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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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2 RV's to FL, 1 to Ocala, 1 to Fort Myers ... spending the night at O'Fallen MO Breakfast, bacon instead of bacon/sausage patties. Juice was just water, but then I tried it again and it worked. Juice machine must have just been connected and not run or something. We pull out a few minutes after 7 AM, it is still dark. Cold but no frost, yet. 1st stop is Forest City to pick up our RV's. We are there before 8 AM and people are already there and picking up. I think there were at least a dozen of us there at one time. Ours were easy to find, they were two of a very few big RV's. The rest are all class B / Sprinter sized. I hadn't been looking over my RV long when I noticed a sound that shouldn't be there. It sounded like a shaver running, it would go off when I shut the RV off but come back on again when I re-started it. I went in and talked to the dispatcher about it, but there was a steady line of drivers coming and going so I had to go back in later. Again they said they would be right out, but there was someone behind me and it wasn't right out. Dispatcher looked all over and finally suggested I take out a couple of screws while they call the shipper. I locate the problem when someone from the shipper arrives. Now we know the source of the problem, but not what to do. Then dispatch gets involved again, I get the OK to run as is. A little bit later I get the OK to take the piece apart if it starts buzzing again. It had stopped when we were looking at it. All this took an extra half hour. BB also had a crack in her table top that turned out to be a crack in the protective coating that will be torn off at the delivery. One of the other drivers mentions to a few people that Casey's is closed. I don't hear why but when we go past I see that it is dark inside. 2nd stop is the Pilot in Clear Lake for fuel. 40 gallons for each of us. A three cents discount makes a difference on that amount. I need to try to get my cards working again. Sometimes I just don't use one, this time we are both using BB's. Wind. Helped my mileage getting to Clear Lake. Now we are heading south and mostly into the wind. This new equipment needs perfection. Maybe 10 miles down the road we loose our cruise, because the wind hits the radar sensors. So no cruise for the next 100 miles. Hold on with both hands and try to maintain a constant speed. 3rd stop is the Subway at Casey's in Center Point. Same as last week. Slower crew at Subway, we ate outside again. This time I use the cruise going through Cedar Rapids, but kick it off once we hit the open road. Doesn't make a difference. The system errors and shuts the cruise off so I can't re-set it even though it was not on. And even though the radar says it is not on, so the cruise can't work. When I cam up behind someone that was turning, the warning sounds and breaks came on. ??? 4th stop is the Flying J in Wayland MO for fuel. Quick in and out. Winds seem to have died down a little. Nope, I loose the cruise again after about 30 miles, 110 to go without cruise. Ended up loosing BB going through Hannibal but we have been this way enough that she knows where to go. I slowed and saw her once again coming through town but she hit another light and I didn't see her for a while. When I was driving slow so she would catch up, my mpg went up over 10. Most of the trip it has been 8 something. Sun is setting. But we get to the motel just before it does. Lots of room to park. My buzzer is back on so I go back and take it apart. Ahhh, quiet. 5th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in O'Fallon MO (not O'Fallon IL, we will go through that in about 40 miles) We check in and call for to-go food at the Mexican place two doors down. Good food, not quite as much too much. But no plastic wear, I go down and ask the front desk but they don't have any ... just about back to our room and I remember that I should have just gone out to the RV, I have weeks worth in my stuff. But now I am back up three flights of stairs and eat with a knife instead. We plan out tomorrow, five stops for 500 miles. We have also looked at where we can stop if we don't make the 500 miles, and there ae lots of places to stop. IF we make the 500 tomorrow, then it is less than 500 miles on Monday to my drop. I'll drop Tuesday AM and then BB will drop four hours later ... somehow we will make it happen. It doesn't help that the airport is 30 miles out of route. Load board US - 143 IA - 30 MN - 2 WI - 2 NC - 5 201018 IA-FL 2 RV's to FL, 1 to Ocala, 1 to Fort Myers ... spending the night at Chattanooga TN For BB, yesterday there was coffee in our room, but no cups. Today there was cups but no decaf coffee. When we went down for breakfast there were pastries. That's it. I start my RV and realize I do not have any marker or tail lights. I have BB double check. Everything was working last night ... ... until I disconnected the buzzing. Yep. I connected it back up but I didn't want to have that going off my whole trip. Played with it and found that it only buzzed with the lights on. So, off go the lights and I am legal and safe. We got going a little after sun up. Sun was up enough so that our sun visors worked. Traffic was very light on a Sunday AM. I guess I got a better look at downtown St Louis than I have for a while. It looks like they have put an aquarium in the old Union train station. And now the Greyhound station is about two blocks from the train station. A few years ago where ever the Greyhound station was, I was advised to stay in the station when I got off the bus and a taxi driver would come in and get me when they got there. NOT a good part of town. 20 miles or so down the road we are coming up to a weigh scale, I can't remember how much I weigh so I go to look at my phone and see there are messages from home. Scale is closed but I stop at the next rest area to read and respond to my messages. If we had gotten a good first run this month, we would have been home by now and off the road the rest of the month. But instead we have done three trips instead of one. Not sure how the money is going to compare. 1st (real) stop is at the Hucks/Flying J in Mount Vernon for the restroom. That first leg of the trip was our only one today over 100 miles. After seeing the Road Rangers again this month, I was wondering if they were going to expand or just stick with their original purchase. Expand. There is a new station just south of Marion that should open soon. (just looked it up and they will be opening the station yet this year and just opened one in AR) 2nd stop was the Pilot in Paducha for fuel at Pilot and then across the side street to the Charley's for a Cheese Steak. Pilot was not a big lot, but I had looked online and we should have been able to get in and out and we did. Did have someone pull in with a long trailer and kind of block me in, but I was putting in 30 gallons so they were gone before I got done. At the Pilot I noticed a sticker on the pump for One9 credit cards. I had seen the billboard before for it and had looked it up but saw it was mostly Speedway stations plus some Mom-n-Pop places. Now looking it up again I see that it was started by Flying J. Still not sure how it all works. Traffic wasn't bad today so we were able to drive across the street to Charley's without issue. Good sandwich. We ate outside, it didn't seem too cold at first but then the wind picked up. We were there 11:30 to noon and did not see anyone else come for a sandwich. Not sure how long these places can stay in business. Somewhere this AM someone passes us with an RV from our company. I didn't think it was the same driver that we talked to at the lot but we found out later it was. 3rd stop was in Clarksburg at the rest area. Nashville wasn't too bad. First I saw the big screen and then the fans in the stands at the football game. Slow traffic but we know what lanes to be in and traffic doesn't come to complete stop. 4th stop is in Christiana for a rest break. Here we see the same RV again and talk to the drive for a minute. Just past where we turn into the truck stop there is a sign that says "Your GPS is WRONG. This is not a truck route." Earlier today we saw a sign that said 'Do not detour, road is open.' That was likely in response to BB's mapping software that said this road was closed and routed us way out of the way until I looked on my computer and saw the road was open. Christiana has a Cheesestake place that is good but we just ate. As we go to leave there is an oversized load at the bottom of the ramp, plus tire parts all over the ramp so we have to jump right into traffic with no merge lane. We did. BB had seen online that there would be slow traffic before Chattanooga and there was. It likely took us an extra half to an extra hour to make the last 89 miles. 1st the other RV driver passed us. Then in the stop and go we passed them and go at least a quarter of a mile ahead before they caught up and past us. WOW new Fords. Coming down the 'mountain' my RV held my speed right at 55 mph and my rpms right at 2,000. 1st time ever for a Ford. I like it. 5th and final stop is at Chattanooga at the Quality Inn. It may have been this way last time also but the back half of this hotel has been converted to another hotel. We had driven through that part of the parking lot last time and it looked like long term low income housing. We parked right next to one of the mixers that came out of Dodge Center, but with a different company. The sun had set by the time we got to the motel. We looked at walking to a new cafe but it would have taken longer than walking to Wendy's. We did Wendy's. I got a new name there 'Gym.' BB got a single and I got chili, a potato and small chicken sandwich. Way more than I needed. I would have gotten a cookie too but they were out. Fuel mileage has gone from 7 to almost 10 mpg for me and over 10 for BB without the wind. I'll need to put a little more fuel in tomorrow. This time I am not filling ahead but waiting until almost 'E' to put in enough to get me to the drop. I should leave less fuel in it that way. Doing the math, we aren't going to have much extra time on Tuesday between drops so we may end up getting a local car for me in Ocala, BB will head to her drop and I will go pick her up, get the one way rental and then drop the 1st one. It will cost a little more but will save valuable time and also extra miles on her RV. It is Sunday, not change on the load board. 201019 IA-FL 2 RV's to FL, 1 to Ocala, 1 to Fort Myers ... spending the night at Ocala FL Breakfast was a choice of three kinds of pastries and juice that tasted like water (I ended up dumping the juice) My pastry had lots of frosting/sugar on top. We got going right as the sun was coming up, 8 AM local. We had parked right next to a trailer piled with trash bags. Today as we are walking to our RV's we realize that the trash isn't likely from the motel. It looks more like the trash that was picked up along a highway. As we headed out, I could not remember if we would be taking a left or a right to get on the freeway. I could see a sign a ways back, but the arrow part of the sign was hidden by another sign until we were almost across from it. I picked left and it was a left turn. 1st stop - a half hour down the road and I can see BB is flashing her lights at me. I 4-way back and pull off at the rest area. She has a check engine light on. We use the rest room first. Sometimes its hard to remember which door you came in when you are stopping every few hours :) Light is still on when we get back to our RV's so BB had to wait until the office opens in IA. They say run with it but check in later. As we are leaving dispatch calls me back about my issue with the buzzer. 2nd stop is Emerson at a Loves. BB ended up passing me because of my radar and cruise. I didn't notice I had slowed down and she got tired of driving 55-60. We pulled into the car area of the station and did find a place to park but it was crowded. Quick rest room stop. No major issues going around Atlanta today. Traffic was sometimes thick but we both know where we are going and know when to get over and how far. 3rd stop was in Byron for fuel and food. Another small station at the gas pumps. I was going to try and pull in beside BB but that would have been too tight of fit. I had looked at another station last night where we could have driven an RV between the cars at the pumps. Big difference. After we are done fueling we pull around to the truck parking and there are lots of open spots back there. Ordered at Arby's and ate outside. This location still had the chicken salad sandwich so that is what I got. Somewhere today I was behind a travel trailer and heard when I hit something on the road. Then I saw lots of stuff on the road ... and a smoking tire on his trailer as he headed for the shoulder. Later there was a semi jackknifed on the median in the on coming traffic. That back up was 2 miles and growing. Before that there was a place where a van had gone over the median cables with his front tires, but got hung up on the back tires. Now a tow truck was trying to load him. Not sure how that was working. See lots more cars with missing tires down here. Maybe they don't remove them as fast. Also saw one pickup with those huge tires that had lost a front tire, almost makes the opposite tire go off the ground. 4th stop is at a rest area near Lenox for a restroom break. First time this trip I have to cross the scale. GA has the on road scales that are 'exit only if directed' and we got past those. Enter into FL and I get flagged off. BB does not. I have to stop on the scale so they can weigh me and then I go. No one else is getting weighed. I think whoever just wanted a better look at my RV. Next is the fruit inspection station. Must have been shift change or something. The line got awful long before it started moving again. I just got the thumb's up and no questions. 5th stop is near Lake City FL at a rest area. Back at Bryon I had had a range of 50 miles and thought I was putting in enough fuel for 250 more miles. So my range should have been 300. It was 350 when I got done fueling so I was kicking myself for putting in too much fuel. NOW I am loosing range as is BB. My mpg is up to 10 but the range keeps going down. When we pull out I decide to watch my range even closer, we have 70 miles to go and I should be getting 10 mpg. And my range should drop the same as miles traveled. It doesn't. I am loosing 12 miles for every 10 I drive at that rate I will have a range of less than 20 by tonight. I decide to slow down and I only loose 11 miles for every 10 I drive. But once the low fuel light comes on I start gaining again. I end up with a 30 mile range when I get to the motel. The fuel station is less than a half a mile down the street and then another mile to my drop after I fuel. While we were at the last rest area BB calls dispatch again. Her check engine light is still on ... AND she got behind a truck and heard a crack but couldn't see it while driving. Not sure why she looked on the side, but it had hit and cracked the side window. Not her trip. 6th and final stop is at the Sleep Inn. Truck parking is on the street or in the restaurant next door. We find a place in the lot. Once we are checked in we order online from Sonny's BBQ next door. Our other choices were Taco Bell or Cracker Barrel. There were also supposed to be two Cuban places but I don't see the buildings where they are pegged online. Not sure our plan for tomorrow. I will drop, she will call to get her RV in somewhere to get looked at. Sometime we need to pick up our car by the drop she is not going to make. Most likely we will be dropping the RV at a dealer and leaving it. It is rare that a place will look at it when we drive up. The trip that had been in FL going to SC is gone. Now there is just a FL-FL 100 mile run. There are now three runs in SC going to MO but BB is done for this trip so if we take any it will be just one and she will likely follow in the rental car. Cheaper that way. We should be able to pick up on Thursday and drop on Friday. It is a 700 mile run. IF we do that one we should be home on Sunday AM. Sounds like it might be snowing before we get back to MN. Load board. US - 140 IA - 29 MN - 5 (same 4 still to Omaha) WI -0- NC - 8 The run I am looking at will add about 200 miles to our trip home. There is a truck in GA that wouldn't be out of route to pickup but is 600 miles out of route to drop. We don't need to decide until Wednesday before we get to ATL. 201020 IA-FL 2 RV's to FL, 1 to Ocala, 1 to Fort Myers (both delivered) ... spending the night at Ocala FL Muffin sandwiches to nuke, that is what we had from the front desk. Better than nothing. Before we leave the motel this AM, BB had to do her (least) favorite thing. She has to make phone calls. She has to call the dealer help line so they can locate a repair shop. And then call the repair shop to set up a time. Her check engine light is still on. Left the room at 8:30 AM local. Less than one mile to go in a half hour. 31 mile range this AM to go one more mile. I was OK. One block to the gas station, found an open pump, but in the correct amount of dealer fuel and was just turning in the drive at 9 AM. New place, not on the map yet. It has 'horse rail fence' around it like the neighboring farms. 2nd stop the drop. I didn't see their little sign, just the one painted on the street. Turns out I parked in the correct place. From there to the office was quite a walk. Someone helped me right away to find the correct person. I left them my paperwork and went back out to my RV. It was a long half hour before anyone came out. Once they started looking at it, it was about 15 minutes and they were done, signed and we were gone. I'm done. It's been a while since BB has had the longer run, but she wanted the shorter RV so this was the trade off. Somewhere this AM there was a cop on the side of the road with it's lights off. (so we didn't have to get over) And BB couldn't get over because there was a truck right beside her. As soon as we were past the cop, the truck started coming into our lane so BB hit the shoulder ... but she couldn't do that for long because there was a disabled vehicle on the shoulder that we were coming up on real fast. Luckily the truck got back in it's lane until it completely passed us. 3rd stop was a rest area near Ruskin 4th stop was at Pilot and then Wendy's in Punta Gorda for fuel and food. Pilot had an Arby's but they had a very small lot, lots of room for cars but no room to park an RV. So we went next door to Wendy's where there was more room to park. Arby's had had outdoor tables but here we had to sit on the steps of our RV, again. At this point we were in no hurry, check engine light is still on so we are heading to the repair shop to drop the RV. We hadn't asked what time they closed but usually late. BB's fuel range was going down faster than the miles. She too had thought she had overfilled yesterday and now today she added another 7 gallons. A few miles down BB notices the check engine light is off. Now we need to hurry to still make delivery today. She had written down the info for the repair shop but not the dealer. Because of how late it was getting we were talking about going to the drop first and taking a taxi to get our car. Then I decided to look at which exit we would want for the drop and the airport. The one thing I hate about Google Maps is the highway numbers stay the same size no matter how much you zoom in. And for what ever reason I could not get the exit numbers to show at all. I look up and see an airplane on a sign ... on the ramp that we had already past. We missed our exit. BB had written down the correct number but remembered it wrong. Five miles extra each way and we are already short on time. The airport is 10 miles past her drop so we are now back tracking. Pilot for fuel and then get to the drop a half hour before last call. We made it. They will take it, but it takes a while for someone to come out and inspect it. No damage other than what we already knew. It is 4 PM by the time we start heading home. Looking at the rental agreement we see that our price is only good for the days we rented it. Anything longer is a higher rate and a mileage charge. So we are heading straight home. Not sure if this type of agreement is a one time, one location deal or how things will be in the future. This car is brand new, about 5 miles on it at pickup. A new Toyota but things have changed. Besides style and location of switches, this one also has the radar and lane assist that some of the RV's have. BB drove first and thought the tires were bad. I had only driven it for a few minutes and realized it wasn't the tires, it was the lane assist. If I wasn't right in the center of the lane the assist would kick in and get me back to the center. Very little wiggle room so the assist was on more than it was off. It may be great for narrow lanes but I shut it off as soon as I realized what the cause was. And there is nothing good on the load boards heading home. The loads to MO were gone early in the AM and nothing new was ever added today out of NC. FL runs came and went but nothing good. And nothing good out of GA. Now 1,800 miles in three days plus stops. It can be done but no extra stops or sleeping in. Just north of Tampa was stop first at Chic-fil-A but the line of cars is all the way around the building and the counter is not open. There is even a sign to not block the exit from the drive thru (the line won't move if they can't get out) So we went to a Stake and Shake close by. Counter was open so we went inside to order and use the restrooms. Nope. We could order, but they have boarded off the whole seating area so no restrooms. Just a few places to sit while you wait for your order. Good food :) just burgers this time. Because there were not open restrooms we had to stop at the next rest area which was San Antonio. Back to Ocala for the night but this time two exits closer to home at a Comfort Inn. It is well after dark but we don't want an extra day on the car. It was 85 degree's here when people started sending us pictures of snow at home ... hope the farmers got their crops off that they needed too. Load board US - 132 IA - 40 MN - 1 WI - 3 201021 IA-FL 2 RV's to FL, 1 to Ocala, 1 to Fort Myers (both delivered) ... spending the night at Oak Grove KY Breakfast was a pastry and a package of Fruit Loops. When I eat cereal I usually eat twice as much as was in one of those packages. Oh well, I am not starving. Left out about sunrise. 1st stop was in Lake Park GA at a Flying J for fuel. Half the pumps were taped off but the rest seemed to be working without issue. Hadn't planned on going in but I needed a receipt. 2nd stop was Byron (again) for Arby's. This time I got a cheesestake as they are easier to eat. No issues going through downtown Altanta, slowed a little but mostly at the posted. 3rd stop was at a rest area near Adairsville GA. Another quick stop. Yikes, going through Chattanooga through road construction I was way over the speed limit and felt like I was a sitting duck. I prefer the bumper to bumper. Why does someone bother putting up signs if they are never enforced? Make work? And I had another 'where did they come from' moment. We are going up one of the steeper climbs and I am watching the traffic come up behind me. I am in the left lane passing a truck that is passing a truck. When I am ready to pull back in the middle lane, there is one car and one truck behind me. I watch in the mirrors as I pull over, I'm clear. A moment later I see a car in my mirror right behind me, all three trucks are still behind me ??? It's not the same car that was in the left lane and this driver looks like he is trying to tell me something in sign language. There is guard rail here so not likely he was passing on the shoulder. 4th stop was in Christiana for fuel and food. Phillies, very good. Way too big to eat while I drove so we sat for a few minutes. ... and again in Nashville. This time it was a city bus that was within about six feet of my bumper before they could get over. And I was going the speed limit. One of these days we aren't going to be so lucky. Driving legal is more dangerous that 'going with the flow.' Saw lots of cops today, most of them working. Only saw two people in hand cuffs. Saw other places where there were 2-3 squad cars per victim. I think it was south of Atlanta we saw a five mile backup in the oncoming traffic. Looked like just a fender bender. Most of the day the speed limit was 70 and most of the day we were at or close to the speed limit. Not too many slow downs. We kept watching the load board. Slow day again. Nothing out of NC until we were past Chattanooga and then there were six going down to FL. We did see a couple of our buses from CA heading to FL this AM. Also mixers, RV's and an Amazon van. Sounds like we got plenty of snow at home, 85 again today for our travels. Still issues waiting to greet me at home. Load board US - 143 IA - 23 MN - 3 WI - 3 BB has gone to bed before me and decided the fan noise was too loud and we need to move. It is 10 PM. It wasn't really the fan, it seemed like the fan was doing a 'tap tap tap' and not blowing any air. We tried opening the window but we could hear the engine breaks of the trucks and tires squealing of sports cars. I call the desk clerk and they are right up with a new set of keys. When I open the door for them, they ask what 'this is?' Earlier tonight there had been a knock on our door. I don't open the door unless I know who is there, no one is there so I don't open. Now that I do open, an hour or two later, there is someone's food sitting at my door. If you are doing no contact delivery, make sure you are at the right door. We get to our new room on the same floor, no issues. Just a late night getting into bed. 201022 IA-FL 2 RV's to FL, 1 to Ocala, 1 to Fort Myers (both delivered) ... spending the night at Charles City IA Breakfast. A cup of fruit and a pastry. We left AT 7:30 local. Sun was just coming up, lots of dew on the windows. Today we headed back through the area where BB's computer said the road was closed a few days ago. People would have been good to have taken a detour today. Not sure what was going on as there was traffic coming in the oncoming lanes the whole time. But there was one place where the traffic was stopped and the only truck moving looked like he was traveling over a rock bed. Barely moving and rocking from side to side. After him there were miles of backup. People out of their cars and trucks. One <> three year old was behind the wheel and 'dad' was out in front of the car waving his hands. Looked like both were having a good time. Another thing we had noticed before the backup was 1st one truck was traveling on the closed road, then a 2nd truck, same style, had two cops escorting it down the closed road ... and later we saw a third truck that style on the closed road. There were not any cops at the site of the beginning of the slow down. Saw a couple later that were just doing their usual. 1st stop today was two hours down the road at Whittington at a rest area. It is in the area of Rand Lake, a man made 19,000 acre lake in a state park. Today we follow the computer and it is one mile and two minutes faster to go I-70 instead of I-64. Wow. What a difference. I-64 goes through downtown and everything we can see is 'good.' The first few miles of I-70 in MO are the bad section of town. Lots of vacant buildings, graffiti on open and vacant buildings, some of the words are 20 foot high. High barbwire fences, trash. And just an old area, old style buildings left or being used as is. 2nd stop was in Troy for fuel at the 66 and food at the Lions Choice. Lions Choice was drive thru only. Interesting. It is attached to the gas station and they took out the car wash and now the line for the drive thru goes through the old car wash. Ordering screens are inside the car wash. :) We both got the same thing, BB with hot, really hot, peppers and me with mild. We didn't realize that we needed to ask for everything we wanted on it so it was kind of dry. No mayo or sauce of any kind. Lions Choice is like an Arby's or Rax. 3rd stop was back at Wayland for a rest break I had thought we would try to not stop any place the same on the way back. Later we realized there is a good reason for that. If we are stopping the same places both down and back, we might just take the same turns we did last time and end up going the wrong direction. 85 degrees three days in a row. I wasn't paying attention before that. It is still 85 all the way up to IA. Then the temps kind of held steady for the next hour plus until we got to the 1st Iowa City exit. 82 degrees. 20 miles/20 minutes later it was 62 degrees. Two hours later it was 39 degrees. Yikes. 4th stop is at the rest area just south of Cedar Rapids. We had planned on stopping for food but it was only 4:30 and it had been a big sandwich at noon so just the rest area for now. 5th stop was in Waterloo at a Burger King drive thru for two Whopper Jr's. We needed something and it was now getting close to 6 PM. We try not to eat any later than that and Burger King was the closest thing to the freeway. Easy off, easy on. 6th and final stop was the Sleep Inn in Charles City. It's dark and raining and cold. Everything seems to be working tonight. BB was watching the load board today. Out of NC there was a truck to AZ, two to MI. More short buses out of KS. Lots of this and that that we could make work if we wanted to stay out. But was we are talking we realize we need to start watching our income for other reasons. Even though we took three months off for Covid, we have still earned way more this year than we did last year at this time. BB also spent a bit of time looking to see where cars were cheaper and how to best do another trip like this. We have about 4 hours home and we have to have the rental car back by 1 PM. Shouldn't be an issue but I haven't looked at the weather yet. Load board US - 144 IA - 23 MN - 5 WI - 2 A few days ago, most of the trips on the IA board were non-towable/extra money. Today only two are non-towable. There had been lots of pairs of RV's during the day but tonight there are two pairs, one pair to Glacier and one pair to OH. 201023 IA-FL 2 RV's to FL, 1 to Ocala, 1 to Fort Myers (both delivered) ... spending the night at home Breakfast was hot biscuits and gravy. Or we could have nuked a sandwich. Or had good yogurt. I took yogurt, but it didn't 'puff' when I opened it, and then I saw where something was where it should have sealed. So I didn't eat it. 7:30 AM and we were rolling. 1st stop is at the Pilot for fuel, 45 minutes from the motel. Gas is still under $2. 2nd stop is the office/lot to pick up our van. Temps are down in the 30's. Three drivers are getting ready to leave. A few RV's in the lot and lots of RV's at the shipper waiting. Once in the van I stop for fuel, it would have been cheaper a few days ago before we left if we had bought it in Clear Lake. We had seen a few flurries after we had fueled in Clear Lake, a few more in Forest City. Once we got to the Iowa Minnesota border there was snow on the ground. 3rd stop was at the cemetery, usually I walk and take pictures but need to change my grave marker list so I can view my list on my new phone. So I hadn't gotten out of the van when BB called. We pick up a sandwich and head home. We'll be home for a couple of weeks. Not sure if we will try to drive local or not. Load board US - 119 IA - 17 MN - 1 WI - 2 |
