Up early again this morning. Much warmer this morning which is nice. It is currently 42° which is 10° warmer than it was last night when we went to bed. Unfortunately it’s raining this morning but I guess that’s better than sleet or snow. On our way to our pick up and then onto Nebraska.

We now have our load from the wrangler warehouse and now starting the 14 Hour Drive to Omaha Nebraska. We have 6200 pounds of blue jeans. The weather is getting colder instead of warmer which is fun.

Interesting facts about Hackleburg, Alabama. It is home to Sonny James the country music star of the 60s and 70s with songs like Young love and running bear. He started singing at the age of three and played a banjo that his dad made from a molasses can cut in half and strings put on it. His family had a 300 acre farm but they toured around different states playing school gymnasiums and things like that but after graduation he enlisted in the National Guard and was sent to Korea. After Korea he came home and went back into the country music business. He was the first country music recording artist to have a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.

Other lovely sites we have seen in Alabama. Too Fat Sisters in the kitchen restaurant, Coon dog cemetery, and the Buttahatchie River.

Crossed in to Mississippi but didn’t get picture of sign. Batteries ran out in camera and was changing them when we went passed.

Now in to Tennessee. It has rained for hours. Creeks and rivers are running over their banks. It’s a nasty day to be driving.

Stopping at a Pilot in Jackson, TN. Time for Greg’s 30 minute break and something to eat.

Ran into a young girl (20’s) in the bathroom crying her eyes out. Big gulping sobs. I asked if she was alright and she said yeah. She had a big duffel bag with her so I wondered if she and her husband or boyfriend had a fight and she got out of the truck or was tossed out. I asked her how she was getting home and she said she didn’t know. I tried to talk more to her but she left and I didn’t see her again. I pray she finds a safe ride home.

Going down the road we see this big house and then did a double take. What we first thought was a horse was actually a Zebra. What? Yep. And there were also a bunch of what looked like caribou. Further down we saw a sign that said it was a small safari park. How random is that?

Ran into quite a bit of flooded corn fields coming through Tennessee. What looked like ponds were actually fields. It has rained all day.

Got in to Missouri and the rain stopped but lots of ice on side of highway, trees and fields. Beautiful to look at but glad roads are clear.

Made it past St. Louis so stopped for the night. Got about 6 hours to go to get to Omaha. Going to eat a bit and settle in. Got to see what’s going on in Downton Abbey tonight.

Goodnight, y’all.

Not so fast.  Gotta put in my two cents.  Reaffirming everything Annie said about the weather.  Aweful.  Could have been worse, but still miserable.  Saw the sun for a few minutes at sunset driving into Missouri, but that was about it.  I don’t mind driving in the rain, just would rather not.  Doesn’t make for good sightseeing either.  Well, my navigator found us a truck stop just on the far side of St. Louis so we can avoid any Sunday morning traffic in that area in the morning.  I was worried we weren’t going to make it before my 14 hour clock ran out.  I was driving on that one since we took such a long break for lunch.  As you may recall from our clock lecture a few post ago, the 14 clock does not stop once started.  It is your daily limit for driving, working and taking breaks.  We were about 20 miles away from the truck stop with 32 minutes drive time remaining.  Speed limit 70 to 65 and sometimes 60, so that shouldn’t be a problem right?  Well, you never know what’s going to happen with traffic.  As we speed toward our stop getting ever close I move into the right lane a few miles ahead of the exit so that I won’t have to worry about traffic to my right when trying to get off of the interstate.  Well, wouldn’t you know it, there is a car in the right lane and he is going 55 in a 70 mph zone.  De Javu.  If you remember, that’s hour I got my hours of service violation a few days ago, riding behind a slow poke on a two lane country road for 30 minutes as my drive clock expired 14 minutes before I could stop.  Well, no problem tonight.  Pulled into the parking lot with about 14 minutes to spare.  Now remember, I cannot sign off as long as the truck is moving and the clock continues to tick.  I find a spot, back in, that’s right, I back in.  There was nothing for 50 feet on either side of my parking spot but that’s not the point here.  Got stopped, hit off, but then it asks if I want to do a post trip inspection.  I say yes.  This requires 10 minutes minimum and if you check off before that it will make you go back and edit your logs to include a 10 minute post inspection.  Set the timer on my phone so I get at least the 10 minutes.  The timer goes off, I click okay, post inspection done, and there is less than a minute left on my 14 hour clock.  Parked, inspected and done right on time.  Good planning or just plain luck?  I’m going to give the credit to my planner.  She knew how far we could get and how soon and we did.  Good job Andrea.  I think I will keep you on.

Good night all.  And God bless.

Plastic containers

Birmingham

Coal train in Alabama

Kinda creepy

Birmingham

Flooding