1 bus to Denver CO (Saturday)

... spending the night at Livermore CA

Up and showered by 4 AM (local)

Breakfast at 6:30 when they opened. So so but the person taking care of the area seemed to be doing all the right things.

When I went to check out, I asked for a receipt ... I don't remember saying my room number but someone from the office said "James?"

They wanted to know why we switched rooms last night ... so I said we wanted to compare rooms :) ... and a couple of more smart aleck comments before we got serious. I did explain that the fan didn't blow very hard so we couldn't tell if the room was going to warm up or not ... and that we stay more nights in hotels than we do at home. I said we have stayed in hotels 260 nights ... actually our count is 212 as of tonight. But a high number either way.

All that chatting cost us time, we pull out at 7:15 AM.

... running late again ... we are heading to Denver, via I-40 ... and then most likely home or in the direction of home. For the holidays.

(Later ... )

1st stop is at Creswell at a rest area called Gettings Creek. The pass we came over in CA yesterday, they have been checking for chains before we delivered last night and still are. That is on the northbound lanes, we are hoping to get through before they start checking on the southbound lanes. If they do, we will need to shut down until they stopping checking/remove the requirement.

2nd stop is Grants Pass at a rest area called Manzanita. Which is confusing because the city of Manzanita is closer to Portland and near the coast.

3rd stop was in Yreka for food. We've stopped here before at a little deli off the main street and also bought some cherry's that time. None of the names we found online this time looked right so BB found another. The top rated deli in town. Street parking only and when we drove past the sign on the door said closed. Online said open.

So as I drover around the street BB quickly found a 'Nature's ... something and we headed there.

Interesting place. It seemed to be as much of a gift stop as a deli. I ordered the only thing that looked 'safe.' A cold chicken sandwich. It was good. BB had quiche, it was better. They did have one bacon quiche, but it also had jalapenos so that didn't work for me. Soup was tomato and very different, but good.

Too full for desert but we got a cookie and lemon bar to go.

Back at the car I call the dispatcher to let them know we will be back tonight. (Even though we have one more pass to go)

That all took over a half hour. Not on a tight schedule but it will be past dark by the time we get back to Livermore.

4th stop - Lakehead rest area. Not planned but needed

5th stop - Redding for fuel at the TA. BB had looked at prices but didn't see any common fuel names so we decided to just stop at the known. It was $.40 a gallon more than the prior exit. And I didn't get the large discount that I got when I was fueling the last RV. Close to $5 more by stopping at a known.

(even later, it is now the evening of the next day)

At about 3 PM, BB dials the phone and we call dispatch on speaker phone. Rhode Island buses are on hold so I'm going to Denver. And getting paid to go the south route. We'd go the south route anyways or we'd be sitting in a hotel waiting for Donners Pass to open. IF I would come back, he'd try to get me to the mid-west.

Too late for that. Christmas is coming and I always commit to work for my other company the end ever every quarter. And we have already been out over two weeks. And those two weeks are not in the sunny part of the country.

6th stop is the Dunnigan rest area. No street vendors here this year. Or maybe it is too late in the season.

Down by the bay ...

We see a fire from quite a ways away. It ends up being at a refinery but I don't remember seeing 20 foot high flames on a burn off before. Also lots of black smoke.

I thought there would be a slow down for that as it is right next to the freeway but maybe it happens often.

Right beyond the fire there was a sign that the express lane was closed due to an accident. By the time we finally get there, all five lanes are closed and traffic is getting past on the shoulder. That took a while.

Later there was a stall in one of the center lanes. This was all way after dark. (when I no longer like to be driving)

7th and final stops. Mr Pickel. The doors were still open but they had closed twenty minutes ago. So we head to the Cheese stake place. BB is done, she doesn't even get out of the car, I go in and order and wait for our food.

Final, final stop is the Quality Inn. When we walk in, they say hi and ask if we want to leave the room on our card ending in XXXX. Didn't even ask our names ... we spend too much time here.

Load board

US - 167

IA - 2/0

CO - 4