1 bus to Minneapolis MN

... spending the night at Albert Lea MN

Bark, bark, bark. Someone comes back to their hotel room in the middle of the night. I often don't get back to sleep after being woken up but tonight I did.

Not sure if it helps any, but I start the bus before breakfast and let it run. Good breakfast. Eggs, sausage, hash browns, more.

We pull out at 7:30 AM. It is still before sunup. But today it is cloudy, no sun in my eyes.

1st stop is the Petro 45 miles down the road in York for fuel. I won't have enough fuel to get to Des Moines without fueling somewhere and here is the cheapest fuel. The computer at the put is adding random letters when I key things in so I need to pay inside. That takes a couple of minutes extra. Mileage is down to 9-1/2 mpg.

By the time we get to Lincoln it is snowing and most of the way to Des Moines.

2nd stop is the rest area in Underwood for a break.

There has been lots of cars, trucks, tracks in the ditches this trip. Today there was a burnt out trailer still in the ditch. The fire had gotten so hot that the trailer frame was now in two pieces. Another place there was an Amazon trailer still parked in the ditch with yellow tape on it. I would think those 'shipment' trucks would be hot/priority enough that they would get pulled right away so people would get their shipments.

Recently we saw a semi below us. We were high enough that we were looking down to the inside of the trailer. Another place there was just a pile of tin. Looked like someone had clipped all the top and sides off and stacked them in a pile and only took the frame.

Roads today were not bad.

3rd stop is the Pilot in Urbandale. Fueling is easy, but this lot is shared with a trucking company and most of it is reserved for them. I do find a parking spot that is partially blocked by a pole but I will be able to get past it.

This place has a Subway, but it is blocked off ... the one person working will help the rest of the people in line but not anyone else before break. So it is shelf food for us. BB gets a chicken salad sandwich, but I thought it looked too dry so I got two, the last two, hot dogs instead. The only tables are in Subway so we head back to the lounge and then back to the bus.

As I am walking around the bus, I have to wait for someone to park next to me. The prior truck has left. This person makes sure that I can not get out going forward. So I need to back out. It works but wouldn't need to have been.

4th stop is Forest City to pick up our car. Lots of RV's still in the employee lot and in the overflow lot. Almost none in the active lot. Car's been sitting for three weeks plus but starts right away. But it is covered with snow and I drive it out without being able to see anything. No one around, I made sure before moving.

With both of us scraping we had the windows cleaned shortly.

It will be snowing again when we get north and it will be dark by the time we get to Albert Lea so that is where we will stop.

5th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Albert Lea. Not the cheapest and we could have used points but we are making good money on this trip. We are almost back up to 300,000 rewards points with the Choice brand. At our hotels, we should be able to stay 20-30 nights free with those.

The desk clerk knows us by name and seen that we like the top floor so that is where they put us again. Before we go in, we move everything from the bus to the car. I'll only take my backpack with me to delivery.

Also before we go in, I call the truck wash. It will be near -0- tomorrow so I want to make sure they will be open. They plan on it.

Once we are checked in, we walk next door and get 'served food.' This place used to have a buffet but since Covid, they just have the food on display behind a counter and someone has to dish it up for us. And we pay per item. I get the meat loaf and BB gets the chicken. We each get too many potatoes. Food isn't great but our other choice is fast food or sit down from the menu. If the weather was good we'd drive into town.

Load board

US - 201 (238 by AM)

IA - 8/5

MN - 2

WI - 6

Plan was/is to work for the local company the rest of the year. BUT BB is watching the weather is not going to be good. She doesn't want to drive or even be out in such weather. So if I work, she won't. This week anyways.

Tomorrow I need to wash and fuel before delivery and I have about 90 miles to the drop. Once we drop, we need to get some food for staying in until the next snow and cold snap blows over. We have no idea what the driveway looks like. My guess is there are two tracks into the garage :)

There is one RV on the load board tonight heading to FL. We'd like to take it and send our family a card from FL :) Last year we left after Christmas with one RV and didn't make any money on that trip or the next trip. Poor planning.