Heading north west out of Dodge City on Rt 400 I saw the one and only person riding a horse down the side of the highway. Go figure. Out here in the west I see NO ONE riding!
What I do see are lots and lots of racetracks along the roads. Ovals, figure eights, dirt tracks for weekend locals to race on. I also see lots of what the song writers called the 'amber waves of grain.' Wheat, lots of it, and really, it is quite beautiful, escpecially when next to fields of bright green grass or recently cut hay, laying in bales in the field. North on 83, west on 70 again. I fight wind, and regretfully, some boredom. I am anxious to hit my destination.
At 6PM that night I finally hit Colorado! Or as I liked to call it: Kansas West. Because the land is exactly the same. We have these impressions that all of Colorado is the Rocky Mountains, when in fact, the eastern part is flat just like Kansas. But as you travel along, about 20-30 miles outside of Denver, it is like you drop into some sort of twilight zone and there iin front of you are the starts of mountains in the distance! Actaully it was explained to me that the eastern part is kind of like a high plateau, and you have to get to the end to see the mountains, which are actually just the foot hills of the Rockies. And I think they was to rush you into it, since their speed limit is 75 on the highway, and, I was to find out, they all drive like Speed Racer because of it.
I did however, see a sign for a little parcel for sale that I thought i might look into. Supposedly it was a scenic ranch, whatever that is, probably means fixer upper in western realtor speak. Just a little thing at 6400 (hundred!) acres. However, in colorado, the first question is: DOES IT HAVE WATER?
Denver itself is a very interesting place. the first thing I noticied is that it is quite busy. And it has many highways, and there are lots of cars on those highways. And they are all driving at least 75 MPH. Like I said, Speed Racer. Me, I am following my GPS to get to the location of the storage facility to dcrop off this dreaded trailer. I am so close to getting rid of it, I can taste it, and no, not from another fried tire. I swear, it it had happened again at this point, I would have either dragged it to the destination on the rim, or left it on the side of the highway.
What I need to tell you is the glitch in the drop off. Come on now, you knew that it wasn't going to go smooth, and I was afraid of it too, considering the entire experience with this person was a nightmare. Seems that they claimed they had someone to unload the trailer "tomorrow" and they wanted me to stay in a motel overnight, wait until morning, when I could bring the trailer to the storage place, wait for it to be unloaded, and then take it to the U Haul place to check it in. WHAT???????????? Are they crazy? I agreed to take it to Colorado. It's destination there changed several times, but I was still on the road, so that was easily taken care of. But I warned them that when traveling long distances, there is NO guarantee of time. That when I got there, I got there. I would warn them a few hours out, and then they were to take possession of the trailer. I had baby sat that thing for 2400 miles and three days on the road, not to mention a week in my driveway. I was unable to find accommodations at least one night due to it. the agreement was for pick up and drop off. My job was done.
So I just took it to the storage facility, which, luckily, was still open enough that I could drop it inside at least the first set of gates. Let me just tell you that to unhook an overloaded traiiler that is designed NOT to have a jack on the tongue is quite complicated. And even more complicated when the owner of the trailer shows up and starts complaining. Not helping, mind you, just b-------ing. Not even knowledgeable to get me a chock for the wheels! Didn't know what it was! I finally got the trailer off my truck and the hitch off to give back to them, since they bought it. The only way I could do it was with the jack from my truck. Now the dilema is to get the jack out from under the trailer tongue. Their brilliant idea - 'why don't you put it on a block or something?" And my response, 'well get me a block!" I can go on with the dialogue, but they had no idea where to find one and why should they, shouldn't I have brought one? WHAT???????????????????????// It's their trailer, that's why!
Heck, if it had been my trailer, I would have tried to grad something from my car to do so! But NO!!!!!!
So, after a bit more back and forth, I do it the old fashioned way people have figured out what to do in times like this for years, I started kicking the tongue with my foot to rock the trailer off my jack. Well, let me tell you, that started another round of screaming! I was going to ruin the trailer! This, from the person who probably bent the rear axle, since the tires were kind of sitting on the sidewalls, and the trailer was overloaded by at least twice, if not three times the legal limit! My response, was (in colorful language) that since someone was not helping other than to create a vast amount of air with their useless gum flapping, and that they were not willing to assist in getting it off my truck and that they would not ever attempt to look for something to drop the tongue on, I was taking my jack. One last, very frustrated and furious kick, and the trailer drops to the ground in a huge clunk. I pick up my jack, go back to my still running truck, and yell: "Good luck and have a nice life, you're going to need it!" As I pull out of the storage facilty, she (ok, I was gender neutral before, but here it is, it was a woman) is still screaming at me.
I am no further out of the place thanby a few blocks when my phone starts ringing, and yep, it's her! No, I do not answer it. Or the next one, or the next one. My job is done. I pull over down the road a piece, pop open a cold diet coke from my cooler, plug in my cousin's address in the GPS, and give her a call, telling her I will be there within 45 minutes, tops. And she nicely answers that she can't wait to see me and that she has dinner waiting for me!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited, I push the gas pedal down. The heck with fuel economy, I can go 75 here, I will get close to that. It is going on 11 PM when I pull into my dear cousin's place in Centennial, Co. And yes, she did have veggies, and fish, and sweet iced tea for me! And a comfy bed to sleep in!
I am at my first destination and it feels great!
By the way, yes I did eventually listen to the phone messages she left. And yes, she called me all sorts of names and said I did not hold up my part of the bargain. If anyone wants to know about all the drama this woman caused, with her back and forth, her whining, her 'I want to pay you later" (can you just imagine what that would have turned out as??? And bet she would have stiffed me?), that to call me a drama queen, not to mention the other nasty names, was beyond laughable. By the way, she got deleated from my message bank. And later on, I did send her one last email, where I told her that she really should rethink her name calling, and for one last time explained to her the REAL deal, and how I had done just what I said I would. I also pointed out the extra I had done, without compensation, and that she had gotten more than what the bargain was. That she had demanded (maybe if she had asked nicely instead of screaming at me that I HAD to do it, I might have considered it) more and more every time I talked to her, and that she had handled the breakdown poorly, and without any consideration for me, and my needs precluded me from even thinking of giving anything more. And then I sent it off, and put her on my blcoked senders list!
So, now I am in Denver and trying very hard to decompress enough to get a good ngihts sleep for the first time in several days. And my stuff is safe, I don't have to baby sit anything except myself, and my cousin is so thrilled to see me she and her hubby are spoiling me rotten! Thanks Linda and Tim! I love you! Life is good again. And tomorrow I smudge my truck with the sage I got in Blackwater and get the creepies out. Shiver here, please.
Next blog: the adventures of Linda and Liz in Denver! That one will have picrtures!
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