Desperate Respite

"...waiting..."




























Nothing says "rest" better to me, than an instrument, a camp chair and an ale.

Observations # 482 "The Melt-Up"

Observation:
The episode, which will be hereafter referred to as The Tape Measure Episode(tm), is not "normal". While I was rendered unable to process it temporarily, there was something about the whole incident that was ...familiar. Maybe not such a good thing, that. Strange that i thought it was something akin to "normal." Then I remembered today that my childhood was fraught with such instances. Oh well. That was then, This is now. But it explains some things I hadn't considered before.

Observation:
I am a bohemian-hippie-pseudo-intellectual, trapped in the lifestyle of a high-powered-supermom-exec, and all of it's miss=begotten expectations.
Something had to blow sooner or later.
Now the trick is, how to get back where I was 20 years ago, while still managing to retain the really good organizational elements of my personality.

Yes kiddies, its probably going to be the thing you hate:

The purging blog post.

From time to time, you might end up in a dreadful melange of the mental purgings of a Mid America Housewife fed up with the status quo, and the neurotic mental meanderings of the angst ridden "artiste."

Bon Appetit.

The H. Odyssey, Part III : Finally!

To make a long story even longer...

...on the nearly 3rd day of entrapment in Rochester NY, we moved from our digs at the Microtel into the office of the Penn-Allison repair center for Upstate NY.
Uhaul sent a moving crew, informing us that the uhaul could NOT be fixed and so we were going to need to transload. Heh! They had no clue what was in this truck!
They sent a young guy and a teen boy, with a deadline of three hours to complete the transfer.

BAH - hahahahah! It is to laff!

We called them back and said, "NO. You need to send two more grown men and a 5-6 hour deadline.

In the mean time, the mechanic came out and said, "We could potentially have this thing fixed in 3 hours. We foudn the problem. Its the Tranny solenoid. We called Uhaul and said put a hold on the transload.

After 2.5 hours the mechanic discovered that his theory yielded yet another dead end.

By now I am slathering all over myself to get out of this frikkin town. Its late Thursday afternoon. I gotta be home by Saturday night people!!!!

So, we call the Transload team at Uhaul again.
10 minutes later, Mechanic has indeed found the problem at last:

(drum-freakin-roll please...)


During assembly, the metal clamp that fastens the wires leading to the tranny has a "blemish" resulting in what amounts to a "hanging chad" piece of metal which chafed the wiring and caused a short. The entire mess was sealed up in electrical tape - which is what (presumably) contributed to the difficulty in locating the exact problem.

So, its 4:45 pm and we are LEAVING Rochester.
(The clouds parted, and the Heavenly Host sang a chorus.)

Now Pennsylvania is a lovely state, but I was stunned by the beauty that is Ohio.
Chrissie Hynde asked, "Hey! Oh! Where'd ya go Ohio?" but dang! I say I found it!
It is very beautiful. Lush and green, with rolling hills akin to Telly-Tubby land and fluffy-green-topped trees like I might envision in a Narnia book as described by Lewis himself.
I was not prepared to find as lovely a state as my own, but I stand corrected.
(Bryan this is not a suck-up.) ;o)

And just to prove that I did actually set foot in Ohio, I shot a video as we passed through Cleveland, being careful to make note of the AKRON/CANTON exit.

(Of course "Cleveland Dave" had to point out the lameness of my attempted humour in the comments section at You Tube, but hey! - it was late! I was tired, and my synapses weren't firing.)


I'm just sayin...

Video Alert: Passing Through Cleveland


After this point, I really lost consciousness.
Due to our now dire state of travel deadlines, it was imperative that we drive non-stop.
Therefore it was the duty of any passenger to make sure to sleep, so as to be fresh when the other driver tired.
(Ohio also has glamourous truck plaza's)
I missed Illinois and Chicago entirely and woke up somewhere in Indiana.
Stu and I took turns driving through out the day(s) and progressed though Iowa, etc.


Nebraska is flat...














Video Alert: Spectacular Vistas

And so is Wyoming...

The only redeeming quality that I can find to Wyoming is that there are the Tetons and Yellowstone - someplace in the North...unfortunately not anywhere near where I was on this trip.

After 27 hours of driving non-stop we came to rest in Cheyenne WY
After a restful nights sleep, we started again.


Utah is also a VERY beautiful state, but one that I do not wish to comment upon today, due to the unfortunate accident and resulting fight Stu and I had about how to maneuver a BIG-Frikkin-Uhaul into a very small, busy gas station that was never made for it.
I loved Morgan Utah, until this day.

'nuff said.

More to follow...

The H. Odyssey, Part II : New York, New York, It's (not) My Kinda State.


So we loaded up one single 28 foot Uhaul straight off the assembly line up in Walpole Mass.

We had the priviledge of being the first ones to break it in.

Loading this thang!

















The Moving Crew, from left to Right:
Louie Bro-in-law Dana, Stu and Dad.

Video Alert: The House Dad Left Behind. (Serious (!) Birdsong action.)


The link below takes you to a privious entry here at the blog which describes the glorious beginning of our journey through New England: ---Odyssey Begins---


Video Alert: Stu comments on the approaching storm and the Blessed Institution we call "U-Haul."

Video Alert: Waiting for the Tow Truck. (aka "Dude is there an open-container law in this state?)


More to follow....soonish...

The H. Odyssey, Part I : Rhode Island

I am so FAR behind.
Apologies to those who think I am dead.
(Bryan reminded me of this this morning with a phone call asking if we survived.)
Poor Blue Max.
Between Lehsa's "Water World" and my Microtel Stranding, dude must have felt as if all his "people" were AWOL.
So, without further ado I will upload the first smattering of images depicting the Hateful Odyssey:

Dad and his best friend from the time he was a child.

Blue is my dad's dog. Blue remained behind and moved to a lovely farm in Tiverton where she is treated as the respectable person she is, and not jailed 24/7 on an old man's porch.
Her liberty has come.

Courtney and Jessie. Jessie found a lovely new home at the

same Tiverton farm as Blue. Courtney stayed at her same house.

;o)

And now...a story...

So this ocurred a month or more ago while I was in Rhode Island.

Dad, Frankie (a cousin) and I are up in the loft of the barn and we are taking the wheels off the buggies and getting them labeled and ready to pack. I am also measuring each buggy and sleigh so that I can gauge how large or how many Uhaul trucks might be required to stransfer all this cra-I mean "stuff" from Rhode Island to Oregon. in the process, the spring insid ethe tape measure snapped.

I said: "dad, I think the speing in this tape measure just broke."

Dad swore and grabbed the tape measure out of my hand.

He attempted to reinsert the tape and when he couldn't he began wildly yanking it ALL out - temper tanrum style.

I said: "dad I'm really sorry, we can go to the hardware store tomorrow and I will buy you a new one."

He said : You can't ever buy another one of These! They don't make These anymore."

Suddenly, I was transported back through time. I was reduced to a 5 year old, being harshed out about whatever I have done can NEVER be forgiven and I must forever be damned in this hell of inadequacy, ever to grovel before him.

My temper flared.

During all this time, I somehow lost track of where Frankie went.

I said : "well fine then! So sue me!"

He hurled the tape measure and its web of yanked out tape across the barn and against the wall with all of his 80 year old man gusto.

Silence.

Going back to tasks.

Frankie walks in, with a tape measure in hand. (pictured above.)

He takes dad's hand and places it in his palm and says: "Here Bill! I want you to have this. It is a great tape measure...etc...and he begins to describe all the many miraculous and helpful functions of this tape measure.

Dad is very thankful and accepts the gift.

I am still chopped liver, but at least Frankie has deflected the fires.

Frankie looks at me as if to say, "I saw what happened and you aren't crazy. This really happened."

It took me DAYS top process what happened.

It was like a huge gap in my critical thinking abilities that denied me access to the comprehension areas of my brain. (Blue - keep your comment to yourself! ;o) )

I took this photo to remind me again, once dad was actually living in my house, that I must never react again, and not let my temper flare. I must not permit him to reduce me to a 5 year old ever again.

Frankie also agreed to pose for this photo with Dad and his daughter Courtney. At the last minute Stu placed a "prop" in Frankie's hand. See below...

More to follow.....