President Obama's last scheduled stop on the three-day bus tour took him to a fire station in Chesterfield, Virginia.

"If the bell goes off, just ignore me and do your thing," Obama said.

That admonition rang more like a plea than much else. Obama sounded tired -- giving the same speech he's delivered multiple times in several locations, the vim in Chesterfield just wasn't there.

"All of us I think are mindful of the fact that the economy is not where it needs to be," he said, somewhat robotically.

Gone were the fiery tones, the slight southern twang, the rousing mock-outrage at balky Republicans back in unlamented Washington. Even the applause at the event, piped in live to the White House, sounded a little listless.