Chapter 14

The next day went pretty much as I had planned. I was able to get the three new people to begin working on the old tractor. The first thing was to strip the interior. The driver's and passenger's seats and the entire "dog house," or "sleeper," as some call it, had to be gutted down to the bare metal. I was going to want exact measurements for everything we removed. I had the three of them document everything they took out by using the digital camera and writing down the steps. I told them my goal was to completely disassemble the truck and sleeper body, and be able to set it apart from the chassis. They had more than a day's work, so I left them to their own devices and had them report to Jeff for any assistance they might need.

I had asked for the six race day driver/salesmen to come in to meet with me for a few minutes. We talked about their great success at the tracks and how much fun it was to sell to their friends. Then I got down to business. I wanted them to keep detailed records of their travel for me. I was interested in approximate speed, weather conditions, road conditions, traffic, and of course, the amount of fuel used. If we could establish a baseline between the three trucks as to how they were operating now, we could see actual differences, if there were any, when we had a body to test.

One of the guys had a lot of experience doing wind tunnel tests and had several recommendations. The kicker to this project came from Drew. He had heard Shawna and me talking and said he had an engineering degree and his main area of expertise was aerodynamics. I told him to get with Ruth to order any design software he might need. He said he would still be able to handle directing and training in sheet metal, as well as helping to develop the new body for the truck.

By eleven thirty, I was home and in the swimming pool, swimming hard for nearly a half-hour. I did the sun fifteen minutes a side and was showering and dressing when Sue called. She said that she was at Mercy's for a late breakfast and had been continuously entertained by Mercy's mom and Merlin. They were cutting up constantly with Mercy and her, as they were so happy that she had come home to visit. Sue said she was about ready to go to the airport for more training with John.

I spent the afternoon doing about the same as yesterday. I watched a movie for a half-hour and discussed the book I had read the night before. We talked about, and he further explained TACAN, Direction finding (DF), Instrument Landing System (ILS), Non-directional beacon (NDB), Distance Measuring Equipment (DME), Global Positioning System (GPS), Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), Head-up display (HUD), Airway (aviation) (Victor Airways). He said we would be using all of these but would be keeping it simple today.

We went out to the plane where he quizzed me on everything new we had done the day before, and had me pre-flight the plane so we could take off. Today was different. He had the hood pulled over me so he made the takeoff and turned the controls over to me, giving me a speed, altitude, and heading. He gave me the VOR frequency and I used it to align the aircraft course to the station. He had me do everything, including the descent with Clearwater-St. Petersburg approach control, without benefit of the GPS. He took over and we touched down, and took off again, with him giving me control back as soon as we were off the ground. He had performed an altimeter check but did not adjust it on the touch and go. He gave me another course, and gave me a map of the airport traffic patterns and the radio frequencies.

I flew blind, seeking the ILS, and after requesting guidance from approach control, kept flying toward the ground until the instructor said he had it and a second later, the wheels touched. We did another touch and go and he gave me Tampa's chart and said for me to request the main runway today since they might give it me. He would advise them of my hood status.

When I contacted them after telling them my number, I got a chuckle and an affirmative and a request that I do a short pattern go around. They would keep me in the pattern. Because of regular airport traffic, all I could think of was having a 767 fly into me. They made me adjust altitude to five thousand feet and enter the big twenty-mile holding pattern.

When I finally reached the approach, they turned me toward the runway and I followed the ILS until the instructor took over, and a second later we touched down, powered up, and left the area, heading home. This time he pulled the hood back and let me see where I was flying. It was natural to use the airfield's navigation signal to align myself and request permission to land. The landing was so smooth the instructor said he only knew I was down because I had cut power. When I rolled up to the fuel pumps, an attendant came out and asked if he could refuel and stow the plane for me. I logged the time on the aircraft and made my personal logbook entry.

Inside the operations building, the instructor gave me another book, a little smaller than the previous one, and asked me to read it. He complimented me on some good flying and said that he knew that a long flight under the hood was very disorienting, but it was necessary to learn how to use the tools.

I was a little late getting home, almost six thirty. The ladies had already started putting food on the table. I grabbed a Beefeater's and ate a salad while listening to Shawna talk about how her crazy boss had people outside, tearing a truck apart.

When supper was over, Drew, Shawna, and Hank sat with me, showing me dozens of drawings they had. My goal was an efficient front for the truck, but to not make it too futuristic looking. The motor and transmission had to be accessible and the cab and sleeper roomy and comfortable. We went over the drawings, eliminating them first by wind resistance, then by accessibility, and finally size for comfort. The final test was that it should look like a truck.

Drew kept showing his calculations for each drawing we looked at. The drawings were further detailed in his computer-enhanced engineering drawing. We only had to key in the mounting points and we would have a blueprint to build from.

I told them to get Sandy, Mandy, and the women in the motor shop to work out what was needed for an efficient sleeper. We wanted sleeping room, but we also wanted the driver to be able to relax somewhere out of view. His sleeper needed not only to function as a bedroom but also as a living room when he needed to mentally rest. They had to allow room for such things as a refrigerator and microwave.

We knew what the truck would look like. Now we had to work on making the idea into reality.

Some of the folks took a ride while I read the new instrument flight training book. I knew the instructor was going to ask me questions tomorrow. Not being ready would mean a waste of time and money for the both of us.

Sue called late. Mercy was doing another show, but she had some news for me. Merlin and Missy were going to come home with her. She asked if the furniture was delivered. I had to go into the rooms to verify it. The only room without furniture was the room closest to ours. It was to be the baby's room.

She said she would call tomorrow to ask Glenda to have the largest room fixed up for visitors. My thoughts were, "Oh shit, now what." She said that they would fly in day after tomorrow, and to be ready for a really strange reception by a future father-in-law.

"Father-in-law?" I asked.

Sue said, "He says if his daughter is going to live with a man, on what she considers a permanent basis, he'd consider himself a father-in-law to you."

She said that Dewey and Sheila might come too, so for me to be prepared. I could only think, "Holy shit, now what."

I finished the book about ten and told everyone I was bushed and was going to bed. The other folks said they would clean up and shut the patio down.

The bed looked so good that I undressed and went to sleep on top of the spread.

I woke at my usual time, cuddled to a warm body. At first I thought it was Sue, then realized as my hand traveled up to her chest that her stomach was too flat, and that her top was not nearly large enough.

Could it be Mercy?

No, Mercy and Sue were together. I opened my eyes to find Samantha in sweet repose, snuggled into me. Her hand was holding mine over a breast, but it was in comfort, not sexual. I slowly slid from the bed and went to take care of business in the bathroom, and make coffee. The time was five-fifty.

As I showered, a sleepy Samantha came into the shower to hug me and give me a sweet good morning kiss. I washed her hair, loving her with each caress and rub. She was ecstatic by the time we left the shower. She didn't want to fool around, she just wanted to be loved. I did that.

Samantha said that Sue had told her that she could come over and stay with me if she wanted. She wanted to, but was just as happy that we had not fooled around. She said she thought that if we waited for that until Sue was with us it, would be so much better. I agreed; I really don't need any extra women. Sue is more than enough for me, but now Mercy is in the mix, and Samantha seems to be coming on strong. Sue is really strange sometimes.

When I turned on the patio light, I realized how hot and muggy it was, so I kicked the outside air on and turned on the fans. By six thirty, the patio was cool and full of people. The contractor came over with some plans for me to look at. Sue had called him and wanted him to build a second building behind the current one and to put some kind of connection to keep the weather out of the passageway between them. We looked at the plans and decided to keep the buildings a little closer, with a patio between them, similar to what we were sitting in at that time.

He said he would have the architect work on it and get back to me at supper.

I had forgotten about the factory across the street and thought perhaps that I could spend a few minutes to see how they were going. Tiny offered the answer.

"Sue asked me to oversee her plant while she has been gone. I've hired an accountant to be the watchdog, but mainly he's just making sure that correct business practices are being used. The accounting firm has finished an audit and we know which areas need correction. Betty and Joan are working with Mike to keep the plant production at a profitable pace. The attitude there is great now. Productivity is way up and the quality is second to none. You're 'Perfect' pitch seems to have taken hold."

"Thanks Tiny, S&S is enough for me, but since it is family, I need to pay attention to the plant too."

Tiny asked, "Do you have any numbers on this truck-building thing you're doing? I want to get in on the ground floor before you take off with something I can't help with."

"The only numbers I have so far are the cost of the truck and labor. You can get the labor numbers from Ruth, but it's all R&D right now. The cost was the thirty-five dollars at the auction I turned in the credit card receipt for it with the equipment to rebuild. We'll spend some of the rebuild department's time and materials when they rebuild the chassis, but the goal is to design a less wind resistant cab and sleeper body."

I continued, "Drew, Shawna, and Hank are working on a design right now and when we have what we want, I'll have Jeff build the shell and then we'll design the inside. Two of the three new people are coachmen, so they will be able to build most of what we want on the inside. The third guy is a mechanic, and will work with Abe's people to make the truck roadworthy."

Tiny smiled, saying, "Keep me posted, so you don't surprise me with another business with fifteen to twenty employees."

The day went mostly as the day before. The truck folks had the truck disassembled and had moved into the empty air-conditioned area between the super lift rebuild shop and the fiberglass shop. They now had a complete set of measurements on how the body mounted onto the chassis. They were working with Drew, who had several prints of the chassis and the mounting connections, with measurements.

Around ten, Shawna, Hank, Drew, and I met in the upstairs break room with coffee to decide on the front and cab design. The least futuristic design was a smooth sharply sloping nose where the angle of the wedge ran up through the windshield to the trailer wind deflector. The rear of the sleeper had swept out sides at the rear to let the wind roll past the sides of a trailer. It looked pretty cool but retained the masculine strong look of a big tractor.

Drew said he would be able to give the shell dimensions to Jeff this afternoon. I told Drew to pass the two coachmen some interior prints so they could begin work on designing the interior. I had Drew tell them to make the coach comfortable, with the feeling of spaciousness in the small area available. I took Abe to talk to the mechanic. I told Abe I wanted the chassis to be completely rebuilt, more perfect than if it was new, so we could use it as a demo. The end result needed to be a showpiece. The mechanic was eager to begin.

The mechanic discussed some upgrades we would need to do as the original truck I had purchased had the old style belt driven blower and the new trucks had mechanical fans for air induction. I told the mechanic to make what we had into the same type of motor the newer models were. The object was to make the finished product fuel efficient.

I left at eleven to repeat my pattern of swim exercise, sun, followed by flight school. The instructor was surprised I had read the second book already, and I told him that if an instrument rating was important, I was going to treat it as such and be prepared for class. He asked me if I was interested in a two day flight. We would include as many major airport landings and takeoffs, day and night, as we could fit into the flying time we would have. He said I would be able to almost finish the rating by doing it this weekend. Since this was Wednesday, I told him I would tell him tomorrow, to give me time to make sure there wouldn't be a conflict with Sue.

That evening I told Sue about the day and night flights and she said that it shouldn't be that big of a problem. She was flying back in the morning and the plane would be full. She was bringing Merlin and Missy, plus Dewey and Sheila were coming.

"With everyone coming, I can't be gone. Merlin is going to want to learn more about me and Dewey will want to go out on the town a little. We'll have to get Phil and Tiny to tell us where to go, or perhaps Ben and your Mom."

Sue said, "You know, that's a great idea. I'll bet Mercy's Mom and Dad would love being at Ben's. Mom said she is staying there most of the time, so the two of them can entertain those two and fill them in on both of us. I'm sure we won't want to know all the things they tell them about us. Dewey and Sheila will fit in easily with our crowd. We'll figure out a way to include them in some of our bike runs. I'll find out if Dewey can ride. If necessary, we can just go rent or buy a bike. You have two, so he could ride the shovelhead. Why don't you see if you can fly most of Friday night and finish Saturday? You could take a nap some place and get as many hours in as possible. If it's distance he's into, I'll get John to check you out in this junior rocket and you can take it."

"All good ideas, Sue. You call your Mom, and I'll talk to my instructor. I want to go ahead and finish this rating, but it doesn't have to be crammed into that tight of a time frame. I would rather spend the time with you and our friends, along with Mercy and her folks."

Sue laughed, "I'm not sure when we'll get rid of Merlin. He's determined to find out everything there is about you before he leaves his little girl to your devious devices. Mercy's mom thinks you're wonderful, but she reads minds. Merlin is a doubter, even though he makes some wild magic."

Continuing, Sue said, "Dewey and Sheila just want to wander around and be inconspicuous. He says that he's enjoying being with Sheila too much to go back to the islands right away. Anyway, he'll tell you all about it."

"So when are you leaving in the morning?" I asked trying to figure the time difference.

"We leave here about eight our time, eleven your time. It may be tough to get Mercy's mom and dad going that early as they are night owls, but we've told them to be at the airport at seven thirty. Figure a max of ten hours flying time, including potty breaks, so we'll be there by nine your time. You better warn everyone that Merlin and Missy are nut cases. They will be staying with us the first night. I've already got Glenda fixing up the three rooms, one for Mercy, one for her mom and dad, and one for Dewey and Sheila. She says they look nice and comfortable. I'll call Mom and tell her to get a room ready. Ben will love showing off to Merlin, and Mom will be mental entertainment for Missy."

We did the "I love you" bit and hung up. I called my flight instructor and asked about starting out Friday afternoon and flying mostly straight through till Saturday evening. I suggested that we could fly somewhere that we might nap for a little while on Saturday morning. I also told him that we could use the Beechcraft if we needed to get somewhere faster, and that John could check us both out if we wanted.

He thought about it a little then said, "I think we'll just use the 172. Taking off Friday and flying all night will be cool if you think you're up to it. We can fly till about eight or nine in the morning, take a nap, and fly back a different direction and use more major airports. You'll love going into so many different places. But then, you won't really see them. We'll be able to do about nine hours of night flying. That will be even better. Tell you what, if we were to take Sunday off, and have a class Monday and Tuesday, we can do the final hours of in-flight training Wednesday night. Thursday morning, you'll be instrument rated and qualified to fly anywhere. You're still green, but you learn fast. I've flown John's Beechcraft several times on trips and know it well. We'll use it to finish next week, that way you can get qualified for twin engine, plus get a chance to use some different instruments. Yours in the 172 are new and as good as they get, very ultra modern. Most planes are not as good, but knowing John, his are probably good too."

I called Sue back to tell her that I was to fly all night Friday and come back Saturday late afternoon. She was excited that I would finish the instrument rating so fast. She said she was flying every day with John, but he wasn't pushing her as fast as my instructor was. I told her she could probably finish fast back here, like I did.

Wednesday night we did some riding. Samantha showed up for supper and I assumed she would ride with me. I took the shovel out. We went to the clubhouse and the St. Pete guys were feeling left out. Hap made me promise that I would go down there with Sue and Mercy soon. We went by to see Double D and headed to St. Pete. If we had wings, we would have been flying. Our throttles were almost wide open, sending the sound of our bikes bouncing off the concrete sides of the bridge. We slowed down to about eighty after we got off the bridge. The cops will only give you so much leeway.

The bar in the shopping center was busy. We were treated like visiting royalty, as usual. Some of the women there were coming up to me, asking me where Sue was, and if I were playing around, where could they apply. I thanked them for the compliment, but said Sue and her friends were enough for me.

We went home via the Crab Shack, because we all wanted a grouper sandwich with some of the best onion rings in Florida. The ride home was considerably more casual than our ride earlier. We were home and in bed by eleven. Samantha just assumed she was staying and unashamedly stripped nude and crawled in bed with me.