the road trip
3408 miles in four days. That's what the odometer said when I pulled into the driveway yesterday afternoon. That's a lot of driving. It works out to be about 264 gallons of gas at 13 mpg. I wore out a tire on the way. I got into a wreck. I smoked I think, a full carton of Marlboro Lights. If I don't eat a chicken finger for a while, I don't think I'll miss them. I do miss my dog. He's fine, he's just living with Wendi these days.
Bucket was pretty good on the road trip. He'd just lay close, just let me pet him, and he'd let me know when he had to go. We shared chicken fingers. I think he knew something was wrong, though. He seemed kind of sad, but Wendi told me he was really happy to see her. That's good. I went through a lot for that dog.
The ride out was pretty uneventful. It rained pretty hard so it took a longer time to arrive than I figured. It was the drive home that was fun.
There is nothing in the middle of Kansas. Nothing. I was at a rest area and it was raining. I just happened to glance down at the front tire on my truck and noticed it was down to the cord on the inside. I limped to the nearest gas station and changed the tire, in the gravel parking lot behind the station (it wasn't a travel plaza, it was just a gas station). At least it wasn't raining when I changed it. The spare was a little low on air, so I had to limp to the next gas station down the line to find an air hose.
As I pulled into Colorado, another surprise awaited me....SNOW. My truck, big as it is, doesn't do well in the snow when it's empty. And when the tires on the back are just about worn out. And when I'm pulling a tonk truck trailer (a Coleman Versa Trailer) behind it that's so small I can't even see it behind my tailgate.
It took a long time to navigate through Colorado. I decided to go up I-25 to I-80 to come home because the chain laws were in effect on I-70. What I probably should have done was got a room and spent the night. I had "get home" syndrome in effect, though.
The roads on I-80 were awful. The snow was maybe a half-inch deep but it was packed down and ICY. I hit a couple of patches of ice where the back end of the truck tried to come around but was able to correct it. I was going 30 miles an hour on the freeway when it happened... the back end of the truck came around and I corrected for it, then it went the other way, and I overcorrected for it. I thought my last words on the planet were going to be "here we go". When the truck finally came to rest we were sideways on the side of the freeway. The trailer I was towing didn't come off and just has a little dent here and there. I was amazed that neither me or the truck were hurt. I didn't even have to get pulled out. I just locked the hubs in and drove out. Even with the 4-wheel drive and at 30 mph, I still slipped a couple more times.
I have some work to do on my truck. She's starting to show her age a little bit. She's going to get new tires and finaly get aligned. She's going to the dealer for a diagnostic check to fix the high idle. She's going to get pained and have the dent from the BMW fixed. Mostly, though, what she's going to get in the spring is a BATH.
I know, I know, you want to hear about what happened, not what happened... but that's what happened on my road trip.
Bucket was pretty good on the road trip. He'd just lay close, just let me pet him, and he'd let me know when he had to go. We shared chicken fingers. I think he knew something was wrong, though. He seemed kind of sad, but Wendi told me he was really happy to see her. That's good. I went through a lot for that dog.
The ride out was pretty uneventful. It rained pretty hard so it took a longer time to arrive than I figured. It was the drive home that was fun.
There is nothing in the middle of Kansas. Nothing. I was at a rest area and it was raining. I just happened to glance down at the front tire on my truck and noticed it was down to the cord on the inside. I limped to the nearest gas station and changed the tire, in the gravel parking lot behind the station (it wasn't a travel plaza, it was just a gas station). At least it wasn't raining when I changed it. The spare was a little low on air, so I had to limp to the next gas station down the line to find an air hose.
As I pulled into Colorado, another surprise awaited me....SNOW. My truck, big as it is, doesn't do well in the snow when it's empty. And when the tires on the back are just about worn out. And when I'm pulling a tonk truck trailer (a Coleman Versa Trailer) behind it that's so small I can't even see it behind my tailgate.
It took a long time to navigate through Colorado. I decided to go up I-25 to I-80 to come home because the chain laws were in effect on I-70. What I probably should have done was got a room and spent the night. I had "get home" syndrome in effect, though.
The roads on I-80 were awful. The snow was maybe a half-inch deep but it was packed down and ICY. I hit a couple of patches of ice where the back end of the truck tried to come around but was able to correct it. I was going 30 miles an hour on the freeway when it happened... the back end of the truck came around and I corrected for it, then it went the other way, and I overcorrected for it. I thought my last words on the planet were going to be "here we go". When the truck finally came to rest we were sideways on the side of the freeway. The trailer I was towing didn't come off and just has a little dent here and there. I was amazed that neither me or the truck were hurt. I didn't even have to get pulled out. I just locked the hubs in and drove out. Even with the 4-wheel drive and at 30 mph, I still slipped a couple more times.
I have some work to do on my truck. She's starting to show her age a little bit. She's going to get new tires and finaly get aligned. She's going to the dealer for a diagnostic check to fix the high idle. She's going to get pained and have the dent from the BMW fixed. Mostly, though, what she's going to get in the spring is a BATH.
I know, I know, you want to hear about what happened, not what happened... but that's what happened on my road trip.
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