2 RV's heading to Greer SC

... spending the night in Morton IL

Today we wake up to an alarm.

Ready to roll at 7:45 AM. We are only a few minutes from our house when I decide to call on a trip starting in the same town we will drop in. I am calling a day early, more than 24-hours before I can be there, but I call. No answer so I leave a message. A half hour later someone calls back. They need it picked up today and delivered tomorrow. It was going from (near) our drop to IN, where most RV's come out of. No renal car between the 1st two legs? Would have been nice.

Just as we pass the last twin cities exit, I remember we will need fuel and have a grocery card with cents off gas. Too late.

1st stop is in Owatonna for fuel at Holiday. The do not take the twin cities grocery discount.

2nd stop is in Forest City to pick up our RV's. There are three other drivers picking up loads today, all are towing. Two are couples taking only one RV. My RV is the 2nd one from the office door so easy for me to find.

I park the car and walk to my RV. To do that I have to walk past another driver who asks where we are heading. That turned into a few minutes conversation and I soon see that BB has her RV pulled up and the well on her way with her inspection.

This couple I talked to, lives in VT. Only she is driving right now but hopes 'he' can start driving again soon. They live in their RV when they are home. Sounds like they mostly run between IA and the northeast.

We have smaller RV's so we were ready in less than an hour. BB's plan was to pay extra for fuel and stick with me, but she didn't have enough fuel to get to my fuel. And I am saving about $10 a tank full by watching where I stop.

3rd stop was in Floyd at Loves for fuel and food. My Loves rewards card was getting old, the strip still worked but all the markings were gone. I didn't have enough information from the card to get into my account so I just used all the points and started a new account with a new card. Now I can not get rewards points on the auto pumps until I have purchased 500 gallons of fuel on the truck islands. Oh well. I have lost out on $.26 worth of rewards points today.

Food, this place has Godfathers and Subway. We split a pizza.

When I pulled in I saw a minibus with the shell of a VW on top. Then I noticed someone dropping off a can of fuel for them. Later when I was looking from a different angel, I saw a sign 'need gas.' There is also a sign painted right on the bus that states 'we live on donations.' One 20 something gal and a young child, living in a bus.

4th stop is Cedar Rapids at the rest area. It is quicker than the Casey's on Center Point and still under two hours. The first three legs my cruise lasted from a few minutes, to not being able to set it, to a half hour. This is a MB so the only way to re-set is to re-start. Also, when I get up to 20 mph, all of my inside lights come on.

5th stop is the Loves in Davenport for fuel for me and Pilot across the street for BB. I get my cheap fuel here but the person is new so it takes a while at the register.

When we are near Peoria I see a semi driving on the wrong side of the cones in one lane traffic. Then he gets back where he is supposed to be, but when he gets to the exit he almost stops before speeding up to travel speed. I am guessing he was thinking there was an exit between the cones, and then something made him think he goofed again the second time.

6th and final stop is the Quality Inn in Morton. This AM on the ride to Forest City BB was thinking we would be to Morton before 5 PM so she was looking at hotels further down the road. Not sure what math she was using.

From the hotel we can walk to Steakburger or Cracker Barrel. Today was Cracker Barrel. We ordered online and our food was ready in about a half hour. Took us about 15 minutes to walk because we wanted to stay off the grass and out of the water. It's only about five minutes when we can walk straight.

They are also putting in an Arby's 'opening soon.' Not sure what will happen to the one in the truckstop across the street. There are two other restaurants that are still closed next to the hotel.

Load board

US - 358

IA - 126

MN - 11

WI - 12

We have about 560 miles to go tomorrow so it will be about a 12 hour day. That will leave us three hours before our drop to do on Wednesday. IF we end up getting a truck out of Creedmore, that is four hours from our drop. Shelby is less than an hour.

There is one truck heading to CO but that means a two day rental car. More likely we will try to get something to IN and get a third leg or dropping within one day of home.

Right now there are 19 trips out of NC. They dumped 13 out 1st thing this AM and the board wasn't empty so stuff moves. Most of it moves a lot quicker than the stuff out of IA.

IA has not started dumping quarter end trips on the board. Tomorrow will be two weeks to the end of the month.

... I did find out how to shut off most of the RV inside lights tonight. We will see if they stay off tomorrow. Not a big deal when running during the day.

And lots of water in the fields here in IL, plenty of rain. And is supposed to rain for us all day tomorrow. Would be nice to get some for my garden at home.