A Shorter Day Planned, Cloudy

Walmart, Richmond, IN

On Tuesday, Apr. 9^th it was 7:05 when I woke up. I hadn’t planned on sleeping so late, I was in bed by 9:30! Bill was already getting washed by the time I made the bed. I’d planned to nip into Walmart first thing to check on their yogourt and get some cranberry juice and cream but Bill informed me of the chance of rain so we just made tracks for the highway.

Good morning!

We pulled out of the lot, I forgot a picture, and right next door we topped up with fuel at $3.69/gal. Touch wood, we’ve had some decent diesel prices, only once we paid $4.01/gal and all the rest were below the $4. 😊 That makes us happy and improves the financial situation. We pulled out onto I-44E at 7:50. We drove until 9:45 before we pulled into our first rest area. This time a full facility. While there, we checked our route so we knew which bypass to connect to around St. Louis.

Sometimes, rest areas are entered from the left lane
and are set in the middle of the divided highway.
It works!

It was easy to catch the I-270S to I-255E and get back on I-55E/I-70E around the big city. Every time through here, we discuss the time we got messed up and it wasn’t fun AT ALL. The bypass of I-270 was rough but improved by the time we reached I-255. Just before 11 am, we entered Illinois and carried on for an hour and a half. We stopped at Altamont at a Phillips for fuel and pulled into a truck spot and opened up the slides.

With so many signs, you just have to know where you're going

Bill walked over to McD’s for a change and got us each a Big Mac for lunch and we relaxed for half hour. Back on I-70E before 2, we jiggled the Jell-o again. Our destination was going to have us stopping too soon. It’s not fun to be sitting in a Walmart too early so we re-routed to a distance an hour further. 😊 It’s what we do but we still like to have a planned stop, just in case we need to.

Crossing the mighty Mississippi

It is a pleasant 74F/21C and the pavement is smooth in Illinois. I shouldn’t have said that because as we crossed into Indiana, it was really bad. I missed getting a picture of the welcome sign. Darn! Note to selves: don’t cross on this interstate again, through this state at least. We had a few spatters of rain which explains the heavier darker clouds but it didn’t last. Temperatures dropped to 68F/18C but we didn’t regret our shorts today at all. It is comfortable.

We caught the bypass around Indianapolis too

The road never improved all across Indiana and we got on I-465S/E and N at 4:00. We took Exit 44B to get back on I-70E. With the exception of the bypass around Indianapolis, the interstate was terrible. It was about 17 miles of bumper to bumper traffic through construction though. It took us 35 minutes but neither of us had any faith that going right through the city would have been any better. I’m so afraid to see what is broken inside our Suite, it is the worst I recall experiencing. ☹

Another huge cross on our
journey today

We reached our destination town of Richmond, IN and found the Walmart Supercentre by 6. What a change from last night’s venue in Lebanon. It’s quiet, no car jockeys out and about and we got a nice spot near the garden centre that isn’t in any main path. That’s important. As soon as we opened up and checked things out, I walked over to the store for a few groceries. Blessed heaven, nothing was damaged, nothing out of the ordinary was askew so I am so relieved. ♥

It was a better day for Gibbs today ♥

When I came back, Bill wasn’t hungry yet but I was. We carry snack bars in the truck to munch on but I hadn’t had any today, trying to wait until supper. I reheated the last of my spaghetti and meatballs and had one of my few remaining rolls. It was good and sure hit the spot. By 7, Bill was hungry enough to make himself a toasted sandwich for himself and I finished my blog.

There was a difference today in how much the
trees had progressed.
Many pretty purple blossoms along the way
but hard to capture on film in a moving vehicle.

It was an interesting day. Weatherwise, we expected more rain than the few spatters we did get. Temperature-wise, it was pleasant enough all day to be in shorts. Fuel-wise, we topped up 2X for under $3.88. Road-wise, yeuch! We paid for all the good roads we’ve had since crossing into Indiana on I-70E. Don’t do it, is all we can say. Construction-wise, same thing. It was worse than any other dealings we’ve had although we were able to keep moving in every scenario today.

On the east side of Indianapolis
coming out of the construction felt like a breath of 
fresh air

All in all, a good day and we are grateful to be that step closer to the border. We’ll move on in the morning and it WILL be a shorter day. We plan on stopping for 4 nights and quite looking forward to it before we move into Canada. 😊 Gibbs had a much better day. He still pants a lot but laid down more. We think perhaps his panting is just his way since he loves getting into the truck to go. ♥

A picture from last year on this day.
Gibbs was sleeping. ?? We need to figure out what is different this year.
Good night.

Thank you for your visit.