2 RV's to El Cajon CA

... spending the night at Winslow AZ

Breakfast - none again - trying to beat the weather.

I go out and try to get my parking brake released. No luck. I send a text to the after hours help number but no response. It is not an emergency so I do not call.

At 8 AM I call. Everything I had read online said do not put pressure on the parking brake handle. Dispatch says to pull as hard as you have to. They have never busted a handle and have always gotten the light to go off. So I pull, finally on the third try the light goes off. One hour wasted.

I do go back in the hotel and look at breakfast. Eggs, sausage, potatoes, canned juice and bottled water. I take a water.

A lot less wind today so I start out at 62 mph and then 65 mph. No issues, but I am watching very closely. I have one mirror focused on the awning instead of the lane next too me.

1st stop is at the Loves in Joseph City for fuel.

Weather is not getting any better so we plan to stop again in the next town.

2nd stop is at the Flying J in Winslow AZ. Between here and Flagstaff is only another hour but winds between here and there are 40 mph gusting to 60 mph. We are to shut down when winds are over 30 mph or gusts over 40 mph.

As BB is looking at weather I see a driver come out to the RV parked next to us. When I see the driver out doing his walk around I hop out and talk to him. He is deciding if he wants to keep driving because of the snow around Flagstaff. So I tell him that we are shutting down because of the wind, not the snow. He hadn't heard about that. He did know it was windy, the wind already blew a piece off of his awning. We talk a few more minutes before going it to eat. He is heading to Phoenix.

That driver also mentioned that a few months ago he had to drive his RV back from Davis CA because he hit the branch of a tree a few blocks before delivery. Sounds like he had to do the drive back for free because it was his damage ...

We decide to eat breakfast at Denny's and see what changes. Denny's is packed, just like the good ol' days. People waiting and the only tables not filled are the ones waiting to be cleaned. 1st time eating in a place this packed. Good food, or we were just hungry.

The weather forecast has not gotten any better in the last hour so we get a hotel in town and call dispatch to let them know we will not deliver on time. We looked at the Best Western across the highway from the Flying J but it is well over $100. The Quality Inn at the next exit is half that price. We go the cheaper route today.

Next we stop at the Walmart to pick up a few items. This Walmart has steel barriers and signs saying NO SEMI PARKING.

We thought that might buy enough time to be able to check into our room at the hotel. Not today. They had a full house last night and are still cleaning. It is 12 PM local, we can check in at 2 PM.

So we get their password to their WiFi and go back to our RV's and wait it out.

2 PM we check in and sit in our hotel for the rest of the night. We ask, their in-house restaurant closed in 2016. The help knew so they must have worked here for a while.

Finally closer to 6 PM we decide to get food. There is an Asia place on our side of the street, plus a McD's, a Taco Bell and a local Mexican place. We end up at the grocery store. The 1st thing I look at is a chicken salad sandwich, but it is on a dill croissant. I end order a custom sandwich instead. Philly ... as they are making it ... they tell me it will be pastrami instead of beef. And it will come with no peppers. So basically it was a pastrami and onion sandwhich. I did get a cup of potato salad, that was closer to what I expected. No single cookies so we bought a box of cookies.

Load board

US - 604

IA - 350/347

Tomorrow - We are looking at the forecast. The 1st thing we realize is that because my computer is home time and BB's is on Mountain the forecast is showing different times for movement.

We have about a one hour window tomorrow AM to get the 60 miles from Winslow to Flagstaff. If only that was the only issue. It has been snowing in Flagstaff since sometime today and will still be snowing in the AM. How much snow will decide if we are going to leave tomorrow AM.

BB had mentioned before that if we do not beat the weather we will be here until Thursday. So far Thursday still looks like a good day, both the wind and the snow(ing) will be gone.

LOG