Well our decision was to head south on I-65 and then west on I-40 so we managed to get on the road by 10 am with overcast skies, we did not hit any rain but drove about an hour before we had sunshine. The Tennessee roads are not up to the level of Kentucky highways, traffic was reasonably light with just one back up in Nashville but it only set us behind a few moments. It was a warm sunny day and we crossed a time zone so we were off the road by 2 pm but actually drove five hours and covered almost 260 miles (418 kms) , a little more than normal but still not a bad day with 60+ degrees and sunshine.

We found a spot at a Sam’s Club in Jackson TN, we parked on the extreme southern end of the lot, and are now surrounded by a number of large motor coaches, in fact Thunder is almost the smallest in the group, and that is not normally the case. It was clear over night with the temperature being 41 or 5 degrees and today may reach a high of low 70s or 20s but Thursday is looking for below freezing temperatures overnight….time to keep moving west. Control panel this morning battery voltage 12.3 volts, batteries at 84%, solar yesterday produced 112 amp/hours, coach temperature is 60F and the furnace is running occasionally, all and all we are in fine shape this morning. Miss Laurie got to watch “The Voice” and “This is us” last night, again an hour of generator to help the batteries through the night, didn’t need the heater as the coach was around 70F, we did turn in a little early, just not used to the time change yet.

It’s Wednesday and we will be heading west on I-40 through Memphis and on in to Arkansas, most likely in the Little Rock area but we will see, our plan is to be on the highway by 10 as usual but nothing else is solid, I have to get the maps out and scope out todays travel, need to have a couple of possible boondocking spots for tonight.

Well things sometimes just don’t work out, a glance at the trip computer on Thunder tells an ugly tale. Notice almost five hours and a distance of 135.6 miles, 19.3 gallons, average speed 28 miles per hour and only 7 miles per gallon, these are not numbers normal numbers but are because of a double fatality on west bound I-40. A tractor trailer driver drove into the crash truck (the truck that is designed to protect workers), then hit a patrol car, injuring the officer, then hit three DOT contract workers killing two of them, all of this with all the flashing lights of any construction zone and the blue flashing lights of the cruiser, this at approximately 3 am this morning. Two in hospital, two dead and I suspect a truck driver in jail, this is why we never drive at night, too many chances of some fool falling asleep at the wheel, I know it can happen during the daytime but more likely at night.

We are settled into a Walmart with about a dozen, RV’s and tractor trailers, in Forrest City AR, not where we had planned to be tonight but with the highway back up and detour, it was the best I could do. As we watch the weather and the cold snap coming through we may be adjusting our route to take us down I-30 into Dallas and west on I-20, then we can start working north west and maybe take in Roswell NM, that should be entertaining but we will check in the morning to see which looks best…stay tuned.

Day 765

I slept in this morning it is 6:30 and the outside temperature is 46ºF or 7ºC, yesterday we only travelled 113 miles (182 kms), solar produced 146 amp/hours, the batteries are at 12.5 volts and 87% and only 54 amp/hours from full. These are numbers that make boondockers very happy, but I did run the generator for an hour before going to bed last night just to give the batteries a chance, the coach is at 60ºF this morning and I only heard the boiler kick on a couple of times and that was most likely just to maintain hot water. We fueled for $2.769 per gallon (best diesel price so far) about twenty miles ago, and pulled into the cracker barrel yesterday evening at about 5:30 there are 12 RV parking spots (we are the only RV in the lot) but we had to disconnect the towed as our total length was just too much.

The drive across the Blue Grass Parkway was a great drive through the rolling hills of Kentucky, the road was in good condition, much just having been resurfaced, but the hills were gradual enough that Thunder would usually make the crests without any need to downshift, only issue was it we were a little late in the day and the sun was right in our eyes (the sun shade issue is not resolved yet) as we are still getting used to the time change and we will change again today from eastern to central. The weather looks good for today with the temperatures falling near freezing tonight, so we are just trying to decide on our route to Memphis as that is where we are planning on crossing the Mississippi on I 40, but I’m also looking at this cold (artic blast) spell coming from the north west that has overnight temperatures under the freezing mark. Not what we like to hear although day time temps are reasonable with quite a bit of sun, this is something we will have to monitor, we can survive the nights if we can recharge with some sun the next day, again its all about the battery power to get us through the nights.

 We toured the Brewery/Distillery yesterday and while their bourbon was not bad at all I think what I most enjoyed was their barrel beers, they take their Irish Red beer and age it in Bourbon barrels, which adds so much to the flavour and the one that really got me was their vanilla barrel selection that had vanilla beans added to the beer in the bourbon barrels. the aroma and the flavour combination was very nice, in fact a few of them found their way to the coach.

Day 764