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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Five States in a Day! and a Boo-Boo Bumper

Gosh, we covered 517 miles today, and hit FIVE states 
 (ILLINOIS, MISSOURI, ARKANSAS, TENNESSEE, AND MISSISSIPPI)
and came close to another (KENTUCKY)
and almost made it to another (LOUISIANA)  



But NOW that there are thunderstorms, tornado warnings, and flood warnings, we hunkered down for the night in Brookhaven, Mississippi.  If Steve had his way, we would be already to Baton Rouge and checking out the gulf coast.

We started out this morning in Benton, Illinois and left about 7:30 a.m. to hit the road.  We crossed over into Missouri by 7:50 and saw a sign for Cinnabon at a Flying J.  We HAD to stop!
Besides, we needed more coffee.  
Didn't have time to perk a second pot before hitting the road. 
That is my excuse and I am sticking to it. 

Yummm what a treat!   By this time it started to sprinkle out, but we didn't mind.  It was a good way to rinse the Wisconsin road salt off of the rig and Tracker.  Little did we know what lay ahead....


For the first time, we saw diesel under $4 a gallon on this trip.  It was 3.93 at Portageville, MO.  We didn't need to fuel up, but kept that in mind for the return trip.

We crossed into Arkansas at 9:45 and then quickly crossed back over the Mississippi River into Tennessee.


As we were passing through Memphis we thought we saw something fly off a truck and heard a HUGE CLUNK on the front bottom of our rig.  OH NO!  We were winging along the twisty tight turns of the interstate as it ran through Memphis and could not pull over anywhere to check.   Our imaginations ran wild as we pictured our fuel tank hanging down or a hole blasted in our propane tank... or worse yet, a piece of frame broken and ready to collapse our rig.  Finally we got to a rest area and pulled over.


Sigh....  there was a big chunk knocked out of our front bumper fiberglass.  We searched the tires, and underbody as best we could in the rain, and decided we were VERY LUCKY-----  That appears to be the only damage.  Whew!   We are thanking our lucky stars and God above for the minor problem.  We can handle this.

It's too small to even make an insurance claim on.  A bit of fiberglass material, some sanding, some paint and it will be good as new.  Another project for Steveio this spring.  I think we should buy a big big bandaid and put it on and write "OOPS" on it.

We crossed into the state of Mississippi about 11:15 and the rains were getting heavier as we went south.  Our rig was finally blue and silver, and our Tracker was finally bronze.  The salt was gone!  We may have damaged the water table of Mississippi by all the salt brine we shed off.

We tuned into the national weather service warnings and saw what we just missed out on back in Missouri and Illinois!  Glare ice, snow and winds.... whew were we glad to be south of that!  Friends Rosie in Bethel and Sam/Donna in St. Louis are glad we didn't stop, as we would have been frozen into place for gosh knows how long.

We kept on going on I55 south, through Jackson and southward... but the storm warnings were getting worse, as were the winds and the rains.  We pulled over at a wayside near Beauregard, MS and filled our fresh water tank, walked the dogs and made a supper.  We turned on the tv to local weather stations and checked with Wunderground on the internet.  Now there were tornado watches in the area, and flooding to the north of us back in Jackson.  We drove only 15 more miles when the watches turned into Tornado Warnings.  That is nothing to fool around with!

I insisted we pull over at the next town....  even if Steveio was bound and determined to get into a sixth state (Louisiana) today.  I pulled the imaginary emergency brake on the passenger side and made him turn down the exit ramp into Brookhaven, MS.
My Mr. Zoom Zoom Motorhome Man... 

Although we had hoped to reach Baton Rouge by nightfall, it really was time to get off the road, so we pulled into the Walmart at Brookhaven, MS for the night.  In between rain showers, we ran in and did some shopping.  Although the attendant back at the rest area assured us the water we put in our tank was potable, we will only use it for showering and doing dishes.  We stocked up on bottled water to use for our cooking, coffee, and teeth brushing.   And of course the dogs drinking water.  Ever travel with long haired dogs with diarrhea???  Don't ask.  Yes, we give our dogs bottled water when travelling.

It's thundering and lightening right now, and the rain is extremely loud on the roof.  Every now and then we are rocking with the winds, but parked between two semis has helped, I am sure. We are following the weather channel and if anything is close, we scoped out a good wall along the building to drive up with the rig on the leeward side.  Then we will run into the store to a cement walled inside corner for protection.

The dogs are shaking like leaves, and even tempting them with doggie biscuits was not enough.  So we stuffed them in the bathroom where they can't see the lightening and hopefully they will calm down when it passes.   The rain is coming down in buckets now and many semi trucks have joined us here in the lot.  Smart.

We served up our own treat too.. 

some berries, angelfood cakes, whip cream and sprinkles!  
Oh my .. life on the road sure is sweet! 


517 miles traveled today, will fuel up in the morning

PS .. got a phone call from my little brother---seems my nephew Mikey is in the hospital with some medical complications and could use all the prayers and kind thoughts.

14 comments:

  1. Mmmmm, cinnabon! I'm glad you got off the road for the day when you did. Good vibes and prayers to your nephew, and hope he is soon recovered from the medical complications.

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  2. Hope the bad weather passes you by and you have a safe night. Safe travels.

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  3. Why does this thing keep erasing my comments when I don't punch any keys? Oh, well. I checked the radar map on Accuweather a few times today to see how our storm was moving and thought you might run into some excitement before the day was done. Glad you found a spot to hole up and hope the really bad stuff misses you. I don't think we're getting as much snow as we were expecting and I didn't get my snow day since it didn't start until about 2:15. Didn't go back for tonight's open hours though. It's nasty out and everybody could just stay home and not worry about coming to the library! Hope tomorrow's traveling weather is better.

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  4. you have done some major traveling today! Glad ya'll are safe at walmart. Keep an eye on the weather and stay safe. I'll say a prayer for your nephew, I hope that he will be fine soon. wish I had a cinnabon!

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  5. My mouth was watering looking at those Cinnabons...love those things! When we were traveling to VA a few weeks ago a semi in front of us blew a rear tire (sounded like a bomb) a huge piece full up high in the air and came down right in front of us. Had to go out into the center media to keep from hitting it.
    I'm glad your damage was minimal. Lots of obstacles when out there traveling. I hope your nephew gets well quickly.

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  6. We are praying for your nephew. Glad you got off the road and are safe.

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  7. That's a lot of driving, but you need to get south as fast as possible to get away from those storms.

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  8. I'm so glad you pulled that emergency brake and made Steve stop. I think the closer you were to the coast the worse it got. Tornados are nothing to fool with. So what's the plan for today, east? west?? You gotta make a decision soon....you can't go much further south. :) If you chose Florida, maybe we can meet up somewhere.

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  9. Are you heading toward the Texas coast. Travel safely!

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  10. What an adventure already! Glad the bumper boo-boo was minor, how scary, it could have been so much worse.

    The Gulf Coast awaits, hope you're fully thawed out by then and don't get detoured to Oz with all those tornadoes!

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  11. Love those cinnabons. Really don't like weather reports with tornadoes in them. So glad to hear you are safe. Keep us posted. And once again - it is so wonderful to be married to a guy who can fix everything like your bumper boo-boo.

    Prayers are being said for your nephew. Hugs to all of you.

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  12. With all those sweets you two eat, you should have enough energy to be able to get out and push the rig through a whole state!! (grin)

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  13. With Cinnabon and coffee for fuel, it's no wonder Steve was ready to keep driving! Glad you played it safe and got off the road, You made a lot of progress in just 2 days!

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  14. I'm glad that you enjoyed your "coffee" at the flying J. Very glad that your bumper got the only boo-boo, and that your were unscathed! God Bless you!

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