Road Tripping in the Beast

The trek home with the Beast was almost 800 miles through the eastern Midwest (I think I just made up a region but work with me.) Since we were on the road an adventure was in order so we planned a stop at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.

Mammoth Cave is a national park surrounded by middle Kentucky enterprise. We passed up all the yard art and headed straight for the cave. What a cool place! We signed up for the guided River Styx tour which took us to the lowest part of the cave that tours go -- 360 feet under ground. Now might be the time to mention slight claustrophobia. Actually before the tour might have been the time...

We join up with Ranger Jeff and we're off to see the cave. We walk down the hill on a steamy morning to the mouth of the cave where the temperature drops precipitously. The cave is 50 something degrees year round. Feels good in August. Ranger Jeff informs us that the cave was rediscovered after a 2000 year hiatus by a bear hunter who chased a wounded bear into it. Can we say dumbass? Seriously, it's 1700 something so there aren't critical care centers on just every corner, it's dark in there and that bear is pissed...

Anywho, the cave is amazing and has been being toured since the 1820s or so. It's creepy enough down there with electric lights and a cleared path. Hard to imagine going down there with a torch and crawling over rubble to see the deep dark place, but people did it. I bet they'd buy stuff off eBay if they were alive today.

We walked through 2.5 miles of cave. More than 350 miles of cave have been mapped and they think as much as 300 more miles might yet be unexplored. That's lots o' cave. Our tour was pretty cream puff for the first couple of hours -- pretty wide pathways, ceilings low in some places, but not too bad. Then we came to this little area that was both narrow and so low you had to bend over quite a bit. I'm right behind Ranger Jeff and about halfway through this part, I start thinking I should have asked more questions about his credentials. I'm also thinking a diet is in order. I'm also wondering about back up generators for the lights. Yep, I should have asked a few more questions, the story of my life.

It really was a cool tour and I'd recommend it. The park is beautiful with miles of hiking trails and lakes; I'd love to camp there. We saw deer and wild turkey and just outside the park you could browse the yard art displays for days or play some putt putt. All the elements of the perfect vacation...

The Beast is in the HOUSE!

Well I thought buying a truck off of eBay would be an adventure and it was. I'm not sure I'd recommend it -- waaaayyy too stressful. Here's the skinny...

Friday morning we head to the airport for the flight to Detroit. Marta was not being cooperative and we get the airport a little behind schedule. A glance at the board shows our flight leaving out of D16. No problemo, we speed through the security lines and off to D. Sure enough there is a flight to Detroit leaving out of D16 -- it's just not OUR flight. Dammit.

Now we're really pushed for time and a sprint for the B concourse wasn't on my agenda, but we did it and I even got a bonus stairmaster workout on the escalator. Board the plane, settle in for a nap and figure after all this hoopla the truck will be a cherry and no more worries. Suckers.

On the Detroit end we have a driver who will deliver us to Pontiac to pick up our Dodge. (There's some car brand humor there, but it's too cheesy even for me.) Unfortunately our nice driver from the other Georgia is new to the job and like us has no idea where he's going. Not the best vibe going on this project, can you tell? We had a couple of wrong turns and tour of a neat little lake neighborhood, but eventually we make our way to the right spot. Oddly there is no sign of our truck upon arrival, the vibe continues.

We're shown into the little smoke-filled office area and assured that our vehicle will arrive shortly for the test drive. Finally it's time to meet the Beast. A picture may say a thousand words, but sometimes those suckers lie. In the pictures, the Beast looks pretty good in the interior. In person, not so much. There are cigarette burns all over the doors, seat and ceiling (WTF?) and the headline features a nice staple line right over the windshield. Lovely, I wasn't expecting pristine, but used hard ain't pretty. I'm starting to feel antsy, but off we go for a drive and it drives pretty well. Back to the dealer and take a peek under the hood -- things look a little rough here to, but after a couple of calls to our "experts" we decide maybe not too bad.

So we close the deal and the Beast is ours for better or worse. The worse starts immediately when it stalls repeatedly backing out of the dealer. (The jury is still out on the severity of this problem, but we'll know more after it's doctors appointment later this week.) The better doesn't kick in for another couple of hours til we're heading down the interstate and the Beast is humming along eating up some road. The Beast is a hoss.

All and all I'm neutral on the whole experience. I don't think I'll buy a vehicle sight unseen again; it was just too stressful. But I think we got an okay deal on a truck that will serve its purpose. Call it a draw.

In a Blog Fog

I've been a lazy blogger. Nothing to say really. In the meantime, amuse yourself at www.subservientchicken.com. I'm in a bit of a funk and this made even me laugh outloud.

How do they do that? Who would have anticipated that someone was going to type in "walk like an egyptian"? Or to do the hokey pokey?

Too funny.

Adventures on eBay

I love eBay. It's like cruising the mother of all garage sales without having to find a parking spot or elbow pushy suburbanites or get up early. (I bet Bobbi goes to garage sales.) I am amazed at the number of cars that are sold on eBay and last night I joined the ranks of folks who have bought cars on eBay.

I was the "lucky" winner of a 1997 Dodge Ram 3500 Diesel Dually truck. I'm holding onto the quotes and my skepticism until I actually see this fine ride in person which won't be for another week. If it is as advertised, I think we got a fine deal and it will certainly pull a horse trailer wherever I want to go. We'll fly up to Michigan next weekend and pick up what I've already affectionately dubbed "the Beast." Stay tuned for, as Paul Harvey would say, "the rest of the story." In the meantime I think I'll get that Triple A membership I've been thinking about...

I'm sure you're wondering about the color. The "Beast" is black. Not my fave as noted yesterday, but I don't care so much with this vehicle. It's only going to be a work horse not a show horse, so if the dingies show or it looks dirty well it's a truck, it's supposed to look used!

Color me cautiously optimistic.

What Color is Your Car?

It's car shopping time around here and we are squabbling over color. The last two cars have been black and road grime gold. I'm not a fan of either. Black is pretty IF you wash it twice a day. The gold one never looks particularly clean and shiny just kind of dull and ick. I'm typically not consulted on the new car purchase in regards to color, but I have to live with it after the first two years. So I'm putting my foot down! (I know you're laughing Ms. Ananon, you can just hear the squabbles, can't you!?!)

So what is a good color? Must not show door dingies and mustn't require really frequent washings. I'm recommending white. Now I know that's not a sexy color, but it looks great right after the carwash and good if you don't bother with the carwash. Someone else is rooting for metallic gray. I could like that, but I wonder about the dingy issue.

Don't even get started on the make/model of the car which I realize is a little more important. I used all my chits on that the last go around, so I'm not even trying to influence the outcome -- other than to subtly diss Ford Exploders which are so five years ago (or 10) AND the gas tanks are on the wrong side (right). I could go on about that, but I'll save it for another day.

If you are right about now musing that there are far more pressing issues in our world, I'm with you. But hey, maybe world peace is possible if every one were happier with the color of their car.

Busted -- Again

Saturday morning -- time to sleep in and relax. Not when you're having your house re-roofed. Newsflash, roofers work on Saturday and they start early. I'm not sure who was more embarrassed when I opened the door in my robe and bedhead, me or the nice hispanic roofer man. You know Bobbi's gonna be talking about this...

Instead of sleeping in we headed off to the Ol' Hickory House for a healthy low-fat, low cholesterol breakfast. As the waitresses' tshirts advertise, it's the place to put a little south in your mouth. I'll pause here to let you mull that over...



Back to breakfast. I had a little flashback to growing up in the rural south as I overheard two elderly gentlemen discussing the best place to get fried catfish on Friday night. My family isn't southern, but that was one tradition we embraced. Instead of the traditional Catholic family fish stick Friday, we went out for catfish. The lines were long, but when you finally got a table it was groaning with platters of fried catfish, cole slaw, sweet and dill pickles, and french fries. I bet we went 3 out of 4 Fridays.

The two old men referenced the Galaxy diner as a place to go, but I got news for them it's no where near as good as traveling about an hour south of Atlanta to a hole in the wall place hanging out over a bend in the river. I haven't been there in YEARS but those old guys sure reminded me of some good times with my family. I thought about making a road trip, but maybe it's better to just visit those memories.

The last time I actually tried to fulfill my catfish jones, I drug my unsuspecting coworkers out to a scary place that I haven't lived down yet. I'll certainly never forget seeing that waitress's boob resting right on the catfish she served yours truly. Left a nice little grease stain on her tshirt and a bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, let's stick with the more pleasant memories!

The Roof, the Roof, the Roof is On Fire

Well no not really, today is the day that I FINALLY get a new roof. I've been putting off this little expense for 3 years. Three years ago I turned my formerly dilapidated screen porch into a beautiful sunroom. This little transformation was actually on tv -- the Home and Garden Television network show called Room to Improve. The result was a gorgeous room. Unfortunately no sooner did we get the beautiful wood ceiling and flooring in that we discovered a leak in the roof. Aargh!!

Through the application of some tar, occasional tarps and fixing the gutters, we limped along with me procrastinating calling for roof quotes. Shouldn't have bothered. Turns out new roofs aren't as expensive as I feared. And this kids is why procrastination is a bad thing. I stressed myself over this for 36 needless months. Just fix the damn roof already.

So not only am I getting a new roof, but I also got to sleep late (Woot!) because I had to wait on the crew to arrive. As my honey heads off to work at his ungodly hour, I hatch a plan. Hey, why don't you call me when you get to work, so I don't have to worry about setting an alarm and I get an extra hour of blessed snooze. Good plan, right!?!

Not so good. The phone rings, me in my REM and my honey supposedly on the line. I answer with my best whine..."But I don't wannnnaaaa get up." The voice on the line? "Hey, this is Bobbi with Year Round Repair and our crew will be there at 8:30."

Well isn't that a little embarrassing! Especially since I'm the type who if you call and wake me up instantly claims "No, I'm awake!" In a high tight voice like it's a felony to be caught sleeping. Do you do that? Why? It's not like you're saying "No, I'm not smokin' crack!" It's sleep for God's sake. Eight hours a day recommended.

Oh well, at least I'll never meet Bobbi, she of the raspy smoker's voice with a godawful loud parrot in the background. She might tell her friends about that good for nothing woman who sleeps past 7:20 in the a.m., but they won't know it's me at the grocery store. Whew, all that and a new roof, too. Life is good.

Godspeed Peter Jennings

Did you see the 2 hour memorial show for Peter Jennings last night? Let me first say, I liked Peter Jennings and I think he led a fascinating life and had a wonderful career. BUT 2 hours of primetime!?! I watched and it was nicely done, but could have been done and more powerfully in an hour. I think Peter would agree.

The tenets that nightly anchors with 30 minutes to cover the world live by are finding the fewest words and images to fully convey an event. Brevity has power and impact. ABC forgot that last night. If I were Tom Brokaw I'd be on the phone to my NBC cronies laying down the law regarding any posthumous memorials.

The same is true of most movies these days. I LOVE movies. I love going to movies and being immersed in a different world for a couple of hours, but I hate when a 90 minute or 2 hour script gets stretched to 3 hours or more to accommodate the director's colossal ego. Ridley Scott are you listening? He's not the only offender, but he certainly lives by the mantra.

I hope this year's Oscar triumphs for Clint Eastwood help reverse this trend. Million Dollar Baby was tight and spare. It featured the characters and the powerful story. Just what a movie should do.

Enough with the Lurking

I have a little blog addiction. I read my friends' blogs every day and am irritated when they post late or (horrors and you know who you are) fail to post at all. Perhaps having my own blog will give me a little more standing when I'm pressing them to get bloggin'. Time will tell. If not, well I'm off the bench now so we'll see if I'm up to filling this space.

So what's on my mind? Well only one thing really at the moment. You could say I am obsessed. I'm trying to buy a truck, a big honkin' truck. I'm a girly girl, but I have this little horse habit and that horse needs transportation. You may be thinking that's a little backasswards -- after all in some cultures horses ARE transportation, but the Eisenhower Interstate System and horses don't mix unless you've got a truck and a trailer. The trailer will be delivered next month, but it's not so easy finding a good truck on a budget. You would think people would be dumping their gas guzzlers for a song, but not so much.

Here's what I learned in the big truck hunt today. Flood damaged vehicles are not a good plan for amateurs. Who knew a little water could bring an F-250 to its axles?!? Well thanks to the magic of Google, I do now. It sure looked like the deal of the century, but after a little research it's clear that flood damaged vehicles are best left to the pros.

So here's the next question: Gas or Diesel? These are not things that I normally contemplate but lately I find myself hanging out at thedieselstop.com website learning the lingo and doing research. Funny where wanting to ride your horse can lead you! Apparently diesel trucks get better mileage but they are more expensive to buy and to maintain. On the upside they last forever. I've been mulling this aspect for weeks and coincidentally during that time the price for gas and diesel has pretty much equilibrated... I think gas has the edge at the moment, don't tell those boys at thedieselstop.com.

You're probably not nearly so interested in these things as I am, but fuck it, it's what's on my mind! If you do have any interest or wisdom on these things, I'd love to hear it. And if you've got a hot lead on a nice F-250 with under 200,000 miles and a tow package, we need to talk.