Tundra trip

August 12 It was around 10:30 am. Donna, Buford, and I were sitting in the Walmart parking lot but we weren't going shopping. We were waiting on the bus. A Greyhound bus in particular. Today I begin a thousand mile journey to Raleigh, North Carolina, to look at a truck. I would much prefer for the three of us to be going there on a family trip, but Donna has a doctor visit and rugrat chores. I took a Greyhound to Madison, Wisconsin, to get our Volvo semi back in 2016. I did not have fond memories of that trip. I was so glad when the bus ride was over. Now I'm doing one almost twice as long. This trip will be Bedford to Evansville to Nashville to Atlanta to Raleigh with numerous stops in between. If Greyhound had a route to an airport I would have considered flying, but that had its own set of negatives. I was carrying a code reader and a GPS. I don't know if they would have presented an issue with airport security. Plus, the Greyhound was only $175. I told myself it would be okay. The Miller bus arrived on time. I kissed Donna and petted Buford. I'll miss them. I keep thinking of the Roy Clark song "Thank God and Greyhound You're Gone". Miller provides the transportation to the main Greyhound routes. Kind of like a shortline railroad. Their buses are nice and comfortable. They are normally not full. Here is the view from my seat. Stops were made in Orleans, Paoli, and Dale. Three hours later we were at the Evansville bus station. I wasn't looking forward to this part. I had a five hour layover. I sat on the metal bench seat and started doing my time. It was hot outside but air conditioned inside, so it was an attraction point for street people...and there were a lot of strange ones. The five hours took forever. I wish I could have slept through it but I was a little leery. The lady in charge of the terminal (above right) did a good job knowing who needed what bus and kept an eye out for us riders. It felt good to see my bus roll in and to get on board. I had booked reserved seats on the buses so there wouldn't be an issue with seating. The Greyhound buses aren't as nice as the Miller buses. The seats are fairly worn out and uncomfortable. After a while there isn't any position that doesn't make your butt sore. We made stops in Madisonville and Clarksville. It was nice to stand and stretch. It provided a temporary relief. It was dark when we reached Nashville. This terminal was much more crowded. I only had an hour layover here which was nice. When the time for my bus passed I asked the desk attendent about it. He said the bus was delayed. I checked the arrival/departure board. It said my bus was delayed for four hours. Holy sh!t! That would mess up my whole schedule. Maybe I could bunk with the Chrisleys? Luckily, the bus was only about 40 minutes late. It felt good to board and find my seat. An oversized girl sat next to me so the window and I got to know each other. I actually got some sleep although the occasional pothole would wake me up. We passed a semi and he was watching movies on a tablet. I was shocked how many people I saw messing with their phones and driving. I wished single-vehicle accidents on all of them. A side benefit of the bus being delayed in Nashville was I only had a ten minute layover in Atlanta. It felt good to be on the last leg of the trip. This bus was fairly empty and I had no seatmate. This bus went from Atlanta to New York City. That would be a long trip. We made a stop in Greenville then Charlotte. We had to de-bus there so they could service the bus. That is our bus outside being serviced. An hour or so later we were back onboard and headed to Raleigh. It felt so good to step off the bus there. I had ridden almost a thousand miles and my butt was killing me...but it was over. I had texted the car salesman, Brandon, earlier and he was coming to pick me up. A kind guesture even though the car lot is only a quarter mile or so from the bus stop. For a thousand miles I had wondered about the truck. Would it be as nice as advertised? Many aren't. It felt good to pull up and see that beautiful orange truck. I checked it out thoroughly and took it for a drive...and almost got lost. It had a few chips and the backup camera didn't work (it was a simple fix when I got home). Otherwise the truck was in excellent condition and I was excited. The trip had been worth it. Brandon and I completed the paperwork and it was time for me to head back to Indiana. I felt refreshed as I headed through Raleigh. I had brought my Garmin 276CX GPS with me preloaded with a preferred route back home. I love the GPS except for one thing...when you tell it to take a route it has to "import shaping points". This can aggravatingly take 10-20 minutes instead of a normal 10-20 seconds, and the GPS is useless during that time. As I drove through Raleigh I got tired of waiting on the GPS to display the route so I 'quit' it. When it went back to its live display I saw I had taken US64 East instead of West. Doh! I stopped outside of Raleigh and gave the truck a belly full of 93 octane for the trip home. I got myself a large container of lemon lime Gatorade and found it wouldn't fit in the cupholder. My first truck lesson. I had chosen to take US64 due to fond memories from previous trips. It is the classic two-lane highway through Americana. I was surprised to find that from Raleigh to Ashboro US64 was four-lane. At Lexington (North Carolina) I decided it was time to shut it down for the day. I checked into the Days Inn. I hadn't eaten since Monday night (it was now Wednesday evening) so I decided to go to Applebees. The plate above used to be wonton chicken tacos. It preceded the steak & shrimp I consumed. I tried to watch some TV back at the hotel but I was too tired. Sleep came quickly. I awoke about 6am, took a shower, and decided it was time to head down the road. I'd like to get home today but if I get tired I might stop somewhere. August 14 Cruising through Boone, North Carolina. Donna found a bastion of Pyrex here on one of our motorcycle trips...in 2016 to be exact. At Lenoir I had switched to US321. This is a great motorcycle road. Twisties...sweeping turns. Between Boone and Elizabethton there was a detour for road rebuilding. I'm not sure if this was due to Hurricane Helene or not, but some places looked pretty ravaged. US321 led to I-26 which led to US58 in Virginia. Donna and I had came this way on our motorcycle trip to Savannah in 2022. Many of the small towns I passed through had antique stores that needed explored. I wish Donna was with me. Jonesville, VA. 13:50, mileage 133,971 - Fuel stop. The truck is getting 18.3 miles per gallon. I'm good with that! At Middlesboro, KY, I stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch. I don't remember what this is called but it was delicious. Campfire something? I ate it all. I took US25 to I-75. I've been that way many times. Once on the big road I engaged the cruise control to put down some miles. This truck has adaptive cruise. I like it! I stopped at the Midway rest area for a stretch and restroom break. My butt is still sore even driving a nice truck. Soon I was back in Indiana. Just 69 more miles to go. On the way home I stopped to visit Dad and show him the new truck. He passed away exactly 11 months ago today. From 1975 to 1996 he had an orange Ford F-100. He drove it until it literally rusted away. Now I have an orange truck. It was very sad he isn't here to share it with. He was a very important part of my life. I miss him every day. It felt good to pull into the driveway after a thousand miles on the bus and 640 miles in the truck. Buford and Donna were burning a brushpile and came to greet me and look at the truck. It was so nice to see them. I was only gone two days but it felt like a week. Postscript - The day after I got home I decided to check out the backup camera issue. When I looked at the camera the problem was obvious. There was no camera. I removed the coverplate and found the problem. The plastic mounting ears had broken and the camera was dangling inside the tailgate. I made some new mounting brackets and the camera now works fine. Check my Tundra page for updates.