Niagra in the Fall

Did 3 runs this week, the middle one getting me to Niagra Falls, but not really the actual falls. These will be the last runs I do for several weeks, since I will be starting to Choteau, MT from VA on Tuesday. I figure that will be a 4-day drive each way, plus some time visiting in Choteau. So, at the least, I'll be out of driveaway action for several weeks. My dispatcher indicated that if I weren't driving my own truck to Choteau, they would have liked to have worked some driveaway trips between here and Choteau. But I'm hauling some furniture to the fixer-upper house and will have to drive privately both ways.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Dispatch had asked me on Friday if I had a way to get to South Boston, VA to pick up a truck that had been staged there. They were willing to pay someone $75 for the 112 mile trip, but I didn't have any family member available and didn't really want to ask friends, so they lined me up with an Enterprise rental car from Roanoke to South Boston. From there, Enterprise was kind enough, or corporate policy enough, to drive me the 8-10 miles to where the truck was staged at a semi-remote Exxon station on rt. 360 east 8 miles east of South Boston.

This was the first time I'd ever been to South Boston. I had a lot of concerns about the truck that would be staged in the middle of nowhere, to be delivered to an electrical contracting outfit in Carlisle, PA. But I was relatively pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the Exxon. The truck was a IHC 7300 4-wheel drive boom truck. Had automatic and drove pretty well. Did have the required check engine light on, but otherwise drove nicely.

I pre-tripped the truck and was on the road by about 11:30 AM. Made my first trip up rt. 501 to Lynchburg, where I picked up rt. 29 to I-64 in Charlottesville, over to I-81 at Staunton, then straight to Carlisle, PA. I spent the night in Carlisle and delivered early on Tuesday morning.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

I arrived before 8:00 AM, delivered the truck, then had to wait a few minutes until dispatch was available. After I got through, I was told they had a Hertz rental car lined up from Mechanicsburg, PA to Frederick, MD, where I was to pick up an Altec truck destined for Niagra Falls. That seemed cool enough. Hertz, due to pressure from Enterprise, will now pick you up from some locations. So I didn't have to get the hated taxi ride. However, after waiting for over an hour, and finding that the young lady picking me up was totally lost and didn't know east from west, it took a long time to get my rental. After a lot of phone calls, trying to give directions for an area I'd never been to, she finally found me and I got the car. She had been driving for over an hour in my rental car (gas story later) before she found me. Got the car about 10:00 AM and was on the way to Frederick, MD.

At the Hertz location in Frederick, they were in a real tizzy. Didn't have anyone to check in my car, and they sent the janitor to drop me off at the Altec plant. In the hubbub, I forgot to fill up the rental car - a classic major mistake. I later found they'd charged me over $20 for a couple gallons of gas. I did manage to get a $10 credit when I appealed based on how long the young lady had cruised the PA countryside before finding me in Carlisle.

I've had some bad experiences with trucks at this Altec location, but this truck was pretty much a cherry. It was one of the longest boom trucks I've driven - an IHC 4300, automatic. Drove great and didn't even have the proverbial check engine light on the whole trip. I pre-tripped and was on the road around 12:30 PM. It was a mystery to me as to the best route to Niagra Falls from Frederick. My Tom Tom said stay on interstate, even though that was an extra 75 or more miles. PC Miler, which is used by Spirit Miller to pay me, had me going more directly, but on a lot of smaller roads. I decided to go the Tom Tom route using I-70 to I-76 to Pittsburg, then I-79 to Erie, then I-90 to Niagra Falls. That route runs you too far west, but I figured may have saved some time. Don't know if I'll ever find out.

I spent the night about 50 miles north of Pittsburg in the Slippery Rock area. Was raining, so definitely no exploring.

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

My deal with dispatch was that I needed to be home Weds. night. I sort of figured I wasn't going to make it, but I didn't tell them that. I still had about 175 miles to make Niagra Falls, plus I did not have a drop off address and was to call a contact as I approached. I did that about 9:30. Got in contact with a very hassled individual who gave me another person to call to find out a drop location. The other person never answered, so I finally called the original hassled person back. One thing lead to another, and he finally told me to go to the Home Depot just off I-290 in Buffalo. This was disappointing, because Niagra Falls would have meant I could have driven fairly closely, and finally seen, the falls. But I got to see Buffalo Home Depot instead. Had to wait for about an hour before anyone showed up to claim the truck, but even though they were very busy, they did agree to take me to the airport.

The Home Depot lot was loaded with various kinds of tree trucks. Turns out that the major snow storm in October, where they got 30+ inches of wet snow followed by all melting in two days, has left a lot of storm damage. I did not see any of it, but there were plenty of crews from Mississippi in the Niagra Falls area.

I was booked on a flight from Buffalo to Richmond, VA, where I would pick up a truck that night staged at Glen Allen to bring to Forest, which is my usual starting place. My flight didn't leave Buffalo until 3:00 PM via Philadelphia (arm pit) to Richmond. It was kind of cool to make Richmond about 8:00 PM, because my youngest daughter, along with my wife, who was in Richmond for a 3-day meeting, could pick me up and take me to the truck. That included dinner together and a free night in my wife's Sheritan Hotel room - much classier than my typical road hotel.

After dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, they took me to Glen Allen to pick up the truck that had been staged outside Terex. It was a familiar Forestry Equipment boom/chipper truck. I didn't do my usually thorough pre-trip, got the license plate on, the boom strapped down (for some reason, Terex always forgets that) and on to the hotel.

I found on the way to the hotel that the dimmer switch and wipers were not working. Not a problem, unless in rains.

Thursday, November 2, 2006

Thursday morning I awoke to rain. I figured that could become a challenge, but the weather forecasters were certain it was a short-lived shower. I went to the truck and did a more thorough pre-trip, and was on the road by about 7:00 AM. I drove in mist most of the way, but lucked out and didn't really have to have the wipers.

I arrived Forestry Equipment about 10:00 AM. Dispatch had lined up a local driver (driveaway guy with a DUI and can't drive again until next spring) to take me to Roanoke to pick up my personal car and I was home before noon. Had been a good series of trips and now I could concentrate on my mother's 90th birthday celebration, moving my oldest daughter in Richmond on Sunday, and finally starting to get ready on Monday to head to Choteau.

The only question left is whether I stay Tuesday morning next week long enough to cancel my wife's vote. She made an offer that I'm finding very hard to refuse :-).