No alarm this AM. We've got less than 300 miles to go and can't check into most motels until 3 PM.

Motel was loud, we thought the breakfast area would be packed from all the noise. Turned out there were just a couple of other people there. Only 1 yogurt so I left it for someone else. Had an egg and sausage instead.

Finally left the motel at 9 AM. Today was a day of BB missing the lights so we got separated a few times, leaving the motel was one of them.

Rain most of the day, fog part of the day, road construction part of the day.

Somewhere we saw an SUV, now the size of a Smart Car, crunched against the guard rail. Someone was standing next to it, no emergency vehicles around. Not sure if it just happened or if it happened a while ago and they were still waiting for a tow.

1st stop is for fuel, it is cheaper here so I plan on putting in fuel here and adding fuel later if I am running low. I get to the pump and am waiting for someone fueling. The hose is in the tank but no one around. Finally they come back out from the station with their cups of coffee. It looks like the pump must have shut off when the tank got full ... like it should. But the nozzle is still in the on position, they guy grabs it and pulls it out of the tank ... his timing was such that the pump kicked back on and he was running gas all the way from his tank to the pump. When I pulled up, because of all the rain, I had to stand in that water filled gas. I should have pulled closer to the pump so I could have stood on the curb. This was at a Pilot in Heiskell, TN. No food at this Pilot. Some of the Pilot's down here aren't truckstops, others are truckstops, but very small.

Another 90 miles and we were in Ashville. Plan had been to stop at a Pilot but have seeing this last one we decided to stop at an Outlet mall instead. Right as we got to where I-26 crosses I-40, traffic comes to a complete stop. Tanker one lane over from me had only a couple of feet between him and the one ahead of him by the time he got stopped. Later, in stop and go traffic I almost go rear ended by someone who had been following me for a while. This took most of a half hour to go the next five miles.

Road construction on the freeway, road construction on the side roads. Turns out this 'Outlet Mall' used to be a major mall until about five years ago. We found that out by talking to the security person patrolling the lot. They wanted to make sure we wouldn't be camping here over night.

We didn't know where we were going to eat, but there was a lot of places around the perimeter. Likely was stuff in the mall to, but that doesn't usually show on the highway maps. This mall was packed, guess it's doing much better than the 'major mall' that is still a major mall. We finally found a place to park, the lot was full in some area's. We walked across the street to Papa's Mexican, but they had a 15 minute wait, looked a lot longer than that. Then walked past the Shotgun buffet before heading to Ryans.' There still some that are open, they are owned by the same people as own Old Country Buffet.

We had a little wait as there was only one cashier. They did have a host to seat people as long as there was a line, later it was back to seat yourself. Food was OK, food was getting turned over quickly with this many people.

By the time we left it was raining again. I was soaked enough that I took my jacket off as not to get chilled. Lost BB again at the stop light, but with the road construction there was no place to pull off so I stopped at the first rest area, but by then she had caught up and past me. Within a few miles I was back ahead of her.

Miles and miles of 'No trucks left lane' and lower speed limit for the trucks. This is because of all the curves along the river, truckers aren't very happy to have to follow someone actually doing the speed limit. I don't understand why these truckers have no problem speeding but yet won't drive in a prohibited lane. Both are traffic laws.

Somewhere on this last leg, I hit a large pool of water while going across one of the high bridges. Not a good feeling to be hydroplaning ... at anytime. Not on a bridge ... not on a high bridge.

Got to the Quality Inn in Duncan, about 4 PM. We are about 5 miles from our drop, with a fuel range of about 58 miles. So I'm under an 1/8 of a tank. Didn't want to run it much closer to E than that.

After a couple of hours in the motel, we walked across the street to a Mexican restaurant. Had thought we were just going to go to Hardee's next door but there wasn't much traffic so we ran J-walked across the street, ran, when there wasn't traffic. Waffle House next door is closed as is a fast food place across the street. Still have McD's, Wendy's, Hardee's, Subway and Country Pride within about two blocks.

Food was good, four enchiladas. No rice, no beans.

We've looked at all the maps for tomorrow. Airport, drop, pickup, rental return. Now we will see what changes before all this happens.

We are about 100 miles north of the tornadoes here in SC tonight. Looks like some major damage. We managed to stay south of the snow and ice last night and north of the nasty weather tonight.