1 boom truck to Carthage NC

... spending the night at Barstow CA

Up and down for breakfast by 6 AM local, BB had been up since 4 AM. She is still on central time. But breakfast doesn't open until 6:30 so we packed up and left.

1st stop was a couple of hours down the road in Lost Hills at the Loves for fuel and food. Breakfast was from the shelf.

2nd stop was at Castaic at the Pilot to use the restrooms. We get back on the freeway and I am kind of going with the flow of traffic until I see the 55 mph speed limit sign ... as I slow down I realize there is no one behind me for a half a mile.

... Then I see someone pull to the shoulder and I can see a car behind them but not there lights ... too close ...

Not stop and go traffic so far, just trying to pass the slow(er) ones and keep out of the way for the ones going 20+ over the limit.

The GPS keep saying '... save 15 minutes by (re-routing) ...' we finally did.

3rd stop was at a Subway for food and the restroom. I wasn't hungry so I just got their smallest simplest sandwich. (which I never did eat)

Next stop was less than a mile away. Last sale here was 10 days ago and everything is supposed to be removed in 14 days. I had no idea, never been to this brand before.

I had looked at an online map so I knew were to go. We get there and traffic is stopped on the street. Then we realized this is the line so we wait. It was about a half hour in line before we got to the gate, then we are sent to another building where I need to wait in line again. All is quick and painless, it just takes time.

The person at the guard shack had told us to come back once we had the until number and they could tell us exactly where it was. There was only two of this kind of unit today and only one the correct brand so we just went direct to the truck.

1st thing we noticed was that the passenger seat was there but taken off. Then I tried to start it. It was dead. As we were trying to decide which building to go to for help, the yard truck pulls up and asks if things are OK ... no they are not.

They try to jump it and it doesn't. Seems something was loose on their truck end, once they got that right is turned right over.

We were kind of hoping we would find a reason not to take it. It is used, well used. But it is a rental truck and that brand takes pretty good care of their stuff so overall it should be good.

First we saw two open places to store stuff that were already full. Then we found a closeable one that was also full of stuff. This is a stick shift so pretty much just room for my back pack and everything else we fit in the storage box after we moved their stuff to the open boxes. It all fits. It will be interesting.

Finally we were ready to go, to drop the rental car.

Good news, there is enough fuel to get to the hotel tonight. Bad news, top speed is 53 mph. That will add about five HOURS to our cross country trip.

And it is a stick. I haven't killed it yet but I have had some issues.

All this took time so we are in rush hour traffic. Lots of stop and go ... with a stick. And lots of 25 mph.

Scale was closed. Good thing, as during our inspection we found three lights not working. I'm not too worried about it, we don't plan on running at night so the only issue would be if we got an inspection. And this used piece will be a target.

Got to the Comfort Inn in Barstow after dark. Went to take a picture of which lights were not working ... and they all were working ???

Went to Tommy's burgers across the street.

Fresh cookies were ready when we got back to the hotel. I should have been hungry. One small burrito for breakfast and one late burger. Should help the scale.

I need permits for this trip so I called when we got to the hotel. They are supposed to be open until 6:30 ... but they seem to stop answering the phone at <> 5 PM and then shut it off at 6:30. So I will need to deal with that tomorrow. BB looked at our carrier site and it shows that AZ does not need a printed copy anymore so that makes that easier.

Load board

US - 212

IA - 38/37

MN -0-

WI - 12

Not likely any 500 mile days this trip.

First stop tomorrow will be fore fuel across the freeway. $1 more than AZ but less than anywhere else close. (At 53 mph I hope we get good mpg ... good enough to pay for the extra hotel we are going to have)