2 trucks from IA to FL ... delivered and heading home, unless on route work shows up.

Two things I let the front desk know about when we checked out. Little bugs on the (inside of the) window and the musty smell. BB was up, sitting in the bathroom with the fan on because the smell was bothering her some much in the middle of the night.

We had a car reserved at the airport five miles away for 8:30 AM so we left the motel with her truck a little after 8 AM. Her lovely mapping software kept wanting to change routes after we had left the motel. I would think that the software would keep you on the selected route unless you change the route. Instead, it changes the route when it finds a faster route, unless you tell it not too ... which you are not supposed to do while driving. So a lot of yelling at the phone, but the phone didn't seem to mind.

The truck was in BB's name and the rental car was in BB's name so she drove to the airport. She got out, I drove a block or so to the cell phone lot. Then when BB got there, we switched again. From the airport we headed directly down to the drop and parked her truck, then headed back to the motel to get my truck.

Once we were back at the motel, I called the drop and told them we could be there in 15 minutes. By the time we got there he was already there getting other trucks ready. Good thing we had called ahead last week or he would have likely been on a job site somewhere. In one way it's kind of nice moving used trucks where the pickup and the drop are the same company. It's there trucks, no inspections.

It took about two hours to get both trucks delivered and ready to go. After we left I realized that I had forgotten to remove some tape I used to cover their information on the truck. But they will notice it sooner or later.

1st (roadstop) stop down the road is at Chick-fil-A in Port Orange. Grilled chicken nuggets for both of us. Not much else I like there after they dropped the chicken salad sandwich. And I forget how messy it is eating them with the dipping sauce while driving.

... and when we pull back on the highway ... directly across from Chick-fil-A is a ... Chicken Salad Chick. Maybe next time.

Heading through/around Jacksonville the mapping software took us around. Traffic was fine and we got to see lots and lots of shipping containers near the St Johns River where the ships load.

2nd stop was the rest area in GA. St Marys. Quick in and out.

3rd stop was going to be the rest area in the GA/SC boarder but by then was going to need gas. So we decided to merge the two stops. No real issues with traffic this trip. But here when we got off the freeway we had to cross traffic without a stoplight. I waited until the coast was clear both ways then then crossed the west bound lanes and headed east. By the time I was crossing I could see a east bound truck coming but he was still a couple of blocks away. Not sure how fast he was going but he was soon right on my bumper. Then the person ahead of me hit the breaks to turn right. Then the semi was only a foot or two off my bumper. Then a few feet later the semi turns off. ??? I don't understand.

Once at the Pilot in Hardeeville, the pump said 'See Cashier.' All pumps were full so I went in instead of moving. I asked the cashier if pump 4 wasn't working ... they said something was wrong with my card and were more interested in something else than looking at me. So I said 'Well I still need gas." And of course they want to know how many dollars I want to put in. How do I know, I have no idea how big this fuel tank is. So I give them a number and from there things went OK.

4th and final stop was the Sleep Inn in Orangeburg. This time it was BB who remembered being here. And she was right about one key detail. This exit used to have an A-B exit and last time the mapping software hadn't been updated and wanted to take us on a road that was no longer there.

A quarter mile down the street was a Fatz that we walked too. There is a sidewalk but most of the way it is at street level, no curb so basically 3/4 of the shoulder was cement and 1/4 was the blacktop 'shoulder.' And by the time we came back it was dark.

At Fatz I had the meatloaf and potato soup, BB had chili and a salad. Good food but too much of it.

Sometime last night our plans changed again. When we left on this trip we had planed on being home by this Saturday. Then plans changed. Then last night plans changed again and by morning we are on our way home.

So far we are still heading near where work might be. But there isn't any work either here or back in IA. There has been a little out of IA today, maybe 20 but they are gone within minutes. Just realized that we used to get quite a bit out of Springfield, OH. I think it's been weeks. With no work for that long likely means we lost that contract. So now we have more drivers competing for less work. The local drivers usually stay with the work. So every time the contact changes, they switch who they work for.

Within an hour tomorrow AM we will pass the road we usually would take to the work in this area. For a few more hours we will still be close enough to change course. After that we won't have enough time to do pickup and deliver and get home on Friday. As of now we plan on doing 600 miles a day for the next two days and then dropping the rental car by 7:30 on Thursday.

When we leave out again next week we will have about a month before I need to be back for my DOT medical card I need for driving. Then another month of work (assuming I pass) before I need to be back for quarter end buses.

Some time this trip I saw my first Claas tractor. I didn't know they were selling them in the US. Then earlier up in IA I saw a CAT tractor, not a Challenger tractor. And it was like no other I have seen. It looked like a shorter version of the old IH 2x2 and clearly said CAT on the side.

Nice to be out of the cold but too humid down here for BB. She was glad to be heading north. Last night we talked about going for a walk but then we looked at the crime rate in the area and decided against it. It's not too many miles from here that 10 years or so ago, but the bus station and the police station pulled out of one of the local down town area's because the crime was so bad.