1 bus to Milwaukee WI (delivered)

1 trash truck to Des Moines IA (Thursday)

... spending the night at Rochester MN

Beep ... beep ... beep. I thought I had shut the alarm OFF. At least I remember where the button is. And then I lay there and wait ... in case I hit the snooze button instead. But the alarm stays off.

BB mentions later that she slept very little last night. Likely the no-caffeine pop was.

Eggs and sausage, juice. OK stuff

I will be coming back past the hotel after I fuel so no reason for BB to follow me to the truck stop.

Same as last night, I am down to one warning light on. So I head out.

Four miles to the truckstop. Two miles down the road I see the odometer bouncing all over the place and the transmission cuts out. I'm loosing speed so I pull to the shoulder and put on my four-way flashers.

Even so, someone coming down the entrance ramp blows their horn at me.

I put the bus in neutral in hopes that the bus will coast further without the drag of the transmission. But the bus never slows, once it gets to 15 mph it stays. I finally apply the brakes because I do not want to stop on the exit ramp.

Once I have the bus stopped, I get out and cut the battery power for a better re-set. That switch is on the street side and it is still rush hour traffic. Watch and move quickly.

After a few minutes I turn it back on. Now the bus will not go into gear. But I keep trying. Finally I get it to go into reverse and move but it still will not go forward. Finally it drops into gear and I go the last mile with power one second and coasting the next. Then I get to first stop light it is red.

When it turns green the bus goes, the second light is green and there is no oncoming traffic so I can take a left without stopping. By the time I pull in the lot I am back to 3 mph. When I go to put the bus in reverse, the area is blank but I can feel it drop into gear.

Because my fuel and DEF tanks are on the 'wrong' side, I have to back in to fill and BB is not with to tell me where to stop. I get both tanks topped off and go inside to use the restroom, just in case I am on the side of the highway for a few hours.

As I sit there I bump the roll of toilet paper off the holder and it rolls out of the stall and across the floor. Luckily there was a second one in the stall. There must have been no one else in the restroom to hand it back under so I replaced it when I left.

I call BB to let her know I am rolling. No issues, bus runs at full speed.

Eight miles to go to the drop. Now I can not stay in the right lane and this is a five plus lane highway. But no issues. Another thing I think about is there is no way to shut the battery off without shutting the four ways off. Something I would not want to do while sitting in a traffic lane.

I try to pace myself so I do not have to stop. But at one intersection I did, and the oncoming traffic gets a green arrow, then red and they keep coming ... I want to get that last two blocks to the drop.

I've been here a few times in the last 19 years. So I pull in where they want me to park. Then I start getting my things together. Just as last time, the inspector has seen me pull in and soon walks out.

He askes how things went ... and I told him. They will see all the codes. He refers the problem by name, it must have happened before.

Then he brings up how many more buses are coming. I am number 10 of 60. I might be coming back again.

And I ask about the wash. It seems that having them washed is causing issues with the windows. So their solution was to not wash them. (That won't last long)

No work yet so we take the time to send in our paperwork while sitting in the drops parking lot. Still no work so we head in the direction of home. At some point I email one of the dispatchers who hasn't put out his trips yet today. When he does, there is still a short trip in MN. But the math doesn't work because the trip is so short and we will need a hotel.

So we decide to head to Rochester and make a decision by then.

Our first stop is in Johnson Creek at the BP for fuel and the restroom.

From there it will be meal time at Mouston. Log Cabin Deli. Great food as always. Still have not been there on a Thursday to get their lasagna.

Next stop is the rest area in MN just before Rochester. From here we decide to get a hotel in Rochester as it is closer to, but not beyond where our major shippers are.

Final stop is the Sleep Inn in Rochester. It is 'supposed' to be a nicer hotel than the Comfort Inn but here they are right next door to each other and the Sleep Inn is cheaper.

Shortly before the end of the office day, Dodge Center puts out a trash truck going to Des Moines. We are 15 minutes away and a similar trip paid well last time. It is likely a right hand drive, just a guess. My other company gets most of the short trips.

... then the pay for my bus trip shows up in my account. ??? It paid $100 a day better than any other trip we have done in six years. We aren't retired but we are still watching our income.

We are also looking at our trip for next week. At first we were looking at doing another East Montpelier VT. But now we have had time to look at other options, and there are other options. And we still have two days until we can commit to our trip but they will not all disappear. I have also contacted the east coast bus dispatcher about possible trips back. No reply yet.

The last time we got food from Five West but tonight we got food from Smoak BBQ. Way too much and very good. Maybe next time we will eat at McD's so we do not overeat. Or split one meal.

Load board

US - 487

IA - 248/243

Tomorrow we will pick up around 8 AM and then it is about four hours to Des Moines. I may or may not have to fuel before the drop. This is CNG so not a lot of options.

If there is something in IA we may bring it back to MN. Otherwise we will be off for the weekend. We have an insurance appointment in the AM then a graduation meal in the PM and the actual graduation in the evening ... if it is not SUPPOSED to rain. Right now the forecast over 50% of rain.