2 RV's heading to Manteca CA
... spending the night at Waukee IA
Up about our usual time this AM.
Plan was to call in and take two runs to Bozeman today and then do 1 or 2 more trips to Bozeman back to back. We had made the car reservation last night (instead of after the fact like our last trip.)
Then I asked BB if she had looked at the weather this AM. She had not ... so she did now.
It looks like clear sailing ... to California. The weather en-route has either lessened or delayed. So in a few minutes time we switched from going to MT 2-3 times to going to CA once. (I had hoped to call the bus dispatcher before we left but I was not going to wake him up at 5 AM to ask him a hypothetical question.
Today both BB and I have dentist appointments before we head out, so I leave early for my appointment so I have time to call for our trips before I need to be sitting in the chair.'
8 AM - I call dispatch and get two trips to Manteca, we could have taken two the same but we take the two oldest trips.
By 11 AM we are both back home and getting ready to go.
We pull out about 11:30.
1st stop is for food for BB at the Honey Baked Ham in Burnsville. My meal will be yogurt. My antibiotic that I need to take for the dentist is hitting me harder than it has for years.
2nd stop is in Medford at Kwik Trip for fuel. Gas is the same price here as the Fleet Farm in Owatonna and this place is a little nice and I have a rewards card ... not sure what good the card does but once in a while I get a $.02 discount.
Wow, all but 10 RV's are in the ship lot. There had been up to 200 sitting outside the fence.
3rd stop is the shipper in Forest City. A few people leaving out today.
After I find my RV I see a guy looking lost trying to find his RV. I stop and talk to him and tell him how the lot is numbered and he finds it within a few minutes.
We are in no rush and we do not. It takes us an hour to do our inspections today.
The guy I had talked to earlier parks near us to inspect his RV and I talk to him again a little. He usually drives out of IN but the extra pay on the older trips makes it worth it to come here. (This driver thinks there are about 300 RV's, ready but not in our ship lot) We do see a lot of units that look ready on the factory side of the fence.
Both BB and I have enough fuel to get to the first Loves, 70 miles down the road.
Opps ... big OPPS. I did not put all of my paperwork back into my backpack after looking at it this weekend. I am sitting trying to re-create my work for the last eight days when BB asks if she can help. I tell her she can look up my notes here and hopefully I included enough that I can create a log. Then she ask why I don't just look on my computer ... and then she asks another question ... Duh. Every night I double check my logs but using an online log software. Everything I have is there, and it is legal. I am legal without having it on paper ... WHEW.
There is a farm between Forest City and the freeway that has had four four-wheel drive tractors sitting ready for the fields for a month now. Today I had planned on taking a picture of them as I went past but forgot until I was going past. I assume that they will not be lined up like that again until next year.
Somewhere early on the road there was a Home Depot truck that past us running on a transporter plate. I wonder where those come out of ... he was heading south. So either MN or northern IA.
4th stop is the Loves in Ellsworth. We are fueling in front but could be fueling with the trucks with these RV's. As we are fueling someone pulls up across from us and we notice he has cardboard signs in his front seat. After he fuels he parks and puts up his cardboard signs. 'All money was stolen. Trying to get home for Easter.'
From here we decide to stay in Waukee. There are three nice hotels in Des Moines but this one gets us the farthest. Any further and we would have to go to Omaha.
5th and final stop is the Sleep Inn in Waukee. Food is next door from the Hy-Vee Express. I order a chicken salad sandwich on croissant. I ask about the soup being spicy and comment that ketchup is as spicy as I go. They say it is not so I order a cup of that also.
When we get back to the room I find I have some type of sliced meat and cheddar cheese on a ketchup. And the sup is so spicy it hurts my lips when I put it in my mouth. I at the sandwich and not the soup. Never did decide what kind of meat it was. Other than the kind you buy at the store in small packages.
Someone has been posting on FaceBook that they were shut down because of the wind in NE and then again in WY on I-80. Now, a little after 7 PM, we see that the road in WY has reopened.
Looking at the weather for tomorrow we will have a head wind most of the day. IF we wait until Thursday we we will have a tail wind. We have the time, we'll see how bad the wind is. It is not supposed to be real bad. But it will cut into our mileage.
Load board
US - 598
IA - 301/298
The Loves on I-80 seem to be about 140 miles apart. And my range after the first fuel was 288, so without a head wind, I should be able to come in on fumes. Or I need to stop every 140 miles for fuel.
We MAY get as far as Sidney tomorrow, that would be our 500+ daily miles. But if the winds are bad anywhere we will likely shut down early.
I did do the math and IF we did the following ...
4 AM Weds - leave hotel
600 mile day - we get to Cheyenne
2 AM Thurs - leave hotel
600 mile day - Wells NV
12 AM Friday - leave hotel
500 miles we are at our drop on Friday instead of Monday.
... and it would be legal. Instead will will take our time.