Journal Entry #7 - Kearney NE to Davenport IL

Thursday 9/5/2002

Day Seven

     Kearney, NE to Iowa to (near) Davenport IL
     Starting mileage 89851 / Ending mileage 90337

Both had a good night’s sleep. David handled dog duty @ 6:30, then *Vince & Tessa came back to bed with us. (All three dogs & Tig spend nights in the living room, with the couch pulled out. It seems to work well to have Tig snack & potty then out of the bedroom, because he can be restless at night & keep climbing on us). I got up @ 8:30 and put V&T on their ropes. It was a wonderful breeze & temp in the shade (yes, shade necessary at 8:30am). After breakfast of banana, honey & peanut butter, I made coffee & read my instructional book about bowling. David rested longer, since the plan for today requires late & long driving. 

The plan:

Do laundry at the motel/rv park (that’s what I’m doing now), leave @ 11 to bicycle to the Ford dealership to pick up the parts, come back & David will work his magic while I get the trailer ready for travel. Then, hopefully after no more than 2 hours of labor, we’ll hit the road, drive until dinner, then off again till midnight or so. Hope to find a rest area to catch 5 or 6 hours sleep, then on the road again.

Well, the plan is going just fine. At 11 we set out on our bikes for the 2+ mile ride to the Ford dealer. Again, very level riding for the most part, but when I got off my bike to rest my butt & legs right before a lengthy incline I started to feel nauseous & like I was going to black out (black spots in front of my eyes). That passed fairly quickly, then we finished the last leg of the trip. The parts were in, so David paid cash (too much $ to write down) and we strapped the bits & pieces on the rack on the back of my bike (cool!) and headed back to camp.
Took a couple detours to look at a park and to take our picture by a fountain (how original) until David reminded me of our priorities. At 12:20 he started working on the truck, while I took some damp clothes to the laundry room to finish drying. While that went on, I went for a swim in the pool – deep end 9 ft., clean & clear & cold – had it all to myself which is good since it was pretty small.

@ 1:45 David finished the work just as I returned with clean, folded clothes. We broke camp and hit the road at 2:15pm. Dad called just as we were leaving town – he and *Elsie are headed to Ohio to see *Lars, and we’ll meet up with them if/when possible, so they can take their grand-dog Pav home to NC.

Stopped in Lincoln, NE @ 4:45 for fuel. Me & the dogs about got ate up by mosquitoes – hopefully no nasty WNV carriers…David checked the engine & says status: unknown. Some fuel drips that may be residual or new. We’ll check again later. (These rough roads are very tough on my legibility)

6:40pm, 34 miles east of Omaha we took an exit and snagged some Dairy Queen for dinner (“to go” in the trailer). David had to slide out to get to the dog’s food. Still almost 90° & partly cloudy. When we took off at 7:18pm, I put my digital clock/thermometer in the back of the truck where I can see it from the cab. Although we blow our air conditioning towards the window, and there’s a foam “donut” to seal the outer edges, it can be pretty warm in the back for the dogs, so I want to keep an eye on it. Started at 86.9°. As we pulled away, 10 minutes later down a whopping 1 degree to 85.

Passing by Des Moines IA at 9pm. The outside air is still too warm to use the vent – still on AC. Temp in the back is down to 78-79.

Stopped for fuel in Newton, IA @ 10:15pm; nothing exciting to report.

A few miles west of Davenport, IA we passed by “I-80 The World’s Largest Truck Stop”. That’s probably no exaggeration – we could see hundreds of semis parked for the night (11:50pm). Well, almost midnight – time to start a new day and page!

  

Fuel: Lincoln, NE / 25.5gal / $36.75 / 225miles

Fuel: Newton, IO / 19.4gal / $28.27 / 217miles

*Vince is the black and tan dachshund mix we adopted from the pound in 1999 as a playmate for Luc, our Doberman, since Pav (the greyhound) wasn't exactly playful...

*Elsie: my father's wife

*Lars: my brother in Columbus, OH

End of Entry