Headed to CA

A little background to being gone this year over Thanksgiving. We had planned on being in town. For most of the last 20 years we had been going to my brothers, as this was the only holiday we got together for. And the last few years we had been going there for noon and then BB's sisters later in the evening.

Last year it was decided that we would do something in the summer for my side of the family as the younger people had too many places to be over Thanksgiving.

So last year we went to BB's sisters. This year her sister was having medical issues and didn't feel like having anything and BB's two girls were both going to their in-laws and my kids were going to their mothers. So we were 'the leftovers' as my Mom put it. So we decided to work. Then four days before Thanksgiving, my brother sent out and invite. The next day BB's sister and both her daughters all invited us to separate Thanksgivings. But we stuck to our plans and hit the road.

Yesterday both BB and I had dentist appointments. We scheduled them because we were going to be in town anyways ... right? Work dumped a bunch on the board sometime Saturday after we last looked at it in the afternoon, but nothing we wanted. By this time work was so slim that we were going to take anything ... to the west coast. Just as BB got out of her appointment they put two on the board for CA, Bakersfield. I quickly called in and put them on hold and called BB. I said I didn't want to wait for West Sac.

We were going to wait and leave after rush hour, but then we wouldn't have gotten very far before dark. So we got out of the house at 6:45 ... and being the day before Thanksgiving there wasn't any rush hour traffic.

After a brief stop at the rest area in Northwood we were at Forest City. Breakfast today was the last of the Papa John's pizza from a couple of days ago so we didn't have a breakfast stop on the way down.

This AM drivers could call in for anything being picked up today, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday so there was 20 RV's gone off the board in a few minutes. It seemed to have quieted down by the time we got there. Only saw two other drivers heading out the whole hour we did our inspections.

Weather wasn't too bad. About 32 degrees. Found both RV's and pulled them around to do the inspections. It's only been a couple of weeks but we seemed a little slow, a little rusty at doing it. No issues. We saw them bringing over more RV's already at 9 AM. By the end of the day there were still 20 on the board that they had brought over today.

About 1/8 and 1/16 of a tank of fuel in our RV's so enough to get to Clear Lake where the price was a couple of cent cheaper.

Had a brain blank when I got to the fuel pump. I put in my credit card and then was to swipe my rewards card. I couldn't find it and the pump kept beeping at me. Finally I clicked that I didn't have one, because we have had issues with swiping the card too many times so I didn't want to cancel the transaction. That $.03 off would have added up to $1.50 this fill. Opps.

When we were done filling we went in to eat at Subway. THEN I saw my rewards card. I was looking for a yellow card and it is actually red. I never looked at them one at a time, I just spread them wide enough to see what color they were. I did use my diesel rewards card and paid for lunch, so I've gone from $40 down to $10 on my rewards card in a couple of weeks.

Quick stop at the rest area in Kearney. We had talked of fueling in Eagleville, but both of us can make it to Kearney where gas is even cheaper.

Next stop is another rest area, this one in Eagleville, MO. By this time I had really made a mess of my log book and finally figured out what the issue was. But it took me twice more to get it right and I still had to cross something out. I had put down that we left at 6:15, when we actually left at 6:45 ... then it took longer to get to Clear Lake, on paper, than it usually does. I'm know how long it takes to get to some of these places so I don't always look at the clock. This time that added up to a mess on my log.

At Kearney we fueled at the Pilot and then went to the Quality Inn. And it was sunset so we wouldn't have made it much further. We thought we could have made it further earlier in the day but motels here were $30+ cheaper than down the road. And we have almost two extra days if we needed to make delivery.

We walked over to the same Chinese place we've eaten at before. We walk in at 5:30 and we are the ONLY people there. I think it was after 6 before anyone else came in. Then two large groups plus some take out orders. It is the day before Thanksgiving, I guess people don't go out to eat just to eat out before the big feast.

Because of the distances between motels and the prices, we are planning on doing under 500 miles per day. Tomorrow we plan to make it to Guymon, we already have that reservation. Then Friday night we'll make it to Galup ... or Holbrook. Then the next night is likely Barstow. From there it is only 130 miles to Bakersfield and we aren't sure if we will do that on Sunday or take Sunday off and do the last two hours on Monday morning.

After we drop in Bakersfield it is about 4 hours drive up to the buses in Livermore. I did call the bus dispatcher tonight but he will no know anything until Monday afternoon. So we will likely just head up there. Even if I don't shut down on Sunday our hours are spread out enough that I shouldn't need to do a restart after I pick up the bus.

Sure last week there was nothing good in Oregon. Tonight there is one going to TX, 2000+ miles.

The Iowa board has been at almost 80 or over for the last four days. The last two years it has dropped after Thanksgiving to single digits after the 1st of Dec. We may have to look elsewhere for work.

Oh ... back to my dentist appointment. I need to have two fillings and one crown. Then want to do two crowns but the other one can wait. So now we have to stay in town after New Years and then be back again in three weeks after that. We had thought we were going to be leaving town after Christmas and spending January in the south again. Plans are ever changing.