Chapter 94

I awoke to the buzz of my alarm at 6AM. I never really had a normal schedule, whatever that might be. I went to bed based on what my next day looked like. I awoke whenever I needed to for the day's activities. On days when I had nothing to do, I woke up when I had slept enough. My sleep routine was as simple as that.

So with seven hours sleep I rushed into the bathroom to brush my teeth and get some coffee going. I took my bath just before bedtime the night before. By 6:30 AM I had vanquished the cobwebs in my head, and was petty much ready to finish my preparations for the trip.

First of all I needed to pack the 1/4 side opening duffel type bag. That really wasn't difficult. I had three clean Russian Commando style blue strip tee shirts, so I put one on my body and one in the bag. I had two clean jungle camo tee shirts so I pack both of them. I had one dark blue tee shirts clean, so it made its way into the bag as well. I loved the red tee with the Henley collar so of course I had to carry it. I also loaded two gray sweatshirt colored tee shirts as well.

I threw a couple of sweat shirts in, just in case there was a chilly day. I packed the Nylon parka in case of rain, and to cover the .38, should I need more protection than the box opener. I also put in three pairs of jeans. I didn't plan to go anywhere I couldn't wear jeans. Lastly I put my tooth brush and pain killers in a clear plastic sandwich bag and threw it into the duffel. I also pulled the two blankets off the bed and rolled them up with a washcloth and towel inside.

When I finished, I had fifteen minute to wait for the 7AM departure time, so I carried my coffee cup and the duffel to the sit by the kitchen door. It had the only glass that looked out in the direction of the driveway. I had no expectation that Jerry would pull a truck into the driveway, but I could see him walking up the drive and save him a few steps.

At 6:55 A very large pickup truck pulled into the drive. There was a short bed, but it had a crew cab, which probably made it longer than an ordinary pickup. I took my bag and bed roll out to the shiny black pick up truck. Jerry got out to greet me. When I reached him I said, "Nice truck but you can't carry much cargo in it."

"True we will be picking up a large trailer before we leave town. I have two one is coveredt and one is open. I have to find out what I'm carrying before I decide which to pull," he informed me.

"I see," I said even though I had very little understanding of why he didn't just have a truck.

"Probably not, but you should understand by the end of the week," he said laughing. With that he navigated the truck out of my driveway and onto the narrow residential street. "Let's see an eighteen wheeler do that," he said.

"I will definitely give you that one," I agreed. He negotiated the small streets easily but he didn't have a large heavy trailer attached to the truck either. However I did not challenge him. I was in the truck passenger's seat to break my routine, cure my cabin fever, and learn something about his business. I didn't have any real interest, but anything I learned usually came back to help me in some way, some day.

At Hardee's, we sat at a table with is firefighter buddies. After a breakfast of sausage and eggs, with a crunchy biscuit I was ready for anything. Anything but the waiting I had to endure. Jerry said the job posting came out at 8AM and would run the rest of the day. We could be there half an hour or half a day till he found something he felt comfortable bidding on.

He tried to explain his bidding strategy, but I barely listened. All I knew was, the start or the finish should be within two hundred miles, if at all possible. He spent half an hour placing bids before he looked up to say, "Well Sylvia we are off to pick up the trailer. We are going to take the open trailer this time."

I didn't care which trailer, I was just glad to get started. Jerry drove back to his mobile home. It was parked on private property in the country. There he had two 25 foot by 8 foot trailers. One was open and one enclosed which made sense, if he wanted to get the maximum use from his pickup.

"Let me help you hitch it up," I said. "I won't be much help with only one hand, but at least you will have three hands this time." He just nodded his agreement.

The trailer had a built in jack on the tongue, which was a nice feature. We wrestled the trailer into position then lower it onto the ball. Jerry locked and chained it into place while I watched learning from seeing it done. Then he cranked up the tongue jack and removed the locking pin. When he was able to fold the jack against the tongue it was well above the ground. It was a very well organized system. I was sure the trailer came from the factory that way.

"Okay Sylvia if you need to pee go do it now, we have a long way to go," he said.

"Jerry, women always have to pee," I said. I went into the trailer home and found his bathroom. It wasn't immaculate, but it was a pig sty either. When I went outside, he was in the truck waiting for me. I could feel the strain when he started rolling. The truck was pretty close to the top of its comfortable power band. He probably shouldn't carry anything too heavy, I thought. Still it was none of my business. Sure I had driven trucks in the sandbox, and knew a little about them, but still it was his truck.