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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 5 - Big bucks per mile does NOT mean a
profit. Delivering both a GMC single axel with a refer box ... and a garbage truck to OH Today is June 21, 2003 Saturday PM, heading out on another two leg run. The second leg is hot and I'm hoping it will pay ... after expenses. On this trip I am supposed to take truck #1 to Detroit and 'secure' it, then take truck #2 to Pittsburgh by first thing Monday AM. Once I deliver truck #2, I catch the Greyhound back to Detroit and pickup truck #1 again and deliver it just south of Toledo. Doesn't look logical but truck #2 was hot and it was the weekend with no-one to sign for truck #1. Yesterday I got to drive my first Kennworth, I had wondering on my last trip if they were still even around ... hadn't noticed even one on the road in six weeks. Wouldn't mind driving one of those, shifted great but couldn't turn real short, that caught me by surprise. That was just an hour move so the truck would be ready for the other driver this weekend, so it doesn't count as a trip. Saturday was pretty uneventful, I had hoped to make it past Chicago and maybe as far as Battle Creek, MI before I shut down. Everything was going so good that I was w-a-y ahead of the speed limit when I stopped for my first and only fuel stop. So I wasn't too upset when I saw there was two motor homes in front of me the propane lane. Went in and got some food, and made sure there was someone there who could fill me. No sense waiting an hour before I find that out. As I'm sitting there eating I realize this truck stop has three lanes where you can get propane ... and I've even been to this truckstop before and never noticed it. So I changed lanes and fuel, by then I was close enough to my hours to head out again. One nice thing in MI is that on I94 they post the miles until the next truck parking area / truck stop. Pulled off at a little truck stop, only a couple of diesel pumps but they did have a restaurant and parking. The truck parking was full so I pulled into an area posted 'no semi's' ... I was driving another straight truck with a delivery box. Sunday morning I was awake by four but my eight hours wouldn't be up / I won't be able to move out until six. Had to pad my hours again last night, even going through Chicago I had been beating the speed limit. Breakfast was a two egg ham and cheese omelette ... must have been two huge eggs because I couldn't finish it. Finally six AM and on my way. Traffic is not too bad at this time of the morning, shouldn't be any problem making it to Detroit on schedule. Got to see a couple of tires blow, the first one was on a boat trailer. This guy had past me a few times this AM, must have been stopping a lot ... this time when he was going past I could smell it, hot rubber ... he got about two truck lengths ahead of me and it blew. Wasn't much left of that tire by the time he got from the left lane the the right shoulder and from 80 to stopped. About an hour later a guy pulling a little pup-up camper goes by, poof, his tire blows and he keeps going. Didn't seem to realize what happened right away, and even when he stopped the tires weren't the first thing he looked at. Detroit, road construction ... not going to make it quite on time. Did get to take a more scenic view of north Detroit. They routed us off the freeway and onto a six lane city street. Looked like it was a major street in it's day. Didn't really look like a bad area at first when we got off the freeway, but the farther we went the more bar's on the windows, the more vacant lots and buildings. Two of the things I now watch for is the bars on the windows and fences around the parking lots. Fences with barbed wire on top are not a good sign, fences with rolled barbed wire are really not a good sign. The other would be the people, but at this time on a Sunday morning there weren't many people to judge by ... and only one fence with rolled barbed wire in five or six miles ... so not too bad of an area. But lots of vacant buildings ... off the main street you could see the vacant factories, they looked like they have been vacant for 30 plus years, rusted, broken glass. It's been a while since I have seen the movie/documentary "Roger and Me" but it reminded me of those area's. And like a few other big cities ... it in the 'not so good neighborhoods' is where you find the baseball stadium, right here on this old has-been street. Finally back on the freeway and more road construction ... both ways, I decided I would take a different way out of town. (Found out later that was a good choice.) I've got to start asking what I'm going to be driving ... this one was another 'cab out front' garbage truck. But unlike the other one which was had a side pickup for garbage cans, this one had the front forks for pickup up dumpsters ... and a tag axle. (An axle, wheels that can be lowered if your load is too heavy for the road restrictions.) This one was mounted on a Mack truck and handled a little better than the last one drove, must have, I didn't use the cruise the whole trip. Other than this was not a truck you could sleep in, the only down side for me as a driver was that you had to move the right hand mirrors before opening the right hand door. And then adjust the mirror again before driving ... and the right had side was the only place to store my bag. There was one other bad thing about this truck ... I have to pay the fuel and this thing is on 'E' ... I didn't know if the gauge was even working until I checked the brakes, which caused the truck to rock ... and the gauge to bounce. Unlike most two part runs where we have to be creative where we 'secure' our other truck, this guy said we could park truck #1 right in his lot until I got back ... as long as his truck was getting delivered first. I had been watching from the time I got off the freeway and this seemed to be a new part of town ... miles of name brand stores along a four lane blvd. Now to find somewhere close with diesel. Within a couple of miles I found a station with diesel, put in close to 50 gallons. This couldn't have been one of the 'newer' stations, not the building anyhow, the outside and the pumps had to be new because that name has only been around a couple of years. Off to find a better route out of town, this was a major enough road to show on my atlas which was a big help ... a few more miles and I would catch a different freeway and hope for the best. Unlike some trucks, this one did have the height listed inside the truck, 13 foot 5 1/2 inches. And good or bad, Detroit does have the height posted on most of there bridges. Good because you know, bad because that means they are not high enough for everything .... Most were over 14 feet, a few over 15, and a couple at 13-10. Getting a little too close, and you hope they are right and you don't hit anything to make you bounce. One of the routes out of town is closed so I have to improvise again, it'll add a few more miles but it's on a major highway so little chance of getting lost. ... I could see Canada, I think. I could see the bridge leading to Canada, one of those with two huge supports so I'm guessing one is in the US and the other in Canada. I know how hard it is to try and follow someone on the freeway as occasionally we have two or more drivers traveling together ... So I noticed when two "Jews for Jesus" passenger vans passed me in the traffic ... then another ... and another. Six in all, I found it amusing to watch them as they'd try to stay together and the rest of the traffic wasn't always cooperating. A few miles and they were gone ... but I caught up to them again at the toll both, as they were all waiting in the same line. They headed to Chicago, I headed east. Glad I wasn't going west, bumper to bumper ... stop and go. The road crew must have just finished this stretch of highway on Friday in time to open our east bound lanes ... but didn't have time to remove the concrete median from the west bound lanes, must have been single lanes both ways during construction. Mile after mile they were sitting there on there single lane, I'm sure a few were ...not happy that they couldn't use both lanes. After heading east about two hours ... I start getting past by some passenger vans ... "Jews for Jesus" passenger vans. Either there were a lot of convoy's out that morning ... or even those trying to do there best on Sunday morning make a few wrong turns in life ... Pittsburgh - I found my exit ... wanted to check out the delivery location before I found a hotel to spend the night. "No Trucks" signs everywhere, and I still missed my turn ... this area was like what you see of old Europe, narrow streets ... there's a reason for those 'no truck' signs. I didn't take very long for me to decide that once I found this place, I was parking the truck if I could. The roads were high in the middle and electric polls were tight to the curb, you needed a lane and a half so the top of the truck wasn't hitting the polls or buildings ... and both lanes to make any turns. The bridges were one lane and the landscape was hilly. Glad it was Sunday and not much traffic. Right in the middle of an otherwise residential area was my delivery. This area didn't look like it had changed a bit since the buildings were built in the 40's or 50's. The truck was parked and now to do what I do when I need help, call my wife. "Where's the nearest motel, and how do I get there?" Computers (and someone with access to them) are great. There were only two hotels near this exit off the freeway, the closest was a mile, the other was on the other side of the freeway. Next problem, my directions usually guide me right in ... these ended at my exit saying 'see local map.' The computer sites we checked weren't a whole lot better ... couldn't really tell what were through streets other than the 'truck route' I had taken in. But that would add a mile or more to my hike. So I asked a neighbor lady who was taking out her trash how to get out of there ... she wasn't sure of the street names, only that I that there was a shorter route than the truck route. By the time I was packed and started walking, the lady was ready to go somewhere and gave me a lift. With someone else driving it's a lot harder for me to remember where we went, where the turns are, but at least I knew the roads went though and the landscape wasn't as bad as it looked. She dropped me off about a quarter of a mile away, which saved here going through three extra stop lights. The closest motel was a Comfort Inn, didn't matter what the price was, I was stuck here and this is what there was. I want to get together a list of motels under $50, if I had done that I may have waited to pull into this town until Monday AM ... This is why I don't seem to be making any money on these big trucks, having to sleep in a motel ... tonight's bill, almost $80. But what else can I do? Smoking rooms were all they had left at that price, and I wasn't about to pay any more. When I got in the room I looked on the back of the door for the price ... I don't ever remember having to pay list price for any motel, any where, any time. It did have all the perks I didn't need or use ... pool, exercise room, breakfast, ironing board, coffee maker, hair drier, cable TV ... All I want is a bed and a shower. Right next to the hotel is a railroad, I check the map and it seems to dead end a couple of miles away just past a prison. That means there shouldn't be a lot of trains ... and I want to cross this river using the tracks instead of the highway, it'll cut about a quarter of a mile off my hike back to my truck in the AM. On the other side of the hotel was a McD's, a bar and a Kings Family restaurant. Kings seem to have plenty of cars which is a good sign, so I decided I would eat my second sit down meal of the day. Sometimes I don't think I'm getting enough sleep ... I went in and stood by the cash register ... and finally realized that the "Please wait to be seated" sign was halfway across the restaurant. Was a busy place ... will have to try their deserts some time. They have one ice cream dish that looks like the something they used to have at the old Bridgeman's or Farrells.' The meatloaf sandwich was good, the fries were too many and I should now be able to get a good nights sleep. It's a good thing those hotels get dark when the curtains are closed, it wasn't dark out yet and I needed some sleep before my 5:30 wake up call. As usual I wouldn't have needed the call, but the one time I don't I won't wake up and it'll throw my whole day off. June 22, 2003 Up at 5:30, checked out by six and ready for my mile and a half walk. Decided not to use the railroad bridge, wasn't sure how I would get up to the roadway. Once upon a time I used to walk in the evenings, but this job hasn't left much time for that, so this was a good chance. The hills would take a toll on me, but the flat's were easy going. Good thing I had removed all the 'dead weight' from my bag last light and left it in the truck, it made today's hike a lot easier. Even with the four foot wall map at the motel, I still did not know which streets to take, I just knew north and east ... my truck was on a east-west street and the map showed a north-south street called Cedar that looked to go through. So I didn't think I would get completely lost. I didn't get lost, but Cedar wasn't a though street, it was only a back alley, and I was really walking east when I thought I was walking north. Couldn't have been a mile and a half, with a couple of good hills I made the hike in forty-five minutes. Good news, someone is there already, I walk in and ask for the male and female listed on my paperwork. The male no longer worked there (my paperwork was only three days old) and the female will not be in until 8 AM, but he'll "take care of it in a bit." Sometime already yesterday I knew this was going to be a long 'wasted' day ... I have to get this truck signed for, then I have five hours to catch my bus, sit on a bus for almost 10 hours when a car would have taken 5, and then get back to my other truck too late to deliver yet today. I may as well stand here for a while instead of the bus depot, he and another man seem pretty busy drinking their coffee and watching the morning news show. The rest of his crew showed up by seven and he started getting them out the door ... finally about a quarter after seven he walks by and says "Did you have something for me to sign?" He signed, I said thanks and was out the door ... hadn't expected any help from these guys and I didn't get any. Tried to call a cab from my cell but they needed a number they could call back ... or one that showed up on their caller ID, so I had to go back in and use their phone. The first place I called didn't have any drivers out where I was, the second said they'd have someone there in about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes came and went, and I was beginning to wonder if the cab company had called to verify the pickup and was told there was no-one there ... not too likely seeing I had said hi to everyone this morning as they showed up for work. The cabbie did make it and he did take plastic, that was good because I had left home with less than my usual amount of cash and would have two cab rides on this trip. Interesting ride, seems drivers can make a good living in that town, or starve depending on how much they want to work. Pretty much like most jobs. He got me to the depot with over four hours to spare. The Bus Being new to this it is still interesting. There was only a few people in line so I didn't expect it to take long. Wrong ... One person working the counter and the other waiting for the clock so she could punch out 45 minutes from now. It was taking 10 a person to get a ticket, finally the people in line told the agent that the bus for this lady with two kids had been called and was ready to leave and she needed her ticket NOW. We let her go ahead of a half dozen people, it wasn't like she had got there at the last minute either, she had been waiting, and waiting. Anyhow we got a maintenance man to go hold the bus, two of us guys grabbed her bags while the counter lady was still working on her ticket. She made it ... but the line and the tempers were not getting any shorter. Originally there had been about a half dozen people ahead of me ... but as buses got called and people went ahead of me, I finally got my ticket an hour and a half later. One of the guys in line had plenty to say ... like telling the other lady behind the counter that she could help ... but he was also the one who made sure the lady with the kids got on the bus ... then right when it was his turn, the manger walks over a lady "with a disability" (or so he said) and the guy had to wait again, but by then he had already been standing at the counter ... He would repeat almost every thing the counter lady would say as if the lady couldn't hear ... maybe she couldn't. As the lady is trying to find exact change he is saying "Just give the hundred dollars and she will give you change." By then I thought this guy was going to be thrown out ... and then the lady with all her cash laying on the counter decides she wants to pay with a credit card ... I am glad I did not try to make the early bus, I still had hours to kill and was enjoying the show (sort of.) FYI, the guy who just couldn't wait was still waiting for his bus after I got my ticket over a half hour later ... I could see the panic if your bus was leaving. After the first lady almost missed her bus, the counter lady would ask if there was anyone in line who needed tickets for the next bus that was ready to leave. It did cool the tempers knowing they'd take care of you once they had to, but it didn't make the line go any faster for the rest of us. Three hours to kill in a new town ... I stash my bag in a two hour locker for $2 (I did walk away the first time when I saw the price, shows how cheep I am.) and headed outdoors. Thought I would walk around town a bit until I realized the streets were not at right angles ... I could easily get six blocks away and get lost ... not what I needed, so I walked around the block, first around the bus depot, the whole block. Then the next block which is when I really knew I could easily get lost, it had to have six sides .... The I walked to the south of the depot, huge beautiful building, had to have been built in the mid 1800. A small back portion still is used as the Amtrak station, the rest is condo's. Most of the next two hours I sat ... as if I wasn't doing enough of that ... and watched ... I must have seen every uniform that our service people wear while sitting there, most seemed to be going to / from a Federal building next door. Finally my time was about up so I decided to take a quick walk, I wouldn't cross the street so I shouldn't get lost. An interesting five block walk, this close to the old train depot, it has to be an old section of town. Didn't see any 'brand names' on this stretch of street. A few old tailor shops, an Army surplus and uniform store, ethnic restaurants and an old picture frame shop that looked like the same photo's / frames had been in that storefront window since the day it open ... a hundred plus years ago. Between this walk and the early ones around the buildings, I only saw one 'normal' cross street. In my brief stay in Pittsburgh, I did talk a bit to one guy who insisted he was NOT a Republican ... but he was blasting this city, for their socialism ... according to him ... 43 of the 46 hospitals are owned or operated by the government. 'All' parking lots are owned by the city, which does explain why a little lot with a dozen spots has it's own ticket person. ... and he went on, and on, and on ... Got back to the depot with an hour to spare, which is when my locker time was up, and was the second person in line. I had seen the station manager earlier this AM a couple of times including when he walked the disabled lady to the front of the ticket line ... this time when I saw him ... not sure what I did, but he came over and sat next to me. I told him I felt sorry for his ticket lady ... who still / again had a dozen people in line. That those tempers were getting a little short. "That's nothing like you are going to see right here (the door next to mine) if all these people don't fit on this bus, they only sent one driver today." We chatted a bit and it was time for him to face the music ... he started by telling the people for a specific stop to load on another bus that was leaving the same time ... and would meet up down the road. That helped, sort of there was still 10 that didn't fit ... not a happy group ... tickets in hand ... and they had a four hours wait for the next bus. The worst was a couple who had been re-assigned to the second bus, and didn't fit on that bus either ... the had been close enough to the front of the first line to have made it, so much for getting a good place in line. After seeing that, unless I have time to kill, I won't raise my hand unless they ask ME to see MY ticket. That day it didn't matter to me ... I could have caught a bus two hours later and still gotten to Detroit the same with less stops. Finally we're ready to load ... the driver changes my ticket so that I now have to change buses in Cleveland, this was supposed to be a non-transfer trip. The bus is only half full, with a window seat and my new 'travel pillow,' it's not a bad ride. Our stops are few and short, we were supposed to have over an hour off the bus in Cleveland, but with switching buses it will be about half that, so we just get off our bus and wait in the next line. This place had security, there was a guy that walked our line with a metal detector (now that I'm thinking about it, he never came back to check the people who got in line later.) He was opening purses, looking in bags ... so when he got to me I was ready, my metal money clip and my metal trip folder were laying out so he wouldn't have to dig ... he went over me with his detector but never even asked to see in my bag. This bus was a little fuller and I had someone next to me for a while ... a retired guy, the first leg of the trip was quite but after a couple of stops we started talking. He'd married a gal with six kids when he was 19, they had three more together ... after thirty years of marriage and with all the kids gone, his wife decides to buy a place in Florida, he has no interest in FL and doesn't go. They are still married but it did sound like he is enjoying his "freedom." Other than when he listed off his / their kids, you could not tell which ones had been her kids ... they were all his kids. He had also had three heart attacks ... with the first one the medic's said he was dead, but at the hospital they got him going again ... now he has a pacemaker, which has only "gone off" once, while dancing ... The heart attacks did seem to get his attention, he claims to have given up drinking and smoking ... but not his lady friends. At Toledo (? I think) we were able to get off the bus, but the rest-rooms weren't working ... sign said "use rest-rooms outside." I go out the front door and was wondering if they meant the yard ... it was in a section of town where I think their yard does get used as a rest-room during the night hours ... Then some guy asks me if I had a few cents he could borrow, thinking it was somebody from the bus I dug out my change ... all fifty or so cents of it and gave it to him, and he headed off after the other people from the bus down the street. Then I saw him walking around and away from the depot later, I realized he was more than likely a beggar ... Did find the rest-rooms, they were a portable building in one of the bus lanes. Also found a cab out front, that was a good sign, I was going to need one in Detroit. ... Luckily it was our last stop before Detroit that a gal with a one year old got on the bus. Bus's are not ideal for kids of that age ... if this had been a three day trip I might have had wait for the next bus. Detroit ... finally, it's now been about 30 hours since I got to my last drop, six hours down and 30 hours back. Walked out the depot door and a guy asked if I needed a cab ... "yes" but I didn't see any and I wasn't about to get in any unmarked cars. I soon realized this guy was a cab driver ... but not the first one in line, so he was shagging rides for the other drivers until his number came up. Wasn't sure I would be safe from my cab driver, but I would be safe with him even in north Detroit, he was a big guy ... who was also making calls to try to help out a gal, sounded like for a friend of someone he knew. He picked the right customer this time ... my ride cost me over $60 including the tip. Again, not thinking clearly I handed him his money and went to my truck. "You only gave me $52 for a $54 fare." Now I was confused, finally after take the money back I realized I thought I was giving him $62. I'm sure he though I was trying to short him ... I only had an hour before I needed to shut down because of our company policy. That was enough time to get to a truck stop ... I had been watching from the bus for places to stop. The place I stopped leaving Detroit on Sunday only had room for a couple dozen trucks and had seen one a little larger at the next exit, but from the bus I saw the Detroiter this place looked like a huge truck terminal with what looked like over 40 acres of parking. But first I needed to get there, on the cab ride I couldn't see any road construction so I decided to take the suggested routes ... that's when I noticed that one of the bridges on this route had a clearance of only 13 foot 7 inches, that's a whole 1-1/2 more than I needed, glad I took the other route with the other truck. The Detroiter, I pulled in and found that you have to check in to park ... I'm assuming that as you have to go past a guard to park, but I had seen a "Van" parking lot in front. I wasn't a van but I was a single axle. I have never seen an area for "Expedited Vans" before, but there was a dozen different companies there ... and signs of an upcoming "Expedited Expo." Time for something to eat ... all I have had all day was a couple of pop tarts on the bus. Eggs and bacon was my choice ... usually one of the cheaper things on the menu. Another driver at the counter was drawing and he was good. The waitress asked to see some of his other stuff and I was close enough to look on. Tonight he was drawing someone from a wallet photo that another driver had given him. I was there an hour and I couldn't see any change from the time I came until I left and he was working on it most of the time ... doing that detailed of work. Not every driver fits the stereo type. When I got back to my truck I decided to check for messages ... yesterday afternoon I finally looked at my paperwork close enough to see that I was to have called my delivery contact Monday AM ... opps. By then it was Monday PM and what was I to tell him ... his truck was only two hours away ... but the driver was eight hours away??? I called and left a message, was glad he didn't pick up ... but I'd have to deal with it later. Well now I got his message "Call ASAP, I was planning on you being here today ... I had plans ..." Great, I knew this guy runs two locations, with my luck he was planning on me today / Monday and will not be around tomorrow to give me a ride. Gave me something to think about when I should have been sleeping ... June 23, 2003 Due to my bus ride yesterday I only logged an hour on duty, that means I can start when ever I wanted ... four o'clock would get me to the drop spot at seven. But by the time I hike to the rest-room and do my inspection, its almost 4:30. There are even more "Expedited Vans" here now than last night. Roughly three hours to go ... sure would have been nice if I could have finished this off yesterday. A half hour into my trip I smell rubber, then I see the steam / smoke coming from a boat tailor ahead of me, I start blowing my hour by the guy doesn't even look around. This is when I should have had a big truck ... and a big horn. By the time I can get a long side him, he is hitting the shoulder, another tire gone. Finally it was time to call in, and find out how upset this guy is. He isn't answering his cell so I call the office I hope he is at, he isn't. But, the guy who answers says he'll be in by the time I get there and he'll take care of me. That is good to know. This place was easy to find, right off the freeway on the main highway. The guy in charge, well he looked like he'd be more at home on a farm somewhere... But on our hour ride to the airport I found he was really on top of things. So much for first impressions. He'd been with the company for 10 years, was now in charge of two locations, something not very common in his company. At least not two locations of that size. Seems the second locations had a whole bunch of manager in the last couple of years ... and now he's in charge until the location turns around and can be turned over to a new manager. The trip went quickly, talking about business, family, and life. It was soon rental car time and we said good-bye. Woo-ah, I almost collapsed when I got out of his truck. Not good, I had really only eaten once in the last 36 hours. I got my bag out of the back and walked slowly to the airport doors. Luckily it's a rather small airport, not a long ways to go ... A sign for 'Subway,' then another saying it's on the second level, and to get there I would have to go past security. But they would let me past security, without a ticket ... that wouldn't happen at every airport. I settle for a the sandwich / gift shop. $5 for a sandwich, but I needed something fast. I asked for the turkey club on a croissant, but the lady and the counter talked me into the turkey only on rye. (My wife should be proud of my healthy eating.) By the time I was half done with my sandwich I was feeling better and decided to pickup my car and head out. Avis now has a "Preferred" plan, I'm going to have to check into it ... a guy walked up, the asked to see his license, handed him his keys and he was gone. They upgraded me two level's, sounded like they wanted this one out of their lot. It was full sized, great for long rides ... today's should be about ten hours. Forgot to grab a map, so after a quick U-turn, I had to call information (my wife) to find my way out of town. It would be faster than "maybe" taking a wrong turn. Found out what I wanted to know ... heading up to through MI would add about a hundred extra miles and save me about $20 dollars in tolls. I was down to my last $5 in cash and was going to make it last for the next 600 plus miles. An added plus was in MI the speed limit was 70, so it may not add a whole lot of time. My plan didn't go quite as good as I had hoped ... it was going to be more than an hundred extra miles ... the first stretch was road construction ... and 70 mph ???, only sometimes. Cars can go 70, trucks only 55 ... so when one tries to pass the other, everyone goes 55, 56, ect. But with very little road construction all seemed to be going well. Not so good for those leaving Chicago, at one point after I realized traffic was stopped I checked and the line was over 5-1/2 miles. Even through Chicago traffic wasn't bad ... and would make it back in just over 10 hours ... one stop for food and fuel ... a final stop for gas so the rental car doesn't change $5 a gallon for the fill. The cops in MI were easy to spot, they still have a single cherry on top, you can see them miles away. Update: I had to check the rates for the second motel in town ... I could have save $30 by walking another mile ... I'll learn. |