Pauline's Happenings

This will not be a post on the entire trip, I am still too tired and do not have enough time to do that. But the main issue has been the trailer itself and driving with it. It started 320 miles into the trip, I was in GA and in a huge construction area (about 100 miles of it) when I started to feel a bad “shimmy” so I pulled over and found I lost tread on the back right tire.

2 hours later after Budget sent a guy to fix it I was back on the road with getting north of ATL as my goal, but I was too tired, I had just loaded the truck that day and it was 100+ with high humidity, and sitting waiting 2 hours didn’t help, so I pulled over in a rest stop and slept for 90 mins. I honestly thought I was out for 5 hours, but it was only 90 mins.

So I got to deal with ATL at 10 am, and it was not bad at all, no issues which shocked and still shocks me, this was the one place I feared the most and it was not a issue at all, I saw 2 near wrecks, but nothing bad.

About 45 mins north of ATL I was driving up a hill, going 45 mph if that, this truck is total shit on hills, and all the sudden a shit load of smoke is pouring out of the right side trailer tires, it looked like a fire, so I pulled over and as soon as I got near the trailer I could feel the heat, it was seconds away from a fire and had I drove another 100 yards I’m sure it would have been a fire.

I look, and the emergency break switch on the trailer was tripped. Now this is there in case the trailer comes off the truck, there is a 4’ cord that is attached to the truck and it has 3’ in slack, so it is 100% impossible to trip unless it is pulled, and there is no way for it to be pulled unless the trailer comes off, which did not happen.

So I pried the lock in the off position and went on my way, very leery and stressing that this was going to be a problem for the rest of the 2800 miles. I stayed at another rest stop in MO and flagged down a mini van full of people who passed me leaking huge amounts of gas from there tanks, of course they are idiots and it took me much longer then it should have to convince them I am trying to save their sorry ass’s. As much gas that was pouring out of there and then not to notice is simply amazing.

So I get to NE and once again, construction and I hit a dip in the road at 50 mph and the bounce basically caused a flat, so another 2 hours waiting which leads me into my last post.

So last night I drive from WY to OR with the intention to stop in The Dalles for the night, I find a place with parking and get a rude desk clerk so I decided not to stay there and that is the biggest regret I have for this trip. I then go to another hotel, a Best Western of course and as soon as I pull in I realized I just screwed myself hard. It took me 30-45 mins to back out, no room at all to turn around, talk about being VERY pissed. So I am once more on the road and call Pauline and she looks up a few places in Troutdale and calls and gets prices and told “yes, we have room for parking”
LIARS!

I go to the first place and long story, missed the entrance due to construction, so I drove in circles then finally got to the right place and once again, almost got into a place I couldn’t get out of. So I try 2 others and same thing, I then hit what I thought was a gravel parking lot, but turned to be a new sidewalk so hard, I thought I flipped the trailer, I mean shit went flying all over the place in the cab and the trailer and our truck was bouncing like crazy. No idea how I did not see the curb, I got lucky there it could have been MUCH worse.

So I’m pissed, tired and stressed, so I get back on 84 and the very next exit I see another hotel and I get off only to see once again no parking space for a truck, then I see a very small sign “Days Inn 2 miles” and its pointing into town and away from the highway, I pass a few signs saying “no semis” so I get my hopes up that I will find parking. I get to the Days Inn…. No chance in hell.

Then I see a Holiday Inn down the road and what the fuck do I see?????? A crap load of open parking space????? It must be sold out, so I park, and walk in to find that have a room so after looking for 2+ hours I got a room at 1:30 am local time.

And here is the best part of the story.

I found this hotel by 100% fluke I had no clue where I was, where I was going I was just driving and it is literally next door and shares the drive way with……………

The Budget truck center that I am suppose to return this truck/trailer into.

This morning I unloaded our truck and parked it and returned the trailer, in a few mins I’m going to go to my new home 4 miles away, unload the van and then return it here and drive my truck home and call it a trip.

How Do I Feel?: drained

But how I do not know.

I am in Evanston, Wyoming, about 794 miles from home. I REALLY wanted to get to Utah and as a long shot drive to Idaho yesterday, but if I have a breaking point, I hit it yesterday. I figured out I was doing really well time wise Saturday, so I decided to get a room. I was in North Platte, NE and it was about 10 pm central time, so I tried 2 hotels and both were sold out, so I drove more.

The rest stops in NE and WY are VERY small, so 20 semis at max and if you don’t have room, you must keep going, so I had to keep going….and going…. I tried a few other hotels and finally in Sidney, NE I tried to get some food at a Perkins since they are open 24/7…. unless it is in Nebraska. So I called around and all the hotels are full and then I am told it is due to Sturgis.

!*!… not what I wanted to hear.

I did find a Days Inn in Kimball, NE which is 20 miles from Wyoming. Very nice room, better then you would expect, but no food since its Nebraska and people go to bed at sun down. I slept, but not a “quality” sleep.

So I decided to find a “Mom and Pops” diner and eat and then go.

“Hello, this is Nebraska”

So I drove to Wyoming, which is just like Nebraska and has no food. I grabbed a sandwich at a gas station and drove and drove. My goal as I mentioned was Utah or even ID, but I was just too tired, too hungry and I soon realized I wasn’t going to make it to either. There was a bill board for a Best Western for over 300 miles for here in Evanston, the closer I got, the more I saw, well over 300 signs for this one hotel. It has a bar and serves food, so this became my new goal.

Mountains and hills and more hills, and this truck is total crap on inclines of any kind, I go from 60 mph to 30 mph.

VERY long drive, the longest 419 miles I ever drove and this is the worse day of driving I have ever had. So I finally craw here and find the Best Western has no parking for trucks.

Figures.

But there was another Days Inn a mile away and this is where I am. Not the best bed, a dang “Murphy bed” of all things and it’s soft as hell, but I got a room.

I was VERY edgy and I could easily see my getting violent on a drop of a pen. I had to force myself not to kill the people in line in front of me, I was stressing big time there would be no rooms, and even though it was 5 pm local time, I just had to get off the road.

But I got a room and got to chill out. I got some crappy pizza that I hardly ate, but some really good chicken wings that I wish I got more of, I ate all 10 in record time. I then took a long hot shower, and talked to Pauline for 30 mins or so and took 2 full PM’s and went to bed at 7:30 pm local time and slept solid to 1:30 am, and then on/off to 8 am, mostly more sleep, but the waking up every hour or so is my norm anyway, so I got 12 hours of good rest.

Right now I am going to go shower and grab some food and I plan to leave here around 10 am and drive to an hour or so outside Gresham, either another room or a rest stop, doesn’t matter, but I plan to arrive home at noon Tuesday.

More coming in a day or so.