We left this morning around 8:00 AM and now it's 9:30 PM and Eldy is still driving. We made a lot of stops today. Two fuel stops...We have to be careful with fuel. Some of these diesel station/truck stops are BIODIESEL--which can cause fuel filters to clog because they do such a good job of cleaning your engine's fuel system. You better have extra fuel filters on hand if you don't use bio diesel on a regular basis.We caught ourselves short at the first station when we realized ALL the pumps were biodiesel, so on we went. .We have never used this type of fuel in our Phaeton, so we didn't want to start super cleaning our engine NOW....Karen, of Travels with Karen and Al, did a great blog about using biodiesel fuel, if you would like to know more information. Here's a link to her discussion on biodiesel.
We hit a couple of rest stop stops...This one near Pensacola...It was beautiful!
It was wonderful to see the different terrain...Lots of water of course, through the panhandle of Florida....And then bye bye to large bodies of water for now until we crossed some big rivers later in the day....
Some of the interesting decor on the bridges....
Then as you move through Alabama on I-65, it gets really hilly around Montgomery...Sparky loved the changing scenery, seeing all the varieties of trees and the green hills of Alabama and Tennessee, the stone cliffs and rock walls that line the highways, a hot air balloon in the sky at dusk in Tennessee. It's great to see some different terrain besides palm trees! We're heading for the welcome center at the Kentucky/Tennessee border for our goal tonight. Overnight parking is allowed....
At any rate, Eldy hit over 752 miles today...a new driving record! Sparky doesn't know whether to be proud of him or annoyed at his insistence that he cover a lot of ground today. She's a little of both, mainly because it's not good to sit and drive for all that time, even if we did take breaks! And did Sparky help with driving...Well, no...she gets very stressed when she drives, and Eldy, bless his heart, did not want to add to her stress level with her just now starting to feel better....
We got to the Welcome Center, and although they were not completely full, the truck/RV sites were extremely narrow. They were so tight, that you'd have to worry about your automatic doorsteps maybe bumping the rig next to you, (a slight exaggeration). Both of us, as tired as we were, said, nope! Not gonna do that, so back out on the highway we went and just immediately past the welcome center was a Flying J truck stop. Yep, that will work!
Parked the rig, and got a bite to eat at Denny's...Eldy decided he wanted a grilled cheese sandwich so here's Denny's version....EWWWWWWWW! Those are breaded CHEESE STICKS sandwiched in between more melted cheese. Is that not one of the grossest food items you have seen?
Eldy said it was surprisingly good. Sparky had a RELATIVELY healthier turkey club sandwich, taking out half the bread.
We collapsed for the night. We even slept through the periodic announcements for "SHOWER #34, NOW READY" for the truckers, blaring through the parking lot speakers...Four hundred some miles left to go, piece of cake for Eldo!
See ya later......
