2 RV's heading to Greer SC

... spending the night at Cedar Rapids IA

We still have snow on the ground at my house in MN. There are some food items that I put in our compost pile and I did that this AM before leaving. I was able to walk most of the way across our yard on top of the snow. There were only two places where I fell through and the snow was about a foot deep, deep enough to get snow inside my high top shoes. Not often the snow is that hard when it is that deep.

Not an early AM, we pulled out at 9 AM.

By 10:30 we are running low on fuel and it is time to eat.

1st stop in Owatonna is at the Fleet Farm for fuel. It is not under $3 per gallon anymore but is cheaper than other places. Then we went across the freeway to the Jimmy Johns.

The door was open but the chairs were still on the tables and most of the lights were still off. It took a while before the sole person working came out from somewhere. I made a comment about my wait but they didn't reply. BB wanted the special so I pointed to that sign and said that is what my wife wants and then ordered my sandwich.

BB's sandwich had the right meat but the rest was not as it was listed on the special.

2nd stop was the shipper in Forest City. Full house today of drivers leaving. I see on a sign that today is the day drivers can leave taking RV's to the Savannah GA RV show, that may have been part of those leaving.

We get our paperwork, no issues and no comments about us not taking older trips. The last thing we do before turning in our inspection sheet is check each others break and back up lights, something we can't do on our own.

One of BB's break lights is not working. So we let the office know. Over two hours later the yard man finally stops to look at it. We had seen him many times go past us ... he is usually pretty good, not sure the issue today. Two minutes and he knows it is something he can not repair so we need a different RV.

Not sure if RV was the 3rd one that had been on the load board or if they had to get one from 'elsewhere' but they brought us a Revel. I'm thinking it came from 'elsewhere' because they did not just have us go get it, they had an office person get it for us. Actually it was the boss, he was out checking on things right then.

Later when I saw him again, he wanted to make sure I got a picture of the 500,000 RV built in IA. It has a special paint job and was getting flat bedded to the show in Savanah. The boss also asked when we would be back as he has more RV's going to the show that are not built yet. We won't deliver until Monday and that is when they should be ready to head out.

Being delayed a few hours cuts in to how far we are going to get today ... No issues with the 2nd RV. Just not what BB likes to drive and she will not get the 'no tow' pay for this one. Also this RV is the one RV that we barely break even on the fuel with so she lost <> $200 by having to switch RV's.

We had planned on stopping at a BP in Floyd because both units WERE gas. Now we have one of each.

3rd stop was the Loves in Floyd. Gas is not $2.99 anymore but it is still the cheapest around. But, even with our discount here, diesel would have been cheaper in Forest City without a discount. But we never looked, after the delay we just wanted to get going.

This place was a zoo today, I drove around the pumps a few times. People who came in after me go ahead of me because they got to the open pumps before I did. And I am the one who knows how to get the diesel discount so I get to do it even when BB has the diesel RV.

Another interesting thing was the back side of my pump only had high grade unleaded, not the two lower grades. A half dozen cars pulled up, swiped their cards before they realized they only had one choice.

After a slightly stressful afternoon we talked about shutting down in Waterloo/Cedar Falls. But hotels were $150 tonight. Cedar Rapids, another hour down the road, the hotel was less than half that.

4th and final stop was Cedar Rapids at the Comfort Inn.

As soon as we checked in we got back in one RV and headed to PepperJax for food. Great Philly's, we had them last time we stayed here. As we are leaving the hotel there is a semi trying to turn in our street. I can't see around him and he isn't going to move until I do so finally I slowly get out past him ...

When we get back he is still trying to park his truck in the lot ... a half hour later ???

At PepperJax we bot got chicken Philly's. BB got mushrooms on hers. At the last minute as they are boxing them up I asked them to add black olives to half of mine ... I said both sandwiches were the same (I forgot about the mushrooms)

I did remember the mushrooms before we got back to our room but once we opened the sandwiches we couldn't see mushrooms on either ??? We had watched them add them to the pile before they cooked it, but BB didn't find them and neither did I.

My RV was half full of fuel :) when I picked it up with a range of 350 miles. So I figured I should get 700 miles on a tank full. But there is a little bit of wind so when I fueled it an hour later my range was 600 miles not 700. And it is still dropping. I'm not sure either of us is going to make money on the fuel this trip unless the wind turns and gives us a tail wind.

By the time we were having issues with BB's RV there were two RV's going just south of Myrtle beach, both no-tows. And more miles. But they wouldn't let me switch once I had been assigned to the load. (We may have pushed the issue if they had not come up with another Greer RV)

Lots of trips on the load board, but it more fun trying to match them together into a long trip than actually doing the work.

There were a pair of pickups going from MN to CA, RV's going everywhere, tree trucks going 2,500+ miles ...

Donner's pass is chains required again tonight. Earlier today the freeway was closed in WY. Still OK the route we are taking.

Load board

US - 509

IA - 310/302

Plan tomorrow is to get 500 <> miles. That means stopping somewhere new. Lexington is where we usually stop and that is 580 miles, long day.

LOG

9:00 - leave home

10:30 - Owattona MN - Fleet Farm - gas

10:30 - Owattona MN - Jimmy Johns

11:30 - Forest City IA - PU RV's

2:45 - Forest City IA - leave

3:45 - Floyd IA - Loves - fuel

6:15 - Cedar Rapids IA - Comfort Inn

7:00 - Cedar Rapids IA - PepperJax