Needed the alarm to wake us up.

This is a MicroTel so not the same breakfast we are used to. That was OK by me, I was still stuffed from last night. One cup of yogurt was enough. All that was missing here was the hot food, eggs and sausage. Other than that, a full spread.

We got going by 7 AM, just as it was getting light. The 'crew' people were gone ahead of us.

1st stop is the Road Ranger, sign on the door says they no longer take Pilot/Flying J cards. We had gotten a notice from our company about that. Road Ranger is now owned by a company out of Chile. Road Ranger alone is the 4th largest truckstop chain. The Boss Shops are really getting spread out. They started out just as the former Flying J repair shops. Then when Pilot and Flying J merged, they had to sell off some of their locations. So Loves ended up with a few Boss Shops, at some point Road Ranger changed their shops to Boss Shops.

1st scale in IA is open, we have to cross and leave. Someone else was getting a detailed inspection, the officer was busy checking under a guys hood when we went by.

A few crashed cars left in the ditch. One place later was a semi trailer in the median, The top was split open and the trailer had been emptied ... and they left the skidsteer from the cleanup parked in the trailer.

The former Clarion in Cedar Rapids is now the Ramada. We haven't been this way since the change so we haven't stopped there. Likely will if the timing works out.

New Pilot just south of Cedar Rapids since the last time we were through. There is a Casey's and Kwik Trip at the same exit.

At the intersection of 380 and 80 it looks like they are going to get rid of the clover leafs and do the up and over style intersection. That is what is needed in Woodbury where 94, 494 and 694 come together.

2nd stop was the TA/I80 truckstop. We went for the buffet, should have gone for fast food. Besides the buffet and restaurant this place also has 4 fast food places and a sub shop where you pay for the diesel. Food was just getting set up, buffet doesn't start until 11:15 so we ended up taking 45 minutes instead of a half hour.

Then we fueled at the TA, gas was a few cents cheaper. Didn't waste the time to use my BP discount. I only get the discount on the first 20 gallons, then the pump shuts off and I have to swipe a different card or it locks me out for suspicious usage. Couldn't get my card in to swipe, I was starting to think I had to tell it what type of charge it was before I could swipe ... then I realized that someone had left their credit card in the pump. I called the fuel desk and they sent someone out to get the card.

This was moving their gas pumps the last times we were here. Now they have an area just for RV's and trailers ... good to know.

Scale at the IA/IL line was open today too, but we are under 8 ton so we by passed.

Lots of little changes along the road, without looking I'd say it's been over a year since we've been this way.

Next stop is Morton at a Mobil station. It as a few parking spots and wasn't too busy today.

The next stop was going to be the Pilot, then we changed it to the welcome center. Then saw that gas was still cheap at a Loves at that exit ... price had gone up 25 cents vs what was showing online. Still stopped and fueled at Pilot. Good we did as it has gone up in Lebanon also. Also bad that we did ... between that fueling and taking the extra 15 minutes for lunch we are going to be driving in the dark.

Before we left, BB made the reservation. She got nervous when she saw the Comfort Inn in Crawfordsville was full. That was to be our stop if we couldn't make it to Lebanon.

We made it at last light. Hard to make 500 miles on these short days. If the ice hadn't been coming behind us, we would have waited and picked up this AM and had an extra day to deliver.

BB was watching the weather all day. We were staying just ahead of the storm and then we finally dropped south enough that we were out of the warning area. All we had was mist, never had the wipers on full.

Once at the Econo Lodge they didn't have our reservation, BB had forgotten to hit the final 'CONFIRM.' But when we pulled there wasn't any cars on one side of the building and only one truck out back. So lots of rooms. Speaking of lots of rooms, when we left the motel this AM, the motel across the street from where we stayed didn't have any, -0- cars in the lot other that the one for the desk clerk.

The closest food was Subway, Taco Bell across from that, that is where we went. I usually walk across the street to the Steak and Shake but BB didn't want to cross the street. There is also a Arbey's next to the Steak and Shake.

It'll be another push to make 500 miles tomorrow.

No big numbers on the IA board yet. But CA has been putting out long runs. Today 6 - 2,800 mile runs from CA to FL. And no one grabbed them right away ... and we are still heading east.