Bill’s Blog on the River

I started off fantastic.  Up early, walked the dogs, checked emails then got to go shopping with Brandy and Sam.  Got myself some boots for the snow and some great photos of Sam taken on her birthday.

Had a great time visiting Brandy, Sam and Tom.  Oscar and Jake had a ball.  Played with Sam and Tom all morning and just wore themselves out.

And, Jake had to try that snow one more time. 

And, of course, had to get some pics of Grandpa and Sam:

Hated to leave, but with a deadline to keep and another storm coming, left Hastings around 1:40 PM….after, of course, lots of hugs and kisses goodbye.

Everything went pretty good until the sun went down and the temps started to fall.  Got to around 18 degrees by the time I was in western Iowa and the roads began to freeze.  I’m guessing, but I must have seen at least a couple of dozen semi’s and car off the side of the road.  Some on their side and some on their top.  Then, about 30 miles from the Illinois border the traffic came to a halt.  A tractor-trailer had jack-knifed and was blocking both east bound lanes. 

We all had to sit there for about 45 minutes and finally the police began to route us off on the right hand shoulder to squeeze around the rig.  Fortunately I was one of the first in line and I just barely got through.  Right after I got through, maybe the 3rd or 4th truck behind me, sank down in the shoulder and got stuck.  That was at about 10:3o PM.  It is now 12:45 PM and I’m sure all the rest of the trucks and cars are still sitting there since there was no place to turn around and it was going to take hours to get the truck back upright again and off the roadway.

I continued on just creeping along since the roads were a complete sheet of ice until I heard on the CB that another rig had jack-knifed and turned over about 5 miles ahead of me and was also blocking both east bound lanes.  Just as I was thinking I was going to be sitting on the road all night, I came up to an exit with several truckstops, so off I went and headed for the Flying J.  Found a place to park the coach and here I sit, nice and warm with the puppies on my lap just typing away.

It was a hell of a day.  A great day seeing Sam and Brandy and Tom….and then a crazy one once the roads started to freeze up.

I did talk with John.  He made it just past Knoxville fighting rain, then sleet and fog most of the day.  He’s now checked into a hotel and safe and cozy for the night. 

For those of you in to the stats….here they are.  Went a total of 484 miles today at an average speed of 63.7 mph.  My miles per gallon average 6.4 and actual drive time was 7 hours and 7 minutes.  Real time on the road was 8 hrs and 45 minutes.

It was a good day.  Tomorrow I hope, depending on the weather and the roads, to reach Nappanee, IN where I will drop off the coach on Monday and then drive on in to Delaware in the car.  It’s a total of 702 miles, so not sure I can make that in one day, even in the car….but, we’ll see.

Mileage to Nappanee tomorrow is 272 miles…..should be a breeze if the weather holds.

All in all it was a GREAT Day!

Bill

Filed under: Brandy, Daily Update, Inclement Weather, Samantha, The Puppies