Wednesday May 12, 2010-Moving day. Sikeston MO to Benton AR

Our worst fears have returned. The front end damage has returned. I know that we hit some serious bumps on our trip today, but not that bad and this is what I found when we got here.

This is not as bad as it was to begin with, but it's bad enough. This is in exactly the same place as the original damage, so there must be something going on inside the framework.

We left Sikeston about 9:30 and stopped next door at the Express Fuel Center where we had stopped coming up. The fuel here is the cheapest that we have found, so we're taking advantage. We took 52.8 gallons to go 492.5 miles for a 9.3 MPG average. Not too good, but it has been very windy on the entire trip.

We made good time again and saw some more FEMA trailers coming north and east. Remember we had seen some when we came up here and I had talked to one of the drivers. These trailers are easy to spot because they have no markings on them at all and from what I've learned about them and the condition they are in, I wouldn't want my name on them either.

We made a good choice on our break. We stopped at the tourist information rest area about 30 miles inside the Arkansas border for a routine break. When we walked up to the restrooms, we noticed a lot of people around some tables. I first thought it might be a church bake sale or something similar, but when we walked up there, we saw that they had sandwiches, hot dogs with all the trimmings, chips and soft drinks, and everything was free! I asked one of the ladies who was sponsoring this, and she said it was just a few of them that wanted to do something. She would not accept any money, not even a donation, so we lucked out.

We should have gotten here about 2:30, but the GPS led us wrong. She had us exit before we got to the park, so we had to go around the block (which was a couple of miles long) before we got to the right turn off and into the park. Wow, I know those things are not infallible, but this is her first serious mistake. It's ironic too, because just yesterday we were looking at new GPS units made specifically for trucks and trailers. We saw one with a huge screen but it was over $500, so we probably won't be getting one of those. Unless, of course, someone wanted to buy one for us and donate it...

When we got here, JD and CJ came over to look at the trailer after we had gotten it out of the shop, and that is when JD and I found the new damage. I don't have a clue what happened except that whatever was done to the trailer didn't fix the problem. I feel certain that Jim F. and Heartland will take care of this and stand behind their work. I emailed him the pictures and he told me to get the rig weighed and get back to him. I will get that done tomorrow.

JD and CJ took us out to eat at a place called Ta Molly's Mexican restaurant. The food was very good and the company was great. We returned home and went inside for the evening. The weather is certainly different here from where we came from. It was downright cold in Elkhart the last couple of mornings, but I'm back in short pants here with temps in the upper 80's. I'm sure that Houston will be even warmer. It's just a matter of getting there now.

So long.