Thinking

I have been fishing a bit during our latest homestand. I caught some pike and a largemouth bass. Then while fishing I saw a moose cooling off in the lake near the place where we keep our boat. As I fished I thought about many things, this is one of my thoughts.

As we travel over the hundreds of miles of blue lines on a map, one of our favorite things is to listen to audiobooks. We have explored the islands in the Pacific through the humorous writings of Maarten Troost. We listened to his The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific and were so taken with his odd take on island life that we followed up with, Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu. We laughed out loud as we rumbled on down his road and ours, the time passing surprisingly fast each day.

Following those adventures, we listened to books by comedians Jay Mohr, Howie Mandel, and Billy Crystal. All were very good; funny yet provoking. Each told of the various insecurities they had and how hard they had to work to become successful comedians. All three writers gave in-depth looks into their childhoods and what growing up provided them when they became successful adults. Again we enjoyed listening as we traveled.

Today, I was sitting out in the sun and my thoughts grabbed on to something that all three writers had said in their books. During the descriptions of their childhood, each one mentioned a quote from their fathers that had stuck with them as they grew older. Some of the thoughts were heavy and they used them to guide their way to adulthood.  Other quotes were funny and brought warm feelings of being with their fathers back into their memories.

Sitting in the warm sun, I thought back to my dad and I immediately remembered something he said every day. It was a small thing, but dad used it as his go-to acknowledgment.  Whenever someone thanked Dad, which was quite often, his reply would be “You bet!”  When he held the door for someone and they nodded thanks, he would reply “You bet!”  I must have heard him say those two words a million times, always with a smile and a nod of his head.  Over the phone, you could tell when a customer thanked him as they said goodbye because Dad would end the call with a “You bet! Good-bye!”

I smiled thinking about this little phrase. It was part of my life with my wonderful father and now that I think about it, I realize that I say the same thing quite often.  It is also my go-to acknowledgment. I say it every time someone thanks me. It’s automatic.

Now I know I have gotten many things from my parents; singing from my Mom and thumb twiddling from my Dad, to name a couple. They are a part of being this human named Dean. They are ever-present in my being just like my personal space bubble and my quiet nature.  I am so thankful that my parents raised me the way they did and instilled in me all the things that make me the way I am. 

I know that if my folks were alive today and I thanked them for all they did, Mom would smile and probably cry and Dad would say “You bet!”

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Note: Our truck is in for repair. It turned out to be a sensor in the transmission was bad. We are having it replaced and then they will do a full transmission service on the unit. Total for repairs and service, about $800. Ouch!

Thinking and Smiling

This morning we took an hour and streamed the final address to America from President Obama. That man is a great orator, he is inspiring and able to move you to look for the right path to follow into the upcoming new year and the next four years for America. I supported most all he has done for our country, I will miss him and his leadership.

Today I logged into our bank account and checked to see if there was a hard earned payment deposited there. Low and behold, as I scanned the screen, I found the deposit from the US Social Security  Administration. My first Social Security check arrived and was deposited into our account! Linda and I smiled, high fived, and then I quickly transferred it from our checking account to a savings account.

It was a bittersweet morning around the casa.

Today's Thoughts

Today I went in to brush my teeth. I noticed that I hadn't taken my pills so I grabbed them. There was no water to drink with the pills so I went out and poured some water. I spilled a bit so I wiped it up and then used to paper towel to wipe down the wall decorations and the TV, ending with the counter. Then walking back to the bathroom I noticed some dirt on the floor so I swept the entire casa. While picking up the dirt I noticed that I needed to sweep the entryway and the balcony. So I did that.  Once I finished I walked back in and looked around, strengthened a few thing and then brushed my teeth.

Lines in Mexico – They are always long and there is no concept of “next”!

                Example uno – Linda and I needed to check on something at the local bank. We walked in and noticed that they were using a electronic number system. We took our number, 164. We sat down and noticed that the display control showed #160. OK four people in front of us. During our 45 minutes of waiting, three people walked in and took numbers. Three others walked in and walked up to the first open teller they saw.  The tellers were pushing the controller button and addressing the needs of the people who walked up to the window. The number tag meant nothing. This meant that each time the teller thought they were following the number system they were actually increasing the number on the display, but not dealing with the person who corresponded to the number displayed. This went on until the number on the display said 169 but they were actually dealing with #162. The place was utter chaos!

                Example dos – At the local store you can be standing in line and a person who only has three items will walk up and put money on the counter and get service, leaving you standing in the line smiling. I had this happen today twice. At the drug store I was standing politely in line behind a lady when another lady walked up with a soda and cut me off paying and walking away. It was so obvious that the druggist smiled and shrugged.

Chairs – I have found that there are no comfortable chairs in Mexico. Chairs are plastic, woven fabric, hard wood or wood covered with hard bulky pillows that hurt your butt.  The Mexican people are used to sitting on curbs, cement stoops or nasty palm rounds; chairs are a luxury to them. Don’t get fooled by the woven fabric chairs, they are uncomfortable and then they leave an imprint on your posterior that lasts for two days. If I needed to make a million dollars I would find an inexpensive comfortable chair and import it into Mexico and sell it.

Last night we walked into town and ate dinner.  We ate at the tamale stand in front of the church across from the square.  I had two tamales and Linda had two also.  Two of these delicious items fill us up. It cost us 10 pesos per tamale. In US dollars that is $.60 per tamale. Our dinner cost us $2.40! I can’t think of a single place up north where we can eat and get full for less than $5.00, can you?

Thoughts

The other day I took on the task of weeding the flower garden area of the back yard.  This is one of my least favorite lawn care jobs that are required to keep the yard looking good and I usually put it off for most of the summer.

As I weeded I came to a small area hidden behind one of our natural bushes. The area is not completely hidden, but to see it you kind of have to look beyond the bush between trees to find this little piece of my past.

There in the shaded light stands one of the gifts given to me in one of my last years that I worked with ASNIC.  A smile came to my face as I remembered the story behind the VW van and the circumstances behind the little gesture.

Here is how I remember that I came to have this gift.

 

It was the end of the year, probably two years prior to my retirement.  This time of the school calendar has always been one where our students were finishing up projects, cramming for tests and generally getting ready to escape college and head for their summer jobs. Over the past couple years ASNIC was made up of some real great students.  One of them worked in our offices, worked in Student Events, was in student government, was an OARS Leader and practically had her fingers in everything that went on around our area. Her name was Fatima.

I remember sitting at my desk when Fatima ran into my office.  Just like she always did, Fatima had a smile on but she was in a hurry.  She gave me the VW bus and said that she was going to make it real artsy and cool but she ran out of time due to finals and the end of the year.  She said something about her lack of artistic talent and handed me the bus.

The VW van was a toy that she had decorated with peace signs and cut out photos of all the students who had participated in ASNIC that year.  Fatima expressed to me that, due to the time limitations she had cut out the faces and used tape to stick them to the van, but she really wanted to do more and glue them making them more permanent.   What a great thought!

I love the whole thing and the idea of our group of students together in the VW.  For the next few years the van was a fixture in my office.

When I retired I packed my office up and brought it home.  I went through all the historic things and they all brought back great memories. Most of this history went into a box and is now hidden up in the attic of the garage.  The VW was different. It not only was a cool little toy, but it held so many faces of so many great student friends that I couldn’t just pack it away.  I walked it out to the back yard and place it next to a rock cairn that we built in our flower bed.  Over the years, since retirement, when I come across photos of students that I met at NIC, instead of putting them in a box somewhere, I cut them out and put them into the van.  It’s a memorial to the friends I met at NIC.

Now you have to realize that much like Fatima I am not artistic, so sometimes the photos that I cut up are a bit rough. Usually I cut the head off the person in the picture of sever a limb, but it is the thought that counts.  I want to make it perfectly clear that I in no way do I look at this as a Voodoo related shrine.

I don’t cut off heads and stick pins in the pictures to cause them hardship.  My cuts and rips are simply due to a lack of talent and that is it.  You won’t find the bus being used to hold the tormented likenesses of students who made my life beyond interesting. You know what I mean? EXACTLY!

That day last week my yard work continued but the great thoughts of the VW van kept tugging at me. I shot some pictures and told Linda about how it made me smile.  Again I want to thank Fatima for the gift and also thank all the students that have made my life so wonderful.  

365 Days

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?

Rent - Seasons of Love


525600 min. = 1 year
16819200 min. = 32 years


Is that right?


Today, one year from now, I will be retired from my job at NIC.  At that point I will have worked 33 years or 16819200 minutes.  It doesn't seem possible or actually doesn't seem that long.  Have I loved every minute of it? Yes! Has it been hard this last year? Yes! Was it always the best job ever? No, There were five years of frustrations and lies. Did it change and become good again? Yes. Would I do it all again? Definitely.

Welcome to Your New Home

We spent Saturday afternoon at Tobler Marina getting the thousand info books and a few lessons about our new boat. I am pretty excited and a bit anxious about the whole deal. I have wanted a boat for fishing since I sold my bass boat. Don't get me wrong, I did not feel I made a mistake selling the flat bottomed craft to get money to buy my cataraft. Our cat has taken us some amazing places and I love that boat. I did however wish I could have kept the fishing boat and purchased the cat. I love to be on the water; lake, river, or ocean. This new boat has been my dream and now she sits in the driveway, it's hard to get my head believing that it's a done deal.

We need to name her. I haven't given it much thought, but Last night Linda reminded me that she will need a name. Any suggestions?

We Finally Took the Big Step

For the past couple years I have had a dream of getting a fishing boat. A boat that I can go out in and fish for pike and bass, a boat that I can take out on the lake and troll for lake trout and salmon. I looked at various models and contemplated my needs but it seemed that every time we got close to the big purchase, something came up that required that we postpone the event.

Last year Linda took a leave of absence from work and we practiced for our retirement. One income equaled our base pay and then we supplemented each month which gave us a good reading on our retirement. We had to wait.

So now that we are back to our usual situation we felt it was the time to make the dream come true. Fall came and we spotted a boat that I really liked. It fit all the criteria I had for the boat. Linda and I looked at it and actually went to Qdoba to talk it over and make a final decision. We decided that we couldn't finalize the deal until we replaced the roof on the house.

Last weekend we went to the Spokane boat show and looked at what was offered. There wasn't a great selection of fishing boats, very expensive and mostly to big. We returned disappointed. As we drove north of Coeur d'Alene to do some shopping I suggested to Linda that we head out to Tobler's Marina. Tobler's was having a sale, their own boat show.

We arrived and went into the show room. Boats were all over the place. Again, most were too big or too expensive. Our exploration lead us outside to the exact boat we were looking at in the fall.

The boat is a Crestliner Canadian 1650. It was fitted with a 60 hp Merc four stroke. We started the negotiations and began adding the extras that I felt made up my retirement boat. We added a Minn Kota motor for the front. A Merc 7 hp kicker for the back. Full canvas. Two electric downriggers and a fish finder.

Linda and I have always hated negotiations on vehicles, campers and anything you have to dicker on. This started out about the same as other deals. We got all the pricing and were talking about the additions when the manager of the place, Brent, came in to where we sat. Immediately Linda lit up and his smile widened. Turns out that they knew each other from the fitness center they had both attended. After a few minutes of talking, he took our order sheet and walked to his office. He returned and told us he had taken $489 off the price. That was very nice and it made our decision a little easier.

We had to think about the deal so we gave them a deposit to hold the boat and went home. Over the week I visited the boat twice, climbing all over it, talking about the pros and cons. On Saturday we went back out to finalize the deal. I had decided that this was the boat I wanted.

When we arrived, we met with Lois, their financial person. She explained that they reworked the offer and found that they had made a $250 mistake in our favor. We filled out the loan paperwork and then headed into town to wait for it to be accepted by the bank.

About two hours later we got the call that everything was ready, Lois also said that they found another little mistake. We met in the office and she explained they had made a $400 mistake on the rebate. So at this point we were $460 better then when we first walked in. It made us feel a bit better about the deal.

Lois went over all the paper work and showed us the work order for the shop. Linda stopped her and had a question. On this paperwork and the final sales papers, there was no mention of the Minn Kota. We showed her the paperwork that stated our first offer and it clearly showed the Minn Kota. So, she wrote it in without changing the bottom line. A free Minn Kota!

This made us feel a lot better about the price of the boat Of course I looked up the retail price on the web when we got home. Retail price for that motor was $689. Our deal now sat at $1300. We were feeling a lot better about our deal. All the dealings, mistakes and successes really was stressful. By the end of the day we were beat. It was all worth it in the end. I pick up my boat in a few weeks and then you will have to read about all my fishing trips. You might be the losers in this deal.

January - February Doldrums

Just sitting in my old chair drinking hot coffee and eating oat meal for breakfast, we haven't done much since we got back from our trip. Traveling home was uneventful. No plane delays. No missed flights. I got my share of pat downs at the TSA areas, but I have got it through my head now that the searches are going to happen so let them have their fun.

Since we returned, the most asked question I have gotten from the people at work or who know we go to Mexico is "do you feel safe down there?" I hope our posts of the night life in Melaque answers that for our readers. I always reply "It's like walking around in Hayden Lake or Post Falls in the 60's."

We don't go places that look like we should not be there. We are never our with the drunk crowd late at night. We don't frequent large town party areas. We never walk the beaches at night. So we have never had any problems in Mexico.

I am a faith full reader of a on-line forum that deals with truck campers and their issues. It is called NATCOA (North American Truck Campers Owners Association). Lately they have been talking about Mexico and how dangerous it is to travel there. One of the posters is an avid Mexico traveler and outspoken member of the forum. He spends a lot of energy defending travel in Mexico saying that it is safe, but very few listen to him. I believe that the nay sayers are the ones who have never traveled down that way and get their opinions based on news about deaths in the Mexican drug wars or have heard from a friend of a friend who got in trouble across the border. They don't see the demographics of the mass deaths when the news focuses on them. Young Mexicans in their 20's, heavy into the drug industry. We are never anywhere near that demographic. Our demographic is Mexican families, taco vendors, rug makers, pool cleaners and house cleaners. These are the people that we have gotten to know and love.

I read the posts like looking at a bad accident. I can't help my self. Yes we have never driven down to Melaque, but our friends have and we listen to their stories of how wonderful the people are and how sad it is that tourism is down due to the economy. John and Loretta Sutherland recently traveled down to their place on Baha and had no problems on their trip. Larry and Maggie did the same, only down to Melaque.

I just think that traveling in Mexico is like traveling anywhere. You have to be careful, you don't put yourself in situations that you are not comfortable in, you stay out of big city areas where trouble might be, you don't frequent bars and nightclubs and walk home drunk late at night, you stay away from drug areas, and you keep to the places that local families go. Sounds like what you do in the big cities up in the United States doesn't it? I'm not saying that sh*# won't happen. It does and there is no stopping that, but minimize the possibilities and it may not happen to you.

Enough with the rant. I have to go walk the dog in the 20 degree weather of north Idaho.

Out of Practice!

On Saturday Linda and I spent the day together and drove the Mazda over to Manito Park in Spokane. The flowers through out the park were spectacular! We walked the rose garden and then toured the green house. I wanted to take pictures of everything, but because of my lack of adventuring, I left the camera home. The only shots I could take were with my phone and it tends to make everything blue. So here are the shots it took after fixing them up a bit in Picasa.

Sitting and Thinking

I have had a lot of time to sit and think lately. It seems like when you have time to think you return to places that make you happy or where you are most comfortable. While in one of my semi-drug enhanced thinking sessions I kept floating back to our two trips down the Lower Salmon River this summer. I though about the camp sites, the weather, the critters and insects, our friends and the over all feeling that a trip like this leave me.

When we talk about river trips of the summer, many folks smile and say "Oh, you did the Lower, that's nice.", but in their eyes they are making a comparison to trips down the Middle Fork or the Main and it shows that they feel we settle for our trip down the Lower. I want everyone to know that we don't settle for that stretch, that it is our river of choice and we chose this stretch for many reasons. Yes, we would run the Main or the Middle if we had the opportunity. My ability to not draw a permit is legendary. Comparing everything involved in these trips and then also looking at the river its self, I have come to the conclusion that this is the best, most relaxing and enjoyable stretch for Linda and I to float. We have run enough rivers and have experienced the beauty and excitement they provide. We now float for the float, we no longer float for the thrill as much as we used to. Not to say we don't like the thrill, but we have progressed beyond that intrinsic reward, to a more all inclusive inner feeling.

I don't know exactly where all this was leading. I was thinking, looked at some pictures, made a panoramic photo out of three pictures I took and that all led me to this post. Take a look at this photo of our camp above Billy Creek. It is a beautiful spot and was a wonderful trip camp.

Tomorrow, A Couple New Things.

Tomorrow I will be entering the world of modern medical miracles. Because of this I will not be posting for at least three weeks. If you want to read about my adventure, visit The "B's" Knees my blog for documenting this transformation.

In Three Days

" Fly rods...check, swim fins...check, camera...check, Hula Hoop...check."

The list is growing for both trips and it is getting a bit confusing. Within the next few days we start the season of adventures. As it has worked out we will be leaving on one trip right after the other until about the end of July. It is sort of driving us nuts with all the preparations and sorting.

The way it is working out is we will travel to Spanish Wells in the Bahamas for our 25th anniversary bonefish vacation. When we return we have about a four day turnaround and we will leave on a raft trip down the Lower Salmon River which Linda and I are putting together.

This trip was conceived down in Mexico when we were talking to all our neighbors in Malaque. We are setting the entire trip up and it has taken a great deal of planning. After we return from that trip we have a camping trip scheduled with our friends the Edwards. This will be a weekend adventure and should not take much planning. I do however have to put the camper back on the truck during the days between our two trips. Finally, we will be back on the water for the NIC Staff River Trip at the end of the month.

With all these adventure coming up we have had to find a student to stay in our house and take care of Kobi while we are gone. This always means several training sessions to show whom ever is the chosen one all the ins and outs of Kobi management. Linda has met once already and has presented them with the Book of Kobi. Having an entire campus of students, who are hungry to get out of their living areas and stay in a house for a break, is a wonderful asset. My job has some very different benefits and this is definitely a good one.

So we have gathered our traveling gear, our rafting gear, and anything else we can think of and buried out guest bedroom bed in preparation of these adventures. Stay tuned, I'll be keeping the blog up to day as much as possible.

"Linda! Have you seen my snorkel?"

So Far Travels are Limited

We haven't been getting out as much as usual due to a heavy schedule of weekend events, and very poor weather. So I thought I would entertain you with a couple videos I created at work. The first one is a quick run through of our Habitat trip to Sisters Oregon. The second was a class project for some of our students. They used the digital video camera and filmed a Spanish soap. They spent an entire night filming, in the morning I captured the video and found there was no sound on it. I had turned the sound off when I filmed the video about flying and forgot to turn it back on. I felt real bad so I spent some time working with them to dub the vocals. Hope you enjoy them.

Double-click on them to watch the full view. Sorry!

The Castillo - From Linda in Melaque

Went into town last night with friends. We had a late dinner and then headed to the square for the castillo which is a part of the celebration for San Patricio that is going on here until St. Patrick´s Day on Wednesday. The castillo is a large structure made of fireworks and rockets that spin around, sometimes coming off and shooting into the crowd. It is absolutely crazy and amazing at the same time. Imagine about 1000 people all gathered around. As the different parts of the castillo are lit, people yell, scream, dance, etc as the fireworks burn. Some kids place a piece of cardboard over their heads and run underneath this thing. Yikes! There are four sections to this structure with different parts to each section. At the very end is the corona. This shoots up into the air with fireworks exploding from it and everyone has to be watching where it´s going so they can get the heck out of the way if it´s coming down towards them. After this craziness then los toros show up. These are men with the outline of a bull made of fireworks. They light it and then RUN THROUGH THE CROWD as this thing shoots off rockets, etc. There is much stampeding, running, and screaming as people try to stay away from los toros. It was all very exciting and festive. And they do this EVERY NIGHT until el dia de San Patricio, with the fireworks more elaborate each night. Yes, I´ll be going again tonight and tomorrow. Should be even more people here as the buses roll in with Mexican families ready to celebrate. The day has cleared here and it´s going to be beautiful.

xoxo Linda

Welcome 2010

Last night we had a blue moon and ended a decade all at the same time. A blue moon is simply the second full moon in month. This months full moons occurred on December 2 and December 31.

Melaque is the center of the universe when it comes to fire crackers. The loud booms last all night and sleep usually requires ear plugs. I tried to get photos of the fire works over the Grand Bay resort in Barra, my night photography success rate is not the greatest.

Yesterday Dave, Rebbecca and Samantha Kilmer visited us. They arrived the previous afternoon and found a mooring location in the lagoon in Barra. We plan to meet them and have dinner tonight (Jan. 1) on their boat. They must have had quite a view of the spectacular fireworks over the Grand Bay when the New Year arrived.

Oh, by the way, the Bennett's would like to wish you all a Feliz Año Nuevo!

Day By Day

I'll give you a run down on what an average vacation day in the life of Dean Bennett is like. First you get up at about 7:00 am and make coffee and enjoy an item that you purchased the night before from the doughnut man. Once that is taken care of and you have all you personal care duties finished, you head out for a walk or bike ride. For example today we rode to the malicon to the northwest located at the end of Melaque.

Then at about 10:00 am we hear the call and play about an hour of pool volleyball over at the neighbors. By that time we have lunch and read a bit. At about 2:00 pm, the town shuts down for siesta and we either take a nap or work on our blogs.

The town starts to wake up about 4:00 pm, but we play an afternoon game of volleyball and then get ready to go out for the evening. At about 6:00 pm, the sun sets and everyone meets on the beach to watch the day come to a close.

We wander into town for dinner and to walk the plaza watching people. The evening ends with a trip to the store or a stop at the doughnut man, we return home and go to bed.

That is the usual day here, but we also toss in longer bike rides to the near by towns, some fishing, going to the market, shopping or maybe traveling by bus to an out-lying town. We never seam to just sit around and the days go by very fast.

Leaving this place.

I guess you really do not have to have a reason to travel south to warmer climates. If you have to really know why we like to vacation south in Mexico, just follow this link.

NOAA Eight Day History for Post Falls, Idaho.

You will notice that we have not been above 30 degrees for the eight days you can view on the link. I checked the monthly readings for the temperature and found that we have not been above 30 since November 29th. I am a bit tired of the cold and real tired of having dry skin and lips.

So tonight we get up at 2:30 AM and drive to the airport where we will fly out at 5:30 AM. We first fly to Seattle, followed by Los Angeles and then on to Manzanillo, Mexico. I imagine when we leave the temperature will be in the mid 20's and when we land in Mexico it will be in the mid 80's. How fun is that!

We are basically packed and ready to fly. I will be posting as much as possible while we are gone. I really want to thank Emily, Mandolin and Pedro for taking care of Kobi and our house while we are gone. They are real troopers for helping us over the break.

Hope everyone enjoys the holidays. Remember we are thinking about you as we spend out days in the sun and fun of Mexico. Yes it brings me joy to make you jealous, it is one of my favorite things this time of year. Que chevere cada uno!

It's getting close.

With the outside temperature ranging in the 14 to 16 degree range, it's getting harder to keep our eyes on the prize. We leave next week for Mexico and we can not wait to ditch these temperatures.

This weekend we meet with the folks who are care taking our house while we are gone. The three weeks that we are traveling is going to give them a bit of a vacation before they settle into their spring semester of student teaching. It works out well that the semester break co insides with our vacation and thus their transition from students to teachers fits perfectly and both parties benefit.

We will be traveling to Melaque, Mexico again this year. The difference is that we will be staying three weeks instead of our usual two. We have a friend staying with us the first week that we are down there, and then when she leaves another couple drop in for the next week. We had someone scheduled to visit the last week, Jan. 1-7, but they were unable to make that time slot so Linda and I have the place to our selves. If you are in the area stop in! You are more than welcome to share our house for that last week!

Starting next week I will be updating the blog more frequently with notes and pictures of our adventures, be sure to stop by a few time during the three weeks we are traveling.

Guess What This Is?

Something New For The Truck

It was camper loading day and also the day that my new Rickson 19.5 Wheels and Bridgestone R250F 245/70R 19.5 commercial grade tires arrived. The Rickson steel wheels have a weight rating of 5000 lbs, the tires are a commercial G rated tire with a weight capacity of 4805 lbs. Our camper loaded and ready to go comes in under this rating. With our old tires we were right on the maximum of the safe load rating. With the old tires when we went around corners you could feel the sidewalls flex and when that happened the truck load would sways a bit. It is not as safe as the new equipment will be.

The day started about 8:30 am, I was standing outside when the UPS truck came chugging up in front of the house. The driver got out and she smiled, “You’re my first stop, I have four packages weighing a ton each.” We unloaded the packages and rolled them up next to my truck. She looked at me and then looked at the truck and said “You’re not loading them in your truck by your self are you?” I smiled and shrugged, she shook her head and got back into her rig, waved and was off.

Man those things are huge! I went to the back and brought out one of my loading ramps from my trailer. This made the job much easier, but it still was a booger rolling them up the ramp and into the bed of the truck. If I had lost control of any of them I would have been squished like a bug. I took them to my local Alton’s Tire and they changed them out for me, Alton’s will do that for free so I have them do all my tire work.

Within the hour I had the new wheels and tires on and was headed home to load the camper. Loading and hooking up everything on the camper takes me about three hours total. This includes the loading, attaching all the needed hardware and getting all the towing hitch equipment in place.

While I worked on the camper project I took some time to fix some of the lights on the cab of the truck. I figured with the good weather and the fact that I will have the camper on the rest of the season; this was the best time to get this project out of the way.

I know we’re going to enjoy the new set up on our truck and camper. We give it the test run starting Friday when we head to the Oregon coast.