2 RV's to IN, 1 to Burns Harbor, 1 to Auburn (both delivered)

... spending the night at Walcott IA

Breakfast was egg patties and sausage links, plus yogurt. Egg patties were fairly dry, they were OK as long as I ate them with the greasy sausage.

We left the hotel about 8:30. As we are driving out I see some of the tall grass that I have been wanting to plant, but BB is ahead of me this time so I don't stop.

I was wrong. There are two businesses between the hotel and the truckstop.

1st stop - Pilot for fuel. BB puts in her dealer fuel and I wait.

2nd stop - BB's drop, the next driveway down. We are there before they open a few minutes. It takes her inspector a full hour to look over a small RV. A tow driver comes in with a trailer and is in and out in half they time and that inspector spent half their time talking.

10 AM we are ready to go. I had looked at a map and took what I thought was the logical way. BB's computer and the route we got from the office disagree. Oh well, there were only a few miles difference between that route and this.

Don't see this too often. I had gotten in the left lane at a stop light on the four lane because there was a row of trucks in the right lane. I got past some of them before they got up to speed but then I backed off to let one go past, and then pulled back into the right lane to let a semi pass. I'm guessing the speed limit there was 55 for semi's and 60 for cars (and RV's)

Hadn't gone too far and I saw someone in a sports car making a U-turn in the median. Not a freeway so no No U-Turn sign so I didn't think much about it until I saw extra glass between the front seat and back ... then the lights, he kicked it down and in a few minutes had the semi who had passed me pulled over. I'm guessing the semi had been going 10, 15 over when he passed me. Not sure what he might have been going once he got up to speed.

3rd stop - Pilot in Plymouth for a rest break. I saw another transporter who had just gotten done fueling so I asked what he was making ... "about 5 mpg." :) "No, how much are you getting paid to drive?" He wasn't sure on this one but thought about $.75 including fuel. We get about the same for RV's that size. He was heading to CA from IN.

Most of this route was on four lane, non-freeway except for the first few and the last few miles.

4th stop was at Speedway for my final dealer fuel about two blocks from my drop.

5th stop was at the car rental place where I only stopped long enough to drop BB.

6th stop was my drop. The drop was right on the corner where we turned to pickup the rental car so I knew where it was. But it is a car dealer and once on the lot I couldn't find the RV area. I finally stopped and asked. Next building. So I parked out front and went inside. Two used ones outside the building, two new ones inside the building. I saw one salesman so I asked who to talk to. He said the checkin person was already on the way out to my RV. As long as I was in, I asked if they were a new dealer or just remodeling. "We've been doing this 40 years. We just can't keep RV's in stock." That explains the big empty lot.

And the inspector got to my RV the same time I did. (Opps, for the 1st time I forgot to take a picture of the dash in case I need to prove there were no warning lights on) The guy is inspecting as I am grabbing my stuff out and he is done when I am done. Signs and he drives the RV away before we are in the car. 15 minutes from entrance to exit.

7th stop was right back next to Speedway at Culvers. I ordered my usual reuben and blueberry malt. (easier to drink when I'm driving)

Across the street was an example of 'it's not my job.' The sign for the restaurant had been taken down, but the 'help wanted' words were still on the marquee sign below it.

At 70 mph, the freeway is the faster way back and we aren't limited on the number of extra miles we put on the cars. We do have a limit on how many extra miles we can put on the RV's.

We head north to I-80/I-90 tollway.

8th stop is at the Oasis near Portage, last rest area before Chicago. I got a lemonade. It wasn't a Simply Lemonade. :(

From here to the other side of Chicago you are taking your life in your hands if you try to go close to the speed limit. I just hope for slowdowns but there wasn't much for today. I was going "well" over the speed limit for most places and traffic was still passing me in the other three lanes and going around me when they could from my lane. Seems like a very long drive across the south of Chicago.

9th stop was at an Arby's in Peru as it was the closest thing to the freeway. Indoor closed. So we went through the drive thru and ...

10th stop was another 10 miles down the road at the rest area near Wyanet IL. No travel trailers rolled here this time. Not too windy today. And yesterday was only half as windy as last time we were here. 45 mph winds yesterday, 100+ the time before.

11th stop was for fuel at Pilot and then across the street to the Comfort Inn for the night. When we checked in, they said they were full. Only two more people with reservations and they were full. Hmm. They are working on the building, I'm guessing they are only using some of the rooms. Lots of trucks, the truck area was full. Maybe 20 some trucks, I didn't count.

Load board

US - 187

IA - 43

MN - 18

WI - 3

All 18 of the MN trips are going to Omaha NE. At one time today there had been 20 of them.

Both BB and I had gotten text messages, a 1st, from dispatch asking if we could move tractors from Indy to Sioux Falls when we were done with our IN runs. So they are watching to see where we are.

... and no, we couldn't.

Lots of stuff on the IA board but no good pairs. There would have been one good run, with one out of IN and one out of IA both going to CA but we didn't know if we were going to be able to stay out. We are. For another week and then we need to be back for a few days of appointments.

We'll be watching the board to see what shows up. And we still have 4 plus hours to go to get our rental car back within 24 hours.