Bunch of Trips - 41-45 - Including Little Truckin' Moma!

I had several bus trips last week, the first week back from vacation from retirement, and was expecting the next week to be for driveaway, which it turned out it was. But several things came up that were going to mess up the schedule. I've found when you get ready to head out on a driveaway trip, you'd best be ready to stay out longer than planned. But for this week, the primary scheduling conflict that came up was an awards ceremony with the VCU School of Arts to which we had been invited. It was to be on Wednesday, the worst day of the week to try to plan any driveaway trips around. So when I told dispatch that I might have scheduling conflicts, they seemed to get creative.

Dispatch asked if I'd be able to go out over the weekend, which I usually avoid, but since I was having conflicts for the following week (this week) I said I could. So they scheduled a trip from Forest, Va to Copley, OH - a delivery I had made before. I was to leave on Saturday after I got some yard work done and they lined up a rental car to bring back on Sunday, since I'd be arriving Copely late. Then, they scheduled 4 one-way trips from Forest to Glen Allen, just outside Richmond, which they could work around my daughter's award ceremony, plus throw in a night's stay to boot. That, then, brought up a delima for me as to whether I was willing to break the driveaway rules and let my wife ride along to save her driving to Richmond seperately. In the interest of conservation, in light of the current gas crunch, I decided to break the rules, and she agreed to ride along. Turned out to be a fun trip.

Trip 41
Saturday, April 29, 2006

After enjoying our traditional Saturday morning breakfast eating out, my wife headed off to yoga and I quickly did the yard work and headed to Forest to pick up the truck for Copely. I got there about 11:30 am. It had been staged in their bull pen - something they had stopped doing since having a truck stolen. It was the usual IHC 4300, 6-spd, no radio, no A/C with a chipper attached. I was to deliver it to the Extended Stay America in Copley where the ABC Tree Service gang seems to hang out.

I was comfortable with this trip since I had made the exact same trip a month or so ago. I knew that there were several hotels adjacent to where I would leave the truck, and a shuttle service to get me to the Akron airport to pick up the return rental car. I had originally planned to stay somewhere just before Copley for the night, then drop the truck on Sunday morning. But given that I would have to drive the extra distance to the drop-off on Sunday plus the 450 miles home on Sunday, I decided if I could I'd go ahead and drop the truck Saturday night.

Even though it took what seemed to be an extra long time making it to West Va, since I decided to use the 460 route to Beckley rather than the 220/I-64, I made pretty good time and got to Copley around 9:00 PM. I had made contact with ABC Tree on the way and had been told to stage the truck behind the hotel and leave the keys at the front desk. I figured that would work out well since I could then see if they had a room at an affordable price. However, after staging the truck and taking the keys to the desk, I was told there was a basketball tournament in town and everything was booked up. Not a good deal if you've just released your ride to the care of the front desk. So I walked down the street to the Comfort Inn with some concerns that I might be out of luck. They also told me they were booked up, but when I pleaded as to whether they had a closet I could sleep in, they found a smoking room I could have for $79. After talking them down (not that I was in much of a bargaining position) to $69, I took the room, settled in, then headed across the street to TGI Friday's for a nice libation and shrimp meal. I was definitely the shortest person in Akron on Saturday night considering all the basketball players that were hanging around.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

I tried to line up the shuttle for Sunday morning, but could not get a return call, so called a cab. That cost the company $45 rather than $20 with the shuttle, but so goes it. The cab arrived about 8:00 AM and I was off to the Akron airport. The nice Hertz lady handed me the keys to my economy car, which turned out to be a Chrysler Sebring with satellite radio. So, with my PDA with GPS and Tom Tom mapping software, and the satellite radio, I was teched out for the trip home.

And, since I was getting an early start, I decided this was finally my time to do some tourist stuff doing driveaway. The Pro Football Hall of Fame sits right next to I-77, so I pulled in at 8:45 AM and was their first guest of the day. Its a nice visit for a football fan.

Then, played with the GPS and satellite radio the rest of the way home, and arrived about 5:00 PM. Time to get the paperwork done and settle in to watch West Wing.

Trip 42 and 43
Monday, May 1, 2006

Today, I was to do the first of two turn-around trips from Forest to Glen Allen, Va. Except for not making much money, I liked the looks of this trip given I'd be able to drop off and pick up at the same location. No hussling around for buses, cabs, bumming rides, etc.

Since I had to return the rental car to the Lynchburg airport, I did have to get a cab from there to Forest and got there about 8:30 AM. The trucks leaving Forest for these two trip were chassis only, a very bumpy ride, and then a boom/chipper truck back from Glen Allen. All of these are IHC 4300, 6-spd, no radio or A/C. Chassis only are usually a pain not only because of the extra bumpy ride but the temporary mudflaps that are generally a problem.

Made the round trip to Glen Allen and was back to Forest by about 3:00 PM with the boom/chipper truck. The plan then was to wait until Tuesday afternoon, after my wife got home from school, to pick up the next chassis and head back to Richmond.

Trip 44
Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Turned out the plan worked to perfection. My wife got home early, we headed to Forest, picked up the chassis and were on the way to Richmond by about 4:00 PM. My wife did a lot of bouncing, and the seats didn't fit her small stature too well, but I think she's on the way to becoming a Trucker Moma. We arrived at our very swank Super 8 Motel about 7:00 PM and met our two daughters, who live in Richmond, for dinner. Had a very enjoyable evening.

Trip 45
Wednesday, May 3, 2006

We had a leisurely morning since the award ceremony wouldn't take place at VCU until 2:00 PM. So it was about 9:00 AM before we headed to Glen Allen to drop off the chassis truck and pick up the boom/chipper truck. The plan was to stage it at the giant shopping center in Short Pump, VA, where my oldest daughter works, then have her pick us up, do lunch with the daughters, and attend the award ceremony. The plan worked to perfection, except for the oldest daughter being sick and not coming to work. But since she couldn't rouse our youngest out of bed to come and get us, she did come and pick us up and transport us around as needed.

We had a nice, leisurely, lunch at what is a rather weird restaurant for me Kuba Kuba, in the fan district in Richmond. My daughers are good at coming up with restaurants and, particularly, ones that cost dad a little on the high side. But it's always fun to dine with them and we had a long lunch that lead right up to ceremony time at the Sonia Vhalocovic Theater on the VCU campus a few blocks away.

The name, Sonia, has extra meaning to me. In a tail I won't get in to here, I was once a music major at VCU and Sonia was my sight singing teacher (no, I can't sing). She was quite a card and it was nice to see she was still around VCU and laying out the cash for an auditorium.

My youngest daughter, the one pictured here trucking with her dad, received a merit award for academic and creative excellence - talents she quite obviously doesn't get from her dad, but for which her mother and I are quite proud. Then, it was a quick visit to her apartment to visit Zy, the country become cityfied cat, and on back to Forest.

We dropped the truck off about 7:00 PM. It was nice to have the trip completed, since I had stretched the driveaway rules to have my wife accompanying. But it was nice to have company and all the other family activities built into this trip work out. Also, it was VERY unusual for my driveaway company to have all the trips lined up ahead of time and not get changed in the middle. Knowing what was going to happen and when really made a difference. Really enjoyed this lightly paid experience.