Day 1--Friday Evening; Time to pick up the passengers!

It was 5pm and I was really nervous, running around back and forth from car to bus trying not to forget anything absolutely necessary, and leaving stuff that wasn’t. Of course I DID forget necessary stuff and brought stupid stuff nonetheless. I had been packing and repacking actually two hours before I was due at the bus barn.  The night before I spent more of my future earnings buying eye shades for daytime sleeping, some sturdier hiking shoes (my running shoes were already making my feet sore), new shorts and lightweight pants that aren’t from the 70’s, and some Keenes (water sandals) also suitable for trails. Oh well, spending money on myself is a treat once in awhile.

At 5pm Dave gave me a pep talk about everyone goes through first drive nerves, and he had me drive to SF to pick up the passengers—maybe he wanted to see how I drive but I prefer to think he wanted to show confidence in my driving. Actually this was enjoyable since I’ve driven GT busses across the Bay Bridge now 3 times (no sweat), but before this it was always a test of my navigation skills with a bus. This time the passenger was my co-driver, and he was helping direct me to the pickup point! Down to the Embarcadero, left turn on Washington, pickup at Montgomery at Columbus, and there they were waiting! I finally met Cassa, a driver (former teacher) who is also an office manager/agent and who had the passengers all organized and ready to go.

I was in charge of loading the luggage (Dave calls it ‘luggage tetris’) into one under-the-bus bay. Immediately one of the young German girls jumped in and helped, and eventually took over because she’s much shorter and more flexible to fit under the bus. I loved that. Dave took care of checking them in, collecting any money still outstanding, and briefing everyone on the bus, the arrangements, and the plan for the evening. He drove to an all-night Walmart in Dixon arriving at about 10pm. This is where they made the “miracle”: everyone gets out with their sleeping bags and absolute necessities, and all the flat areas and benches are made into platform beds, with the packs stored underneath. Now it’s a sleeping bus. It was my turn to start driving, and Dave went into the sleeper berth to try and catch a few winks. (When we’re too tired to drive there’s a radio to wake up the sleeper.) So off I drove and of course I missed the freeway entrance right off the bat, but it was an easy save and nobody noticed. All I had to do is drive east on I-80—how easy is that? I had music; I had snacks; lights were out in the bus and everybody was settling in to sleep.

All went well until Reno, where there was freeway construction and they narrowed the road into one lane barely big enough for a bus. This went on for about 20 miles, and it was nerve-racking. I had to go slow and be totally attentive. At least the road was well-lit and I could predict the curves between the cones. Ugh. Finally it opened up to 75 mph (when did the federal speed limit get lifted?). Not sure the policy on driving faster than 65mph, so I stuck to that just in case. Would ask Dave later. Three hours later it was high time to stop for a passenger pee break in Nevada somewhere. Though Dave gave me a handwritten list of potential bus stops and exit numbers, I found that reading the paper while driving and with the lights out was not going to work. So thanks to my handy Garmin Trucker GPS I found the same list of truck stops and a bonus because it also guides me to the stop off the freeway so I won’t turn the wrong way if I can’t see it. Yay! First stop uneventful, except Dave got on the radio (obviously not sleeping) and said I should turn off the coach lights and turn on the step lights only. Okay, figured out which unmarked button that was and all was good again.

Drove another 2 hours and stopped who-knows-where for the next break. My music kept me pretty alert, so I continued on for another 2 hours to Winnemucca, since I couldn’t remember where Dave said NOT to drive past as he wanted to drive into Elko. Anyway, by then it was 4:30am and I had no trouble trading places and went straight to sleep.