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Day 5

I woke up this morning, as usual, with Misty hogging my pillow. She managed to escape the hotel room 3 times while I was taking all our stuff from the room back to the bus. Every time I opened the door, she was right there waiting to make a break for it. Luckily, it was always when I was returning, so I had free hands and I could chase after her.

We headed south on HWY 101 to Interstate 58 East. We hit the mountains and it was pretty slow going, but there's no other way out of California without going through some kind of mountain range. The bus was down to 25 mph in some places. Eventually, we made it through with no major incidences. Halfway through the mountain ranges, I stopped at a truck stop for lunch and to let the engine cool down. I stayed there for a good hour or so, just relaxing and stretching. On the first trip up to the convenience store, I left the driver's window open and Misty escaped. Lucky for me, she didn't go very far. I found her in the bank of bushes right next to the bus. I caught her and put her back in, shutting the window and checking all the others. I went back outside the bus to add more oil. Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement, and, sure enough, Misty had played Houdini again. I couldn't figure out how she got out, since all the windows were up and I thought I had shut the door. The only thing I can think of is that she somehow squeezed through the front door (which is possible). I went back out to finish the oil. On my third trip back inside the bus, Misty was waiting for me just like at the Motel 6, right in front of the door. She darted out again, back to the same set of bushes as the first two escapes. I caught her again and put her inside.

I have now grown paranoid and I check for her every time I enter or leave the bus, and even sometimes just because I haven't heard her for a while. She has actually learned to answer to her name. I call out "Misty" and she meows back once. If all I'm doing is looking for her, I say "OK" and she goes back to whatever she was doing (usually sleeping). If I want her for something else, I ask her to "come here" and she eventually does.

After the truck stop, Misty and I moved out again. We made it all the way to Barstow before stopping for the night. Most of the trip was fairly uneventful. The bus was pretty sluggish over the steep grades, but she made it over in her own good time. I was hoping to be out of California by today, but as long as the bus is still moving, I'll take whatever forward motion I can get.

About 20 or so miles outside of Barstow, on I40, I stopped at a truck stop for the night. There is supposed to be a rest stop somewhere around here, but after the initial warning sign saying there was a rest stop 30 miles away, I didn't see any other indication, so when the truck stop appeared, I figured I'd stop there. I made my usual 3 nightly phone calls, took Misty for a walk around the truck stop for a change of scenery, and locked myself into the bus for the evening. Tomorrow I'll head for Needles and then outside California!

The view from my bus at the truck stop

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