Go West Young Man
My vacation is over and it’s back on the road for me. On Saturday I packed Desi into the car, loaded my trailer, and pulled away for Southern California.
Well, it didn’t quite start there.
When I got here from Oki, I knew I had to figure out a way to get my car, motorcycle, dog, and a ton of stuff from here to SoCal for my next duty station. My original plan was to rent a truck, put the bike in the back, and tow the car. The cost for that would’ve been roughly $2500. Cripes! So after delibrerating a few other options, I realized the most intelligent way to do this would be to have a tow kit installed on the Mustang, buy a trailer, and tow all the stuff myself. Fortunately, I was able to find a trailer in great shape for a good price, so after it’s all said and done, I’ll be making the trip for… roughly $2500.
Expect that once I get there, I am the owner of a $1200 trailer. And part of that $2500 includes full car mainenance and a set of new tires for my car. So I get to actually keep something for my troubles.
Saturday I made the first leg of my trip, to Orlando FL, where I met up with my Orlando lady. Then Monday I embarked on the next leg, which brings me to the luxurious Howard Johnsons hotel suite I’m in right now, in Mobile AL. Yes, it’s a suite, and it’s big. They made a a noble attempt at “nice”, but really, it’s only big. The TV is so far away from the bed that you have to sit in the “living room” in order to watch it. Plus, the remote control is so well hidden that I haven’t found it yet. But there’s plenty of room for Desi to run around, and a nice King size bed where she and I were able to sleep the drive off. There’s a balcony, which is always nice when you feel like gazing at the some warehouses from the 2nd floor. You could fit a dozen people in here comfortably, and they could all play cards or watch TV or something.
Tonight I’ll sleep in Texas. It’ll still be a few days before I get to SoCal, but I’ve planned out a comfortable trip and reserved hotels all the way there. I think God is on my side. Every so often it rains hard enough to wash all the dead bugs off the car. Plus, yesterday I got to learn a lesson the easy way. It wasn’t a lesson so much as a refresher, but it certainly refreshed my sense of respect for the back end of an 18-wheeler. I was in the left lane of I-10 heading west when about 500 feet in front of me, I saw a sedan smash into the back of a rig. I didn’t see the lead up, but it wasn’t difficult to surmise that the driver of the sedan wasn’t clear on the whole “following distance” concept, didn’t realize that 18-wheelers don’t have rear-view mirrors, and just didn’t know that driving 65 MPH 10 feet behind a tractor-trailer is generally a bad idea. But he or she knows now, because that rig braked for some reason, and the front of the sedan was annihilated. Debris was all over the road, and I crunched over a bunch of it. The sedan trailed off to the emergency lane, and the rig kept going, unaware that it had just completely ruined someone’s day. I called the accident in as I followed the rig, but I couldn’t help but notice how indifferent the truck was to the fact that it had just totalled a car. The only indication that the truck had been hit was that the liscence tag was folded up under the truck and unreadable. Plus, there’s a bar that hangs across the bottom of the back of every truck that I now realize serves the purpose of keeping cars from going under the truck completely, possibly decapitating the driver. One side of that bar got bent up under the truck. For the next couple miles, a random piece of sedan debris that apparently got jammed up under the back of the truck would fall off… a plastic light cover here, a hood ornament there. But other than that, the truck moved along as if nothing had happened.
Anyway, I got the point. Maybe the story isn’t very interesting, but I guess that’s about as much excitement as you’ll get on the highway unless the ladies start flashing you.
Well, it didn’t quite start there.
When I got here from Oki, I knew I had to figure out a way to get my car, motorcycle, dog, and a ton of stuff from here to SoCal for my next duty station. My original plan was to rent a truck, put the bike in the back, and tow the car. The cost for that would’ve been roughly $2500. Cripes! So after delibrerating a few other options, I realized the most intelligent way to do this would be to have a tow kit installed on the Mustang, buy a trailer, and tow all the stuff myself. Fortunately, I was able to find a trailer in great shape for a good price, so after it’s all said and done, I’ll be making the trip for… roughly $2500.
Expect that once I get there, I am the owner of a $1200 trailer. And part of that $2500 includes full car mainenance and a set of new tires for my car. So I get to actually keep something for my troubles.
Saturday I made the first leg of my trip, to Orlando FL, where I met up with my Orlando lady. Then Monday I embarked on the next leg, which brings me to the luxurious Howard Johnsons hotel suite I’m in right now, in Mobile AL. Yes, it’s a suite, and it’s big. They made a a noble attempt at “nice”, but really, it’s only big. The TV is so far away from the bed that you have to sit in the “living room” in order to watch it. Plus, the remote control is so well hidden that I haven’t found it yet. But there’s plenty of room for Desi to run around, and a nice King size bed where she and I were able to sleep the drive off. There’s a balcony, which is always nice when you feel like gazing at the some warehouses from the 2nd floor. You could fit a dozen people in here comfortably, and they could all play cards or watch TV or something.
Tonight I’ll sleep in Texas. It’ll still be a few days before I get to SoCal, but I’ve planned out a comfortable trip and reserved hotels all the way there. I think God is on my side. Every so often it rains hard enough to wash all the dead bugs off the car. Plus, yesterday I got to learn a lesson the easy way. It wasn’t a lesson so much as a refresher, but it certainly refreshed my sense of respect for the back end of an 18-wheeler. I was in the left lane of I-10 heading west when about 500 feet in front of me, I saw a sedan smash into the back of a rig. I didn’t see the lead up, but it wasn’t difficult to surmise that the driver of the sedan wasn’t clear on the whole “following distance” concept, didn’t realize that 18-wheelers don’t have rear-view mirrors, and just didn’t know that driving 65 MPH 10 feet behind a tractor-trailer is generally a bad idea. But he or she knows now, because that rig braked for some reason, and the front of the sedan was annihilated. Debris was all over the road, and I crunched over a bunch of it. The sedan trailed off to the emergency lane, and the rig kept going, unaware that it had just completely ruined someone’s day. I called the accident in as I followed the rig, but I couldn’t help but notice how indifferent the truck was to the fact that it had just totalled a car. The only indication that the truck had been hit was that the liscence tag was folded up under the truck and unreadable. Plus, there’s a bar that hangs across the bottom of the back of every truck that I now realize serves the purpose of keeping cars from going under the truck completely, possibly decapitating the driver. One side of that bar got bent up under the truck. For the next couple miles, a random piece of sedan debris that apparently got jammed up under the back of the truck would fall off… a plastic light cover here, a hood ornament there. But other than that, the truck moved along as if nothing had happened.
Anyway, I got the point. Maybe the story isn’t very interesting, but I guess that’s about as much excitement as you’ll get on the highway unless the ladies start flashing you.