02:20 P.M. The truck driver tells me about this diesel conditioner that he uses and we go inside and I buy a gallon. I also buy a blue tarp to block the radiator. I pour half the conditioner into the tank and wrap the tarp across the front of the motorhome. doesn't look to good but I'm cold and it does not matter! With new confidence we are again on the road.
03:00 P.M. Hallelua, we have heat! Still rides like a hay wagon, but at least we are warm. Gone quite a ways and the fuel has not jelled either. We've got it beat!
04:00 P.M. Wife is complaining that she feels a very cold draft. Looking behind her I see the two coach windows just behind her seat have jolted open and the ten below zero air is blowing on her. I tell her to close the windows.
04:10 P.M. Windows are open again. I guess that the air ride being out makes the coach ride so hard the windows are jolting open. I suggest she close them again.
04:45 P.M. Stopped at Flying J in Waterloo, Iowa. Left the coach running while we go in and eat. When we come out, I duct tape the windows closed. The Wife has closed them multiple times and is getting irritable. No problem now, we are on the way. I decide to fill up the propane tanks just in case. I want to have plenty of heat tonight.
05:30 P.M. Finally got an attendant to come out in the cold and fill up the propane tanks. Great, now we will have heat all night. I go in and pay and when I come out the motorhome won't start. The battery seems to be dead. I call inside and ask if they have someone to jumpstart me. After a long wait a young man comes out with his car and we get the coach started. I decide that the air compressor by not shutting down is running the battery down faster than the generator can charge it. I pull the wire for the compressor from the fuse block and it stops. I will just fix it when we get to warmer weather.
06:30 P.M. Made a wrong turn in Waterloo and am now half way to Dubuque. Oh well, I will just go there and then go south. Heater isn't working! I guess when I pulled the compressor wire I must have gotten the heater wire too. Wife is not happy. She is cold and we are not heading South.
07:00 P.M. Stopped at convenience store west of Dubuque to fix heater. I find the heater wire is loose and fix it and the heater begins working again. GREAT! Got it made now. At Dubuque we turn South again and the Wife is a little happier. Well, we only lost about an hour from the wrong turn. I am going South til there is NO MORE SNOW.
10:00 P.M. Wife is tired and hungry and wants to stop for night. I am tired too but no campgrounds are open here. She finds a State Park in the directory that is open year around. I suggest that most state parks will not accommodate a rig the size of ours, but she insists.
11:00 P.M. I have driven twenty miles of country road to get to the state park, driven the complete park twice towing a car, woke up a large number of Cub Scouts and their Leaders twice, and there is not a place to park our rig!! I tell the Wife that we will have to go on. She is not happy. I suggest stopping at a truck stop for the night but she says no.
12:30 A.M. Have found a campground in Springfield, Il. that is open and we are parked. I am really tired and hungry so am glad to be here. Wife is making some food and I have a martini in my hand so life is good after all.
12:35 A.M. CO2 detector went off. I suspect from cooking on gas stove and smoking but Wife is worried we will die, so windows are open. It is still cold.
01:00 A.M. Going to bed now but Wife insists that we will die in our sleep from CO2, so the heat is turned off. We have plenty of blankets to keep warm, but it will be cold in the morning to get up.
08:00 A.M. Sun is up, heat is on, (windows are open), it is warming up and the air ride is thawed out. On to New Orleans!!!
