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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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230222 IA-SC 2 RV's to Greer SC ... spending the night at Batesville IN BB had the alarm set for 5:30 but is up at 5 AM. When I wake up at 5:30 we decide to skip breakfast and leave at 6 AM. The weather warning has been moved to start at 6 AM instead of 9 AM. Not a good start to the day, the front desk clerk is somewhere cleaning rooms and when there are finally three of us waiting, one of us gets the cook to go look for them. Not sure why they thought checkout time was a good time to clean. I'm first in line and they have to look up to see that I am being billed for the correct room which all takes time. BB is walking in to look for me when I'm finally walking out. I notice something on my windshield early on but realize it is salt spray. Within the hour it starts to rain and I kick off the cruise. We had agreed to stop in Cedar Rapids if it took two hours to get there, it only took one. The temp dropped from 33 to 31 and it was still raining when we got to Davenport. 1st stop was the Loves in Davenport for fuel. Plan had been to eat breakfast here because we skipped breakfast this AM. But the storm is still dropping south and we want to get out of the area before it gets worse. Over half the day we are driving under the speed limit because of the heavy rains. We did see three cars and one semi in the ditch which were likely caused by the heavy rains. 2nd stop was in Morton at the Stake-n-Shake. 10:30 local. We are their only customers, inside. When we left we saw that there was a line at the drivethru. Not sure why but it took 45 minutes today. One of the dispatchers called while I was driving, they did not leave a message. They/he is the MN dispatcher but right now they have more trips out of GA, WI and other places than out of MN. I haven't called them back. 3rd stop was at Oakwood at the Loves for fuel. We went through Indy close to rush hour and not much of a slow down. BB enjoyed not watching her fuel gauge this trip. Last trip she was on 'E.' 4th stop was at the Loves in St Peter for ... to decide how far we want to go yet tonight. We had planned on stopping at a place we already past, but that was before we got going at 6 AM. Now the wind has picked up so we still decide to call it a day, at the next town. 5th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Batesville. We walk two doors down and get Skyline Chili. Lots of staff. We order ours to go. I think it is better than any other fast food chili. BB wasn't impressed. Easy cooking. They put our chili in a cup and all the fixings are in individual containers. Both BB and I had the same thing. Basic chili. Next time I might try the one with noodles on it. Load board US - 306 IA - 161/157 MN - 2 WI - 17 Tomorrow we now have less than 500 miles to go so we should be near the drop overnight. We want to go west when we get back but I-80 is expected to be closed at least another two days and CA looks to be getting hit storm after storm which then head to WY. We could do back to back SC trips. There had been 8 to Greer when we took ours, those went quickly. Now tonight there are 10 more to Greer. We will likely hold out for southern CA or AZ. They could put out another 100 or two before we need to grab them for Sunday. 230223 IA-SC 2 RV's to Greer SC ... spending the night at Duncan SC Breakfast - eggs, sausage and yogurt. It is supposed to be eggs or yogurt but I seem to be back to getting both. Breakfast starts at 6 AM, we were there at 7 AM and it looked like we were the first person to take any eggs. I had noticed last night when we checked in there were only three reservations printed up. And only a half dozen cars in the lot when we left. We pull out at 7:30 local. 1st stop was at Sadieville at a Loves for fuel. Our discount didn't work again. Our first credit card only allows us three swipes. We did that and then switched credit cards and didn't worry about the discount. I had to go in for my receipt so I asked the clerk what the issue is. Their pumps have been updated with the software to ask for the app info, but those same pumps have not been updated to read the app info. We could come inside to get the discount, but then we have to pre-pay and guess as to how much fuel we are going to put in. Also, the rewards card is supposed to work, but that needs to be swiped before the credit card where the app is read after the credit card. 2nd stop was Corbin at Sonny's BBQ. BB writes down all our stops and then I just ask her when we leave the prior stop. I had asked back in Sadieville but hadn't written it down, so I was looking at the Sadieville exit number in a different state. :) ... I missed the exit, it didn't register in my mind even though I saw the Loves next door to our food. I realized as soon as I went over the overpass. Then BB started calling but it was not an emergency so I did not pull over until I got to the next exit four miles down the road. Food at Sonny's is good enough that I went back instead of BB following me to the next exit. Good food, again. But by BB calling me, we realized that my message box was full ... and the last message on my phone was from Dec 16. So it's been over two months that no one has been able to leave me a message and no one has said anything. 3rd stop was the rest area near Dandridge. Just past Dandridge there was a car in the ditch upside down that someone would have had to been cut out of if they were not thrown from it. It seems like the same spot we have seen a prior serious crash. 4th stop is Campobello at a Circle K, it is listed online on various lists as a Pilot and looks the part. We both put in more fuel than we needed. We may have 'just made it' to our final fuel stop without adding fuel. We looked at a lot of hotels but ended up back at our standby. 5th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Duncan. From there we walk two doors down to the Hardee's because they were advertising a Philly burrito. But that is for breakfast. So we had the Philly burger instead. Not bad. There is a new Indian place next door to the hotel in the old Waffle House building, but BB doesn't know Indian food well enough to try it on her own and I would have no idea what to order. Mostly sunny day today. Warm weather. Didn't notice any crazy drivers (lots of speeders) When we shut down at 5 PM it was 77 degrees. :) Load board US - 332 IA - 177/174 MN - 5 (3 that I would do) WI - 8 SC -0- NC - 4 Tomorrow We plan on being at the drop at 9 AM when they open, then head back to the mid-west. IF there is something before we are out of the area heading back to the mid-west, we may take it, but other than that ... we will be back Sunday AM. The other reason we would not have headed straight back was if this last storm was still hanging around or there was not any trips worth taking. 230224 IA-SC 2 RV's to Greer SC (delivered) 2 RV's to Seffner FL (Sunday) ... spending the night at Brownsburg IN Breakfast - no eggs or sausage. The apple juice was mostly water, the yogurt was outdated and BB said even the milk seemed watered down. Last evening we had shut the bathroom door for 'other reasons,' and when we went in later it smelled like smoke. There was no fan in the bathroom and our guess is someone was smoking in their bathroom and we all share a common vent system. I didn't notice it, but BB said the room had such an off odor that she was up during the night putting some other 'odor' next to her so she could sleep. Not likely that we will be staying here again. (And there are the place that never ask 'how was your stay?') We check out at 7:30. I am on the exit ramp when my low fuel light comes on. I could have put in a half gallon less of fuel :) BB's light also comes on before we get to the station. 1st stop is the Spinx for fuel. BB parks her RV and gets in mine. We head to the airport to pick up our rental car. Airport. 2nd (or 3rd) stop is the drop. It is 8:15 and they do not accept deliveries until 9 AM ... or so the sign says. I call and someone answers so I let them know I am early. Then I find out the guy in the pickup next to me works for the drop. And then I saw the check in guy and he said he'd get to us ASAP. By then BB was there, it didn't seem to take to take her as long today. Because it was still before 9 AM, I decided to walk to pick up the rental car before they started on my unit. It takes me a little over 10 minutes to walk back to Spinx and another five to drive back to the drop. After I am back, the inspector starts looking at my RV. We don't talk much because if we are talking, he is not inspecting. But he did say they had a new inspector start last Monday ... but he never came back. My RV was inspected by 9 AM and BB's by 9:30. We are on the road way before 12 noon today. Nothing new or good on the load board in the area so we are heading back to the mid-west. We needed to get to Louisville tonight to get home on Saturday night and we are running about two hours ahead of that. We sent each set of paperwork in as soon as our RV was inspected. We were paid within a half hour. Yesterday when we arrived near Greer, it was 78 degrees :) This AM it was about 60 degrees here ... and -10 at home. 1st stop was the North Carolina welcome center for the rest room. It allowed us to get most of an hour behind us before our first stop. 2nd stop was the Loves in Newport. We had planned on getting GodFathers pizza but they only had small family sized pizza's not the personal pan size that most locations have. So we ended up getting shelf food. I had a chicken salad sandwich and BB had a pulled chicken sandwich. In and out in 10 minutes. 3rd stop was the Willamsburg welcome center in KY. 4th stop was the Buc-ee's at Richmond for fuel. Gas was $2.59, cheaper than anywhere else. BB looked it up, this location has 120 fuel pumps. BB described the store as 'Walmart during the Christmas season.' Finally after noon, IA started putting trips on the load board. We/she looked at them and then at the weather. There is nowhere west that looks safe next week. Right now I am hearing from drivers that have sat for 3-4 days waiting to get across WY. AZ and WA aren't looking any better. Finally there are two for FL that will work. BB calls this time. We get the trips. And that was the end of what they added during the day. 5th stop was another rest area, this one in Henryville IN 6th and final stop was the Comfort Inn in Brownsburg. We have stayed at the Quality Inn across the freeway before but between the last few Quality Inn's we have stayed at and the reviews we upgraded for the night. BB ordered online, but mis-guessed what time we would get here. We got breakfast from Bob Evan's. After the office closed, IA added another 60 trips. Nothing better as we won't go to half of the country right now. Load board US - 393 IA - 231/229 MN - 4 WI - 6 FL -0- Tomorrow we plan on leaving about 7 AM. Short stops for fuel and food and we should be back in town by 4 PM. I need a quick stop at the clinic, if I miss that, we will head home for the night. If make the clinic before they close, we will head back in the direction of IA for the night. .. the trip continues HERE |
