Sunday, September 26, 2010

Freedom... The Open Road... and that Pig Eyed MURPHY!

Climbed out of bed, topped off the water one more time, as is my habit... said our goodbyes to the kids... and headed South West, all the way to Costco... to top off a few grocery staples. The place was purty busy, so Heidi jumped out up front and I just circled around to the back side of the parking lot to wait.

Not, a good choice. We should have just kept on rollin'. Stopping... Gave that pot bellied Murphy SOB the time to catch up... before we got lost in far country.

Heidi walked up to the truck in just a few minutes with the words; "I know you don't want to hear this, but you have a flat tire... completely sitting on the ground flat!" and that was no exaggeration... 'course, with a hole in it the size of your finger, you'd expect it to have some difficulty holding any air.

Some how a wheel weight, not a pointed nail or screw... not a sharp piece of steel of any sort... just a so blunt and soft, all you'd have is bruises if your old lady stabbed you with it for a week... Lead wheel weight!!! ...had impaled the left front Fiver tire as I made the last turn into my waiting place. Had to be that last turn 'cuz I was watching the wheels as I made it, they all had air, and the hole was so big it couldn't have gone any farther without leaving evidence!

...so sometime between after I quit lookin'... and 100' later when I stopped the truck... WOOOSH!



Muuuuuurrrrrrrrpppppphhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyy! You Red Headed Ba@#%$D!

OK, no big deal, just get a replacement, right here at Costco... Nope... they don't have ANY trailer tires... So, jack the sucker up. Pull the wheel. off load the "Clampet" gear behind the hitch. Unhitch. Load the busted rubber and go find Discount tire... drive three or four miles, thinking; "it was supposed to be right here!"... only to find that VERY SHORTLY after I'd pulled out of the parking lot... and was looking LEFT for it... Discount Tire was... You guessed it! ... on the Right Side. but it WAS behind some trees... so it weren't my fault, that I Drove right on By!

Well, $120 dollars out of our really overweight budget later, I hung the fresh rubber on the Eagle and we pulled out... again.


So now a twenty minute stop is nigh on to three hours later... so we sure didn't make The Sand Dunes...

Fought our way out of Denver... after taking a few minutes to snub that red headed Murphy, by his tender parts, to a tree... I made sure to pull that rope tight!... and up to a HIGH branch! to keep him on his toes... and just to show how mad he'd made me... I tied a foot... to the bumper on some old lady's prius! I'll bet there was some squallin' when she headed for home!

Last thing I said to him, 'fore we drove off into the sunset was; "Don't follow this broken down Ol' Buster no more... or next time I'm gonna get Nasty 'bout it!"

Lordy... the traffic runnin' south out of Denver was somethin' best to be heard 'bout on the News, sittin' in your easy chair with an Alaskan Ale!

I kept askin'; "How much farther?" as I squeezed the steering wheel tighter... and her replyin'; "just about 20 miles to Kenosha pass"... where I was seekin' a camp I know about... 'cept when we got there... it looked like a parkin' lot at christmas time... Don't know what the devil was goin' on... likely "Fall Leaf Picture Takers"... though they were mostly gone by there and already blown off, but it was still a two legged zoo I wanted no part of...

...so onward we rolled, and down the mountain... and Oh, how this Ol' truck just begs me for an exhaust brake! like the '98 and the '06 had... sniff sniff... :o(

But just below Kenosha Pass is the lil' town... maybe six buildings and a road sign... of Jefferson... up behind there a few miles are a few campgrounds where the Eagle found a safe place to land for the night... in Lodgepole Campground.

Hadn't hardly shut the diesel down and a fella walkin' by asks me; "How do you get those HARLEYS off of there?" ... Harley's? HARLEYS?!!!

"Harleys? Those aren't Harleys" I tell him with an icy, snobby, arrogant tone... "THOSE machines are Star Motorcycles, by Yamaha!" :o) " And I just pick 'em up and set 'em down gentle like!" :o)

To start saving back the unexpected loss of that tire money from our budget... Heidi ate her camp grilled hot dogs... without bread... savings? = 'bout 17 cents! :o)

'course my smoke signals couldn't get through to connect up with Verizon this morning, so this message had to wait to get posted, somewhere down the road.

Wandering the Great and Glorious West
Brian




Have you enjoyed your visits to my camp? I sure hope so, and I'm grateful for your visit. If you've got an interest in what else I've written, follow this Trail to find the complete selection. You can be sure that any purchases you make help keep me wandering, and spinning more yarns to entertain you.
Many Thanks!

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4 comments:

gumo said...

Sorry about your delay and unexpected cost. I am glad that Heidi noticed it before you got underway.

If that is the worst that happens on your new life, and I hope it is, then you will be in pretty good shape.

Hang in there!

Sharlotte said...

Brian,
Sorry about the flat, but at least you weren't cruising down the interstate when it happened and had to pull over and change it with the vehicles zooming by at 80 mph like we have had to do at least 5 times.
Geeze what absolutely beautiful pictures you have taken. Don't know what kind of camera, but guard it with your life. Keep the pics coming.

Ad said...

Good luck and I'm sure you have left Murphy in the dust. Enjoying your post.

Ad said...

My other RV is a sailboat and I want to sail to Alaska...My 5'er and sailboat were obtain used and keep mee happy traveling with my bride of 43 years.