Trip 49 - Still Mindlessly Moving Trucks
I'm going to borrow a phrase from Dick Williams, and my own personal driveaway slogan will become - Mindlessly moving trucks across America. In honor of my very green-minded wife, I may also add - Burning our fossil fuels for no good reason (also stolen from Dick).
Dick came up with the idea, and I think I'll steal it because I think it so well describes what I've found we do so much in driveaway. We just move trucks from point A to point B, and there very seldom is a good reason as to why. I'm still trying to figure out why a company would pay to move a relatively old truck 2200 miles from Pottstown, PA to Show Low, AZ. I'd really think they could get the equivalent truck closer to home. Anyway, it keeps us driving around the country, and I guess that's what we really want to do.
Trip 49
Monday, May 22, 2006
My retirement schedule has really gotten filled up lately with bus duty and some other stuff. And in light of our upcoming long vacation trip to Canada and Montana coming up beginning June 21, I see there are not many days left to do driveaway in between. This week, I did have Monday and Tuesday, but had to be back Tuesday night so I could do my wife's class field trip on Wednesday morning. So last Friday, I called dispatch and told them things were getting tight, but if they had a quick trip for Monday I could take it. They seem to stay fairly booked up, so they came up with a truck leaving Forest (always Forest it seems) for Canton, NY (no, not OH). They already figured that over 600 miles would be a little further than I could likely make up and back in the two days, so they figured I could drive part way and likely leave it somewhere about Scranton, PA it order to be able to make it back by Tuesday night.
I headed to Forest early Monday morning to pick up the truck. It was the usual boom/chipper IHC 4300, 6-spd, but this one did have radio (a really lousy one that would hardly pick up anything) and A/C (which I didn't need because they had frost warnings in PA which I was unprepared for). When I pulled my personal car into the bull pen where everyone parks at FEVA, I noticed there were two company chase cars sitting there. One, for whatever reason, doesn't have a tow bar, but the other did, so I figured dispatch might want me to pull it and drive it back rather than track down taxis and rental cars for wherever I left the truck. When I called dispatch to let them know I had the truck ready to go, with a little checking they agreed it would be a good idea for me to hook up the chase car. So that added another 30 minutes or so to getting out. This particular car had 412,000 miles on it, so I was a bit cautious in checking it out to see if it stood a chance of getting me back.
I finally got on the road, fueled and hooked up, around 9:00 AM. The trip into PA was relatively uneventful. It was a beautiful day most of the way. As I approached the mountains north of Harrisburg, it did get cloudy and rainy looking, and I could tell the temperature was dropping. I hadn't packed a jacket in the interest of traveling as light as I could, especially since the forecast looked so sunny and warm. Around 3:00 PM, I called in to find where they wanted the truck staged. They agreed Scranton would be a good stopping point, so they came up with the Petro Truck stop just south of Scranton at Avoca, PA. I got there about 5:30 PM, unhooked the car and parked the truck and headed back south. It had been close to 500 miles for the day, so I drove about 100 miles back down I-81 to Jonestown/Lebanon, PA and stayed in a Red Carpet Inn (no, not a Red Roof as I thought where I'd get my travel points).
I was back in the old chase car towards home by about 7:30 AM. Probably the most excitement of the trip happened in lower PA on I-81, where a wild turkey flew out across I-81 perpendicular to my path, and kept on coming - all the way from far off the left side across the north-bound lane and on across my lane - the south-bound lane. Since 18 wheelers were bearing down on my little Kia Accent, I didn't slow down as it came across in front of my car. I was sure I was to hit it, but for some reason I missed by a matter of inches. First turkey I've played chicken with.
Took the chase car back to Forest, picked up my personal car, and finally got home about 2:30 PM. It had taken longer to drive the 450 miles back home than I expected, but as always, was glad to arrive safely. Another Spirit delivery.
Dick came up with the idea, and I think I'll steal it because I think it so well describes what I've found we do so much in driveaway. We just move trucks from point A to point B, and there very seldom is a good reason as to why. I'm still trying to figure out why a company would pay to move a relatively old truck 2200 miles from Pottstown, PA to Show Low, AZ. I'd really think they could get the equivalent truck closer to home. Anyway, it keeps us driving around the country, and I guess that's what we really want to do.
Trip 49
Monday, May 22, 2006
My retirement schedule has really gotten filled up lately with bus duty and some other stuff. And in light of our upcoming long vacation trip to Canada and Montana coming up beginning June 21, I see there are not many days left to do driveaway in between. This week, I did have Monday and Tuesday, but had to be back Tuesday night so I could do my wife's class field trip on Wednesday morning. So last Friday, I called dispatch and told them things were getting tight, but if they had a quick trip for Monday I could take it. They seem to stay fairly booked up, so they came up with a truck leaving Forest (always Forest it seems) for Canton, NY (no, not OH). They already figured that over 600 miles would be a little further than I could likely make up and back in the two days, so they figured I could drive part way and likely leave it somewhere about Scranton, PA it order to be able to make it back by Tuesday night.
I headed to Forest early Monday morning to pick up the truck. It was the usual boom/chipper IHC 4300, 6-spd, but this one did have radio (a really lousy one that would hardly pick up anything) and A/C (which I didn't need because they had frost warnings in PA which I was unprepared for). When I pulled my personal car into the bull pen where everyone parks at FEVA, I noticed there were two company chase cars sitting there. One, for whatever reason, doesn't have a tow bar, but the other did, so I figured dispatch might want me to pull it and drive it back rather than track down taxis and rental cars for wherever I left the truck. When I called dispatch to let them know I had the truck ready to go, with a little checking they agreed it would be a good idea for me to hook up the chase car. So that added another 30 minutes or so to getting out. This particular car had 412,000 miles on it, so I was a bit cautious in checking it out to see if it stood a chance of getting me back.
I finally got on the road, fueled and hooked up, around 9:00 AM. The trip into PA was relatively uneventful. It was a beautiful day most of the way. As I approached the mountains north of Harrisburg, it did get cloudy and rainy looking, and I could tell the temperature was dropping. I hadn't packed a jacket in the interest of traveling as light as I could, especially since the forecast looked so sunny and warm. Around 3:00 PM, I called in to find where they wanted the truck staged. They agreed Scranton would be a good stopping point, so they came up with the Petro Truck stop just south of Scranton at Avoca, PA. I got there about 5:30 PM, unhooked the car and parked the truck and headed back south. It had been close to 500 miles for the day, so I drove about 100 miles back down I-81 to Jonestown/Lebanon, PA and stayed in a Red Carpet Inn (no, not a Red Roof as I thought where I'd get my travel points).
I was back in the old chase car towards home by about 7:30 AM. Probably the most excitement of the trip happened in lower PA on I-81, where a wild turkey flew out across I-81 perpendicular to my path, and kept on coming - all the way from far off the left side across the north-bound lane and on across my lane - the south-bound lane. Since 18 wheelers were bearing down on my little Kia Accent, I didn't slow down as it came across in front of my car. I was sure I was to hit it, but for some reason I missed by a matter of inches. First turkey I've played chicken with.
Took the chase car back to Forest, picked up my personal car, and finally got home about 2:30 PM. It had taken longer to drive the 450 miles back home than I expected, but as always, was glad to arrive safely. Another Spirit delivery.
posted by Harry | 4:48 PM
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