1 box truck to Springfield OH

1 lawn truck to Burnsville MN (Friday)

... spending the night at Englewood OH

Breakfast. OK, but minimal.

We pull out after 7:30. We want to be to the shipper by <> 8 AM and they are just a couple of miles away. My truck is at one of the remote lots again. BB had mentioned changing the rental car drop to Janesville, but we are far enough south that we keep the Rockford drop location.

1st stop was the shipper in Janesville.

2nd stop was their remote lot in south Janesville

3rd stop was for fuel at the Kwik Trip near the remote lot.

This time we knew what we were looking for and how to easier ID the trucks. But we were in for a surprise. This one was a flat bed, not a box truck. We are able to get all of our luggage in the cab and one side box.

The first thing we do with any truck is do our inspection which includes opening the hood and checking fluids. Todays hood has rubber hooks to hold the hood down, somehow I managed to pinch the side of my hand. Ouch ... it hurt. I showed BB that it had broke the skin and then keep doing my inspection.

At some point I noticed I was getting blood on things. Luckily not on the new truck. Eventually because it was still bleeding, I took a few napkins and 'duck taped' it to my hand :)

And while doing the inspection, the driver, in this case me, is in the cab and the other person is checking the lights, blinkers, backup lights, etc. When I put the truck in gear ... HONK ... HONK ... HONK. The warning light just said the truck was no longer in park ??? It doesn't tell the that the passenger door is not completely closed. But we figured it out.

At the Kwik Trip I put in 42 gallons. My paperwork showed the truck was going to have 1/4 tank of fuel at pickup but it really only had 1/8. I didn't realize it right away because the gauge is not set the usual way. 40 gallons would mean I need to get 10+ mpg. We will see.

4th stop is the Avis at the mall in Rockford. It looks like this mall has all anchor's filled again.

I don't see BB, so I pull around to the front and park and make my phone calls. To the drop for this truck. To the shipper for the next truck. Finally BB shows up. She had walked out the front door, not seen me, and had been standing on the side of the building for a while ...

It has been raining/snowing ever since we left home on Tuesday. Sometimes light, sometimes heavy but always something. And it still is today. So lots of slow traffic in Chicago. Not much chance of going over the speed limit in construction zones.

When there are signs warning of cargo theft at the Oasis, we do not want to be messing with those kind of people. I doubt they are amateurs or fearful of anyone.

So ... that was a long leg today between stops. And our next choice of stops would have been the Honey Backed Ham in IN, but one of those ramps was closed and it would be a long detour to get back on the freeway.

5th stop ... so the 5th stop was the Pilot/Wendy's in Hebron for food and our half hour break.

After leaving Hebron, most of the next 100 miles to Indy was slow and go, stop and go. No idea what the reason was but it made for another long leg. Also the rest area we were going to stop at was closed.

There was a new, much larger rest area before that. Looks like room for 100+ trucks. IN is the best or at least one of the best states for dedicated truck parking.

6th stop is Greenfield, east of INDY for a break.

7th and final stop is the Comfort Inn in Englewood, just before Dayton for the night. We then walk next door to the Waffle House for food.

When I picked up the truck, I had guessed it would make 10 mpg. By the end of the day, my mpg was 8+. And I still have some extra fuel with about 40 miles to go. Not sure yet if I will add more fuel. At times it was showing I was getting well over 10 mpg but other times, no. Generally had a tail wind all day but it didn't always seem to make a difference.

When we are not home, we see lots of trips that would work if we were there. Also, IA has put out 50+ RV's, ALL going to CO. And no one is taking them. Usually when IA dumps RV's the first 50 are gone within an hour or two.

We have not decided when we will call nor do we have long plans on what to do after we might drop in CO.

Load board

US - 350

IA - 56/52

MN - 5

WI - 3

We have moved all our luggage into the hotel so we do not need to be moving it as we switch from truck to rental car to truck. Our hotel is right on route when we will be leaving town tomorrow.

Plan is to leave at our usual 7:30 (even thou we are in the eastern time zone.) Be to the airport by 8 AM, be to the drop by 9 AM, do the next pickup at 10 AM and be back to the hotel before 11 AM.

And then hopefully make it back to the north side of Chicago by Friday night.