China would be a long boat ride.
Got back about 10 hours ago. Man, what a trip.
Plans got shot the second we hopped in the truck. Top speed was 60mph, and that was on flat level ground. Donw hill I could get up to 65 if it was a big enough hill. Going up the hill was another story, top speed was 45pmh. Steering was loose so I did a lot of sea sawing from 10-2 just to go straight.
A/c is broke, 2 way 60 mph was the only a/c we got in Florida. I wish t had a load, the springs were so stiff we bounched all the way home. My kidneys could only take 2 hours of bouncing at a time before I had to stop and pee. Enough of the whining, on to the trip details. I'll post the video once I get my other PC up and running agian. Needs a power source. This pc is too slow and doesn't support video very well.
Day 1.
We get up at 3:00am. Take care of business and make it to the airpost by 5:00am for a 6:00am flight. 2 hours in the air and we land in Atlanta. 1 layover, then another 2 hour flight to Fort Lauderdale. Land at 11:30am Eastern Time. Cabby picks us up. $45 later he admits he's lost, and the metere stops there. He thinks the road deadends on the other side of this subdivision, it dont. Admits defeat and pulls out a map. Figures out where we are and were we are going. Gets us there and charges us the $45, even though the meter shows $65. Take a tour of the facility, pretty cool and a great bunch of people. Load up the truck and get a quick how to ont he truck. Check it over and discover the clearance lights aren't working, fart around with that for 1/2 hour. No avail, deceide they might as well secure the 2 skids of papaer I am hauling back better. Drive the truck tot he dock and the clearance lights start to work. They redo the skids of papaer and we leave by 3pm. Stop for lunch once we get on the interstate. Make the hotel by 8pm. only to find out there is some sort of activity in the area and all the hotels in the area are booked solid. We should have made reservations. So we find another hotel, 2 hours North, on the way. Stop and eat dinner. 2 hours turned out to be 3. Discover that the company credit card has a $75 limit on fuel. Great, I at least have 3/4 of a tank now though. Made the second hotel by midnight.
Day 2
Got up by 9am, ate breakfast (cost included int eh room). Hit the road jack. Next destination 6 hours away. Turned out to be 8 hours. Pulled into the hotel, with reservations this time. Only to find out they wont honor the credit card because its not in my name. I was not a happy camper. So we found another hotel, 25 miles up the road. Pulled in and got checked in. The lobby was full of highschool kids, rowers. First resturant we walked to had white table clothes and prices without cents, as in 15, 20 next to eh menu item. Not our cup of tea, even if the man is paying. Next place was beter. Got back to the hotel and hit the jaquzi.
Day 3
reservations made. This time we figured that what ever the map was telling us for time to add numerous hours to it. Hit the hotel by 4:30pm. Finally a decent arrival time. Watched a little football. I dropped the wife off at the mall, and I checked out Gander Mountain. Ate at Road house and watched the Colts lose. Got back to the hotel, swam in the pool, hit the jaquizi, and then hit the hot tub in the room. Nice $10 upgrade.
Day 4
Breakfast, and out of there by 8am. Figured we would arrive to my work around 2pm.
Hit 30mph cross winds 4 hours into the trip. Take about fun controlling that beast. Ate lunch and then made a left turn into the wind. Max speed 50-55mph.
All in all, it was a great time with the wife. She affectionatly calls the truck the beast. Its a 6 speed manual with a Cat diesel engine. Not the quietest thing on earth. We got into our Blazer for the commute home. 45 minute ride, into the wind. It was quiet, and I felt like I was in a little sprots car. The Blazer sat so low to teh ground. Get home to loo
