Iowa and more tire trouble (Day 9)

I was up at 7:30 this morning and went into the rest area to use their internet. Shenee found me at around 9:00 and we spent an hour or so looking at potential assignments for her. The one she was hoping to get in Montana was given to someone with more experience, and unfortunately it seems to be slim pickings out west right now for assignments. She has put in for an assignment in the Denver, CO area as well as near Albuquerque, NM. Not knowing where we are going to end up, I opted to continue heading west on I-80, as it keeps our options open.

We got on the road at 10:30. Traffic was heavy but moving for most of the day. We stopped for gas about 20 miles before crossing into Iowa. It was a fair uneventful drive this afternoon, with limited construction and a bit of a tailwind. We stopped for fuel again just past Des Moines, IA. While filling up, I noticed that one of the trailer tires was missing about ¼ of its tread. The tread had just separated from the tire, leaving a big gap. I don’t know how I didn’t feel or hear it. It wasn’t something I wanted to push my luck with, so we changed it right there in the Kum & Go parking lot. That’s the third trailer tire that we’ve had to replace, and I’ve only got one good spare left. And by good, I mean it’s dry rotted, but holds air. I spent a few minutes looking on Craigslist to see if I could find a few more spares, but didn’t have any luck.

We went another 40 miles down the road to a rest area, where we stopped for the night at 730pm. Tomorrow we’ll go through Omaha, Nebraska in the morning, and I’ll try to find a few more trailer tires. I’d really like to have more than one spare.

Daily Stats:

Mileage: 398 miles

Travel Time: 9.0 hours

Fuel Cost: $114.50

Toll Cost: $2.55

Truck MPG: 8.1mpg