A very WEIRD LOAD
After six plus days and 2530.8 miles on the road, WE ARE HERE! Here being Beaufort NC, where Etude waits. We’re camped out in a very basic, but pleasant little motel.
FINALLY left Durango about 1 pm May 31st and drove to Las Vegas. New Mexico. Next morning drove down to I-40 and through Santa Rosa. I was sorry we didn’t stop. Did my open-water scuba certification there a mere 20 years ago and liked the place. We exited at Cuervo, 17 miles east, for a pit stop. The stop was a REAL pit, so we U-turned in the gravel and headed back to I-40. Heard some nasty scraping noises, stopped, and found that the boat trailer had essentially collapsed. What to do, what to do? I should explain that we were hauling a 13’ sailboat packed with four, five hundred pounds of stuff.
Neill foraged a nearby junkyard and found a long, strong iron pipe. Levering the trailer tongue with that, we got it off the truck. Decided to rent a U-Haul in Santa Rosa. Took the first exit there, stopped at the first gas station, and asked where one could rent a U-Haul. Right across the street, they said! A place called Silver Moon Automotive, which is also a repair garage and (fortuitously) a junkyard. Explained our dilemma to nice young proprietor, who said that U-Haul will not rent a trailer if it’s to be pulled by a Ford Explorer. (True, I checked their website.) But he could sell us a 6’ x 8’ home-made flat trailer that needed some repair. He had the parts; just needed a couple hours to fix it. And he did. To summarize, he fetched the boat with his tow truck, fixed his trailer, stacked it with old tires and put our boat on. We never had to unload it. 26 hours after the initial meltdown, we were back on I-40. Santa Rosa is cool. If you ever get there, eat at the Lake City Inn. And appreciate those New Mexican junkyards.
New trailer was solid, towed beautifully. We slept in Childress TX that night, and left early for a very long drive across Texas. Caught I-20 near Tyler. Drove hard to Vicksburg MS, where we met Donna’s sister, Lana. Spent the night with her family. Drove the Natchez Trace to Nashville on Sunday. Viewed the sacred site of Neill-san’s childhood home AND the replica Parthenon.
Oak Ridge TN has a great little science museum. Mostly related to the Manhattan Project and WWII. That was our E.A. (Enrichment Activity) for Monday. Tuesday’s EA was a short visit to a co-housing place near Durham. Cultural experiences included eating bolled peanuts and seeing a Baptist church that offers a large parking lot with free hookups for RVs. We passed. Next post, the big cleanup!
FINALLY left Durango about 1 pm May 31st and drove to Las Vegas. New Mexico. Next morning drove down to I-40 and through Santa Rosa. I was sorry we didn’t stop. Did my open-water scuba certification there a mere 20 years ago and liked the place. We exited at Cuervo, 17 miles east, for a pit stop. The stop was a REAL pit, so we U-turned in the gravel and headed back to I-40. Heard some nasty scraping noises, stopped, and found that the boat trailer had essentially collapsed. What to do, what to do? I should explain that we were hauling a 13’ sailboat packed with four, five hundred pounds of stuff.
Neill foraged a nearby junkyard and found a long, strong iron pipe. Levering the trailer tongue with that, we got it off the truck. Decided to rent a U-Haul in Santa Rosa. Took the first exit there, stopped at the first gas station, and asked where one could rent a U-Haul. Right across the street, they said! A place called Silver Moon Automotive, which is also a repair garage and (fortuitously) a junkyard. Explained our dilemma to nice young proprietor, who said that U-Haul will not rent a trailer if it’s to be pulled by a Ford Explorer. (True, I checked their website.) But he could sell us a 6’ x 8’ home-made flat trailer that needed some repair. He had the parts; just needed a couple hours to fix it. And he did. To summarize, he fetched the boat with his tow truck, fixed his trailer, stacked it with old tires and put our boat on. We never had to unload it. 26 hours after the initial meltdown, we were back on I-40. Santa Rosa is cool. If you ever get there, eat at the Lake City Inn. And appreciate those New Mexican junkyards.
New trailer was solid, towed beautifully. We slept in Childress TX that night, and left early for a very long drive across Texas. Caught I-20 near Tyler. Drove hard to Vicksburg MS, where we met Donna’s sister, Lana. Spent the night with her family. Drove the Natchez Trace to Nashville on Sunday. Viewed the sacred site of Neill-san’s childhood home AND the replica Parthenon.
Oak Ridge TN has a great little science museum. Mostly related to the Manhattan Project and WWII. That was our E.A. (Enrichment Activity) for Monday. Tuesday’s EA was a short visit to a co-housing place near Durham. Cultural experiences included eating bolled peanuts and seeing a Baptist church that offers a large parking lot with free hookups for RVs. We passed. Next post, the big cleanup!
posted by Aces at Sea at 12:04 PM
1 Comments:
scheduled to visit both Creighton and hard-core aerospace people at Airbus. The 52-year-old defendant, who said Answer: THERE SURE ARE!!!!!!!!!! version of events. But a former FBI
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