2 RV's to Tampa FL
... spending the night at Calvert City KY
5:30 alarm :(
But we want to get delivered Saturday by noon. (We'd rather do things at our own speed)
Good breakfast for a Country Inn. Bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy, hot cereal, Pop-tarts, cheese sticks, water ...
It snowed ... when our RV's were still warm. So ice on the windows. All this takes longer to get going in the AM. And it is still dark.
?? These Mercedes do not have dip sticks but instead have a gauge that shows on the dash every time it is started. We've driven 100's over the last few years. They have always been almost full. As was this one yesterday. Today it has dropped to just above the minimum. Safe to run, but I am checking it often.
1st stop is the next exit at the Loves for fuel.
Lots, 100 <> cars in the ditch in the next two hours. Not sure if they were all from last night or from the prior storm. When the storms are bad, IA does not allow anything to be towed until the weather is good and the roads are cleared.
Neither of us felt any slick spots, but traffic was rarely moving at the posted and we didn't spend much time in the passing lane. We just went with the flow of traffic, less accidents that way.
Finally about 15 miles from our next stop I put on the cruise control.
2nd stop is the Pilot in Mount Pleasant for a break. From there I call dispatch on a few things.
There is still snow until just about St Louis, but the roads are dry so we use the cruise until it shuts off. BB's comes back on, my does not until the unit is re-started.
3rd stop is for fuel at Loves and food at Hardee's in New London. Both BB and I ordered something that would take a few minutes. So we were not in and out in 30 minutes, close to 45 minutes.
Saint Louis was not bad today ...
4th stop was east of St Louis at Lebanon at a rest area. From there we decide to do the next 150 miles without a break AND drive over 65 mph. We want to fuel yet tonight because it will start raining overnight.
IF we had stopped at our planned stop, we likely would have gotten a hotel there. We are 15 minutes past last light when we get to the truck stop.
5th stop is Calvert City. First at Loves for fuel, then Arby's for to go food. then back across the freeway to the Quality Inn for the night. NOW BB looks a the hotel reviews, not so good. But our choice is this hotel or drive more miles. We get the hotel.
Load board
US - 100
IA - 2/0
MN - 5
WI - 3
Forecast is high winds and rain tomorrow. Rain starts at midnight. We should hit the winds after about two hours driving. Somewhere about Nashville. If the forecast proves to be correct we will be shutting down somewhere near Nashville and not making Saturday delivery.