On The Road Again -

- with apologies to Willie Nelson.

Forty-four hours after landing in Ft Lauderdale it was time to hit the road in a rental car and pick up my van north of Bonifay FL. As always, I had booked the cheapest/smallest car with Budget. This time I was given a Mitsubishi Outlander with a four wheel drive option. Not that I was going to need it on I-95 and I-10. Nice car though. (Picked up Ft Lauderdale, dropped Tallahassee Regional Airport $42.20)

My Ford had been well looked after with both batteries in good condition. One tyre had needed a top up a couple of times during my absence, and it was suggested maybe I should have it looked at.

Twenty eight miles away at FJ in Dothan AL I asked for someone to check all my tyres, and make sure they were up to the required pressure. It was then I was told/shown where the air was coming out of one tyre as quickly as it was being put in. The local tyre shop put the spare on and sold me a used tyre to have as a spare. That at least would get me to Joplin.

The run to Joplin was incident free and most enjoyable - a weekend on lightly travelled interstates. One day I plan to have sufficinent time to check out the many attractions posted along these highways.

All necessary repairs and maintenance had already been organised. Now a new set of tyres was added to that list. Four days later I was able to hit the road with a full service, new tyres, windscreen, brakes, rotors and who knows what more. Even a new radio/cassette tape player. She's as good as new.

Besides visiting family and friends, who knows what adventures she will be undertaking this year. Suffice that a visit to Boston is top of the list.

Lifey

You were even able to find a new radio/cassette player? Wow, you can't buy them in the store any more, everything is CD/Auxiliary/iPod oriented. We have a cassette player in our truck, though, and we can run either CD's or iPod through it (thanks to a nifty gadget that goes from a never-ending tape into a CD WalkMan-type thing or directly into the iPod).

Looking forward to reading your adventures!


Donna

I can't take credit for that. It is amazing what glc can find. You only need to mention something, and bingo his ability to get around the internet has found it.

There are actually a few available on thE bay, mostly coming out of China. They are listed on many of their sites. But this one was located in Ohio. It is really great to play my tapes again. The old one was a tape player, but it was broken.

Lifey

I ordered it from Crutchfield. They have exactly one in-dash receiver with cassette in the catalog.

Donna, I have one of those cassette adapters too, it came with my portable XM radio. I also use it with my smartphone to play MP3's.

It is interesting to see how Joplin is progressing with the rebuilding. Almost three years after the tornado, the new hospital is well on it's way, and the high school is scheduled to open for the next school year. The students who will be attending the new school will be very lucky. Their new school has the latest of everything, including technology. One positive which came out of the tornado. Another is the new hospital. As well as the latest of everything, this is being rebuild with new tornado resistant windows. On the other hand, there are still lots of vacant lots and the absence of mature trees along the tornado's path makes that part of town look very bare.

As soon as my van was ready it was time to head out for Boston.

The first night's stop was in Brazil IN. Being a weekend (again), it was a great run, even though it was all on interstates. By now fuel prices had risen considerably to what I had experienced further south. I keep consoling myself that it is still a little over 50% of what we pay at home.

The next day took me to Grantsville MD, and gave an opportunity to get off interstates. All through OH, I-70 was lined with snow on the side of the road. I was pleased to hear that "it snowed yesterday", and no more was expected. Driving in snow is not my idea of a fun.

Route 40 from Washington PA to I-68 is another of these drives which takes one through small towns that appear to have been there forever. A simple two lane road with houses and businesses fronting right onto the road. No national chains to be seen here. Not in retail. Not in accommodation. The variety of architecture is amazing. The 45mph speed limit did not give one sufficient opportunity to appreciate it. All too soon the road widened, there was a set of traffic lights and the encroachment of the (ugly) big box and national chain stores.

At 3000', Grantsville too had a generous covering of snow. The truck stop, Macca's and other places still had a lot of snow in the parking areas. It was freezing cold. I was grateful for my all seasons sleeping bag.

Lifey

It must be a great feeling to be back on the road again !

I'm looking forward to following your trip report and riding along with you in the virtual world.

Dave.

It had only just caught fire. I had seen some smoke rising up ahead and to the left. Coming round the bend on I-70 in MD I saw the cab of an 18 wheeler completely engulfed in flames, in the west bound lanes. Emergency services had not yet arrived. The smoke got thicker and blacker and was blowing accros the east bound lanes. It can't have been more than 20 ft, but it was impossible to see anything while driving through the smoke. Quite scary, really! The acrid smell penetrated right through the vehicle.

Turned onto route 1 off the Baltimore beltline and some miles into PA took 202 to West Chester, where I managed to sort out my AAA membership.The following day I had an appointment with the lady who arranges my insurance. You'd think by now that all that would be smooth sailing.... but not so. Seems that the company takes out insurance where the vehicle is parked when picked up. This year it was FL. According to that company, it is the most expensive State. Double what I have paid the last two years. Won't be making that mistake again.

So now I am on the lookout to store the van in one of the cheaper insurance States.

The DE welcome centre, which is on the medium between the east and west bound lanes of the JFK Memorial Highway, allows overnight parking. Most convenient, being right next to the Sunoco Truck Stop which is also on the medium (and only miles from the insurance company in Wilmington). It is a very large welcome centre with a bit of a market, shops and a large food court. It was a vibrant and busy place, even at 9pm.

No sightseeing, but none-the-less, a very pleasant day on the road.

Lifey

Don't park your vehicle in CA or NJ. Both are high insurance states.

Sigh.....love reading your posts, though! When you mentioned smoke and a fire, though, my heart was in my mouth! I was glad it wasn't you, though not so happy for the trucker.

Happy traveling!


Donna

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DonnaR57

Don't park your vehicle in CA or NJ. Both are high insurance states.

---

And believe it or not, Nevada is second only to New York for high insurance rates. California is considerably less expensive than Nevada!

Mark

Apparently, even that differs from one company to the next.

Lifey