Friday, January 29, 2010

I'll Have The Tootsie Rolls And The Butterfinger And The Lollipop And The Gummi Bears And The Hershey Kisses And The Snickers Bar And The M&M's And...

As of today, we've been in Shipshewana for a week. Normally, I'd be pulling my hair out having to be at a shop for this long, but the difference here is, these people know what they're doing. Unlike some other places we've been. I've stolen the photo above from the ARI web site so you see exactly where we've been spending our nights; it's the building with the truck exiting their driveway.

We initially came to have some warranty work done but all of a sudden, everything Ed had in his head for the last year, exploded into words and tumbled into the ears of the service manager. Ed was like a kid in a candy store.

So what was supposed to be touch-ups and minor fixes, turned into...another set of steps
for the other side of the catwalk so we could access the back door from either side; having the truck plumbed so we could hook up to a water source when in an RV park; adding docking lights to the airfoil on the back of the sleeper so they shine down on the trailer, allowing Ed to have better visibility when loading or working on the trailer; re-routing the exhaust pipe for the generator from coming out the side of the sleeper to coming out at the back; moving the airlines that typically hang on the "pogo stick" from the back of the catwalk to underneath the truck so they come out at the back bumper, rendering the air lines virtually invisible; outfitting the trailer for the new air lines and adding a quick disconnect; adding a grease deflector underneath the catwalk so grease and road filth doesn't spray up onto our back door, and finally, putting the new flooring in the cab.

To see where we've spent the week, I'm also stealing this video from the ARI web site, originally shown on The History Channel, so you can get an i
dea of the work area that we sneak in and out of when we're bothering the talent as they work.

Other than that, not much else is going on. The snowfall has been delightful and we'll probably be here over the weekend again before going back to work on Monday. Being here has totally upset my sleeping schedule; when I rise to the sound of horses hooves clip-clopping outside my window, indicating that the Amish are also up, you know it's early. And since I'm a night owl, these early mornings have been doing me in.

I need the weekend to nap.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO:
Meals On Wheels
2 YEARS AGO:
Mercury Dropping
3 YEARS AGO:
James Cameron For $79.99 A Night
4 YEARS AGO:
The Town That Big Tobacco Built

6 comments:

Gil said...

Looks like a few write offs for 2010. Good to see people that start early!

Leigh Hutchens Burch said...

I will be napping all weekend, too. I have been getting up earlier than ever this week (new bank job starts at 8:15... ew.)

I hate mornings.

Hedon said...

OMG!! Ed is my hero! Seriously.

Anonymous said...

ARI video turned into trip down memory lane....about transmission repair in LA. I hope they dipped it in gold leaf for what they charged you for it.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, there is a huge difference here. We are customizing our already custom truck to meet our specific needs and having it done by seasoned pros with a great reputation. LA was patching up a truck with over a million miles on it by people that had no reputation during a hurricane evacuation. The truck is now closer to what it would have been a year ago had we spec'd it ourselves. Have a great day!
-Ed

Ruth and Glen said...

Ahhhh Naps !! Just another one of the perks of truckin'. :o)

We're doing a lot of nappin' this weekend after playing ice road truckers in the Plains the past few days.