Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Rolling down I-10

We woke up early today in order to hit the road and head on over to Phoenix to fix the springs in our leanin' Dolphin. It was a beautiful clear day. Just right for driving down the road. It has been a few months since we hooked up the Jeep behind the RV, so I had to do everything twice to make sure it was done.

The only hitch in that method is when your instructions are "start up the engine and put the shifter in neutral. Put the transfer case in neutral, then shut off the engine and put the shifter in Park." Instructions like that are just plain confusing when you try to do them twice. I elected to just go through the instructions once, then try and drive down the road and see if the wheels on the jeep are turning. If they are, instead, skidding and making smoke roll off them, I would stop and re-execute the instructions.

The bad thing about these instructions is that I wrote them. I can't really sit there with a confused look on my face and say "What idiot wrote these stupid instructions? I can't understand a thing he is saying!" Instead, I have to just look at the instruction, then gaze emptily into space for a moment, and cuss internally about how life gets weirder every day.

One instruction I totally missed putting on my list was a tiny one, but it about gave me a panic attack. I started the RV engine, then shifted the gear from Park to Drive... and it wouldn't budge. I must admit I panicked. I sat there like an idiot, yanking on the shifter as hard as I dare, and it wouldn't move. I tried turning off the key, then restarted the engine, still no luck.

About the time I was ready to call the wrecker and have the RV towed to the shop, I remembered the silly little instruction that wasn't on my list... "Push on the brake pedal." It is totally amazing how much easier it is to shift an auto transmission from Park to Drive when you step on the brake. It's weird that I even had to think of this tiny little technicality, since the last 6 cars I've owned (minus the CJ5)have all been automatic transmissions... and I don't think I've ever, not even once, sat there like an idiot, trying to wrestle the shifter from Park to Drive. It is just a habit. But I guess when you are going through a checklist... you just get a little more literal. Or, maybe it is just the alzhiemers kicking in a little stronger.

When I was younger, I had lots of great excuses for doing dumb things. Either I hadn't had my first cup of coffee, or maybe I was still a little buzzed from last night at the party. Perhaps I hadn't slept enough for the preceeding 3 months and I was getting a little rummy. Now that I'm older, and doing even more dumb things, the only possible reason that seems to make any sense is that I'm getting older, and the onset of all sorts of maladies are upon me.

Once I finally got into Drive the rest of the Journey was quite uneventful. We were lumbering along, leaning to the right, putt putting our way down the road at our usual blazing speed of somewhere between 42 and 59 miles per hour. At that speed, not only do you get to see the scenery, you get to memorize it. Along with that, you also get to see a lot more of the people that are going your way. With the speed limit of 75, I think I saw just about every eastbound vehicle on I-10 this morning as they roared past me.

It is really fun when a big semi passes you at least 30 mph faster than you. The first thing you feel is the motor home is pushed to the shoulder of the road by the huge wave of air that builds in front of a semi. Then, just as you are correcting for being thrown to the shoulder, the suction of the draft along the side of the tractor trailer will suck you ever closer towards it. About then, the truck passes you and the turbulence off the back of the truck will cause you to veer almost anywhere, as long as it isn't where you are trying to steer. Usually, this is only as scarey as it sounds for about the first two or three rigs that fly past you. After that, you just enjoy the excitement of actually having to drive, rather than sit with a flacid steering wheel in your hand and daydream about sitting in the shade on a hot summer day with a cool glass of lemonade watching.... shooooosh! OMG... hang on, Monty. We just missed that one.

After the usual uneventful trip, we ended up in the WalMart parking lot in Buckeye, just west of Phoenix about 20 miles. We spent about 6 hours and a few hundred bucks walking back and forth between the stores in this huge mall.


Tomorrow, we get the springs taken care of. Gee, maybe it will help with the suction from the tractor trailers. I'll let you know!

Gil

1 comment:

  1. Welcome to the world of blogging! Looking forward to following you folks on your adventures...

    ReplyDelete