Montana and Another Trip

It's been a while since updating ye ole blog (in the mood of the season), so thought I'd do a very quick update. Since I last checked in, I made the VERY LONG drive to Choteau, MT and back taking the large version of the UHaul trailer pulled by my sweet mother-in-law's Ford F150 (bigger than my Nissan Frontier).

The trip was longer than I expected. The trailer was a drag (no pun intended) to pull. Thought I'd never get through South Dakota, then hit snow on the western end of SD. I won't go into the details, but traveling through the corner of Wyoming and into Montana was tougher than I expected due to snow, ice, and dense fog; but about 150 miles or so into MT, the curtain opened and I onced again recalled why I love MT so much. The Beartooth Mountains to my south, along with the beautiful plains made the rest of the trip lovely. I arrived around 2:00 PM in Choteau on the 4th day of driving.

I wasn't sure how long I was going to stay once I got there. After the long drive, I was thinking it might be a good while before I screwed up the energy to start the drive back, but my wife had come down with Shingles when I left (I guess from missing me) and the weather was iffy, so on Tuesday I headed back home trying to drive between storms crossing the northwest.

My brother had asked me to come back via Mound Ridge Kansas to pick up an antique tractor part, so I did just that. On Friday afternoon, I arrived back home safe and sound. Glad to have the worry of the trailer, the weather, and the borrowed truck behind me.

The next week was Thanksgiving, so I didn't do another driveaway trip until the week of 11/27/06.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

I had called dispatch earlier in the week to let them know I was ready to head out. I think they had a little bit of a problem this time coming up with a trip for me. For some reason, Spirit Miller doesn't seem to be moving any of the hundreds of Altec trucks sitting a few miles from my house at the plant in Daleville. So they asked if I'd be interested in taking a Ford F450 chassis from a Bedford dealer to Southco in Shelby, NC. That worked out OK for me, so I took it.

I arrived at the dealership Wednesday morning before the sales manager was there, so had to wait around for about a half hour. In the meantime, I found the truck I was to take out on the lot - a pretty red F450 chassis, but the temporary flaps (my favorite) had not yet been put on, so had to wait on that too before I could head out.

Nice day for a drive and made Shelby by mid-afternoon. By that time, dispatch had lined up a flight from Charlotte to Baltimore, via Atlanta, where I would take a cab to Westminster, MD to pick up another chassis at another dealership for delivery, again, to Shelby. Cab ride to CLT was $90 and cab ride from BWI was $80, more than what the plane tickets were. While sitting in the bar at the CLT airport, talked with a nice young lady from Lancaster, CA who was in the army, heading home for Christmas, and would be heading to Iraq in June. I thanked her for her service to our country and enjoyed the conversation about the Antelope Valley, where she's from in CA, where my wife and I had visited two springs ago.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

The plane didn't arrive in Baltimore until about 11:00 PM, but the cab guy (a young Romanian gent) was right there to take me directly to Westminster. Lots of fog on the way, but he was nice enough to take me by the truck place, so I knew where it was, and to help find a motel in the middle of the night. Finally got to my room about 1:00 AM.

Was back up before 7:00 AM since I couldn't sleep and the desk clerk had said he'd be glad to take me by the truck place when he got off at 8:00 AM. Cabs were presumably scarce in Westminster, so I was pleased to take him up on his offer.

Picked up an IHC 4300 chassis, which was the most smartly outfitted one I've driven. Had all the most unusual luxuries for a working truck including outside temperature and compass.

Since the most direct route from Westminster would take me by my home, I got permission from dispatch to stay the night at home and finish the delivery to Shelby on Friday. That made for a relatively short day, which was nice given that yesterday had been such a long day. I arrive home by 2:00 PM.

Friday, December 1, 2006

Ah, December's here and I'm getting in the Christmas spirit!

It was rainy and windy, and I was up and on the road early. Fought the rain, wind, and fog, and made it to Shelby by about noon. Had to wait a while for a cab to the Hertz rental place in Gastonia, but was then soon on my way home.

The weather had turned sunny and it was a relatively nice drive home. My wife met me at the airport for the rental return and we headed downtown to the market for drinks and Christmas doings.

I have unusual bus duty this Friday (today) and next Friday. The County was needing me to take the high school wrestling team to several distant places the next two weekends, which would have included long drives and staying over night. I offered (may have been a mistake) to take the afternoon route of one of the drivers that wanted to go. I did a practice run with her yesterday and it's going to be quite a challenge. 50-75 screaming grade schoolers and an equal number of surly mid/high schoolers in the roughest part of Vinton doesn't seem attractive right now.