Well, I got up yesterday at 5 AM and drove the rental car from NJ to Waverly, NY (arriving at 8:15) to sign for the repairs they made to the truck. New brakes, calipers, shocks, springs, and wheel; spot welding to the bed; undercoating of the wheel-well; yada, yada, yada. All I had to do was sign the two insurance checks totalling $2800 and I could have my truck back. No out of pocket expenses on that one.
Then I dropped off the Enterpirse rental in Athens. THAT wasn't covered by my insurance policy. (Hey, in nearly 40 years of driving, I have only had two occassions where I absolutely needed a rental after a breakdown. So I took my chances.) Two weeks with insurance cost me $600.
From Waverly/Athens I headed to the cabin just a little north of Utica.
Approximately six inches of snow on the lawn but with bright sunshine there were bare spots starting to spread. Melt water flowed off the roof of the cabin where just a little snow lay in the valleys and a small stream of water meandered in and out of the tire ruts as it headed down the dirt road in front of the cabin. With temperatures for today predicted to climb into the mid to upper 30s and into the 40s for the weekend that "fifth season" of the north country is about to begin. It's called "Mud Season" and arrives between winter and spring.
It took me just two hours to unload and store the boxes of stuff (mostly wood and rocks it turns out) and select a tent from my stores (I promised it to someone and then remembered it was up there and not down here).
I headed home to NJ after stopping at Herb Phillipson's in Herkimer (camping supply store) and hit I-287/I-80 interchange just as it went crazy west bound on I-80. Of course I wanted to go that way. The radio reported an accident every couple of miles from Parsippany to Mt. Arlington; there must have been four or five. I got off immediately and tried Route 46 West, but everyone else did the same. Stop and go at every light until I got to Rockaway. It took me nearly an hour to go 20 miles to the Ramsey Outdoors in Ledgewood. They had the shock cord for tent poles I was looking for so at least my mission was successful. A sack of White Castle burgers to go and I went home.
I pulled into the driveway at 7:15 PM having traveled a little over 600 miles since leaving at 5:15 AM. Actual driving time was probably about 11 hours. Hey, I'm happy with the way the truck behaved. I may treat it to an oil change and some new tires tomorrow. Today it has to go to Grandma's with another load of my daughter's stuff.
BTW, I'm also glad there's no recording device on the truck to indicate the speeds I travelled on the NY Thruway! I must say, however, that even I was being passed by other vehicles.
2 comments:
That's pretty darned good time seeing how you made stops, accidents, and traffic. Darned good time.
Honest officer, I was just pacing myself with the traffic around me. (But even I wouldn't try to keep up with some of those guys who seemed to be auditioning for NASCAR!)
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