After getting to bed at 8:30 last night I slept until 3:30 which is normal, but I was out again when the alarm went off at 5:30. Down for breakfast at 6:30. Not sure where my mind was this AM but I forgot to eat my yogurt until I was ready to pick up the container to throw it away. Omelette and bacon this AM. We also forgot to carry down our first bags on the way down to breakfast. The bus doors don't lock so we have to take everything out of the bus every night which means making two trips. After breakfast I took the extra bags down while BB got ready.

The trip from TX to OR was still on the board this AM so I called dispatch. About 5 minutes before I could call I realized I didn't know how to call them on the weekend. I always go through the operator during the week. And yes that was an issue. It took me about 10 minutes to find the right way to do it. By the time someone answered and put me on hold, BB told me the run was gone so I hung up. 15 minutes wasted.

15 minutes drive and we were down to Flying J. One lane was wide open so I pulled in backwards so I could get DEF. Last time I fueled I got splashed good because of the way the tanks on these things are set up. This time I was able to stop it without a splash, but I wasn't sure it was full. So I squeezed again and splash, but just a small one. And it only too 2 gallons of DEF.

I had just glanced at a map and saw that we could take the beltway around town and catch a US highway down to I-10. Other than that I just remember seeing a slight jog to the left before getting on the freeway.

So we jog to the left and within a few miles BB is wondering where we are. Another case of the route we wanted going strait but the highway number we were following turned. Can't always see that when you are zoomed out. We are now heading west when we should be going south and then east. We take the first cross road. It is about as wide as our dead-end street and the speed limit on it is 75 mph. Luckily there wasn't much traffic so I ran the middle of the road. I did see flashing lights coming and I should have stopped right there at a crossroad where the road was wider. What was coming was an oversized load. I stopped as close to the edge as I dared and he flew by a good three feet over the yellow line. Also met a semi and cars.

Finally back on the freeway. Somewhere when we first left this AM my mirror got out of wack, I was able to pull into a picnic area with a curb and BB was able to re-set it. But it didn't stay. I had to re-set it on the ramp to the freeway.

It looks like our little detour added about 15 miles. Not too major.

We stopped a few miles down the freeway at a rest area near Bakersfield. TX, not CA, we didn't get that lost.

Another two plus hours down the road we stop for lunch. As I come down the ramp I remember the town. It was from here I called dispatch to let them know I had lost the rear stake gates off the truck I was moving ... going through road construction. And no, there was no reason to go back and look for them at the time. The would have been flattened by the time I realized they were gone and I was not going to run out into freeway traffic to get a couple of pieces of metal. That was a couple of years ago.

Today as I get in line to fuel another truck that is straddling two lines cuts me off. Almost right away we notice one truck with no one around. We don't have too long of a wait and we are fueling, about that time someone from the truck that hasn't moved comes out, with 'break in' tools. They have locked their keys in the their truck.

We fuel, park and go in to eat. P J Fresh at Pilot. Meatloaf is good, veggie's not so much. When we leave, we see two people trying to get into the truck that has the keys locked in it. So I walk back and tell the guy waiting behind her what's up. "What!? You've got to be kidding me ... I've been waiting ... " There was also a bunch of (*&)(*#$# mixed in with those comments. This is a busy place, when we pulled out the trucks were sitting in the left turn lane waiting because the line went all the way around the building to the pumps.

After yesterdays repairs I am a little gun shy. I have had the mirrors looking at the rear tires instead of the road most of the day.

Two hours would put us in San Antonio so we have a stop planned just past. Things seem to be going well until we hit road construction. That's when I notice smoke coming from the back again. But it seems more like the later issue Thursday than the seal issue. But there are concrete barriers on both sides so now where to go. As we start moving again the smoke seems to disappear. I keep watching the tires but nothing.

After almost 3 hours we stop just south of San Antonio at a Pilot. I walk back to look at the tires. Bad news, now the right side is leaking worse than the left side had been. Also the lug nuts were so hot I couldn't touch them. I called the bus company and they said to get a service truck out and fill the reservoir and deliver as is. Service truck was busy so I drove back towards San Antonio to a Flying J. They could look at it so BB and I went to Dennys to eat and wait.

A few minutes later I get a call from the shop. They won't work on it, they won't fill the reservoir or replace the seal. The breaks have been ruined because of the heat or the oil and it is not safe to drive. We get our Denny's to go.

I do drive it less than a mile to the Comfort Inn. We are here until Monday. Monday I will drive it to a shop somewhere that can work on it. We will know then if we stay or leave it. So hopefully the company is picking up the four nights motels so far. We were supposed to have spent yesterday afternoon and this AM on the beach in South Padre Island.

Luckily the guys at the shop were honest about it. And they only charged me $20 for taking the tires off and re-mounting them.

The chances of doing a 2nd trip this month just went way down. This is easy money but boring, and we are next to nothing. No sidewalk but we will walk somewhere to get lunch tomorrow and then likely order in in the evening.

Two RV's to Greer, SC look like the best trips right now. Nothing to California. But that will all change by the time we are back. All this kind of zaps a person so we may not want to go anywhere. I guess it's a good thing we didn't get the Oregon trip.

We won't know anything until after the shops opens at 6 AM and the bus company opens at 5 AM ... west coast time. We wait.