430 Miles closer to home! That's what we did today. And luckily on much better highways. We made it to Wampsville, NY. Yes, we are in "Upstate New York".
And it is FREEZING COLD! Every time I stop at a truck stop for diesel I feel like being blown away by the storm.
It's frightening cold!
We are parked at a Walmart again and enjoy it.
Today we intended to drive a longer distance. So starting early, we drove from our Walmart camp at Vandalia to Mansfield Ohio which amounted to 417miles.
A big part of it led us through Indiana and you must bear with me here, I just have to let it out.
Illinois I-70 is a nice part of mostly smooth I-70. That stops the second one crosses the State line into Indiana when the drama starts.
Potholes after potholes, broken pavement everywhere, huge holes 6-8inches deep - all this causing a constant banging and rattling. And the millions of pavement patches are done totally uneven, so we got jolted around in our seats and Dixie was getting close to a panic attack. Does this State EVER use any funds on road repair? How can a State let a major through highway get into such a bad condition? Are federal highway funds ending in corrupt pockets of Indiana politicians?
We even tried a parallel side road instead of the Interstate, but that road was no better either.
The only area with a smooth pavement was right around Indianapolis, but as soon as we went farther east the pain started again. I pledge that I will NEVER drive through that State again. It is just too exhausting. And I fear for the consequences of our vehicle.
As soon as we crossed into Ohio, the Indiana nightmare stopped. Now, there was a shorter stretch of the I-70 in similar conditions as in Indiana, but it didn't last long. The rest of the highway was fine until we reached the I-270 which runs around Columbus and connects to I-71 north.
After 10 hours on the road, partly with a strong crosswind on the I-270 and I-71, I was happy to pull into the Mansfield Walmart where we are parked in a very quiet spot for the night.
Our remaining home run is 1050miles, which we will need almost 3 more days for, provided we are not getting stopped by inclement weather.
And I might add. it is snowing at home - a lot.
Poor pavement patches and (below)
broken asphalt
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| State Line Indianapolis - Ohio: Patchwork ending with Ohio Highway |
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| Big city traffic north of Columbus |
We hit the road at shortly after 8am and though the highway wasn't empty, it sure was a lot less traffic on this Sunday morning.
Following I-35 we went south of the city, then entering I-470 north for eventually re-joining the I-70.
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| The harsh beauty of a mid-western landscape |
The I-70 has good stretches with smooth pavement but also very bad ones. What I will never understand are the terrible, nerve-racking, earthquake style bumps when crossing a bridge, especially when it there is nice pavement both before and after the bridge. Why isn't DOT also fixing the bridges? I have driven highways in European countries and NO-WHERE have I experienced such crappy road conditions like in the US. Every single time we are crossing a bridge I am jerked in my seat and everything in the cupboards is jumping around. I just feel so sorry for Dixie. And besides of all this discomfort, potholes and broken pavement is dangerous.
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| Mississippi crossing |
So we made it through Missouri and into Illinois with its rich farm landscape.
Though we had a mostly cloudy day, it wasn't raining.
We have also been noticing blooming trees along the road, and it indicates spring has arrived. Unfortunately back home snow has returned and right now we are just hoping that it'll disappear again until we reach home in about 4-5 days.
A problem we encountered with the rig is that we have an inner rear tire which slowly releases air pressure. I believe it's a leaky valve. So far I keep using air from the air system in the coach. So glad I bought a 50ft, airhose before we left. But it shouldn't be too hard to fix this air- leak problem.
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| Walmart in Vandalia |
And it brought us into the vicinity of Kansas City. We could have continued another 3 hrs easily, but I was dead tired and needed to get away from the wheel. And this is exactly the beauty of RVing down the highway. If we would have booked a hotel, say another 200 miles ahead, we would have had to continue driving. As an RVer you got everything with you. A cup of coffee, a bite to eat, a nap in the rear or even a shower.
So we just pulled into a rest area and called it a day.
We had grey weather today and didn't take any pictures so bear with me.
It's time to find the bed....