2 RV's to Davis, CA

... spending the night in Lincoln, NE.

If you want to know where we WILL be, just look at our last trip. I plan on making almost the exact same stops. :)

Breakfast was the usual, then it took us an extra few minutes to scrape off our windows. Lots of frost.

Got to the lot about 8 AM, too late. Our paperwork was no longer in the box, and the dispatchers were busy on the phones. Gave me time to call on our van. The van was ready, had been ready. They knew I was on the road so they didn't call. Not sure if they would have let us pick it up over the weekend without paying? Keys were in it. They said there was nothing wrong with the latch so nothing to fix ??? We'll see how long this windshield lasts before the hood blows back again.

That all took about a half hour. My RV was low on coolant, but this time dispatch had some sitting in the office. Last time it took most of an hour to get someone from the shop to bring me some. Lots of drivers out, car parking spots were all full so dispatch said I could park in front of the NO PARKING, CARS WILL BE TOWED sign. We'll see. Now we have to cars in IA.

It took our usual one hour to do our inspection and paperwork. Just cold enough so my hands were freezing without gloves on. Noticed that our RV overflow parking lot has been cleared of snow, 1st time this winter so I'm guessing they are getting ready to dump more on us. There are still 1-200 sitting in the next parking lot waiting to be moved over ... right when I need to take time off to get my DOT medical card updated.

1st stop was the Kum and Go in Clear Lake. 1959 was the year of the big plan crash in Clear Lake.

We had looked online to see the price of fuel in Clear Lake, and were going to stop before if it was cheaper. It was. Caseys in Garner had it for $.03 cheaper but just as I was pulling in I noticed the diesel nozzles were bagged off. Lot is really small and I noticed that BB did not turn on her blinker when I did. She doesn't like this place.

Kum and Go, I used the same pump as last time but this time I stood and watched the pump. Again, it did not stop when it got full. But I was watching, the fuel was running slow and I could see the fuel before it ran over. This time I did let the staff know they have an issue.

This time BB's cruise is not working and mine is. But she washed off her windshield here and hasn't had a issue since. Except for the wind later on.

2nd stop was the Bonanza in Des Moines. Good food, good staff. One of the ways I tell if a buffet is good is how much salad I eat. We have stopped here a dozen times I don't think I have ever had a salad. This time I didn't even have my usual meat loaf and other things. Did have my one sampler plate of deserts though, all good.

3rd stop was at the rest area in Adair. One of the rare times I needed a restroom. Must have drank too much water with my buffet. We are trying something knew, taking a half hour break at a non-food, not fuel stop. 1st I made two phone calls and then we went for a walk. One call to the insurance to tell them to not pay the claim, we had already mailed a check, had to leave a message. Next one was to the bank, got a real person and that one took a little longer but got things worked out. Then we took a short walk, 10 minutes. Very brisk wind. The 'wind assist' has come on on our RV's a few times and now BB wants to slow to 60 mph.

So for the next part of our trip we were going 60 mph and the wind assist was still coming on. Then were the freeway turns south I re-set the speed back to 65 and we were OK except over the bridge coming into NE.

4th stop was at the QT in Gretna. Faster pump so no fuel issues here. BB made our reservation for tonight. We have time to go another hour plus before dark but there is a weather system coming in and we are going to be sitting somewhere. Hopefully not too long. If we have to sit for over a few hours we will not be able to deliver until Monday. Down goes what we take home.

Last trip we got flagged in to the weight scale just before Omaha, I was sure they were looking for us, it wasn't a mistake. Today we didn't even trip the scale, it didn't give us a message one way or the other.

5th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Omaha, about half price of what we budget for a motel. Nice place, used to be a ... now I forgot. Since last year they built a Perkins next door. But today, because there was a nice still sub zero wind, we decided to walk a half mile to Cracker Barrel ... with the wind.

Cracker Barrel was good, BB got her veggies and fish. I had a French Dip, either it is new or I just have't seen it before. Good, and the right amount. Walking back it was into the wind. Everything that was covered was nice and toasty. My face and eyes were feeling the pain. But those three walks added up to 30 minutes for the day.

Looking at our numbers we stayed in motels 21 days last month. Choice, the motels we mostly stay at, rewards ... to get to Platinum you have to stay 20 nights per year. We do that in a month. Their highest level is Diamond at 40 stays and we do that in two months.

Sometimes just being a platinum or diamond member has it's extra perks. Like tonight, they upgraded us to a suite with a room with a jacuzzi and a fireplace. And we get this plus breakfast for the same price as other people are paying for the Motel 6 down the street.

Got paid for my last trip. Ended up doing really good.

Loadboard was down from 60 to 57 tonight. Seven RV's left for Seffner, FL. Another seven to WA. But nothing left to the SE.