Monday – February 17th, 2025:
Up early again, coffee on and enjoying the early morning by myself. Ruth was still gone and Bobbie was soon out the door on her morning walk with the dog. The temperatures were still warming and not too bad today. Peeks would hit 80 today.
Both Calder and Ava were out of school today for Presidents Day. We took them to the Motts Aquarium in Sarasota, then to lunch in Siesta Key at the beach. The wind was chilling as we dined.
Sunday – February 16th, 2025:
I was up early, 4am, and had a pot of coffee to myself. Once the rest were up, Bobbie walked the dog and Ruth left to Hollywood to meet up with her family. John and I worked together to cut up his decking boards and load them onto his trailer. After that, the two of us drove over to a BBQ joint and had lunch. Not much more happened today. We were both tired and trying to catch up a bit. I fell to sleep early, but was awaked when they were ordering food for supper. I missed the order and ended up ordering some food for myself and driving over to get it. After eating, and still exhausted, I rapidly fell to sleep again.
Saturday – February 15th, 2025:
We were up early and I received an alert on my phone of problems with the new truck. The alert advised that I had zero life left in the engine oil and needed to schedule service immediately. Wow! In panic mode I immediately started checking online with local GM Service Centers, and the best I was going to be able to get was Monday. That would mean we would have had to remain in Bowling Green over the weekend. Hmm, I then started to wonder if it could possibly be something else. So google it I did and yes, GM at times experienced sensor errors. They suggested to pull the stick and check the level. If good, reset the sensor indicator. The plan was set and that’s what I would do, but first we needed to get breakfast.
The hotel had a restaurant which opened at 7am. We arrived there shortly after 7 and purchased buffet breakfast for the two of us. They were cold and not great, but had to do for then.
After breakfast, we returned to our room. I gathered up my over night bag and headed to the truck. It was pouring down rain as I walked to the truck. Once there I opened the hood and checked the oil. The oil appered good on the stick. I checked it twice and received the same reading. I started the truck and prepared to reset the sensor counter. When I rolled to the oil life reading, it showed it still had 82% life left. Once I did this, the warning on my phone disappeared.
I pulled under the overhang at the front door and Bobbie joined me in the truck. We still had 3/4 tank of fuel, so we decided to continue on south on I-65, departing at 8:00 am.
The drive was easy through the remainder of Kentucky and Tennessee. The rain was very heavy at times, but we pushed on through it, finally clearing after entering Alabama. We traveled through Huntsville and Birmingham, and made our second fuel stop at a Bucky’s. Note, staying on the safe side, we filled up after landing on a half tank level. Here we ended up adding 14.184 gallons and spent $53.76. We also briefly shopped at Bucky’s, where I picked up some jerky. We only spent 15 minutes here.
We jumped back onto south I-65 and headed for Montgomery. Not too long after this, we pulled into a rest stop and Bobbie took over the wheel. I was exhausted after driving all yesterday and today to this point. I needed a break.
Bobbie drove to Montgomery and after passing we departed I-65 and angled southeast on FL-231. We drove through Troy, Ozark and down to Dothan. At Dothan we switched drivers and continued onto south 231 towards Panama City. After about 20 miles, we jumped onto I-10 and followed around Tallahassee and over to I-75 South. This was a very easy drive, but I was so tired I could only handle driving I-10 to I-75. There Bobbie again. The traffic south was much heavier than any other portion of the trip, but continued moving at a safe speed.
We arrived at John and Ruths around 10:30 pm. Unloaded, greated all and off to bed for the night.
Friday – February 14th, 2025:
After working all day as a driver for Whitehall School District, with truck fully loaded, Bobbie picked me up from the grage and we departed on our Florida trip. The truck was fully fueled and all ready to roll.
I was the driver, departing at 3:10 pm, and we drove US-31 south, with our first fuel stop just south of Indianapolis at a Circle K Station. We paid $2.98 / gallon and added 14.76 gallons. Total cost was $43.98. At this point we switched over to I-65 South and continued on.
We drove until 10:30 pm, and stopped for the night in Bowling Green, Ky at the Holiday in. After driving all day, I was exhausted and having difficulty driving. Bobbie refused to drive this leg.
Our room was on the 7th floor, overlooking and open courtyard at the bottom. We only brought in our over night bags and retired for the night as soon as we were in our room.