1 bus to Denver CO

... spending the night at Colorado Springs CO

Today the alarm woke us up.

Breakfast was hash, bacon and a western omelette. Plus packaged juice and sauce to go.

The parking lot was still far from full so no one tried to block me in. Just the first hints of a beautiful red sky in the east before breakfast.

A half hour later when we are leaving, the red is gone from the sky and it is now an orange/yellow. Still one of the other guests was taking a picture ... as did I.

As we pulled out of the hotel, we could see where the horse/cow had been hit and thrown to the shoulder of the road. The carcass was gone but the splatter was still there. As was a 2nd one, that splatter ended in the center turn lane. Both seemed to be about as fresh ...

We pulled out a little after 7 AM local.

The first thing BB did when she woke up this AM was look out the window for snow. There was none. Then she looked at the forecast, the snow is coming in later behind us. It should be a good day.

Just a few miles down the road there was a spot where one lone tall rock was lit up by the rising sun. Another couple of minutes and the whole area was lit up.

Another sunny day, another morning driving into the sun.

My plan is to stop at one of the stations on the reservation to put in DEF. I know it is going to take a while and those stations are usually not very busy. I don't like coming in backwards to a pump and then taking an extended time to fill when there are trucks waiting. I end up picking the furthers station even though I don't know the layout of that one.

1st stop is the 66 Casino near Albuquerque. Half the pumps have been taken out but no trucks are there so that is not an issue. The first pump I pull into does not have a DEF pump. The second pump I try does not work so I go inside ... no, that pump does not work, but the third one works they tell me.

So I move and try the third pump ... and back inside. It would have been nice if they had told me that the pump works, but they have to start it inside. Everytime I went in there was a line for the counter.

... and this was fun. I should have timed it. (I really should have, because I have to log it) This bus already has the high pressure fill set up so we can't just put the nozzle in. I had to use the nozzle to push the pressure valve and then run the nozzle slow enough that the fluid doesn't run on the ground. I have to run that slow enough that I can count faster than the 1/1,000ths of a gallon. And it is hard work to hold the pressure valve open. BB guessed it took about a half hour but I got it done. Only one other truck fueled during that time ... and I can't use my company card to pay for DEF here. They only take it for fuel.

While we were stopped, I also stuck the tank. I am doing better than I thought on fuel so I will want to stop sooner. Once we are rolling, we decide I should fuel in Albuquerque. Fuel is cheapest at the TA.

2nd stop is still in Albuquerque but 20 miles down the road. Open pumps here too, but too busy to tie up a pump for a half hour ... for me anyways.

We notice the truck parked crossways ahead of us seems a little close. It looks even closer when someone pulls ahead from the next pump and there is not room for them to swing or anyone to drive between them. Two trucks have decided to park side by side in the travel lane at the end of the pumps. As I am fueling we notice a few horns blowing but no one moves.

As I go into get my receipt I meet a security man heading to the truck. I tell him thanks. Opps, I have forgotten to hang up my second fuel hose, good thing I hadn't left it in my bus ... I have to lay it on the ground so the pump on the right side will work.

When I go back in the second time to get my receipt security talks to me again. And when I come back out, I talk to him a third time. I had thought the driver in question just parked there to get a receipt or something and we were just waiting for him to come back to his truck. No, he is in his truck, in his bunk. He was parked there for the duration. He did move by the time I had to pull out.

Saw a few homeless here, wrapped in their blankets. Not cold enough most days for own a heavy jacket.

3rd stop was the Loves in Las Vegas ... New Mexico for food. Ended up being Subway not Chesters. We both order a chicken sandwich. The last thing I tell them is 'just mayo' after it comes out of the oven. As the guy behind me is listing what he wants, the person who's working on my sandwich starts adding those items to mine ... ???

... so they had to start my sandwich over from scratch.

There are a couple of new trucks out of CO added today. The first one ended up having the ship date changed so that won't work. The other is from Grand Junction heading back to CA. That might work ??

BB is still watching the weather. Trucks were still not allowed over Donners Pass as of this morning. So we would have been sitting two days if we had tried to go that route.

And the only way to get out of Denver will be south. Blizzard to the west, north and east. After looking in detail, we would be able to go home via Kansas City but then would still hit the storm from IA to MN. Or be right behind it.

Before we leave Las Vegas, I call my dispatcher, I still have not gotten the needed paperwork and if he needs to get it from the office ... they close at 2 PM west coast time.

4th stop is a rest area near Maxwell.

5th and final stop is the Holiday Inn Express in Colorado Springs. We had talked about the Quality Inn but there isn't food close. We finally decided for the price and the parking that we would stay here.

We walk next door to the Holiday Inn (non-Express) and sit inside and order a burger each. If we had thought about it, we would have gotten our food to go and BB would have washed clothes tonight. That didn't happen.

Bus dispatcher calls while we are eating to say my paperwork is on it's way and to ask if I am coming back for another bus. He also asks about adding DEF. Sometimes I have gone 2,000 miles before having to add. This time it was 1,000 miles. And he was wondering if I had to pay someone to take the pressure valve off. (no, it just took me a half hour to fill it) I tell the dispatcher that we are talking about what we are doing after the drop now and I will call him tomorrow after deliver.

Good food. Even without me getting fries, it was too much. Mine had a fried egg and ham on my burger :)

Our plan had been for me to leave in the AM with the bus and BB to get a ride to the airport in the hotel shuttle and she would stay and wash clothes while I was at the bus wash.

Not sure what happened but she decided she didn't want to wash clothes so we will just buy more if the need more clean clothes. (Even with buy clothes on the road, we still seem to wear them until they are thin so we somehow don't end up with too many)

I do get my paperwork and still another request to head back to CA for one more bus before Christmas.

... tonight I get a 'memory' from FaceBook. One year ago this week, we had headed back to CA from Salt Lake City because the weather was too bad to head east ... Hmmm

Load board

US - 146

IA - 3/0

We still have not decided if we are heading home or back to CA. But we now have a rental car reserved going each direction.

1,500 miles back to CA and I will 'for sure' have a bus coming back to MN.' They got the first one today. Or if we head home, it will be 1,000 miles via Kansas City with no work lined up. RV's are slow and none left by the end of the day. That means a garbage truck.

We will sleep on it.

I have about an hour to go to get to the bus wash and may have to add fuel. I have enough to get there but the bus is sitting on a hill right now so not sure if I will need more. Only a gallon or two at most. Then from there it is a couple of miles to the drop. We have been there once before.

Last time we were to Denver was a holiday and there was a <> three hour wait for the wash. Hopefully not tomorrow.

IF we head back to CA, it is about 20 hours over three days so steady moving but not a big push. Then we'd be back home on Tuesday and I have told my local company I'd be available on Wednesday ... before I realized that most places are taking Thursday and Friday off because Christmas is on the weekend.

If we were not up against the holiday, we might look at moving the Grand Jct to CA truck IF the roads clear. But even with clear roads, that is one more issue that we don't want to deal with when time is tight. We will still do OK on the money.