When the budget truck rental dude called me to smooth things over after our spat the day before, I knew it was going to be a good trip. The next day found us discovering that even 4 ½ hours at a Public Storage facility while the lights on your trailer are being fixed can be fun and the following day was no different. After more trailer antics we found ourselves in the parking lot of a Home Depot attempting to draw plans to build a ramp that would allow us to drive our car on to the trailer. Yes I realize that usually when you rent a CAR carrier, it should be capable of carrying your car without much hassle, but then again that would have been so blasé. Luckily we had a hunch that a simpler way lurked nearby and that’s when we met Doug the ex-tow truck driver. Doug had everything rigged in about ten minutes despite the messed up equipment we were provided with. He gave us some advice, smiled about his family and sent us packing. Now I know this is the part where we should have hopped on any highway going east, but we had been reassured over and over that we were leaving an excessive amount of time for ourselves to finish this trip…so I needed to say Goodbye to the Pacific and Dave needed to make it’s acquaintance. Later on we communed with the Sea Lions met some people who didn’t like the dumpster we were standing near and headed for Washington. Honestly that’s the quickest way back east! So Eastbound as we were what could slow us down but a rubber spewing smoke belching flat tire. Oh, and yes, we were still in Oregon at this point. We mentioned to the guy that came out from Les Schwaab about the other tire that looked bad but while he agreed it wasn’t good, he was willing to gamble that it might make it to Michigan. Several hours later in Idaho while trapped in the parking lot of a hotel that had no lodging (or parking, hence the trapped part), we learned the finer points of driving a 40’+ truck backwards up a hill with a curve in it surrounded by cars, pillars and a wall. Dave got it within an inch of where we needed to be which was really quite impressive considering I was uselessly giggling at the ridiculousness of the situation and Obie One Kanobi the hotel grave shift worker was full of helpful advice. We stumbled upon a humble man who drives a very small trailer “nothing like this”, but was willing to give that last inch a go and we were free again. Except this time we noticed the awful grating noise it was making was not just a reverse thing but rather the state of our truck. It felt like the wheels were rectangular and not fond of turning. This was when we got a room in beautiful Boise Idaho.
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Fortunately Boise sells beer until 2 am. They gave you the wrong cigarettes but they sell beer late night. Oh, and the desk clerk at the hotel was super nice and not the least bit creepy. At least we shook off the problems with ease and were well rested for the next day. It's not like we stayed up and greeted the sun drinking or anything. And luckily the guy in the room wasn't awaken with our giggles. Hopefully the Amazing Race will run smoothly.
da boudreaux
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