1 bus to Grand Junction CO (delivered)

... spending the night at Albert Lea MN

Up at 5 AM (local,) car loaded by 6 AM. Then we go back in and grab food. Good food today. Apples/oranges. We took hard boiled eggs instead of scrambles as they are easier to eat in the car. Canadian bacon, fruit cups. To-go food.

I thanked the front desk for keeping us away from the sports teams. There were two teams staying at this hotel and we didn't hear a thing. Slept great (not sure why my BP was up)

We are pulling out at first light. 75 mph for over half the day.

Lots of feed lots. I'm guessing most of them have been there a while but I don't remember all of them. I know I watched one of them from first feed pile to a working dairy in less than a year.

1st stop was a rest area near Sutherland.

2nd stop is for food and fuel at the Pilot and Subway in Wood River. As I fuel, I hear someone backing out. Then I notice their DEF cap is still off. So when the driver got out, I yelled (so he could here me) He was getting out of someone's way so he was hurrying. He had to go in backwards and someone blocked him from going forwards ... it was not that busy here that someone would have to do that.

The guy was a transporter.

We did see a half dozen of our RV's today. Easy to spot in the winter, they are the only ones with the hoods wrapped. Today we also saw a fire truck, trash trucks, cement pumpers, buses. etc.

We were fueled and had our food and rolling again in 10 minutes.

Today we did see one field with a few 100 sand cranes. It was foggy most of the day with as little as 1/4 mile  visibility so we didn't see much in the air.

3rd stop was the Sutherland rest area.

4th stop was the Adair rest area.

Coming up north of Des Moines there was a back up for miles. People were re-loading snowmobiles on the median side of traffic, but the police had the right lane blocked. So my guess, just a guess, is that someone cranked their wheel, lost their load in the median before ending up on the right ditch.

A backup like that would have changed how for we got tonight.

5th stop was the Culvers in Clear Lake for treats. :)

Then we fueled at Casey's next door as the fuel here is $.50 a gallon cheaper than in MN. We'll see what we do about fueling the rental car. When we picked it up, BB drove less than five miles before she lost her first bar on the fuel gauge. After we fuel it, we have gone 100+ miles before loosing any bars.

6th stop is the RV shipper. Lot is still full, fuller than usual. Still 50 on the load board plus another 50+ that drivers, like us, have not picked up yet. Four drivers were doing their inspections today while we were there.

Today was a quick in and out for us. We will just move our things once we get to the hotel.

One of the smaller, big farmers was out in his field today with two tractors working the fields. The bigger farmer in the area has four, 4 wheel drive tractors and it seems like they are on a calendar work schedule. Drivers show up for their <> 10 days and get all the work done and then the tractors sit the rest of the year. That farmer hasn't started yet. Last year some of the other farmers had their crops in before that crew started.

I was thinking of taking a picture of the local eagles today as I drove past. But they were feeding on a carcass before their nest so I was not ready.

Tonight we are at the Comfort Inn in Albert Lea. We had thought we might get to Owatonna but by then it would be after last light. Albert Lea is good. It leaves us an hour and a half in the AM to get to the airport to return our car by 8 AM.

We walk next door to the former Iron Skillet for to go food. They closed their buffet when they dropped the Iron Skillet. Now they dish up the food from a few dozen choices. I line when we got there and still a line when we left.

Load board

US - 202

IA - 57/56

MN - 1

WI - 10

Tomorrow we will leave again at 6 AM to return the car. Then head back to Forest City to pick up our RV's. IF all goes well, we will be in Lincoln by nightfall and in Draper by Tuesday evening. But even if we only back it the half hour to Clear Lake, we can still deliver on Tuesday. The wind is supposed to be brisk tomorrow, but not enough that we should need to shut down.