2 Rv's to Junction City OR, delivered

... spending the night at Kenniwick WA ...

Breakfast, almost the same as yesterday. Except the night before last we filled out our request when we checked in, this morning we filled out our request when we came down for breakfast. Then the person on staff filled the request and brought it out to us.

Two hour time difference so I call the dispatcher in MN about the trucks in OR (that's just how it is sometimes) Had to leave a message again. This time he did call me back. The 'other' that is listed on the load board are dump trucks :)

... with trailers :(

Pay is good. But I don't move combination units enough to feel good about it. Not going through the mountains where I could smell my breaks on my plain RV. I really wished it had been something else, just about anything else. But if it had, it wouldn't have been listed as 'other' and likely wouldn't have still been on the board. I told him not to hold one for me, but if I changed my mind. I didn't change my mind, I passed.

At 7:30 we were moving luggage and checking out of our motel. Seven miles later, we were at a Chevron. Yes, there are diesel islands but the are 'member only.' Pacific Pride. So I need to fuel in the car island. Not an issue, still a lot more room here than at either of the gas stations in town. One pump with diesel is open so we are able to start fueling right away.

Oregon. Where you can not pump your own fuel if you are in a town of 40,000 people (?) or more. Pump was a little slow today so it took a half hour to pump less than 40 gallons / $80 worth. Any time anyone else would start pumping diesel at another pump, ours would slow down.

Dropped BB off at the airport, I've been here enough that we now know where to go with large stuff.

Another few miles down the road and I am at the drop, I park away from the inspection area as we are two hours early and only one of us is here. A few minutes later and BB is there to pick me up.

Back to the hotel to pick up her RV, I follow her back as far as the RV place, but she keeps going into town to fuel there. Not her best choice. The stations are right on the city street and sometimes it is hard to see traffic depending on where people park.

Getting here this trip, coming off the freeway to the side street, there is a stop light. Between the last two times we were through there would have been less than 15 minutes. Someone broadsided a pickup. Cops were there, but the fire trucks were just getting there when we got there. Never know when something like this is going to happen, even if you are the one in the right.

As soon as I am back at the drop, I take my paperwork into the office and find out where to park. By the time I am back to my RV, BB is there so she follows me to the inspection area. We end up only both being there a half hour early. Cutting it a little close.

There is one of our drivers sitting doing paperwork at an outside table. He was doing the same thing a few weeks ago when we were dropping the rental RV's in CA. Same driver, waiting for a cab again. We don't offer. It's hard not being a nice guy, but it is safer.

Later another driver for a different company talks to us for a bit. He drives out of Indiana and somehow one of his friends had borrowed one of his bikes sometime in the past. So this trip, that is his ride home. Sounds like he will be taking some back roads and trying to stay in some higher elevations where it is cooler. He was a biker so I asked him about Sturgis. He had come through there on this trip but places were asking $150 for a parking spot at the RV camps. No power, no water. Just a flat piece of grass. So he didn't.

The inspectors find chips on both RV's. This place is known for their thorough inspections. BB's is new so she needs to call her damage in. Mine is a 'used' unit, so they do not even note the damage on my paperwork, only on theirs.

After we are done we find shade and BB gets our paperwork sent to the office. BB had looked at a lot of place to eat all the way from here to Salem. We end up eating right here at the RV place. A few of the RV shops have made to order food. This place also has a RV camp ground so lots of traffic.

We have eaten here before. Really good food. BB had southwest chicken sandwich and I had a chicken salad sandwich and onion rings. One of the rings was a ball, but we opened it and it was the center pieces of the onion. Didn't eat it. I was so stuffed that I only ate half my onion rings and they were really good rings. Not the frozen, pre-packaged ones.

As we get into the car to leave, I reach in my pocket so I am not sitting on my phone for the next to hours ... no phone. I had left at the table. Nobody stole it, not that that would be a bad thing at this point. Another thing I need to do when I am home. Get a phone.

Leaving the RV place we end up following the blue signs to the freeway instead of the computer. It got us to the same place on different roads.

We stop for fuel before returning our first car in Salem. Then we drove to their office. Almost missed it as we didn't have the GPS on. We've been here a number of times, but usually from the other direction.

One person ahead of us at the rental agent and they take about 15 minutes. We take about another 15 minutes, and we end up taking the same car as we brought in. They had a car that would have gotten better mileage, but they said it smelled really bad of smoke. Dirty is not an issue, smoke is a deal breaker. By the time we left there were five more people in line. The last ones were going to be there more than an hour. Only one person in the office.

As often happens, there is one customer there on their own phone trying to find out why they can't rent a car. Either with their bank, the rental companies main office, insurance or someone.

We are going ... pretty clear sailing up to Portland. We go from the I-5 to the I-205 to the I-84. Right near the I-84 intersection there is a grass fire in a homeless camp. It is way up on the hill away from the freeway but still inside the freeway ... I end up on I-84 west into downtown Portland instead of I-84 east to home. Only one intersection to make a U-turn at before the freeway ends in downtown. We take it. A few minutes delay and only my driving pride is hurt.

Homeless living anywhere there is a flat spot on government property. Some places are so close to the freeway you can see right into their bed. Others are big piles of ... garbage or is that someones stuff? Also saw one spot that had been burned so the shrubs were gone ... and now there is a tent there again.

Plan was to stop at one of the truck stops for their restroom. Both places east of Portland are usually crowded so we decided the Dairy Queen instead ... and we guessed that 'restrooms are for customers only' so what could we do? Except when we got there it was drive thru only. We still ordered and headed back to the freeway, rest stop would have to wait, we now had food.

We stopped at the 2nd open rest area about 50 miles down the road. At the 1st rest area we were not done with our ice cream and it is the falls. Very crowded. Not as bad as on the weekend but still close to full. Not sure if I mentioned it yesterday but at an outlet mall yesterday the cars were parked all the way to the edges. People are getting out and about.

106 ... that was the warmest it got today. So no walking cemeteries for us today. This is the first trip that we are dead heading back from in a long time. We will be making about 1/2 as much as getting work both ways (so the dump truck would have been nice) but we are doing OK.

Both the OR and WA scales are open.

After the fact, we are talking a lot about what if ... what if I had taken the dump truck and trailer. We likely would have picked it up and gone to the hotel. Maybe parked it at a truck stop and used the car to go to the motel. And I would have had to have had printed permits before I got to the scales. But the biggest thing for me was the mountains with a, likely used, truck. Something I only drive every few years.

We have the car so we check into a different motel in the Tri-Cities. As we get near, we realize we have been here before but don't know when. It is a block from the mall I worked at in the winter of 78-79. Again, lots of memories. BB said last time we walked the mall to refresh my memory. I don't remember that from the stop so I guess it didn't work ;)

We may walk it tomorrow again. As of today it still has four anchors, rumor is Penny's is closing. When I worked there I only remember two anchors, like our local malls. The other anchors were added later. The other thing I remember was the Farrell's ice cream parlour. The final Farrell's closed in 2019. We ate at the final one in 2017 or 2018.

I could go on about the old days, but that is the end of today. We didn't eat supper.

After we were in the room here a while, BB was realizing it wasn't getting any cooler. We talked of getting a different room, but then the AC would start blowing cooler air again. Finally we realized that the AC likely couldn't keep up with the 100 degree's outside and once it got dark it would cool down. It did.

Got an email from the hotel chain stating that I was a 'no show' at the motel in IA so I would not be getting my points. If I want to prove I was there, I will need to send them a copy of my stay. Hmmm The reason we are having this issue is because their computers were done, no computer, no receipt. I replied. We'll see how long this takes.

All 100 out of IA are RV's. Need to get back to MN and pass my DOT medical so we can go again.

Load board

US - 213

IA - 100

MN - 7

WI - 3