2 RV's to Rancho Cucamonga CA

... spending the night at Barstow CA

Breakfast was a sealed bag lunch. A carton of juice, an apple, a muffin and breakfast bar. At least it wasn't Hostess treats :)

We left one of the apples, we'll be crossing into CA today and no fruit allowed in.

We left out at 7:30 local. Frost on the windows. With a little windshield washer and a lot of defrost we did not have to scrape. BB did scrape the head lights and tail lights. Some people who walked out ahead of us had shorts and no jackets. We had heavy jackets and caps and long pants. But no long johns yet.

The trees still have leaves on them and everything was hanging full of snow. Pretty.

A few miles into AZ we have to cross the scale. NM and AZ have people at a window we need to talk to when we enter. They used to ask to see drivers paperwork. The driver had to hand them their 'book' opened to the correct page. Not today, what ever they wanted to see was shown through the window. Same with us. And we are clear.

Shortly after we pull out of the scale I happen to see a cop coming up behind us. He gets about by BB and on go the lights, but it was a truck he was after, not BB. She could tell that from where she / he was, but I couldn't.

Fuel in Holbrook was $1.75, we should have stopped.

1st stop was in Winslow at the Flying J. BB decides to fuel, I don't. She pays $2. Just as we are ready to leave, one of our buses pulls in. I change directions and pull up along side of them. They are on the phone but finally look my way and open the door. They are headed to Pittsburg with the Port Authority buses that we saw yesterday.

2nd stop is in Williams at the Pilot for fuel and food. We both fuel. This should be our last fuel. I am about 10 miles short on range but should gain that if we loose the wind. Food is at Carl Jr's. We eat outside. Too much food, they use 1/3 lb burgers instead of 1/4 lb. I threw part of it away.

We have pretty much lost the headwind finally. Casino's in AZ are closed also.

3rd stop is a rest break at the Petro on the east side of Kingman. We see both delivery van and an RV transporters in the lot. I had called the bus dispatcher at noon but he didn't answer so I call again from here. I ask 'do you need a bus driver.' "YES." No 'we'll see / call me back.' Then he asks if I would be willing to drive a truck to Houston instead. If there isn't a bus. It is a new tree truck pulling a chipper. 'Yes, I have done a couple for the NC dispatcher.' So either way we should have a run out of Livermore tomorrow.

After we pull back on the freeway we see two more of his buses. One is a 'WeGo,' from what I could find on the web it is a Nashville bus. The other one was another pink bus.

Crossing into CA we have to stop for the fruit inspection. Usually we just get waved on, today the guy has one question for me. "How much a mile do you get paid to move these?" :)

4th stop is at the Essex rest area in CA. BB makes a reservation for tonight. We will not make it to Rancho Cucamonga tonight.

Shortly after we are back on the freeway the road construction sign says '60 mph.' That was it, two signs within a few feet. After that we could see where the speed limit signs had been, the 'radar enforced' part was left up but not speed limit sign. Not for the next 25 or so miles. And we were (likely) the only ones driving the supposed speed limit.

4:30 and it was getting dark. Good thing BB can see in the dark now. This AM we were ready to go earlier but decided to wait to our standard 7:30 to leave. An extra 15 minutes of daylight would have been good.

5th and final stop is at the Comfort Inn in Barstow. Not sure why sometimes we stay here and other times we stay at the Quality Inn. Tonight the Comfort is well over $100. After we check in we go walk. We haven't decided where to eat but we have lots of choices. The only thing that is out is the Black Bear, because it is across the freeway and BB is hungry NOW. There is about 20 places to eat within about a half mile. There is an Outlet Mall here, used to be another one, but that is empty but still standing.

We end up at Panda. This one we can order inside. I don't think they even have a drive thru. Five people at a time inside so there is a line outside. We thought it would be quick but they are running out of food and both BB and I have to wait until the next batch of food is done.

We did walk past an In-and-Out. But we had a burger for lunch and we will have an In-and-Out after we deliver tomorrow.

I liked the Panda, BB didn't. I liked it because I could taste the food without it burning my taste buds. She didn't like it because it did not have enough kick.

Got a surprise today. I got a safety bonus. It's been a while as we haven't been working and there were no safety meetings. Not sure when BB got her last bonus. We have to drive 2,000+ (?) miles a month and she often doesn't. Like this trip is 1,800 and I will likely move something else but she is often just along for the ride after the first leg.

80 miles left to delivery. We both looked at the maps so we know where to turn, where to fuel, where to drop. BB will park her RV at the rental car place, follow me down to my drop and then we go back to pick up her RV. The rental car is only 2 miles from the drop.

I've looked at my DOT hours and I will run out if I pick up a bus or truck tomorrow night. If I can wait to pick up until Thursday I will be OK without a shut down day.

Being tomorrow is Wednesday, there is a good chance I will get a bus to the midwest. The main drivers are not going to want to do a 2,000 mile run and have to sit Sunday (without pay) for a Monday delivery. No problem for me, as I will need a shut down day because I have just driven 2,000 miles to get here. We'll know tomorrow.

Load board

US - 163

IA - 17

MN - 4

WI - 1

Right now there is a 'tractor' out of TX coming back to CA. Less than 100 miles on either end between drop and next pick up. I'd have to call, but not likely it would still be there next week.

If I do the truck to Houston I would likely deliver on Monday. At this point we have no reason to come back to the MN cold. Keep us south of the snow line. The route for the tree truck would take us back through Rancho Cucamonga to I-10, then take I-10 all the way from LA to Houston. We'd