1 bus to Fort Worth TX

... spending the night at Albuquerque NM

Today it was the alarm that got us out of bed. Breakfast was leftovers from last nights breakfast. Breakfast at the hotel is not until 7:30 and we will be rolling by 6:30 AM.

Bus starts this and every time today.

AZ scale is closed this AM so that saves us a couple of minutes slow down. Other than that I am running at 62 mph max speed. Weather is still coming in behind us so we keep leaving out at daylight.

1st stop is the Petro in Kingman for a restroom break.

2nd stop is at the Loves in Williams for CNG. Just as I am pulling in off the street backwards, someone fills the seconds CNG island. So I have to go around and back in. I back in behind that was already sitting there but he wasn't the 1st one done so I was able to move. The lines hadn't filled up yet, then.

Same thing as last time I was here. As soon as I connect to the pump, it is pumping. I could have gotten a full tank of free fuel but I wanted to know how many gallons I was putting in ... and I want them to keep this pump open. They won't do that if they are not making money on it.

I'm pretty sure I would have come in on fumes if I had not stopped in Barstow on my own.

And because the pump runs all the time, it doesn't shut off when the tanks are full like it should. I was not going to see how full I could get them ... they are only tested for so much pressure. So I manually shut the pump flow off while I disconnect the pump.

When I go in to get my receipt, I tell the fuel man they are still giving away free fuel. He doesn't seem to know anything about it. When I was walking to the station I had thought I could ask to talk to the manager, but I didn't this time.

3rd stop is in Holbrook at the TA/Popeyes. Not quick. It seemed like they would wait on 10 people and then sever those 10 people. My food wasn't bad, BB didn't think hers was very fresh.

At some point today we met oversized trucks. Four of them in the on coming traffic ... escorted by many, many police. All four trucks took up both lanes. There was at least six squads in the lead then others between each truck and more brining up the rear. So traffic was backed up a little behind them.

A few miles after we pull out of Holbrook, I get some warning lights on the dash. So I pull off at the next exit and call it in. I am OK to keep going. Then we realize there is also a 'beep' sequence. So I stop and call that in also.

Not sure what was going at the westbound AZ port of entry. Rarely do they do any inspections. Today they were doing three and there also was an officer standing outside directing traffic. Didn't get to look at that long enough to see what was going on.

Today we saw a few transporters including one of our (?) buses from NY heading to HI (?) and one New Flyer bus heading to Las Vegas. My guess on where they were heading based on their colors. Both were 60 footers.

And we also saw burnt trucks. One was still on the shoulder of the road getting new tires, it looked like all four sets of rear trailer tires were burnt off. Plus the back of the container was burnt.

And there was a semi trailer in a lot near the freeway that was mostly just the shell left, there the axle with the tires was laying beside it.

And another semi tractor was sitting in the ditch with the rear tires burnt off. I'm guessing the trailer burnt and that had been hauled away already.

4th stop as the Flying J in Jamestown for a break. I thought this used to be a Pilot, not sure how I would find out.

5th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Albuquerque. We are pushing it again because of the wind that will be coming in behind us tomorrow.

Not sure how many more times we will be stopping here. This is by far the worst area we stay in as far as homeless on the street. Maybe because it is all businesses and no houses it doesn't look as bad.

But we have to walk past them on the street to go anywhere. And over the last couple of years all the businesses have put up fences so now it is a longer walk and all on the sidewalks.

The first two were only a couple of feet from our hotel lot but we were able to walk through the next hotel lot to avoid them. Then behind the gas station there were another half dozen gathering. Some of them looked way to nice to be homeless but they were hanging with the homeless tonight.

In the few minutes it took them to make our food, the crowd at the gas station had doubled in size. And there was now one person sleeping partway in the sidewalk on the other end of that building. I almost stepped on that one.

And on the opposite side of the highway there were three 12 foot piles of belongings on the side walk with no one around.

Food was good. I got enough for breakfast also.

Load board

US - 183

IA - 4/1

MN - 3

WI - 4

I have to be shut down in five hours tomorrow because of hours. But we still plan on getting going early. Wind gusts later in the day are forecast for 50+mph.

Not able to gain anytime the last couple of days. Plan is to make it to Amarillo tomorrow. Not much for hotels before that.