2 RV's to Davis CA (delivered)

1 Bus to Salt Lake City UT

... spending the night at Rocklin CA

Breakfast (no bacon) Eggs, sausage, yogurt and water (disgusted as juice)

At 8:30 local we check out.

1st stop is at a Velero in Davis for dealer fuel. We each had a range of under 40 miles so our low fuel lights were on. But it looked like the gauge was still showing about 1/8th of a tank.

A few blocks later we were at the dealer. Between the station and the dealer we saw a couple of people dragging their suitcases ... when the saw me they waved. I'm guessing they were other transporters. The guy who checked us in to day said there had been eight RV's dropped today. (I didn't ask if that included ours)

This place as been working on their parking lot for years (?) and it is finally done ... until they think they have to change it again.

As soon as we got our stuff out of the RV's, BB headed out walking to the the rental car. We had one reserved for 9:30. The location had called and asked a lot of curious questions a couple of days ago. But they still didn't have our car ready and the one they gave us was an SUV. Not a big deal, we are only driving it a couple of hours.

My inspector notices a piece missing. I hadn't, but they are correct. So I have to call that in after they sign and send in a photo.

Then I call west coast dispatch to let them know I have empty, looking for a trip.

It isn't even 11 AM so we head down to Livermore taking the shortest route.

2nd stop is In-n-Out Burger in Livermore. When we drop in the west, that is our next meal. I used to get a 'double double' but that is too much food. We order inside and eat in our car. Some people are eating outside on their tables but it is about 50 degrees today.

From there we cross the parking lot to Walmart and pick up a clipper to cut the cable ties on our license plates and some juice for me.

Before we got to In-n-Out we drove past the shipper to see what they had. NYC, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, Pittsburg and others. The lot is still full.

After Walmart we head to the outlet center. It's close, it has bathrooms and a place to walk. But it is too crowded today to walk so we sit in the parking lot for three hours.

Yes, there are bathrooms but not everyone uses them. Right in our line of sight, someone got out of their car and relieved themselves on their tire (luckily this person was facing AWAY from us.) Then they proceeded to tear off tags from their new clothes and put them on in the parking lot. Shirt, socks, shoes.

Dispatch calls me before it is time to call them back. We are going to ... Salt Lake City. 700 miles.

We get to the lot before my paperwork is ready, my bus is easy to find. I just have to move one other bus to get to it. Once we are done inspecting we have some time to view the other buses. One is missing one window, the next is missing a different window. The MLW is missing one of the marquee signs.

When we do get our paperwork the dispatcher asks if we are coming right back. We say no, because of the weather. He says it is only for one day ... and to 'keep in touch.'

We talk to two other drivers, one long enough to find out he is going to Knoxville. The other one would have talked the rest of the night. Today he had been driving one of the shippers electric buses for a few hours. Now he is heading to Pittsburg. He just came back from NYC after driving a 55 mph bus there. He has also been the test driver for the electric buses when the shipper is demoing it in different cities. Interesting stories but I wouldn't want that much together time.

We had talked about staying in Livermore tonight if we were going north but decided against it. This time.

We did get a reservation made for a car from SLC home for a good price and now we are looking for work along the way. Going up through Miles City would add a few miles but it is a 900 mile run, longer than this one.

It is now after hours for the rental car place so BB will just have to drop the keys so I don't need to give her as much of a head start.

Where I pick her up is just at a corner and cars seem to be coming around the city street at about 50 mph. There are two driveways next to each other in front of the building so I have room to get out of the flow of traffic. But when I want to get back on the street I have to be careful that no one is coming for as far as I can see. Tonight when I get that chance, I start pulling out and look ahead ... someone is making a left turn in front of me into one of the driveways ??? Close, but no accident.

It's been dark since before we got our paperwork. So two plus hours driving in the dark tonight. Almost all city traffic so I'm more likely to hit a wondering pedestrian than any wildlife.

3rd town - We get back to the hotel we spend the last two nights at and the truck parking is full, as is our usual spot. But there is one spot left long enough to park a 40 foot bus across empty parking spots.

Once we are checked in at the Comfort Inn, we walk next door to the Jack in the Box, drive thru only. So back to Arby's. It is 8 PM local and we just want to eat and sleep. We split one rueben.

Load board

US - 317

IA - 138/135

MN -0-

WI - 5