1 bus to Beloit WI

... spending the night at Cheyenne WY

Breakfast was not supposed to be until 6:30 so we over ordered food last night so we would have left overs. But when we checked out, the breakfast area was already full of people so it must have opened early.

Oh ... rough night. Foot cramps, acid reflux and repetitive dreams.

The UT scale that is right at the edge of town was closed today. One less thing to deal with. Lots of people already out on the salt flats by the rest area. Maybe they sleep there overnight? We did get some pretty good rain coming across, not buckets but good for what otherwise seems like desert.

Before we left home this last time, I got a different but used cell phone that I am finding I do not like. I am not using it but I am checking it for messages about once a day but there has not been any. Last night I realized that the phone said 'available for emergency calls only.' So today BB looked at my phone and found that I have not gotten any of my texts for a few days. My calls all roll to my flip phone so that isn't an issue.

First stop is the Flying J in Tooele for a break. Parking lot is too crowded to get a good picture. As we were coming in, the sun was poking through the clouds in one spot onto the hills but that was gone by the time we parked.

Nothing of interest on the next leg other than the bus got down to 35 mph on a couple of the hills. But pretty un-eventful on a Sunday AM.

At the WY scale, this time they do flag me to get weighed. The past few times they have not. So I get weighed and go in. No one ahead of me, three officers talking. I walk up to one. It turned out to be the wrong one. This one had to weigh every truck that came across the scale besides try to help me. And they didn't seem to know their system. Part of the time I was telling them what they needed instead of them asking me.

Finally they got to the weight of the bus, she had weighed it but didn't print it out and didn't remember. So she was asking some one else and they said either guess, or have the driver re-weigh. I ask what difference the weight makes. None. But they still wanted to know, just because they wanted to know. They guessed. And when they went to print, it locked up their computer and they had to call a help desk somewhere.

So another officer took my info and re-did the whole permit. A good 15 minutes instead of the less than five it should, could have taken.

From there it is another half hour to the cheaper fuel. First fuel for this trip. Coming up out of SLC, there is a valley where most of the pasture seems to be split into 1/8th to 1/4 mile wide sections. Today, one of those sections had three elk standing almost belly to belly with the beef cattle just a few feet from the freeway. No picture.

Just before we get to the fuel exit, we see a truck on it's side up on a hill, out in a field. I'm thinking it had an advertising sign on it and it blew over. By the time I was past it and too late to take a picture I realize that it is a recent crash. I should have realized when the back tires and back of the trailer were hanging out over the ditch bank.

I guess how much fuel it will take to get to the next cheapest fuel. While I'm fueling, BB goes in and orders food so it is ready when I am. Taco Bell. In and out in a half hour.

The big dig east of Rock Springs is not working today and is now far enough away that all we can see is a few feet of the top of the boom.

Our last fuel stop is not one we used to do so we are stopping at different places today. Our next stop is a rest area near Table Rock. While I'm walking out into the travel lane of the rest area someone starts talking to me. And then to me and BB. Another couple about our age just traveling. Then they wanted me to take their picture on their phone and offered to take ours. We declined.

Before I could pull out, another person came over and asked about the bus. They were from IA and wondered why a Beloit bus was in the middle of WY. That was a much shorter conversation.

Next stop is another rest area we don't usually and may have never stopped at. I wanted to get a good picture but it didn't work because of how the parking lot was laid out. As BB and I are walking back to the bus, an RV pulls in the lot and parks next to us. It is one of ours. It's a guy we've talked to a few times, can't remember his name but he was a dispatcher for a few weeks before he decided it was not the job for him (either) He was heading to the same drop that I did this past trip.

We have spent a lot of time today talking about how far we should get today. Laramie would have been 500 miles, our usual. We pushed to Cheyenne which is 550. We talked about Sidney which would be 650. That would make sure we can deliver on Tuesday. But I didn't do the math on my driving hours and because I didn't sleep good last night we decided Cheyenne was the best.

Once we checked in, we walked the '1/4 mile' down to a sandwich shop. 1/4 mile is what the billboard said. We got our food and walked back. By then it was starting to rain. Once we were eating our sandwiches in our hotel room it really started dumping rain, for a long time. We lucked out on that.

But, neither of our sandwiches had any cheese on them. They were still OK but not what they should have been.

Tomorrow we will either get to Omaha, 500 miles. Or Des Moines, 650 miles.

We had planned on just being home for a family reunion, today we found we have a birthday party to go to the next weekend. That makes our travel time too short to get back out to CA before the end of the month.

7 AM - Wendover UT - Quality Inn - leave hotel

9 AM - Tooele UT - Flying J - break

11 AM - Evanston WY - POE

Noon - Fort Bridger WY - TA/Taco Bell - fuel and food

2 PM - Table Rock WY - break

4 PM - Elk Mountain WY - break

6 PM - Cheyenne WY - Comfort Inn

6:30 - Cheyenne WY - Silver Mine Subs - food