I stopped last night earlier than I had planned in Sullivan, MO, about an hour south of St Louis. By the time I got there I realized I would be fighting the St Louis evening traffic if I continued on so I called it a day. Another CFI driver was inside at the restaurant when I went in (steak and salmon, yum) and we chatted for a while. Poor guy's truck has been hit three times in the past few months, all while parked.
My head was pounding this morning and I didn't feel all that well. Not like food poisoning, but something else. I had a banana, some strawberries and a cinnamon raisin bagel and left anyway.
After just over an hour I crossed into Illinois and the slow, slow slog of 55 MPH driving began. Three hours later, I was entering Indiana where it sped up for just a while before getting to Indianapolis, then back to 55, then 50. I was going to follow I-70 through Indy and out the other side but almost smack dab in the middle of the city signs were posted that trucks over 13 tons weren't allowed eastbound on I-70, and the only other choice was I-65 up towards Chicago. So I had to basically boomerang around and head northwest instead of east then get to the outer I-465 loop and reverse course again.
Shortly after I managed this traffic came to a standstill and rumbled along slowly for a few miles until I came across an electronic sign that said they were clearing an accident about 4 miles ahead in the two right lanes. I dutifully moved into the left lane along with most other folks and crept forward. For an hour. Eventually, I make it up front to where they are picking up after the accident and it is the left lane that is closed and the two right lanes are open! Indiana DOT folks were dropped when they were born apparently.
I made it across into Ohio to exit #10 near Eaton. One of our authorized fuel stops is there and they also have a Subway so I figured I would knock out two birds with one stone. I got off of the interstate and turned right only to find a line of trucks waiting to just get into the Pilot, much less fuel. I figured I would get some eating done first and go in the other truck entrance (many truck stops are set up like the letter "U" with two entrances / exits) and only at the last second before I passed the front truck waiting on the street to get in did I realize this place only had one entrance for trucks and a separate, blocked off entrance for cars.
Now I'm heading down a narrow two-lane road heading to the next town with corn fields on either side. I drove about a half mile until I found an Ohio Department of Transportation garage (where they store graders, snow plows, sand, etc.) and used it to turn around in, disregarding the No Trespassing sign entirely.
On my way back I approached the entrance more cautiously and eventually made my way inside the entry, in line for the pumps. I quickly fueled up and decided to leave at that point to help with the crush of trucks in line and I just barely missed two JB Hunt trucks slamming into one another when a third JB Hunt truck wouldn't get out of the way.
Between the speed limit, the rerouting in Indy, the wreck and the fuel stop nonsense I managed to only knock out 610 miles in a LONG day. I used every legal minute today, a rarity. I was going to run over about five minutes to make a truck stop just a bit up the road but then I came across a Pilot that our fuel book has mislabled.
Tomorrow I hope to run most of the 650 miles from here to my destination early in the day so I can get a spot at one of the small truck stops or rest areas there in the northeast. We'll see.
