Tag: Travel

Day 2385

Sunday, April 14th, 2024

Day 6 of our trek north

Dear Journal:

Well there was no knock on the coach door overnight, and because of the no overnight parking signs we had a very quiet night, although I was up early this morning but that had more to do with going to bed earlier than usual. The temperature overnight was 64ºF (17.7ºC) and a balmy 71ºF (21.6ºC) in the coach. This morning has been spent catching up on this weeks blogs as we trek to our summer home base. It’s now seven o’clock and Miss Laurie has risen and made coffee, and now we are settling in to watch Willie Guise on NBC, a Sunday morning tradition.

Bacon and Tomato sandwich for breakfast this morning, always a popular choice in the Buchanan household, todays route will move us through Illinois into Indiana where we will move to our final time zone Eastern Daylight Savings time. I’m hoping to be on the road by nine o’clock and with the lost hour we should be at tonight’s destination by 2:00 there will be a fuel stop in Indiana, and I hope to circumvent Indianapolis before we end the day, leaving a very easy day tomorrow.

We were on the road ahead of schedule, and I-70 traffic seams lite, Thunder is running well and we are just clicking the miles off. The smooth ride went to hell at the Indiana State line as I’m thinking that Indiana may have moved New Mexico out of the number one position for the worst roads, maybe someone should tell Indiana that the Federal Government have money available for roads, we have seen the signs posted in almost every other State.

Fuel prices in Indiana are the worse we have seen, higher than Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, they are close to California or Canadian prices. As we get to Indianapolis Navi is recommending the by-pass which we have taken the last few trips so I was not thrilled to find miles of construction on the by-pass. The only good part of this scenario was that it is Sunday and the traffic was lite, as we leave the bypass and head north on Interstate I-69 we are just a few miles from tonight’s destination a Cracker Barrel in Fishers Indiana, and of course the RV / Bus spots were full of cars, so we parked in a plaza near by to watch the Masters golf tournament and wait for a spot to open up.

After the golf was over we moved across the street to an open spot where we eat the beef brisket from Buc-ee’s that Laurie had picked up along with a salad, my conclusion is that the hype over the brisket is justified and we will be getting more the next time we stop. We are settled in to just watch television tonight, I was pleased with the outcome of the golf tournament, and it has me thinking about playing a round or two this summer.

Day 6 Stats: 245 miles (395 kilometers), solar harvest 273 amp / hours, camping cost $0.00 (breakfast $19,00), 47.366 gallons (179.29 liters) of diesel fuel $208.26 ($286.24 Cdn)

Day 2383

Friday April 12th 2024

Day 4 of our trek north

Dear Journal:

This is how my morning started, sitting in my recliner, Mister Sam on my lap and this view through the windshield. Welcome to day four of our trek north, this location is a “Boondockers’ Welcome” spot. Located two miles north of Interstate I-44 near Chandler Oklahoma.

Today our route will take is into the “Show Me” State (Missouri for those who don’t know), we will remain on Interstate I-44 as we move in a northeast direction. Oklahoma is the only portion of this route that is a toll road and we will pay close to $25 in total by the time we transverse the State.

But first some morning news to see what is happening out there today, of course a cup of fresh perked coffee with a splash of Irish blessing helps with the news. It is so lovely here that we are not in a great rush to get on the road, I have a Cracker Barrel picked out for tonight’s destination at Springfield MO. and the golf coverage doesn’t start till three o’clock so no rush at all. With some extra time Miss Laurie prepares a grilled cheese omelet for breakfast and we make into a second cup of coffee territory. Have I mentioned what a great boondocking spot this is?

We are preparing to roll down the road by ten o’clock and as we hook up the towed and creep down the gravel road, this I suspect will be a stay that will stay that we will remember for some time to come. In fact the only disappointment was that we never got to meet our hosts, on of the features of the Boondockers’ Welcome program that we enjoy, as most are travelers same as us, who appreciate a safe place to stay as well. As we enter the toll road and head east toward Tulsa at least the toll road is reasonably well maintained and while busy seems to have good traffic flow. The Tulsa area is busier and the roadway is still under construction as it has been for years, but I know where the ugly spots are and drive accordingly.

The second half of the toll road dumps us at the State line, and at this point we are a little more than an hour to our destination. No fuel stop today, but we will be buying fuel in Missouri because it is the State with the best fuel prices on our whole trip. Texas and Oklahoma are similar price but Missouri wins the price war hands down, now if we were further south that would be a different story.

Well we made it to our Cracker Barrel and this is what we found. The sign is easy enough to read for those who can read “RV & BUS PARKING ONLY” and none of these vehicles seem to fit either description. So instead of parking in an RV spot we parked on the outside parking area and ended up taking up five car parking spots. But the good news is that we have saved a few people from having to walk an extra fifty feet to the restaurant.

The spot we chose was not level, but it wasn’t bad enough for us to move after watching the golf, and other than having some difficulty trying to hook up and exit the lot in the morning it is all good. As I’m laying out tomorrows route, destination, and fuel stop that I realize that unintentionally we will be staying in a different State every night. And tomorrow is a fuel day and I also realize that there is a new fuel stop with better prices than I had originally planned, it is a little closer than I had planned but it should all work out.

The night was reasonably quiet, lets face it most of the Cracker Barrels are located just yards off of the Interstate highways so some road noise is to be expected. The bonus is that they make a great breakfast, and it means that we have no dishes to cleanup before a travel day.

Day 4 Stats: 246 miles (395 kilometers) solar harvest 274 amp / hours, camping cost $0.00 ($21.00 for breakfast) No fuel purchase today.