Wow, I just typed in all that stuff I wrote while I was gone and man, I am full of bile. Angry boy…
I just took a trip up to Pennsylvania to bring Jerry his stuff. Cephlian and I put almost the entire contents of the storage unit into the 17′ truck. I play Tetris real well and I know there was no wasted space but I also saw that a lot of what was packed is destined for the trash and I could have loaded EVERYTHING if the trash was separated from the stuff. But, Jerry had to pack and get out on short notice (they closed on the house much sooner than expected) so I guess it’s the best they could do.
We loaded up on Wednesday and Thursday. As gas prices soared and people panic-purchased all they could find, we were worried that I wasn’t going to make it up there. I had 6 gallons in the back of the truck and just never let it fall below a quarter tank. We ran into a few stations that were out of gas but the one next door had gas…
Fred and I drove up early Saturday morning (6:00 am). We noticed something was wrong right away. Any time we got up some speed and shifted weight (changing lanes, hitting a bump) the truck would begin to sway. And the sway got worse. I had to slow down to 30 MPH to gain control of the truck. Back up to 50, bump, sway, break to 30. It was scary. There was at least 3 times that I honestly thought we would flip the truck. I couldn’t get control of the sway fast enough. Freddy and I agreed that rather than change out drivers, I’d just drive until I was tired and then we’d rest. If Fred drove and we started to sway, I’d jump out the window. I’m a bad passenger when it comes to stuff like that. Fred was also thoroughly convinced that since I already had a handle on the sway, why tempt fate and put him behind the wheel to learn all over again. By North Carolina I figured out that if I constantly counter-steered and fought it, the sway was held to a minimum and we could cruise along at 55 or so. But the toll it took on me… Oh man, tension city.
We pulled in to Jerry’s around 1:30am. Only 4 hours over-due. 17 hours of fighting that truck. Ugh! was I tired and sea-sick from the constant swaying. Half way to the house I stopped and looked up. Fred looked up too and we just stood there staring into the sky and watching our breath in the cold night air.
“Wow, I never knew there were so many stars”, he says. Yeah, me too man. Maybe he’ll see why I’m moving up here. It’s just so different and beautiful, it even smells like home up here. Of course, there isn’t a Best Buy or Circuit City within 100 miles of this place so he’ll never agree with me but maybe he’ll see. I prefer to be 40 miles from the closest Wal-Mart, further if Teresa would let me… He’s just not wired the same as me. He loves city driving. I hate it. I’d rather drive around on the country back roads, I don’t think he liked it very much…
By 8:00am I’m up and looking around, 9:00 we start unloading. Little Jerry is up there too. It was really nice to see him. I’m throwing things out of the back of the pile, Little Jerry is handing them down to Jerry and Liz. Around 9:30 Fred is up and a little disappointed that no one woke him. He’s slept 7 hours in 4 days, I figured he needed the sleep.
By 10:30, the truck is empty and we’re good to go. Not bad at all. We drive around and see the sights, say hello to some family. I had a good time.
I was happy to show Fred where I was “escaping” to. He doesn’t want us to move. I’ve told him that he’s one of the last reasons I haven’t already moved. With friends abandoning and betraying me and with the job front being shaky, it’s not going to take much for me to just pull up camp and run.
Teresa is going up this weekend to take Liz school shopping, she keeps joking about not coming back. I don’t think she’s kidding.
Fred, Jerry and I all flew home together. It was a good flight, not too many problems at the airport. Although I did notice (once I was on the plane) that they didn’t catch my lighter in my carry-on bag. They even scanned it twice. So much for zero tolerance.
Little Jerry has a really dark complexion and tight curly hair. He’s been called Arabic many times. I thought it was funny that he was traveling with Fred and I, Fred with his semi-Nordic look and my affinity for the Vikings, all I could think about was one of my favorite movies, “The 13th Warrior” so we called him Eben the whole time.
In Atlanta we said goodbye to Eben, and flew home to Jacksonville. I wasn’t too tired but it was good to be home. Teresa met us at the airport and it was REALLY good to see her. I’m such a teenager, I miss her whenever I’m away for a few days…. As soon as we hit the doors I wish I had stayed in Pennsylvania. 90 degrees and muggy as hell. She says this is the coolest it’s been and we must have brought some cool air with us.
This is the coolest it’s been and it’s already too hot for me. I can’t wait to move out of this place…
Leave a Reply