1 bus heading to Spartanburg SC

... spending the night at Kingman AZ

Alarm woke us both up, BB asked if we should just go back to sleep :) But neither of us sleeps much after being woken up. BB just hadn't slept well, and I ate too much of the spicy Mexican food. BB ate less than half because it was too spicy. I ate the rest and I usually won't touch spicy. And I shouldn't.

We had bought breakfast at Loves last night and that is what we ate.

When I checked out from the hotel I did go in to see what they did have. A plate full of packaged pastries. But the hotel is cheap, a good price so we accept.

1st stop is an hour down the road at Avenal at a rest area.

Somewhere along here someone's tire threw a rock and put a chip in my windshield. That doesn't happen often on the buses. Now I have something new to deal with.

This bus is doing really good on the hills. The only time I got down below 45 mph is when someone put their blinker on just before I was going to pass them. So I backed off. They never pulled in front of me, or in front of the next truck ... but I had lost speed and couldn't gain it back until I was to the top of the hill.

2nd stop is the Flying J in Tehachapi for food. P J's they call it. It's been around for years and BB just realized it likely stands for Pilot / Flying J's. I hadn't thought about it. We got our usual meatloaf with two sides.

BB had asked me earlier in the day to park the bus so there was shade when we ate. So I did. But the temps up here are lower and she had her jacket on and went to stand in the sun as soon as she was done eating.

3rd stop was the rest area near Newberry Springs. Place was full but someone pulled out just as I was parking in the gravel. The driver of the truck next to me waved me in. Then he wanted to talk. But I could not get his accent. Not Mexican. When we came out of the rest room he wanted to talk again. Later he pulled out before I did so I followed him. Followed him a long way until we got to a hill. Then his had was out the window waving me past ... He might have been an interesting person to talk to.

Local dispatch called while I was driving. They are looking for me THIS week. I had said next week but they are busy, of course. But I have now had to change working for them from M-F next week to Th-Tues of the following week. With all of the stuff going on at home, we could have just done local work and kept busy. And I am not sure what my garden will look like?

121 degrees when we passed through Needles. I remember an issue we had with a lift truck a few years ago here :) Warmer the next few days. We had noticed it had gotten warmer in the bus and BB asked if I had turned the AC off. Then she looked at the temp.

This scale has the signs that say 'Truck OK to bypass.' That is the 1st one I got. Then it quickly changed to 'Truck must enter scale.' :( No big deal, I held my permit up and I got the thumbs up. Neither of us wanted to sit with our windows open at 100+ degrees.

4th and final stop was Kingman AZ. First we stop at the TA. I had planned on getting fuel here. That is my routine. But BB said fuel is $.30 less 100 miles down the road. So I stuck the tank and I don't need fuel.

BB thought we were going to walk to Wendy's from the TA. Nope, there is a 10 foot ditch between the two. Black Bear is too much food and takes too long. So Popey's it was. I ordered three chicken sticks and got five. More food than I needed. I also got a cheese cake.

Final stop was the Rodeway Inn. Didn't want to but we did. We used to stay here a lot when it was a Quality Inn but it was going down hill so we were not surprised when it was down graded. BB checked everything else in the area. The final straw was when the Best Western room she was looking at disappeared as she tabbed between screens. Now the cheapest room was almost 3x the Rodeway.

Same crew working the Rodeway still. He had to ask our name but seemed to still know us. We have stayed here a lot. So far tonight, no issues. It is now a cheap hotel but everything is clean and works.

Load board

US - 304

IA - 111 / 106

MN - 4

WI - 5

NC - 14

The NC trips include two to be dropped 2-1/2 hours from our house. Not sure they will still be there in a few days. Long runs tend to go fast.

As of now, I am planning on getting the windshield fixed on Friday. But I need to talk to them before that.

I did the math earlier, it looks like Albuquerque tomorrow night. Then OKC Thursday, Memphis Friday and be in SC on Saturday night. Deliver on Monday, but I need to talk to the drop also.

Things change.

Plan for this trip

Leave IA on Thursday, drop Monday.

Pick up bus Monday, drop Friday somewhere in the midwest and be home LAST Saturday.

Reality

Leave IA on Thursday, breakdown, drop on Tuesday.

NO long bus trips. Do short trips on Weds and Thurs.

Pick up bus Friday, but it is put on hold before I leave their property. We sit the weekend. Leaving Friday would have still gotten us home by this coming weekend. Fathers day.

There are buses heading to within a few hours of where our car is parked. Dispatch would gladly give me one of those, and I could still be home by Saturday or Monday depending the customer.

BUT Monday, only one bus is ready and it is going to SC. Leaving Monday we can not make Friday delivery. Most likely it will be Monday delivery. From there we are still 2-3 days from home. Likely be home on Thursday.

I was supposed to have worked next week for my local company next week. That is changing.