Chapter 44

I got up early the next morning, and decided to get dressed in my working clothes of dark blue slacks and white shirt. And seeing the cap in my closet I grabbed that also. And when I pulled in front of the Big House, I smiled as Grace was already waiting and also in dark blue and white. And she also had a flight case which she put in the back seat.

I smiled and said we both had the same idea, and she nodded. “Although I don’t have a hat like you do, maybe after I turn 18 I can get one though.” I nodded, and once we arrived at the airport I confirmed my flight plan and manifest, and soon the two of us were doing the pre-flight. I removed the tie-downs, as Grace fired the engine up and was warming her up. And at her thumbs up, I climbed inside and told her to go ahead.

She contacted the tower, and we got immediate permission to take off. And she was a little rough, and I urged her to climb a bit faster. She nodded and I saw our rate of climb increase, and she started to make the turn south. The flight was less than a half hour, and Grace had me take over as we got close since the only uncontrolled field she had ever landed at was the one Pete and Mandy owned. We both looked carefully, and along with the RADAR we were positive we were the only ones around. And during a long slow pass I took measure of the windsock, and saw that Darla was standing by a truck and waved at us.

The wind was negligible, so I landed to the south, and it was a short taxi until I pulled up about fifty yards from her car. I shut down the engines as Grace got out and chocked the wheels. By the time I had gotten out Grace was already hugging her grandmother, and as soon as I got there I got one as well.

“Oh my, when you said you were flying to get me, I did not expect both of you. And both dressed as Pete’s pilots. Shall we go?” I said we both needed to use the outhouse first, and Grace paused for a moment before nodding in agreement. And when we got back I helped her up into the plane.

She asked why we had done that, as surely it was not that long of a flight. “Darla, it’s just a good idea. We really ain’t got a bathroom in this, and we never know how long we might be in the air. Say if another plane is having problems and we are stuck in a holding pattern. Or even worse, there is a crash and we have to divert. Better safe than sorry, and I don’t know about Grace, but I didn’t put my diaper on.”

She laughed at that and when she asked if I was serious, Grace laughed. “Yes Grandma, he is. I’ve had to wear them also, it’s not like on the ground when we can just pull over if an emergency comes up. Mandy told me it is always a good idea to wear one if the flight is expected to be over an hour.”

We were in position, and after nodding to Grace she took off again. And this time her rate of climb was much better, and before we knew it she was contacting the tower and requesting landing instructions. She looked at me, and I just smiled and told her to take it down.

It took her longer than it would me to get the wheels on the runway, but after that everything was perfect. And even Darla was impressed at her landing. As we walked across the tarmac to the truck she asked me how we would handle this, as they were not planning on replacing the trailer with another one so a trade would not do.

“Well, I think my mom and dad will just buy it from you, then we will do a swap with mine. I have a feeling they might even keep it, as I overheard mom commenting it was a good size for them to use if they wanted to take a vacation.”

Darla said that might actually be for the best, and they needed one. “That’s one reason Dave and I moved to Strevell. The hands are now able to handle the herd, Dave only goes up now a few times a year. Your dad already retired, but that is one of the problems when the wife is so much younger than the husband. He’s ready to retire, she still has several good working years left in her. And I will start nudging them to start taking trips, and have Dee start turning over some of her responsibilities to others.”

Grace asked how they were handling their side of that, and Darla laughed. “Simple, at most maybe once or twice a week by phone. And Strevell is not all that much work now, we got people that handle most things for us. We have ten full time tenants now in the commercial area, and a dozen homes in the residential.” I looked over at her, and she nodded.

“Yes, we also rent houses. When you drop me off you should come and look. They look like Victorian era clapboard homes, but it’s all modern construction. Most that work in the town or hotel live there, some others in the small trailer park behind the hotel.”

We arrived at the car and when we got in, I called my mom. She told me they were already on their way, so I headed on over to the machine shop myself. More hugs were exchanged, and Darla gave me the keys as she went and hugged mom and dad. Grace went with me as I unlocked the door, and I finally got a good look inside.

Now I had been inside of toy haulers before, but this one was a bit different. Most were straight slide units, but this one had two pop outs which really increased the size. And for most of the length it was as if it was a trailer of around thirty feet, not the thirty-nine that it actually was. And whereas most had really cheap folding furniture that was little better than what was inside the passenger compartment of the Colt, there were actual captain chairs on the side with the kitchen, and the other had a regular RV couch in a pop-out.

Grace pointed out that is where her and her siblings slept if they stayed over, and showed me how to remove the table in front of it and pull out the bed. This is obviously one of the changes that Darla and Dave had made to it. The kitchen had an electric range with induction elements and an electric oven. Even the propane-electric fridge had been replaced with a larger one that was electric only.

“Well, this is certainly nicer for living in, but not as good for actual camping. But for their needs then and mine now, this is probably better.” I walked to the back as the adults came in, and saw another addition. They had installed a sliding glass patio door between the main area and the cargo area. Darla told me they did that as it did not need to be kept warm and cold, so that kept the AC or heat in the front where it was needed.

“And if you notice, it is not actually glass but plexiglass. Does the same thing, but weighs a lot less.”

Dad had already hooked up the power, so Darla extended the pop outs, then opened the door to the back and used the controls to operate the lift. And I gave her a look when she stopped it once it was level to the rest of the trailer.

“Here, we often would hang out in the evening with the back like this. Kind of like a little patio, we would set up out chairs here and just talk as we looked at the stars.” And I had to admit, I had never thought of using one like that. I then went to the front, and saw that there was a nice bathroom as well as a queen size bed in the nose. There was a small set of steps to get up in that, but it was actually a little bigger than the one in my own.

And the bathroom had a larger shower than my current rig, with a small tub. Not that I would want to wash anything in it bigger than a child or small dog, but it was there. All in all, I was actually impressed. I went ahead and tried the bed, then went back to the main room. I saw all the adults sitting in the various chairs. Darla in a captain’s chair, my parents together on the loveseat. I sat in the other captain’s chair, and Grace went and sat on the floor by her grandmother.

Mom asked me what I thought, and I said I think this would be perfect. “Are you sure? The actual area inside is really no bigger than what you have now.”

“Actually, it’s a lot bigger with the back part.” I stood up and walked over to the sliding glass door. “I can set up my keyboards right out here. I might even move that console TV in and use that with the speakers once again. If I lower the ramp, I can say have Keith and Crystal come over and we could jam together. In fact, that would almost be a stage now that I think about it.”

I saw my dad nod at that, and mom smiled. “Basically, it is like my current rig, but adding in a garage. And like Grace here suggested, when I go back I put my Enduro in the back and bring it with me. Then I can use that for day to day trips and not the truck. In fact, one of the reasons I wanted to upgrade is my keyboards. I can only use one really, and it’s in the way most of the time. I can move all that stuff out there, and free up the living area again.”

“But it gets really hot in there in the summer, George. And cold in the winter. Trust me, Dave and I were in that long enough to know. That’s why we had that sliding door installed, to help keep the heat and cool up here.”

“Well, remember I am going to be in LA, not here. Summer is not as hot and winter is not as cold there. And I’ll have an awning over it, that’ll help moderate it a bit. Most of the time I think a fan will be enough, if it really gets hot or cold just blow the air from up front here to the back.”

Mom asked if I liked it, and I had to smile at her. “Actually, this might be the perfect one for me. In fact, I may consider emptying the cargo trailer I have and selling that off. A lot of what was in it I already brought up here. About the only thing I could not bring was the TV.”

Dad laughed at that, and Darla asked what I was talking about. “Oh, when I rented that first place from Linda’s boss, one of the things he had in there was a huge floor console TV. One of those monsters with a stereo built in that is almost six feet long. The thing must weigh around two hundred pounds, and the TV part is largely crap. But I replaced all of the speakers inside, and it is actually a pretty good stereo. I have been using it as that, and a TV stand for my flat screen. And as it had quadraphonic built in, I added more speakers and it ran most of my audio stuff. My TV, DVD, stereo, I even ran my keyboard into it. But I can’t even get it in the door of my current trailer. But I can put it out there, and start using it again.”

She looked at me and nodded. “OK, tell you what then. Dave and I still have our old RCA Victor back at the hotel. It just sits in the sitting area as a decoration, would you consider doing something similar to that?”

Dad laughed when she said that and nodded. “George, that thing is actually older than Pete is. I remember when Dave bought that, we had to take the door off their house to get it inside. It’s a real beast, but I also remember it sounded great.”

Darla nodded, but said it sounded like junk now, it was just so old. “Aunt Darla, it’s probably the same problem mine had. Over time, the speakers get dried out and start to break down. They are really only made of paper. I can clean it all out inside, replace the speakers with better quality ones, and check out the tubes. I bet with new speakers it will sound great. The problem will be the TV part. They are dumping the old signals and going digital in a couple of years, after that it will not work at all. That’s why I use mine as a TV stand. But if you do that, I can hook up the sound from the TV to that I bet, and it should sound great.”

She smiled at me and nodded, and asked when I could come down to look it over. Dad and I talked it over a moment, and after asking mom she said she would send down some of their guys from the warehouse. “I’ll have them go down with a truck and pick it up, then George and Larry can work on it in the barn. I know that look Larry, you’ve not been doing enough tinkering. Go ahead, might do some good to get you out of the house for a bit.”

Darla asked mom what my rig was worth, and she told her what I had paid for it as well as the upgrades I had done. “OK, fair enough. How about this? George, you refurbish my old stereo, And Dee pays me what she said your trailer is worth. That way we all get something good out of this. But tell me, what would you two do with it?”

Dad squeezed mom’s hand and smiled. “Well, actually we’ll probably keep it. We’ve been talking about getting one for years now, and just never got around to it. But I’m retired now, and Dee is promising to cut back on work so we can start taking some of those vacations we’ve been talking about for years. That’s a good size for the two of us, and for short trips the Scout can pull it until we get something bigger for longer trips.”

And Darla pulled the title out of her purse, and signed it over to me. Dad smiled and took it away, saying he would get it registered. “Oh, and give me the title to your truck also. Sign it over to the company, and that will save you money on registration and insurance.”

“Dad, can I do that?” I asked, and he nodded.

“We’ll put you down as working for Or’Bit, and they can’t say squat if a multi-state corporation registers their vehicles in another state. In fact, if you are doing nothing else check in with Julie on occasion. She could probably send you out on jobs once in a while. And before you laugh, the hourly rate for the techs down there is now thirty-five dollars an hour.”

I looked at him sharply, and he nodded as did mom. “Not as much as an attorney, but a far cry from working fast food. And with how they are set up, work when you want. A couple of hours a week or so, or none at all. Julie has a lot of techs like that, just call in if you want to be put on the schedule.”

And I found myself nodding. As much as I did not want to work for my brother, I did not realize I could do so in such a casual manner. And it would help replace the extra income I had lost when things went tits-up with Pavel.

Darla then spent about a half-hour showing me more around the rig, and where all of the controls and panels were and how they worked. And together dad and I got it all buttoned up, and I helped him back up the mule so he could tow it home. I asked him if there was room in the campground to set it up, and he looked at mom. She laughed and got out her phone. She talked with the person on the other end, then hung up and nodded to us.

“Joe said to put it into the lower campground, space sixteen. He said that one is not in use because the last people forgot to unhook the TV and phone connections and really tore them up when they tried to pull out. He said it will be about two weeks before they get them fixed, he has been using it for weekend stays. So you can use it at least until after he gets them fixed.”

Dad nodded, and together we headed on out to home. I thanked Darla for that, and she said it was not a problem. “After all, we were wanting to sell it anyways, and this is about what we wanted. Your fixing that old TV is just a bonus, that has a lot of memories for us. We saw everything on that TV, from that bastard that killing Kennedy getting gunned down to man landing on the moon. And being able to use it again would be wonderful.”