Up before 5 am to get my final bid in on eBay, but someone had set a max bid higher than I was willing to go.

Back to bed, but not really to sleep.

When I get up later and make my daily checkin call, I see that the bus company had texted me over an hour ago, but I have my sound shut off ... it's on now.

Not being at a Choice Hotel, breakfast was a little different. No fridge, so no yogurt or butter. Also cereal but no milk??

Went out and looked at the bus and it is worse than last night, I'll need to walk to the auto parts store to get something to clean up the parking lot before I leave.

Last night we had reserved a couple of cars, depending on which one works. This AM, BB lets me know she will be out of meds in a few days so we may be reserving a car for a different date. My thought this AM is that they will just flatbed the bus the rest of the way so it is somewhere with the bus company can bring in their own crew to work on it. Can't do that at a dealer.

Get a text that a tow truck is on the way and the name of the shop it is going to ... back in San Antonio. We get packed up and move our stuff out to the bus. Then walk a block to get some floor dry to clean up the mess the buss left.

Once we are back I call both the tow and the shop. Two will be here in about an hour. It will be a 'landoll,' that the bus will have to be driven on to. And there is only room for one of us in the tractor cab so we will need to get a rental car to get up to San Antonio if that is where we are going. The good news is there is a rental car place a block from where we are now, and about two blocks from where the bus is going.

Called the shop, they had no idea what I was talking about but took down my name and number. Said they would look at it either today or tomorrow depending on when the bus got there. If it had been an engine issue, it would have been a couple of weeks before they could look at it. But a seal? No problem ... that after I told him it was the 4th one in the last 500 miles.

Dispatcher said he would let us know by noon ... west coast time?? ... if they were going to pull us from the bus. I'm guessing they won't do that until the shop has looked at it. Right now we are debating leaving our stuff in the bus for the ride or leave it in the motel without us. We had asked for a late checkout, but we did not put the 'do not disturb' sign out and they started cleaning our room as soon as we walked out. So now we sit and wait in the breakfast area.

It is already after noon but neither of are hungry enough to leave the bus when the tow may be almost here. There are three fast food places at the edge of the motel property.

We see the 'tow' truck pull in and go out to meet him. This is not the type of trailer I expected, this trailer is usual trailer height and the whole bed tilts and then drive the bus on.

I drive to the truck and then he drives it on. The bus is as wide as the trailer and has to be on just right. As he's pulling on the rear drags and the tires start to spin. He has to pull the trailer bed ahead to get the bus off far enough to get more traction. Finally he used the trailer bed to push the bed under the rear wheels far enough to get traction. Then we have an issue that the bus doesn't feel stable. I'm in it when he is pushing the bed under the tires and it starts to rock ... I want out!!! Later as he is trying to move the bus it rocks under him. He ties one side down and completes the load. We had been going to walk to the rental car place as soon as he arrived, but now we've spent an hour or so helping him load.

At one point BB walks around the back of the bus and the tow driver stops. The look on BB's face stopped him and he wanted to know what she meant before moving again. Later I tell him that she does that to me often. :)

He finally has the bed tilted flat and the bus in the position he wants and we part ways. All I grab is my back pack off the bus, BB grabs her suitcase. And we have a few blocks to walk to the rental car place. We make it, I drag or carry the bag most of the way.

No issues at the rental car place. We head back to the McDonald's in front of our motel to grab something to eat. As we are going to pull in the loaded bus is pulling out of the next street. We have a long wait for our food, lots of people after us get their food before us. At some point I remember the food we left in our fridge. Opps. We go back, they give me a key to the room and the food is still there. Beds are all made but no one checked the fridge.

We head to the shop about 45 minutes away, no issues. We get there before the bus ??? I go in and ask a few questions. The bus will be behind the fence so we can leave our stuff in the bus. We will out the work order, they don't having anything from the bus company who set this up. BB calls as I'm talking but I don't answer until I get outside.

Once I'm outside I see the bus, he's here and unloaded. We grab my suitcase, answer a couple of more questions. As I'm walking to our car, someone is backing in next to us and someone else's horn is going off. They must have some kind of detector system.

We head back to the motel we were at 11 days ago. It is about 2 miles from the shop. There is a Motel 6 and a Super 8 next to the shop, but not with the best reviews.

When we get to the Comfort Inn, 1st the keys don't work. Once we are in the room we realize the door doesn't actually latch. A slight push and it opens, and the dead bolt doesn't work at all, so it's just the latch ... not enough. We go back to the front desk. They give us a room on the very end of the building. It has only marginal internet. Sometimes it's working, sometimes nothing.

We head to the Iron Skillet to eat. Wow ... I was sure we had walked down here before, but as we drove it I realized we had not. Scary.

We both say we will get the hot buffet, but as I look at the food I change my mind. As I'm working on my second plate, this one of salad, something gets stuck in my teeth. I only have two picks and they both bust. A couple of bites later I feel something grinding. I finally realize that it is one of my teeth. Now I've lost my appetite.

This Petro / Iron Skillet has a couple of unique things. The first I notice as we walk in, is a lock smith / key maker. Then when we get to the buffet, this one has a grill in the food area where they cook some things right in front of you.

Back at the motel I bust most of a dozen tooth picks before giving up, the sharp edges on the tooth are breaking the floss.

I did call dispatch and they said 'stay with it.' We will know more tomorrow. The bus got there at about 3 PM and the shop goes home at 4 PM. Not sure what they will find. Four wheel seals in the last 500 miles. Something else is wrong.

We are back on our 10 AM and 2 PM calls to the shop. We will likely keep the car until we get the bus back.

No message from the person who owns the diaries. Did get a replay from the person who actually put them on eBay (not the same person.)