Where to begin with this post? There comes a time in life when you have to make a change. Sometimes, a big change. What follows is a personal story, but see if you don’t identify with some of what you read here.
It was this time almost 12 months ago that I had just been offered a job to go back to my old employer as a contractor. Essentially, my old company was acquired in 2013, and nearly all of us were laid off by the new owners the next year. It wasn’t unexpected, but it was still stressful. A few weeks after I was let go, I got a call from the new company asking me to come back in a contractor role, which I was only too happy to do. I went back on May 12, 2014, excited and ready to jump into my new/old role. I was being asked to help with some tasks that were new to me, and I was ready for the challenge. My wife and I celebrated with a fancy dinner at chez Red Robin. Life was good.
It was also around this time that my wife and I also celebrated a major milestone – we were officially 32 weeks pregnant, and headed for the home stretch. Our little peppercorn was now the size of a cantaloupe, and we were busy making everything ready for our daughter’s arrival. I gave my wife a hard time about having a girl, but secretly I was ecstatic (and I think she knew it). I had felt our daughter’s kicks, read her stories before bed, and smiled when she would respond to my voice. No one else, besides my wife, had the honor of feeling her kick or move around. I was the only other person she knew. Life was very good.
I will never forget the day my wife called with the news – our baby didn’t have a heartbeat, and the doctors said we had lost her. It was one of those events where you remember everything you were doing, where you were standing, everything. I can even tell you what I had just eaten for lunch. At first, I was in disbelief – the doctors could just fix her, right? After all, they’re doctors – fixing people is what they do. I raced to the hospital as fast as my old truck would take me, and met my wife there just as she was finishing up. We cried on sidewalk. Life was not good.
Camper: $80. Carpet remnant: $0. Covered, secure, dry storage for my toolbox: priceless.
About ten months later, we decided we needed to make some changes. Our daughter was gone, and a huge void in our lives could never be filled. Seattle is all we had known for the last 10 years, but we thought maybe it was time to leave it behind. Our housing situation was such that we couldn’t stay, anyway, so why not make a big change? We landed on Springfield, MO when we decided on a place to go, which seemed like an affordable, quiet, family-oriented place to start over.
Day 1: Leaving Seattle
It was St. Patrick’s Day when we said goodbye to Seattle and hit the road. It was around 5:00 AM, and we wanted to get to Missoula on the first day (about 500 miles), so we dragged ourselves out of bed and got in the truck while it was still dark. Our good friend met us at Starbucks for some coffee and to say goodbye. We were out of the city and past Snoqualmie by 7:00, so we were doing well.
I tried the flying route, but I bogged down on Mt. Si.
I had just a few concerns about the truck getting across the continental divide. We decided to take the Focus with us, meaning we would tow it on a U-Haul trailer. My 1992 F-150 has the 5.0 engine and a M5OD-R2 transmission, so power could be found in most gears, depending on the road. The Focus, along with the trailer, tips the scales at about 5,000 lbs. My 23-years old truck was in for a long week.
Fun fact: my truck was clean when we left.
By the time we reached Missoula, it was evening. We were stopping every three hours to let the dog out, get gas, or both. On top of that, I kept it under 55mph that day, helped by the massive inclines in Idaho, and of course the Continental Divide (2nd gear, screaming up the hill at 25mph). It really wasn’t a long drive, but it was a long day, and I could feel and smell the transmission by the time we pulled into the hotel parking lot. I remember telling someone that I could use about another 100hp over these hills.
We loved Montana. My truck did not.
Day 2: Missoula, MT to Sheridan, WY. Warm days, frosty nights.
The second day of our easterly sojourn started off great – hot breakfast, Starbucks coffee, and a clear, cold morning. Conditions were perfect for a road trip. After filling both of the tanks yet again, we made our way towards Sheridan, WY. After the first day of travel, I discovered that the safety chains between the trailer tongue and the hitch were dragging the road, even though I had twisted all of the slack out of them. The solution? Zip ties, naturally. I always keep zip ties in my toolbox, don’t you?
Pro tip: don’t stay at the America’s Best Value Inn, for obvious reasons.
Day 3: Sheridan, WY to Sioux City, IA.
We’ve stayed in worse hotels, but I can’t remember when! We hit the road early, and didn’t stop for gas or breakfast until we were out of town. The thing that stands out in my mind from this day is the constant wind from the north. We were driving east across Wyoming and South Dakota, and on the open plain, the wind hits you at full force. I think I drove straight turning left most of the day. The wind was so persistent that my camper shell actually moved to the right and back about two inches throughout the day. On the plus side, the roads were pretty good, and flat enough that I could keep it at a steady 60mph most of the time.
Day 4: Sioux City, IA to Mt. Vernon, MO.
By the fourth day, we were getting tired, but we still had a long way to go. Remember the quote in The Lord of the Rings, when Treebeard is taking Merry and Pippin to Isengard? “I always liked going south. Somehow, it feels like going downhill.” That’s exactly how the run from Sioux City to Mt. Vernon feels – just driving south, all day long. We had covered half the country in just three days, but now we were only going to cross one state line the entire day. We drove down Interstate 29 most of the day, and made our last stop for gas somewhere south of Kansas City. I know some of our fellow Hoons are from Kansas City, so I won’t badmouth you guys too much, but seriously – what’s with the traffic? It’s worse than Seattle!
The car, the truck, the wife, and the dog all made it one piece, so I’m happy. My truck is no worse for the wear, although it’s going to need new tires this year – highway driving with a heavy load definitely made a difference. It’s an ugly old truck, but it’s dependable, it’s comfortable, and damn it, it’s mine. I know this post isn’t really about cars, or car things, or car people, but it’s an important chapter in this hoon’s life, and I wanted to share. Thanks for reading this far.
[Photos Copyright 2015 Hooniverse/Marcal Eilenstein]
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