GOOD MORNING TO ALL FROM MY FRONT PORCH!
The sun is SHINING! The sky is blue! The White-Throated sparrows are singing their "Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody" songs, along with Robins and warblers and thrushes and crows and others. It's not necessary to wear gloves to type! (Almost 47 degrees already!) All's perfect in my world for the moment!
Yesterday I hitched and hauled my trailer to the dealer's for the first time with this new truck. Once I got out onto the highway, (just one lane each way, but a highway for up here in the boonies) I felt some awful swaying and lack of control. I thought something horrendous must be wrong with the way I hitched up, or else this truck, that has some sort of new sway control built in, was going to take some getting used to. I also have a humungous Reese sway control hitch. The brakes seemed to be working fine, and the power on the hills (most of which is downhill from here to the city for me, however) was fine. I had pushed the button to take off overdrive, which said on my panel notices that I was in tow/haul mode. It felt as if I was driving a trailer full to the brim with water in all of its tanks, sloshing from side to side and forward and back, although it was completely empty! So, I slowed down a bit, took my time, allowed a few exhasperated souls to pass me when it was possible, and white-knuckled it to the dealers, keeping in mind that those tires could blow out any minute, anyway, as two of them were rotten to the core! (Brand spankin' new Duro tires, but rotten!) I looked at the trees along the way to see if they were blowing in the wind, but up here where I live, there aren' t anything but teensy little baby leaves out, so I didn't see evidence of wind.
However, when I got down into the valley where the leaves are out, I saw evidence of wild wind! So that was the end of my wondering----I had been driving in very windy conditions----something I had never experienced before! In fact, on the way home with the truck alone, I was still being blown to kingdom come! A few other customers who came into the dealers while I was there commented about the wind, too. So I guess my hitch and stabilizers and truck and all did a great job of keeping me on the road! What a relief! But I vowed, as others have said, to avoid windy conditions on the road whenever possible! I am wondering if Cedar had the same condiitons on her route to the city?
Then I went to the mall and visited Gander Mountain with my 20.00 discount coupon I had downloaded from the net! I must have spent about 2 hours in that neat store, looking at everything imaginable, putting things in my cart, taking them out of the cart and putting them back, getting other stuff, on and on I went! I ended up getting a combination grill and burner stove with piezo lighting by Coleman that was on sale to begin with, and a coffee mug to bring my total up to the 100 dollar mark so the coupon would kick in. I have been watching prices for one of those, and yesterday was a deal. I will use it in my truck camper, my trailer on its outside table while boondocking, and in my house when I am home, as I don't have a stove in here. (It burned up one Thanksgiving in the 80s and I have never replaced it! You can see how much I love cooking!) And OH the things I passed up, including some wonderful tents!!
Then onto Best Buy I went and bought photo paper and a couple of thumb (flash) drives to store my pictures on so I can get rid of all the diskettes and CDs I have amassed over the years. I will scan ancient tintypes from my great grandparents, and old black and white photos my father took over the years, and put those on the drives, also. I will label as best I can as I go, so my kids will be able to take a look at their ancestors. Just one of the many jobs for me in my retirement hours on rainy days!
I looked at wireless printers I could take in the trailer, but didn't see the 'perfect' one yet. Any suggestions for printers on the road?
I finished up with a grocery shopping trip to Hannaford's---a place I have never shopped in, to see if I liked it. One is being built up here near me in Lake Placid for next year. I prefer Price Chopper or Grand Union still----I get used to certain brands of foods and goods and when I can't find them, BAH! Prices at Price Chopper are better, also. And your purchases earn gasoline discounts.
Coffee is hot, and I am loving being out here in the sunshine! I will take apart my lawnmower today to see if I can find something to tweek to make it run better, and I will dump out all the gas in it now....where I will store that is a problem.
Stop in and tell us about your day!