2 RV's delivered to Davis CA

... spending the night in Livermore CA

Changes. A day of changes.

Cold night, the room was warmer once we shut the heater off so it wasn't blowing cold air. Luckily it was still in the high 60's.

No free breakfast here, down to Mel's for eggs and bacon. Good food, in and out in 30 minutes. We'll see, we might start eating here in the evening instead of the buffet. That is what we do on the nights the buffet isn't open.

Need to be out of the state by 8 AM, so we are out of the motel by 7:30.

No issues with the roads, BB did slow down once ... just in case, but other than that we were at our max unless the turns were to sharp.

1st stop - At Rocklin / Roseville we pulled off for me to call in my check engine icon. It was still on this AM but when we got stopped in Rocklin I figured I would try it one more time. I shut the RV off, restarted and ... no check engine icon. Gave the thumbs up to BB and we were ready to roll. This was the 1st day changer. If the light had stated on, we would have had to go to a MB shop. They may or may not have been able to look at it right away. If they couldn't look at it right away I would have had to leave it. And then I don't get paid until someone else delivers it. Someday.

2nd stop - Another 30 miles we are at the 49er truck stop. We fuel, no issues other than the card readers, receipt printers don't work and the lot is always too crowded.

3rd stop - We are at the drop. Two other RV's we have seen a few times were there ahead of us, just un-loading. So they had to get inspected first so we were there an hour plus. As soon as we were unpacked BB walked down to get the rental car. We had all of our stuff sitting in the parking lot so I stayed close to it. The other couple went into the 'new' office like they were told. They've told me to go to the office a few times but I'm from MN. In the winter it's below freezing or below zero and when I'm out here I want to enjoy their 'warmer weather.'

As soon as BB was back and we were loaded, we went inside to talk to the couple. They drive out of IN and will be flying back, but may start driving if the virus hangs on. Then the inspectors went back out to our RV's so we headed out after them. One had to do something else so that left one inspector to do both of ours. We just hang out and let them do their thing. BB's had a chip in the window, she got it somewhere in IA.

No other issues and we were cleared to go. As soon as we pulled out of the lot and found a place where the road didn't drop off ... don't need any more car damage. I called in the window chip and then called the bus dispatcher. Usually I call him ahead of time but being the weekend I hadn't.

"... this time you are just passing through ... nothing. I have drivers stacked up and they aren't putting out many buses. But call me next time."

That was a game changer we hadn't talked about. It's been a long time since he has said no. Sometimes it's you can hang around a couple of days. Other times he pays for us to hang around. This time just no.

We still needed to eat. Davis was one of the first places the virus was reported so we didn't stop at our usual In-N-Out. Instead we went another 20 miles down the road to the next In-N-Out.

Now BB made a reservation for a one way home, but we had to get to San Leandro next to the Oakland Airport. About an hour away so two hours out of route but the rate was worth it. A one week rental so we didn't have to hurry home. But that meant our income rate would keep going down.

We get to the rental place and they only have vans. No big issue, we can take it to the airport and exchange it and we are going there anyways. We drop the 1st car and then the 2nd one, unload everything and go to the office and ... no cars. -0- Unless we want to wait until Thursday. BB finally asked if we could at least get our van back. Yes, but someone would have to bring it back it was gone for 'cleaning.' (After three miles??)

So we wasted an hour trying to switch cars and came up empty. And that put us deeper into the traffic. We had decided to drive up to Santa Rosa before we headed out of town. BB had gotten a motel and we planned on heading out in the AM. We had talked about going to Alcatraz ... no problems getting tickets. It's been on my bucket list for years but the more we talked about it the less good it sounded. So finally it was off the table. Maybe a stop at a National Park in UT ??

While we were waiting for our van to come back to the rental lot we were talking to other people standing around. Seems this car rental place (still) has 3-5 cars a week being returned with broken glass. This is not the same rental agency we had the issue with. And we were told that the Oakland police will no longer respond to these call, instead people are directed to fill out an on-line form.

About an hour after we leave the airport, we get a call. bus dispatcher. I can't answer so BB has to. 1st he wants to know where we are ... and then he asks why :) Yes, we are still in California, but we are hours away and NOT heading home yet. Yes, the area is known for craft beers and wine. No, I do not drink.

He has a bus going to IA, less than two hours from the RV's. He wants it picked up tonight but must be in a bind because tomorrow AM will be OK. Actually at the time we had no idea where in IA it was going. IA, we will take it.

But we keep heading to Santa Rosa ... we have a room and it can't be canceled. BB tries online. We keep talking and finally I pull off at an exit. It's starting to seem like loosing $100 on that motel would be worth it in the long run. I call, the say it 'can't be done' and then do it.

That settles it. We are heading back. But we have already said we will pick it up tomorrow so we will. We also still have a car that is supposed to be going back to MN so that will need to be changed in the AM.

Back through SF / Oakland in rush hour. Lots of time to think about all the scenarios without the facts.

Still light when we got back to Livermore but late enough that we don't want a big meal. I want an A&W so I stop there first. No one at the counter to ask and two choices on the carbonate machine. I only want it out of the barrel. Some places have it that way but they are hard to find. We had already had a burger today so tonight was Jimmy John's.

Final stop was the Quality Inn in Livermore. Very expensive during the week and still only a few rooms available because they are working on the rest. Tonight we got a new room. Nice, but well over the $100 we try to limit it too. I think the Motel 6 is the only motel under $100, maybe.

51 on the board last night in IA. Nothing that works for us for a short run. We MIGHT be able to make delivery on Friday, if, if, if. That would give us one week to do a short run and get back for the last week of the month.

By tomorrow night we will know more.