A Couple of Trips and Montana - one more time!
Since I last updated this blog, I've taken a couple of driveaway trips and my wife and I took our Christmas trip to Choteau, MT to visit our fixer-upper there.
Monday, December 18, 2006
I decided to work in one more set of driveaway trips before the Christmas break. This one started, as usual, at Forest, VA with a new boom truck going to York, PA. It was a new IHC 4300 6-spd. Nice truck and an easy trip to York. I arrived about 4:00 PM. Took quite a while for the cab to arrive to take me on the $80 trip to Carlisle, PA to pick up a truck to go to Bluffton, IN, a new neck of the woods for me.
Because it took a good while for the cab to arrive, it was dark by the time I got back to Carlisle, and I broke one of my cardinal rules of driveaway. I pre-tripped a used truck after dark. I'd dropped a truck at this
location last month and was familiar with the facility. I knew they had used trucks, but didn't recall how really used they were. This one was a 1998 Ford F Series (didn't have the actual model on the truck) and, since it was that old, was really used. But, except for a loud scream coming occasionally out of the turbo, it did drive well.
I pre-tripped in the dark and drove about 5 miles to a Days Inn that I had stayed at last month (s0me comfort factor there). The next morning, I waited until close to daylight to head out so I could do a better pre-trip on the truck.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
I couldn't really find anything to stop me from heading out for Indiana, so I got on the road about 7:00 AM. It was 500+ miles to Bluffton. Other than the noise occasionally coming from under the hood, the trip went well and I arrived in Bluffton about 6:00 PM. The receiving outfit told me they would offer a ride to the Fort Wayne airport, where I was to pick up a rental for the drive home, the next morning, but I'd be stuck in Bluffton until then. However, I did find a cab that was willing to come the 25 miles from Fort Wayne to pick me up. But by that time, one of the guys that worked there offered to drive me to the airport if I'd help with some gas money, which I gladly did for $20.
I picked up the rental and started back home. Since it was quite late by this time, I stopped at a Days Inn near Dayton, OH for the night and made it back home about 2:00 PM on Wednesday.
It was good to have my last driveaway trip completed safely for the year. That completed 74 trips that I have done so far in driveaway. Time sure passes rapidly when you're having fun.
This freed me up to get in the Christmas spirit. My wife's Christmas break started on Thursday. We did our final Christmas shopping and got ready for the kids to meet us at our families get-togethers on Saturday in Augusta County. We had set that up differently than our traditional Christmas Day get-togethers, and it worked out great for my family. We were able to be with both families in a more relaxed atmosphere, then return home and have a relaxed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - a first for us.
Beth and I left for Choteau, MT on Christmas afternoon. We flew Northwest Airlines for the first time since our 20th anniversary and it wasn't a great experience. Of the 6 flights, they had trouble with 3, but we did get there and back safely, arriving Great Falls about midnight. We picked up our rental and stayed a free night at the Great Falls Super 8 using points I've accumulated in driveaway - one of the few benefits. We were also flying using free tickets I've accumulated with my credit cards - also to a large degree because of driveaway.
The next day we drove the 52 miles from Great Falls to Choteau and were able to get into our little house. It was a wonderful experience. Rosell, who has been watching over the house for us, had totally cleaned it, moved some of our furniture in, made the bed, put out towels, put in a microwave and coffee pot, and set out fresh flowers and snacks. Just a great re-introduction to our house.
We had a wonderful week in Choteau buying things for the house, setting
things up, etc. Had a nice snow on Weds. night that stayed the rest of the week. We were sad to leave on New Years Day, leaving us very anxious to get back out over my wife's spring break in April.
Monday, December 18, 2006
I decided to work in one more set of driveaway trips before the Christmas break. This one started, as usual, at Forest, VA with a new boom truck going to York, PA. It was a new IHC 4300 6-spd. Nice truck and an easy trip to York. I arrived about 4:00 PM. Took quite a while for the cab to arrive to take me on the $80 trip to Carlisle, PA to pick up a truck to go to Bluffton, IN, a new neck of the woods for me.
Because it took a good while for the cab to arrive, it was dark by the time I got back to Carlisle, and I broke one of my cardinal rules of driveaway. I pre-tripped a used truck after dark. I'd dropped a truck at this
location last month and was familiar with the facility. I knew they had used trucks, but didn't recall how really used they were. This one was a 1998 Ford F Series (didn't have the actual model on the truck) and, since it was that old, was really used. But, except for a loud scream coming occasionally out of the turbo, it did drive well.I pre-tripped in the dark and drove about 5 miles to a Days Inn that I had stayed at last month (s0me comfort factor there). The next morning, I waited until close to daylight to head out so I could do a better pre-trip on the truck.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
I couldn't really find anything to stop me from heading out for Indiana, so I got on the road about 7:00 AM. It was 500+ miles to Bluffton. Other than the noise occasionally coming from under the hood, the trip went well and I arrived in Bluffton about 6:00 PM. The receiving outfit told me they would offer a ride to the Fort Wayne airport, where I was to pick up a rental for the drive home, the next morning, but I'd be stuck in Bluffton until then. However, I did find a cab that was willing to come the 25 miles from Fort Wayne to pick me up. But by that time, one of the guys that worked there offered to drive me to the airport if I'd help with some gas money, which I gladly did for $20.
I picked up the rental and started back home. Since it was quite late by this time, I stopped at a Days Inn near Dayton, OH for the night and made it back home about 2:00 PM on Wednesday.
It was good to have my last driveaway trip completed safely for the year. That completed 74 trips that I have done so far in driveaway. Time sure passes rapidly when you're having fun.
This freed me up to get in the Christmas spirit. My wife's Christmas break started on Thursday. We did our final Christmas shopping and got ready for the kids to meet us at our families get-togethers on Saturday in Augusta County. We had set that up differently than our traditional Christmas Day get-togethers, and it worked out great for my family. We were able to be with both families in a more relaxed atmosphere, then return home and have a relaxed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - a first for us.
Beth and I left for Choteau, MT on Christmas afternoon. We flew Northwest Airlines for the first time since our 20th anniversary and it wasn't a great experience. Of the 6 flights, they had trouble with 3, but we did get there and back safely, arriving Great Falls about midnight. We picked up our rental and stayed a free night at the Great Falls Super 8 using points I've accumulated in driveaway - one of the few benefits. We were also flying using free tickets I've accumulated with my credit cards - also to a large degree because of driveaway.
The next day we drove the 52 miles from Great Falls to Choteau and were able to get into our little house. It was a wonderful experience. Rosell, who has been watching over the house for us, had totally cleaned it, moved some of our furniture in, made the bed, put out towels, put in a microwave and coffee pot, and set out fresh flowers and snacks. Just a great re-introduction to our house.
We had a wonderful week in Choteau buying things for the house, setting
things up, etc. Had a nice snow on Weds. night that stayed the rest of the week. We were sad to leave on New Years Day, leaving us very anxious to get back out over my wife's spring break in April.posted by Harry | 10:33 AM
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