1 bus going to St Louis, IL.

... spending the night in Elk City, OK.

Good bed, good nights sleep last night.

No good yogurt so breakfast was just eggs and sausage.

This AM we had about 10 miles of rush hour traffic before we were heading against it. Traffic has never been an issue so we continue to stay on the wrong side of town. Some places we want to be past the town before we get a motel.

I couldn't see it, but BB said there were hot air balloons up this AM.

Plan had been to stop before we got to Santa Rosa at a rest area. This one isn't always opens so quite a ways back I wast looking to see if it was open. Saw someone in the turn lane and there weren't any signs saying it was closed so I got in the turn lane. Must have gotten focused on something else and then just where the turn lane breaks from the highway, there was the CLOSED sign. But there were cars and a dozen trucks in the rest area ??? We kept going.

1st stop was in Santa Rosa at the TA. Correct side of the road and big RV parking. We went in and the first restroom said Closed for cleaning. But it's a big truck stop and the big ones have one restroom for the food customers and one for the truckers.

As we got back on the freeway, one of the vehicles that got over so I could merge on was another Miami-Dade bus. I was able to stay right behind him for the next 60 miles until they exited in Tucumcari. I didn't follow too close. Enclosed in my first ever bus with these guys was a notice that we were to leave at least a mile between buses. Seems one bus rear ended another and we got stuck with paying the bill.

There is going to be a safety meeting in CA in a couple of weeks but I won't be OKed to drive soon enough to make it back out there for this one.

2nd stop was Glenrio for lunch and phone calls. Plan was to stop at the rest area west of Santa Rosa, then Tucumcari, then Amarillo to eat at the Iron Skillet. But now that we are into the day we realize that we wouldn't get to Amarillo until after 2 PM. We'll be in Glenrio at noon. Not sure of the name of the restaurant, if it has one. It is inside Russells travel center.

Good food. I knew my French Dip was going to be a little chewy when I saw that when the cook cut the sandwich it didn't cut through the meat. BB had a turkey melt.

Before we left, I called to make a Dr's appt and my DOT appt. Cell service was bad so I lost them once and had to repeat myself a few other times. Got both appt's for the dates and times I had originally wanted. I briefly had another thought but that date wasn't available.

The problem comes in that now we have to register with the state and that data base isn't updated live. So we may have to sit a couple of days after I have registered before my places of work can confirm that I am legal to run again.

If all goes well, we'd like to head back out again on Tuesday of the following week. Assuming I pass, that gives the computer two days to catch up.

3rd stop was at the Petro in Amarillo. All island that were open had people waiting, half the island had cones in front of them. We made sure we didn't park behind someone in a closed lane. Parking lot was so rough here that I bottomed out. On their newly paved lot, I bottomed out. They must have never leveled the ground before they paved. Something new here, the pump asked me for my vehicle number besides my drive number and my truck number ... or I typed something in wrong.

Good news. A few miles down the road and I notice that my warning light has gone off. The other good news is that the DEF gauge has been working all day.

BB had thought I got 11 mpg the prior tank full but now only 7 mpg on this tank full. Maybe I didn't get it filled the prior time? I just fill them slowly and when fuel starts running on the ground I stop. I don't try to squeeze any more in.

No issue, but a scare. As we come up to the OK scale, I get the message 'Truck must cross scale.' At the same time a cop is coming from the other direction with it's lights on and turns through the median and follows me in. There are two lanes and he stays right behind me, past their parking area, past the scale ... and finally he pulls into another parking area. Whew.

Lots of transporters again today, fire trucks, school buses, FedEx trucks, etc.

4th and final stop is the Sleep Inn in Elk City. We check in and then go next door to an Italian place. No line when we got there, but a line when we left. Good food, I got the sampler and then we got cheese cake. The only other thing within walking distance was the Subway across the street inside of Loves.

Sleep Inn upgraded us to a suite, and I asked if we also got free cookies. The lady at the desk didn't say anything right away and I wasn't sure if she knew what I was referring to. Then she said that she had burnt the cookies once and the manger took the oven away. :(

Very few new RV's on the board today. Loadboard is down to 29. But I looked an for the prior three years, on the 23-24th of Feb each year the load board has been over 100. So we should have choices when we are ready to go. Two years ago, the load board was over 200 for 7 out of 14 days before and after the 1st of the month.

We are shooting for about 500 miles tomorrow, balancing tomorrow with being able to pick up a rental car by noon on Sunday.