09-30-09

I got a pleasant night sleep at the rest stop. I had been there for 10 hours. The maximum stay is 8 hours. I made coffee and hit the road.
Not only was the sunshine beautiful it lit the road in a way I greatly appreciated. I wound around the tight cloverleaf onto Interstate 5’s on-ramp. I pulled too many Gs on the cloverleaf for my portable French press coffee pot to maintain it’s vertical integrity sitting on the floor. By the time I saw it it had completely emptied onto the carpet next to my seat. I hit my hazard lights and stopped on the on-ramp. I thought about putting my safety triangles on the road, but that seemed a bit extreme for a coffee spill. Besides, I figured I’d have it cleaned up in less than 15 minutes, the limit for parking without triangles, at least in Minnesota, right Terry Bue? Thanks for the trucker training. I may not be making money, but I am safer on the road.
This was the second time I had lost my coffee to a clover leaf. I don’t know what upset me more, the stain, or the loss of my fresh pot of coffee. I soaked up as much as I could and drove away coffeeless.
I was headed south toward Sacramento through the Sacramento Valley. Mountains were on the horizon on both sides off in the distance. The valley is wide with ideal growing conditions. Orchards of fruit trees went on for miles. I wasn’t sure what sort of fruit tress any of them were. I wished that they had put up signs like the olive growers that I passed through proudly did.
When I got close to Sacramento I pulled into another rest stop to regroup. I needed to look up where some things were. I needed to get the bus an oil change. It was way overdue. I’d been having trouble finding a place to do it. There don’t have diesel motorhome Jiffy Lubes. I found an RV place that was booked for the day, but the commercial truck part of the business could get me in at 3:30. That would give me some time to take care of some other things before the appointment. I wanted to get fog lights that I could install myself so I had a redundant lighting system on the bus. That way I would have a back-up to my failing headlights. I located a Wal-Mart close to Sacramento Truck. I’ve learned through my time living in Wal-Mart parking lots that there is almost always a cheap haircut place next door, if not inside like the one in Billings Montana where I got my last haircut. Coincidently, Melanie, my old room-mate…best friend…and wife for awhile was now in living in Sacramento volunteering with Americorp. I sent her a text to see if she was free for lunch, but didn’t hear back. I made breakfast and a second pot of coffee and then headed into Sacramento carefully minding my precious black gold elixir
I found the Wal-Mart where I could park and take care of business. Priority one was to check out the In-N-Out Burger. I’d head of it, but never tried it. As a cownnoisseur I was excited and obligated. It was great. I give them an A+ for fast food, excellent customer service and fast. The double double was so good that my stomach was climbing up my throat, almost rudely impatient to devour the next bite. Euphoric with meat I headed to Super Cuts right next door to Wal-Mart. Henry Ngyun cut my hair with skill, precision and attention to detail. He even gave me headlight advice. I went next door and picked up a set of fog lights, then went to the bus for a well deserved shower.
I found the truck shop very easily. They seemed confused that a motorhome was on the truck side of the shop, but I told them that I was told they could do it. They said they could and I proceeded to wait. Eventually I got in. Waiting was easy. I was right at home, literally. They weren’t supposed to let me stay in my vehicle, but let me anyway. Dennis took good care of the bus. Times are tough; it was his first day of work since January. We talked of traveling. He’d been a truck mechanic for 30 years. He’d never been east of Colorado and was thinking about becoming a truck driver. He changed my fuel filters along with the oil and found a hornet’s nest in my air filter, so he replaced that too. I was in the shop for 2.72 hours according to them. That’s a lot of labor at a commercial truck shop. The bill was high, but it felt great having the bus ready for Yosemite, Death Valley and the Grand Canyon.
By the time I left it was dark and I still had bad headlights. I could have had them look at it, but for $119 an hour labor I opted to not bring it up. I hadn’t heard from Melanie. I believed she lived close by and was hoping to get a space in her parking lot. I decided to try sleeping near the truck shop. It was in an industrial area with many long empty roads. Most businesses were closed and it was very quiet. If it worked it would be a new addition to my “places to park for free” list. Rest stops, truck stops, large retailers, casinos, public land and now, industrial parks. I felt safe, but put the bus on maximum security alert just in case. I locked up tight, set my $1.98 Shopko clearance door alarms and ran the gun drill through my head. I left everything in the bus ready on ready to roll status. All I had to do was start the engine and drive away. I watched a little free, over the air digital TV and feeling right at home went to bed.