1 bus to Grand Rapids MI

... spending the night at Benton Harbor MI ... 

Woke up a couple of times during the night, once to thunder, but not to our neighbors. Front desk had said they didn't want to put us on the 3rd floor because their is a 'crew' staying on that floor that comes in late.

Breakfast was a cup of juice, two mini breakfast sandwiches, a muffin and breakfast bar. Better than most places but along the same line.

Pretty un-eventful morning, day. Traffic was light. The scenery is now green instead of brown.

1st stop is at the Petro in Effingham IL. I picked it because it is an easy on and off. And today there are only two cars in the parking lot. Huge lot, but empty. Iron Skillet restaurant is closed, whole truckstop is empty. Good for us but these places aren't going to last. Just down the road at the Flying J the Denny's is closed for good. Sign is gone.

And another mile down the road the former Ryans/Old Country Buffet has now been redone as a Golden Corral. 'Opening Soon' is what the sign says.

2nd stop was in Brazil at the CNG pump. The place was built with three pumps, it now has one. A sign said something about ComData so I was wondering if we needed a special card. Nope. Mine worked and I got a good fill.

Then diagonally across the intersection and we were at the Burger King. The place next to the pumps used to have a Rally's fast food. The other corners were Iron Skillet and Subway. We both got Whopper Jr's and ate on the steps of the bus.

Just as I was getting ready to go, someone pulling a trailer house pulls in and decided to park in my exit where there is no marked parking. Lots of open parking in the rest of the lot. I twisted between the drive thru traffic and his trailer and got past. Just a pain, that's all ... and he drove right past me so he knew I had to get past or back thru the parking lot to get out.

Somewhere this AM we passed a female hitchhiker, 60+, wearing a dress and nice shoes ... and carrying one garbage bag. (and likely a whole lot of personal baggage)

Another thing I saw was a fly. Between half again as big and twice as big as a horse fly. Somehow it landed on the windshield instead of splatting on the windshield. It was there a couple of minutes before it must have tried to move and was gone with the wind.

Indy was pretty quiet today. No directions needed, we have been in this area enough. Good thing I hadn't planned on going thru downtown. Accident where the two main freeways meet, all lanes closed. Lots of road construction earlier today. Short stretches of 45-55 mph but no back ups.

3rd stop was at a Loves in Kokomo on a US Highway. New, it was showing as still under construction on the aerial maps. Note about the normal maps ... One of the motels we had looked at staying at last night showed it was on top of water. The areal was still showing the ponds of water, but the computer knew there was now a building there. We didn't stay at that one.

I hit the curb at one point to miss the cars, or I could have just taken it slower. This US Highway is a major route for the new RV traffic heading out of the Elkhart/South Bend area.

4th stop ... sort of. I dropped BB off at the airport. I've done this airport enough that I know how to get in and out. Even when they change things. This time I had to wait for one of the Amazon Prime vans to move. He had parked right in the travel lane and went inside to help someone return a car. He was walking out when BB was walking in so no long wait.

I never really looked at a map, just enough to know which highway to be on. US-31 all the way from Indy to Benton Harbor. The route was just a surprise.

Only two trucks and two pickups at the wash tonight. Hopefully about the same tomorrow. Might be, as of now the forecast is for rain. Lines aren't usually as long in the rain. But we need to wash rain or shine.

5th and final stop at the Quality Inn in Benton Harbor. Lots of things have changed in this area. Motel names seem to change weekly. This Quality Inn still has the Days Inn signs sitting on the ground, and some of the inside stuff still is from that prior name. The Motel 6 is now a Travel Lodge. The old Burger King is closed and a new one has opened two doors down. The Denny's is now an Asian food place. The Buffet is now a pancake house and the Pizza Hut is now a used car lot ... just to name a few.

Had to wait a few minutes for BB. Not sure where truck parking is supposed to be. Only four cars in the lot so not an issue today, one of those cars is where I wanted to park so my doors would not be facing the street and I would still be able to get out. But that didn't happen tonight.

After we checked in, we ordered online from Bob Evans. Half hour later we went and picked it up. They gave me a peanut butter cookie instead of a chocolate chip cookie :( I had ordered chocolate)

Tomorrow. Wash. 90 miles to the drop. 8-1/2 hours to our van.

So we will likely get our van tomorrow instead of heading straight home. 1st thing I need to do after I drop is to find out how long I can drive before getting my DOT renewed.

Loadboard would be the same as yesterday. We talked about what is on the board again today and everything would add enough time to add an extra day to the rental car so not worth it.

Three Amazon Prime vans today, one of them was at the airport. Lots of RV's, stacks and towaways.