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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2 RV's to Greer SC ... spending the night at Cedar Falls IA No alarm this AM We leave home a little after 11 AM. So we were only home about 18 hours, not the 20 I had thought we might be. A 1st. Our granddaughter is riding down with us (for a price) and will take our car back so we don't have two cars in IA. We have talked about having someone do this for four years and this is the first time it has happened. Todays flight was a rare, non-stop one. 1st stop is for gas at the Kwik Star/Trip in Forest City for fuel. BB buys water for the trip, we didn't make it to the store last night. It is at this point that I realize that I have forgotten my phone, at home. It shouldn't be a problem ??? A couple of weeks ago I had put an old phone in my luggage in hopes of using it to take pictures. So I can still keep taking my pictures, and I can access WiFi if needed. But no cell service. For the next week, or two. Still in Forest City, we arrive at the lot. We go in and get our paperwork, find our RV's and load our stuff out of the car into the RV's. And our grand daughter leaves. Somehow we got our inspections done in under an hour today. No issues (yet) 2nd stop is for fuel in Clear Lake. When we arrive, BB is out of her RV before I and looking at her RV. Her tire icon is on. She calls dispatch, then when BB turns off the RV and back on again she gets an error message. We finally get the OK to go, but we can't deliver with any warning lights on. We do buy a tire gauge and check the tires, they are all OK. ... and I have an uneasy feeling about how my RV is acting. No warning lights. But I do get warnings. When the RV drops below 5 miles an hour a message come on saying my RV is not in PARK and I also get a warning ding, ding, ding (for about five seconds.) Then when I do put the RV in PARK, the message changes to my RV is ON and the ding, ding, ding continues. This is annoying day one of the trip, I'm glad we shouldn't hit much stop and go traffic or city streets. Our little delay in cost us enough time that we will not get to Iowa City tonight. 3rd and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Cedar Falls for the night. We walk next door to the Kwik Trip. I do like their food. The rib sandwich is the best I have found. They now also have chicken, 2 pc, 3pc, 4 pc, nuggets. They have been doing a push on 'ready to go' meals since I have been to one. They also have a good chicken salad sandwich. Seeing we ate a late breakfast and no lunch, I got a rib sandwich, BB got a veggie pack and we split some chicken fingers ... and I had an Oreo ice cream sandwich. We got far enough today that the next two days can be under 500 miles. And we will likely stop before our drop so we have more choices of where to drop the RV. Normal routine with RV's is if someone can not fix it within the hour, we drop. Someone else will pick in up and deliver it when ever it is done. In the past, the 1st driver does not get paid until final delivery is made. Not sure if that has changed. Load board US - 361 IA - 148 MN - 1 WI - 22 NC is down to 6. Nothing new added today so I am hopeful for Monday. So we won't be calling in at 8 AM unless the dispatcher is adding something new. So far the money on this trip is not looking as good as the almost ideal last trip. We are starting out making less on the 1st run and the 2nd and 3rd legs are not on the load board, yet. 210306 IA-SC 2 RV's to Greer SC ... spending the night at Paducah KY Up before the alarm, down for breakfast by 7 AM. They were allowing people to sit and eat in the breakfast area, but no hot food. I had yogurt and a cup of mandarin oranges. BB had fresh fruit and cereal. The 1st get for today was short, 70 miles. That you get us on our usual stops for fuel and food. 1st stop is the rest area south of Cedar Rapids. BB's warning light has gone off. It will come on and go off a few more times during the day today. 2nd stop is the Flying J in Wayland MO. Cheapest fuel in MO, that is why we want to adjust our stops. When I fueled yesterday, I should not have been able to make it to Wayland. I made it with over a range of 150 miles to spare. We saw our first transporter here at the Flying J. He was walking to his RV when we pulled in, I didn't talk to him. We've had a stiff cross wind from the west and we are heading south. My mileage started at 1 mpg yesterday and was up to 3 mpg by last night. Today it was up to 6 mpg by the time we ate and would be up over 7 mpg by the end of the day. But based on the fuel I used, I am running about 8.5 mpg. 3rd stop is in Troy at the Taco Bell for food. I would have liked to eat at the Lion's Choice across the street but their lot is small. Today when we drove past there was no place to park and there was a line for both the drive thru and the car wash. Here we had plenty of room. We can order inside, but the half hour we were there there was only one other person who went inside to order. Everyone else was the drive thru ... at noon on a Saturday. Heading through St Louis I heard a cop car, I couldn't see them until they were beside me because of the traffic. Then I saw something I don't remember seeing before ... When the driver started pulling over, the cop had his arm out the window motioning for the car to head down the exit ramp. No slow down heading through St Louis, went through at the posted. I was feeling lost for a while, then I remembered the land marks I was looking for are on I-44 on I-64 :) 4th stop is the TA in Mt Vernon for the rest room. In the past we have stopped at the Huck's/Flying J across the street but online the TA parking lot looked bigger. There would have been plenty of room at the Huck's. The Huddle House is closed. As is the nearby Bob Evans. Here is where we decide our final stop of the day. 5th and final stop is in Paducah. First at the Charley's for Cheesesteake, then across the freeway to the Comfort Inn. We were not sure if we would stay here as we could not tell online how big the parking lot is. Big enough. Then we forgot to make a reservation until we were almost walking in the door. Cheesesteaks were good. If I had seen the sign for garlic fries before we ordered I would have gotten some. The lady taking the orders looked about 80 and the cook staff had to come help her on the register about every other order. Load board US - 366 IA - 159 MN - 1 WI - 22 There is still one non-CDL going from NC up to NY, but I want to call the bus dispatcher in NY before we head up that way. The last driver we talked to that worked that route said it can be days ... before you get work. Summer I wouldn't care, but we are trying to keep moving for another 10+ days. Less than 500 miles tomorrow. The way my mileage is going up I already don't want to fill it. I will likely put in 20 gallons and then fuel again when BB has to later tomorrow. 210307 IA-SC 2 RV's to Greer SC ... spending the night at Duncan SC Breakfast was in a bag. One bottle of water and one muffin the size of a half dollar ... and we got the last bag. We would have gotten two if they hadn't run out. So I had what was left of my cookie from last night and a breakfast bar I picked up on this trip but hadn't eaten yet. It pays to have a stash. Less miles to go, but we got going at our usual time. 1st stop was part of a mile down the road at the Pilot for fuel. I estimated low as to how much I might use knowing BB would need to stop again before the drop. 2nd stop is at a Loves in Baxter for fuel and air. I found the air hose, but it was just coming out of the ground and I couldn't release any air so I thought it wasn't working. But I did ask, it is working. So we put in some air in two of BB's tires to see if that is why the warning light keeps coming on. We had the usual at Subway. 3rd stop was at another Loves in Dandridge for final (?) fuel. I put in another 14 gallons because I mis-guessed this AM. A few miles down the road and I can see black smoke, it seems to be quite a ways off the road but I keep watching. Then a see a cop coming up a mile behind us. About the time he catches up to me, I see a firetruck pulling onto the freeway ahead of us. Before they are out of sight around the corner, I see break lights. We sit for 45 minutes. Computer says the road is closed. Another half dozen emergency vehicles go past us on the shoulder. I'm surprised it took that long to open the road back up. As soon as the fire is out cars usually start moving. This time it was a pickup. It didn't look like it had rolled, it was just parked in the ditch as if they drove it there to get it out of traffic. Saw two people in plain clothes, and with a dog. I assume that was all that was in the pickup. And it was burnt. Just the steel frame was all that was left. I seem to be missing a few speed limit signs, both up and down. Today we were in a 45 mph stretch and when the speed limit went up to 55 mph and 50 mph for trucks I kept going at 45 mph. Saw the sign, not sure why it didn't click that I was still going 45 mph. And we were in an 'All trucks must use right lane' area so I'm guessing there were words muttered. At some point I realized what I had seen and kicked it down. Even when it was really 45 mph, there were trucks passing in the no passing zone and doing 65+ in a 45 mph zone. 4th stop was the rest area in SC, Landrum. From here we made our reservation. We were less than a half hour from our hotel. But it had already been three hours since our last stop. 5th and final stop. Hey, we've been here before. Likely going to the same drop. Quality Inn in Duncan. We walk next door to the Hardee's. Maybe we will start eating here more. The 1st 5 (or 6) items on the menu are on 1/4 lb. For a while the only thing on 1/3 lb was the kids menu. I hate wasting that much food. The 2nd 5 (or 6) items are still 1/3 lb. Single, double or triple. I still don't like the sound of my RV but I should make it to delivery. BB isn't having an issue right now, hopefully we can make it another 10 miles and be done with it. Plan is to watch the load board in the AM at 8 AM local, then leave about 8:30 and be dropping the first RV by 9 AM. ... the trip continues HERE |
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