Trips 28 - 30 PA, NJ, DE, MD, NC

Forest, VA to Whitehouse, PA
Monday, February 20, 2006

My birthday was going to be on Tuesday of this week, so I decided I'd just as soon be on the road to celebrate. I may have gotten a bit more than I asked for. Got the rough roads of PA, the busy highways of NJ, DE, and MD, the VA snow, and more. Got to visit two new states doing driveaway - NJ, and DE.

Took a boom/chipper truck along with chipper trailer from Forest, VA to Whitehouse, PA on Monday. All scales were closed, perhaps due to President's Day, but in any case that always helps reduce some of the stress and hassle of the trip. It was icey when I left on Monday morning, but I didn't have any problems, although there was a significant wreck on the entrance to Rt 29 north at Lynchburg.

I must report what I think was a funny company name on the side of a nice, white, Chevy pickup truck loaded with building supplies. The name of the company was ABM Bathroom Refinishing. Riding up I-81, no radio on, just taking in the surroundings, I found that name to be particularly funny - funny enough for me to laugh out loud in the truck.

I arrived Whitehouse, PA around 5:30 pm and immediately figured housing for the night might be a chore. I left I-78 and headed down to the small burg (township?) of Whitehouse to see if I could find anything. Finally asked someone at a Gulf station, who directed me to the east end of town to the Red Mill Motel. As Dick would describe it, it was a first tier Pattel motel, barely English speaking, and definitely roughing it. No place close to eat. Ended up walking probably the better part of a mile to a convenience store for a dinner of tuna sandwich and some other junk.

Before I arrived Whitehouse, dispatch had told me they wanted me to catch a bus on Tuesday back to Bethlehem, PA and pick up a truck for Upper Marlboro, MD. I would have to catch the bus at Clinton, PA, which was about 7 miles from my dropoff point. I tried to locate a cab, with little success that evening, so as I left on Tuesday morning I new I'd be at the mercy of the receiving company to give me a ride to Clinton.

Tuesday, February 21 (My birthday)

The Red Mill Motel wasn't open when I was ready to leave at 7:00 am, so I just left the key and headed out. It was a short drive to the dropoff point at a park and ride on exit 24 off I-78. The receiver didn't come until about 8:00 am, but he was kind enough to give me a ride to Clinton, so that solved one of the first major logistical problems for the day.

Nice little commuter bus terminal in Clinton where I got a $4.00 ticket to Bethlehem, PA. The bus was on time at 8:50 am, so didn't waste much time. It was about the equivalent of a tour bus. Clean, not very crowded, and pretty comfortable. Made it to Bethlehem by 9:40 am. It took the cab a good while to come to pick me up and take the several mile drive to the next pickup.

Trip 29 - Bethlehem, PA to Upper Marlboro, MD

I wasn't sure what to expect, because you can get anything when you're on the other end of a trip - everything from nice and new to total junk, and dispatch claims they don't have info about the truck, just the number. I arrived at the pickup at Utility One about 10:30 am and it took them a while to figure out which truck I was taking. But I was pleased to see it was a new one. This one was a "digger derrick" truck, which is a boom truck with an auger. It was a Chevy 8500, automatic, and radio. Turned out to be a nice truck to drive, so I headed down I-476 to I-95 past Wilmington, DE, Baltimore, MD, and on to Upper Marlboro, MD, which is just off the DC I-495 beltway on the eastern side. As you'd expect, there is a lot of traffic the whole way, but I made pretty good time and didn't have any significant slowdowns. Even took the truck through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel with no problems even though it was definitely tight.

I arrived at Upper Marlboro around 4:30 PM and made the delivery. Just pure luck on finding the dropoff at Pepco because the directions provided seem to always be for arrival from a diffent direction than the one you come in on. It was there that the trip got complicated.

Dispatch said they wanted me to take a truck then from Daleville, VA to Charlotte, NC, with pickup that night. I pretty much told them I wasn't interested, but would do it on Thursday (this being still Tuesday, my birthday). However, they were insistent, and I was losing a few options given they had said they couldn't find a rental for me to take out of DC and they wanted me to go back to BWI, pick up a company chase car, and drive it to Daleville, which is very near home for me. I finally relented, except for sticking to my guns on not picking the truck up that night. I'd pick it up and take it to Charlotte on Weds.

So, it was off to BWI with a $65 cab fare and plenty of farsie, or whatever it is the cabbies speak when they are on the phone to their girlfriends. Even through the DC/Baltimore traffic, we made it to the airport about 6:00 PM and I was quickly on the shuttle bus to Satellite Parking Lot B, Bus Stop 6. I figured that was going to be fun trying to find the company car without the row number, just the bus stop, but I lucked out and found the car right away. So I was shortly in the Hyundai Accent with 350k miles and on my way back home. Of course that still meant a 5 hour drive and fighting the traffic around DC, but I arrived home around 11:00 PM after a very long day, which began before 7:00 AM.

Trip 30, Daleville, VA to Charlotte, NC
Wednesday, February 22

It was snowing to beat the band Weds. morning, so I delayed a little by getting part of the mounds of paperwork driveaway entails completed, waiting until the post office opened, then heading to the pickup at Altec. I got there a little after 8:00 AM.

The snow presented a challenge I wasn't expecting. Altec had at least 20 trucks lined up, most were IHC 4300 or 7300. The truck number is usually hanging on the sun visor so you can usually drive down the line and find your truck. However, with the snow, the windshields were covered on all the trucks, and I initially wondered if I'd have to find the keys and unlock each one before I found the one I was to take. It is important you transport the correct truck. As I approached the task, I did discover that, on most of the trucks, I could climb up on the passenger side and see the number. Naturally, the truck I was looking for was the next to last one I checked. It was an IHC 7300 boom 4WD with automatic. Except for the bouncing, it was a nice truck to drive.

The snow presented extra challenges as I was hooking up the company chase car to pull along and pre-tripping the truck, but got all done and was headed out to fuel up by about 9:00 AM. It took an eternity to fuel up at the local Pilot station and finally get on the road.

Made it to Charlotte and the droppoff point at Shaw Electric by about 1:00 PM, and finally, I was on the way back home to stay for a while. They initially wanted me to drop the company chase car, which drives pretty well given it turned over 350k on this trip, back to Daleville, but I convinced dispatch it needed to go to Forest where my personal car was. I drove home and picked up my car the next morning.

I had stayed out at least one trip longer this time than I really wanted to. Was a little more worn out than I wanted to be. I continue to admire truckers who can do this constantly for a living. It's certainly harder, and more draining, than almost any of my 30+ years in an office.

Dispatch was already asking when I would be ready to head out again before I was out of Charlotte city limits. I told them I had to cool it for a while or I was going to get burned out at this, but as always, I'd be available for an "emergency" - which seems to be constant in this business. I figure I won't go next week since I'm driving the school bus on Tuesday and that messes up most of a week for driveaway.