I drove a whole six miles today, and only because we wanted to be closer to food.

We actually slept in, woke up about 7:30. Had breakfast as soon as we were ready. Cheese omelets, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy. Not many people down this AM, noticed one guy who loaded up for breakfast and then grabbed a few 'to go' things. I had to the gal in charge that I thought the apple juice was bad, she tasted it and said no. May the OJ I had was bad and didn't mix with the apple juice.

I was hopeful that the part would come in at 8 or 10. I made the first call at 9 am and then again at 10. At some point I had understood they were working on it. Finally when I talked to someone else that said the part should be in at noon ... at another dealership. Once they have confirmed they have it, a parts running will go and get it. But they were sure enough that the set up 2 PM as to when a driver would pick us up.

Lunch was the leftover pizza we did not eat last night.

We spent a lot of time today looking at 'what if's.' At one point I called dispatch to ask about a load, someone else was looking at it so that person had first dibs on it. They didn't seem to understand why I would have questions about it if I wasn't going to get it. One basic question was, when can I call to get a trip for Monday? I left it at that. Called back later when it was still on the board and was told it was gone. It is still on the board overnight so I will call again in the AM.

2 PM we are waiting by the door. Someone pulls up and I go out to get in the cab ... and realize it is just someone stopping to use the bathroom, it was not our ride. Our ride shows up a few minutes later, no idea on the truck, but it is the same driver as last night. Nice pleasant guy, filled us in on tid bits of local info.

At 4 PM I go and ask for an update. NOW someone is at the other dealer picking up the part, but someone will stay past 6 pm if needed to get us out of here. The other thing is that this place will want to be paid before I can leave so I try to find out what I will need to know. Finally I realize by watching the work they are doing that they should be done before 6 pm, and by that time I had talked to the shipper and had his personal phone number. He had been gone earlier today and had given me someone else to talk to for that time. So all started to look good.

Dealer gave me both the bad seal and a spare, they had ordered two just in case the wrecked one.

I got a bill with an amount, then a PO from the shipper, signed the papers and we were free to go.

It was now 5:30, we had gotten here yesterday at noon. By the time I was for sure we would get going it was too late to call the drop so it will be Monday before delivery. Also left a message with bus dispatch that I was moving, but once I have gotten the paperwork he isn't involved with what happens.

Motel prices are cheaper than last night and will be half of last night by Monday. Someone at the dealer said that not too long ago when motel prices had gone up, the Motel 6 was $600 a night. Sounds high but we also saw that in Omaha during a college game.

We go to a different motel, one that has food next to it. It is only about 2 miles from the one we stayed at last night. So I had a half hour working on working on paperwork/pre-trip inspection. 15 minutes to drive 6 miles and then 15 minutes for my post trip.

We could have put on a few miles tonight but we have no reason to. Visibility was limited because of the high winds, I'd be driving down a two lane road in the dark for 100 plus miles for ??? We can make the 600 remaining miles tomorrow, I will take Sunday off. Then Monday we will be just a few miles from the wash and an hour from the drop. No reason to get down the road.

The plan had been to delivery Friday and spend some time on South Padre Island. Now we will deliver three days later and the cost of getting home is about $800 without a vacation. So we are looking at taking any truck we can to get out of TX and not be paying for a rental car. IF there was work in IA, our best bet would be to head there and get two more RV's for CA. But we can't speak for anything until 24 hours before we pickup, so we are looking at sure things.

The one I called on was about two hours from my drop and going to OR. We wouldn't have made as much with just me driving but still more than our minimum, even if we had to rental car it home from the coast.

Other options were trucks going to AL or WI. Non were good options but would offset some of the return costs. In the past we have either been one or two days from home when we drop. Bloomington was an hour from home. So this trip isn't quite the money maker but I had never been to Brownsville and wanted to go ... and now this happened and we aren't making enough to take time off AND we want to get one more run in before the holidays. I will be doing only local work for about three weeks and that will be slow.

Our meal was Schlotzsky's. There is only one left in MN and we don't get there very often. I usually get a half a sandwich and soup but it didn't look like I could get the half a sandwich for the one I wanted. And by the time BB had asked about a few sandwiches ... I forgot.

((( BEEP ))) (((BEEP))) (((BEEP)))

Had just shut off the light and the fire alarm went off so we put on enough clothes to go out the door and out side. By the time we went past the front desk the clerk was on the phone and within a minute the alarm went off. This clerk was not Mr Personality so I didn't wait around to find out what happened.

The rest of the night was un-eventful.