2 RV's to Drapper UT (delivered)

... spending the night at Wendover UT

The good

... and the bad.

The good - 1st the drop said that they would take my RV with a warning light on (rare) and then the light went off before delivery.

The bad - After driving 300+ miles in the direction AWAY from home, we call and there will be no work. So we make a U-turn. One day car rental and one hotel down the drain.

Alarm at 5 AM. By 6:30 I have started my RV and the warning light that came on last night is still on. At 7 AM I call RV dispatch. Same as last time, ask the drop if they will take it and if not, leave it at the closest dealer to the drop.

I tried calling the closest dealer but no one picked up so I finally gave up when it was time to leave the hotel.

Breakfast for me was yogurt again.

Last night I just parked where we have parked in the past. That meant I got a sign in the back ground of my pictures. we could have parked where the snow covered hills were in the background.

When we pull out, I have a fuel range of 98 miles with <> 60 miles to go. But it is mostly down hill and I still had a range of <> 75 when I fueled.

Just as we were coming into SLC, there was a guy on the shoulder of the road carrying his fire extinguisher and looking at his wheels. I'm guessing his breaks got a little hot coming down the hill. Nice thing about these Mercedes is that the cruise and radar will pretty much hold them where they are set. Depending on the hill, we have the cruise set at 55 or 65 mph and that is where it stays.

First stop is the Avis in Sandy, about 10 miles before the drop and only a few blocks off the freeway. This one is in a strip mall so lots of place to park. No staff in the office but one customer so BB calls the number listed. They are out back cleaning up cars, including ours.

This place had a lot of signs on what they will charge for. The car is supposed to be returned in the condition it was rented in. One of the things listed that would be charged for is 'sand.' I know we have gotten a lot of sand in cars after we walk on the beach, good thing it wasn't here. Cleaning fee is $400-$450.

This time we take BB's RV first. If mine hadn't had an issue, I usually would have gone ahead to the drop and BB would have just left her RV at the mall until we came back for it. Today mine had an issue so we took hers first.

At final fuel, someone came up and asked BB if she wanted them to pump the gas for her ... BB thought it might be a homeless person wanting money so she said no. But it was the person watching the pumps. These are 'grocery store' pumps, away from the store with an small building that no one works in anymore. This guy was out wiping down all the pumps and posts. He was just keeping busy.

At the drop. Our contact sees BB before she calls. At this customer, the check in area is behind a gate so they have to come and let us in. This is when I ask if they will take my RV with the warning light on. He said they would :)

... good news for me. He remembered us (I did not remember him) and we talked a little so maybe a little PR helped today.

It took less than a half hour to inspect and sign so we did not go get mine until after BB's was inspected.

Back at my RV and ... my warning light is OFF :) Don't think I have every had one go off after only a couple of hours. But it is off and stays off for delivery.

No damage with either RV. We do our paperwork from their lot and then we are gone.

As soon as we are on the road, BB is hungry ... there was lots of food at the exit where we got on the freeway, but ...

By the time she says something we have either Tooele area or one Maverick. We picked Maverick as it would be less time off the freeway. Less time also because some one drove the wrong way down a one way street to get into their lot :(

We each got two shelf sliders. Quick and easy to eat in the car.

For a rental car we got a Ford Focus. I thought that would be good on mileage. It showed 25 mpg so I reset it. Now it is at 26 mpg, for a car that small I would have guessed 50 mph.

But maybe not at 80 mph.

By Wells we need fuel and a break and it is the cheapest around.

Another two hours and it is Battle Mountain and 3 PM. We had guessed we could be to Reno by nightfall and then only have four hours to the shipper in the AM so picking up before noon.

We call bus dispatch ... 'nothing today, and nothing for you tomorrow. Call back tomorrow and I should know about Friday.' :( :(

We knew this could happen, but it is different when it does happen. I had high hopes. BB and I sat in the parking lot for about 10 minutes talking before deciding to cut our losses and head home. So I called the dispatcher back and said we were gone ...

He understood, he knows it would be a 700+ mile deadhead for a maybe. (I didn't tell him that we had already driven 300 of the 700 miles.)

There had been an RV in CA going back to IN, but that would have been close to 1,000 mile deadhead for a 2,000 mile trip. AND it was likely coming out of the auction house. And it was on the load board and gone before we knew we didn't have work.

There is also a truck near the buses, but by the time we got there and picked it up, it would be tight getting it to the drop without a Saturday delivery. And then a third truck, but that was the model that we actually lost money on the fuel last time.

And nothing out of either SLC at all or out of Grand Jct that works. Unusual.

So we dead head back the way we came. Another issue is that I-80 may be or should be closed because of the weather when we get to eastern WY tomorrow. So we need to find a different route. Going to CA was supposed to get us far enough behind the storm to not be an issue.

Plan had been for BB to take pictures of the rest area at Donners Pass. It is still closed and I've heard they got 12+ FEET of snow this last storm.

By the time we get back to Wells we have used a tank of fuel so we stop again.

We will get to Wendover by dark so that is our stop. The Quality Inn is cheapest by $20.

Food is from the food truck in the parking lot.

Load board

US - 205

IA - 18/5

MN - 3

WI - 8

Plan is for 10 hour days the next two days. And to be looking for work as we go. If we find 'great work,' we could go anywhere still. Otherwise we will be home Sunday AM.

IF we get home without finding work, we plan on staying in the midwest / 500 mile area for the next three weeks. It's been three weeks since we have been home.

And it seems like most of our trips have been less than great so far this year, but we are still ahead of our goal YTD. So it only takes a couple of good trips to keep everything working.