1 City Bus to Coralville IA

... spending the night in Livermore CA

The odometer says I drove over 200 miles today, and here I am in the same place. Almost, when we checked in, they gave us the keys to the same room but two guys were in there working still so we got upgraded to a suite. And it's a breakdown so we are not paying.

Morning, breakfast. Very small area, about the size of a personal kitchen with three tables seating eight people. All full this AM so we took our food back to the room. Thinking it would take about 15 minutes we left the room at 7:15. Sun up was about 7:30. But I was more listening to the directions that looking where I was going and turned too soon when it said turn. I've been this way enough times and it didn't look right but too late.

Someone opened the gate when I pushed the buzzer, in the evening everyone has gone home so we have to wait for security. Dispatch had given us a bus number yesterday and the bus was right inside the gate. Coralville, not Coalville. Adds another 100 miles paid, plus a 2nd hundred un-paid. It is that much further from where our van is.

1st thing I noticed was there were two spare tires instead of one. So I call the breakdown number. Nope, not a breakdown issue so I'm supposed to go see the guy at the desk. I do and he says thanks, but doesn't know why there are two but if there are, take them both.

Another driver shows up to take the bus next to me, I go over and talk to her a couple of minutes. She is heading to MI. On the southern route. She NEVER runs I-80 in the winter. She had run it a few years ago and she was one of the last people to make it through before a major pile up.

BB helped me check the lights and get stuff moved before she headed to return the car. I have to finish my paperwork, drop it off, call for permit, put on my plate and then I'm ready to go.

Been here once before and also looked at the map again last night. That didn't stop me from hitting the curb. Now I have my rear tire with lots of read paint on it. Must have rubbed for at least once around but nothing else is damaged.

The bus isn't warming up very fast. 46 degrees this AM and the temp inside the bus stayed there for a while. Finally BB started feeling in the vents and it was blowing cold air. The temp did get up to 65 by the time we stopped the first time.

I called dispatch to tell them I had picked up the bus this AM, then called the shipper to tell them I had an issue. After getting comments that I should be checking things BEFORE I leave, they told me to come back ... 60 miles.

That 1st stop was in Lodi ... I had spelled it Loda and and BB said it was supposed to be an 'i' so I changed it to Lida ... didn't realize the mistake until tonight :) Flying J in Lodi, all the large spots in the car area now say 'reserved.' Drove around the parking lot once and parked in one of them. We stayed there long enough to use the restroom and headed back.

2nd stop was the shipper. They looked at the bus a few different places and re-set a breaker switch and I was good to go. It was 80 inside rear quick and the defrost was throwing heat.

That all took three hours and we were heading out again. Doing the math as to if the trip permit would still be good long enough to get us out of the state in time. And how far we could get with the hours I had left for the day.

Then before we get to Stockton, BB notices that the heater is blowing cold air ... again. Plenty warm from the sun but wouldn't stay that way in IA. Didn't want to stop in Stockton so I kept going, I was going to keep going to Lodi but wanted to get back to the shipper before they closed.

3rd stop was a shopping center in the last feet of Stockton. I quickly regretted not keeping going to the Flying J. I was able to get in to the parking lot, turned around and not scratching the bus on any trees. I call the shipper again and am told to come back. I then update the dispatcher and we walk to Penara for lunch. We don't know when we'll have time to eat again. I just have soup and BB has a sandwich and a soup. I get a few more calls from the shipper from different people.

Heading back to the shipper one of the times ... I was in the right lane as I am driving 55. I notice a truck and cars coming up the on ramp. The truck must not have been paying attention as when he got the the freeway there was another truck right beside him (ahead of me.) I had backed way off to let the truck and some of the cars in. Next problem was there was another semi parked on the shoulder right at the top of the ramp so the truck coming up the ramp had to go somewhere. It hit the brakes long enough to pull in behind the semi already in the traffic lane. At that point he was likely going 10 mph on a CA freeway. The car right behind him couldn't have seen what was going on so they were too close when the 2nd semi hit it's breaks. So they head for the shoulder long enough to the the parked semi. The car was able to get stopped with out hitting any one as was I. At that I realized no one had hit me and looked in my mirror. I guess I was already going slow enough that people were watching out for me.

4th stop back to the shipper. Too late. The shop boss is the only one left, the rest of the crew leaves at 2 PM which is about the time we got there. They must have all been standing at the time clock. Sooooo ... leave the bus and get a motel. They will call when the bus is ready in the AM.

Uber has updated their app since we last used them so BB spent the next 45 long minutes trying to get it re-installed and setting up a ride. After watching two drivers head AWAY from us she canceled the ride and re-entered the info. We received a notice the 1st ride was canceled but the 2nd ride responded differently and the car was there in a couple of minutes. Not sure what the issue was the 1st trip.

Five minutes later we are back at the same hotel as last night. Quality Inn in Livermore. Six places to eat withing walking distance. More food across the freeway but no safe way to get there.

Not sure how I will get paid for today. The 1st issue could have been my fault for not checking before I left, but now that it happened again ... when did it happen the 1st time? Before I picked it up? After?

There was now a Davenport bus in the lot but once I am on a bus, it's mine. Until I have to leave it, or deliver it. Not at all like the RV's where we are to stay with it ... if it can be fixed within an hour. NO downtime is paid.

BB had sent our paperwork last night after we got to the motel, we were paid by 6 AM local.

We are still on the email list for the other company we used to work for and today they sent out an email saying that they are getting a lot of notifications of speeding and careless driving based on on-board tracking devises. So starting today, the 1st time they get a notification the driver will loose any safety bonus. The 2nd notifications will result in termination. Based on prior emails and talking to customers when we were still there, they are going to be loosing a lot of drivers. (Wonder if they will be calling trying to get their old drivers back :) )

Loadboard is hanging in at 50. Now there are three CA runs we'd like, plus a couple of runs to Junction City, OR and a couple more to Salem, OR. But at this point it would need to be two no-tow two day runs to make it pay. And that is if we get going tomorrow.

IF we get going in the AM, I would like to make it to Elko, NV ... Oh, I don't think I mentioned. One of the 1st things we found was this bus is governed at 55 mph. NOT going to make delivery Saturday. Drive time went from 30 hours to 36 hours and I only had 38 hours available. AND we need to fuel, inspect, and take restroom breaks. And now after breaking down for a day we for sure will not make it on Friday.

And we will be getting a new NV permit. I might wait on the next one until we are closer to the border.

Thursday, Rawlins would be the next stop, another 500 miles, Friday in Grand Island, then Des Moines Saturday and Sunday. Wash the bus near Des Moines before heading the last 100 miles to the drop on Monday. So we have time to have issues for another day before changing anything. But why?? Motels at those locations are more expensive or unknown. We have the time, we will likely run fewer miles a day and stay at cheaper motels in area's we know.

Elko is a good example. At the Quality Inn, I would have to park on the dirt shoulder of a busy highway. At the Comfort Inn there are two sharp curves to get in. I haven't tried with a bus but thought about it going in, out with RV's. The Best Western has a overhang with a height limit and the bus doesn't display it's height. Wyndham would work but no big discount with them.

For food we had talked about Chinese or Mexican, ended up at Wendy's and then Subway (for a cookie.)