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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 69e - New Sterling - New
Watertruck ... to Portland, OR 1/6/04 Sometime yesterday dispatch had told me that this truck wasn't really coming to the office, it was going to Portland, OR and I could bring it to either location ... I had until today to tell her where I was taking it ... not something that happens too often, I can choose how far to take the truck after I'm in it. Because of the possibility of taking this truck to Portland is the reason I didn't pickup up the truck last night. Am playing games with my HOS, if I had left last night I would have had to do / take time for one more pretrip at the cost of 15 minutes. Also I would have had to shut down after my 14 hours, this way I can start as soon as I can drop the car. This morning someone does answer at the cab company and they will meet me at the airport at 8 AM ... when Hertz opens. Turns out the cab company had to check with local sheriff before picking me up ... seems Marietta is flooded out, but the cab can keep running as long as they stay 'out of the water.' Bus depot is under water as is most of the town, water over the road a half a block from where we turn to go to the customer ... the water is halfway up the doors on a now vacant lumber superstore. The airport was about 5 miles from the customer, the bus depot would have been about 2, so not much difference in cab fare ... depending on where the bus stops with the depot closed. Customers parking lot is mostly under water ... glad I didn't wait until tonight. Figure I lost about $60 and a days time, by taking that rush truck. But this next truck looks like it could make me some money, same chassis as the Class B Refer trucks we drive but the boss is paying ten cents more ... and two cents more on the fuel surcharge??? And all this has on it is a plastic water tank and a pump, no weight, no wind resistance ... lets go. There is a truck stop right at the freeway interchange so I filler up ... 80 gallons, can put some miles on this one, but easy to leave too much fuel in on the other end. Hated going straight north the first hour, when I should have been going west, but there were not any good roads heading NW and most would only cut about 20 miles off and probably no time. 52 mph ...2,600 miles at 52 mph ... too bad it's coming up on the weekend, I'd love to call dispatch and tell them I'm just about to ... Maine ... Portland, ME. Once on I-70 I see signs saying that I-70 is closed ahead and alternate roads to use. More luck my way ... I-70 isn't closed by the time I get to the problem area, eastbound still is, but westbound is open ... still ??? a couple of exit ramps under water westbound. Still??? the Ohio River isn't expected to crest for another 24 hours, guess the smaller ones must be dropping already. After checking with home and my 'other job' I decide to take the truck to OR and be home by Tuesday ... should have pushed it till Wednesday, but go ... go ... go. Today I think this is going to be a garvey run ... I can take my time and still deliver in four days ... (wishful thinking, but I will find that out later.) With plenty of time to kill I stop for a sandwich and to make some calls ... and to buy some laundry soap, as I've already been gone longer than I packed for. Got to start watching those dates on juice BEFORE I pay for them. The one I grabbed was outdated 3 months, then I noticed the date on the price was the same as the expiration date and ALL of the juice was outdated by at least too weeks ... After I complained I checked again and it was only on the juice I wanted that the price date and the expiration date were the same ... the other kinds of juice were good ... but this killed another half hour. This is all highway I've been before ... about 2,300 of the 2,600 I've been on within the last year, only a few miles from Boise to Hermiston that will be new on this job. About a quarter of six, I'm on the phone with my wife and realize that I'm going to need more cash in my account ... bank closes at 6. Not much of interest in the next 400 miles but ... wow ... I'm getting about 10 mpg with this truck ... actually a little better, make 600 miles on the first tankful. But by the time I reach Davenport, IA that gauge is spending way to much time on 'E' and I decide to fill tonight instead of waiting until morning don't want to chance putting any extra miles on it. Should have been about 20 gallons left in the truck, but how much is usable ... and who wants to find out. Motel 6 in Davenport ... took me 20 minutes to find the entrance after I could see the building ... one way streets, take a right to make a left turn, frontage roads that don't connect. Think this was the motel that never got warm, heater and fan cranked all the way. Did get good food a block away at the Village Inn, have one within 10 miles of where I grew up and have never eaten at one. Here's where the experience at last nights restaurant kicks in ... this time I intentionally order just a sandwich and salad ... no fries. 1/7/04 I'm not very many miles down the road when I can tell I have a problem ... gone is the 10 mpg ... maybe 8 ... wonder if I got bad fuel at the Flying J last night, never had a new trucks milage go down the more miles it got on it. (Here's the down side of doing these write up's weeks later, can't remember all the details.) It is now Saturday, the ice storm hit Iowa on Tuesday, four days ago ... and I counted over a dozen trucks still laying in the ditch ... this I should have kept notes on ... and dozen's ??? of cars. The only ones I can remember at the moment are 1) a Vitran pup, laying on its side, no signs that any other part of the truck was in the ditch ... this is the second one I've seen like that, where it looks like the trailer came disconnected, hit the ditch and rolled. 2) a set of duels ... that's all, just a set of truck duels laying in the median. 3) Swift tractor on a wrecker, the second wrecked had the two trailer axels on his hook ... the rest of the trailer must have been hauled out in pieces. 4) a Benkins moving van, straight trucks, on its side. On the eastbound lane there were crews picking up lane closed signs where trucks had been in the ditch and on the westbound they were setting them up ... takes 2 or 3 of those full sized wreckers to get a semi out of the ditch ... me, I stay on the road ... so far. Good thing my wife was able to get cash into my account ... picking up this truck in route means I don't have our transport plates for NE and WY so more cash out of pocket. Stop at Sapps in Omaha to get fuel, permit and cash ... if I am going to make this trip anywhere close to legal I need to minimize my stops / on duty, not driving time ... one stop a day is all I can make. Today it's for the NE permit, so fuel while I can ... if I was still making 10 mpg or better I wouldn't need to take on more fuel. Back in my truck ... Brrr it's getting cold ... Noooo ... my heaters not working, actually its the heater fan that's not working and I've got sub zero temps a good share of the rest of the trip ... and was just listening to the radio about a couple that froze to death in this last ice storm ... I spend the time to Lincoln debating weather to stop or not ... big billboards along I-80 say there's a 24 - Freightliner dealer in Lincoln ... that was the good news?? not really. I'm driving a Sterling ... same parent company, same parts ... but because there IS a Sterling dealer within 'x' amount of miles the Freightliner dealer can not work on me ... doesn't make a difference that the Sterling dealer is closed until MONDAY. I call dispatch and they are a lot more gun shy than usual ... they are saying get if fixed, and I'm wanting to go ... if I burn too much of my 14 hours I won't make my delivery on Monday. More bad news ... good and bad ... I do get a hold of the after hours Sterling service department and they will come in ... the bad news is ... Any extra cost of doing warranty work after hours is not covered by the warranty ... out of pocket. First the guy says its a bad switch and they don't have one, but then he does more checking and finds out that no power is getting to the switch ... the fan control switch is on a different fuse than the fan itself. It's a fuse ... but, he gives / has me pay for a couple of extras because ... 'the way they (where I picked up the truck) wired this truck this fuse is going to blow again.' And it did blow again ... about a mile after I got back on the Interstate ... so I let dispatch know that I'm going to run without the fan ... they want me to stop in Cheyenne ... we'll see. Six hours later I'm checking in to the Motel 6 in Sidney ... didn't make good milage on that tank either, had to kick it down to make up for lost time. At the desk I give the clerk my drivers licence but can't find my credit card, I go back out to my truck, empty all my pockets ... Ohhhhh NOOOOO !!!! My credit card is laying back at the Sterling dealer in Lincoln ... it had taken the guy about a half hour to find a computer that he could use to print me a receipt and looked like he did parts of it on three different machines ... and didn't ask to see my license to check my signature. Almost always ... and its the almost part that hurts this time ... Almost always when I use my credit card I also take out my licence and hold on to it until I get my credit card back ... my way of remembering that I need to put something back in my wallet ... why didn't I do that this time??? This is going to be one costly mistake ... I only have / had $200 that was put in my account on Friday and now have pay for two motels, two state permits and hundreds of dollars of fuel out of that cash ... AND the reason I wanted to stop here was so I could walk next door and buy new clothes as I don't have time to wash the ones I have ... now I have neither money or time ... or may have a lot of time if I run out of cash before Monday.. Usually I don't let things get to me ... this did ... didn't help I was tired and cold. Some gal held the elevator door open for me and asked if I had been out long ... instead of a polite 'yes' ... I started rambling on about loosing my credit card and having to be in Portland by Monday ... poor gal ... I realized I was still rambling after I had gotten off and the door had closed behind me ... sorry about that ... But I still had to eat, but instead of eating at Perkins like I usually do in Sidney it was the McD's dollar menu for me ... sign said it was after hours but the door was open and the served me. 1/8/04 Did not sleep well, too much on my mind ... third problem Motel 6 in a row ... in this one the garbage hadn't been emptied ... now know more about the last people in this room than I needed to know. Been to this WY scale too often ... I recognize the people behind the counter ... thought I maybe could bluff this guy cause I knew the questions ... no such look, he wasn't buyin' that this truck was going to the end user ... the fact that the ship to had 'Equipment' in the name sort of worked against me. Had it been going to the end user, I could have just run on my transport plate but because it is going for re-sale I needed to buy a $20 permit ... out of my much needed cash. My little comment that this was 'a custom built truck and was just going to the dealer for PDI (Pre delivery Inspection) didn't help my cause either. More bad news ... sign on the POE door says I-80 westbound closed at exit ?? until further notice... not good. As long as I have to log this as a stop, I get some fuel at the Sapps at the next exit ... and call my wife to tell her the good news ... "YOU WHAT?" I had tried to use a check this AM in Sidney for fuel ... did use it, but it was one of those places that takes the money out of your account ... now ... not what I wanted, I needed to use the bank float ... also doesn't help that I only had two check blanks left, now I'm down to one. Wyoming ... more good news / bad news ... good news is that the storm is staying just south of I-80 and only at one point did I it get close enough that I was driving in blowing snow ... sun shine, but blowing snow ... was sunny all day, even had the window open a bit during mid-day. As long as I kept moving it was nice and toasty in the cab, slow down a few miles per hour and I could feel the temp drop ... don't think the temp ever got above freezing from mid IN to almost Portland. Oh, the bad news ... the storm is staying about 10 miles to the south of the interstate, but the 50 per hour head winds are hitting me head on .. and it's killing the milage. I've known there was as storm brewing since before I took this truck, first forecast I remember seeing said it would cover most of the west and last Friday through Monday ... I finally hit snow about 20 miles from the WY/UT border. No problems at the UT scale, never been stopped yet. Without my routing map from dispatch, I'm sort of guessing how many miles I have to go, now that I the milage has dropped from 10 to 8, I'm hoping I can get 500 miles out of this tankful ... and hoping that it's less than 500 miles from the WY POE to the ID POE. Weather isn't good through UT ... they did get their lights fixed at the I-15 scale house since last time. Don't like the looks of my fuel gauge, it's dropping way to fast ... Have come up with a plan to maximize my cash and keep rolling ... have my wife reserve a room at the Motel 6 online ... buy my ID permit first, spend the rest on fuel. I wanted to wait as late as possible to decide which Motel 6. Had hoped to make it to Boise, stayed there a couple of weeks back, easy to find and cheap. But it doesn't look like I will make it past Twin Falls, if I have to book the motel ahead, better to be safe than sorry. Also saved a buck for a corn dog ... as the clerk was getting it for me, she asked if it was OK that it was a 'hot and spicy' one ... no, it wasn't ... another night with a breakfast bar. The weather has gone from bad to worse, snowing, blowing, like driving in a tunnel ... going snow blind. The ice is a real trick when the road is groved from the heavy trucks ... can really get to sliding from one side of the grove to the other. I slowed down, someone else didn't ... tanker on its side in the ditch. Another reason I should have stayed in Boise, the Motel 6 is miles off the interstate costing me both minutes and fuel ... Now for the really bad news ... Motel 6 has my reservation, and they will charge my credit card if I don't show up tonight ... but, I can't get into the room unless I pay for the room in person ... which I can't do ... which is why we reserved it with a credit card ... Am not a happy camper ... can't sleep in my truck, no heat ... only one thing left to do ... 'reuse' the money in my account and cover it before tomorrow morning. It works ... but how can a motel mess up three nights in a row after a year and a half of no complaints ??? 1/9/04 I have enough fuel for a couple of hours by then there should be money in the account ... 8 AM ... cash shows as available in the account. Take the time to call about my credit card ... but they can't find it ... I give more details, still can't find it ... finally after I give them my phone number in case they do find it, I tell them to talk to JR when he comes in, he was the one who worked on my truck ... "JR, we don't have a JR working here." 'This is the Freightliner, isn't ...it ? .... I'm sorry ... I'm looking at a business card, but the wrong card, I thought I was talking to the Sterling dealer ... I'm sorry.' That was a good 15 minutes wasted. The Sterling dealer does have my card and will mail it to me. Back in the clear ... fuel in my tank, cash in my pocket ... the crisis is over, the only time lost was making calls. Now more time lost ... dispatch had told me I needed to stop at truck stop to get a permit before entering Oregon, same as I've been told by other drivers ... not so, we buy them at the scale house ... more time lost ... not only am I up against my 70 HOS I am also up against the customers 5 PM close. Airfare home has stayed around $180 (on Travelocity) so I was just going to buy it at the gate ... as close as I'm cutting it to the customers close time, I don't want to buy ahead ... nor do I want to sit any extra hours I don't have to. This morning just to see if it's any cheaper, my wife checks the airlines website ... $360 !!! Ouch. The $180 is an online special, so we have to book this one ahead of time. The Oregon scale house was painless, they didn't flag me in but I knew the drill ... cost me <> $20 for the permit ... no extra charge for weight as my truck weighted in at 18,000# well under the 26,000# break point. Again I'm told that there would have been no charge had I been running on NE plates. First few miles are sunny ... road is snowpacked ... other than that, a beautiful day. But ... I could see a wall ahead ... a wall of fog. A hundred or more miles of mostly fog ... at one point coming down a mountain I could just barely see the front of the truck ahead of me and we were going about 20 mph, could see the headlights from the trucks behind me when they got to my bumper ... which made it real tricky pulling out to pass, but I did. Fast lane was maybe going 30. Real bummer being up against the clock like this, had three places I could have stopped along this stretch of highway ... one's right off the freeway, blew the air horn as I went by. Stopped in Hermiston at a truckstop, mostly looking for motel coupons, didn't have any ... and got another McD's hamburger, small ... and again the counter person try's to sell me something off of their dollar menu, 'it's a better deal.' Yes, it is a better deal, but harder and sloppier to eat in the truck. From Hermiston / I-82 to Portland the road were mostly wet, some snowpack ... beautiful ride, to me anyway ... following the Columbia River. About a half hour out of Portland the sun finally comes out, hitting the pines hanging heavy with snow and one little wisp cloud about halfway up the mountain. I'm going in right on time, did have to kick it up from 52 to 55 earlier today to stay on schedule. Then a squad pulls in behind me ... and hangs there ... mile after mile, I'm not speeding, finally pulls over behind a stranded motorist. Wasn't worried I'd done something wrong, but even stopping me long enough to run my license would have put me past the customers close time. Thought I knew exactly where I was going ... but missed a turn, took a few minutes to realize it, both highways are named the same and run parallel. But with 30 minutes to spare I pull in their lot ... With just barely over 1/8th of a tank ... but on an 80 gallon tank that could be $10-15 in fuel ... close enough. Do to the slant of the hill I can see the whole Portland airport ... and the customer offers me a ride to ... where I wanted to go ... I decided the airport. Had seen what I thought was a cheap motel at my exit, but decided I'd be better off going to the airport and seeing who offered free shuttles ... greatly effects the final cost of my stay. Been to / through Portland a few times, this was the first time I had seen Mout Saint Helens ... with its little puff of smoke. Could also see Mount Hood ... with a panoramic view camera, could have had a beautiful shot ... Sun shining on both, still cloudy beyond making everything behind them look dark. (And it was not raining in Portland.) Second reason I wanted to go the the airport instead of the motel was to see if I could catch an earlier flight than what we purchased yesterday ... No luck, ticket counter is only manned during flight times, there won't be anyone back at the counter until 4:30 tomorrow AM ... oh well. Found the motel curtesy phone and called the three that looked the cheapest, also looked in the phone book and called a Howard Johnson we went past ... best price was $44, incudes a ride from and to the airport plus breakfast. Room checked good, a couple food places within a couple of blocks ... the one on-site is closed for constructions, as is half the motel. Where ever it was I ate, the food was good, really good ... family style restaurant ... and back home and in bed by 8 PM. Oh, did call the airline, over the phone they said they'd have to charge $100 to switch the ticket from 10:30 AM to 6 AM ... that ain't gonna happen. 1/10/04 Ring ... Ring ... "Good Morning, thanks" Thinking that was my wakeup call ... and that is was a very short night. I must have really been out. But before I could hang up, the front desk said "Sir, the neighbors are complaining that you are being too loud." "No, I've been sound asleep since 8 PM, never turned the TV on, haven't taken a shower yet, nothing." It was 12:45 AM ... I'd just about slept my five hours and could not get back to sleep ... After a week of short night I thought I would finally get a good nights sleep. Not so. Finally at 3:30 I gave up going back to sleep and got out of bed, showered and headed to the front desk for my shuttle ride ... the first one is at 4 AM, which will get me to the airport in just under two hours before lift off ... if I can get on. "So how are you this morning?" was the happy greeting at the front desk. "Upset, very upset ... did not appreciate that 1 AM wake up call ..." Guess the neighbors heard loud music and I was the closest room ... after I said I had been asleep the clerk had gone out and listened in front of my door and theirs ... nothing. So when they called back again to complain a second time he had to tell them they were hearing things (that he couldn't hear.) I was in no rush to get to the airport so I said I could wait until someone else was ready ... that would be 4:30 ... "With the people who called to complain about you." "Well, I don't have a problem riding with them ... but I'm guessing we are both a little cranky this morning ..." They gave me a ride right away ... At the airport I was second in line .. and the counter wasn't open yet ... I was the first person for the second counter to open. When I asked if it was possible to get on the earlier flight he said "Say Please." I did, and I was on. ...then he also said, not sure if you will get there any early, flights into Denver are being delayed this morning. But, we weren't. Flight went well. But the fun wasn't over yet ... for the first time in almost two years, I did not have a ride from the airport. I would have to take the city bus ... not a big deal, I have the bus routes we take to get to the office. I think I have all kinds of time so I don't rush to the bus area ... just miss this bus the next one will be 15-30 minutes. It is a good quarter to half a mile from gate to the bus. Bus comes, I get on ... and even remember to ask for a 'transfer ticket' before the bus moves ... a glance at my notes "Downtown" ... so I'm waiting for the driver to call 'Downtown' ... he never does ... I do know the cities fairly well, but not the bus system. But when he takes a turn that doesn't look right ... I turn around and realize I am the only one left on the bus ...Opps. Have lived within 30 miles of the cities for 40+ years and the only time I was ever on one of these buses was with my brother-inlaw who was a bus driver at the time ... no chance of getting lost that trip. The driver doesn't know where I wanted to get off but does point out a bus that should be heading back to the downtown area shortly. The second driver isn't much more help and first but does suggest a couple of stops ... but at this point he is going the opposite direction that I had been going so I need to walk a couple of blocks to get to the correct stop ... and from here the bus only runs every half hour ... so it takes a couple of hours and costs $1.25 ... much cheaper than a cab ... even the shuttle costs about $30 from what I've heard. Home again, safe at last ... |