The Great American Southwest

I'm going to start this one, but it may take a while to finish it, so to all of my many blog fans (and you know who you are), keep coming back, reading, and post some comments (by clicking on the comments link at the bottom).

Ever since I got the idea of doing driveaway work, I've wanted to drive to the desert. So when I was talking with dispatch last Thursday about a trip this week, they happened to mention they needed to move a truck from Pottstown, PA to Show Low, AZ. I said, "Show Who? Where's that?" About all they could tell me was it was in AZ. A quick MapQuest check showed it to be about 50 miles below Holbrook, AZ, a place I had visited adjacent to the Petrified Forest, so I figured it was REALLY in the middle of nowhere. They weren't offering me the trip, since they figured I wouldn't do one that long, and they already were lining me up to take one from Forest, VA to somewhere in GA (getting boring). So when my wife got home, I mentioned the AZ trip, not seriously considering it. But she gave a positive reaction, and some encouragement (what was she thinking?) and I called dispatch and told them I'd take it if it was still available. They said it was and to call back the next morning, Friday, to get the details.

Friday, March 3, 2006

I called in at 8:30 AM, and of course, they were still "working" on the details. Not to bore you with the details, but it was 11:30 AM before they finally got things worked out. They initially were going to send me to NC with a truck and pick up another to Pottstown which bothered me a bit because I'd be starting out on a 2200 mile trip going in the opposite direction. They finally boiled it down to me taking something that had been dropped off at the Troutville TA Truckstop. All they could tell me was it was an FL60 (didn't know what that was at the time) and it was going to Pottstown to the same place I'd be picking up the other truck for Show Low. In my excitement about heading out west, I wasn't paying close attention to what it might be that I would be driving. Plus, trying to get any detailed info out of dispatch about what you are to pick up, other than a VIN number, is just impossible. I'm assuming that is done on purpose to keep you in the game.

So, about noon I headed to Troutville to pick up whatever an FL60 was. Turned out it was a used Freightliner FL60 boom truck, automatic. Well used, but most stuff worked on it except the dash gauges kept trying to fall off the dash into my lap and the heater did not work - and it was in the 20's and 30's that day. Keep in mind, this is a very glamorous job :-).

The truck drove well and made it OK through the weigh station at Winchester, one that I've found there is a 100% chance will be open. No open stations in WV, MD, or PA. Made it to Pottstown around 7:00 pm where I bedded down at the downtown Days Inn for the night. I had planned to spend the night in Morgantown, PA, about 25 miles away, but the hotel there was full - a surprising finding. Drove on to Pottstown and bedded down for the night at the downtown Days Inn.

Saturday, March 4, 2006

The next morning I was VERY anxious to see what I'd be driving the 2200 miles to AZ, so bright and early I was at the drop off/pick up point at D&D Collision. Do you think that name should have told me something? I was there a good bit before anyone showed up to open the place up, so I cruised the lot to see if I could find my truck, which I knew to be a Ford F750. I came across several, in various states of disrepair, but luckily could not find the one I was to take, all the while my heart sinking wondering how tired can you get nursing a sick F750 for at least 4 days of solid driving.

The guy that I was to pick up from finally showed up a little after 8:00 AM, and he said he had the truck inside the shop and would bring it out - and I anxiously waited to catch the first glimpse. Well, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. It had a utility body, for what I'm not sure, had 46k miles on it, 6-sp, extended cab for napping if needed, and was idling pretty well. BUT NO CRUISE CONTROL! Wow! 2200 miles without cruise control. Poor right foot. Plenty of left over cable, conduit, plastic piping, etc. in the back, but no left over lunches in the front as most of the other used ones I've taken had. I gave it the complete going over that the simple mechanic in me can do, and determined it road worthy. So off to Show Low I headed by about 8:45 AM.

As I pulled out of the parking lot, doors on both sides of the utility body flew open. I thought, that's an early problem solving opportunity for this trip. I figured a little plier work and/or duct tape would be the answer. The pliers did the trick, and the doors were closed for the rest of the trip.

Made it all the way back to Morgantown, PA, about 23 miles, before missing my first turn to get back on I-76, the PA Turnpike, which is more complicated to get on than you might expect. Thinking this is not a good start for this trip, I stopped to get directions back on, just to make sure. When I tried to re-start the truck, the starter gave one of those really loud grinding noises, but did turn over on the second try. I thought that's good. Something to start thinking about early in the trip.

Continued to push on across PA, in to WV, then OH the rest of Saturday. PA is a very long state when you start in Pottstown. No weigh stations open, so no first tests on how well it was going to do. At my first rest stop, got word from my wife that my car that I had left at the truckstop on Friday was missing and must have been towed. Also, had gotten the word the evening before that one of my other cars that my youngest daughter drives had been rammed while parked outside her apartment in Richmond, VA and had considerable damage to both the rear and front. So I was really happy with the car situation, to add to the tenseness I was still feeling while getting to know this truck. My wife later called back to say they had found the car. They'd just been looking in the wrong spot. That helped, but the truck still worried me.

Made it to near Dayton, OH where I bedded at a Super 8 just behind a TGI Fridays. Hmmmm, Saturday night, very tired, wanting to relax, and not having eaten hardly anything. What a great place to solve those problems. So I parked my poney, checked in, and immediately headed to the bar setting at TGI's (I don't like eating out alone, but if the bar is big enough I can put up with it). So had a decent steak with some on tap libations, and actually slept pretty well Saturday night, waking up plenty early to get on the road.

Sunday, March 5, 2006

With such a long way to go, I was anxious to get an early start. Pre-tripped the truck. Everything still holding together. No oil leaks, no evidence of it using oil. The water was even still in it. So I was starting to build up some confidence in this new truck friend of mine that was going to take me safely all the way to AZ. I'd had in the back of my mind that the guy in Pottstown had the truck inside, since it was cold, to make sure it would start. So I was really anxious to crank it up. So, I did....and it started right up. Man! Isn't this great. This ole truck is going to actually do it! Then I noticed no RPM's, no oil gauge, no amps. Uh-Oh, what's going on? All the gauges were dead except the air pressure, which built up nicely. I tapped (pounded) on them, checked connections, even turned it off and checked fuses. Couldn't find anything, so now, it's problem solving time. Do you head on out on Sunday, with no gauges, or do you stay at the hotel knowing you'll never find a mechanic close by? Being a combination of stupid and overly hopeful, I decided to get back up on I-70 and try to find a truck stop. Low and behold, not 3 miles down the road, all the gauges came on, only to fail briefly one more time the next morning. The fan on the heater was also not working, but by the end of Sunday, it too decided to contribute to the party and come back on. So I was really off to AZ now.

Drove in to IN still having no weigh stations open. Since it was Sunday, and very light traffic, I decided to take I-70 through the middle of Indianapolis rather than the by-pass. Looks like a nice city, assuming you like cities, which I don't. I did see the Hoosier Dome, now called the RCA Dome. But that was about all the excitement for IN and IL. Except for, in IN, I did hit the biggest interstate bump in the trip. One big enough to send the wheels off the ground and some of the plastic pipe laying around in the back of the truck spinning out behind me on I-70. Luckily, there were no vehicles immediately behind, so I kept on truckin'.

By about 2:00 PM, I was in to MO. It had started raining pretty hard. I had originally considered pulling off to view the gateway arch in St. Louis, which is one of the more impressive sights of the trip, but with the rain, and my being anxious to get on, I just kept driving. Made it to Strafford, MO, just outside of Springfield, for the night.

Monday, March 6, 2006

Again, was anxious to get started (to see what the gauges or other excitement might be at startup). Was glad it was Monday, even if it meant more traffic, since at least I might be able to get assistance if needed. Pre-tripped it, and gave it the ole crank. Started right up. The gauges hesitated for a few seconds then decided to come on, never to have another problem with them for the rest of the trip, but still enough to keep me on edge about them. I assume whatever the problem was with the gauges, it must be heat related. It was warmer in MO than it had been in OH, but not by much.

Today was going to take me in to OK, TX, and maybe NM for the first time in driveway. But before I could get out of MO, I had to go through what I think was my first weigh station. The whole line of trucks was having to go across the scales. No one was getting waived around. I pull on the scale, and sure enough, I got the "get your permits and documents together, pull around back, and come in the station". Oh great. I'm excited about OK/TX and MO wants to check me out. This was going to be the first time they'd done a driver inspection. I had previously had a truck inspection, but had never had to go in to have them go through my documents. So I rapidly brought my log up to date, although I'd only been driving about an hour, and dragged my stuff in.

There was only one agent on duty. I told him this was my first time, gave him as much pleasant small talk as I could come up with, and I said he'd need to guide me through this. Turned out he really relished his instructor role, and he was actually a nice fellow. He kept working with me and explaining things as the big 18 wheelers just piled up outside in the line. He had them pretty well backed up on I-44, but he was still showing me stuff, so it worked for both of us. Anyway, he said I was in good shape and could head on. Have a nice day! You bet I am, I'm heading to TX.

So on to Tulsa (saw Oral Roberts' Tower - wonder if he's begged enough money yet to pay for it - I'm sure God is handling it) and on to Oklahoma City, which was an impressive town from what I saw. On through OK to TX. Saw lots of places along I-40 (a certain comfort there to get back on I-40 that I've traveled on so often in the east) where several acres at a time would be burned from someone launching a cigarette out onto the very dry grass. I must have seen this 20-30 times through OK and TX. Which reminds me, in the middle of all this, my wife had told me about a forest fire that was brewing within a mile of my house back home and they had brought in the helicopters and professionals to fight it. A very big deal that I was missing as I headed west.

On across TX, except I did have to hit a rest stop. And like everything else in TX, it was big. Took this picture of the old truck as we caught a break in TX. Then kept on truckin' to NM.

I drove over 600 miles on Monday and made my NM goal and stopped at the first place I could find - Tucumcari, NM. What a name, and I found it does have a dumb, obviously made up, Indian legend for where the name came from, but I won't tell it here (I know this is getting really long, but isn't it exciting?).

I had nice rooms at cheap hotels during the whole trip, and this Super 8 (I'm seeming to slide now more toward Super 8 from Days Inn) was no different. All had clean rooms with wireless access. The desk clerk advised eating across the street at the steakhouse in the Holiday Inn. I'm not big on hotel food, but did it anyway. Got an OK, but not great, meal and was out for the night. Really pooped after a very long day of driving (and still hadn't taken a nap in the extended cab). I had done over 600 miles for the day.

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

If it's Tuesday, it must be NM, and if all goes well, the day I find out what Show Low is really like. By this time, it's fairly easy to lose days, since I'd been at it since Friday morning to Pottstown. And you can almost lose states also. So I was up early. By this time, I'm in the Mountain Time zone, but I had kept my time on Eastern since I had to log based on the home office, communicate with them on their time, and figured it would keep me getting out early. But it was 4:30 AM Mountain Time and I didn't figure I'd be able to get a cup of coffee at the breakfast bar. It had been closed that early back in MO and I had to head out on empty.

But, for some reason, this motel (Super 8) sets up their breakfast at 4:00 AM, so I got my coffee and sweet something. While having my coffee, ran in to one of the first interesting characters on this trip.

A young lady, about the age of my oldest daughter (keeping it in context so you won't think I was trying to hit on her), came through the front door leading two tiny chihuahua's. I made a few comments about the dogs and that was it. But as I was leaving, she was taking her dogs out to a big Budget 24' IHC 4300 rental truck with car and trailer attached and heading out. Here I was, sweating over what was actually a smaller truck, and she gets her dogs in and heads out like it's no big deal.

So I'm off to AZ today. It took what seemed for ever to get to Albuquerque, where I traveled road for the rest of the way that I had been on before, which provides a certain comfort factor. On through Albuquerque, past the Acoma reservation, past the lava fields (see the adjacent picture - if you click on it, it will enlarge) and on past Gallup. I was really starting to get into territory that I enjoy driving in, and perhaps the goal of this whole trip, the desert. It did seem to take forever, though, to reach AZ.

By this time, I'd had many conversations with dispatch to try to find out whether they knew how I was going to get out of Show Low (I'd heard there was no public transportation) and home. But the previous evening, they had knocked the pins out by telling me they were working on a truck to pick up in Phoenix to go to Lewisville, TX, just outside of Dallas. I was worn out and wanted to get home. I also was running out of hours on my log. I figured I'd have less than 20 hours left for the week by the time I dropped in Show Low, and if I logged anywhere close to legal, I'd be out before I could make the drop. Plus, there is always the internal debate once you're out on whether this is going to be a junker. They'll never let you know whether it's new or used. Sometimes you can figure out for yourself, and I did, later.

I let dispatch know I didn't particularly want to take the next trip, plus let her know about the fax. She couldn't understand how I could be running out since starting last Friday, so wanted me to fax in my log summary sheet. That required another stop to find a fax and the time doing that.

I had decided that I wasn't going to hang the left off I-40 on 77 to go down into Show Low until I knew what plans dispatch had. I stopped at the first rest area in AZ and tried to find out a little more about Show Low. The lady there gave a big list of motels in Show Low and said she was pretty sure they had car rental and bus transportation. So I proceeded on to Holbrook, where I-40 (now my good friend) met rt. 77 (totally unkown to me).

I figured I'd need access to a fax to get travel info from dispatch, hoping they had it, and/or next trip info. So a short search in Holbrook led me to the local Radio Shack. I called dispatch and the pressure pitch stated. I told dispatch to go ahead and fax me the info for the next trip, and while I doubted I was going to take it, I would review it and make a decision. I wanted to be fair to Spirit Miller.

I was anxious to get this over with and get on down to Show Low. By now, it was after 4:00 PM EST and I wanted to get the delivery made, hotel, and travel arrangements for the next day completed. The fax arrived a few minutes later, and after reviewing it, it was easy for me to make the final decision that I would not be taking the truck from Phoenix to Dallas. This is very unusual, but there was a note included in the fax that stated the truck leaked oil and they would pack additional oil for the trip. I knew I wasn't nursing one that was old enough to have to have oil packed for the trip.

I called my dispatcher and asked her if she was sitting down - because I wasn't taking the trip. Lot's of huffing and puffing on her part, stuff about how they couldn't make money sending me back, I couldn't make money, etc. Also, to them, it looked like I shouldn't have any log problems. I still haven't figured how, if I logged all my time, I could do it with less that 20 hours remaining, but I told her the log didn't make any difference any longer, I was going home. And, I'd appreciate her normal assistance in setting up my travel, but if she couldn't, I'd handle it myself. So dispatch reluctantly agreed to get me lined up to come home.

I then proceeded on to meet Show Low for the first time. By now, it was 4:30 PM and I still had time to make the drop OK since they were on Mountain time. I expected the drive to be in to the mountains, but it was actually a 50 mile drive across high plateau. I arrived at Show Low shortly after 5:00 PM, and of course, made a wrong turn heading down main street. Rather than do the male macho thing, I went ahead and asked for directions. Also took note of the nearest hotels to my drop, which were beyond a reasonable walk, but not far away. I found the drop off, had a very helpful receptionist who was taking care of her 5 month old, post-tripped the truck, which I was very glad to be rid of even though that leads to one of the more precarious positions of driveaway - no transportation. But the receptionist found a nice fellow who would drop me off at the Thunderbird Motel on his way home.

I've never stayed at a motel named Thunderbird that wasn't pretty much of a dump. But this one was right on main street and within a few blocks of White Mountain Transportion, which was to be my ticket to freedom, Phoenix, and a plane trip to Raleigh, where I'd pick up a rental and get home.

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

I was at White Mountain Transportation early, since the one and only shuttle was to leave at 8:00 AM MST. All they run is one shuttle/day, no actual buses. The shuttle could hold 11 and there was going to be 11, so I was sort of dreading this. But it turned out I hopped the shot gun seat. It turned out to be the most interesting scenery of the trip, and I rode along with several interesting passengers - a sophisticated 76 year old lady, a nice Vietnamese lady, a VP of some tech company, and a driver that, since I was riding shot gun, gave me a nice guided tour of the area. I won't detail the one passenger, with boobs hanging out and questionable profession. The scenery was nice enough that I'd like to go back (no, not because of the boobs). It was a beautiful drive from Show Low down 7000 feet in elevation to Phoenix and the desert, which I really like.

At the airport, I found a business center to do all the faxing that dispatch is anxious to get back. Of course, they had a problem getting the fax to send, so I called my dispatcher. She was much more pleasant, since she was anxious to get the fax. I told her that we would need to talk after I got back and settled down to do some "career counseling" with me to make sure the company's needs and my requirments could mesh. I wasn't happy with all the pressure I'd gotten at the end of the trip yesterday.

Had an uneventful and relatively on-time trip back to Raleigh by way of Dallas. Arrived Raleigh around 11:00 PM, and quickly got my Hertz rental and was back on I-40, of all routes, heading home. Wasn't sure I'd be able to push through the 3 hour drive, but I wanted to get home and made it, after dodging plenty of deer, by about 2:30 AM.

This completed trip #32 for me, and added MO, OK, NM, and AZ to my driveaway states visited. If you visit my States Visited map, by selecting it from my main page, you'll notice that AR now sticks out like a target. I was within a couple of miles of KA when I went from MO into OK. I had a notion to hang a right and touch it, but didn't want to take the time at the time and sort of figured it would be cheating if I wasn't passing through for a reason.

Once again, I was especially happy to get home after a long trip. Now, I need to assess my options with driveaway to make sure the company can put up with my requirements, then I might be ready to head out middle of next week since my wife will be attending a conference. I have a good bit of activity bus duty scheduled through May which will limit some potential driveaway work. That's probably good since I'm on the cusp of burning out.