Road Trip - Quadruple Whammy

I told Ray I'd be by at 2pm. He's in Livingston TN about 250 miles from my place in SC. When I retired almost 20 years ago, my prime directive was to slow down, and I'm an expert at it now. I'd allow 6 hours for the trip which the GPS said would take 4 and 1/2.

I'd met Ray on a boating group on the net. He has a boat like mine - a 1972 Land-n-Sea houseboat. I'd stop by, we could swap boating stories and I could get a look at his boat. Including mine, I'd been aboard 6 of these old houseboats. There were only about 250 of them built in the early 70's. His would be 7.

When my dog Merlin and I left home at 8am it was raining. Rain, rain, rain, then fog on our way up the mountain. Just past the Continental Divide we had about 30 minutes of sun, then the rail continued. After that, all the way to Ray's house, we never had the wipers off for more than about 10 minutes at a time.

And then there was the traffic. Who would have expected so many people on the road on a Sunday morning? And all of them in such a hurry to get out of their cars. This makes my intended leisurely pace a bit inconvenient, not only for those in such a hurry but for me as well.

And the road work. The longest distance we experienced without road work was 30 miles, and this was on back roads off the interstate on the way to Ray's house. How did our city planners and engineers go so wrong when it comes to our nation's roads? Every Interstate is bogged with either construction or repairs and in many cases those roads are less than 10 years old?

It was a good thing I'd allowed extra time because there was a 43 minute delay on I40. Thankfully, I'd allowed for this and anyway we rather enjoy going slow. I remember many years back, my wife and I drove coast to coast in an old Plymouth Valiant Signet (with a slant 6) at never more than 49.5 mph all the way, on roads with no construction and no traffic. This is how I like to travel.

I told Ray I'd call about 1/2 hour out. He told me that he doesn't like the phone and usually doesn't answer and to just leave a message. Sure enough, when I called his answering machine warned me that his number was on the Do Not Call List and I would be reported if I was a spam caller. I left a message, and good thing I pulled over to call when I did, because 1/2 mile down the road there was no service. Ray lives in the tulies. 

 

I had stopped to make the call to Ray on my phone, because I don't like to talk when I'm driving, and frankly, I don't know how to initiate a call via the car screen, although I can answer the car if the phone rings while I'm driving.  After I hung up from leaving the message my car started talking to me. I thought it was Ray calling back, but just about then my GPS also started a conversation. I didn't know whether to talk on the phone or answer the car or answer the GPS. My old brain is intimidated and easily confused by modern technology. I discovered later, that somehow, when the car answers the phone, the GPS starts talking? Anyway, it wasn't Ray, it was my son-in-law Trey. He said I'd just called him - and my phone showed I'd made the call, but how I did is a mystery.

It was still raining when Merlin and I got to Ray's. The gate was open as he said it would be for my arrival, so evidently he did get my call. We pulled in. I gave the horn an abbreviated beep and waited in the car, in the rain, to see if there was activity inside. Ray soon came out and we talked in the driveway, in the rain, for 5 - 10 minutes while his dog barked from behind the screen door. I glanced around the yard through my rain spattered glasses during our conversation, noting the machinery scattered about the yard. There were 3 Monte Carlos. Each of the three classes of RV's were represented - there was an A, B, and a C. Besides the tarp covered Land-n-Sea there were at least 2 other boats and a couple more cars here and there. Ray mentioned that out of the lot, three vehicles actually ran.

His dog continued to bark from behind the screen door. I shuffled toward the door, suggesting that when my dog Merlin barks, it's an invitation for a pet. Ray didn't think this was the case. He hustled to the house to close the main door after which his dog quit barking. Now, at least, we were out of the rain under cover of the the porch roof.

We talked for another 15 minutes or so. He told me his (now deceased) dad brought the boat back from Lake Powell pulling it with the class A RV. But neither had been moved since - I don't remember how long ago he said that was, but from the way things looked it could have been 10 years or more? At this point I asked if we could take a walk around the blue tarped Land-n-Sea. "Sure!"

It was still raining but by now I was wet enough that it didn't make much difference. As we approached the boat he mentioned that rats had come aboard and caused a mess, then motioned me toward a rickety ladder resting against the swim platform at the back at the boat. "Have a look inside if you don't mind the mess."

The ladder slipped as I was climbing up and my life flashed before my eyes, but I recovered. Couldn't hardly get the boat door open because the rain had puddled the tarp below where the door had to swing, but I was able to grunt the tarp up far enough with my shoulder to get the door open part way. I reached for my phone to turn on it's light just as Ray scrambled up behind me and handed me a flashlight. It was very dark below.

You non-boaters can skip the next section. Just some observations about his Land-n-Sea.

skippable ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The transom steps were missing. Probably because the boat was fitted with rather large trim tabs. You can't have traditional tabs and transom steps.

There was a huge wooden swim platform. Maybe a nice feature for the boat's life on Lake Powell.

The interior is pretty much original...including the Herculon cushions - which by now are brittle.

There was an RV air conditioner on the roof but I couldn't get get up there for a good look because of the sagging tarp.

There were no vents below for the air conditioner - maybe it was never commissioned?

The bow space under the step for the forward deck door, typically for an optional cabin heater was raggedly open and the cabin sole below it had been removed. When I inquired about the slight mess up there, Ray told me that the air conditioner output was ducted to the space that the optional heater would occupy, although I saw no evidence of that ducting. Ray suggested that maybe it was in the space between the ceiling and roof (there is a few inches of foam there)?

I noticed a wall heater mounted just off the isle behind the setee...so that ragged opening had evidently not been used for a heater?

The navigational instruments were all 70's. I'd had that same state of the art Seafarer flasher depth sounder on my sailboat in 1971.

The cabin sole, except for the small area under the front steps at the ragged hole was sound.

Ray said the boat had been fitted with three 100 gallon fuel tanks under the cabin sole. The official brochure says there are 2 50 gallon tanks there, but we didn't pull the cabin sole hatches to look. Mine had the 2 50s.

Overall, by their original appearance, the galley, dinette, head, settee and helm showed no major trauma. 

From my standpoint, the interior is very resurrectible.

The motor is a big block - 454. It had been winterized an eon ago and hadn't been brought to life since. My LnS has a small block Chevy which is about 100 lbs lighter but the big block seems to take up so much more room in the engine bay.

The outdrive is a Bravo (2?). With the big block and the Bravo drive, it's no wonder the trim tabs were added? No reason to think either unit isn't serviceable, but worst case a reman for either is about 3 grand.

There was a huge water heater on the port side in the engine bay.

There was a tank in the engine bay on the starboard side - some have extra water there, mine has a 40 gallon fuel tank there.

The trailer isn't original, probably quite a bit newer. It seems to be in workable condition although I was advised that one of the bunks needs replacing?

This would be a boat I might be interested in if I was 30 years younger.

unskip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So after the tour aboard, Merlin and I bid Ray farewell and headed back to the car in the rain. Merlin barked and barked at Ray when Ray approached the car to say goodby, insisting on some petting via an open window before we left. So we added 10 minutes of rain to the back seat while Merlin got his petting and Ray and I tided up our goodbys. Sufficiently soaked, it was time to continue our planned journey north to visit Chicago relatives who we hadn't seen in years. Merlin and I backed out past the gate and headed down about a quarter mile to an abandoned store parking lot to see what the GPS recommended for routes.

We had enjoyed the back roads to Ray's because of a slower pace and the lack of traffic and construction but there were a few drawbacks...the first being the diligence needed to avoid the hazards of children and animals on the road (several of which we experienced), but also important is the unpredictability of restrooms for this 78 year old. We can tinkle almost anywhere but sometimes the urge to go is a little more complicated.

Our previous road trip vehicle was a 2005 full sized Ford van. It had taken my wife and I (when she could travel) across the US, coast to coast and top to bottom, for over 150,000 miles. I fitted it with two cots and a portapotty which made our miles unstoppable, except for 14mpg for fill ups...but still. So Merlin and I definitely miss the van - the van was more comfortable for long distances than our 2022 Honda CRV, but at my age we surely appreciate the adaptive cruise control - which follows the car in front of you and will slow or speed up as the person in front does - it will even bring us to a complete stop without my attention if the guy in front of me stops. This is a must have feature if an old fellow wants to ponder life while on the road. And hey! at 40mpg for the Honda vs 14 for the van, we can easily afford a cheap motel vs sleeping in the van, although we always thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in the van, often in Walmart parking lots on our 14,000 mile trip to Alaska and back.

The GPS has satellites everywhere and can tell you exactly where you are, but without the help of phone data it can't suggest routes and we didn't have cell coverage at the abandoned store nears Ray's place. This really makes one feel stupid that we didn't have a paper road atlas. I can bring up a map of the area from satellite coverage on my phone screen but if I zoom out to see my destination (500 miles away), the country roads disappear and I only see a general map. I guess I could have zoomed in and out and in and out to decide which roads to take but I opted to just drive randomly until I had cell coverage again...after all, I wasn't in any hurry.

It was still raining when I chose the suggested GPS route north. This of course was back roads for quite a spell until we picked up I65 south of Louisville. This rainy drive wasn't the relaxing one I'd hoped for but eventually I did pick up I65 North, anticipating a less complicated and less stressful drive to Chicago, as it was now a pretty much clean Interstate shot to my destination, albeit still in the rain.

The complications hadn't really been avoided once we got on I65. There was still regular lane changing road work and almost unbearable traffic. I'd been on this drive many times before and it was never this bad. I even had the misconception that I could easily drive straight through Indianapolis on I65 at 9pm on Sunday rather than going all the way around, but No!, I65 was closed in the city.

Now we were running out of daylight. We have the rain, the construction, the traffic and now it's getting dark. When Merlin and I had a two weeks off a couple years ago, we drove to the West coast. We didn't really have days and nights as most do. I love just being on the move and this was complete joy. We'd drive until we we got a weary and then we'd stop for a nap. We'd stop at almost every Rest Area so I could empty Mer and he could go for a sniff. Then we'd hit the road again. This was the routine 24 hours a day...like I said, there wasn't really day and night, we just drove until we were tired, then stop for a spell. The Interstates were pure bliss between the Mississippi and the Rockies...long stretches of open road with no traffic or construction - we even relished night travel along those roads. This is what I was naively anticipating.

With the rain, road work and traffic and now darkness on I65, driving became a nightmare. Three lanes of bumper to bumper traffic were going 70 mph in a 55 mph construction zone around Indianapolis. No way was I going to be able to deal with this. I considered just waiting it out at a rest area, but unlike the van which was easy to spend 12 hours in, the Honda is quite cramped for long periods. I couldn't imagine overnighting in the Honda. But Hey! with the money I'm saving on gas, I'd even be ahead of the van cost for gas by getting a motel. Yes, I'll just get a room for the night. At least it won't be dark tomorrow and maybe it won't even be raining? Yes, a motel. A dog friendly motel.

Then I remembered. Merlin is a retired Therapy Dog with over 200 visits to hospitals, old folks homes, churches and schools. He loves people, and like the barking encouragement he gave Ray before our departure, Merlin barks frantically as an enthusiastic invitation every time he thinks he's missing an opportunity for petting. The last time the family was at a motel Merlin barked every time anyone walked past the door. Eventually, that night, I left my wife and daughter in the room and spent the night with Merlin in the van.

Well, maybe it was worth at try. I might be able to endure an overnight in the Honda - it would be cramped and uncomfortable but tomorrow morning it wouldn't be dark and maybe the rail would quit? We'd give it a try.

After a trip to the disgusting I65 Rest Area bathroom, I looked for ways to spend 8 hours, going nowhere, in the little CRV. On previous trips I was successful at extended naps on the road in the Honda, but then I was at a point where it was lights out after a nice easy drive. This would be totally different. 

 

With my eyes refusing to close, I brought up the map on my phone (Waze) to see how things looked at my Chicago destination. The road construction, the traffic, the congestion - I was going to spend 8 hours in the little Honda for an opportunity to endure this?

Nope! I'm a firm believer in "No Challenge - No Joy"  and I can do traffic, or construction, or rain, or darkness but when all four gang up on me I've got to throw in the towel. If I'm going to endure anything, it will be the dark, rain, traffic and road work on the way back home. The way back was far less taxing than the way up. It got light and eventually the rain quit. Now it was only the traffic and road work which were tolerable.

The bottom line is that as we age, and you know you're getting old if it hurts, itches or wants a nap, our sense of adventure takes a back seat to comfort and ability, but our memories still want to relive adventures that our now old bodies and minds are not capable of fulfilling. It's been an awaking for me. There are still plenty of other things for me to do besides taking those glorious road trips. It's just so hard to say goodby to the open road. And to those who are still able, take heed - Do it while you can, has no meaning until you can't.

 

Click here for a similar road trip.

Unable to ponder.