2 RV's to CA. 1 to Manteca, 1 to Gilroy (delivered)

1 city bus heading to Laramie WY

... spending the night in Rocklin CA

))) it's midnight, more later (((

48 hours later.

Breakfast. Yogurt and juice. I didn't see the sandwich sign until later.

We are inspected and rolling by 8 AM. I had written down the exit to BB's drop but not the route to get there. We've been the road before and I know will know the road numbers when I see them :)

It wouldn't be a trip to CA without mentioning the homeless. The camps, the burnt out campsites. This time I saw one encampment that was flying the American flag.

As we pull off at BB's exit, there is about 12 feet from the pavement to the sound wall. Someone, or a few someone's have set up camp there. Today one of them was 'cleaning up.' They were sitting there in their bra folding their bedding. Other bedding was around them so I did not see what else the may have been wearing.

On the other side of the sound wall is a hotel we have stayed at. When we stayed there, there was enough foliage on the freeway side of the wall that you could not see the homeless. Now the foliage is mostly gone.

1st stop is at the Velaro for BB's final fuel. BB is behind me and the light and misses it, so I am too the station before her. I wait. This station like lots of them out here have old pumps. The screens are getting very hard to read. Which is an issue when you need to put in a set dollar amount.

2nd stop is a mile down the road at the dealer. We are there a half hour early and they do not come right out. Total time to fuel, inspect and do paperwork is an hour so we are still ahead of schedule.

3rd stop is the rental car place in Livermore. This time I sit and wait to make sure we have a car. They do, we are in, luggage transferred and out in 15 minutes.

When I left my last fill I had enough range to get to the drop. Later I had enough range to get 50 miles past my drop. I lost that range. First my low fuel light came on, then the range disappeared at 35 miles range. At that point I still had 15 miles to go. I decided it was a good time to stay in the lane with the trucks going 55 mph :)

BB had gotten ahead of me at some point but stayed in sight.

4th stop, the fuel station. I made it. Fuel is $4.29 a gallon. We have to put in $20 close to the drop. At that price it doesn't move the gauge much. Small station but I didn't hit anything.

5th stop is the RV drop. I am an hour and a half early. But no one ahead of me. Also no one to check it in, we notice the person who will be checking it in coming back from lunch. We wait outside, then they move the RV where we can't see it so we move inside, then outside. Finally I go and ask and the inspector happens to be standing there ... "another 15 minutes." And it was, pretty close.

5th stop ... finally at 2:30 local, 4:30 our time, we eat 'lunch' at In-n-Out Burger. We go through the driver thru and then park in the outlet mall next door. Opps, I drive in the exit drive ???

I call dispatch and instead of telling him I have dropped, I ask if things look better today? He had said 'not promising' when I called last week. But today he just says I am calling him too early (I know that) and to call back in 20 minutes. That is a lot more promising.

20 minutes later I call back and find out I am heading to the UofW, Cheyenne he thinks. Just look for a cowboy logoed bus in the lot. We look it up and find the UofW is in Laramie not Cheyenne ... and there are no one way cars in Laramie. So we reserve a local car in Laramie so we can run to Cheyenne and pick up our one way home. And only one chain has cars in Cheyenne and our company price is not cheap. Our personal account got us the car for $100 less the the corporate rate. But we have a car.

Somewhere we started looking for bus washes and there are not any in Laramie. The may, used to be one in Rawlins at a repair shop but that is over 100 miles away and not a Blue Beacon. If we go through Laramie to Cheyenne, there is a Blue Beacon that is only 40 miles from the drop. Extra miles do not seem to be an issue with these buses.

6th stop - the bus lot. Dispatch is not there yet so we drive the lot, again, and again. No cowboy bus. We do meet a couple of drivers from KS that both drive. He asked our names about five times, I've forgotten theirs now too.

Dispatch get there and I get my paperwork with a VIN. There is one all white bus and the VIN matches. It also has a box in it labeled 'WY kit.' Must be the right bus. A quick inspection and we are rolling.

BB is standing on the side of the road when I get to the rental, she has already dropped.

Traffic is the best we have seen it in a long time for the first few miles. Two hours later we are in Rocklin.

7th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Rocklin, same as last night. We check in and go for food. We want close and quick, so no reuben tonight.

Or maybe, Arbey's is the closest, it shares a parking lot with the hotel. But the lobby is closed, drive thru only. So we go next door to Jacks / Jack in the Box. Same thing, drive through only. BB is ready for shelf food at the gas station but I convince her to walk to the Taco Bell. Lobby is open. We have food. But all this took time.

The days we drop and pick up in the same day get to be long days. But the rest of the trip should be easy.

Load board

US - 379

IA - 113

MN - 9

WI - 19