IT’S BEEN a long haul, weeks & weeks of hacking up a lung. Maybe it was this RSV we keep hearing about. A whole new experience for me, one I’d like not to repeat.
I’m feeling about 85 percent now, which means it’s time to get back out there in the world & be a moving target again. The plan is to get headed north to Vermont by noon, get a little work done around the homestead, sleep out in the woods for a few nights, be a free man on the Earth.
It’s a light-duty weekend, will take ‘er easy and see how it goes. Everything that needs to get done Jonny could likely do himself. I’m treating it as a tune-up for the weekend to follow, whereupon we expect to be installing windows in the building and sheetrocking the upstairs apartment. Eduardo will take a ride up with us for that, mostly because the big window in the front gable is a three-man lift: two guys on the scaffolding outside the building, one on the inside.
Jan Nelson and brother Jorge have been making their way from the Atlantic to the Pacific all this week. They had expected to be home in Seattle last night but had to hold up in Ellensburg, WA. Snoqualmie Pass was snowed in; no way to get up and over the Cascades.
Here they are yesterday, in Ellensburg, looking as if 3,000 miles has been plenty.
Ellensburg’s on the western edge of the Columbia Plateau. Not a bad little town. It’s far enough west that it’s reasonably green in the summer. East of there it’s all dryland farming. If you find yourself crossing the plateau by motorcycle in July, August, it’s hot as hell, or even Arizona.
This was Wednesday in Montana. Or was it Tuesday in North Dakota?
Jan and Jorge made it to Coeur d’Alene late Wednesday; late because they had needed a trailer tire replaced in Montana. This after having needed a trailer tire replaced in Pennsylvania.
The tires were too far gone to use on a local rental let alone coast to coast.
The U-Haul mechanic who did the road service in Montana told them, uh, it’s not just tires, fellas, the trailer itself isn’t roadworthy. The axles are misaligned. So they hang around waiting for a replacement trailer to be delivered.
When it gets there, Jorge takes his ’47 Ford off the trailer they gave him in Connecticut, puts it on the one they’re giving him in Montana.
Then the mechanic says two of the tires on the truck are shot, too, let’s change those while we’re at it, maybe you’ll get to Seattle without needing roadside service again.
U-Haul’s not owned by AAA car insurance, is it? This summer we ended up paying out more than AAA did to make ourselves whole for that unfortunate car/deer collision.
Their argument (get this) is that state law doesn’t allow them to cover the actual cost of replacing the policyholder’s car. No, the jackboot of the merciless hegemon demands that they pay a make-believe (always lower) theoretical value from the NADA book.
I came away thinking there’s really no such a thing as AAA Insurance; it’s a corporate fiction for the Auto Club’s consortium of low bidders from coast to coast. Somebody on the phone from Portland, Maine tells you one thing, somebody on the phone from Missouri tells you something else…
But that, at least, seems like a plan to make money, albeit one that alienates customers. As Walter Sobchak might say: “At least it’s an ethos.”
With U-Haul, I thought, no, it’s got to cost more to send a man out to change bald tires on the side of the road in a wind-driven snow. Better to do regular maintenance in the shop, between rentals. But what do I know? Maybe the MBAs & stock watchers figured out this is precisely how you do make money: run everything until it breaks.
The billionaire who runs the company is still on the job at 73. I suppose he would have bagged it by now if he wasn’t making money in the U-Break-Down U-Stand-Around-in-the-Snow business.
Dig it, if Jan and Jorge ever get up and over Snowqualmie, which they hope to do this morning, here they are pulling up to their destination in Seattle.
What a pair, those two. Lost the trailer & the ’47 Ford off the back, never even noticed.
Have a good weekend, all.
Tony DePaul, December 9, 2022, Cranston, Rhode Island, USA
Thanks to all who wrote in while I was away. It’s always nice to hear from you.
We had a productive weekend and are nicely set up for major progress to come. I just got home about 30 minutes ago. Feels good to get a hot shower and into clean clothes.
It was frosty up north, 6 below zero Fahrenheit Friday night, 4 degrees last night. Nice winter camping conditions, though, no wind or snow to contend with.
Hope you’re feeling completely better, and that Jan and Jorge finally made it.
Glad you’re starting to feel better Tony, can’t wait to see what the garage looks like when y’all are done with the windows.
Thanks for sharing Jan and Jorge’s epic journey, the pictures really help to convey an image of freezing hell along the road in Ellensburg. I really pity the U-haul mechanic, out there in bitter cold, changing tires!
Clearly they are on a mission from God!!!
Cool pickup!Kinda like yours.
Jorge is with us in Southworth, WA. I-Drag trailer returned. This is a great read! Hugo X
I-Drag… haha…
I’m glad to hear you’re feeling much better and I hope the other 15 percent kicks in soon, just in time for the holiday festivities.
I don’t know how Jan and Jorge kept going after all those repairs and mishaps. Such hardy and determined people, it figures they’re friends of yours. The Blues Brothers clip
fits so well, even minus the snow.
Stay well
Ellie
AAA’s motto should be:
VOID IN CASE OF CLAIM
As to trailer rental:
Most tire failures are caused by heat, which is caused by load, speed, and under inflation.
Checking tire pressure daily will eliminate a lot of flats.
In this case, the tires were bald to the cords on inner wheels of truck. Axles on trailer were misaligned and causing excessive wear. These were as delivered to us. U-Haul is way off base with renting machines in this condition.
I haven’t rented much from U-Haul. On the few occasions where I have it wasn’t from U-Haul itself, it was a gas station that dabbles in the rental biz as a satellite location for the company. Makes you wonder whether it’s anyone’s responsibility to do the basics, like check tire pressure. I’ll bet their tires get run low, even very low, before anyone in charge notices. By the time they do notice the tire’s down to 10 psi.
Jonny and I rented a Home Depot truck in New Hampshire over the weekend. They told us they’d have to charge a cleaning fee if we were to return the truck with the cab messy. Which was hilarious because the cab looked like a landfill when we got the truck. As may be the case with U-Haul, it’s nobody’s job to actually go outside and look at the vehicle from time to time 🙂
4 replaced tires, two trailers, 3000 miles through two winter storms, temperatures down around 1°F with windchill indexing at -21°F. Fueling up bodies and truck to start up Snoqualmie Pass, facing another storm, expected to really hit around 4pm. Our plan is to be over the pass by noon. Chains are required, and we have a set. Pass temperature is a balmy 30°F, semi-tropical compared to the past several days, or even the 17°F outside here in Ellensburg.
Quite a week, my friend. Jorge told me you bought a set a chains in Billings. That was good thinking.
On the plane to Italy last week, I took time to rewatch “The Big Lebowski.” Besides being a hilarious homage to Chandler’s “The Big Sleep,” it is one of my favorite Coen Bros films. I recommend a watch to any of us who love nice rugs.
Poor Donny in the Folgers can of eternity.