Left out early to be able to get the car returned by noon. After doing a quick fuel at an Arco in Bakersfield we headed up CA-99 to Famoso and then through Wasco to Lost Hills where we caught I-5.

Trees are starting to bloom, hills are turning green, it's supposed to freeze tonight ...

People are busy planting in the fields, other places they are picking fruit, spraying fruit. Busy, busy.

Our next stop was a rest area called Firebaugh, about mile marker 386. Four hours after we left Bakersfield we were in Livermore. It would have been nice to have gotten to Livermore last night and I wouldn't have had to count those hours. Now I'm going to be short hours to make delivery on Monday so it will be Tuesday. BUT if I do a shut down/re-start I won't make delivery until Wednesday.

Finally get a hold of dispatch and he says there 'was nothing extra' yesterday so we will wait until 4:30 today. We have time to kill so we eat at Panera, then go to a local cemetery where a family member is buried. The office pointed in the correct direct and I parked the car about two foot from the grave marker. All the area's were named and I had the area name so we could have found it without the office. Then we just walked the cemetery. One place there were four similar markers, four children had died within a month, ages 2 to 9 from the same family.

After that we went back to the outlet mall we stopped at last time and walked. Somewhere in there we also checked out local motels because Hertz in this town does not allow after hours drop. If we had known that we would have switched to a local Enterprise. As it is we just switched from a one way Hertz to a local Hertz to keep the cost down.

By 3:30 I knew I was going to have work, just not where. Then we went and mailed our paperwork from the last trip and ended up at In-And-Out for burgers. Were going to go to Panda until we saw the In-and-Out. We are getting to know our way around Livermore.

I lost securities number so had to call dispatch to get let in. I'm going to St Louis.

Check in went quicker this time. BB headed out as soon as all was good. She wanted to get to the motel before dark. Right after she left a guy walked in, first time at this location. So dispatch asked if I could cover the how to's of the bus. That took about a half hour that I hadn't planned on. And the other guy was getting a bus without a fuel gauge. Mine has one again. :)

Finally it's last light and I ready to go. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK. Turns out the horn locks on if you don't have your seat belt on. Putting the bus back in park does not help. Only putting the seat belt on makes it stop. I was just going to drive a few feet forward to give the paperwork to the guard.

We end up at the LaQuinta for the first time because of the parking lot. Quality Inn was full tonight by noon ??? and I couldn't see where to park. Also stopped at a Hawthorn, they had a very tight parking lot. I went in and asked where to park a bus ... anywhere I can find room. We could have paid with points there but decided to go with a sure thing.

Set the HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK off again when I parked, I was going to get out and see how close I was, took the seat belt off before taking it out of gear.

The trip looks like we should make it to Needles again the first day, Friday. Then to Albuquerque on Saturday, Oklahoma City on Sunday. IF we can make that I will run out of hours on Monday and I will have to shut down before we get to St Louis. Tuesday I will have more hours and we can make delivery on Tuesday, by noon?

Then it is less than 500 miles back to Forest City so it should be just a one day rental.

Iowa load board is up to 198. The previous high was 179, a year ago in May. So plenty of work. CA dispatcher wants me right back but I told him it would be April. IF we head back out after St Louis it will be a shorter trip to the SE, NC or FL.