1 bus heading to Pittsburg PA (delivered)

... spending the night in Ottawa IL

4 AM?? (5 AM local) It doesn't sound like such a good idea this AM.

6 AM we go down for breakfast, they have the old usual, they just have to dish it up for us. Scrambled eggs, sausage, yogurt, juice.

Still dark out when we pull out. Another motel with only 10 cars in the lot. Slight rain this AM :)

:) because that means a shorter line at the wash.

1st stop Pilot / Blue Beacon at Bentleyville. That was about an hour down the road. We pull in and half the pumps are closed, but there is one open that I can back in to.

No DEF. So I fuel first and then pull out of the way to add DEF by the jug. Over twice as much by the guy and it takes longer. 1st I buy to jugs and it brings the tank up to 3/4. DEF has never been an issue not being full at delivery but I think I have room for another jug so I go back in for a 3rd jug. It doesn't fit, so I bring the rest with.

No one has pulled in or out of the truck wash while we have been here. No one in line. We drive up, wait a few seconds for someone to open the door and we pull in. Now with Covid they want us to wait in our 'truck' until they are done and we have pulled out of their building before going back in and paying.

This AM this has taken about 45 minutes with the only waste being the time it took to add DEF. We are ahead of schedule.

2nd stop is the rental car place. A little over a half hour and we are at the rental car place. BB almost steered me down a wrong road a few feet before the correct road. This location is inside a huge hotel. Plenty of room to park the parking lot is almost empty. So I wait a couple of minutes and she has the car. Quicker than most places.

From here I am following my hand written directions. I miss my turn, I hadn't looked at 'street view' and didn't see what I thought I was looking for. So I head off into the city until I find a street wide enough for a bus. Then I doubled back. Luckily I knew that my road was a service road up against the freeway. But once back I could not remember where to turn, almost turned twice the wrong way but did not.

BB had been following me, she had seen the sign I missed and knew what turns I should be taking but had no way to talk to me.

3rd stop, the drop. When I got to the correct place there was no place to park. So I called from the street with my 4way flashers on. When I told my contact that he said he would be right out. About that time someone moved their pickup so I had an open spot to park. I got it as close to the lines as I could on the 1st try and then asked if I should try again. They said 'no.'

When I talked to the inspector on Friday he was upbeat. Today he only said what needed to be said. At one point he said I was going to have to go re-fuel the bus as it was not showing full on the diagnostic software. When I said I had been running it on the ground and started looking for my receipt he said it would be 'OK.' This time when I was fueling I had been kneeling/squatting by the bus and when it was full, I tried twice more to add more and it ran out both times. Not sure what else I could have done. Filled a million dollar bus at the corner 7-11?

A few minutes after 10 (local) we are on our way. Almost one hour ahead of schedule.

4th stop is the welcome center / rest area in Ohio near New Springfield.

Something is on the windows that doesn't want to come off with the windshield wipers or fluid. So I try using the scrubber at the gas pumps. Finally I think it is the all day rain that wore it off. It looked like something the rental car place may have used to 'clean' it.

5th stop is the rest area near Clyde / Vickery OH for food. Made to order pizza, DQ or Panera. We choose Panera for sandwiches, and I choose DQ for a Blizzard I had wanted a apple pie malt but when they didn't have that I didn't want to walk away empty handed.

Before we leave I dig out my paperwork and when she is done eating, BB finishes my paperwork and gets it sent in. Within two hours we are paid. Good money. Good month.

Coming across OH there was a snow plow with salt sitting about every 10 miles in the median, also lots of cops. But not enough snow yet. BB has been watching the weather and if we had left a day later we would have been fighting the weather all the way from the west coast to the east and back home again. But we managed to stay just ahead of it. Today was the only bad weather we have had for a long time.

6th stop is the rest area near Howe IN

Ohio was supposed to have been the worst of the winter weather. But somewhere on the west half of IN I am trying to pass a semi when I hit the snow at the edge of the lane. It throws me a little but I hang on, no harm done. As soon as I am past I pull in front of the truck. That is when I realize that the road is now ice pack where the tires run. I slow down, the semi has already slowed way behind me. Within a mile or so we see a van in the ditch. All traffic has slowed.

And then within five miles or so the roads are clear again. But it does take traffic a while to speed up again.

7th stop is at the Flying J in Lake Station for fuel. It is cold out. Why didn't we head south when we dropped the bus ;) ?

Traffic through most of Chicago was just below the posted. I like it that way, then I am not the target that everyone is trying to / not to / hit. By now it is dark but we are trying to make it home on Tuesday night.

BB tries to order online at Cracker Barrell but it said 'one item is not available' but doesn't say what it was. After a couple of tries we decided to eat Culvers instead.

8th stop is the drive thru at Culvers and the the Comfort Inn in Ottawa. We now have about eight hours to drive tomorrow.

Load board

US - 231

IA - 112

MN -0-

WI - 1

5 runs to OR, 11 to WA, 3 to ID, 5 to MT, 8 to UT. So lots of pairs. Also a lot going to the east but not to the SE or SW.

As of now we still want to get home for a night, or two, before deciding to head out again. I think it has been three weeks since we have slept in our own beds.

BB is sure there will be more CA runs as she watches very close what is being shipped and what isn't. CA has not gotten any of the larger RV's yet and their lots are empty. We will see.

Sometime during the day there was an RV being returned to IA from TX. Why not ever from where we are?