Driveaway

Armstrong Air and Space Museum

2010-11-12T11:27:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday (11/9/10), sort of by accident, or at least not originally by plan, I visited the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, OH. Yes, that's right, Wapakoneta, OH. I went near there on one of my early driveaway trips through Ohio, and thought it would be nice to someday come back and visit the museum of the first man to walk on the moon. So I did.

It started on Sunday with a truck coming out of Forest, VA and going to a relatively new area for me, Alma, MI. I decided to leave on Sunday since I really wasn't busy, it was a really nice day, and it's easier to do your driving on Sunday than on typical weekdays. I picked up a new Ford F750 tree service truck around 7:30 AM and headed west. There are a lot of ways to get to Michigan from Virginia, but I mostly followed wherever the ole Garmin Nuvii 465T took me, which was up through southeastern Ohio, around Columbus, and stopping for the night in Marion, OH.

I stopped at a nice Comfort Inn, but had pulled into its parking lot before I realized there was no outlet, only the entrance, and no way around the motel. The parking lot was too small to turn around in without backing up. And that's my cardinal rule while towing - don't get in a situation where you have to back up, because you can't without wiping out your toad. So I had to unhook, turn the truck around, move into an out-of-the-way parking spot, and hook back up. Not that it's a big deal with the type of tow bar I have, but just an activity I'd rather not have to do after the initial hookup. I even positioned the truck in a way to protect the parking space in front of me so I'd be able to pull out in the morning.

The next morning, when I went out to the truck early, I saw that some dummy had parked his 22 foot Ryder Rental Truck in such a way as to block me in. So I had to unhook again, move my truck, and rehook again. In the hundreds of tows I've done, I've only had to unhook one other time, and that was while driving a crane truck that wouldn't turn around on a football field. And on this trip, I had to unhook twice at one stop. My record was screwed.

On to Alma on another beautiful driving day. I delivered around noon. Dispatch initially had a truck in Wisconsin, which would have been about a 380 mile deadhead, but seemed doable. But after further checking it was determined that the customer would not let me tow with that truck. So dispatch told me to head south to Ft. Wayne, IN, where they'd been having trucks come available and thought one might be ready by the time I did the 180 miles deadhead.

Unfortunately, as I arrived near Ft. Wayne, there was no truck, so dispatch advised that I should just start heading back toward home. That's when I got the bright idea of visiting the space museum. I could drive about 140 more miles to Wapakoneta, stay there for the evening, visit the museum the next morning, and maybe by then a truck would come available in the area and head me on a paid trip back toward home, which was still 440 miles away.

I had to wait until 9:30 AM for the museum to open, which drove me crazy since I'd been up since 4:30 AM (combination of sleeplessness while on the road, a bad cold, and still adjusting to standard time). I spent about an hour in the museum, got in my tow car heading back east, and called dispatch to see if anything had come available. Unfortunately, no go, so I kept deadheading toward home. Nothing came available, so I drove the whole 440 miles home, a deadhead totaling about 712 miles. That makes this a second not-so-well-paying trip in a row.

I'd had several really good paying trips this fall, but the last two have been busts. So goes the driveaway business.

Never Plan, Just Be Ready

2010-10-20T10:05:00.002-04:00

Last week (10/12/10), dispatch offered me a trip taking a crane truck from Daleville, VA to Kansas City, MO, followed by a non-CDL truck from just outside Kansas City to New Orleans. Normally, I'm not in to driving cranes unless I have to, but in checking this trip out I found a reasonable airfare back from New Orleans to Raleigh, NC, and the non-CDL easy trip to New Orleans made it interesting. I'd either take a rental car back from Raleigh, or maybe my wife would drive the 180 miles to pick me up. So given all that, I wasn't going to tow. I accepted the trip on Monday with the plan to leave on Tuesday morning, get to Kansas City Wednesday afternoon, pick up the next truck, and be in New Orleans on Friday. My driveaway mentor, Dick Williams, was lined up to pick me up at my drop point in Kansas City and take me to the next truck. It was all too good to be true in this business.

My wife took me to Altec early Tuesday morning where I found the truck, but no keys. After searching every spot I could think of, I went in to the plant and found someone that had the keys. I had the truck pre-tripped and on the road by about 8:00 AM. It was not great to be driving a crane, but it was nice not to be towing. You can't back up with a tow car attached, so it adds an extra layer of complexity to driving. And with this one, I had to back up at my first fuel stop. Go figure.

The trip to Kansas City went well. I drove about 560 miles and spent the night in sort of a rural area, Grayville, IL. I stayed at a nice motel using the Corp. Lodging Card. The fried chicken special was no longer available, so it was meatloaf, which was good.

On the road early the next morning, trying to get to Kansas City early so Dick could get me on to the next truck and headed to New Orleans. I called dispatch to get the phone number of the outfit for the next truck, but she didn't have a correct number. I should have picked up on something then, but didn't. On to Kansas City. At my last fuel stop, I called dispatch again to get the phone number, and she indicated there was a little problem. The truck I was to pick up was still in Chicago, or somewhere, and wouldn't be ready before Friday. This was Wednesday and I wasn't interested in hanging around until Friday and then starting a 2+ day trip to New Orleans. Dispatch did get on the stick and got me an early morning, 5:30 AM, flight out of Kansas City that would get me back to Roanoke at 10:30 AM on Thursday.

As I approached the delivery point for this truck just outside the Kansas City airport off I-435, I came as close as I've come in driveaway to having a major wreck. I was in the middle of 3 lanes, an 18 wheeler was coming by on the right side, when all hell broke loose in front of him with cars slamming on their brakes. I knew he couldn't stop and his only out would be my lane, but he hadn't cleared me. I went ahead and took a dive into the left lane, clearing the middle lane for him. Luckily, there was no one in the left lane. I had no time to check until I was already there. A crane tangling with a small car, or the 18 wheeler for that matter, would have been ugly. The other truck driver and I gave a wave on the good work as he passed me, but the more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. My lawyer's advice was coming back again - "Harry, you are stupid to be doing this work. There's too much liability for what you get out of it."

I delivered early, and Dick was there quickly to take me on a tour of his stomping grounds. He'd been kind enough to find me a nice motel near the airport. I had a nice visit with him, had a quick night's sleep, and was at the airport before 4:30 AM. Flight went well, and a cab ride had me back home by 11:00 AM.

It would have been nice to have had the follow-on trip. There are a lot of expenses for just one trip, and even though dispatch screwed up, it will remain to find out in settlement how much of those expenses they will cover themselves. Once again in this business, you are wasting your time to develop tight plans. They rarely work out.

It's Been a Long Trip

2010-08-27T12:55:00.007-04:00

It's been sometime since I've updated this blog, so I figured my first set of trips since taking my summer Montana break, and perhaps my longest combined trips, deserved a post.

I actually hadn't notified dispatch that I was ready to hit the road again since returning from Montana for the summer, but they did call on Thursday, 8/19/10, to see if I could be available. Initially I told her not until Monday, but she seemed desperate and she had an interesting set of trips for me to ponder. She offered me a pickup in Creedmoor, NC that would require I go to Shelby, NC to add a chipper, then deliver the unit to Orlando, FL. Then go to Lake Wales, FL and pick one up going to Lincoln, MA. New England is not a favorite destination of mine, but the combined paid trip was over 2200 miles, plus Southwest Airlines was showing a $78 fare back to Raleigh where I'd need to return to pick up my car, so I told her I'd take it leaving on Sunday.

Sunday was incredibly hot and humid, but since the truck I was picking up in Creedmoor was at Altec, I felt confident it would have air conditioning - NOT! Needless to say, I was highly disappointed when I arrived and saw that it was a nice, new Ford F750, automatic, radio, but no AC. I proceeded to Shelby, where I was to pick up the chipper. I had not been to this particular Altec plant and dispatch had failed to provide directions, only the address. Since it was Sunday, the chipper would be locked in the bull pen, for which I did have the combination. But upon arriving, I found the main gate had a keyed padlock. It was hot, my cell phone decided not to work there, and after about an hour I had about decided that I would have to go to a hotel in Shelby and pick the chipper up on Monday. About the time I'd sweated all I thought I could, and was about to leave, I noticed cars going down a road on the back side of the lot, so I decided to drive the truck over in that direction to see if I could find another way in. After finding 3 other gates to the lot, the last one had a combination lock, and my combination worked.

I then had the chore of trying to back up to and attach the chipper with no help - no easy task by yourself. I'd say I was in and out of the truck over 10 times getting the chipper hooked up, and I was in a total sweat and about to pass out, but did accomplish the task. I'd wasted over an hour and a half there, but did proceed on towards Florida. I made it to St. George, GA for the evening where it was wonderful to finally get in an air conditioned room. I decided to go to bed early and try to get on the road Monday as early as I was legal, which was about 5:00 AM to try to take advantage of as much morning cool as possible.

Getting up the next morning, I found there wasn't any morning cool. It was so humid my eye glasses stayed fogged. I did have some luck in it was cloudy most of the way to Orlando, where I delivered about noon. I'd called over the weekend to find taxi's to Lake Wales and finally had settled on one that gave me a $89 fare for the 55 mile trip. I called to let them know I was there, but it was about an hour before they arrived.

At Lake Wells, I did get some good news. The truck was a nice little Izuzu non-CDL spray unit that was a real dream to drive, and above all, had the best AC I could hope for. I literally had to turn some heat on to keep from freezing with it on. I drove back through rain around Orlando and made it to Kingsland, GA for the evening.

The next day, Tuesday, it was my goal to make it 560 miles and stay at home for that night on the way to Lincoln, MA. I made good time, and about 4:30 PM dispatch called to say I was today's lucky winner and had been selected for a random drug and alcohol test. What a pain! Dispatch did get it set up for a place I've been to several times in Roanoke, and I was there about 5:30 PM. The guy was quick and I was on my way home by 6:00 PM.

The next morning, Wednesday, I was up and heading up I-81 through Scranton, PA and across I-84 towards MA. I'll add miles to avoid the I-95 corridor. I was looking forward to dropping this unit the next morning, working my way to Boston's Logan Airport and on my way home, but dispatch called late in the evening to complicate things. They had a truck in Somerville, MA, about 15 miles from where I was dropping that was going to Florida.

I initially said no, but after some negotiation, she said I could just drive it back to Creedmoor, NC, where my car was. Even though I was about out of hours for the week, that did sound fairly attractive to have paid miles to get back to where I needed to go anyway. However, she wasn't sure the truck would be ready on Thursday after I dropped, and I wasn't willing to stay over. I drove on to Vernon, CT for the evening.

Thursday morning I was up early, as always, and fought the traffic approaching Boston, and got to Lincoln and the drop point about 9:00 AM. I'd done some checking and found the drop point was near the commuter rail, so I planned to catch it to either get closer to Somerville to pick up the next truck, or to the Boston airport. I called dispatch right away to see if the truck was ready. It was not, so my plan was to get to the airport.

The drop point was literally 200 yards from the commuter rail station, and there was a 9:40 AM train I wanted to catch. The mechanic at the drop point was kind enough to insist that he drive me over to the station to make sure I got where I needed to be. Sometimes you run into sending/receiving outfits that are super kind.

I had also found that I might be able to catch an earlier Southwest flight if I got to the airport early enough, so I was sort of in a rush. Even though I had very good luck catching the commuter train, then the subway, and then the bus to get to the airport, I was still about 10 minutes too late to catch a 11:40 AM flight that I wanted. But I was able to pay a little difference and catch a 3:00 PM flight. I was originally scheduled on a 5:30 PM flight. That got me to Raleigh at 6:55 PM, then a half hour wait on my $48 cab to get me back to Creemoor to pick up my car. I got there about 8:00 PM and started the 3 hour drive home, arriving about 11:15 PM.

Overall, except for the incredible heat going to Florida, this was one of the better driveaway trips I've taken, with maybe the most paid miles I've had, and probably typical for those in driveaway who do not tow. It takes a tremendous about of logistics to line up your transportation between trucks, and the costs can escalate exponentially on you if you aren't careful. Even though I don't like deadheading, I still prefer towing my car and not having to hassle with mass transportation.

States I've Visited in Driveaway (in red)

2009-12-07T22:37:00.000-05:00

A Long Trip

2009-12-07T11:29:00.005-05:00

I guess the last set of trips I just completed, and one of my longest, deserves a spot on the blog. And I added one new state, Nebraska, to states I've visited while doing driveaway.

I left last Tuesday, Dec. 1 with a Sterling 10-spd crane going from Daleville, VA to St. Joseph, MO, a trip of about 1,000 miles. Other than needing to dodge or outrun some southeastern snow on the way, things went well. I always have to stay on top of my game when driving triple-axle cranes, but in some ways it is good since you really stay awake.

I left debating whether I should tow my car since you are really left out there once you've gone 1,000+ miles and may or may not have a trip coming back. Dispatch usually cannot line things up before you leave. I decided to go ahead and tow my car. About an hour before arriving on Weds., dispatch offered me a trip back to Manassas, VA from Seward, NE. That was good because it would only be a 160 mile deadhead to Seward and Manassas was not too far from home. So after delivering the crane in St. Jo about 4:00 PM, I drove toward Seward. On the way, I called the sending outfit to make sure I had the correct directions to find them and that the truck was ready. All seemed OK, so I drove to Lincoln, NE and stayed there for the night.

The sending outfit had suggested it might be good to not show up right at 7:00 AM since they would be sending their trucks and crews out at that time, so I delayed until about 7:40 before arriving, at which time I found out the truck I was to take was broken down, parts would not arrive until Friday, and they were assigning a different truck going back (why they didn't know this when I called the previous afternoon, I don't know). Plus, the truck I had been re-assigned was an old 1994 Peterbuilt that had been sitting around for a while and needed 4 hours of mechanic's time before they could get the bed marker lights working and wiring for my toad. In the meantime, since it was 15 degrees with high winds, I'd check the truck out occasionally and otherwise stayed in my tow car for warmth (another good reason to tow). I found that the truck had a new wrinkle in that it had a 13-spd tranny with both a range shift and splitter. I've driven many with a range shifter, but this was the first with a spitter, which on this one worked considerably differently than I expected. The young mechanic on the truck gave me the pointers on how it worked. The whole 4 hours that I waited, I stewed about how old and dirty this truck was, and how likely it was to give me problems on the 1200+ mile trip to Manassas.

About noon, the truck was finally turned over to me. As I got ready to leave, dispatch called to tell me the truck was going to Indianapolis rather than Manassas. Although that might leave me a 550 mile deadhead to get home, I was somewhat pleased not knowing whether this truck was going to give problems. It turned out this old Peterbuilt was one of the best trucks I've driven. It drove well for its age and I didn't have a bit of trouble with it. The heater even worked and it had a working radio although there was at least an inch of dirt in it and trash from many years of drivers leaving all their stuff in the cab.

I proceeded on I-80 east and into Iowa. They were calling for snow squalls, which I did hit east of Des Moines that evening and I began to see a lot of wrecks and the traffic jammed up. I also discovered that even as heavy as this 60k lbs. truck was, it would still spin/slide on a slick road. I drove to Iowa City for the evening.

Up early on Friday morning, I headed on to Indianapolis. This truck was almost a pleasure to drive since it drove so well and had an 80 gallon tank which eases the constant worry of making sure you can find a truckstop to refuel at the right time. About 2 hours before I reached Indy, dispatch called saying they had a non-CDL unit also in Indy going to Frederick, MD. Even though I had in my head to head out quickly on my deadhead home, I figured a small truck going fairly close home would make more sense. Payed miles are always better than deadhead miles.

I delivered the ole crane about 3:00 PM on Friday, headed about 25 miles to the next one, pre-tripped and headed out into the Indy traffic about 4:00 PM. A big snow storm was heading up the east coast and I wanted to get as many miles in as I could knowing I would eventually hit snow. I'll say it was at this point that I was really relying on our Driveaway fearless leader, Dick Williams, who is also a retired meteorologist, to keep me posted on weather conditions and the forecast. He had done this all during the trip, and I must say he nailed it every time. I told him that he is much better at predicting than economists are.

I drove on Friday for as long as I was legal, which was the full 14 hours. I stopped about 8:30 in Zanesville, OH for the evening. I was back on the road Saturday just as soon as I would be legal (10 hours required off duty), but hit snow within 30 minutes. It snowed hard all the way to Frederick, and even though I went through some of the high country of PA, I really didn't meet any covered roads. I was very fortunate that the temps were just high enough to keep the roads slushy at worst. It was snowing heavily the whole way, especially as I arrived in Frederick. I post-tripped, unhooked, and headed home immediately. And although the snow was very heavy down much of I-81, my little Saturn toad made it fine and I was home about 5:00 PM after a long but fruitful trip. Since I didn't have that much deadheading, it should be a good paying one.

Still on Hiatus, But.........

2009-11-23T10:14:00.005-05:00

I'm still sort of on hiatus from updating my driveaway blog - just don't seem excited enough to make it worthwhile blogging about driveaway to my 1's of Driveaway Blog fans. But, I have some big news that should be broadcast, and a quick note about my latest trip.

The Big News!

Caitie, my youngest daughter, who turned 25 this past September, got married!!!!! She and her new husband, Hugh, had been living in our favorite town in the world, Choteau, MT, since January, getting their head straight after graduating from college, working in Guatemala, and coming back to the good ole US of A. During their stay, they figured they liked it in Montana, but not enough to do another winter there. Perfectly understandable. I typically do summers there, although I have enjoyed a couple of good blizzards and some -28 days there.

They decided during this past summer in Choteau to return back east and finally picked Asheville, NC as their nesting place. Hugh would return to school to do post-graduate work at UNC-Asheville, and Caitie would continue her art there. And to clean things up, they decided to get married before coming back. Even though my wife and I missed the wedding, we were thrilled for them to marry in our favorite place. Not to mention the huge savings, but I think they got what they really wanted. They are not the big wedding types, so they had a quiet wedding with friends they'd made in Choteau, officiated by the judge who married David Letterman and at the same location in the beautiful Teton County Courthouse. They spent their wedding night at the elegant Grand Union Hotel in Fort Benton, MT. I think they got what they wanted. Again, we were sad to miss the wedding, but really happy for them and enjoyed welcoming Hugh into the family.

Latest trip

Since this is supposed to be a driveaway blog, I will report on my latest trip, which was close to the type of trip I had imagined in my "looking at driveaway through rose colored glasses" days when I first started.

I took a nice, new unit from Altec in Daleville, VA to West Palm Beach, FL - never a bad trip at any time but especially nice as winter approaches. I tow my car 99.9% of the time, but this time I checked some travel options and found a $22 airfare on Allegiant Air out of Orlando's Sanford Internation Airport along with a $38 rental car from Alamo from West Palm to Sanford. The only drawback, and actually one most of us would like, was I'd have to stay over an extra day to catch the flight since Allegiant doesn't fly that route daily. So, a driveaway driver has to do what a driveaway driver has to do, and I stayed over near Titusville, FL at a nice Comfort Inn using a $42.99 travel book coupon, visited the US Astronaut Museum, and tooled around Port Canaveral for the afternoon.

The trip, in general, was very relaxing, I made a few dollars (not a lot) and put me in the mood for rethinking driveaway. Driveaway, the way I normally do it, and many others too, is very stressful and not a lot of fun. It is very hard to get assigned trips enough in advance to line up reasonable alternative transportation, so I've found I have to tow my car in order to survive. I just can't take what a lot of drivers do which involves bumming the best transportation you can get once you've dropped your truck, hopping on buses, trying to get to rental cars, etc. Those expenses can run up and out of hand very quickly if you aren't careful. I've found towing, along with all of its hassles, is a better fit for me.

This is the type of trip I'd like to do more often - fairly long, with return transportation lined up before I leave. But I know that's not reasonable to expect, especially from the company I drive for, so will soon get back into the towing mode, I'm sure.

On Hiatus

2009-05-26T14:44:00.002-04:00

I'm on hiatus from driveaway blog entries. I've taken several good trips since my last post including KY, AL, FL, MA, and others, but really nothing that I can recall that is too interesting to write about. I suspect many of my 10's of fans would say the same about the stuff I've already written about.

Anyway, unless something really exciting comes up, I may make some entries in the fall. Until then, I may get another trip or two in before we head to MT for the summer.

Stay safe out there, and for all you fellow driveaway drivers, keep moving those trucks mindlessly around the country.

The Arkansas Ice Storm

2009-02-08T13:05:00.004-05:00

Dispatch called last Monday, 2/2/09, to see if I was available to pick a truck up in Frederick, MD for delivery to Paragould, AR, a trip of about 900 miles, not counting the 225 miles deadhead from home to Frederick. I felt that would be a good trip, plus Arkansas remained as the one last state in the eastern half of the US that I had not been in, so I took the trip.

I left early Tuesday on the deadhead to Frederick, arriving about 10:30 AM. I found the forestry services (chipper body with a boom) truck, pre-tripped, and was on the road by 11:30 AM. The most direct routing would have taken me through WV and KY, but snow was forecast, plus KY had been hard hit by the ice storm. I would have liked to have viewed that, but didn't want to fight the snow or the possibility of no fuel in KY if the lights were still out. So I took the I-81 route south that would take me by home through southwest VA and across TN. I made it to Blue Ridge, where I live, by about 4:00 PM and decided to stay the night at home and proceed on the next morning. There was snow forecast for overnight in southwest VA.

Wednesday morning, I was on the road by 7:00 AM. I soon hit snow squals by the time I got 50 miles down the road to Blacksburg, and they progressively got worse as I proceeded down I-81 through Wythville toward Abington. It actually got fairly bad approaching Abington, and they had enough salt on the road to sink a ship, which totally turned my green tow car white.

I wanted to visit my son, who lives in Nashville, as I went through, but the timing was such that I needed to get this ice storm truck on to AR. As I went through TN, I contacted the delivery person, and was told that since I wouldn't arrive in Paragould on Wednesday, that I needed to take the truck to Springdale, AR, an additional 300 miles. That was OK, but would start raising some concerns about getting back home by the weekend. I'll be returning to Montana on Monday and wanted a few days around the house before I left.

I stayed the night in Jackson, TN and proceeded on to Springdale, AR on Thursday morning. I arrived there about 3:00 PM and staged the truck at a Travelodge. Dispatch could not find a return trip, so I had to deadhead the whole 997 miles back home. I drove about 400 miles back to Jackson for the night, a total of about 800 miles for the day.

I had planned to visit my son in Nashville the next day, but I ended up getting too early of a start and he wasn't yet up as I approached, so I kept on going. Naturally, I got a call from him just as I was east of Nashville, but I didn't feel like turning around so promised a visit later. I arrived home about 5:00 PM on Friday. That was about 2,400 miles and several really long travel days.

I did get to see Arkansas for the first time, and can only say their rest stops are almost as bad as our VA rest tops, but the Ozarks looked like they had some potential. I joked with my friend that I had to take a shower after I left AR, since Bill Clinton had been there. I guess that's not politially correct, or is it?

Across the Border and a Breakdown

2009-01-23T14:14:00.006-05:00

I almost hate to start on this write-up, and don't really know why I am, other than to get it out of my system.

Last Friday, 1/16/09, dispatch asked if I would be interested in taking a truck from Creedmoor, NC to Calgary, AB, then one from there back to Maine. With weather, distance of over 5,000 miles, etc., I chickened out on that one, later regretting that I didn't go ahead and take it and see if I could visit my place in Choteau, MT going and/or coming. I was offered another trip from Creedmoor, NC to Fort Erie, ON, which is just across the border from Buffalo, NY. I would pick one up there and return it to Ashland, OH. That sounded like a doable trip, and would give me the opportunity to try a Canadian border crossing, so I took it.

On Monday, 1/19/09, I deadheaded 166 miles to Creedmoor to the Altec plant. I easily found my bright red and orange truck staged outside their bullpen. I pre-tripped and got my toad hooked up, but the lights were not wired properly for my vehicle. Dispatch told me to go in to Altec and see if I could get them to fix it, which they did fairly quickly. So I was out and on my way by about 11:00 AM.

The most direct routing would have taken me up by Washington, DC and through PA, but with the big inauguration coming the next day, I knew I didn't want to do that, so I headed out through western NC, through the tip of VA, and in to WV. Then I'd go up through PA, across part of NY and into the Lewiston, NY border crossing just above Niagra Falls. Seemed like it might be a nice trip - but NOT!

I hit snow in Beckley, WV and literally drove through it the rest of the way. I spent the night in Weston, WV and was up and on the road early on Tuesday, arriving at the border crossing about 3:00 PM. I had the feeling that I really should stay in the US before trying this new trick of crossing the border with a new truck and a lot of documentation, and knowing I'd still have to go out into the boonies to deliver this truck and pick up a used truck to return to the US - all in freezing snow and wind. Naturally, dispatch highly encouraged me to go on across, and like the good natured fool I am, I proceeded.

Dispatch couldn't provide any guidance on how to do the actual crossing, where to go at the border, etc., so I blindly headed across. I planned to try to go to the customs office because I was told I needed to see a broker. Don't ask, I don't really understand the broker situation, but it turns out you need one, along with a lot of other offices, to get a truck across.

I missed the turn into the customs area on the US side, so pulled into the first parking area I could find, which was Duty Free (I don't really understand duty free either). A trucker there told me the brokers were far across the other way, but I could see the building and walk to it. So I left my truck and toad parked, since I couldn't back up with my toad, and truddled across to the customs building.

Inside, I was lost, so poked my head into the export office to ask where I could find the brokers. The kind agent there (yes, there are some) told me that this office was the one I needed to be in. So she started working on my paperwork. All she really needed to see was the truck and its title. I had the latter, but told her where the truck was and I'd have a difficult time getting it over here if she had to see it. Her boss was there, and he, for some unknown reason, agreed to let her stamp it and send me on. She told me to head on to the booth on the Canadian side.

Getting there, the Canadian agent told me the broker I had listed didn't exist to her knowledge, but she pointed me to the building where I could park and go inside to find out. There, an agent did find the correct broker and sent me to that office. I was actually lucky. This office wasn't overly busy and they were able to process my paperwork, send me to Canadian Customs, back up to the broker, and back down to Customs in about 2 hours. I managed to leave my cell phone at the broker's office on one of those trips, and one of the ladies there was kind enough to find me and return it. That would have been a lot of fun if I had left without it.

I got across the border at about 5:00 PM. During this whole time, while I was waiting around, I was working my dispatcher to try to find out about the paperwork and what was needed to get back across with the used truck. No luck there.

I had contacted the client, Lucas Tree, and a fine gentleman named Mark met me at one of the exits on the Queen Elizabeth Way, QEW, and led me out into the snowy, cold, windy, boonies to deliver this truck and pick up the used one. When we got there, we both agreed it was too dark and too cold to post-trip this one and pre-trip the next, so he took me to a hotel for the night and picked me up the next morning.

The next morning, it was about 5 degrees, but I got everything off the new truck and pre-tripped the old truck I was supposed to take back to Ashland, OH. Mark had told me that the panel lights and gauges did not work correctly, but that the truck ran well, which it did seem to do. Given that the oil light was on, I did make sure to check it before heading out. He guided me to a truck stop just inside the border, where we exchanged our paperwork for the new truck I had delivered, and I hoped I could receive the paperwork for this truck so I could cross.

My dispatcher had given me several bogus directives including Mark would have the paperwork (NOT), and go to the border and the paperwork will be there - of course NOT! So I refused to leave the truckstop until I had documents in hand. While waiting on dispatch, I found the angel that you often run in to on these trips where things seem to be getting out of hand. The angel was a fine lady named Kathy, who worked in the permit office which was located at the truckstop. Seems her job is to get the proper documentation so truckers can go across the border into the US. She, on her own, volunteered to help me at no pay, saying she didn't have anything else to do and would just as soon do this. Neither of us realized it would be 8 hours before I had what I needed to get across the border.

I don't know why, but while I was waiting around in the truckstop, it never occured to me to drive about 2 miles or less, and I'd be able to view Niagra Falls. I went 360 degrees around the falls, but have yet to see them.

I still don't understand the process, or all the paperwork and agencies involved, but I did finally get what I needed - with no thanks to my dispatcher, and only a few thanks to my company. I finally got out of there about 4:00 PM and headed across the border. Kathy had told me exactly what I was to do at the border, but her directions basically said to just follow the trucks and they would take me to the right place. As luck would have it, there were no trucks as I approached the border, and I'm pretty sure I missed where I was supposed to go - the customs area, I think, but I ended up going across the bridge and came to the customs booth. Now I had been told multiple times by Kathy and other truckers, that if you try heading across the border without the proper documentation, customs can fine you $5,000. So I was a bit nervous as I pulled up to the booth.

The agent took my documents, looked at his computer for a long time, looked out and over the truck several times, and then started asking me a bunch of questions. They mostly dealt with the fact that I was driving a truck owned by one company, leased by another company, being returned to a different company, and being driven by even another company. None of that computed for him, but he did finally let me go.

Let me mention that in no border crossing did I ever show my passport or any form of ID. I simply can't believe that, but it's true. All the agents were just interested in the ownership and value of the truck. Neither truck was inspected or even looked in to. Both had big chipper bodies on them and the used one, unbeknownst to me at the time, had a fairly good supply of wood chips still stuck in it. I won't comment on how safe that makes me feel as an American.

I headed, very happily, out of the gate and on across NY on I-90 toward Ashland, OH. I planned to stop in Erie, PA for the night. Well, my luck for the day continued. The truck started losing power about 10 minutes before I got to the last toll booth, just inside the NY/PA line, and when I stopped at the toll booth, it started missing. And as I pulled out, the motor stopped. I drifted to the side of the road, never to hear this truck speak again. I cranked it a few times, but quickly knew it was hopeless, so started making the phone calls. My emergency dispatcher told me to call the owner, who told me to call 911. 911 transferred me to road services, and in about 15 minutes a service vehicle showed up. The mechanic worked on the truck for several hours, eventually changing the fuel filters, but it still wouldn't fire, so it was towed in. This episode started about 6:00 PM, and it was being towed at 9:00 PM. Thank goodness for toads pulled behind your truck, because in instances like this you can keep warm and you can get to your hotel.

The next morning, I called the place where the truck was towed to find out when they could check the truck out. I was told it would be at least lunch before they could check it and probably tomorrow before they could work on it.

I'm intentionally not reporting what a bitch my dispatcher had been during all this, but we had our final falling out Thursday morning as I was trying to report to her the information she would need to pay for the service and tow, and where the truck was located. She will no longer be my dispatcher, and until I talk to the owner of my company, they may no longer by my driveaway company.

Driveaway has always been a real difficult job for me, but I've continued to do it because I like the freedom you have to set your own schedule and come and go from home as it suits you. I've become less and less enamored with it, and most times while I'm out I wonder why I even fool with it. So I'm going through a lot of thought on that right now. Until I talk to the owner, I won't decide what I'm going to do. I went through this same process about two years ago.

Anyway, after the final falling out with my dispatcher, I made sure the truck was safe and headed home - a deadhead of about 480 miles. It was unusually good to be home. I actually had several highs on this trip - a real high when I got across the border, and another high when I was rid of that used truck and heading to my hotel for the night. So I can still get some highs in driveaway. They just aren't as frequent as they used to be.

Finally Got a Run - To the Ice Storm

2008-12-15T13:51:00.003-05:00

I did finally get a run, after waiting for about 4 weeks for a call. The offer from dispatch was to leave on Friday (12/12/08) deadheading 250 miles to Ft. Mead, MD to pick up a truck for Frederick, MD. Then deadhead back about 50 miles to Odenton, MD to pick up one of 12 trucks to be returned to Altec in Plains, PA, which is a trip of about 200 miles. I was to move 2 of those trucks.

I left bright and early on Friday and got to Ft. Mead about noon. That is a complicated place, and I managed to go in the wrong entrance, which was the NSA entrance. My toad was sniffed by the dogs, then I made a wrong turn and ended up back off the base. My contact finally was able to find me and take me to the truck. I did the usual pre-trip, hooked up my toad, and was on the short trip to Frederick. I dropped there about 2:00 PM and headed to Odenton.

At Odenton, I found the trucks that were to be moved and found mine. Pre-tripping, I discovered that the left headlight was out. Rather than going to my other truck, I decided to go ahead and take this one. I left about 4:30 PM and fought the Baltimore traffic. I planned to stay in York, PA for the evening. On the way, dispatch called to say these 12 trucks were no longer going to be turned back in to Altec, but instead were going to New Hampshire for work with the severe ice storm they had up there. I was to go to the TA in Harrisburg on Saturday to fix the headlight, and by then dispatch figured they'd have the exact location in New Hampshire to take the truck.

I did spend the night in York and got an early start to Harrisburg. At the TA, I found that the holder and cover for the headlight were broken, and I could get a new bulb but the other parts would have to come from a dealer. I jury rigged the headlight using the ever-useful duck tape technique. When I was finished, dispatch did not yet have the destination, so I was told to just head on toward NH. About 100 miles up the road, dispatch called to say the truck was to go to Manchester, NH, but they did not yet have an exact drop point. So I kept driving toward NH, which would put me on the way to Manchester. However, on the way to Manchester, dispatch called to say they had decided to take the truck to Altec in Milbury, MA. That was closer and suited me, so I headed to Milbury.

I arrived in Milbury about 4:00 PM. When I called dispatch, I was told they had decided the truck had to be delivered to Rochester, NH that evening. So I headed out, again.

I arrived at the drop point in Rochester about 6:30 PM. It was buzzing with excitement. It appeared to be a control center for dispatching the repair crews for the ice storm. So I was happy to have done my small part.

I was then in the dilemma of being worn out and needing a hotel room in an area where most were without power. My CLC card came through again and I was able to find a cancelled room at a fairly nice hotel 25 miles away in Portsmouth, NH.

The next day, Sunday, dispatch was not able to find anything for me to move before Monday. Since I needed to be home on Tuesday, I decided to deadhead the 760 miles home. That makes for a long drive and a not too profitable trip.

But at least I was home, probably for the holidays. And my next trip, over Christmas, to Montana, is just around the corner.

It's the Economy Stupid!

2008-11-15T10:01:00.007-05:00

Yep, must be the economy. I hadn't done a run in over a month. I went to Montana for two weeks beginning the middle of October, and didn't go out the week before that. Spent election week back home catching up, then called dispatch on Friday to let them know I could go out the next week. They said to call back on Monday, which was not unusual, but when I called on Monday, they didn't have anything. That was unusual. Then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.......nothing. Now that's unusual! So a whole week without a ride. I think the longest I've ever waited for them to find a ride for me was maybe 24 hours. I'm guessing it's the economy, stupid, but maybe it's just a slow week.

I had taken a full week trip beginning September 28 which left from Forest, VA to Algonquin, IL, about 75 miles northwest of Chicago. I got to experience my first bed bugs in a Super8 in Florence, KY on the way. From Algonquin, I deadheaded to Kent, OH for a move to Lebanon, NH - a nice trip in a Ford F250. From New Hampshire, I went to Sterling, MA, and picked up a crane for Hicksville, NY, which is out on Long Island, perhaps my most unfavorite place to deliver. Then from there, I picked one up at Hewlett, NY, which is also on Long Island, for delivery to Planes, PA. I deadheaded home from there and was ready to wait out my trip to Montana, where I did leaves for two weeks.

The paragraph above is a good example of driveaway work. You don't know where you're going until you get there, and you move trucks mindlessly around the country.

Time for a New Post

2008-09-09T14:07:00.004-04:00

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Since it's been 6 months since my last post, I guess it's time for an update. Judging from the many (none) queries I've gotten about having not posted, I figured I'd offer an update.

Since the last post, I've taken a bunch of trips, none overly spectacular, spent the summer in Choteau, MT (very spectacular), and started back with a couple of trips in late August and early September. So, that about brings it up to date.

I will make comments on my last two trips. On my next to last trip from Varnons, AL to Villa Rica, GA, where I delivered to an auction lot (never my favorite), the lot attendant was as they usually are - slobberingly busy with multiple phones hanging off his ears. Upon delivery, he asked me to take the truck to the back part of the lot since he would have trucks coming in that evening. It was about 5:00 PM. During the 10 minutes or so it took me to post trip and unhook my tow car, the lot attendant left and locked me in.

Now this was a bit of a testy situation, since the lot was surrounded by a 6 foot chain link fence with 3 strands of barbed wire mounted diagonally around the top. And, I didn't have a phone number for the lot that got a human answer. Needless to say, I was excited. So I called dispatch, foolishly expecting to be rescued, but was told by her that she was heading home and I could call the emergency number, which incidentally, wouldn't have anyone answering.

To make a long story longer, I found another gate at the other side of the lot, for which I had the combination to the lock. But they had parked trucks in front of the gate making it next to impossible to get out. But with some grease, and the help of a handy Mexican landscaper on the outside, I was able to slip out and be on my way. Close call.

Being relatively ticked at my dispatcher, I found it particularly appalling when they called me on Saturday asking if I'd do an emergency move for them as a big, big, favor. They needed several trucks moved from Daleville, VA to Birmingham, AL in anticipation of hurricane Ike. I was not in the mood for favors to them, but did want to help with hurricane relief, plus wanted to visit the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. So I headed out on Sunday, delivered on Monday, and got to view the biggest rocket, a Saturn V, ever built.

Beat the Snow, Added a New State

2008-03-04T09:32:00.005-05:00

Monday, February 25, 2008

Dispatch lined me up with a truck from Daleville, VA to Jacksonville again. But this time, the Jacksonville was in Vermont. And bad weather was on the way. So I got over to Altec early on Monday morning, found the truck, an IHC 4300 automatic bucket truck, pre-tripped, hooked up my tow car, and was heading out by 7:45 AM. Unfortunately, as I was pulling out, I realized I'd left my suitcase at home. I have no idea how I could have been that absent minded, but I was, and it left me in the dilima of trying to figure out where I could leave the truck while I unhooked my tow car, drove home, and then returned to re-hook everything up. I decided to leave it where I filled up at the Troutville Citco. So all this added about 45 minutes delay to my start up I-81 to Vermont.

I had an uneventful trip up through VA, WV, MD, PA, and in to NY. Made it to Kingston, NY for the night. The weather forecast was for snow to start mid-morning on Tuesday, so I was up super early and on the road. I had to go about 60 miles to get to Albany, then hang a right and head out into southern Vermont, all areas I had never visited before. Entering VT, it was very beautiful. They had a foot or more of snow on the ground. I arrived Jacksonville, a very small town nestled in the mountains, about 9:00 AM and it immediately started snowing.

Dispatch didn't immediately have the next truck lined up, so I told them I was heading south right away. It turned out I was on the sourthern edge of the storm and within 20 miles was driving out of the snow and, later, into heavy rain. As I was heading south, dispatch was lining me up to pick up a truck in Piscataway, NJ. I don't like heading into the NY/NJ area, but it was getting me south into warmer weather, so I took it. My other option was to head into western NY, where it was already snowing heavily.

I drove about 260+ miles through MA, CT, and into NJ, arriving at the pickup location about 3:00 PM. Unfortunately, the truck wasn't ready and wouldn't be until Thursday, a two day wait. So dispatch re-assigned a truck that was 40 miles back up the road in Roseland, NJ. Lots of traffic and lots of heavy rain. Plus, it was now getting very foggy.

I found the pickup location by about 4:30 PM, but had decided that I was not going to try to pre-trip the truck in the rain, and then head out into the 5:00 PM NJ/NY traffic and hope to find lodging. I had put in a long day and figured I would do better to find some place to stay with only the car to handle, let the weather pass overnight, and head out on Weds. morning. So that's what I did.

On Wednesday morning I went back to the pick-up location at Verizon in Roseland, found the truck, and began pre-tripping. It was a fairly old Ford F650. Started OK, but I couldn't get the marker or tail lights to work, which is an offense great enough for me to turn the truck down. I figured Verizon would have a mechanic on the lot that could fix it pretty quickly, but they didn't. So I told them I couldn't take this truck. There were several other trucks on the lot that they planned to have returned to Altec in Frederick, MD, so I suggested I take one of them. Since it was before 8:00 AM, it took a good while to get in touch with dispatch to get this lined up. In the meantime, I picked a fairly good looking IHC 4300, pre-tripped it, and hooked up my tow car.

After I finally got through to dispatch, they agreed to send me on with the truck I'd picked, so about 8:30 AM I headed out toward Frederick, MD. I planned to pick up the Garden State Parkway to take to I-95, but for some reason my Tom Tom was convinced I needed to head straight toward Manhattan and pick up the NJ Turnpike. I saw signs for the Lincoln Tunnel and was beginning to think I'd made a big mistake, but Tom Tom came through and I got up on the Turnpike and on down 95 without incident. I arrived Frederick about 1:30 PM.

I planned on returning back toward home, and was hoping dispatch might have a truck heading south, but they didn't, so I did the 240 mile deadhead, arriving home about 6:00 PM. One of the best things about driveaway is returning home.

Sunny Florida and the Races

2008-02-19T14:03:00.008-05:00

Last week, I completed a series of moves that were in stark contrast to the previous set of moves I made. The temperature difference was something like 80 degrees.

Dispatch called to see if I was available to take a truck from Forest, VA to Jacksonville, FL, a move that certainly seemed attractive at this time of year. I had planned to not go out until Monday, but this one had to go on Friday, so I headed out then.

Friday, February 15, 2008

I left Forestry Equipment in Forest about 8:30 AM. The truck was an IHC 4300 6-spd. bucket/chipper unit. I had originally planned to stop somewhere in SC or GA since this was 600+ mile trip, but a friend who lives in Jacksonville called when I reached SC and made an offer I couldn't refuse. He suggested I stay at his place Friday night and we'd go to Daytona to the ARCA race and Bud Shootout on Saturday. Sounded too good to pass up. Plus, dispatch called to see if I was interested in staying in FL until Monday and making a few moves around Orlando, so I stayed. I delivered in Jacksonville about 8:00 PM. Had some trouble finding the drop-off location in a dark, empty lot. I missed it the first pass and ended up at the Coast Guard station with no way to turn the truck around with my toad attached. Luckily, some other drivers had seen me go by the lot and came to my rescue. I unhooked my toad while one of them took the truck back to the lot.

Had a wonderful weekend going to the races and visiting friends. Drove from Jacksonville to Orlando on Sunday and located the truck I was to pick up first thing Monday morning and take to West Palm Beach. This was an IHC 4200 bucket truck. It didn't have a bucket cover, a requirement, so I put straps over the bucket to make sure the liner didn't jump out during delivery. I delivered it to Altec on Monday around 11:30 AM and I was lined up to pick another one up from that same location destined for Sarasota. Always nice to not have a deadhead between trucks. This one was an IHC Workstar 7400 automatic bucket/material handling unit. I got it to Sarasota about 4:00 PM. From there, I was to deadhead back to West Palm Beach, about 195 miles, and pick one up again at Altec to go to Ormond Beach. All of these are nice places to be in February.

I stopped in Belle Glade, right next to Lake Okeechobee for the night in a pretty big, and expensive, dump. Got to West Palm Beach about 8:30 the next morning (Tuesday) and picked up the same type unit, an IHC 7400. Made it through the rain and reached Ormond Beach about 1:00 PM. I did have a problem keeping the bucket cover on during the trip, but again the rubber tie-downs I carry did the trick.

Since I was on my last pair of underware, I was interested in heading home, but since it was 670 miles deadhead I was hoping for a truck on the way. The only thing dispatch had was one leaving from somewhere in FL to Alabama, so I passed up on it and started the long deadhead. I made it straight home about midnight, after driving something like 900 miles for the day, perhaps a record.

There had been a lot of cold, wind, and fires since I left on Friday morning. Entering the Roanoke Valley, near where I live, it was very smokey and foggy and many people still remained without power from the winds over the weekend.

Cold Journey

2008-01-27T15:42:00.000-05:00

I've been on a cold journey since my last entry. We did make a nice visit to Montana over Christmas, although NW Airlines made it quite an ordeal getting out there.

It took a couple of weeks into January before I took my first driveaway trip of the year. My companay usually puts me on the road as soon as I tell them I'm ready to head out, plus usually get a couple of calls to see if I can go out, but this time it took them more than a week before making an assignment.

When I called on Tuesday, 1/15/08, they first asked if I wanted to take one to Cherry Hill, NJ. Being really tired of driving to the northeast from VA, I asked if they had any other options. For the first time, they actually had another option. Did I want to take one from Daleville, VA to St. Joseph, MO? You bet! How nice it would be to finally be heading west again.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Early Weds. morning, I headed to Altec at Daleville to pick up a new IHC Workstar bucket unit. This was a 4-wheel drive automatic, but I found these new units are a little different than the equivalent 7400 series I've driven a lot. For one thing, the oil dipstick has been moved further out front and is very long. When I checked this one, the dip stick was sticking up out of the tube, and when put in would not register any oil. That left me to think it may have oil and the dip stick may not be registering properly. It took 30 minutes, but I got a couple of "mechanics" out of the plant (they don't work on the trucks, just the units on back) who really didn't know whether there was a problem or not. Plus, they said they didn't have any oil in the plant. Their checksheet had been signed off that the oil was OK.

I decided to go ahead and head out, but the oil situation was bothering me. The low oil alarm would come on briefly when the truck first started, but then would run good pressure. At the first fill up, I decided to put a quart of oil in, which didn't make any difference. I drove like that the rest of the day, and stopped in Dale, IN for the night. The next morning I bought a gallon of Oil and put most of it in before it did finally register. I took it on west like that.

As I was passing through St. Louis, dispatch called to tell me the truck had been re-directed to Aurora, CO, which was OK with me. I had luckily missed some snowy weather during the night and was in the driving west mood. Plus, this got me to thinking that if I got as far as CO, perhaps I should just go on to Choteau, MT and attend the funeral of our dear neighbor who had died unexpectedly on Tuesday.

My wife was off on a snow day and did some preliminary checking on airfares from DEN to GTF. She found a good fare, so that night when I stopped in Salina, KS, I did the final checking and committed to taking a flight on Saturday afternoon returning on Tuesday afternoon.

I delivered the truck on Friday afternoon then began a rather lenghy search for a reasonable motel to spend the night. That took me to Wadkins, CO, not far from the DEN airport. I killed some time Saturday morning by shopping at Wal Mart for a pair of pants suitable to wear to a funeral.

Spent a very cold weekend in Montana. It reached -20 on Monday, but I was warm in my little house. I think that's the lowest cold temperature I've ever experienced. Mike, my contractor, has been busy putting in a new bathroom, so I was able to check that and visit friends while back in town. I had a nice visit and attended June's funeral on Tuesday morning.

The flight back from GTF was 3 hours late because they had trouble landing due to snow. I finally got back to DEN about 9:00 PM, where I stayed for the night and began the 1,500 mile potential deadhead back home to VA. I was hoping dispatch would come up with a truck, but at that time they didn't have one.

On Weds., I drove across very windy Kansas. As I reached Kansas City, about 5:00 PM, dispatch called to see if I was interested in hanging a left and going northeast about 255 miles to Marshalltown, IA to pick up a truck for Martin, KY. That sounded good to me, so I headed up through cold, snowy, MO to Bethany, MO for the night. It was -4 on Thursday morning, but my little tow car started and I headed on to Marshalltown.

I arrived there about 11:30 AM, at a L E Myers shop where they were not expecting me. They said they would have brought the truck in for the night if they'd known I was coming. Since it had been -14 there over night, and the truck had been sitting for over 2 weeks, it wouldn't start. It was behind a big pile of snow. They plugged it up and hooked up a charger and let it sit while they moved some of the snow so they could get it out. This truck was what they called a pressure auger, the first of this type I'd driven. It was an IHC 7400 automatic.

In about 2 hours, it started and I began my journey to Martin, KY deep in southeastern KY. I stopped in Bloomington, IL for the night, where it was -5 the next morning. I worried all night about whether the truck would start and whether I should have just left it idling.

Since I couldn't sleep, I got a super early start about 6:00 on Friday morning. The truck did start OK, and I headed on to Martin, KY. I arrived there about 4:00 PM, where they guided me deep into the bowels of a mountain outside Martin. My chase car was totally covered with salt and mud and I had to find a place to spray it off before I could go too far.

I had an interesting drive through Appalachia and arrived home about 10:00 PM. I had driven about 2,200 truck miles and deadheaded another 1,200 miles and been gone for 10 days. That was my longest trip, with the most driving. But it had been a good trip, as driveaway trips go, and we'll see how good a paying trip it was.

NW Airline Travel Hell

2007-12-26T22:25:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, December 26, 2007, Minneapolis airport, 9:00 PM

This entry doesn't fit my usual driveaway topic, but our trip from Roanoke, VA to Choteau, MT during Christmas vacation deserves some record. Our plan was to fly out of Roanoke on Christmas day at 4:07 PM and arrive Great Falls, MT via Detroit and Minneapolis, MN. This would have been the same flight sequence we took last year, which basically worked out fairly well. Not the case this time.

Our flight out of Roanoke was cancelled due to mechanical problems. Low staffing, and no more flights meant we couldn't get out on Christmas Day and we were rebooked for an early flight the next day leaving at 6:05 AM. We were comped a room in a nearby hotel, got up at 3:30 AM, and the flight left on time. However, this flight was to land in Detroit, which had icing fog and we were diverted to Flint, MI, where we were basically dumped with no way out. With the day after Christmas being one of the heaviest travel days, there literally were no seats available on any airline to get us out. So, at the time, it seemed we were stuck. They started busing passengers to Detroit, but we had been automatically booked on a flight for 3:30 PM, so I hung in there. Turned out that, after a lot of soul searching on whether I should take the bus, get a rental car, or wait, that two planes landed in Flint that had been diverted also. We were able to get seats on one and got back to Detroit.

I decided to just proceed straight to a gate showing a plane destined for Minneapolis since that was the hub we'd likely have to go through on NW to get to Great Falls. As luck would have it, the gate I chose was loading the plane that I'd previously been booked on, since it had been delayed also. I don't know why, but rather than putting us on standby, the agent ushered us on and we were quickly on our way to Minneapolis.

We arrived there by 1:45 PM, but the only flight out to GTF wasn't leaving until 9:36 PM. I wasn't able to find an alternative. So we waited. The 9:36 scheduled flight became 10:36.

Since we had over 8 hours to kill, I decided to continue working any angles I could find. I ended up outside of security at the ticket counter trying to find an alternative flight and/or get some complimentary food vouchers and tickets for the mechanical failure. After talking to a supervisor, I was given two free tickets and $50 in food vouchers.

Beth is keeping count, and we've now spent 24 hours in an airport. We've been a day and a half trying to get to Montana and still haven't quite made it. But I'm hanging in there. Its currently 9:45 PM and our flight is scheduled for 10:31.

We'll see.

Later......

We made it to Great Falls, but it was about 2:00 AM on Thursday. After finally boarding the plane around 10:45 PM, NW couldn't get the headcount, or weight, or something figured out, so we sat in the plane for an hour. Finally, after the runway we were lining up for closed, and having to move the plane to an open runway, the pilot just took off. Our luggage actually made it, the Dollar rental was closed but left a car for us to pick up in their parking area, and we made it to Choteau about 3:00 AM. We'd been up about 26 hours.

Cold New England

2007-12-08T11:59:00.001-05:00

12/4/07

Always hate to have to head up I-81, expecially if it includes continuing through PA into New England. This trip involved taking a nice, small, bucket truck, a GMC C5500 from Altec in Daleville to Altec in Millbury, MA, a trip of about 650 miles. To complicate things, the weather was a bit dicey in PA with an Alberta Clipper coming across on Tuesday while I was driving thru the mountians into Scranton, and then PA, along with several other states got hit even harder on Weds. with a bigger clipper.

I traveld 500 + miles and ended up in Danbury, CT for the night. Always a guess on finding a motel where you can get a truck with a car in tow in and situated without having to back up, which means unhooking. It was cold up there, with several inches of snow in most locations.

I was on the road early Weds. morning to deliver in Millbury by 9:30 AM. When I called dispatch, they said they wanted me to do two short moves in MA/CT then they would try to get me a truck coming back south towards home. My deal had been that I would drop this truck and start back. I didn't have several days to stay out this time, but because I'm a nice guy I agreed to do these two short moves.

The first move involved going 14 miles to Westboro, MA and move a sizeable IHC 7400 tandum bucket truck from the electric utility to Altec in Millbury, where I had just dropped off. Got that done by about 12:30 and moved on to the International dealership in Worcester, MA, which is only 2 miles from the Altec drop, and picked up an IHC 4200 to go 75 miles to Berlin, CT (the states are very small, and crowded up there). I did that and delivered at a huge electric utility about 3:30 PM. Took a long time to find the drop point even after finding the utility. Lots of buildings, with no one in them to help.

The deal with dispatch was they would then try to find something headed south. "Try" is the key word, because they didn't have anything, which meant I would start back on a 650 mile deadhead - much too long and expensive for my taste. We agreed that I would head back towards Scranton and maybe something would come up in Plains, PA or Frederick, MD. I didn't make it to Scranton that night.

It turned out I had actually been lucky that they assigned me the two moves in MA/CT because the bad weather was going below MA, so I just missed it by not heading back on Weds. I hit some of the leftovers of the bad weather along about Millford, PA and I decided to stop at a Red Roof for the night. Sort of a mistake because it was too expensive for my taste and the desk staff couldn't speak enough english to figure out I needed to do my faxing, which resulted in several stops and a $13 faxing bill the next morning. There were several inches of snow on the ground and it was 11 degrees there on Thurs. morning.

Dispatch still couldn't find anything to help make it a paid deadhead back to VA, so I just kept coming. Saw several wrecks left over from the previous night's storm, but I made it safely back by about 4:00 PM.

As always, glad to be safely home and promising myself this time I was done for the rest of this year. But something always comes up. But I am getting in the Christmas and Montana spirit - Choteau December 25 through January 5.

And to all - Merry Christmas and good night!

Back from my Most Miles Week

2007-11-18T10:44:00.000-05:00

I'm back from a long week for a part timer like me.

Started on Monday with a 220 mile deadhead to WV to pick up an IHC 4300 going to Frederick, MD. That one had the first electrical problem I've had yet since switching to towing. I've been very lucky on that. This truck had one of those utility bodies used to unrole the large spools of cable, and a boom. It's not unusual to see two different electrical hookups on a lot of the trucks I drive, but the hookup that matched my 7-pin connector didn't have any wires going to it. I wasn't up to jury rigging it so I followed the info I had gotten from the VA State Police when I first started towing. They said if the truck had lights on the back that were visible, I didn't have to have lights on my car. I know that's dumb, but that's what they said. I hate to admit I went ahead and towed the 330 miles to Frederick without lights on my car.

From Frederick, I deadheaded 150 miles to Berwyn, PA to pick up a small Ford F550 boom truck for a short 100 mile trip to Plains, PA.

From there, a 150 mile deadhead to Freehold, NJ for an IHC 4300 cable laying truck for a foggy trip back to Frederick,MD. That truck was the exact same model as the one I had in WV and it had the same wiring problem. Not sure why Altec put a second connector with no wiring to it. I haven't had that problem on any of their other trucks.

In Frederick (Wednesday), I picked up a Sterling crane going to Madison, WI. I liked the idea of an 800 mile trip, especially after all the deadheading and short trips I'd done, but wasn't thrilled nursing a crane all that way. It was mentally and physically tiring for a pussy like me, but I made it.

Then Friday, a 199 mile deadhead to Joliet, IL to pick up a truck destined for Jacksonville,FL. Since it was Friday, it was time for me to be heading home, so I took that one 300 miles to Louisville, staged it at the airport, and started the long deadhead home.

Got home this afternoon. That was roughly 1800 paid miles and 1100 miles deadheading. Both,a lot for me in one week. Actually, that's the most miles I've done in one week when counting the deadheading.

I had great luck with the scales. I only entered one scale the entire trip, and that one was with the first truck in MD. The crane was the first one I've had weighed, and it was overweight on the front axle for Wisconsin. I had it weighed because I'd remembered reading in some of my documentation that WI only allows 13,000 lbs on the steer axle, so I ended up getting an overweight permit - a first for me. The scale was closed on I-39 when I went by in WI on Friday morning, so I guess I could have made it, but it would have been a more uncomfortable trip.

Still Truckin'

2007-11-09T14:43:00.000-05:00

As you steadfast driveaway blog fans now realize, I'm getting lazier and lazier about keeping this thing up to date.

Last week, 10/29 - 11/1, I did do six trips starting with a tree truck (boom and chipper body) from Forest, VA to Dunmore, PA; deadheaded 140 miles to Swedesboro, NJ (a new haunt for me) where I did two round trips, one to Chantilly, VA and back, and one to Fredericksburg, VA and back. Those trips were big Sterling flatbeds with cranes used by a home supply company. The highlight of those trips was the usual traffic mess around Washington DC, the highlight of which was the two hours it took me to go four miles on the way to Fredericksburg. What a mess that place is and who is the genious who figured it was a good idea to close the beltway down to one lane at exit 177?

From Swedesboro, I deadheaded about 120 miles back up in PA to Plains and picked up a crane for Daleville, VA, which is only 9 miles from home. Most of my days this trip were 12 - 14 hours, much of it due to the ridiculous traffic around DC. The lack of deadheading helped with the pay, but on a per hour basis I didn't do too good.

Probably the main reason I still mess with this log is I like to post pictures of the trucks I drive. Also have all of them posted in the Yahoo Driveaway Lounge at: http://finance.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/Driveaway/photos/browse/5ae1 There, you can see all 119 of them!

My wife will be attending a conference in VA Beach next week, so I'll plan to hit the road again while she's away. I think she's gotten so she misses me more when I'm gone than she used to. May eventually cramp my style a little.

Just called dispatch and they've assigned me a truck Monday leaving from Saint Alban, WV going to Frederick, MD. That's a 202 mile deadhead followed by a 333 mile paid trip - not a great start, but gets me on the road.

Back from Montana

2007-10-25T11:15:00.001-04:00

Just back from my fall trip to Choteau, MT to check up on our little house and visit some friends. The weather while I was there, for the most part, was fantastic with highs in the 60's and 70's and lows in the 40's. Choteau was dressed up in its fall colors while I was there. I got in a couple of rounds of golf using new clubs I had made (on the cheap) and sent to Choteau. Didn't help my game any, but I still enjoyed it. The fall crisp, clear, views from the golf course overlooking Choteau and the Rocky Mountain front are fantastic.

I did some work around the house, including cleaning up the leaves just in time for the Cottonwoods to drop their leaves and recover the yard. I also toured the area of the Fools Creek Fire from this summer, which was unbelievable. Also drove to Fort Benton, since I'd never been there, and found it to be a visual delight.

I had to fly in and out of Spokane, WA, a 350 mile trip since I was using some USAir vouchers and Spokane is the nearest they come to Choteau. The drive is beautiful, and I took the scenic route back using route 2. Crossing the Marias Pass on Monday morning was a bit dicey, since it was snowing heavily. But the roads were clear and I had a nice drive in the rain back to Spokane.

Spirit Miller called while I was awaiting my plane in Phoenix to see if I wanted to take a truck from Forest, VA to Lawrenceville, GA, but since I was in Phoenix I wasn't exactly available. Plus, I really haven't yet gotten in the driveaway mood again, but I guess I will shortly. More on that later.

Still Driving - Occasionally

2007-10-04T09:00:00.001-04:00

Haven't been a good boy about keeping this blog up. I guess, like most bloggers, particularly if they have any life at all, I'm burning out at keeping this going. But anyway, back to the subject at hand - driveaway.

I did take one of the better trips last week of all my driveaway work. It began Monday, September 24, with a crane (don't like them, want to quit driving them, but unfortunately, the local Altec plant is almost exclusively turning them out lately). I actually sort of like driving the cranes. There's some real excitement controlling something that big. And making it through the weight stations is a real high. But the liability is way too much for me to be fooling with. This crane was a 10-speed Peterbuilt weighing something like 75,000 lbs. Since these things are so close to being overweight, I've gotten so I ask the folks at Altec if they can provide me their official scale receipt to have with me if/when I'm pulled in at the weigh station.

I took this crane from Daleville, VA to Blue Bell, PA, a trip of about 375 miles. Just before I got to Blue Bell, dispatch asked if I'd be interested in picking one up at Berwyn, PA for delivery to Plains, PA. Berwyn is only about 12 miles from Blue Bell, so that worked as a short deadhead, and even though that truck was only going about 100 miles, it would pay for my motel room Monday night. This truck was a nice bucket truck with automatic. Made for an easy ride to Plains once I could get out of the traffic around Berwyn, which is right next to Philadelphia.

I delivered to Plains on Tuesday morning, and they had a tree truck (bucket with chipper body) to go to Plainfield, IL (that seems like a lot of Plains), a trip of about 775 miles. No deadheading to pick this truck up, plus a nice trip for my first time out I-80 through western PA.

I stayed Tuesday night at a Howard Johnson's Express, one of the scungier places I've found, and very surprising to be a Howard Johnson's. Was dirty enough that I checked the bed thoroughly before I got it it, and if it hadn't been that I was already itching from chigger bites from a weekend hike, I'd have sworn I was eaten up with bed bugs that night.

I arrived in Plainfield on Wednesday afternoon, but dispatch didn't have anything near there to point me back toward home. They are moving a lot of stuff to a truck show coming up in Louisville, so I asked if they had anything coming out of the Altec plants in St. Joseph, MO or Duluth, MN. They did have a digger derrick truck coming from Duluth, so I decided that rather than do about 750 miles from Plainfield home, and the weather was nice, I'd deadhead about 450 miles to Duluth, pick that truck up for Louisville, then deadhead the 450 miles home from there. So I headed on up through northern Illinois into Wisconsin. It was a beautiful drive.

I stayed the night in Eau Claire, WI, which is an interesting little town that totally had me and my Tom Tom lost, but I did find the Ramada Inn which I was staying at using the CLC card, one of the best deals I've found. The hotel was much too swanky for my normal driveaway sleeping, but at $35 who could complain. I got up early on Thursday morning and arrived in Duluth about 9:00 AM.

Altec had the truck set out on one of their 4 lots, and after talking to their receptionist, I found it, even though the truck numbers didn't match exactly with my paperwork. So had to hang around a few minutes to get that squared away before heading to Louisville.

Had a beautiful trip down through WI, where I saw my first Bald Eagle in the wild. It swooped down about 200 yards in front of the truck, across the road to the left, and settled in a tree just as I was passing - an amazing sight. I stayed in Peru, IL, for the night (looked a little rough where I was) and delivered in Louisville on Friday about 2:00 PM. The trip from Duluth was about 800 miles, about 350 of which I did on Friday, so I wasn't sure I'd be able to make the whole 450 mile deadhead trip home Friday evening. But there is a real advantage to towing your car. I didn't have to wait around for a cab, get a rental, and all that stuff, but could just head on out. I got on a roll and was back home by 10:00 PM. Got some really good music on my PDA that seems to get me cranked up after dark.

That ended one of the better driveaway trips I've made, taking up a whole week, and about the only problem I faced was the bucket cover coming off on the trip to Plainfield, but I was able to fix that with little problem.

Also, since my last blog entry, I took a set of trips that should be called deadhead trips the week of September 5. Like most of my trips lately, it started with a crane to Blue Bell, PA, deadheading to Forest, VA for a truck to Shelby, NC, then deadheading back to Forest for a truck to Dunmore, PA. That's just wearing me out on driving I-81 and doing PA, plus all the deadheading didn't leave much money.

Since I've been working so hard lately, I'll be taking about 2 weeks off, beginning next week, to head back out to Montana, check up on the little blue house, and relax. Trip should be a bit of a chore since I'm using a voucher I got with USAir and they don't fly into Great Falls. I have to leave Roanoke Weds. morning at 6:00 AM, fly to Charlotte, then to Phoenix, then to Spokane, and then drive to Choteau. Tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

Back to Work

2007-08-26T14:11:00.000-04:00

After taking the summer off at our place in Montana, this week I finally decided it was time to give driveaway a shot, even though I really hadn't been missing it. Sort of thought I would by now, but really didn't.

For the first time ever, Spirit Miller didn't have something to put me in right away. I had called on Monday to let them know I'd be ready to go out for a few days beginning Tuesday, but oddly enough, they didn't have anything available that was close enough without a long deadhead. It was Weds. about lunch time before they called with the offer.

They had 3 trucks that needed to be moved from Daleville, VA to Plains, PA, which is a nice drive up I-81. Plus, these trucks would be air conditioned, a condition I was considering a requirement given the heat and humidity along the east coast lately. I agreed that I would take 2 of them, but didn't think I could handle all 3. But, as nearly always, that would change during the trip.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Dispatch had called during the lunch hour (something I still try to adhere to even in retirement) to offer the trucks. So I quickly did the pre-trip paperwork, packed, and headed over to Daleville to pick up the first truck.
It was a shiney new IHC 7400 automatic bucket truck headed for Plains, PA. Since it was so hot, in the mid 90's, I was able to pre-trip quickly, get my toad hooked up and headed out. The office had asked me to track down another truck destined for Blue Bell, PA, but I couldn't find it. Didn't realize at the time that it would play a role in my future.

Trip up through the Shenendoah Valley was uneventful, and I stopped at the Days Inn in Carlisle, PA that night. Went on to Plains the next morning and began the long, 390 mile deadhead back to Daleville.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

As is usually the case, the orders changed somewhere during the first trip and I was to come back to Daleville (like the original plan), but pick up a different truck, the one destined for Blue Bell, PA. As is usually the case, this was a rush order. Since it was such a long deadhead back to Daleville, I figured I'd just stay at home overnight, saving the expense of one night out, and pick up the truck to head out on Friday. But dispatch wanted me to get the truck off their lot, something I find odd, when it means you've got to leave it overnight at a truckstop or, in my case, the local Food Lion, but they wanted it moved right away. So I headed on over to Altec to get the truck.

This one was another of those gigantic crane trucks I've had to move lately. Since my lawyer has asked me incredulously why I do driveaway given all the potential liability, these crane trucks have taken on a larger concern with me. This truck was an IHC Paystar 5000 with 8-speed hi-lolo tranny. I got it all hooked up and out rapidly, again in unbelievable heat, and staged it at the local Food Lion.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Headed out early and back up I-81. Nothing unusual except when I pulled into the Love's Truckstop at Toms Brook, since these cranes take something larger than a football field to turn around, I goofed and couldn't make the turn in the front parking lot (I hadn't planned to get fuel at the time, just pee and a drink). Couldn't make the turn, and since you can't back up with a toad behind, and had to unhook, back up about 5 feet, pull through, then rehook the toad - a pain.

Then my troubles really escallated. Since I was already at the Love's, I decided to go ahead and top off with enough fuel to get me to Blue Bell, PA. The "super" weigh station on I-81 in northern VA is about 10 miles on up the road. Naturally, they pulled me in asking me to show my overweight permit, or if I'd already gotten a citation, show that. I explained that this was a new truck in transport, and since Altec was VERY good at balancing everything I was really surprised that it could be overweight. I asked if my toad could be causing the problem. They said no, but that the hitch may be causing the 100 extra pounds (doubt that), but said I could go on, just be aware that I was over. I quickly said thanks and got out of there.

That kept me on my toes for any other weight station I might hit in WV, MD, or PA, but luckily enough I didn't have to cross any more. Made it on to Blue Bell by about 3:30, where dispatch had notified me that I could pick up another from that location to go about 100 miles up to Plains, PA. From there, they had another to go to Frederick, MD. Since that would help reduce the amount of deadheading, I agreed.

The truck in Blue Bell was an IHC 7400 digger with 10-speed hi-lo tranny. The guy there was kind enough to top it off with fuel, so I got a free run out of that. Something I needed desperately given the crane had gotten less than 4 mpg.

Got my toad hooked up quickly and headed out of Blue Bell. But since this is a suburb of Philly, the traffic came to a halt on I-476, due to a wreck about a mile north. Waited around for close to an hour before I could get all the way through it, and then headed on straight to Altec in Plains. There, I dropped this truck, pre-tripped the next one, and found lodging in a nearby Red Roof Inn for the night.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Got back out to the plant around 7:30, hooked everything up, fueled and was on the road about 8:15 AM. This truck was another IHC 7400 digger with a 6-speed tranny. Every truck had a different tranny, so it kept me thinking on this trip. Still scrape the Eaton Fuller hi-lo's, but I'm beginning to guess everybody probably does.

It was super hot and soupy in PA and all the way home. Got the truck to Frederick around noon, unhooked, and headed home. My toad was beginning to show overheating problems. It never did, but was really getting close. Really don't know why unless the tow bar is interrupting airflow on these super hot days.

Home by about 4:00 PM, to a very happy wife :-), out to dinner, slept through the race, then to bed. Always good to be home, and a certain high with the completion of each trip - especially if you've been pulled for being overweight.

Back from Vacation

2007-08-21T10:41:00.000-04:00

Yep, that's right. We are back from a great summer at our little place in Choteau, MT. We got to meet a lot of nice, new friends, did some fun stuff, and worked our butts off fixing on the house.

I was very excited about Montana in the summer since I don't like Virginia's hot, humid summers. But this turned out to be an unusual summer in Montana with record setting heat most of the time we were there. And wild fires were springing up all over the place. One, the Fool's Creek fire, was just 35 miles west of Choteau. It was often smokey, the sky was hazzy, and many mornings we woke to ashes and burned pine needles on our outside funiture and car. But hot Montana in the summer is still better than hot Virginia in the summer.

Our new neighbor, June, welcomed us with open arms. She'd lived in her house on Main Ave. many years, and was looking forward to having some nice neighbors like us, from Virginia. June filled us in on a lot of the history to our house, took us out to dinner, and got misty eyed when we left. She's a jewel.

The best purchase I made, early in our stay, was my Montana tractor that I used to irrigate my yard, which was greatly in disrepair.

A lot of construction and changes were made to the house while we were there.

July 4th is the big holiday in Choteau. Activities include a boxing "smoker" (women too), beer keg hockey, a free Willie Nelson concert sponsered by the anonymous donor, David Letterman, a big parade, rodeo, and fireworks. Our house was a popular spot from which to view the parade.

We hiked and took trips to Glacier NP, Whitefish, Butte, and Anaconda. We met real cowboys.

Bottom line, we had a great summer, even though it was hot and smokey. But not nearly as hot as it was when we returned to Virginia.

Speaking of driveaway, I had to get my physical updated and my tow car inspected before I could head out again. I got that done last week and called dispatch to head out this week. But so far, for the first time ever, they don't have anything to put me in. I don't regret it, as hot as it is, but I'm about ready to give it a try again.

Trip 100 and Summer Vacation!

2007-05-30T16:04:00.000-04:00

Since my last blog entry (I'm getting lazier about this all the time), I've completed several more trips, including my 100th, and am now officially on vacation for the summer. When my wife finishes teaching duties, we will be heading to our little home in Choteau, MT, June 13. We expect it to take about 4 days to drive the 2,200 miles unless we really get anxious and haul ass to MT, which we might do.

I'm not going to go into the details of each of the driveaway trips I've taken since the last entry. I'll post a couple of pictures, brag that I've now completed 101 trips, and let it go at that. So, the pictures:

There's actually two more, but they look like the chassis and the boom/chipper truck, so didn't see any need to upload the images. The chassis was my 100th driveaway trip, an accomplishment for which I am amazed. That's over 60,000 miles combined truck and chase car driving in less than 2 years. Never thought I'd do that many trips when I started doing this. Been burned out a few times, but since I've outfitted my tow car, I've been enjoying it a little more, and actually making a little more money. But driveaway is definitely not much of a money-maker and I'm still trying to figure out why I'm doing it. It was the excitement of travel, but getting to be too many trips into PA and the northeast, so I'm not sure it's that any more. Could make a joke about it being a good reason to be away from the wife, but that wouldn't be funny to some, so won't make that joke.

Oh, I know why I'm still doing driveaway - its for credit card airline points. That's how I manage to fly to Great Falls, MT. Otherwise, the airline tickets are just too much. With the credit card deal I have currently, I get 5 points for each dollar spent on fuel, and with some of the bigger crane trucks, I can rack up 1000+ points in one fuel-up. So that's why I still do it.

I've officially retired from school bus driving. I let Roanoke County know this week that I would not return next year. I've sort of enjoyed taking the sports teams to various events and the few field trips, but each time I look in that big mirror over the driver's head, I'm aware of the incredible responsibility and liability that I have as a driver. That, plus I'm just spending too much time driving between bus driving and driveaway, and I need to free up some time for Montana.

Anyway, I'm now officially on vacation until mid-August, so all you blog fans (and you know there are 10's), be safe out there and enjoy your summer.

Visited the King

2007-05-11T14:19:00.000-04:00

This week, I was able to work in a quick driveaway trip. It was a short week since Monday involved counter top re-installs and Tuesday was bus duty taking the girls softball team (one of my favorite sports) on a long trip to Alleghany.

But first, a brief note on my wife's and my most exciting trip to Nashville last weekend to visit our son. He moved down there about a year ago, and since then he seems to have made himself a good home, carrying on his own graphics business, making alot of great new friends, and drumming with several good bands. We saw one of his latest bands on Saturday night and really enjoyed them. During our visit to Nashville, he also took us downtown to take in the sites, the honky-tonks, and the Country Music Museum. A really enjoyable weekend.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

I was lined up to drive 230 miles to Shelby, NC, where I would pick up a Southco chipper truck destined for King of Prussia (thus, the visit to the King), PA to a tree service there. I got an early start in my toad for the drive to Shelby and arrived there by a little after 11:00 AM. I found the nice, new IHC 4300 with automatic already staged in their bullpen, and with a quick pre-trip and hook-up of my toad I was off. Since the trip to King of Prussia involved traveling within 5 miles of home, I decided the round trip of about 500 miles to/from Shelby would make a good day's work and I'd just come by home for the night rather than staying in a motel. I got permission from the manager of the local Food Lion to park the truck there for the night. Unhooked my toad and was home for the evening by about 5:00 PM.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

I wasn't sure when I left home that morning whether I would be able to make the 375 miles to King of Prussia and whether I'd have another truck lined up or return home. But while hooking up my toad, I managed to wrench my back again for the umpteenth time, and as I headed out I knew it was going to be a long day no matter what I did.

I had an uneventful trip up through the Shenandoah Valley and across PA. It was a beautiful day, the truck drove great, and it had a 72 gallon fuel tank, which meant I only had to refuel one time. I arrived at the tree service in King of Prussia around 2:00 PM, where the owner was anxiously awaiting his new truck. He had another in route and was anxious to find out where it was, but dispatch doesn't fill us in on those sorts of details, so I didn't know, but was able to find out that it would arrive in about an hour. One more happy Spirit Miller customer.

Dispatch did not have another truck available that would get me home by Friday evening, a requirement in prep for Mother's Day, so with my ailing back I started the 375 miles home. I seemed to be spaced out enough, for some reason (no drugs other than Ibuprofen), that I was able to drive the whole way with one stop, and was home by about 9:00 PM. I say I was spaced out, because at the one stop, I filled up for gas, went in to the fast food next door, ordered a taco salad, which they didn't have, ate the Southwestern Salad, then ordered a Frosty, before I realized I was in a McDonalds, not a Wendy's.

So, today, I'm nursing a sore back, and trying to figure out what I'm going to do for Mother's Day. And also starting the prep for something I've looked forward to for a long time - the graduation of my third, and final, child. My wife and I have put 5, counting ourselves, through college - a goal for which we are very proud.

Next week, I may work in another quick driveaway trip before heading to Richmond for Caitie's graduation. She's worked hard and I hope she enjoys herself.

Up and Back

2007-05-02T11:32:00.000-04:00

Took a quick 3-day outing leaving this past Sunday and back home on Tuesday afternoon. Probably about the right length for me, although if I hadn't been driving a really old truck on the return I might have been good for another day or two.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Dispatch had me lined up to take one of four trucks bound for Tolland, CT from Daleville, VA. Tolland is a little area just northeast of Hartford, which is an area I'm finding has serious traffic congestion even though it is not that big. The truck I was to take was a new Altec boom/utility IHC 4300 automatic. Nice truck to drive and just the right size after driving so many cranes lately.

I was on the road and fueled up by about 8:00 AM. I wasn't expecting to make the full 600+ miles, but I made good time and arrived at Tolland about 6:30 PM, even though traffic in Hartford was backed up for miles at 5:30 PM on a Sunday. I've been through there about six times and five of those have involved heavy traffic, no matter what time of day it is.

Since I pulled my toad, it made it easy to make the decision to go ahead and drop off the truck that evening rather than wait until Monday morning. I could unhook my toad in a few minutes, drive to a motel, and be able to wait there on Monday morning until dispatch came in and got me lined up for the next trip. This is a lot easier than waiting at the customer location.

Monday, April 30, 2007

Dispatch had me lined up by 8:30 AM to return to their office in Deposit, NY, about 220 miles away to take a truck from there to Cloverdale, VA, which is very near where I live. Didn't occur to me at the time that this was likely an auction item, but I found out soon enough.

I arrived in Deposit at about 1:00 PM and saw a lot full of old trucks. The biggest and ugliest was an old 1996 Ford L8000 with a body that is used to carry and stretch cable. As I went up to the office, I sure was hoping my truck wasn't going to be that one. But, naturally, it was. The owner assured me her son had driven it in from Worcester and it ran great. So I did the extra pre-trip inspection. It did seem to run OK, hold air pressure, etc., so I went ahead and hooked up my toad. Makes it a bit easier to head out in these oldies with your own ride behind you if needed.

The old truck did drive ok, except for maxing out at 57 mph, but I made it to Carlisle, PA for the evening. It would occasionally give out a scream, which it took until the next day at delivery to partially identify. There was some fan, that wasn't associated with the heater, that would just scream at random times. By the time I delivered on Tuesday afternoon, it was really screaming.

I was back home a little after 1:00 PM and, as usual, glad to be safely back. Paperwork to do and catch-up on cat lap time and the newpapers, which now include the Choteau Acantha, my favorite.

Some Good Times; Some Bad Times

2007-04-25T10:17:00.000-04:00

A lot has transpired since my last blog entry - a trip to Choteau, MT to visit our little fixer upper during my wife's spring break from teaching; a wind storm here at home that knocked out our power for two days; and, finally, the tragic shootings at Va Tech where, regretably, our niece's roommate was a victim.

A brief note on our trip to MT. As usual, we had a great time. We arrived on Saturday evening before Easter. Got to review the work the contractor is doing on the house, which is very slow, and is costing a whole lot more than we budgeted, but we like what he is doing. We will enjoy this little house as we get the opportunities to go visit, especially this summer when we will get an extended visit.

On Easter morning, it was a gorgeous day in MT, so we drove the 90 miles from Choteau to Glacier National Park. Most of the roads up there were closed due to snow, but we were able to see some wonderful mountain sites and eat a great breakfast at the East Glacier Deli.

During the week, we experienced most of the different weather patterns of MT - sun, rain, snow, and of course, wind. But it was a great week. We also got to see the Canadian Snow Geese migrating through Freezeout Lake, which is about 15 miles south of Choteau. We were returning from a Great Falls shopping trip and saw the sky filled with geese, and were close enough to see them go into their landing pattern and come to rest on Freezeout Lake. Quite a site.

We returned the following Saturday and I was able to scarf some free USAir tickets for volunteering to delay to a later flight in Charlotte, which ended up only making us 1.5 hours later than we had planned to arrive back in Roanoke.

Sunday night was a real monster around here with the heaviest wind I ever recall at this house. It ended up blowing over several trees, some in my driveway (of course, my chainsaw wouldn't start when I needed it), and taking out our power for two days.

That Monday morning was when the tragic events at Va Tech unfolded. We, as everyone else, were mortified, but especially so when we discovered that our niece's roommate had been killed in one of the classes. I had originally planned to go back out on a driveaway trip on Wednesday, but delayed that because of all the stuff going on around home. We went to Tech on Thursday, along with our youngest daughter, who had come in from Richmond to see her cousin at Tech. We spent the day visiting the memorials and helping her with the sad chore of packing up her things that were in her dorm room.

Dispatch was deperate to get some trucks moved from Forest, VA to Sugarloaf, PA, so I agreed to take one up on Friday. I planned a round trip of about 800 miles for the day, which is too much, but it was a beautiful day and offered a nice drive up through the Shenandoah Valley and into the mountains of northern PA. A good trip to help clear your mind.

The truck I took was the exact same as the very first truck I took out in driveaway back in September, 2005. It was a GMC 7500, 6-spd. No radio or A/C, which for this trip, worked out fine for thinking. I also towed my newly outfitted chase car, which was very fortunate. Sugarloaf is in a beautiful area west of Hazelton, PA, but is very remote and it would have been next to impossible to get a cab out of there and the guy at the delivery point said he would not have been able to take me on the 40+ mile drive to the nearest airport.

So, that brings things up-to-date. I plan to hit the road fairly heavily next week if we can keep things settled here around home.

Just Buying Some Time

2007-04-05T21:09:00.000-04:00

I drove 3 large crane trucks last week. Took one from Roanoke, VA to Billerica, MA; then another from there back to Daleville, VA; then picked another up from Daleville to Burnsville, NC. The last was my first use of my tow car, which went well.

But, I don't have time to do the whole blog on these trips. Been busy this week around home, head to Richmond tomorrow to enjoy a reception for my youngest daughter's art show, then my wife and I are flying to Choteau, MT to check on our house and enjoy a week's break.

When I get back I hope to update the blog - at least the pictures. These are cool cranes.

Update 4/25/07

Still don't have much time, but do want to stick the pictures of the cranes (below) into this blog: The trip from Daleville, VA to Burnsville, NC, was my first towing my car. Worked out well.

Warm and Ice

2007-03-21T11:20:00.000-04:00

I'm sure my postings are going to get shorter. As most everyone who has ever started a blog knows, it finally becomes a bit of a burden. Plus, my wife says I got too long winded in my postings, so I'll shorten them up anyway.

This trip started on Tuesday, March 13, in hot, sunny weather and eventually hit the ice in Philadelphia.

Picked up a rental car to Gastonia, NC, where I got a taxi to Southco in Shelby, NC. There, I picked up a very nice Ford F750 log loader destined for High Ridge, MO, which is on the southwest edge of St. Louis.

This truck provided a nice trip through the NC Great Smokey Mountains, an area I had not been through, and on in to TN. Even though my son now lives in Nashville, and I did go through there Weds. morning, we didn't hook up since he was in New Hampshire skiing. Made it to High Ridge about 3:30 PM on Weds.

From High Ridge, dispatch had me lined up for a rental car to Plainfield, IL where I was to pick up a truck for Charlotte, MI, which would bring a new state into my driveaway experience.

Made it to Bloomington, IL for the night, then on to Plainfield on Thurs. morning. I dropped the rental car and a nice, young Hertz assistance was able to take me to City Utility, where my heart sank. As we approached, I could see that it was basically a truck junk yard, but they did have several lines of truck on their lot that had been conditioned for resale.

I found the manager and he took me to the truck I was to take to Charlotte, MI. It was a Freightliner FL80 crew cab boom truck. First crew cab I've hit. It had over 50k miles on it, the most I've seen so far, but they were probably not accurate since the speedometer/odometer only registered about half the speed you were actually traveling.

I initially thought I might not take it since there was a bad spot on a rear tire, but the manager told me to check it over carefully and they'd fix whatever was needed. So I gave it the best inspection I could, even taking it on a test drive. It actually ran OK, so I finally told him I'd just head on, even though he had called to have the tire changed.

The truck made it on to Charlotte, about 250 miles, and I arrived there about 4:30 PM. This was my first time driving in to MI. Dispatch then told me to find a way to the Detroit airport, about 100 miles away, where I'd get a flight the next morning for Richmond where I would pick up a new truck from Glen Allen to Forest, VA and on home. Since I had to change flights in Philadelphia, and the ice storm was there on Friday, that's where things got interesting.

But first, I had to get to the Lansing, MI airport to pick up my rental car. The only shuttle they have in Charlotte wasn't going to pick up any more passengers that day, so I was stuck in the auction lot where I delivered this one. I asked the guy there if he knew anyone that might be willing to take me the 20 miles for $40 and another guy stepped to the plate. Don't know what I would have done if he hadn't volunteered. Just another one of those driveaway lucky saves, I guess.

We had been delayed about 30 minutes in Detroit awaiting weather clearance in Philadelphia, but we were able to land there OK after the delay. When I arrived at the gate, I was relieved to see the next plane was already at the gate and the crew was there. But there was a 30 minute delay, then another 30 minute delay. I've flown enough to know that's not a good sign and bad things are likely about to happen.

I happened to overhear a guy calling his secretary to get a rental car lined up so he could drive to Richmond if/when the flight cancelled. Kind of unusual for me, but I asked him if he wanted someone to ride along and split the cost, which he did. Turned out he and another fellow, along with me, ended up heading out to Richmond when the flight ended up getting cancelled.

If you checked the news, there were thousands stranded, some for the entire weekend, in Philadelphia and up the northeast cost. We lucked out and got out, but our bags didn't. USAir said they couldn't get our bags for us, they'd be sent on to Richmond. But for me, even if that happened, it wasn't going to help me since my tools were in my checked bag and I was leaving Richmond for Forest then home. So the bag dilemma started there.

We drove through some sleet and rain all the way to Richmond - nasty weather. The guy that was driving was an executive with Smithfield Foods and the other guy was an environmental scientist, so we had some interesting discussions. Good we had those, because we didn't stop a single time the whole 250 miles. All had good bladders, I guess.

Got through the baggage line in Richmond fairly quickly where we filed our claims. I was told my bag would be delivered to my home once it finally made it to Richmond, but since my tools were in it, I did stay over the night just to see if they came in the next morning - which they didn't.

Did get to visit with one of my daughters on Saturday morning, and she brought a screw driver (so I could mount my plate) and took me to Glen Allen. There, I picked up the usual GMC 7500 boom truck and headed out to Glen Allen. My wife picked me up there about 2:00 PM and I was almost home.

I continued to call the two USAir numbers provided over the weekend, but with no success. Finally, on Monday morning, a baggage delivery guy did call me from Richmond and said he'd be delivering bags all over this end of the state and would probably get mine to me that night - which he did.

Was relieved to get my tools, camera, a few clothes, toothbrush, etc. back. I'm planning to tow my car the next trip, so we'll see if that offers as much excitement as bumping around via whatever means you can in driveaway.

Two Big Ones and a Tweety Bird

2007-03-02T14:48:00.000-05:00

This latest set of trips found me tugging around two of the largest trucks I've driven followed by one of the smallest.

Monday, February 26, 2007

This trip started with a rental pickup at the Roanoke airport for a drive to Charlotte, NC. There, another Spirit Miller driver picked me up to take me to his home where he had staged a boom truck he brought from Birmingham, AL. Got to hear all the normal griping these drivers seem to love to do, how dispatch screws them over, what a piece of junk the truck is, etc., etc. I was very enthralled by the time I got to his house and saw the mamouth boom truck I was to take to Plains, PA. It was a Kenworth T800, the first of those I'd driven, with a 125' boom on it, also I believe the largest I've hauled.

After getting used to the normal scraping I do on those Eaton Fuller hi-lo trannys, I was heading north. The path took me by home, so since it was close to quiting time, I staged the truck at the nearby truck stop and had my wife pick me up for home. It was good to get at least one night this week at home.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Headed on up I-81 to Plains, PA, a trip of about 300 miles. I arrived at the Altec plant there at about 2:30 PM. Dispatch had me lined up for a rental car from the local airport to Millford, CT, where I was to pick up a truck destined for Columbus, OH. It took about an hour for the cab to come to take me to the airport. And just as I had signed for my car, dispatch called to say the plans had changed. I was to go to Millbury, MA (that seems like a lot of Mills), and pick up a truck for Frederick, MD. So, I re-routed and headed out. I spent the night just outside of Waterbury, CT which left me about 1.5 hours drive (not counting traffic accidents in Hartford, CT).

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

I got to the Altec plant in Millford about noon, and they brought out the biggest crane truck I've driven - an IHC Paystar 5000 with a super-duper hi/lo-lo transmission. It had considerably more buttons than I've seen before, but it turned out if I just stuck with the buttons I knew, it did OK. The last three IHC's I've driven have been mostly new and all have had various problems. This one was losing some air, had a noisy power steering, thumping in the steering, and was occasionally thinking about overheating. Plenty to think about in addition to its 13'6" height.

Speaking of height, as I was buzzing around with all the traffic, overpasses, and mess through Hartford, I looked up and there was a bridge with a sign saying 13'7" (gee! a whole inch to spare), which I was about to either immediately head under or hit. So I did what most good professional drivers do - I ducked - hoping I wouldn't hear crane grinding on bridge or me going through the windshield. Neither happened, but I took extra notice of all future bridges - and there are a lot of them in PA.

Made it to the Jonestown, PA area, just above Harrisburg for the night.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

It's March already? Where did the winter go?

Up early and on to Frederick, MD. I was anxious to get this big behemoth off my shoulders and hopeful that dispatch would be heading me further south towards home. Weather was approaching the northern states.

Got to Frederick about 9:30 AM, where I deposited this truck, gladly, and was put in a nice tweety-bird yellow Ford F550 small boom truck destined for Bowling Green, VA (getting closer to home). Plus, dispatch already had a rental car from Fredericksburg, VA lined up for me to get home. So I was a happy camper. It was a real relief to be out of the giant trucks and driving something this small even if I did have to drive around Washington, DC.

I made it to Bowling Green about 12:30, then Hertz agreed to pick me up. Got my rental car after waiting about an hour for the driver to come and I was on my way home. The Hertz driver expressed a lot of interest in becoming a driveaway driver, so I gave him the sale pitch.

Happy to be through another trip. They always seem to keep me tense, but big trucks especially so. I'm planning to outfit my 1994 Saturn as a tow car for my next trip. That should bring some new excitement into the driveaway deal.

Trips 80 through 82 and COLD!

2007-02-09T14:38:00.000-05:00

Just finished 3 trips in the coldest weather I've experienced yet in driveaway work, including going to Duluth in January.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

I figured I needed to do a trip this week since I would be going with friends to Florida next week for golf and the Busch race and would probably take the following week off. So, even though my wife and I had seen each other a total of about 2 hours in the past 2 weeks since I had been on a long trip the previous week, and she had been to a teacher workshop and family get-togethers last week, I decided to head out.

It was brutally cold for VA on Tuesday morning. I was to pick up a truck at Altec Daleville, VA for delivery to Blairstown, NJ. My wife took me by the plant on her way to work, and agreed to drive me around the rather large lot of trucks they now have to help find the truck. View the picture and you'll see that Altec has a sea of trucks (blue shading provided by my crappy camera) from which you have to find yours. We were in to the second circle of the lot when we found it. It was an IHC 4300 automatic, started OK, so she headed on and I proceeded to do the quickest pre-trip in the 6 degree weather that I've done so far.

The trip to Blairstown up I-81 and across I-78 bouncing through PA was relatively uneventful. In this weather, I have the constant worry of diesel jelling, but no problems on this trip. I arrived in the area around 4:30 PM, but dispatch was having problems figuring out how to get me out of there and to my next truck in Lancaster, PA. They finally settled on having another driver, a nice fellow from AL, take me the 120+ miles in his tow car.

We arrived in Lancaster about 8:00 PM where I was able to find my next truck at the Lancaster Resort. In checking around the place, I could see there was no use in my asking about their room prices, so I again did a very quick (non-existent) pre-trip in the cold and headed about .5 miles up the road to the Super8. The other driver and I then had a nice meal at the nearby Friendly's.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

It snowed about an inch over night and every flake stuck, so the roads were slick. Even though it was cold, I did do a fairly good pre-trip before heading out about 8:00 AM. This truck was an IHC 4300 with chipper/boom body and was headed to Scottdale, PA, close to Pittsburg, to the Penn Line company. I saw lots of wrecks on the way, but did OK myself and arrived there about 1:00 PM.

The people at Penn Line were some of the nicest, if not the nicest, that I have delivered to. They obviously have a wonderful corporate culture, were having a good time, and treated me like royalty - not a common occurance as a driver.

I had told dispatch that I needed to get on back home rather than stay out to Friday like I had originally indicated. It had snowed 4-5 inches at home and my wife was less than pleased to be there by herself and having to plow out the driveway and get her car unstuck by herself. So dispatch put me in a rental car from the Latrobe, PA airport to Richmond, VA where I would pick one up from Glen Allen to Forest, VA, a trip I've made several times.

This worked out well for me, even though it was a lot of deadheading, because I could visit my daughters who live in Richmond, plus bum a ride from the airport to Glen Allen. I arrived Richmond, after driving the 320 miles at around 8:00 PM.

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Only one of my daughters was available, Caitie, but she picked me up, we had a nice breakfast at Aunt Sarah's Pancake House, and she took me to Glen Allen. I picked up a GMC 7500 with chipper/boom body. As I headed out about 11:00 AM, I noticed it was jumping out of 6th gear each time I let off the gas. I figured I'd be able to handle that for the 140 miles to Forest, but did let dispatch know about it. They told me to head back to Glen Allen and talk to them before bringing the truck on. I knew they wouldn't work on it, but I did go back, and by that time it had stopped jumping out of gear. So I told the mechanic what was going on, he shrugged his shoulders as I figured he'd do, and I headed on to Forest.

Nice sunny day to drive and I arrived there about 2:00 PM. My wife was called into duty again since she was off from school, even though she did go in to work anyway, and she came later to pick me up. She was rewarded, as was I, with a nice late lunch/early dinner at the Ruby Tuesdays restaurant in Bedford, and then I was home from a very cold trip.

I had decided while I was out that I really didn't need to be dealing with this cold of weather and icy conditions and promised myself to just stay in in the future when it's like that. I'm heading with friends to warmer climate next week to do some golfing and race watching in Florida. That should keep me out of driveaway for at least two weeks. Besides, my wife says she really wants me around more, and I'm hoping it's more than for cooking and doing the dishes and vacuuming.

Cold and Hot

2007-02-01T11:05:00.000-05:00

My latest trips, numbers 78 and 79, involved heading from ice to colder, then from colder to hot.

Monday, January 22, 2007

I was lined up to take an IHC Paystar 5000 triple axle chassis from Daleville, VA to Duluth, MN. We'd had ice on Sunday, so I delayed a bit going over to Daleville to get on the road, waiting instead for things to clear out a bit and for it to heat up. I had done some pre-trip on the unit on Saturday. Mainly, I'd wanted to make sure the temporary flaps were securely on, which they never are, and these weren't either. But, luckily, a guy came out from the plant to check on what I was doing and said he'd take care of securing the flaps before he left for the day. I thought - right! But turned out he did a good job on them and I didn't have any trouble with them the entire 1200 miles to Duluth - a first for temporary flaps.

I had to chip the truck out of the ice, but was on the road west by about 10:00 AM. Truck drove great, with the Eaton Fuller hi-low 9-speed, especially for a chassis, except I discovered fairly quickly the heater was not heating properly - a considerable problem when you are heading north to a place like Duluth. It was putting out about 50 degree air, which ended up working OK through WV, KY, IN, IL, but didn't do too well in WI and MN.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

I made it to Indianapolis the first night and around Chicago about 11:00 AM the next. Seems IL is all toll roads. Paid all of them and made it to the small burg of Chetek, WI Tuesday night. Told my wife this was the WI version of Choteau, MT. Only place to eat was a bar, but the beer was good (the truck had already been parked) and the hamburger also. Snow and ice covered everything. I was wondering if the truck would start, or the fuel would jell, the next morning in the 6 degree weather.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Up early to find out if the truck would start and get on to Duluth. The hotel provided electric heater hookups but I didn't have a chord so didn't try that. The truck started with no problems, but I about to freeze on the way to Duluth. The inside of the side windows frosted over. Don't know what I would have done if the windshield had frozen over.

The drive in to Duluth, across the bridge crossing the tip of Lake Superior, was interesting, with the lake frozen and huge cargo ships dry-docked and/or frozen into the lake. The Altec plant where I was to deliver and pick up the next truck was within a half mile of the MN boarder. So I got to add WI and MN to my driveaway map, but I've only seen a half mile of MN.

The guy at receiving for Altec was on break and wouldn't check the chassis in until his break was over, so I went out and found the truck that I was to take to FL rather than wait on him. It was an IHC 7300, 4-wheel drive, automatic, digger derrick. Looked good, and also started up nicely in the very cold weather, which I was then freezing in. The check-in guy decided by then to quit reading his paper and come on out and accept the chassis. I was back on my way by about 11:00 AM - and hopefully headed to warmer climates.

Unfortunately, that's when the real troubles for this trip began. About 10 miles back into WI, when I reached 60 mph for the first time, the speedometer started fluctuating and the engine started surging and jumping. I initially figured it was a fuel problem, so I stopped at a place that ended up being a bar, where a very helpful guy sold me half a gallon of anti-jell to put in that he had. That didn't resolve the problem. As I got 100 or so miles down the road, I called dispatch to let them know the truck wasn't running right, and I didn't want to nurse it like that for the 1700 mile trip to Moore Haven, FL. We found an International dealer in Eau Claire, WI and they could check it right away.

What appeared to be a very knowledgeable mechanic put the truck on the computer. They found a few fault codes, did a few things, said they didn't really find anything but that it was testing OK, and I headed out about 3:30 PM very confident it was fixed. Unfortunately, as soon as I got up to speed it started doing the same thing and I turned around and took it back in. By this time, second shift was on duty, and the kid assigned this time was definitely clueless. He finally called International technical support, who seemed even more clueless, one thing lead to another, and at 7:30 PM I decided to just go ahead and drive it as is. Made it further south to Mauston, WI, just north of Madison for the night.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Truck started, again, well in the very cold weather, and I was heading to warmer, although still snow-covered weather in IL. At the first toll booth, I heard air leaking when I had the brakes on, and at the first gas stop I did an air brake test. It failed miserably, so I knew I was going to have to go see another International dealer. The closest one was in Normal, IL about 50 more miles away. I made it there about noon. They quickly discovered that two brake lines had only been finger tightened (good quality assurance International) and fixed the problem in about 10 minutes. On the surging problem, they didn't have time to check, but said they'd started hearing of this type of problem on the new Internationals and that nobody knew how to fix it. Also, the mechanic in Eau Claire had pointed out a hydrolic line leak which I told dispatch about. Dispatch checked and found that I would need to divert to the Indianapolis Altec plant to have it checked, and that couldn't happen until 6:00 AM the next morning.

The more I thought about it, I realized that, due to my bad back, I had not gotten under the truck to check out the oil puddle the mechanics had pointed out, and I was beginning to doubt whether I really had a leak. But I was now committed to Indianapolis, so I headed east arriving about 5:30 PM. Further delay in reaching the warm and heading home.

Friday, January 26, 2007

I had the truck in bright and early at 6:00 AM and the Altec guys started checking it right away. They checked everything for over an hour, found no leak, but did find some sort of electrical problem. So, basically, I'd wasted that part of the trip, but headed on south down I-65 towards FL. This would take me through Nashville about lunch time, so I called my son, who lives there, to see if we could meet up for a quick lunch.

The lunch idea worked, and I was in Nashville about 1:00 PM. About the time we were walking in front of a good looking, very busy, barbeque restaurant, dispatch called to tell me they couldn't get me out of Moore Haven on Saturday and their backup plan was for me to get to Orlando Sanford airport, stage the truck there, and catch a plane at 4:25 PM. That meant I had to get 700 miles under my belt by then and I knew I'd be running out of hours for today and with the 10 hours off requirement I'd be running close on making the plane. But, if I could, the long trip would be over and I'd be able to get home in a more reasonable time. So, we had to forego lunch, and I, regretably, had to leave my son early and head on south.

Drove like a bat out of hell through Chattanooga, and on down I-75, hitting Atlanta at a wonderful hour - 6:00 PM. But made it through and stayed the night about 120 miles north of the GA/FL border.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

I had driven until after 9:00 PM the night before, so was legally supposed to not start out until after 7:00 AM, but I fudged just a bit and was on the road shortly after 6:00 AM. Definitely wanted to make that plane.

Got through all the weight and inspection station entering FL and was in the Orlando area, and really warm, 75 degree, weather by noon. I don't generally like FL, with its hot weather, crazy drivers, and congestion, but really appreciated it more this time.

Was at the little Sanford airport by about 12:00 PM, staged and in the terminal early. Left plenty of time to get the plane, lunch, and some relaxing for the first time all week. Had been a hectic week with close to 3,000 miles of truck driving.

The plane was on time, and about the only direct flight to Roanoke from anywhere except a hub. I was back in Roanoke by 6:00 PM. My wife picked me up, we hit The Tavern downtown on the market for supper, and I was home. Three thousand miles is a healthy week of truck driving, and I was ready to be home for a while. Still trying to figure out how to get back into retirement. Haven't been doing too well lately on that.

Trip #75 and the Hound

2007-01-12T14:35:00.000-05:00

My first trip for 07 was my 75th trip doing driveaway. It's amazing how time flies when you are having so much fun.

Dick Williams, the driveaway guru, who has taught me about all I know about driveaway, got stuck over the weekend in Roanoke because of Greyhound foulups with his bags. He was coming from delivering a truck in MS via the Hound on his way to pick up a truck in Daleville Altec bound back to his home base of Kansas City. He had to spend an extra day in and around Roanoke waiting to see if his bags would ever show up. He finally gave up, had his company fax me the info he needed for his truck, which I took to him and gladly took him out to Daleville on Saturday to pick up his truck. I was glad to do that, not only to help him, but I also was to pick up a truck there on Monday, so I wanted to check out which one it was.

Monday, January 8, 2007

My wife dropped me off on her way to work. Luckily, I had found my truck on Saturday and it was the very first one parked on the road in to the plant. Altec is now having to park trucks in every nook and cranny in order to keep the folks who have big homes on the golf course across the road from complaining about the beautiful new trucks spoiling their views of the mountains. In addition, there appear to be hundreds of trucks awaiting delivery, and it could become difficult to find your truck in the dark, and in this case, the rain.

This truck was a nice IHC automatic. I pre-tripped it fairly rapidly in the dark and was on my way to Tifton, GA by 7:30 AM. I was right pleased about this trip, since it was the first time I'd gotten an Altec truck since last spring, and it was nice to be heading south again rather than what has been cutomarily north for me lately. In particular, I was glad not to do PA this time.

Made good time through VA, NC, SC, and in to GA by late afternoon. At that time, dispatch let me know that they had been unsuccessful in finding a one-way car rental out of Tifton and wanted to know if I could make the 7:15 AM bus for Atlanta, where I would pick up my car to take back to Shelby, NC for my next truck. That, naturally, threw a clinker in what was going to be a perfect trip, since I'm not a fan of Greyhound. I told her I'd try to make it, but as I sat in traffic in Atlanta, and realized the national championship college football game was coming on shortly, I knew I wasn't going to make Tifton and the 7:15 AM bus. That meant I'd have to wait around in Tifton until 2:15 PM for the next one.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

I stayed in Perry, GA at a Super 8 for the evening. Nice room, but not much on the breakfast. I didn't hurry because I knew that unless a new game plan appeared I'd have to be waiting around until 2:15. So I delivered the truck to the Hampton Inn in Tifton, where a very helpful front desk employee helped me find the two rental car phone numbers and ended up taking me to the bus station when I couldn't find a car. I figured I'd try anyway. The bus station is located in the Pilot truck stop in Tifton, and it was one of the longest waits I've had. At one point, I stood around where the truckers enter just to see if I might find a ride to Atlanta, but as I watched another guy begging for rides, I decided I was above that and would just go ahead and take my Hound beating.

2:15 finally came, the bus was on time (believe it or not) and I got on a bus that did not have a single empty seat. I sat directly behind the driver (somehow, feel safer), next to a young parolee. He had just gotten out of prison for the second time. It appears the current release uniform is new, cheap white shirt with Khaki pants. There were several of these outfits on the bus. He, and the friend he made across the isle discussed experiences and, I believe, set up their next deal on the bus trip. I was glad to get off at 6:00 PM even though it was the downtown Atlanta bus station. I luckily was right next to MARTA, where I got on the train bound to the airport for my rental car. I was there and in my car in less than an hour.

I drove a few hours to Commerce, GA for the evening. This time, a Howard Johnsons, and no breakfast. I was on my way to return the car to Gastonia, NC where I'd pick up a cab for Shelby and my next truck.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

I was up early to get a lot of driving done this day after wasting the last day just trying to get to the next truck. I think that's the first time that has happened to me in driveaway.

I got to Gastonia Hertz location by 10:00 AM and in a cab by 10:30 destined for Shelby. I like pickups in Shelby because that always means a new truck from Southco, and these are usually nice, easy driving, and no booms to worry with. I found my truck in the bull pen immediately, and recognized it as one of my favorites from the past - a chassis that I had delivered to Southco before Christmas from a truck dealership in Westminster, MD. It was the classiest IHC I'd ever driven, with automatic, sun visor on the windshield, air seat, heated mirrors, compass, and outside thermometer. This truck was destined for a tree service adjacent to Dulles airport in northern VA.

Since it would take most of the day just to drive to Roanoke, I decided to bring the truck by home, spend the night, and then on to Dulles on Thursday. I was home by about 4:30 PM.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

I figured I'd make my delivery to Dulles by noon, be in a rental car home, and call it a week. I did make my delivery by about 11:00 AM. Kind of hated to give the nice truck up. But, of course, dispatch had another idea rather than going straight home. They asked if I'd be interested in going to Glen Allen, just outside of Richmond, and bring a truck to Forest. This was a trip I've made several times lately. It wouldn't add that many miles to the trip, plus more of them would be paid miles, so I told them yes.

I thought I might meet my daughters, who both live in Richmond, for dinner, plus get a free ride from the airport out to Glen Allen, but neither of those assumptions panned out. Both daughters were working, and that's a good thing as Martha Stewart would say.

Got to Richmond and a cab to Glen Allen by about 3:30 PM, where I met another Spirit Miller driver who had also just arrived from the airport and was also taking a truck to Forest. We picked out trucks up and were on our way. We didn't drive together, which I don't like anyway, and my truck was on fumes as I pulled out and I needed to get fuel right away.

Got to Forest about 7:00 PM where Spirit Miller had a driver ready to pick us up, bring me home, and take the other driver to Daleville for his next truck.

Thus ended the first set of trips for 2007. Except for the Hound, it was a nice set of trips. Not much money, though, for the days spent.

A Couple of Trips and Montana - one more time!

2007-01-05T10:33:00.000-05:00

Since I last updated this blog, I've taken a couple of driveaway trips and my wife and I took our Christmas trip to Choteau, MT to visit our fixer-upper there.

Monday, December 18, 2006

I decided to work in one more set of driveaway trips before the Christmas break. This one started, as usual, at Forest, VA with a new boom truck going to York, PA. It was a new IHC 4300 6-spd. Nice truck and an easy trip to York. I arrived about 4:00 PM. Took quite a while for the cab to arrive to take me on the $80 trip to Carlisle, PA to pick up a truck to go to Bluffton, IN, a new neck of the woods for me.

Because it took a good while for the cab to arrive, it was dark by the time I got back to Carlisle, and I broke one of my cardinal rules of driveaway. I pre-tripped a used truck after dark. I'd dropped a truck at this location last month and was familiar with the facility. I knew they had used trucks, but didn't recall how really used they were. This one was a 1998 Ford F Series (didn't have the actual model on the truck) and, since it was that old, was really used. But, except for a loud scream coming occasionally out of the turbo, it did drive well.

I pre-tripped in the dark and drove about 5 miles to a Days Inn that I had stayed at last month (s0me comfort factor there). The next morning, I waited until close to daylight to head out so I could do a better pre-trip on the truck.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

I couldn't really find anything to stop me from heading out for Indiana, so I got on the road about 7:00 AM. It was 500+ miles to Bluffton. Other than the noise occasionally coming from under the hood, the trip went well and I arrived in Bluffton about 6:00 PM. The receiving outfit told me they would offer a ride to the Fort Wayne airport, where I was to pick up a rental for the drive home, the next morning, but I'd be stuck in Bluffton until then. However, I did find a cab that was willing to come the 25 miles from Fort Wayne to pick me up. But by that time, one of the guys that worked there offered to drive me to the airport if I'd help with some gas money, which I gladly did for $20.

I picked up the rental and started back home. Since it was quite late by this time, I stopped at a Days Inn near Dayton, OH for the night and made it back home about 2:00 PM on Wednesday.

It was good to have my last driveaway trip completed safely for the year. That completed 74 trips that I have done so far in driveaway. Time sure passes rapidly when you're having fun.

This freed me up to get in the Christmas spirit. My wife's Christmas break started on Thursday. We did our final Christmas shopping and got ready for the kids to meet us at our families get-togethers on Saturday in Augusta County. We had set that up differently than our traditional Christmas Day get-togethers, and it worked out great for my family. We were able to be with both families in a more relaxed atmosphere, then return home and have a relaxed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - a first for us.

Beth and I left for Choteau, MT on Christmas afternoon. We flew Northwest Airlines for the first time since our 20th anniversary and it wasn't a great experience. Of the 6 flights, they had trouble with 3, but we did get there and back safely, arriving Great Falls about midnight. We picked up our rental and stayed a free night at the Great Falls Super 8 using points I've accumulated in driveaway - one of the few benefits. We were also flying using free tickets I've accumulated with my credit cards - also to a large degree because of driveaway.

The next day we drove the 52 miles from Great Falls to Choteau and were able to get into our little house. It was a wonderful experience. Rosell, who has been watching over the house for us, had totally cleaned it, moved some of our furniture in, made the bed, put out towels, put in a microwave and coffee pot, and set out fresh flowers and snacks. Just a great re-introduction to our house.

We had a wonderful week in Choteau buying things for the house, setting things up, etc. Had a nice snow on Weds. night that stayed the rest of the week. We were sad to leave on New Years Day, leaving us very anxious to get back out over my wife's spring break in April.

Montana and Another Trip

2006-12-08T10:11:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since updating ye ole blog (in the mood of the season), so thought I'd do a very quick update. Since I last checked in, I made the VERY LONG drive to Choteau, MT and back taking the large version of the UHaul trailer pulled by my sweet mother-in-law's Ford F150 (bigger than my Nissan Frontier).

The trip was longer than I expected. The trailer was a drag (no pun intended) to pull. Thought I'd never get through South Dakota, then hit snow on the western end of SD. I won't go into the details, but traveling through the corner of Wyoming and into Montana was tougher than I expected due to snow, ice, and dense fog; but about 150 miles or so into MT, the curtain opened and I onced again recalled why I love MT so much. The Beartooth Mountains to my south, along with the beautiful plains made the rest of the trip lovely. I arrived around 2:00 PM in Choteau on the 4th day of driving.

I wasn't sure how long I was going to stay once I got there. After the long drive, I was thinking it might be a good while before I screwed up the energy to start the drive back, but my wife had come down with Shingles when I left (I guess from missing me) and the weather was iffy, so on Tuesday I headed back home trying to drive between storms crossing the northwest.

My brother had asked me to come back via Mound Ridge Kansas to pick up an antique tractor part, so I did just that. On Friday afternoon, I arrived back home safe and sound. Glad to have the worry of the trailer, the weather, and the borrowed truck behind me.

The next week was Thanksgiving, so I didn't do another driveaway trip until the week of 11/27/06.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

I had called dispatch earlier in the week to let them know I was ready to head out. I think they had a little bit of a problem this time coming up with a trip for me. For some reason, Spirit Miller doesn't seem to be moving any of the hundreds of Altec trucks sitting a few miles from my house at the plant in Daleville. So they asked if I'd be interested in taking a Ford F450 chassis from a Bedford dealer to Southco in Shelby, NC. That worked out OK for me, so I took it.

I arrived at the dealership Wednesday morning before the sales manager was there, so had to wait around for about a half hour. In the meantime, I found the truck I was to take out on the lot - a pretty red F450 chassis, but the temporary flaps (my favorite) had not yet been put on, so had to wait on that too before I could head out.

Nice day for a drive and made Shelby by mid-afternoon. By that time, dispatch had lined up a flight from Charlotte to Baltimore, via Atlanta, where I would take a cab to Westminster, MD to pick up another chassis at another dealership for delivery, again, to Shelby. Cab ride to CLT was $90 and cab ride from BWI was $80, more than what the plane tickets were. While sitting in the bar at the CLT airport, talked with a nice young lady from Lancaster, CA who was in the army, heading home for Christmas, and would be heading to Iraq in June. I thanked her for her service to our country and enjoyed the conversation about the Antelope Valley, where she's from in CA, where my wife and I had visited two springs ago.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

The plane didn't arrive in Baltimore until about 11:00 PM, but the cab guy (a young Romanian gent) was right there to take me directly to Westminster. Lots of fog on the way, but he was nice enough to take me by the truck place, so I knew where it was, and to help find a motel in the middle of the night. Finally got to my room about 1:00 AM.

Was back up before 7:00 AM since I couldn't sleep and the desk clerk had said he'd be glad to take me by the truck place when he got off at 8:00 AM. Cabs were presumably scarce in Westminster, so I was pleased to take him up on his offer.

Picked up an IHC 4300 chassis, which was the most smartly outfitted one I've driven. Had all the most unusual luxuries for a working truck including outside temperature and compass.

Since the most direct route from Westminster would take me by my home, I got permission from dispatch to stay the night at home and finish the delivery to Shelby on Friday. That made for a relatively short day, which was nice given that yesterday had been such a long day. I arrive home by 2:00 PM.

Friday, December 1, 2006

Ah, December's here and I'm getting in the Christmas spirit!

It was rainy and windy, and I was up and on the road early. Fought the rain, wind, and fog, and made it to Shelby by about noon. Had to wait a while for a cab to the Hertz rental place in Gastonia, but was then soon on my way home.

The weather had turned sunny and it was a relatively nice drive home. My wife met me at the airport for the rental return and we headed downtown to the market for drinks and Christmas doings.

I have unusual bus duty this Friday (today) and next Friday. The County was needing me to take the high school wrestling team to several distant places the next two weekends, which would have included long drives and staying over night. I offered (may have been a mistake) to take the afternoon route of one of the drivers that wanted to go. I did a practice run with her yesterday and it's going to be quite a challenge. 50-75 screaming grade schoolers and an equal number of surly mid/high schoolers in the roughest part of Vinton doesn't seem attractive right now.

Niagra in the Fall

2006-11-03T16:51:00.000-05:00

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 :-).

Bouncing Around New England - In the Fall

2006-10-19T16:54:00.000-04:00

Been a full week of bouncing to different points in New England. I may have seen as much of it as I care to, even though it was in the midst of the fall turning of the leaves. Ever since setting my sights on Choteau, MT, I've become a real big fan of wide open spaces. And wide open spaces is not something too prevalent near the turnpikes of New England, nor around the Big Dig in Boston. I did add Maine and New Hampshire to my states visited doing driveaway.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Went to Forestry Equipment to pick up a boom/chipper truck bound for Somerville, MA, which is adjacent to Boston. I expected the usual stripped down IHC 4300, but this one was a beautiful special order metallic emerald green, automatic, air brakes, the works. Really nice truck to drive. I was pleased when I saw it since it was a 700+ mile trip to Somerville.

Good time of year to be driving up through the Shenandoah Valley of VA. Passed through there fairly quickly and on up through WV, MD, and in to PA. Made it to Newburgh, PA for the evening - about 500+ miles total. I had decided that since I had the full week this time for driveaway, if needed, I would take my time and not push as hard as I sometimes do.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

I always wake early when out on these trips, so generally get an early start. I was on the road toward Boston by about 7:00 AM. The scales were busier, for some reason, on this trip. CT has a real mess of a scale on I-84 that is part of a rest area. It winds the trucks all over the place, and backs them up pretty well as far as I could tell. The agent was outside looking at the trucks as each came by. Looked at me, and thankfully this was a new truck (more about scale agents later), he asked if I was transporting (duh, my placard had to be removed from my window in order to talk to him), he walked around back, then motioned me on. I guess he was checking my driveaway tag.

Anyway, was on up I-84, on to I-90, the CT Turnpike, and in to Boston by noon. My dispatcher had said I needed to go into Boston and pick up I-93 for the best way to Somerville. My driver's intuition was telling me to get off at exit 18, but I decided to follow her directions. She had said I-90 would bring me in above the Big Dig in Boston - wrong! Man! there are about 12 lanes it looks like going into this hole, then a bunch more merge after you are in it. I've never seen a tunnel area anywhere near as big. Wonder why they call it the Big Dig? No wonder the roof fell in after it opened. But on this day, the roof stayed up and my boom truck fit through, and I made it out the other side no worse for the wear. Didn't have much trouble finding the drop-off, even though my contact didn't know where I was when I was actually sitting right behind his building.

I dropped off, then dispatch said to get a cab to Cambridge to pick up a rental car for Portland, ME. Cool, I hadn't been to Maine, so this was interesting. The address given me off Travelocity didn't exist, and it took the cabbie a lot of driving around before he finally figured that out. After calling Budget's 800 number several times, I was finally able to get them to provide the correct address - Hotel @ MIT. Again, that was cool. I'd feel perfectly comfortable hobknobbing with a bunch of engineering professors and students. I guess I went around Harvard and MIT, but can't say I saw much. Maybe there's not much to see.

Was on the road to Portland by about 1:30 PM, a drive of around 120 miles. I was to pick up a boom truck at Southern Maine Power. I noticed on my directions for delivery in Worcester, CT, that it mentioned sales location. I've found the words "sales" and "auction" do not bode well in driveaway.

On the way to Portland I was debating with myself (a mentally challenging activity) about whether to go ahead and pick up the truck or spend the night while I still had the rental car. I finally decided that the pickup location wasn't that far from the airport, where I was to drop off the rental car, so I'd go by and take a look at the truck before I dropped off the car and got a cab to pickup. Good move on my part.

The truck was parked on a hill out back of the building. Looked old, but not all that bad. Tires worn, but still some tread. Not as many left over lunches as some, but plenty of old stuff left in it. It was obvious this was an old truck going to a sale. When I went in to talk to someone, the building was all locked. Most of the windows had signs posted saying no entry without an apointment. It was about 5:00 PM, so some of the workers were coming out to their cars. A very nice young lady offered to assist me, but she wasn't able to get back in the building either. As I waited around and continued to check out the truck, the second shift started showing up. One of them knew about the truck and took me in to get the keys. At that point, several of the mechanics took note and started commenting about how they thought it was ridiculous that they were putting anyone on the road in that truck. When it gets hot, it pushes water into the oil and doesn't run too well. Hmmmmmm...... I took the keys and went out to check it out. Upon starting it - finally - it engulfed itself in blue smoke, puttered, then stopped, I didn't try to restart. Called dispatch and told them that someone else may be willing to get on the road with this one, but I wasn't.

Dispatch was a bit reluctant, since they assured me that they had been told that this truck just came off the road and was running well. I stuck to my guns and they agreed for me to just return to Auburn, MA, where I was scheduled to pick up my next truck at Bartlett Tree Service. That also can be worrisome, since most of those used tree trucks have been killed, but I did have good luck with Bartlett on a previous trip.

So I headed back toward Auburn from Portland expecting to find a hotel on the way for the evening. Turns out you really can't find hotels when you are on the turnpike. There are few exits, and no signs for hotels, so I don't have a clue how you do that. I did have a coupon book, and even though it was raining and hard to drive, I decided to go on to Worcester, MA where I was to drop off the car and there was a Days Inn there I could stay at (and get my reward Triprewards points).

Finally got to the hotel by around 8:00 PM, and found out the long drive had been for naught - they wouldn't give the reward points at the coupon rate. I occasionally have that happen, but usually if you pay a few bucks more you can get the points. This time, the rate was going to be more than $20 more, which I didn't go for, but I did stay for the night.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Up early and dropped the car off at the Worcester Hotel and Conf. Center by 8:00 AM. Had a bit of a wait for a cab to Bartlett Tree in Auburn. When I got there, it was a similar situation to the one in Portland. It was an old 1997 IHC boom/chipper truck, 84k miles, with two guys throwing junk out of it. So my heart sank, because I thought I was in it for another turndown, which would totally tick dispatch off. After talking to both of the guys, they agreed the truck was total junk, but that the only real problem was the boom didn't work correctly - not a problem for me. After a lot of questioning on my part, they agreed the truck ran OK. So I checked it out as thoroughly as I could. It did start up OK and seemed to run OK. I noticed it had a full load of chips in the back, so I made the guys empty that because I'm not supposed to transport anything other than the truck, and I really didn't feel like having it pull any more than itself on the 120 or so miles to Milford, CT, where it was to go to Aerial Lift of CT.

So after checking everything as well as I could, I nervously headed out. The truck actually ran pretty well, and I made it to Milford by about noon. As I pulled in, I had quite an audience. Turns out they were having a demo day and there must have been 50 to 75 people including a bunch of salesmen standing around and/or having a lunch of assorted BBQ, veggies of your choice, and all kinds of deserts. Since I was idling in front of the whole bunch, with a hungry look and no way to get around them to park it, one of the big shots came over and told me where to park and, since my next truck was a demo and wouldn't be ready before 2:30, I could use their office and enjoy some lunch. All of which I did. The BBQ was outstanding!

In the midst of all that, my cell phone was ringing with a call from my oldest daughter asking if I'd co-sign for her on a new apartment - sure, what are dads for?

I actually had an enjoyable 3 hours at Aerial Lift. I did my paperwork, partook of a scruptuous lunch, and checked out all the stuff they were demoing - much of it being stuff I often move. One of the highlights was a presentation and Q&A by two CT State Troopers on CDL requirements, testing, etc. I cornered them after their presentation to ask some pertinent questions about what goes on at scale houses. One of my best was a question about whether a fire extinguisher AND emergency triangles are required when transporting a truck. I already knew the answer is, for whatever odd reason, only triangles are required. I've been required several times by dispatch to buy triangles if they are missing from the truck. Anyway, these two troopers get into a disagreement about whether a fire extinguisher is required, and 30 minutes later and with the DOT regs. book out, they are still arguing. That's a good example of what we can expect to deal with when we are at a scale house.

The truck I was to pick up was a nice Ford 750 Log Loader. They had it all set up with a log hooked in the tongs. Problem was, when it came time to close up shop, didn't anyone really know how to operate it. There are what appear to be hundreds of knobs and levers on this thing and it took forever to get it packed up and the boom stowed. But I finally got on the road around 3:30 PM for the 750 mile drive to Southco in Shelby, NC.

I made it to Allentown, PA where I found a Howard Johnsons for the night. Got screwed because they wouldn't take the $40 coupon rate and the best trucker rate they had was $65. Don't know if Spirit Miller will cover that or not, but they've been good about accepting it in the past even though they make a big case about keeping it under $50. That's a near impossibility in the northeast especially during leaf turning season.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Again, up and on the road fairly early, although this time I did sort of take my time having the Belgium Waffle before I left. I decided it would be about 400 miles to get down I-81 near my home, and that I might as well plan to spend the night at home and take the truck on to Shelby on Friday. Dispatch agreed that was doable, so I set sail on down I-78 to I-81 and HOME. I actually reached home earlier than I expect, around 3:00 PM and that left me in a quandry as to what to do with the truck. My original plan was to stage it at the local TA truckstop, but I wasn't able to find a family member or friend who was available to pick me up - so much for both. I finally decided to bring the truck home, and thinking it was too big to go up my driveway and turn around, I'd just back it in and block my driveway. My wife would have to hike up the driveway when she got home. But when I got home, and started backing, after a lot of checking, I decided to go ahead and back it up to the house. My only concerns was whether I could chock it and whether the brakes would hold. I did chock it.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Well, the brakes did hold, but I did notice the chocks were lodged in there pretty tightly. Was on the road to Shelby early arriving there just before noon (I seem to be on a roll for arriving just before noon). Dispatch actually had a rental car already lined up. So a quick post-trip, turnover to Southco, a cab ride, and was on my way home. A brief drive on I-85, then on up I-77, where about 20 miles north of Charlotte it turned into a parking lot. Made me feel I was going around Washington DC. About 20 minutes later, I came to where the action had been. Both north and south lanes had very significant wrecks. The south bound lane was stopped and many people had gotten out of their cars and started enjoying the fall day. I measured about 10 miles of backup before reaching the end.

I was home about 6:00 PM. One of the biggest weeks of driveaway I've had. Drove close to 2000 miles, which should help get me conditioned for the 2300 mile drive to Choteau in November. I'll be off driveaway next week, with a little golf on Monday and bus duty on Wednesday and Friday, with plenty of home chores in between.

Only in Virginia

2006-10-04T20:18:00.000-04:00

This week has been a busy one doing round trips from Forest, VA to Glen Allen, VA, a trip of about 145 miles. These trips involve taking a chassis only, mostly GMC 7500 6-spd, no a/c, no radio, to Glen Allen, where I pick up the duplicate outfitted with boom and chipper bed. Believe it or not, the fully dressed ones are much easier to ride and handle than the chassis only.

Monday, October 2, 2006

Had the paperwork on Friday, so was ready to get to Forest and hit the road early. Forestry Equipment was ready and I would have been on the road extra early except they are no longer automatically outfitting their chassis only units with emergency triangles, and they are a requirement. So I had to go through a rather lengthy process to convince Emmet to let me "borrow" a set as long as I promised to bring them back. Naturally, all the other drivers are ignoring this requirement and leaving me out to dry.

After getting the required triangles, was on the road by about 8:30 AM. Uneventful trip to Glen Allen, which is immediately north of Richmond, on a beautiful fall day and arrived by about 11:30 AM. There were 3 fully outfitted units ready to return to Forest and I was told I could take my pick. Did just that, and was headed out by a little after noon.

I had originally planned to make one round trip on Monday and do the same on Tuesday. Sometime during the return, change via dispatch, as is typical, came into the picture. They needed to line me up to take a truck somewhere beginning from Roanoke. So it was decided that I'd take the next chassis to Glen Allen Monday evening, bring the next truck back to Forest on Tuesday morning, then head to Roanoke to pick up the other truck. And that's what we did. At that time, dispatch didn't have the details on where I was picking up the next truck and where I was taking it.

Tuesday, October 3, 2006

I delivered the second chassis to Terex at 7:45 AM, picked up the next fully outfitted truck, and was heading back by 8:15 or so. Dispatch then told me I'd be picking up the truck in Roanoke at Bartlett Tree Service and taking it to Williamsburg. That sounded like a nice trip, but the more I thought about it, the more I became aware that it was a slight chance that the truck I'd be picking up wouldn't be junk given it would likely be a used truck. I sweated that the whole trip back.

Got this truck back to Forest a little after 11:00 AM, picked up my personal car that was already there from Monday, came by home to do some of the required paperwork and get a change of clothes (ooops, I forgot to pick up a clean set of underwear), then straight on to Bartlett. Turned out I had a pleasant surprise. These used tree trucks are usually total junk within a few weeks of being placed in service. Turns out that the guys at Bartlett Tree Service in Roanoke take a lot of pride in their trucks, and when I arrived for pickup, I had a nice little Chevy 5500 automatic, A/C, radio, and it was spit polished. The truck had almost 2000 miles on it, but looked, and drove, like it was brand new. So I headed out with it and a very old chipper hooked behind for Williamsburg.

I was originally to deliver on Tuesday afternoon, but since I would not get there before 7:00 PM, it was decided that it would be best for me to bed down in Williamsburg for the night and deliver the truck for their use at 6:30 AM on Wednesday morning - which is what I did. Folks there were nice enough to take me to the Hertz rental place in Williamsburg, and I was driving a Toyota electric drive Prius by 7:30 AM. The Prius is a wierd animal to drive, but it was a lot of fun. Full of gadgets, it was sort of like using a cell phone, playing with the radio, messing with your PDA and Tom Tom all at the same time. Definitely dangerous.

Made it home by 11:30 AM. That was 4 trucks in a little over two days. Have bus duty tomorrow taking my wife's class on a field trip, then plan to do the final Forest to Glen Allen round trip on Friday.

Shingles and a Trip

2006-09-29T14:45:00.000-04:00

Week before last was to be a full week set aside for driveaway. But after a weekend of golf, where I both came down with shingles and blew out my back, I had to use the week for recovery. And for the curious, shingles are just about as much fun as most people say they are, although I'm pretty sure I ended up with a relatively mild case of them.

Since that week was set aside for driveaway, that meant this week was to be set aside for bus trips - and I had several, including one very long one to the state fair in Richmond, a trip of about 195 miles one way. After missing driveaway the previous week, and since I had Monday and Tuesday off this week before doing bus duty, I decided to call dispatch and see if they had anything that would work for Monday and Tuesday, and have me back home no later than Tuesday night.

As usual, they were able to come up with something. They offered a rental from Roanoke to New Bern, NC, cab ride to Havelock, NC where I was to pick up a small Ford F450 bucket truck and deliver to Altec in Frederick, MD. That sounded doable, so I agreed.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Since I hadn't called until Monday, it took a little while for dispatch to get the rental car reservations made and the paperwork faxed to me. But even with that, I was at the airport for rental pickup and on the road by 10:15 AM. Turned out it's a really long drive to the small airport at New Burn, NC, where I was to return the car and get a cab to Time Warner to pick up the truck. Got there about 4:00 PM. Was lucky and got a cab quickly and he knew how to get to Time Warner. I had previously called my contact there and he said he would have the truck ready and meet me in the parking lot. Sure enough, he did, and I was able to pre-trip and be back on the road by 5:00 PM. I was already fairly bushed from driving, but wanted to get as many miles under my belt as I could given that I needed to get to Frederick, MD, about 400 miles and back home, another 200+ miles by Tuesday night. I drove until about 8:00 PM and stopped for the night at a Days Inn near Roanoke Rapids, NC. The truck was driving great, and it was easy to make time with it.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Up and on the road by around 7:00 AM. Trip was going well, but each truck has to throw some kink in the trip, just to keep you awake. This one threw in a new wrinkle for me - a hood latch problem. I had noticed that, after checking the fluids, it had been mighty hard to get to relatch. So when I hit a big bump on the big bridge next to Richmond on I-295, it decided to release. Thank goodness for safety catches, because I was going 70 and it would have folded over the windshield. I-295 wasn't overly busy, so I pulled to the side and slammed it the hardest ever, it latched, and I didn't have any more problems, other than the worry, with it.

I had been debating with myself (a fun activity while on the road by yourself) ever since I left Roanoke whether I wanted to try to find some way around Washington or at least time it to miss rush hour, although that seems to generally be a 24-hour per day afair. I initially had decided I would get off I-95, take 234 by Manassas and then route 15 to Frederick. But as I approached that area about 9:30 AM, I chickened out and decided to test Washington one more time. Turned out to be a good choice. For the first time possibly ever, I was able to get on I-495 and get around Washinton DC without a major holdup. Arrived Frederick around 11:15 AM and turned the truck in.

That's where it got a bit dicey. Dispatch had trouble finding a rental car anywhere near, including as far away as Baltimore and Washington. They were about to give up and put me on the hound, which I would have missed the 12:35 departure, but a last second location of a Hertz office that had just re-opened in Frederick saved the day. Got a cab there, picked up my rental, and was headed home by about 1:00 PM. I almost kissed the guy contracting the car. I was so sure I wasn't going to make it home in time for bus duty on Wednesday and/or I was going to have to take the hound through Washington, and that is especially ugly.

Got home in good shape by 4:30 PM and was able to get rested up for bus duty on Wednesday for a trip to Clifton Forge, and on Thursday, for the long trip to the state fair - an experience all its own.

Purchases, Identity Theft, and Trips

2006-09-01T14:29:00.000-04:00

We finally closed on the house in Choteau, MT last Monday. It had been an ordeal pending approval from the seller's bank who was taking a bath on the sale, but it finally went through. I'll be heading out there on September 6 for a week to settle things and, hopefully, get a contractor started on fixing it up.

Also, over the weekend, I checked my credit card balances as I often do online and found a note from Citibank highlighted in red noting that unusual activity had occured on my account and for me to call them immediately, which I did. Turned out, someone has made a duplicate of my card and made purchases at at least 3 stores totalling about $300. I visited 2 of the stores on Monday, got a copy of one receipt that had not my name but a Jesus C. Diaz. One store had a video of a gas purchas at the pumps and the Krogers had them on video. Citi indicated this would be turned over to their security department but likely they wouldn't do anything except to cancel this account immediately and issue me new cards. I called the local police departments, they took the info, but I don't really expect them to do anything. Since my card has been in my posession the entire time, it's hard to figure how they duplicated it. I understand there are now several ways to do it.

I worked on that mess and the final clean-up on the closing on Monday, then called dispatch to let them know I could do a several day trip this week. She said she could put me in a rental car to Creedmoor, NC to take an Altec truck from there to Millbury, MA. That seemed interesting to me since it would be a fairly long trip and I'd visit a couple of new states in driveaway.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

My wife dropped me off at the airport bright and early to pick up the rental car, head to the Raleigh airport, then a taxi to Creedmoor. Since I was an hour early, I had to wait a while before they could produce the car. Had a quick, uneventful trip to RDU, then a quick taxi on the 30 or so mile trip to Creedmoor. The taxi ride was sort of interesting, since a past college statistics teacher from Moraco was driving. He was muslim, had lived here 12 years, and yes, loved this country. However, he wasn't too complimentary of our middle east policy especially as it relates to Iraq. Oh well, you can only solve so many problems in one driveaway trip.

Found the truck, a new IHC 4300 6-spd in the bullpen quickly, but naturally no keys or paperwork. An hour later, those were finally produced.

It was unbelievably hot in NC and VA on Tuesday. I was confident that since this was an Altec truck it would have A/C. Much to my dismay, upon checking it out, I found it didn't. So I was already wringing wet by the time I finished pre-trip and was on my way about 1:00 PM. Not only did it not have A/C, but I couldn't get any good air circulating in the cab. For some reason, I guess due to the way the cab is constructed and the framing around it for the boom, I could get zero air to come through the windows, even though they were wide open. And of course, the vent blew increasing hotter and hotter air. It was over 94 degrees with humidity which must have been over 100 as I passed through Richmond and on toward Washington. About half way between the two cities, I was melting even though I had been chugging water the entire time, and decided I just couldn't face the Washington DC parking lots on I-95 and I-495, so pulled off just above Fredericksburg for the evening. That Days Inn turned in to be pretty much a dump, but it served its purpose for refreshing me for the evening.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

I had decided not to take the most direct route straight up I-95 from Washington DC to Millbury, MA. That route would have taken me through Baltimore, Philadelphia, Trenton, New York City, and other burbs, so I was planning to take I-83 up into PA, pick up I-81 and I-78 or I-84, and sort of go in the back way. I left very early, about 6:15 AM trying to get around DC early, but that was a joke. I hit stopped traffic 15 miles south of the city and it didn't improve until two hours later as I headed out the north side. I just don't see how those folks put up with it.

I took a break at the MD rest stop and let dispatch know where I was, at which point they said there was an "emergency" need to get 5 trucks to FL due to the hurricane, so they needed me to take this truck to Carlisle, PA, stage it at a Flying J there, and pick up a truck there, along with 4 other drivers, to head to FL. I wasn't thrilled, but said I'd do it. So I headed to Carlisle up I-83, sort of along my planned route.

I arrived at the toll booth in Carlisle about 11:00 AM, and as often happens, my cell phone range right as I was pulling in - a time where I can't deal with it. So I paid the toll, asked for directions to the Flying J, and headed on in to Carlisle. I then called dispatch, who told me to just ignore the previous request and head on to Millbury as planned. OK, I think I will.

Drove the rest of the day up I-81 to Scranton, hung a right on I-84, and drove all the way across PA, the tip of NY, and, for the first time, in to CT. Dispatch wanted me to go ahead and deliver there late, and pick up another truck for a short trip back to Tolland, CT. I said that would be a no go. It was approaching 5:00 PM, and I'd about put in my hours for the day, so I stopped about 30 miles short of Hartford, CT for the night - another Days Inn dump with a desk clerk that had an attitude. I've had good luck with Days Inns before, but not on this trip. But I was still accumulating my TripRewards points, so who cares, right?

I had wanted to make sure I got to my room in time to see the ABC News 20/20 special on global warming, because my good driveaway buddy and guru, Dick Williams, was doing a segment on the migration of armadillos from the south now as far north as MO. For real, he'd been interviewed by an ABC producer to do a segment in his truck where he talked about armadillos.

Well, I got to watch the special. It had 8 or 10 segments on different ways the earth and/or the universe were going to kill us. Everything from astroids to Yellowstone NP (one of my favorite places) burying us in ashe. They saved Dick for number 1, the last segment, and he and Al Gore regailed us with tails of global warming and migrating armadillos. I loved it, and Dick did a much better job that Al.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Again, up at it early in order to finally get this truck, after 773 miles, to the Altec location in Millbury, and pick up the next for the short trip back to Tolland. I arrived Millbury about 8:30 AM, but the directions didn't exactly match the roads, my Tom Tom was trying to turn me around, and I wasn't having much luck finding Altec. I stopped and asked for directions (a very unmanly thing to do), and found I had already been to the right spot except about 100 yards short. The road was so small, pot-holed, and overgrown, that I couldn't imagine there was an Altec location there, but sure enough, if you have guts enough to take a boom truck on in, there it is.

Quick drop off, picked up faxed paperwork for the next truck, and it was staged in front of the Altec office. It was a slightly used 2005 IHC 7300 Digger Derrick truck, one of several of these I've now driven. It checked out pretty well, the only light was the Check A/C on, and since the weather was wonderful in MA and CT, I didn't care about that. It was sucking fumes, though, and even though it would only be about 50 miles back to Tolland, I had to find fuel - not easy, but doable, in Millbury. So I fueled up, made the usual wrong turns in trying to get back on to the toll road I-90, and on to Tolland. I arrived there about noon.

Tolland was a nice location to be leaving the truck. Dispatch, thankfully, didn't have anything else they felt they had to make me do, so they got a rental car for me at the Hartford/Springfield airport, and I ordered a taxi. Couldn't find anyone who was interested in making the trip to the airport, and I had to wait about an hour for the cab. I was glad to be heading home, as usual. It had been a long trip, and there was an approaching hurricane that I didn't want to have to drive through on Friday. I started out from Hartford about 1:30 PM. I wasn't sure I could drive the whole 600+ miles that evening, but good music and some talk radio got me home about 11:30 PM. I was covering some territory.

I'll now be able to finish up some stuff around the house and get ready for my return to Choteau, something I've been looking forward to since we were there in July. It will be different to have a house to worry with and for my wife to not be along, but I think I can make it - assuming the armadillos haven't moved in.

Back After Taking the Summer Off

2006-08-18T14:01:00.000-04:00

August 15 finally rolled around, a date where my wife had returned to work, I'd had the mandatory bus driver's meeting, and was finally available to do another road gig after taking the summer off. It turned out to be filled with several turns and twists, a characteristic I've found to involve many, if not all, driveaway trips.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

I told dispatch I would be available for a trip following the morning bus driver's meeting. I was assigned a truck that was staged at the local T/A truckstop, that had been brought from New Orleans and was on the way to Bethlehem, PA. It was a small 2003 Ford F550 utility with boom truck, and since it had made it from New Orleans, I was optimistic that it could go on to Bethlehem. I'm still not fond of nursing used, or new for that matter, trucks. I drove by the truckstop Tuesday morning on the way to the bus meeting, saw where it was sitting, and initially thought it looked like a doable job. That was to change.

After the meeting, I came by home to check the progress on the new shingle roof I was having put on my home (another reason to hit the road) and to get the fax from the office. I headed over to pick up the truck around 1:30 PM. Upon arriving, I noticed that the left front tire was down about half way. Further pre-trip inspection showed that it would start, but the windshield had a crack going almost the full length across, the oil dipstick was missing, low on water, one lug missing off the right rear, etc. I told dispatch about the dipstick and they agreed that I needed to find a Ford dealer and get a replacement, so I drove to Magic City Ford and picked one up. So, about 3:30 PM, I had the new dipstick in place, oil checked OK, so I tried to start it. This time, it didn't catch and it only gave me one chance. Starter would not kick in after that.

I borrowed a set of jumper cables from a trucker and attempted to jump it from my old 94 Saturn. Still would not start, and for some reason, my Saturn overheaded while attempting this. By this time, my frustration level was getting fairly high on this truck, and my enthusiasm for taking it up I-81 was waning rapidly. I called the company tech support, and he agreed I'd tried enough and to go ahead and make a service call. This consisted of walking into the truckstop and ordering a service truck. Unfortunately, they had several orders ahead of me and said it would be several hours before they could get to it. By this time, it was approaching 5:00 PM, later than I cared to start on the trip if I waited for service, so I decided to go home for the evening and give it a try the next day.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I'd scheduled road service to stop by at 7:30 AM. They showed up shortly after that. The mechanic tried jumping it, hot wiring the starting, and several other things, but still no go. Around 9:00 AM dispatch agreed for me to line up a wrecker and tow it to the Ford dealer. I was glad to get rid of it and so disgusted with it that I didn't even get a picture of it for my files (I try to get a picture of each of my rides. I have all but two now, although this one really didn't qualify as a ride since it wouldn't start).

I drove by the closest towing outfit, just across the street, and lined up a wrecker. In the meantime, dispatch had sent the paperwork for me to pick up a new Altec truck in Daleville, VA, just a few miles away, and deliver it to a wind farm being constructed on a mountain just outside of Mahanoy City, PA, which is just off exit 131 I-81. I was much happier with the idea of taking a new truck than messing any longer with this one.

I arrived at Altec around 10:00 AM and went to their holding lot. It was chock full of new rigs - everything from small boom trucks to giant boom trucks, to giant crane trucks. The paperwork said the one I was to pick up was a Peterbuilt, the first Peterbuilt for me, which turned out to be one of the large crane trucks. This one was a 10-speed high/low, which once again would give me the challenge of trying to figure out how to mesh the gears correctly. I still plan to learn how to do this better, but my experiences on this trip wouldn't lead you to believe I'm making much progress.

I had the truck pre-tripped and ready to roll by about 11:00 AM. I called dispatch to tell them I had the truck and was heading out to fuel up and hit the road to Mahanoy City. She said the wrecker had shown up for the other truck, cleaned the battery terminals, and had it started. Didn't suggest that I go back and pick it up, and I didn't offer. I figured the service mechanic should have figured out cleaning the battery terminals. I had checked, but obviously not closely enough. Oh well, I don't claim to be a mechanic.

Took forever to fuel up at the local Pilot station. Lots of trucks backed up. This Peterbuilt had dual saddle tanks which caused me to set a new one-stop fueling record of $263. But I like that because you only need to fuel once. 50 gallon fuel tanks go empty rapidly. Dual 67 gallon tanks last all day and they really add the points to my frequent flyer miles.

So I headed up I-81, with no more problems, not even at weigh stations, which are a guarantee in VA. WV, MD, and PA weigh stations seem to stay mostly closed.

I wasn't going to be able to get to the prescribed destination before too late so I decided to spend the evening in the toddling town of Frackville, PA at the Econo Lodge. Good room with no internet connection, and half decent pizza from down the street, and a hole-in-the-wall bar, which gave me something to do while waiting on my pizza to go. Paperwork done, then down for the count.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Dispatch had been unclear about what I was going to do once I got to the wind farm to deliver the truck. The last they had said was that I needed to find a way to the bus station (always a bad idea) in Hazelton and another driver would pick me up. Last evening, I got a call from the other driver and he said he'd come up on the mountain and pick me up. That was a bit of a relief, but at the time I still didn't know where I'd be going.

After getting advice on directions from the bartender and the hotel clerk, each suggesting differing routes to the wind farm, I decided to go to the next I-81 exit, go through the old town of Mahanoy City, and take 339 to the top of the mountain. All went well until I made the right onto 339 in the middle of the city. I was immediately greeted by a low hanging railroad bridge with a sign saying 11' 3". I knew that didn't look good for a 13' high truck. So I called my contact at the wind farm and he directed me in from the north. So I had to go about 10 more miles up I-81 to Hazelton and come in that way.

I successfully delivered (another happy Spirit Miller customer) around 8:30 AM and awaited my pickup, which was about another 45 minutes. They arrived in one of the SM chase cars, most of which are totally destroyed Kia's, but still run OK. These are small Kia's, and there were 3 other rather large drivers in it, all with their luggage. I mashed my way in, and they told me I'd be accompanying them to Camp Hill, PA, just outside of Harrisburg, to do a quick 115 mile delivery of some Ford F550 (bad vibes, but no problems) Verizon small boom trucks to Plain, NY Altec plant. So off we went.

This was a real hoot riding with these two female drivers and the husband of one. They were all well road worn, but smelled clean as best as I could tell. All smoked liked chimneys, but had lots of funny tales to tell and we had quite a ride to Camp Hill.

We found our trucks fairly quickly - one wasn't identified correctly. Just before I finished pre-tripping my truck, I got a call from dispatch asking if I'd be interested in taking a truck from Forest, VA to Calgary, AB, Canada. Wow! Would I! That would take me up through Montana and very near the place we are buying in Choteau. But, unfortunately, it would be next week and I already had too much stuff conflicting to get it lined up. Besides, I've already bought plane tickets to fly out on September 6. So I very disgruntledly turned it down. Don't know if I'll ever get over that.

This is the first trip I've had to travel with others, but I immediately discovered why I like driving alone. 75 to 80 MPH up I-81 was more than I was comfortable doing. It was a quick trip to Plains.

We made our delivery around 1:30 PM. Dispatch said to just go to the Scranton airport, pick up a rental and head on home. So I was about done already for my first time out this summer. I'd really planned to stay out at least one more day, but no argument from me when they suggest heading home.

So, over to the airport, a quick Hertz rental pickup, and I was up on I-81 headed south. As soon as I got on I-81, my phone rang. It was one of the drivers saying he was supposed to ride with me to Frederick, MD for his next pick-up. So I had to turn around, pick him up, and make the extra 75 miles or so to Frederick.

We arrived Frederick about 6:00 PM, and naturally, his truck had not been set out. So I had to take him to a hotel to wait until they could square it away the next day. He's used to being on the road weeks at a time, so it didn't bother him that much.

I made it home at 10:15 PM, and was, as always, glad to have that first trip back under my belt. I was actually not as worn out as usual and about ready to go, still getting eaten up by missing the Calgary trip. Oh well, maybe next time.

Currently looks like, with my Montana trip scheduled for September 6, it will be several weeks before I can go back out. We'll see.

Getting Ready to Hit the Road Again

2006-08-10T10:24:00.000-04:00

I've finally finished up the tough work of four weeks of vacation this summer and returning back to serious retirement. My wife is getting ready to go back to teaching beginning next week so I'm getting ready to take a driveaway trip. That will be the first since early in June.

I've been so busy with the vacation travels and tasks around home the few weeks I was here that I haven't really missed being on the road. But it feels right that now is about the time to go again.

Called dispatch this morning to let them know I'd be ready around noon on Tuesday. I have a mandatory school bus drivers meeting that morning, but think I'd be ready to just go on out on the road following that. I don't really want to drive the school bus this year, but since they trained me for the CDL, which allows my driveaway work, and my wife wants me to keep assisting her with her class field trips, I feel I need to stick with it at least another year.

We're buying a little fixer-upper in Choteau, MT that is supposed to close on 8/25/06. I plan to go back to Montana 9/6 - 9/13, so that's going to cut in to some of my driveaway gigs this fall. I suspect I'll need to go back out there again mid-fall to check on some of the work we're having done on the place. I'm hoping Spirit Miller, my driveaway firm, might be able to get me in a truck out that way. This time, I found airfare for $118 from RDU (Raleigh, NC) to Spokane, WA, which is about 350 miles from Choteau, so I'm going to be flying out.

For all you serious driveaway blog fans, in the meantime, entertain yourselves by reading back through my archives by clicking on the links on the left side of this page.

Back from Vacation

2006-07-13T11:14:00.000-04:00

OK, you many driveaway blog fans, and you know who you are, I'm back from vacation.

Beth and I took a 21 day vacation (our longest of all times) leaving Blue Ridge, Va for the great wilds of the Canadain Rockies (unbelievably spectacular), Waterton-Glacier National Park in Waterton, AB Canada and points in Montana, a full week at Choteau, MT, and more. We also visited Kootenay NP and Yoho NP in Canada. Glacier NP is indescribable and the Canadian Rockies even more. I won't go into the details of the 400+ pictures that we took, but will post a few here when I get a chance. I'll also post a picture of what I consider to be a future driveaway gig.

The future driveaway gig. Could be a challenge.............

I'm back, but still not out on the road. Still have a week during the first week of August at Smith Mountain Lake, then I guess I'll be back for driveaway and bus duty.

So, fans, keep tuning in......

Purple People Eater and Darth Vader

2006-06-08T11:12:00.000-04:00

It's rare that I get to drive a truck that isn't plain, boring, white. But this trip gave me Minnesota Vikings purple and Darth Vader black, all in one trip.

Trip 50
Monday June 5, 2006

Dispatch had layed out a trip beginning in Forest, VA, as usual, going to Shelby, NC, then from Shelby to Ringwood, NJ. But these turned out not to be the usual white boom trucks, but trucks with color character. I noticed on my paperwork that the first truck in Forest was listed as a "log loader", a first of this type for me. I wasn't sure what it was, but I had noticed an unusual purple truck on their display lot for several months and sort of hoped that was the one.

I arrived at Forestry Equipment about 7:45 AM and immediately went over to the truck on display, but the numbers didn't match up. After checking with the office, I found they had a duplicate of that truck parked around back. Turned out that it was a purple log loader like the one on display. So I got sort of excited knowing I'd be driving something different this time. It was the largest IHC I'd driven so far. It was a 7500 tandum with automatic, radio, air seat, and A/C - pretty classy for one of the FEVA trucks (you can click on the picture to see an enlarged version). The story on this truck and its twins is that a Minnesota Viking fan ordered four of them, then cancelled after they were built. Now they are trying to sell them. Great looking truck, but I'm not sure the typical logging outfit would want this paint job.

The truck drove great, and I got to Shelby in record time, arriving about 1:30 PM. From there, I got a ride about a mile over to Southco, where I was to pick up another truck destined for Ringwood, NJ, a new location for me. This one was a 6-spd Sterling, so it worried me a bit given the luck I've had with Sterlings. But this one was a cherry, drove great, even had an air seat, which was needed greatly on I-78 in PA, a highway I now rate as the bumpiest I've traveled doing driveaway work.

Since the route to Ringwood would take me up I-81, I decided to make home the stop for the night, which naturally made my wife very very happy. I scrunched the truck up my wooded driveway, scraping the nice shiny new black paint on the overhanging limbs, hoping the resulting scratches would buff out later, or maybe I'd hit rain on the way and dirt them over.

Trip 51
Tuesday, June 6, 2006

This was the fateful 6/6/6 sign of the devil day, so I headed out early, fueled up at the local Pilot station, and was heading up I-81 by 7:15 AM. Even though, in addition to being devil day, this was supposed to be highway roadcheck across the country where truckers and trucks were to be under unusually high scrutiny, the trip into PA was uneventful. Weigh stations were not overly active, but PA still had plenty of bumps in the road.

I arrived Ringwood at 4:00 PM, exactly the time I (and my Tom Tom guidance system) had predicted. The owner of Green Mountain Tree Experts soon showed up at the drop-off. He admired his brand new black Sterling, and was kind enough to offer to take me to the Avis rental place, about 10 miles down 17 towards New York City.

I was in the car and heading south by 5:30 PM. Since the map is loaded with road possibilities, I decided to just let my Tom Tom take over and guide me home. It took me to I-95, where I expected to hit unbelievable New York City traffic, but I had no problems. Not that much traffic and all was moving along well. Was surprised to look over and see the Empire State Building almost adjacent to I-95 and still be moving. I drove about 100 miles and stayed at a Super8 in Bellmawr, NJ.

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

Gloating because I'd successfully made it through devil day, I headed on south down I-95 past Wilmington, went thru the Harbor Tunnel at Baltimore, and sped on towards Washington, where I hit the typical DC parking lot on I-495. I can't figure how NYC has traffic moving at 5:45 PM, but DC can't move it at 10:00 AM. Finally made it around that mess, hit I-66, then route 29 to the Lynchburg airport. Took a taxi to Forestry Equipment to pick up my personal car, and was headed home about 3:00 PM.

Once I got in my personal car, I sort of felt like I was on vacation. School bus driving is over for the season, and that's the last driveaway trip until towards the end of summer. Looking forward to 3 weeks out west and taking the long break from retirement.

Trip 49 - Still Mindlessly Moving Trucks

2006-05-23T16:48:00.000-04:00

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.

Swirling Under the Low in Bourbon

2006-05-15T20:00:00.000-04:00

Yep, I went to Bourbon. Bourbon, IN that is. And I was caught under the gigantic low pressure system that was sending record amounts of rain all across the mid-west and finally up the east coast. Dispatch had me lined up to leave on Wednesday from Forest, VA to Bourbon, IN. Then rental car to Swanton, OH, which is actually the Toledo Airport. From there, a taxi to Maumee, OH; then on to Wooster, OH. From there, I was supposed to catch a bus to Akron and pick up a truck for Gaithersburg, MD. That part didn't work out exactly.

Trip 46
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

I had to take the girls softball team to Alleghany HS on Tuesday night for a game. That's a fairly long trip in a rather decrepit activity bus. So bright and early Wednesday morning, I headed to Forestry Equipment to pick up the truck for Bourbon, IN. Not sure how it got that name given bourbon is unique to Kentucky.

I arrived Forest about 7:30 AM. I wanted to get an early start so I could make Fort Wayne, IN before quitting, which would put me on schedule to make the other connections that dispatch had lined up. The boom/chipper truck was ready, but the paperwork wasn't. So I had to wait until after 8:00 AM when the office staff came in to complete the paperwork. I was pre-tripped, fueled up, and on the road by about 8:30 AM.

The trip through western VA, WV, and Ohio was relatively uneventful except for it seems to take an eternity to finally get out of WV. There were multiple potential routes I could take to get to Bourbon, IN and I finally settled in on I-64 to I-77, to I-70 past Columbus, OH. It was 5:00 PM when I pulled onto the by-pass around Columbus, when one of the company owners called to see if I would be able to deliver the truck in Bourbon by 8:30 AM the next morning. By that time, I had about decided I wouldn't be able to get there before about 10:00 AM, but I told her I'd give it my best shot. Turned out that I made pretty good time, even with lots of rain, up through western OH on route 33, where I turned north to route 30 and on to Fort Wayne, IN. Drove through some beautiful farm country and just past the Neil Armstrong Astronaut Museum, which I'd really like to visit sometime.

I figured I'd be able to find a room as I pulled on route 30 just off the Fort Wayne by-pass west, but turned out that pretty much immediately threw me back into the country. So I ended up driving until about 9:00 PM before I found an AmeriHost Inns Hotel for the night at Columbia City, IN. I had driven close to 600 miles for the day. The rain continued.

Trip 47
Thursday, May 11, 2006

Was up and at it early and delivered the truck to Dueco on the western side of the little country town (or is it township?) of Bourbon, IN by 8:00 AM. From there, I got a cab to Wausaw, IN, where I got an Avis rental to the Toledo Airport. The cabbie presumably was the owner of the cab service and a package delivery service. He claimed to be a muli-millionaire and could set me up in the courier business any time I want. So I'm still thinking about that, but at the same time trying to figure out why he's driving a cab in beat up clothes since he's a millionaire.

Turned out that things got a little interesting at the Toledo airport. Ground transportation was able to provide a ride, but they said the recent trial for the Priest who was found guilty that day for killing a nun was taking up all the regular cabs. They'd be able to take me to Charlie's Dodge, in Maumee, OH, where I was to pick up the next truck, but the only vehicle they had available was a stretch limousine. The charge would be the same as a cab. So I climbed into the back of the limo and was off to my next truck. Really wished I'd taken time to get a picture of my only limo ride, but I didn't. Interesting that I have to get into driveaway work before getting a limo ride.

Found the utility pickup at Charlie's that I was to take to Wooster, OH and was moving by about 1:00 PM. This was the only Dodge and smallest truck I've driven yet in driveaway, but it was sort of nice not to have to fight the size.

I arrived at Wooster about 4:30 PM. Dispatch had previously told me the next truck from Kent to Gaithersburg had been put on hold and they weren't sure what I'd be doing next. When I called in to let them know I had delivered, they were still working on it. Dispatch wanted to know if I'd be interested in taking a "beautiful" truck from Ashland, OH, which was just 20 miles from Wooster, to Chandler, AZ. I was interested, but that would keep me out past Mother's Day, and that was going to be a no-go. So we finally decided I needed to get a ride back to Ashland and they would have me pick up the truck at Altec and stage it at the Indianapolis Airport on Friday. I found a cab, oddly enough, in Wooster and had him take me to a Super 8 in Ashland.

Trip 48
Friday, May 12, 2006

I lined up a cab to pick me up by 7:15 AM to take me to Altec, which was only a few miles up the road on the edge of Ashland. When I arrived there, I was a bit worried. There were lots of well used trucks sitting around, but after some search, they found a rather large, but fairly new, digger derrick truck for me to take out. It was an IHC 7400 4WD, automatic. It was really low on fuel, fumes actually, and the folks at Altec were kind enough to put several gallons in to get me to the first fuel station. Since this thing was so big, it really used a lot of fuel.

I pre-tripped it in the rain and was on the road by about 9:00 AM. Drove straight to the Indianapolis airport, where I was able to find a parking spot in the back of one of the satellite parking lots. By this time, it was about 3:00 PM. Dispatch was still working on how they would get me home. At the time, they were planning to fly me to BWI, then rental car home. I figured I could drive from Indianapolis in less time than it would take to fly and drive via Baltimore. So I headed home in a rental.

Wasn't sure I'd be able to make it all the way since I'd done a lot of driving and not a lot of sleeping since Wednesday. But I got my juices going and did the 570 miles home in about 9 hours, arriving about 12:30 AM. That was probably the most driving I had done in one day - close to 800 miles. My previous record was 750 miles when I drove straight back from a technology conference in Orlando, home following the 9/11 attacks.

As alway, mom was glad to see me and the daughters were coming in on Saturday for Mother's Day. So all was well in Blue Ridge.

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

2006-05-04T14:54:00.000-04:00

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.

Trips 37-40 - Before Vacation

2006-04-13T22:24:00.000-04:00

Monday, April 10, 2006

Since I need a vacation from retirement, my wife and I will be heading out to the great American Southwest desert early Saturday. So, I'm playing catch-up after taking 3 days this week doing driveaway, and don't have time to adequately log the quick trips I took, but wanted to get my truck pictures posted, so here goes:

The first picture is an IHC 4300 6-sp I took from Forest, Va to Shelby, NC. While making the trip, dispatch called to ask if I'd deliver one that was staged at the Charlotte airport. That one was a Sterling beast, 10-sp high-low. The third Sterling I've driven and the first to NOT blow up on me. I had to park my truck from Forest in the Charlotte airport parking lot Z, pick up the beast, drive it to Troutman, NC, about 40 miles, then find a ride back to the airport to continue my original trip on to Shelby. This involved first finding the correct parking lot (CLT is BIG), taking my placards and license plate off the original truck, installing on the beast, pre-tripping the beast, getting to know it while driving out of the airport and through Charlotte traffic, finding the Contractor Yard it was to be delivered to - all at the .30/mile rate which will net me a big $12 unless the company throws in some extra. I guess I'm just a soft touch and/or a really nice guy.

When I arrived at the Contractor Yard in Troutman, they all gathered 'round the beast exclaiming "man, now that's a truck! Is that a 5 story?" Since I didn't really know what a 5 story is, I just told them I just drive them with no questions asked if possible. I assume 5 story must refer to how far the crane will extend. I'd guess 10 stories minimum after seeing it.

I needed a 40 mile ride back to the airport and all agreed a cab would get expensive, but there was an 18 wheeler loaded and ready to make a delivery near Charlotte. The driver, being an exceptionally nice guy and taking pity on a fellow driver (not sure a driveaway driver counts) offered to take me to the airport. First time I'd actually been in the cab of an 18 wheeler, and it had the same look, feel, and transmission as the beast I just delivered. He took the loaded truck right into the airport and dropped me off at my parking lot. He was an interesting fellow. Said he works a minimum 12 hour days, usually 6 days/week. Likes the overtime and only asks that he get Sunday off to go to church and Wednesday nights off for the same reason (no kidding).

I put my tags and placards back on the original truck and headed on to Shelby. I wanted to get to Forestry Equipment for delivery before they closed, but I arrived at 5:05 PM and they were all locked up. So had to find a cab for the 2 miles trip over to Southco. I actually found a cab company in Shelby and they were there to pick me up within about 20 minutes. During that time, I managed to throw the extra set of keys for the truck into the pigion hole, not realizing at the time they were not the extra set, but my own keys including house key, car keys, etc. It was the next day before I realized this little error.

The cabbie arrived and took me straight over to Southco, evangelizing me the entire way. I sat through the longest red light I've ever experienced while he explained to me that, according to the gospel, Nuclear War will begin 9/12/06. This according to the newletter from the House of Yahweh. I was quite enthralled to say the least.

Picked up the third truck for this trip at Shelby, NC for delivery to Decatur, GA. It was a nice little Ford F650 automatic. Drove to Spartanburg, SC and bedded down for the night, still not knowing my keys were in Shelby.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

I delivered to the City of Decatur around 10:00 AM. A guy there was kind enough to haul me to downtown Atlanta where I was to pick up my next truck at the World Congress Center where it was on the display floor for a Propane Gas Show.

I'd been in the huge facility several years ago to attend the Comdex technology conference along with 80,000 others. This time, I went onto the show floor, still covered with carpet, to pick up this little Ford. I suspect it is an Izuzu with the Ford name on it. It was at pickup time that I realized the keys in my left pocket, where I normally keep my personal keys, were the keys to the truck I had delivered in Shelby. I instantly realized that when I delivered the truck I absent mindedly threw my keys into the pigeon hole. I called the facility, and luckily, the guy there who has helped me before had the keys and FedExed them to me overnight. Nice guy.

Drove straight to Louisville to stage the truck at the airport for another Spirit Miller driver to pick up to take on to upper Ohio. I needed to get back home, so picked up a rental car at the airport and was heading home about 9:30 PM. It had been a long day and I was basically out of service hours when I finally got the truck staged.

I stayed in Lexington, KY for the evening and on home the next morning.

Trips 35 and 36 - Warsaw, Dillon, Greenwood, Daleville

2006-03-29T13:55:00.000-05:00

Monday, March 27, 2006

Dispatch had me lined up to take a truck from Forest, VA to Warsaw, NC with, as usual, no info on what would happen once I got to Warsaw. A quick Google on Warsaw showed that it was a small town with not much to expect with public transportation. So I left knowing dispatch would run into trouble trying to figure out how to get me out of there. But they don't ever worry about that until you are almost there.

I picked up the truck at Forestry Equipment about 7:45 AM. They've really tightened up their security on what it takes to pick up a truck since they lost one about a month ago. The truck was a new IHC 4300, 6-sp, no radio or A/C (the usual for Forestry Equipment). It was a nice looking truck, though, already decked out with the decals for Lewis Tree Service - an employee owned company. Even had the American flag on each side. I felt very patriotic as I headed out to Warsaw.

The trip to Warsaw was relatively uneventful. About the time I was by-passing Raleigh, NC, the phone rang and it was dispatch asking if I'd be willing to pick up a truck in Aberdeen, NC ( where, last fall, I picked up a junker that had to be left for repair), take it to Ashville, NC, where I'd pick one up for Tallahasee, FL. I said OK as long as they would bring me straight back from Tallahassee. I needed to be home Wednesday evening. I asked how they were getting me from Warsaw to Aberdeen, but as I already knew, they didn't have a clue. Said they'd get back with me as I approached Warsaw.

Dispatch had failed to provide directions to the drop-off, but I had done a Mapquest and had a good idea of where it was. Turned out it was very rural, with lots of farms. Mapquest had placed the address about a mile on down the road from where it actually turned out to be. I stopped at a farm house to ask directions, but couldn't raise anyone even though the dog was guarding the porch and the clothes were on the line. So I decided to turn around and see if I had already passed it. This time I did find the location, which was a house sitting in the middle of a hayfield.

Turned out the area manager for Lewis Tree had his home and office there, and he was very helpful in attending to my travel needs. Dispatch still couldn't figure out where I needed to go to pick up a rental car. After about 30 minutes of discussion, it was discovered that Lewis Tree actually needed the truck in Dillon, SC, so we worked out a deal that if I drove it on down there, about 100 miles more, their foreman would drive me to Sumter, SC where I could pick up a company chase car. During that time, dispatch had also developed a backup plan to have me pick up a truck in Greenwood, SC, about 90 miles west of Columbus and have me bring it back to Daleville, VA, near my home. They didn't like the idea of sending me straight back from Tallahassee. So all agreed to this plan and I took the truck on to Dillon.

I delivered the truck to a dusty parking lot and met the foreman. He was a young fellow, totally hassled with all the work he had to get done and not enough time to drive me the 75 miles to Sumter, but that was the deal and he did. We dodged the cars and trucks on I-95 doing between 80 and 90 MPH, and arrived at Sumter in less than an hour, where I picked up the well used chase car and drove to Lexington, SC, about 90 miles, for the night. Had trouble, there, finding lodging, but finally discovered a Comfort Inn for $49, which I was quite pleased with.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Dispatch had not provided directions, or even truck identification info, for the truck I was to pick up at the Public Works offices at Greenwood, SC. I headed out from my hotel using the scenic way up rt. 378 about 7:15 AM. I almost had my first accident in driveaway work when I pulled out in front of a pickup truck making a right hand turn from the center lane in a traffic circle in Saluda, SC. Got lots of yelling, questioning my heritage, and I was on my way on to Greenwood. With pure blind luck, I drove right to the Public Works office and found what I figured was the truck staged in the employee parking lot. Dispatch still didn't have truck ID info, so I went in and found someone who agreed it was the truck to be picked up, but couldn't verify where it was supposed to go. So I went ahead and pre-tripped it, and hooked up the trusty chase car. The truck was an IHC 4300, with automatic, no radio. It was during the hook-up of the chase car that I made a mistake that didn't cause me a problem, but will for the next guy driving the car (more on that as the story develops).

I managed to take the scenic downtown route through Greenwood as I tried to find rt. 72, which would take me to I-26. Narrow streets, and plenty of traffic, but I got through it OK. It also provided a slow warm-up time for the truck, which by the time I exited Greenwood was displaying the proverbial check engine light intermittently. I drove for 100 or so miles, making sure all gauges looked good, etc. I had checked all the fluids during pre-trip, so felt they should still be OK. I finally decided to call dispatch, just to let them know what was going on, knowing they would tell me to call the company tech guy who would tell me to keep on driving but keep an eye on the gauges and fluid levels, which he did, and I did. I stopped around Charlotte to verify the fluid levels, get some lunch, then drove it on home. Coming up Fancy Gap Mt., which is about an 8 mile climb, the heat gauge started creaping up to over 200, which I've found to be unusual for these IHC 4300's, but as soon as I crossed the top, it came back down and I kept driving. Made it to Daleville about 4:00 PM.

It was during the unhooking of the chase car that I looked in and noticed the emergency brake was still pulled up - I HAD FORGOTTEN to release it before pulling off in Greenwood. I hated that because I'm so cautious when hooking up the chase car to try to make sure everything is right, not in gear, all that stuff. But, somehow, I managed to leave it engaged and it was now gone. Don't know if I blew any smoke, nothing else seemed damaged. It still had brakes, but no emergency brake. I felt dumb, but did screw up my courage to let dispatch know. They were more anxious to make sure I faxed in my paperwork, and take the car back over to Daleville for someone to pick it up the next morning, than they were concerned about the emergency brake.

So, another two trips completed, got back early this week, which suits me fine. Dispatch did call to see if I could do a one day trip from Forest to Shelby, NC, which I could have done, but they found the truck wasn't going to be ready in time to work for me. Looks like I'm off the rest of the week, except my wife did line me up for bus duty at her school tomorrow, but I can handle that.

Bus (Pee) Duty

2006-03-23T12:37:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

In order to get bus duty and driveaway duty better organized this spring, I've tried to line them up on alternating weeks. So this week is bus duty week driving various sports teams each afternoon Weds. through Fri. Got a call bright and early, at 7:30 am, from the Transportation Office saying today is my lucky day - I get to go in for a random drug test. Not a problem for me other than the aggravation. This time I go in and get handled by a right attractive young lady, who stands outside the stall (also, we happen to be in the women's restroom) while I pee in the cup, etc. Then, after I was about half way to pick up the bus, I get a call from the office saying the tester screwed up and accidentally shredded my forms while shedding other documents and I'd have to go back in to fill out the forms again.

Didn't have time to go back in today, so will do it tomorrow. I went on to the high school where I was to pick up one of their rather old and decrepit buses and transport their track team to a competition. I wasn't expecting too many riders, but it turned out I had more than a bus load. They had to put some in one of the coach's vehicle. The track meet lasted for ever, and they had to finally stop at dark before all the competitions were over. Then, the coaches decided they'd all go out and eat, which wasn't all that bad for me since bus drivers usually get a free meal at whatever restaurant they go to, but it would mean getting home late.

So, just a short blurb about bus duty and peeing in cups.

Trips 33 and 34 - Altamonte Springs, FL and Kent, OH

2006-03-20T00:28:00.000-05:00

Thursday, March 16, 2006

My wife would be attending a middle school conference in Norfolk on Thursday though Saturday of this week, so I decided that I'd go ahead and let dispatch know I was available if they needed me; even though I hadn't fully recovered from the 2200 mile trip to Arizona last week. But since she would be away, and I'd be committed to several days of bus duty next week, I decided to become available. Dispatch didn't have any trouble lining me up with a nice trip from nearby Altec in Daleville to Altamonte Springs, FL - a trip of a little over 700 miles. So Thursday morning, bright and early, I headed to Daleville.

The truck was the typical Altec boom truck, automatic, radio, and A/C (needed in FL). Altec had more than 20 trucks lined up and this one was the next to last one I checked. But since it wasn't snowing this time, it was a lot easier to find just by driving along the row of trucks.

The trip to FL was relatively uneventful. The scales on I-81, when you first pull on from Daleville, are always open, but these boom trucks seem to make it through OK. Lot's of scales once you reach I-95, but no problems at any of these. I make note of this since, on the last trip to AZ, I was pulled in for the "light" driver inspection.

Made it to St. Mary, GA, on exit 3 off I-95, just before you get to FL, so I made good time on Thursday. My Days Inn was right behind a fairly good Mexican restaurant, so I dropped over there for a big meal to go. Really hadn't eaten much during the trip on Thursday.

Since I was over 500 miles towards Altamonte Springs, I figured I'd have time to visit a friend in Jacksonville as I passed through, so I called him and lined up breakfast at the Hardee's just off I-295.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Since I was to meet for breakfast at around 7:30 AM, I was up and out early. Made it to Jacksonville after passing through several weigh and inspections stations (there are a lot as you first enter FL). My friend arrived within 5 minutes after I found a parking spot at the Hardee's.

We had met with our families several years ago in Las Vegas. We sat and talked at one of the hotels while our wives and daughters shopped. Turned out we had a lot in common. Had taken many similar family out west vacations, and turned out we were both on the way to the north rim of the grand canyon, where we ran in to each other again. We've maintained contact since then, comparing trip notes, and most recently, retirement plans. I haven't yet convinced him that driveaway is the best way to handle retirement. And this blog certainly hasn't helped.

After a nice breakfast, I headed on to Altamonte Springs, a little less than 200 miles away. I arrived there around noon. Stopped at a nearby Comfort Inn to receive a fax from dispatch, who had the next adventure lined up.

Usually, after 2 days I'm ready to start heading back towards home, so I was hoping that since it was Friday, they wouldn't want to mess with setting up another trip and would just send me home. But they are good, and asked if I'd be interested in flying to Akron, OH, taxiing to Kent and picking up a truck bound for NC. I had told them I wanted to be home by Saturday afternoon, and this would be a 600 mile trip which would mean I wouldn't make it home before Sunday (my minister may be reading this one, so I'm going to state that my reason was so I wouldn't miss church 2 Sundays in a row). Dispatch had several iterations of how to handle this one, including picking up a company chase car in Bluefield, but it finally boiled down later in the day to my picking the truck up and staging it at the local TA Truckstop in Troutville, VA. So I agreed to take the trip.

This trip would involve taking a $60 taxi ride to Orlando airport, flying USAir, via Philadelphia, to Akron, another $57 taxi to Kent, and heading out. Orlando, which I assume is typical, was a total zoo, but I had time to spare and made it through security with considerable time before my flight. The flight in Philadelphia was late, which gave me the opportunity to meet a young insurance executive who showed up late for the scheduled departure time, and obviously had spent too much time in the bar. We struck up a conversation and he told of arriving for a 4:00 pm flight (it was currently around 9:00 PM), missing it, and deciding to start his St. Patrick's Day partying early. So he was happy, except for being stuck in the airport.

We finally did get out of Philadelphia and arrived Akron about 10:30 PM. The airport is right small, so I wasn't sure how I would get ground transportation, find a hotel, etc. But they did still have a guy at the ground transportation desk, and he advised that Akron didn't have cab services and I should take a taxi to a local hotel, stay the night, then take a local taxi to Kent, rather than to go on to Kent then. I guess that was the best advice, but it lead to an $18 cab ride to the local Motel 6 below the airport, then a $57 cab ride the next morning to Kent.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

The cab was promp and picked me up (and bathed me) about 7:15 AM. I say bathed me because as soon as I slid into the back seat I was immediately immersed in liquid from the top of my belt in the back to the middle of my thighs. Not knowing what liquid this was, but with much time to imagine the rest of the day as I sat in whatever it was, I jumped up quickly and asked the cabbie if I could move to the front. He was OK with that, but was pretty ticked at the guy who had his cab the night before. He said they had been quite busy hauling revelers around who had been celebrating St. Patricks Day. For some reason, until this trip, I hadn't been tuned in to how this holiday is so incredibly popular as an excuse to party hard. Anyway, I stayed wet the rest of the day, and had plenty of time to imagine what I had sat in. A quick shower when I finally got home never felt so good.

The cab delivered me to Davey Tree in Kent, OH. Didn't see Kent State University while there. The truck had been placed outside their gate the evening before in anticipation of my picking it up during the night. Turned out it was a nice, new chipper truck. I had intentionally waited until morning to pick the truck up, not knowing if it might be used, because I don't like pre-tripping by flashlight in the middle of the night. I'd picked up one dog too many by not being able to see what shape the truck is in in the dark.

This truck was a new IHC 7300 4WD, 6-sp, radio, and A/C. Was all ready to go and ran great the whole 400 miles to Troutville, where I staged it for delivery by another driver somewhere in NC. Since it was 4WD, it had a good bounce to it, especially on I-77 in WV, but not nearly as bad as the chassis I've delivered before.

Had time for my wife to snap a picture of me with one of my favorite rides before heading to Altec to pick up my personal truck and head home.

Seems a 3 day trip is about right for me. I'm ready to be home by then, and no used trucks made this one much better. But always good to be home it seems.

The Great American Southwest

2006-03-09T20:00:00.000-05:00

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.

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

2006-02-24T18:00:00.000-05:00

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.

Quick Trip #27

2006-02-14T18:00:00.000-05:00

Monday February 13

Dispatch had called several times after I got back, even on the way back, last Thursday from my last trips. So Friday, after they upped the anti an extra $50, I agreed to take a chassis from Forest, VA to Jonestown, PA. I figured if dispatch thought it was so important, I could take a day to do it. Since I've been out a good bit lately, I insisted that I come straight back from PA. After all, we retirees have to be retired sometime during our retirement, right?

It snowed about 5 inches around here over the weekend, but I was at Forestry Equipment early to pick up the chassis. It was a IHC 4300 6-spd, and this time, with a radio, a real bonus. It was frosty, and took a few cranks to get it started and a lot of work to get it cleaned off. The company where I picked up now requires we go to the office before heading out since they still have a truck missing.

The 300+ mile trip to Jonestown, PA was relatively uneventful, except for the requirement, as I understand, that the temporary mudflaps on a chassis always have to come loose. And of course, these started coming loose with about 80 miles to go. The plastic/nylon straps used to hold the wooden crossmember started breaking. So I had to stop and try to wire them back on. I didn't have much wire, and it lasted for about 50 of the remaining miles before that broke also. I slowed down, and the last several miles were off interstate anyway, so I was able to make it to the dropoff point.

This is the first time I've been to this location. There was a surley guard, who ushered me in and told me where to go as long as I was sure to ask just the right questions and say "yes sir" and "no sir". He did manage to get me lined up with a private guy who does some cabbie work on his own to take me about 25 miles back to Harrisburg, PA to pick up a rental car.

The cabbie was a retired trucker. He retired with prostate cancer, something we all have the pleasure of looking forward to if we are male and live long enough. He said he's been clean almost 5 years, so things are looking up for him. Was a nice fellow and I enjoyed the ride to Harrisburg with him. He made sure I was at the right spot before he would leave.

I had originally planned to stop off somewhere on the way back for the night, but I got pumped, had the PDA playing my favorites, so rolled all the way back home, getting here about 9:30 PM. So, all in all, a pretty good trip, and as always, good to be back home.

Trips 23 - 26 - A Full Week of Excitement

2006-02-10T18:00:00.000-05:00

Trip 23 - Forest, VA to Almost New Orleans
Monday, February 6

I had taken several relatively short trips and was ready to head out on a longer one. Dispatch had called me last Thursday to see if I could take a truck immediately to somewhere in FL (failed to get the exact location), but with Super Bowl weekend coming up I had other commitments and said no. They asked that I call back on Friday and they'd line me up with something for the following week. So I did, and it was New Orleans, which I was relatively excited about. I've still got that voyer thing going and want to see what New Orleans and area look like. I've been near it several times, but haven't seen the real thing since storms.

So Monday, went to Forest, VA to pick up a nice new boom/chipper truck. Took a little longer to pick up this time, since they are no longer staging their trucks in their bull pen since one is now missing. Got on the road by about 8:30 AM. I'd only driven about 40 miles to near Roanoke (time enough for the Check Engine light to come on and go out once), when dispatch called. They had an "emergency" delivery to Baltimore, MD from Daleville, VA, only about 5 miles from where I was, and could I take care of it for them. I said I'd much rather stick with the New Orleans trip, but that I'd do it if it was such an emergency. They wanted me to stage the truck I was in at the local TA Truckstop. I was thinking I'd get to come back from Baltimore and take that one on to New Orleans, but that didn't happen. I still wonder how they couldn't get someone else to do Baltimore but they quickly got someone else to do New Orleans. You think I might be an easy mark?

Trip 24 - Daleville, VA to Baltimore, MD
Still Monday, February 6

My son turned around from going to work and came by the truck stop to take me to Daleville. Picked up a new boom truck around 11:00 am and had an uneventful trip to Baltimore. That's a relatively good accomplishment given that almost all my trucks give me some sort of a problem and the traffic around Washington DC is always enough to spoil your week. The "emergency" became questionable when I delivered around 4:30 PM. No one was particularly interested in accepting the truck, but I did finally find someone nice enough to take it. I was in a cab and back to the BWI airport by 6:00 pm to pick up a rental car. Fought the traffic around DC, but luckily it didn't stop often. I had expected to stop over somewhere for the night, but I got on a roll and drove all the way home. So Blue Ridge, to Forest, to Daleville, to Baltimore, back home is a pretty good day's driving - something over 700 miles.

Trip 25 - Daleville, VA to West Palm Beach, FL
Tuesday, February 7

Dispatch had sort of acted like they owed me one when they took me out of the New Orleans trip, so they lined me up for West Palm Beach. That sounded good in a new boom truck from Daleville, VA. All the trucks, to this point this week, were IHC 4300's. All were 6-speeds, except the automatic I took to Baltimore.

Since I had gottem back from Baltimore late on Monday night, I did the paperwork for the Monday trips, which includes faxing some stuff and mailing all the forms and receipts, before I left for West Palm Beach. Since I wanted to get on the road, naturally faxing didn't work and other things ended up taking up a lot of time, but I finally left around 11:00 am. I had to return the rental car to the Roanoke airport and then take a taxi to Daleville. I was finally on the road around 1:00 pm.

It was a nice, relatively warm, day in VA and NC, and I made it to Hardeeville, SC, just above the GA border on I-95 by about 9:00 PM. Bedded down at a Sleep Inn (working on a free night with their stay twice, get a free night, deal). Up and on the road to FL by about 7:30 AM - always trying to stay legal. I made it through FL, which is a very long state when you start driving it, and arrived at West Palm Beach about 3:30 pm. Folks at the Altec facility there were extremely nice, getting me a fax and setting up a ride to the airport with a smile. I hope to visit them again sometime.

Before arriving at Altec, I had received a call from dispatch asking if I could fly to Baltimore (why has it become so popular all of a sudden?), take a cab to Frederick, MD, and pick up a truck there at the Altec plant for delivery to Lowes Motor Speedway (Charlotte) in Concorde, NC. Now that sounded interesting - a trip to the race track. Not really putting 2 and 2 together, I said yes, mainly because I was glad to be flying back closer to home, and the idea of going to the races sounded intriguing.

I had about a 4 hour wait at the airport, which gave me time to do the paperwork for both trips, and think about what was coming up. Admittedly, a beer into it, it occurred to me that I should check my documentation for the upcoming trip a little closer. The directions for once you arrived at the speedway said to follow the auction signs. Uh-Oh, auction signs. What do they mean, auction signs? Well, as I let my imagination roll, it occurred to me that auction might mean OLD TRUCK going to auction. But surely, Altec didn't have really bad old trucks going to auction, right?

Dispatch had wanted me to pick up that night after flying in, but I stuck to my guns and said it would be too late. I didn't want to pre-trip the truck in the dark. Is that a technique dispatch uses - get you to pick up in the middle of the night so you're stuck with whatever you get and have to deliver anyway? I've had this happen several times, and I'm beginning to totally avoid the night pickups.

Thursday, February 9

I had the $80 cabbie take me to the local Econo Lodge, and got a short nights sleep and over to Altec about 7:45 AM. I guess the week had gone well enough that it was time for it to tank.

And there it was. The orange of well worn Asplund. This thing was an I don't know what year GMC 7500 5-spd with 76k miles. I've found you can muliply mileage by about a factor of 10 on these trucks. The chipper bed was still loaded full with brush, garbage, metal objects, I think one or more dead bodies, and several lunches. The cab also held most of last year's breakfasts and lunches. The drivers side window was 1/3 down and wouldn't go up. Tires were iffy at best. Lights, mostly worked. The engine started on the cold morning OK, but had a miss. I called dispatch and told her I was disappointed, but would give it a try if I concluded it was roadworthy. I talked with one of their mechanics, who said the truck had been worked on and should be OK (yea, right). So I finally headed out onto I-70 about 9:00 AM.

Upon entering the interstate, the truck began jumping, hissing, popping, and misfiring. Couldn't get it above 45 MPH. I pulled off at the first exit, only a mile down the road thank goodness, called dispatch and said this is a no-go. Can't visit the speedway in this one. Luckily, dispatch didn't give me a hard time and just said to take it back to the pickup point, only about 3 miles or less away.

I was highly relieved to be rid of that one. There was a company chase car there for me to take to the BWI airport, got a rental car, and was on my way home shortly after noon. Another lucky trip around DC and I was home by 4:30 PM.

I was much relieved to have finished this week up. Got to add FL to the states I've visited doing driveaway. Dispatch had already called as I was on the loop around Washington to see if I could do a couple of round trips from Forest to Glen Allen, VA. Seems Forestry Equipment had specifically asked for me. I guess my good looks paid off since they are no longer staging their equipment in the bull pen. But I told dispatch it would be Monday at the earliest.

Dispatch has since called again, this time asking to take a new chassis from Forest to Jonetown, PA on Monday. Still not ready to get back, I hesitated. And for the first time, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse - $50 extra for taking it on Monday and put me in a rental car from Harrisburg back home. Wow, 50 big ones. Think of all the things I can do with that! So Monday, if snow doesn't close us down, I'm on the way to Jonestown.

Trips 21 and 22 - Knoxville/Copley, OH

2006-01-31T19:00:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

I had called dispatch on Monday to let them know I was available. They didn't have anything at the time and requested that I call back, which I did several times throughout the day. Don't know why they don't set up to just call me when something comes available, but they always request a callback.

Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, they said they had a truck to go from Forestry Equipment in Forest, VA, about 32 miles from my house, to Knoxville, TN - a 300 mile trip. Occasionally, Spirit Miller also has a chase car sitting someplace that they ask you to take with you. This time, the chase car was already in Forest and they asked I tow it to Knoxville and drive it back. I sort of liked that because it would answer early on one of the great mysteries of each trip - how are you going to get back from wherever you are going?

I picked up the truck in Forest first thing on Wednesday morning. It was a GMC 7500, 6-sp, no radio. With some difficulty, I hooked up the company chase car. There are several of these, and this is the first time I had seen this one - a Hyundai Accent with 368,000 miles on it - well worn. Naturally, after getting everything hooked up, the lights on the chase car wouldn't work. After trying everything I could think of, I called the company tech. guy, but he didn't have any suggestions other than to say the lights often don't work at first due to a poor ground and to go ahead and maybe they would start working after 20 miles or so. They never did work for the entire trip. Since this was a chipper truck with signal lights on both top and bottom on the back, I didn't feel it was a great safety issue, but it was the one pain you have to have with each trip.

The drive to Knoxville was relatively uneventful, except for getting pulled on to the scale at the one weigh station I had to pass through in TN. I'm not sure why I was selected. Usually, my experience has been with a new truck you get to pass on through. I wondered if the weight of the tow car perhaps set the pre-weigh scales off. Anyway, I was hoping they wouldn't notice the non-working tow car lights, and they didn't. So went on and arrived Knoxville around 3:30 pm. I managed to make a wrong turn just as I was arriving at my destination, which sent me down a steep hill to a lawn service company with not much room to turn around with a chase car attached. I sort of jerked it around anyway, and managed to get on down the road to the final destination at Wolf Tree Service.

Everything was fine at the drop off. The tow car actually started, and I began my trip back home. As hard as that car looked, it drove great. I bedded down in Bristol, TN for the night and came on home on Thursday morning. Was a good trip with the exception of the tow car lights.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

The dispatcher had called on Friday rather frantically hoping I could leave right away with another truck from Forest, VA to Copley, OH, just outside of Akron. I wasn't available to go out before Sunday morning - had an oyster feast planned with my mother and family in Augusta County. I did say I could leave Sunday morning, and they insisted that I make the 450 mile trip and get the truck there by Sunday night. I'm not sure why the desparation, but I felt I could do it.

So Sunday morning, bright and early (and still full of fried oysters), I headed to Forest to pick up a chipper/boom truck along with a chipper trailer. I noticed when I arrived at the pickup, that their bull pen gate was open and the chain and lock were gone. More on that later. The truck was an International 4300, 6-sp, no radio - one of my favorites except for the no radio part. I'd found on a previous trip to Houston with a chipper that they tend to offer few problems other than just making sure you stay aware they are back there and not backing over anything. This company does a great job getting their trucks ready, so this one was an easy pre-trip. The chipper was already hooked up and ready to go, so I was on the road to Copley, new area for me, by 8:00 am. Since I had to do 450 miles, I was glad to get an early start.

I hit rain before I got to WV, and drove in that off and on the rest of the way. And as alway, each trip has some little excitement, even if you're driving an International 4300. This one was small excitement, but it did manage to show a Check Engine light twice during the trip - once about an hour into the trip and again about 150 miles from my destination. In both cases, it was enough to really wake me up and keep me watching those gauges as I puttered along.

I took my new toy, a Dell pocket computer with Garmin GPS and mapping software along with me on this trip for the first time. I was testing the Garmin City Select mapping software to see if it could guide me and perhaps, some day, I could quit lugging around so many maps. I also wanted it to provide where fuel was available, etc. It turned out to be a big disappointment. It had pretty good maps, but it kept crapping out on me at all the wrong times and didn't provide very good travel information, so this morning I sent the GPS and mapping software back to Amazon for a refund. I'm profoundly disappointed at this point in that.

I made Copely around 5:30 pm and dropped off at the Extended Stay Hotel. The company had a rental car set up for me to pick up the next morning at the Akron airport. Unfortunately, I found that was 25 miles away and a $50 - $60 cab fare. So the search began for another option. Finally found a shuttle service that would take me there for $20, leaving at 6:20 Monday morning. Since the company reimburses me for taxi fare, I'm not sure why I worry about getting the cheapest rate, but it just bugs me to pay such outlandish fares.

I did use my new Dell PDA to check my email that night, and found that my main mentor in the Driveaway business, Dick Williams, was going to be bringing a truck from Kansas City through Charleston, WV on the way to Henderson, NC. Since I would be returning on Monday via Charleston, I called him and we set up to have lunch at the Tamarack Travel Plaza on I-77/I-64 at Beckley, WV.

The shuttle arrived the next morning right on time, I was at the airport and with the rental car by 7:30 am. Have never had Hertz provide such quick service.

I-77 took me right by the Pro Football Hall of Fame at Akron. I was considering visiting, but the early hour was long before they would open and I wanted to get on to WV and meet Dick at 1:00 pm for lunch. I got to Tamarack a little before noon, and got some exercise for the first time in days by walking around and going up to the very large building on the hill that houses the artist shops, etc. From up there, I could look down on the parking lot and see Dick as he arrived about 1:00 pm (that's him in the little Izuzu box truck in the middle of the picture - click on the picture to enlarge and actually see Dick arriving).

Without sounding too weird, it was a real pleasure to finally meet him. We've exchanged a lot of notes since I first got interested in Driveaway, and he can truly be credited for giving me the information I needed to get started in this. And he's quite an interesting fellow. He retired from the National Weather Service and has been doing driveaway for several years. He's very meticulous, and is just an encyclopedia of driveaway information.

I left Tamarack around 2:15 pm and was home by about 4:45. This trip went about as smoothly as any I've had, but it's always good to get home. I think driveaway is good for at least one thing - it really helps you enjoy coming home a lot more.

Now, more about the chain and lock missing at the pickup on Sunday morning. I got a call from Spirit Miller this afternoon (Tuesday) asking if the bull pen gate had been open when I arrived. I told them it had, and asked what the problem was. They said a truck was missing. They called back later asking if I had seen a brightly colored boom truck on the lot when I picked up. I told them I did vaguely remember such a truck. That's the one that's missing. I'm thinking nobody will notice a big orange boom truck in my back yard :-)

Trip 19 and 20 - Daleville, VA to Hattiesburg, MS

2006-01-14T14:19:00.000-05:00

Monday, January 9, 2006

I had told dispatch I'd be available this week, but they didn't have anything lined up by Friday, so they told me to call back today. Took them a while, but about 11:00 am got a call from dispatch saying they had an Altec truck from Daleville, VA to Hattiesburg, MS. No indication of how I'd return.

As I've told many, I first got the idea to do driveaway work the last year or so before I took early retirement from 30+ years in higher education. I got the idea from watching out my window the drivers leaving from the Daleville, VA Altec plant with their shiny new trucks to points unknown. After all those years in office work, the idea of driving around the country seemed right appealing. Since this one met my final major goal for driveaway work, I took it.

Daleville is only about 10 miles away from where I live, so after doing my pre-trip work (packing, paperwork, maps, etc.), I headed on over and got there around 1:00 PM. Easy pre-tripping since this was a new International 4300, 6-sp. Was on the road by about 1:30.

Had a good, uneventful trip down I-81, to I-40 and I-75 in TN. Made it to Athens, TN by about 7:30 PM and decided to call it a day at the Days Inn.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

I'm of the belief that each trip has some unusual challenges, so I thought it strange that this trip was going so well. This morning gave me the challenge for this trip. I did the normal daily pre-trip and all was good, so started it up. I noticed that Air 1 was low, which was unusual, but it started building up right away. However, along with the build-up in pressure, came the very distinct sound of air escaping from someplace. I immediately had flashbacks of the Sterling air problem in KY. Don't recall if I said the "F" word out loud or not, but I was a bit taken back anyway.

So I turned it off and started checking for the leak, which continued long enough for me to unlatch the hood and find that it was coming from an air hose connection on the firewall. I pushed it in, and magically, it stopped - never to be heard again on this trip. But, knowing it was there was enough to keep me well awake for the rest of the trip to Hattiesburg, which went well.

I arrived at the dropoff point at an electrical contracting company in Hattiesburg. Dispatch told me they were trying to find a rental car, since bus schedule and train schedule was missed for the day (OK!). I was to go back to Meridian, about 90 miles away, to bring a truck from there to be staged at Roanoke, which was on the way to MA. They also told me that it had broken down on the previous driver and had been left at a Cat. dealer for repair. Needless to say, that didn't leave any really good feelings.

Dispatch also mentioned they'd found no rooms available in the Hattiesburg or Meridian area (still due to the hurricane), so I'd better be careful. That made me feel real good, but I didn't have any trouble getting a Days Inn at Meridian. Took a while to get lined up with Enterprise, who picked me up. Found that I was only a block from the Enterprise location, so I'd waited around for nothing. I could have walked there easily.

Got to Meridian around 7:00 PM and saw the Cat. dealer location off I-59. Got a quick glance at an old boom trucking sitting in the back, and I had the feeling it might be mine.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

This was where the trip started going in the tank. I arrived at the dealer by 7:30 AM, while I still had the rental car. Thought it might be a good idea to make sure the truck was roadworthy before I gave up the car. On first glance, my heart pretty much sank. The truck was all I'd hoped it could be. Very old looking GMC 7500 boom truck with Spicer 7-spd - my first time with this type tranny. Even though it only had 27k miles on it, it was really well worn. Passenger window was down about 3 inches and had been duct taped in that location since they couldn't get it all the way up. Looked like everyone who'd eaten a lunch anywhere near the truck had left the remains inside. I'm guessing it had been brought from MA for hurricane work in the gulf area. I pre-tripped it and tried to find enough wrong to say "no", but didn't, so decided to give it a try after talking with the mechanic that had worked on it.

The mechanic basically said he couldn't find anything wrong with it when they brought it in, so he changed the alternator (go figure). And, by the way, there may be some panel problems that would have to be fixed at a GMC dealer. The panel problems became the bane of the trip. I assume the driver that dropped it off had made up a problem so he could get out of the truck.

The shop foreman was kind enough to take me to the rental car place to return the car, which then got me on the road about 10:00 AM. Within 5 miles up I-59, the Check Gauges light began flashing intermittently. That, along with the exceptional roar of the taped window kept me very awake until the audible alarm began sounding about 20 miles down the road. All the gauges were looking good and it was running good. I checked fluids again and couldn't find anything wrong. Called my tech guy and he said to keep on driving, so I did. I put up with all that noise all the way past Knoxville, TN, where I stopped at a Ramada for the night. Nerves were frazzled from all the noise and commotion in the truck, but it had basically driven well, except for no cruise control, but I did sleep well that night.

Got on the road to Roanoke early the next morning and staged the truck at the T/A in Troutville. Never been happier to be out of one, but it did get me back safely and I guess that's all I should ask. Don't know when it will be picked up for delivery in MA, but I do know it won't be me, and I pity the next driver.

The (Almost) Great Escape

2005-12-30T15:40:00.000-05:00

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Had an interesting go 'round with dispatch yesterday.They called to see if I was available to take a truck to Chattanooga from Daleville, VA. I had told them I would not be available again until January 9, but it's started to get boring around here so I really wanted to consider the run. However, my wife is off from teaching for the holiday vacation and wasn't thrilled about me heading out. So I told dispatch I'd go if she could ride along, then we'd get a rental car and tour around a bit.

I'd already inquired previously about whether your wife can go along on trips and been told what I expected - no, can't go due to insurance. So, as expected, they decided she would not be able to travel with me. However, they did offer the choice of her driving a rental car along and just doing a round trip rental, which was actually going to save them money. My wife decided she really didn't want to do that, but it was OK for me to escape for a day or so, so I made the plans to go. Dispatch shortly called back and said to just plan to stay home. They'd found it would be too expensive to put me in a one-way rental and pay me to drive straight back home. So, guess I'm in for the duration.

I know it seems a bit odd to actually want to take your wife along, since many of us probably started driveaway work in order to get away (just kidding, honey). Just wondered if any of you have included the wife on any of your trips, and if you did, did you let dispatch know?

Have a happy rest of the holiday.

PS - The company must really be hopping this holiday season. They called again this morning to see if I'd be available next Monday, but this time I stuck to my guns. Not going out again until January 9.

Trip 17 and 18 - Forest to Shelby to Suitland, MD

2005-12-22T16:30:00.000-05:00

Trip 17

12/20/05 - Tuesday

I received a call from dispatch asking if I'd be interested in taking a quick trip from Forest to Shelby, then pick up a truck there at Southco and take to Suitland, MD, which is on the eastern outskirts of Washington, DC. Initially, I said no since I had decided that I was going to stay in until after the first of the new year, but the trip sounded good enough, planned out enough by dispatch, and with their pleading I decided to take it.

I left early Tuesday morning. Since my personal vehicle will be left at the Forest Equipment bullpen for a couple of days, I like to drive the old Saturn I have. But, with the temperature less than 20 degrees, and it sitting for more than a week, the battery was too far gone for it to start. So, took my truck and headed to Forest a little after 7:00 am.

There were several trucks staged and ready to go, and I found mine on the first try. It was a typical configuration that I've driven on this trip before - an International 7300 with 6-speed, no radio. Since it was cold, I wondered if it would start, but no problems. I pre-tripped it, with nothing unusual, fueled up, and was on the road by around 8:15 am. Trip to Shelby went smoothly, and this time, upon delivery, didn't have any concerns with scratches or scrapes. Note that the bucket cover almost blew off (in the picture). We're instructed to check it, which I did at each stop, but it barely made it.

Trip 18

Since each trip has to have a complication, mine started at this point. A fellow at Forestry Equipment was kind enough to take me on the 2 mile ride over to Southco, where I was to pick up the next truck bound for Suitland, MD. Naturally, upon checking their bullpen, it was not there. After going inside and flagging down a few people, I found that they had not been told that anyone would be picking it up soon, so it was not scheduled to be finished until Thursday, but it was currently being worked on. I've found that sweet-talking people can really help, and after a bit of discussion, it was determined that the truck should be ready by 6:30 pm. It was currently 2:00 pm. So I had to kill some time by doing paperwork for the previous trip, eating at the Waffle House up the road, and reading the newspaper. Turned out that at 4:30 pm, the truck was ready and placed in the bull pen.

This truck was a new one for me, a Ford F750 automatic, radio. It basically drove like a car. While I was pre-tripping it, I met two guys from Mamo. They seemed real nice. None of us took the time to whine about our companies, which is the usual fare, and we traded a few findings about where to mount your plates. Each of us had a different idea. One had been stopped at a weigh station in Florida and told they wanted them on the front or in the windshield. The other said the company manual says to mount them on the back, which is what I usually do. So, it's still a mystery where the plates are supposed to go.

I got on the road about 5:00 pm towards Suitland via Charlotte and up I-85. I figured the traffic would be bad in Charlotte, but actually got through there quickly. But for some reason (still unkown) got in an awful jam around Concord, which added at least 30 minutes to the drive. I ended up calling it a day at Henderson, NC, exit 212 I-85. I stayed at a Sleep Inn. With their stay two nights, get one night free deal, I figured it would be worth the little extra price above the Days Inn. Unfortunately, upon checking out the next morning, I noticed that offer expired on 11/30, so that didn't do me any good, and at extra cost.

12/21/05 - Wednesday

OK, so I think each trip has something come up and was hoping the truck not being ready was it for this one. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I guess it's ending up that each day has a challenge to keep you going. Today's challenge was to be the truck wouldn't start. It was very cold, probably below 20 degrees, and it cranked and cranked, but no go. Since it was 7:30 am, I had to wait a while to reach dispatch to figure out what to do. In the meantime, I borrowed an extension cord from the motel and plugged it in, and continued to try to start it every few minutes.

At 8:00 am, I called dispatch and really didn't get much help from them. They just said to call the contact number I had - didn't even have a last name. Since this truck was to go to Sheehy Ford, I wanted their number, but dispatch didn't have it. I called the Ford 800 number, but since the vehicle was not owned, they said they couldn't help. It would be up to the dealership. However, they did give me the number for the dealership, so I started trying to reach someone there. After a while, I was able to reach the original contact, but he didn't really know what to do and instructed me to call back in about 20 minutes. In the meantime, I continued to try to start it.

This truck has the best batteries I've ever seen. I didn't want to crank them clear down, but they hung in there, and finally, it started. So, about 9:00 am, I was on the road again, a bit aggravated because I had wanted to get on to Washington and on the way home.

I'm still not sure why the truck didn't start. Some would speculate that the fuel jelled, but I haven't had trouble with the other trucks so far, and several have started in equal or more cold. So, for the experts, I'd like to know if you definitely need to put in an additive, or do you think something else was going on?

I made good time to DC, and arrived at the dealership around 1:30 pm. I lucked out with the traffic. I was caught in a jam for the last 20 miles, but it kept moving at a steady pace. The south-bound lanes of I-95 were a parking lot, with no movement, for over 15 miles.

Caught a ride to the nearby Metro, took the subway to Reagan National Airport, where I picked up a Hertz Mustang (no compacts available, but at the compact rate) and I was zooming out of Washington - for at least 3 miles. Then, the usual Washington traffic took over, and for the next 30 miles, an hour and a half, it was stop and go. I just simply don't see how they stand it.

Really pushed it the rest of the way, swerved through the 18 wheelers on I-81, and was back home by about 7:45 pm. Was a pretty good trip, with the usual number of challenges, and I'm definitely in for the holidays this time.

Trip 16 - Beckley, WV to Indianapolis

2005-12-08T19:45:00.000-05:00

December 8 - Thursday

The school bus trip scheduled for this past Tuesday was cancelled due to snow, so that took away a few days that could have gone to driveaway this week. Dispatch did call Weds to see if I could be available to take a truck from Beckley, WV to Indianapolis. It would involve a bus trip (not my favorite) from Roanoke to Beckley, cab to Appalachian Power, where the truck is supposed to be staged, then on to Altec in Indianapolis. Of course, no idea what happens at that point.

I initially said yes and would be able to head out this morning (Thursday). However, while dispatch was lining up the details, I made the mistake of checking the weather forecasts for the area and they looked really bleak. Snow and ice projected across the entire trip from Beckley to Indianapolis at the same time I should be picking the truck up in Beckley. So I called dispatch and told them I had second thoughts. They sort of stuck with me and I agreed I'd take it beginning on Friday, after the storm cleared, if that was OK. I don't like to be gone over the weekend if I can help it, but I'd already gotten committed with dispatch and didn't want to let them down either, so I'm currently lined up to leave tomorrow (Friday). I really want to concentrate on not letting myself get caught in dangerous driving conditions, which I'm sure will be hard once I'm on the road. You tend to want to push on, but I want to avoid that. I also don't yet have any experience in what to expect from these trucks in driving in slick conditions. Don't know whether they handle fairly well due to their weight or whether that might cause them to be even tougher to drive.

I had gone to bed last night thinking I'd probably go ahead and take the bus to Beckley even if it snowed so, at least, I'd be in the area and as soon as it cleared I'd be ready to pick up the truck and head out. But the forecast this morning didn't look any better and I decided that by going on to Beckley it would only encourage me to get out on the road too early in very bad conditions and I'd be better off just waiting, getting to Beckley late Friday afternoon, pick up the truck, then head out on the 400 mile trip. That should help give time for I-64, and I-65 to be cleared. So, I wait.

December 9 - Friday

The storm blew through on Thursday and I was glad I waited. My son dropped me off at the bus station on his way to work. Found out that the bus to Beckley was 2 hours late. They didn't tell me, and I'm glad I asked, but by leaving 2 hours late I would miss my connection in Wythville and be stuck there until 10:00 pm before heading to Beckley. A 10 hour wait in the Wythville bus station and Beckley in the middle of the night was much too much for me to consider, so I called dispatch, told them the situation, and suggested they assign this truck to another driver. They really didn't want to do that, and after a little delay, they called back and said they had reserved a rental car at the Roanoke airport for me to drive to the Beckley airport, then taxi to the pickup location. I didn't know Beckley had an airport, much less a rental car location.

So, the next challenge became getting to the Roanoke Airport from downtown. Should have been simple since Yellow Cab is practically within walking distance from the bus station, but an hour later, after several phone calls with the dispatcher promising the cab was pulling in right now, I moved over to the Smartway bus that came through and was on the way to the airport. So, I lost about an hour and a half, time that will become important later in this day.

Got the rental car at about noon and headed straight to Beckley, which is about a 130 mile drive through the mountains. Arrived about 2:30 pm and decided that with all the ice and snow it might be a good idea to go check out the truck, make sure I could find it and the location, before proceeding to the airport to drop off the car and hail a taxi. I lucked out, and found the Appalachian Power location. Lucked out, because the address I was given didn't have any exact location, only Robert Seabird Dr. off I-77. For those of you non-politicals, it's Robert C. Byrd, who is the most distinquished (perhaps crooked) Senator from WV. Given that I found the location, I thought the directions were kind of funny.

Got my first look at the ice-covered behemeth that I was to drive to Indianapolis - a 10-sp Sterling Altec crane truck with 2100 miles on it. Dispatch is never able to describe what type of truck you're picking up other than the make. It didn't register with me at the time that the one breakdown I've had so far was with the only other Sterling I've driven, and that was a blown head gasket. That will come later in this story.....

I had to flag down some of the crew there to get a scraper to try to get the ice off of it and do some pre-tripping before I headed to the airport. Thought it would be a good idea to make sure it would start and everything looked OK. It was very cold that day and I almost busted my a__ three times while working around the truck, but it did start. It was missing the triangles, which again one of the crew was willing to provide, and the boom was not tied down. I don't really think this truck is designed to have the boom tied down, but my company insists that it is. After calling dispatch, who insisted I stop and buy a strap, climb high atop that thing and tie it down, I did find a strap I could throw over it and act like it was tied down. I really don't think this crane is designed with a tie-down strap to be placed over it.

Since things now looked pretty good, I headed to the airport to try to quickly return the rental car, get a taxi and get on the road while still some daylight. This Sterling had a 10 speed Eaton Fuller transmission that was going to be a first for me. My previous experience with the well drilling rig had an 8 speed and it and I fought all the way to New York. I wanted to get out on winding, hilly, I-64 and start west before dark. Got the car gassed on the way to the airport, found the rental return, the only one, in the Beckley airport, then proceeded to wait on the town's only cab. About 30 minutes later, I was on the way back to the truck. By the time I headed out, it was about 4:45 pm, so that gave me dim light and 5:00 pm traffic to learn my way around this triple-axle challenge.

I found that it drove a little easier than the well drilling rig, but still had a lot of gear changing (should I say scraping) as I took the WV mountains. But made it to KY, and was well inland, when the trip's big problem hit (I'm finding most of these trips have to have at least one significant problem). The air valve that you usually hear on trucks with air brakes started going off about every 30 seconds. I realized that didn't seem right, but the air pressure was holding, it was 8:30 pm, and I was heading west. After about 20 minutes of that, the valve quit sounding and the air pressure pegged to the top - about 150 PSI. Now that got my attention. I was just entering a construction zone and had little space to pull off I-64, but I did. Naturally, for the first time I'd noticed on any of these trips, my cell phone was out of range, so I was stuck. I got under the truck and tried to see if I could come up with anything, but a few 18 wheelers later I decided this million dollar body needed to be somewhere safer, so I scampered back into the cab, cranked it up and headed out just to see what would happen.

The air pressure stayed almost at the top, I'd pump the brakes as much as I could to get it down, and luckily I came upon a Welcome Center where I could pull in and use the public phones to call my emergency number. The tech guy told me to bleed the brakes and if that didn't fix it just keep on driving because it wouldn't hurt anything. So I did - and it didn't fix it.

I had decided that I was going to try to make it to I-64 exit 110 at Mt. Sterling (an ironic name) and stay the night at a Days Inn there. Just as I approached the exit, I heard a bit of a bang and a lot of air escaping. Luckily, the air pressure was holding, so I had brakes, but there was a lot of commotion as I steered into the Days Inn. I tend to have good luck that equates out the bad luck, so I got to the motel, which had a nice big parking area to place the truck and checked in for the night.

I called my emergency number to let them know I was down and they said to call back the next morning around 8:00 am and we'd work on the problem. I was assuming they'd call road service to come fix it, but that wasn't necessarily a good guess on my part.

December 10 - Saturday

The next morning, with the benefit of daylight, I was able to see the problem. I didn't know it was the air compressor governor at the time, but it is attached to the air compressor with two bolts. One had fallen completely out and the other was barely still attached, and the air was escaping around that. So, at least, I felt I knew what the problem was. The emergency contact looked up a few numbers for me. I called, lucked out, and got a mechanic there within about 15 minutes. He replaced the two bolts, got things working again, charged a reasonable $50, and I was back on the road to Indianapolis by about 10:00 am.

I made it to the delivery point at Altec around 2:30 pm. No weigh stations open the entire trip. All were still snow covered. Dispatch had a rental car lined up at the airport, so a taxi ride there and I was on my way back toward home by about 4:30 pm. I didn't see much of Indianapolis but the skyline. The cabbie was very high on it, saying he had lived all over the country and chosen Indianapolis as his abode.

PCMiler had recommended a route to deliver the truck that I had concerns about that would have taken me off I-64 using rt. 52, 73, and 32 to Cincinnatti, then I-74 to Indianapolis. Instead, I had taken the I-64 to Louisville, then I-65 to Indianapolis route. I think it might have been 25 miles longer, but it was well worth it. I decided to use the PCMiler recommended trip on my return, which turned out to be a mistake. It might have been an interesting trip through southern Ohio if I had been in the daylight, but I couldn't imagine having taken the triple axle Sterling through the towns, over the Ohio river, along the refineries, and up through the two-lane rt 73 to Cincinnatti.

It took me longer to get back to WV than I expected, so about 9:00 pm I called it a day and checked in at the Days Inn just east of Huntington WV in Teays Valley. Up fairly early this morning (Sunday) and home by 11:30 am. My wife met me at the airport where I returned the rental and we did lunch at Olive Garden. Nothing like being dressed like a truck driver coming off the road and having a nice meal with a glass of wine.

Looking back, I guess this trip was sort of fun, given that everything worked out OK, but I think I may take a break now until after the first of the new year. Will enjoy the Christm...ah, holiday, season, and start driving again in 2006. There's a school bus trip or two in the meantime to keep the driving skills sharp.

Trip 14 and 15 - Forest Ending in Birmingham

2005-12-04T16:43:00.000-05:00

Trip 14 and 15 – Forest, VA to Shelby, NC to Garner (Raleigh), NC to Birmingham, AL

December 1 – Thursday

I wasn’t planning on going out this week, just after Thanksgiving. I had a school bus trip on Weds. evening and then another one scheduled for Tuesday, so didn’t feel I had enough time to get caught out. But dispatch had called to see if I could be available, and I told them I could do a short trip. This was on Weds. and as usual, they didn’t have all the info together and asked that I call back that afternoon. Since I would be on the bus trip, I told them to just go ahead and fax the info and I would get it when I returned that night.

The school bus trip was to take the William Byrd HS swim team to a meet in Blacksburg, a trip of about 50 miles one way. I found that’s a fairly long trip in the older activity bus they use, with the throttle taking about all my right leg can offer to keep it going for the full hour trip. Had a semi-close call on the way up the mountain on I-81. A car carrier came over on me as he was passing and I actually had to head toward the emergency lane and slow down in order to avoid him hitting me on the front left side. I’ve often thought those guys that drive the car carriers seem to be a bit more aggressive than the average nutty truck driver, but I thought it unusually stupid to mess with a school bus half loaded with high school kids.

After getting in that evening (Weds.), checked the fax and dispatch had me lined up to take a new International 4300 chipper/boom truck from Forest, VA to Shelby, NC. That’s starting to become a regular run for me it seems. Went to Forest early Thursday morning, pre-tripped in the dim light (perhaps a significant event to be explained later), and was on the road by 8:30 am. This was the sharpest looking truck I’d driven yet - fire engine red, drove nicely.

Had an uneventful 250 mile trip to Shelby and delivered around 2:30 pm. After turning the truck over to the guy there, he came to me and asked if I’d seen the scratches on the top corner of the chipper bin. Sure enough, there were scratches that looked like it likely had been brushed by a tree limb. Nothing real bad, but enough for them to get the bosses out, inspect, re-inspect, take pictures, etc. Since there were literally no trees for me to hit on route 29, I-85, and route 40, I just couldn’t imagine any way I hit a tree limb, but had to admit the scratch was there and I didn’t notice it in pre-trip. I let dispatch know, but at this stage, they didn’t seem to be concerned.

As always, the big mystery when delivering a truck is what dispatch is going to do with you then. They never let me know ahead of time, and I think that may be the part of the work that bothers me the most, since I’m a planner by nature – not a good trait for driveaway work. Dispatch apologetically told me I’d need to get a cab to Charlotte (about 50 miles east), take a bus to Raleigh, cab to Garner, and a truck would be staged at Carolina Power and Light (CP&L) for me to take to Birmingham. Of course, I always try to avoid the Hound and, since I wanted this to be a short trip out, at the time I wasn’t real thrilled with heading to Birmingham, but since I’d done that trip before didn’t really mind.

I had to wait about 30 minutes for the cab to get to Shelby to start the $70 trip to the Charlotte bus station. That gave time to watch the local crew sweat over the scratches on the truck, check out whether I’d hit a tree on the corner of their lot, etc. It will be interesting, I’m sure, to see how that all ends up.

The bus trip to Raleigh, and I can’t be quoted on this, was actually not too bad. The Charlotte bus station wasn’t overflowing with the usual crowd, and the bus was an express, so arrived Raleigh about 8:00 pm.

Buses and airplanes always have at least one character that dominates the trip. This bus trip, since it was after dark, was supposed to be quiet with lights out, according to the driver. For the most part it was, but that one character naturally sat opposite me and regaled his seating companion with his philosophies of family management. This went on non-stop for two hours until she said something, one of the few words she could get in edgewise other than “yes”, “no”, and “oh”, that offended him, at which time he cussed her out and dug out his cold chicken from his bag. At least he was quiet for the remainder of the trip.

The station in Raleigh also didn’t have the usual crowd and I was able to get a helpful cabbie to Garner, which luckily wasn’t more than about 5 miles away. He knew how to get me directly to CP&L and seemed to take that direct route, but we had trouble locating the truck. CP&L is a big outfit, and after checking several locked gates with no answer from the guard telephone, we were just about to give up, when I found the truck parked just off an entry road into the place. It was a used International 7400, but only had 6400 miles on it and was still in pretty good shape. It was the largest Altec boom truck I’d yet driven. I wasn’t looking forward to having to pre-trip a used truck in the dark, but this time it went much better than the last. It was parked under pretty good lighting, and everything seemed to be in good shape. I had some question about the level of water in the overflow tank, but decided to head on and I’d check it under better conditions later.

PCMiler had the recommended 550 mile trip taking me back west on I-40, picking up I-85, and heading down past Charlotte through Atlanta. Since I’d just been through that route several times, I decided it would be about the same distance, and better drive, to head east on I-40, pick up I-95, then pick up I-20 in SC and go all the way to Birmingham.

By the time I headed out, it was around 9:30 pm, but the adrenaline or Mountain Dew caffeine was flowing, so I drove several hours before bunking down at Lumberton, NC for the night.

December 2 - Friday

Slept fitfully that night and was back on the road to Birmingham by 7:45 am. The trip went smoothly except for the usual developing mystery of what will dispatch do with you once you get there, since naturally you’re not going to know ahead of time so you can plan anything. Since I was going past the Talladega speedway again, I had thought about visiting the motor sports museum there if I had time on the return trip. Dispatch had told me to call at 3:00 pm and they’d have things lined up to fax me for the return trip. The idea was that I’d be picking up another truck out of Birmingham.

Friday afternoons are particularly hectic for dispatch, and of course the return info wasn’t ready after I had pulled off at the closest place I could think of that had a fax, a Ramada Inn just east of Atlanta. But since the info wasn’t ready, I had to get back on I-20 and plan to find another faxing spot around 4:00 pm. So I drove on to AL and stopped at their welcome center, where they were willing to receive a fax for me. Naturally, the info still wasn’t ready at 4:00 pm, but after several phone calls it was decided they’d just put me in a rental car to drive back home to VA. That was OK with me, since it appears the 2-3 day trips agree with me better.

I had originally debated whether to stop just short of Birmingham for a relaxed evening and delivering the next morning, but since they had a rental car lined up and I was still feeling fit, I decided to go ahead and deliver and get a few hours back towards VA.

Delivered the truck successfully around 6:45 pm. The Altec plant in Birmingham, while in a tough area, does have a 24-hour guard, although I noticed he doesn’t carry a gun. He called a cab for me, but it took a long time for it to show up. That gave the guard plenty of time to fill me in on his evangelical calling, his six daughters, etc. I must say he was a nice fellow and could tell I wasn’t worth evangelizing, so saved his good stuff for another day. He did mention how rude a lot of the driveaway drivers treat him, and I don't doubt his frustration. Don't know why some of us would act badly with people that are in a position to occasionally help us out.

The cab finally came about 7:45 pm, got to the airport Hertz, waited forever to get serviced, and was on the way out. I’d originally figured I’d be taking I-20 back through Atlanta, but the Altec guard and I agreed it would be more fun to head up I-59 through Chattanooga, so I did.

The adrenaline and caffeine were still working well, so I drove several hours, which got me to Cleveland, TN, just northeast of Chattanooga. Naturally, of the whole trip, the drive from Birmingham to Chattanooga was the only area I had never seen, but I still haven’t since it was dark. Don’t know if I missed anything, or not, but I’d suspect I’ll get another chance in this business. I’d driven around 650 miles that day, so around 11:30 pm decided I’d better call it a day and checked in at what’s becoming my regular stopping point – Days Inn.

December 3 - Saturday

I was back on the road before 8:00 am and home by about 1:30 pm on Saturday. The drive from Birmingham, for whatever reason, really didn’t seem that long. I think listening to Kim Komando, the digital goddess, most of the way home helped pass the time quickly.

I returned the rental car to the Lynchburg airport since my personal truck was still parked at Forest. My wife went with me and we did the first of Christmas by picking up the tree on the way home.

This was a good trip, given that I had to take the Hound and several cabs, and night pick-up, but all the pieces ended up fitting together. If I didn’t desire the ability to plan out my next move, I’d have no complaints. But since I’m a complainer, I’ll complain about that this time.

Trip 12 and Unlucky 13

2005-11-19T13:50:00.000-05:00

Trip 12 and Unlucky 13 – Shelby, NC and Almost Buras, LA

Thursday, 11/17/05

I had gotten a call from dispatch on Tuesday asking if I could take a short trip from Forest, VA to Shelby, NC. Unfortunately, I'd messed my back up doing some work around the house (I need to stop that) on Monday and just didn't feel like I could handle the bumpy ride. By Thursday, I really wasn't feeling any better, but thought getting out and doing something might actually help my back and the adrenaline might really do the trick. So, on Wednesday I called dispatch and they put me in a truck from Forest, VA to Shelby, NC. For the first time, I had to pick up a company chase car at the Altec plant in Daleville, VA to take with me.

Since I hadn't hooked up a chase car before, dispatch told me to call the company rep at 8:00 am after I got to the truck and he would talk me through it. The truck was staged and ready to go, a new GMC 7500 6-speed with 74 miles on it. I was able to get the chase car hooked up for tow with little difficulty, even though the ole back was complaining, and was on the road about 9:00 am. Since I had not driven with a tow before, I was very conscious of getting in a spot where I might need to back up, but was able to make the approximately 250 mile trip to Shelby OK and arrived at the delivery point about 3:00 pm.

All these trips end up with some type of curve ball, and this is when the catcher called for the big slider. I had anticipated getting in the tow car and heading back home. My only question was whether I was going to drive all the way home or get a motel for the night since my back had about had it and I was already pooped. Unfortunately, and as usual, dispatch had other ideas.

Unlucky Trip 13

Rather than heading home, she asked if I'd drive to Aberdeen, NC, and pick up a truck for Buras, LA. Buras, where the heck is Buras? Turns out it is way out on the tip of Louisiana, an area the voyer in me has been wanting to visit since the hurricanes, but only in the right circumstances.

I wanted to head home, and I had no idea where Buras was and I wasn't mentally ready to head out on a long trip (I'd only packed for max 3 days - another dumb idea on my part). I told her I'd think about it and eventually relented. Called dispatch and told her I would, but wanted to rest before I picked up the truck. She was insistent that it get picked up that night. Wonder why they always want them picked up right away? She wanted to know if I could be there by 5:00 pm. Since it was a 140 mile drive to Aberdeen across route 74, which is filled with traffic and stop lights and had to go around Charlotte, I told her that wouldn't happened. However, she insisted that the truck be picked up that evening.

So I drove as hard as I could to Aberdeen and arrived at the pick-up point about 7:30 pm. That's when things began to get dicey. I had been told this was a new International 7400. Right on all counts except the new part. It was a 2000 with 40k miles, which on a boom truck must equate to 500k miles and was questionably road worthy.

This was the first time I'd had the pleasure of pre-tripping a truck in the dark. The truck was staged at a remote location at an electric company. There was a light, but not enough to see things clearly. I positioned the tow car next to it and shined lights on it as best I could.

Immediately found that it was low on water, no water in the holding tank, low on oil, and when started, blue smoke flew even in the dark. So I was starting to get a bit antsy about the whole idea, especially tripping to LA. The company was totally shut down, but about that time a fellow showed up returning with a boom truck from his work. I flagged him down, and he was kind enough to help me get some water and he had two quarts of oil to add.

I had decided that I wasn't going to drive any further than I had to find a motel, so I headed toward Laurenburg. I’m supposed to fill up immediately, so found diesel on the edge of Laurenburg and filled up. When I started the truck back up the panel went dead with no lights and no working gauges except air pressure and fuel, and I could only see those with the outside light. Hmmmmm......Louisiana in a truck losing water, using oil, and no gauges. The guy that had helped me had been kind enough to give me his phone number in case I needed help. Since I needed help, I gave him a call to see if he had any ideas. He really didn't, but after restarting the truck the gauges came on, but with still no panel lights.

I pulled on out to find the nearest motel, which was a Comfort Inn with a price above what the company is willing to pay, but I didn't care. I was cooked.

Slept fitfully during the night with my back giving me a shot every time I rolled over and the questionable truck on a trip to LA. So I decided by morning that I was going to report to dispatch that I didn't think the truck was road worthy and that, in any case, I had to head home.

Friday, 11/18/05

At about 7:30 am, I went out and inspected the truck in the daylight. There was a small amount of antifreeze puddled under the truck and, in addition to its other problems, I noticed that the right front tire had a questionable amount of tread and a 2 inch notch knocked out of the inside tread. So I was more convinced than before that I wasn't heading out in this thing.

Called dispatch at 8:00 am and caught a fair amount of grief for not calling it in on the emergency number last night, etc., etc. Told them I didn't know all these problems until I had already picked up the truck, and in any case I was heading home - what did they want done with the truck. After several return calls, it was decided to take it to the International truck center in Lumberton, NC, about 25 miles east. That was good news to me, so I headed out.

After arriving at the repair center, the shop foreman said he might be able to get to the truck late today (Friday) or Monday. I told him to tell me it would be Monday because I was heading home. Called dispatch, and after some grief and sweating on their part, they told me to leave it and head home - one of the real advantages of having a tow car. They asked me initially to leave the car back at the Altec plant in Daleville. On the way, they called and asked me to leave it at Forest for another driver to pick up. So my plan was to come on home and have my wife accompany me to Forest with the car.

As soon as I stepped in home, totally bushed with a big time aching back, the phone rang and it was dispatch asking why the chase car wasn't in Forest. I explained that I would need for my wife to return from work so I could take it. She said a driver was already waiting there, so I began the 32 mile trip to Forest to pick him up and let him return me home.

So, I got to meet my next company driver. This one hadn't shot anyone, or beaten up any cabbies that he wanted to talk about. Had a pleasant 35 minute conversation. He owns a cab company in Tallahassee, and since his wife has suddenly had her midlife affair, decided he needed to be on the road. So he literally stays at it except for one week a month when he returns to check on business.

I was glad to be home. Dispatch had already called asking when I could go back out, but I said I'm in past Thanksgiving this time. It would have been nice to have visited Louisiana again, but this wasn’t the right time.

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Trip 10 (cont) and Trip 11 - Albany to Buffalo

2005-11-10T00:31:00.000-05:00

11/8/05 - Tuesday

I was able to get the big, and I mean BIG, well drilling rig on to Deposit, NY the next day. Went past several more scales in PA and I think NY, but all were closed. I noticed an odd combination of scales and welcome centers in PA. Still not quite sure how that works, but luckily the scales were closed. Once in Deposit, my home office, and the first time I'd been there, I got to meet the dispatchers and sort of see how they run things. Was an interesting experience.

My dispatcher then put me in a company chase car to Albany, NY, where I picked up the best cherry of a truck I've yet driven. I don't really know what it was, but will explain by simply saying it was one of those electric utility trucks that is used to carry and lay cable. I say it was a cherry because, after driving the well drilling rig, which was all I could handle, this thing was a new Freightliner with tandem axles, automatic, radio, the works, and felt and drove like a Cadillac. Took it to Buffalo, where I delivered thru the rain this morning. Then got a flight to Baltimore and rental car home.

11/9/05 - Wednesday

Really lucked out with the weather. It started raining heavily shortly after leaving Weedsport, NY (now that's a name), where I had stayed for the night, and rained heavily all the way to Buffalo. As soon as I reached Buffalo, there was a break in the clouds long enough to get the truck delivered along with the post-trip stuff, then it started heavy downpours with lightning. The guy at the delivery point was nice enough to take me to the airport quickly so I could catch an earlier Southwest flight than dispatch had booked. I really like Southwest, but they were a half hour late this time because they had to fly a holding pattern over the airport until the lightning cleared.

I seem to be meeting interesting people on my Southwest flights. Usually, on airplanes, I don't attempt to talk to anyone and they usually don't attempt to talk to me - too big of a chance of getting stuck with a doozy. Anyway, on this flight I was seated between a fairly young yoga instructor and an elderly retired psychiatrist. All the stuff they covered over me will be a good story for a later post if I get the inclination.

Upon arriving at Baltimore, got a rental car about 2:00 pm and started the 300 mile trip back to Roanoke. Unfortunately, this included the trip around Washington, DC, which is full of the rudest drivers and mega traffic as anywhere you can ever go. Don't know how people put up with it.

One of the better benefits of this trip is it provided me a great excuse to miss the miserable elections in Virginia this year. I guess the Gubernatorial and Attorney General races were close enough that my vote might have made the difference, but I was glad I didn't have to go in, hold my nose, and pull the lever (or, with the new technology, punch the button). Was too late to get an absentee ballot, so being in NY was all I needed.

All in all, was a good trip except for all the hassles in the VA weight stations. Was glad to find out I could drive the well drilling rig if I had to, but would rather not. The electric truck was fun to drive and I enjoyed seeing NY State, which I had not seen before. Much more beautiful than I expected.

I think 3-day trips are a bit more to my liking.

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Trip 10 - Roanoke to Deposit, NY

2005-11-08T00:30:00.000-05:00

11/7/05 - Monday

Called dispatch on Friday to see if I could get a ride for today (Monday). At the time, they didn't have anything, so they asked me to call back today. Called back and they had a truck leaving Roanoke for the company office at Deposit, NY. Hadn't been there, yet, so thought it would be a good trip. Didn't ask what the truck was and dispatch tends not to have too much info anyway on the specifics of the truck. Turned out it was my first used truck, a 97 Ford 700 (I think) well digger. Very dirty, with a tranny I haven't tried before, 8 speed hi-lo, Jake brake, but runs pretty well. There was some question whether it was over weight, but the sender and my company agreed it was OK. So I headed toward NY a bit nervous.

I had just pulled up on I-581 leaving Roanoke, when my cell phone rang. It was my dispatcher asking if everything was OK. I said I was in traffic and couldn't talk, but was doing OK. Asked her why she called. Her response was the man at the company where I picked up the truck had called them and said they weren't sure about me driving this thing - a real confidence boost for me as I headed out. There had been a nice mechanic working on the truck when I arrived for the pickup, and he had been very friendly offering information about the truck, etc. Since I had not driven a truck with this particular transmission, I had some questions and he took plenty of time to show me the ropes. I guess that left the boss uneasy, and for all I know, he may have been right with me behind the wheel.

The first weight station is only about 10 miles from my pickup on I-81 at Cloverdale, VA. Sure enough, after sitting on the scale for what seemed an eternity sweating, they told me to pull around back for inspection - my first time being called in the scale house. Glad I inspected the truck pretty thoroughly in pre-trip and got them to fix the burned out brake/signal light. Got the good going over by Roanoke County's finest. They went down in the pit below the truck and checked it all. Turned out they only found one brake out of adjustment and a broken marker lens. The two inspectors had never heard of driveaway and were a bit confused the whole time about the fact I was delivering the truck. Also, the fire extinguisher was missing, but I found that on pre-trip and that had already been explained in a previous trip - driveaway transporters have to have the triangles, but not a fire extinguisher. The inspector didn't really believe that, went to his manual, and sure enough, section 393.95 para A has a disclaimer for driveaway. The inspectors actually were quite nice and let me head on after about 30 minutes.

Thought that would be it, but the next weight station up I-81, about 100 miles, pulled me in to "see my permit". Pulled in, went in and explained it had been inspected and approved at the previous weight station, and for whatever reason, they let me go on - sweating again. One odd thing about this station was you didn't actually see anyone. You went into a room with a camera to view documents and an intercom. I guess they figure a guy driving a well digger might be up to no good.

Made it about 40 miles past Harrisburg, PA and found a Days Inn for the night (really racking up those TripReward points). So I'm about 190 miles from my drop tomorrow and don't know how many more weight stations I have to pass thru. Dispatch says I'm definitely legal, but I don't feel like spending however long it takes when one of them decides I'm not. This rig is big enough that I feel like I may be reaching my driving ability limit. In the meantime, continuing to jam those gears (literally) and head on down the road.