugene car to Eugene. Early this AM dispatch put an RV out of Junction City on the board. We talked about it but it may have cost us an extra days rental and an extra motel and it would not be worth the time. Kind of like why we don't do short runs when we are home. They aren't worth it. I'd rather do a Crookston run for 3-4 times the money and less work. We were hoping they would put out something else but they never did. We had looked at doing runs to or through Bend, OR so I decided lets look at the roads before doing an RV run down them. We were not more than a few miles when we had had enough ... and we still had 120 miles to go. Up and down the mountain, curves down to 25 mph. 'No truck' signs, I guess that should have been our first clue. And it was getting dark so we did about the first 1/2 hour in the dusk and the next 3 hours in the dark. Finally got to Bend just before 7 pm. Long day. Sleep Inn for the night. We knew it would be late so we stopped just after we got off the freeway at a McD's. I hadn't planned on getting anything but they had the McRib so I had to have one. BB got a small burger. McRib's are not driving food, I should remember that by now. Looks like we should be back Saturday afternoon. Sunday no plans. Monday I'll try to work local. Tues is a dentist appt and then we may head out again. After using rewards points for two motels we should make our base goal for daily income. Having to buy fuel out of our income instead of padding our income from un-spent fuel money ... not the way we like it. 20181114 - IA-OR 2 RV's to Junction City OR (delivered) ... spending the night at Ogden UT Wide awake before the alarm went off at 5:30, our bodies are still on central time. We were down at breakfast as soon as they opened. Today it included bacon. Juice tasted OK but it was room temp so I only took a sip before switching to water. Not quite sun up when we pulled out. We were not able to find Mt Bachelor on the horizon. I had skied that Mt back in the winter of 77-78. It's listed as 'Ski area with 3,683 acres of terrain accessible via 10 lifts.' I don't remember who all I was there with, I drove myself. I do remember a gal broke her leg and I went to see her in Seattle later in the spring. We had picked a gas station in Burns to be our 1st stop, two hours into the day. By the time we got there we had passed two nice rest area's that didn't show in our book and there was supposed to be one coming up in a few miles so we decided to stop at the next rest area instead ... ... then when we got to where we thought the rest area should be, BB decided to check her phone and see where we were. Lost. We had missed a turn in Burns and were 20 miles in the wrong direction. If we had stopped at the gas station we might not have realized we were on the wrong road until we got to Nevada, instead of Idaho. We had noticed the mileage markers had started over, again. They had already started over a 2nd time so we didn't think too much about it. The signs also had given the mileage to Winnemucca but again we didn't think about it. That side trip added about 20 miles to our trip ... and there never was another rest area ... or town ... for a total of 260 miles. BB likes to stop every 100-120 to use the restroom. IF there is one. Had we kept going to Winnemucca it would have added about another hour to our trip. We would have gotten in I-80 in Nevada instead of Utah. The road from Bend east to the freeway is not bad. We'd do OK with RV's. We are thinking we took the worst of the three choices to get to Bend. We took the only US highway, the others were state highways. We did notice a big increase in traffic after the other highways joined US20. Those highways looked straighter on the map also. Our first stop of the day was in Ontario, Oregon, just before the Idaho line. We stopped at the Flying J and got fuel and something to eat. Something to go at Arbey's. From here the speed limit is mostly 80 mph. I had the mileage up to 38 but once I started driving 80 mph it dropped to 35 at times. It was back up to 38 for a little bit but didn't stay there. Haven't been in I-84 for a while, lots of changes. Cows still smell the same in the feed lots, but lots of new buildings in the cities. We did one more stop at a Flying J in Jerome for a quick break. Only two stops today. 600 miles put us in Ogden. We decided to use points again and stay at the Comfort Suites. They upgraded us to a really nice room with a kitchen area, bar table, eating table. Huge tub, separate shower. Vaulted ceilings. Attached restaurant. This time we got our bonus gift when we checked in. We did not get that at the last two places we used our rewards points. Didn't think about that until today. We ate the Cactus Reds, we both had enchiladas. Good food, stuffed. IA dispatch did put out some better runs today, but they were getting taken as fast as they put them out there. Still ended the day with only 3. It should get up to 100 <> by this time next week. 20181115 - IA-OR 2 RV's to Junction City OR (delivered) ... spending the night at Ogallala NE We did not get up as early as we had been getting up, so we didn't get rolling until after daylight. Breakfast was in the same restaurant we ate at last night. Nothing special, same layout and kinds of food, just using the tables in the restaurant. Eggs were real, bacon was good, juice was fresh. Frost on the windows, had to use my AAA card to scrape it off. Yesterday my mileage was around 38 mpg. This AM while driving 80 mph it got up to 43 before dropping back down a little. It did stay over 42 mpg most of the day so that will help save a couple of dollars. 1st stop was fuel in Evanston at the Pilot. 2nd stop was a rest area east of Rock Springs. I couldn't see the big crane but BB was able to see it in the distance. Still digging. 3rd stop was lunch. The buffet at the Country Pride in Rawlins. BB had the full buffet, I just had the soup and salad. Just one round of salad and then I remembered I need to get my blood tested on Saturday when we are back in town. I try not to eat too much salad in the days before my tests. The buffet also had cucumbers in a sauce. Not as good as Mom's but I had a couple of helpings. Also had the potato soup then a bowl of chicken soup. Ouch. The chicken soup had more kick than any Mexican food I've had in a long time. I couldn't eat it and neither did BB. Before we got to Cheyenne I saw someone working on rail cars that weren't on the tracks. Then I saw the engine that was pretty smashed up ... and in front of that was somethings that were so badly burnt I couldn't tell what they were. 4th stop was the Pilot east of Cheyenne for a quick bathroom break. We ended the day in Ogallala at the Quality Inn. Price was around $50 so that is part of the reason we stopped as early as we did. During the summer we sometimes had to pay $100+. We checked in at the hotel and then went to fuel. When I fueled this AM I had a range of 10 extra miles beyond Ogallala. When I got here tonight I still had a range of 110 miles. :) We fueled at Walmart for the least we will pay this trip, then we went to the former Golden Spur, now called the Urban Farmer. Good food, I had the meatloaf and BB had ravioli. Ravioli was good. Our work board ended with 15, but we were watching it most of the day and they had to have put out about 50 and they were being taken off just as fast as they went on. Good to see there is work. I will call in tomorrow for local work on Monday. If there is work on the board Monday night, we will call in Tuesday morning and leave out sometime on Wednesday. We'll try again for California. If not anything going that way we will wait until Wednesday evening and grab the best available runs. They posted a few today for CA so maybe ... ??? 20181116 - IA-OR 2 RV's to Junction City OR (delivered) ... spending the night at Ankeny IA The usual breakfast in the now closed Denny's. Left out shortly after sun-up. Mileage is not nearly as good today. It started out at 20 mpg and the gauge dropped in the first few miles. I finally ended the day with 38 mpg, that is the highest we got. 1st stop at a rest area near Kearney. 2nd stop was lunch at the Shoemakers on the west end of Lincoln. Good food, for some reason we had never stopped there before. Truckstop with a restaurant. BB had seen a chicken salad sandwich on the online menu but it wasn't on the current menu. They were still able to make it for me. I had that and potato soup. BB had a BLT and fries. 3rd stop was the rest area near Adair. 4th stop was here in Ankeny. First I went to the cemetery where our cousin is buried and got a picture of his grave marker. Then we stopped at WalMart for fuel. It's cheaper there any anywhere else we've been. Then we ended up at the Sleep Inn. It's snowing north of here so we weren't real motivated to keep going. We got to Ankeny a little after 3 pm. Too late to make a run for it, it would be dark before we got to Forest City. Only saw 18 driveaway units today, but today two of them were towing. That's the first ones I've seen in three days, and that is why I'm looking. There is a group of people who think the ONLY way to make money at this is tow. Yet few do ... Hmmm. Back from our trip out, near Gillette, there is a place where the signs say prepare to stop and then stop here when the road is closed. Most places have highway exit or take a u-turn. That place is just stop on the freeway. Not much new for scenery, we've been this stretch of I-80 every few weeks for the last year. Did see farmers still out in the field working the ground so it can't be frozen yet. Did see one place where they had massive piles of covered grain near the railroad. And a lot of the crops are still in the fields. I let the local dispatcher know I was in town, but no call back so I guess I get Monday off too. 20181117 - IA-OR 2 RV's to Junction City OR (delivered) ... spending the night at home The alarm actually woke both of us at 6:30 this morning and we are back on central time. Breakfast was the usual eggs, sausage and yogurt. It was raining when we headed out. Had to scrape the ice, not frost, off the windshield. The end of the drivers washer fluid nozzle was frozen over so I had to only turn my wipers on when I got sprayed good. New Kuik Trip / Kwik Star in Garner. They hadn't even broke ground the last time we went past that area. US-69 had been closed most of the summer so we had taken a different route. We didn't today in hopes the US highway would be better plowed. Got to Forest City, the lots are getting close to full. It looked like about 60 in the west lot, 60 in the east lot and <> 60 in the overflow lot ... and less than 50 on the board. It only took a few minutes to move our stuff to our car. Turns out the reservoir tank for the washer fluid is busted so we won't likely be driving this car again until that is replaced. BB almost hit a nice buck after leaving Forest City, road was clear right there so no problem stopping and it was the only one on the run. Dropped the car at the airport and headed back down to the Honey Baked Cafe in Burnsville before stopping at the clinic. BB had a ham sandwich, I had another chicken salad sandwich. Then we headed home. Nothing good on the board yet. Looking at last year, today, the Friday before Thanksgiving had the most runs on the board until after Thanksgiving. We'll see, we may not end up in CA this next trip either. For now we are home for four days at least. |
