1 city bus to Des Moines IA

... spending the night at Wendover UT

Not a good start to the day. It is only 7 AM local and I have started my bus to find a STOP engine light on. So now we are waiting until the dealer opens at 7:30. Luckily they are two blocks down this same road.

Bad news is ... this shipper usually wants the same driver to stay with the bus until delivery. And if they do let us go, the only one way rental car I found last night was $900 heading back to Reno. Or ... we get a local, drive the 300 miles back to Reno and get a one way from Reno.

Sat at the dealer from 7:30 to 10:30. During that time I did do a test drive but the bus didn't throw any error codes so that didn't help any. BB had stayed at the hotel and finally walked down to the dealer when we were about done. They could read the codes but could not find where they had come from or why.

After getting an OK from the shipper and the dealer we were cleared to go. So now I need to get a new permit. This is the only state where the permits are only good for 24 hours. That time was up at 9 AM today.

The first thing we did was backtrack to the truckstop to put in more DEF. I put in a cup full or so and it was full. So the gauge was correct. The bus had used a quarter tank of DEF before the issues started and not used any since. Plan had been to keep the DEF tank 90% full in case that was where the issue was coming from.

While at the truckstop we got another sub sandwich. Port O Subs. Good food. I left the bus running the whole time but no issues.

We are barely back on the road and the MIL light comes on, not an issue but maybe it should have been.

30 miles down the road the DEF light comes back on. We are in the middle of no-where so we keep going to Wells. BB wants to buy something at the truckstop so she goes in while I call the shipper. Store is closed. No power. We find out later that there has been no power since 7 AM and likely won't be until 3 PM. The Flying J was the only station we saw that had not blocked off there pumps and store so there was a constant line of traffic coming in only to find out everything was closed. Loves and Golden Gate both used yellow tape from their store and around the pumps. Saves people time.

Before the shipper had said to keep running until the bus shuts me down. Now ... when it is real, they decide I should head back the 50 miles instead of ahead 150 miles. Less miles to have to tow me if I do break down.

20 miles down the road and the warning lights start flashing. From there I was reading off every mile marker so that I could tell a tow truck where to find me.

THEN ... a half hour ago, the scales in both directions had been closed. Now mine is open so I have to exit. I'm afraid that if I get below 20-30 mph that the bus is going to de-rate and I will be slowed to 2.5 mph. I do not get flagged over and I am able to speed up again.

A couple of miles down the road there is a cop with someone I'm guessing thought they could blow past the scale and get away with it. Might have saved me from getting inspected today but I would have at least asked if I could get out of it if they had stopped me.

We make it back to the shop and they start looking at it right away.

The tech said he hoped to have us out of here today but I was thinking that was a long shot. Somehow he seemed to know what he was going to be looking for before he even got in the bus the second time. (Maybe he had time to do some research?)

I had thought about dropping BB and the luggage off at the hotel so we wouldn't have to carry it so far.

Two hours later, right at 4:30 we are pulling out. The tech gave me his cell number, he wanted me to message him that we had made it to the next town. Then as we are standing outside waiting for him to pull the bus around, the manger comes out to talk to us. That doesn't happen often.

Pins and needles the rest of the day but no issues. I did pull off in Wells and texted the tech.

It is Friday night in a NV town on the UT border. Even our lower end Quality Inn is almost out of rooms. 1 king room left, smoking. So we get two beds tonight. Food is from the food truck in the lot. BB has decided she likes the one down the street better. And there is also one a block south of the hotel that we have not tried yet.

1st stop - Shop

2nd - Sinclear for DEF and Port O Subs for food

3rd - Wells Flying J to make phone call

4th - Shop

5th - Wells to text

6th - Quality Inn in Wendover and food truck in lot

Load board

US - 280

IA - 73/69

MN - 14

WI - 6

Tomorrow we will try to make it a full 500 miles. Maybe Cheyenne. Fuel is not cheap but we don't want to be stopping in odd places just to save a couple of cents either.