STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 21714: Ho, Ho, Ho, Hum

December 24, 2006 on 9:47 pm | In On The Road |

It has been a greuling week, but worth it. I FINALLY HAVE MY NEW TRUCK!! Let me catch you up on my most recent cavortings.

Monday, December 18th:
This was a long day. I was up at 0530, first in line for a Trade Inspection. While it was being done, I went to the Driver’s Lounge for a shower and breakfast. I then went to see the co-ordinator about today’s itinerary. He said that it would take most of the day to do the paperwork and get me out of here. This was good because I still needed to pack a bag, and run a couple of errands. I was told that after the Trade Inspection was complete, the shop would have to work up the paperwork to determine the trade-in value. This took until about 1300. Next, the new contract needs to be prepared, and the Permit Book put together. This took until about 1530. Then, after signing the new contract, I was ready to fly to Columbus, OH. I was hoping to be able to get to Columbus in time to get a motel room and get some rest, but it turned out I had to catch the “red-eye” flight. I caught the bus to Sky Harbor International Airport.

I arrived about 5 hours before my flight, but I was tired of hanging around the terminal in Phoenix. I soon discovered that the only place to smoke in the airport was in the Bars in the Concourse. To reach there I had to go through Security. Despite the fact that I was a single male, traveling alone, with a one way ticket, and no checked baggage, I breezed through with no extra scrutiny. I located the closest Bar and settled in to wait for my flight. I had dinner even though I wasn’t hungry, and had a few glasses of Sprite while I waited. The first leg of my flight was a short hop from Phoenix to Las Vegas, NV which departed at 2100. After an hour lay-over here, I caught a flight directly to Columbus which departed at about 2300. I arrived in Columbus at about  0530 (local time) Tuesday AM. I managed to sleep, “sort of” for about the last 2 hours. I then called the terminal for a ride. I arrived at the terminal at about 0630. By 0700, I had the taken possesion of my new truck and settled in to wait for a load back to Phoenix.

Tuesday:
Finding a load to Phoenix proved to be quite an obstacle. About 1500 the Planner gave me a couple of “stacked” PrePlans which would take me as far as Flagstaff, AZ. The first picked up in Dunbridge, OH and delivered in Harrisonville, MO. The second picked up in Independence, MO and delivered in Flagstaff, AZ. Everything was a big hassle because the only communication I had was my cell phone. I have to get back to Phoenix ASAP to get my QualCom removed from my old truck and installed in my new one. I went to pick up the first load and try out my new truck. After I picked up the load, I drove to New Paris, OH. I took a short break, then drove to Brazil, IN. I had dinner there, then drove to Greenville, IL where I collapsed for the night.

Wednesday:
I left Greenville at about 0900 and drove to Booneville, MO. I stopped here for lunch and some fuel. Then I Drove to the consignee in Harrisonville and did the drop/hook delivery. I then drove to the “staging area” at the shipper in Independence and went to bed. The next load is a “live” load in the AM.

Thursday:
I awoke at 0530 and called for directions to the shipper in the Industrial Complex. This is an interesting place. It is called the Geospace Industrial complex, and is entirely underground.

My poor little camera phone has trouble focusing in low light conditions, but at least you can get an idea of the facility. It is huge. It was foggy outside, but wasn’t that cold.
After I was loaded, I drove to Newton, KS where I had lunch at Newell’s truckstop. They have the best sausage pattys. I was warned about the weather farther west, but my priority is to get to Phoenix ASAP. I then drove to Guymon, OK. No bad weather yet, but I did start seeing remnants of the storm in the form of snow on the side of the road, but the roads were in good shape. I pressed on to Tucumcari, NM where I ran out of hours.

Friday:
I left Tucumcari as soon as I legally. Phoenix today for sure, but not in time to get my QualCom installed. They go home at 1530. I may be able to get the MMM out of the kennel though. It’ll be close. I drove to Milan, NM where I took a quick break. I then drove to the consignee in Flagstaff. This turned out to be a drop delivery. They had a fire there about 2 days ago, and the recieving area was still being cleaned up. Thius worked to my advantage beacuse after dropping my trailer, I decided to just bobtail to Phoenix from there. I set my PTA out to noon on the 26th. Looks like i’ll be spending Christmas in Phoenix. Oh well, at least i’ll be able to take my time moving all my stuff to my new truck. I arrived just in time to pick up the MMM. They were happy to see me, and I them. We then went to Wally World. I bought a complete set of bedding including sheets and pillow cases. The set was for a full size bed, so I bought a King size pillow and pillow cases to match. Total cost about $65.00. Then I went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. After dinner, I drove to the Flying J and went to bed. I was exhausted.

Saturday:
Today I began the transfer to my new truck. Mostly, I sorted and organized. I’m amazed at how much junk I accumulated. Lots of trips to the dumpster. Dinner was the buffet at the Flying J.

Sunday:
I mostly spent the day removing all the hard-wired electronics and extemperaneous stuff from my old truck. My load lock carrier took the most time. I had to find a work stand so I could reach the upper portion. I also needed to install it today because I had no other place to store my loadlocks. I found a good place, but had to have the shop drill some holes so I could mount it. The whole process ate up almost 4 hours. Tomorrow i’ll do the actual moving now that it’s all organized. It shouldn’t take too long. Dinner tonight was Red Lobster. I had the Ultimate Feast (a small lobster tail, crab legs, fried shrimp, and shrimp scampi with garlic mashed potatoes and a Caesar salad). It was good. Then back to the Flying J to spend the night.

Christmas Day:
Today was “move in” day. After a light breakfast at the flying J, I went back to “the salt mine” and began to move all my stuff from the old into the new. It was a daunting task. The ‘Columbia’ was much fuller than I thought. Even after a good purging of unnecessary stuff like my old bed linens and towels and some clothes that no longer fit, there was still too much stuff left to fit into the T-2000. It’s not that the T-2000 is any smaller, it’s just designed differently. It has just as much room if not more, I just have to adapt to it. Still, my first stop after the QualCom installation tomorrow needs to be my storage shed in Las Vegas. I promised myself that I would no longer travel around like “the Beverly Hillbillies” and become more disciplined in what I take on the road with me. No more folding down the top bunk and using it for storage. That’s just too tacky for a “class” truck like the T-2000. Hence, one more good purge at the storage shed. Christ, I have 3 computers & associated folderol in here. One is plenty. Some of the stuff, I haven’t used since I put it in the truck to begin with. It just seemed like it would be “handy” someday.
I took a quick break this afternoon to take some ’still’ pictures with my Sony Video Camera using the Memory Stick.



Much better than the ones taken with my phone camera don’t you think. They are in the posting just below this one if you want to compare. Notice the MMM in some of the photos.
Dinner tonight was the Holiday Buffet at the Flying J. When I left this morning, their advertisement said “Holiday Buffet. Carved Turkey, Carved Ham, etc, etc, for $8.99. When I arrived this evening it had changed to Holiday Steak Buffet. Carved Steak, Carved Turkey, etc, etc, etc, for $10.99. Not a bad deal, if there was steak, but there wasn’t. Had I not seen with my own two eyes this very AM, the other sign, I probably would have paid the $10.99. BUT, I had a long day and this was just enough. I asked to see the restaurant manager and pointed out the discrepancy. She said they had been “slammed” and had ran out of steak. She said she would “comp” me the difference. How many other people didn’t see the other sign this AM and overpaid?? It wasn’t too bad except for the macaroni and cheese. It more resembled macaroni soup with an essense of cheese. On my second round it had been replaced with something like macaroni and cheese pudding, but it tasted alright. Just to be contrary, after I recieved my revised bill with the “comp” included, I asked for and recieved the Senior discount at the register, so I ended up paying just over $9.00 for the entire meal including the drink and tax. That made it even better.