I finally got my act together this morning - got up late and knew I wasn't going to make it in time for church - and got the process moving towards leaving the property. Shut off the gas; close the roof vents; put out the mouse traps and the mouse bait (D-Con); clean up the dog poop; empty out the grey water holding tank; etc. I finally got to the dog part and getting them in the car. Amazingly easy this time, they are finally learning. Pull the power cord to the trailer, roll it up, pull out to the dirt road, close the gate, lock it and I'm outta there.
Travelling along the forest road I come along many campsites. Slow down, I think, I am going too fast meaning putting up a lot of dust and choking them out. No reason to do that on purpose. so I slowed down to around 20 mph whenever I came up on one of them. Popular weekend to go camping, lots of them out there with their RV's and tents and a lot of 4-wheelers. Came up to Tonto Village, I think to myself that might be a nice place to retire. Or not. The lot I was looking at listed for 35k is in that little town. But unless I were able to get a hold of that lot within the next few years, I wouldn't want it. It hardly has any trees on it and to get it tree inhabited by the time retirement comes would mean to plant them now.
Passed by the convenience store/bar/restaurant. One building, same owners, been there forever. Of course, groceries in the convenience store are highly inflated, but hence the word convenience. I have only stopped in twice in the 20 years I have been going up there. No need for the groceries, I bring enough to last 3 times the amount of time I am up there - just in case - who knows. I don't remember about the restaurant, whether it was good or not. I continue on. Mostly nice properties with a few trashy ones thrown in for yuck's sake. When I say trashy, I mean hoarders. Piles of junk heaped up. I guess that stuff exists everywhere?
On to the main highway. It was solidified in my mind that I had gotten out there too late when I saw the large amount of traffic on it coming from the Rim country and potentially Kohl's Ranch and Christopher Creek. I waited for several minutes, actually, to turn out onto the highway. I drove into Payson after getting trapped behind a long line of slow moving traffic on a 55mph highway. Just the way it is on a 2-lane highway and everyone going home at the same time. On the way into Payson, a large contingency of the new-style Cameros came up to a side street and started turning onto the now 2-lane highway. Cool looking cars, there were at least 20 of them.
Well, I had no interest in following that pack as I was bound and determined to follow my ritual: Pull into the Payson McDonald's and get a large coffee with 4 creams. It's amazingly funny to see the look of surprise on the faces of the personnel working at the windows when they look down into your car and see 2 giant dogs sitting there, looking back up at them. Lol. After that, a mile down the road to the best fuel station in town: that because of the best prices. I had hoped perhaps a re-run of lower prices up there than in the valley, but not to be found. In fact, a bit higher. Bought just enough fuel to get home since it's cheaper in the valley.
The amazing - read: ridiculous: stuff starts after I get out of Payson. 4 lane highway, 2 lanes going in either direction. Signs periodically seen that state: SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT. I grew up reading those signs and I grew up to live by that motto. If someone is coming up behind you and you are in the passing lane, move out of the way as soon as practical. It's not my concern if they are speeding or not. I don't consider myself a rolling road block for speeding cars as some do, though I am usually going faster than most vehicles anyway. I am not racing anyone, I just want to get the driving portion over with.
Well, the rolling roadblocks were plentiful today. I would see 2 cars side-by-side off in the distance with a large number of cars blocked behind them. It would go on for miles. I would catch up to them and pass them. How? Wait until a lapse. Everyone would be in the passing lane, obviously hoping the driver that is holding up traffic would get a clue and get out of the way. But in the last decade or so, I have come to realize that these people don't care one way or the other whether they are blocking traffic and I suspect many of them do it on purpose. I'm not going to wait for them to move, they won't do it. Something else has to happen - usually the car in the right lane either speeding up or slowing down so faster traffic can pass on the right.
I sat behind one such set of vehicles for a short time. I had seen the blockage for quite a while coming up on it. When I got up to it - I purposely took a seat in the slow lane, right behind the car that was part of the rolling road block - I waited. The 2 vehicles side-by-side gave way, just enough for me to squeeze in and take off. I didn't flip them off, I didn't even look at them, not going to give them the satisfaction. Just ignore them and move on to the - next - rolling roadblock. It happened several times on the way back. I am always amazed at how drivers can be so selfish and - even arrogant - as to just sit there next to another car on an open highway out in the middle of nowhere and treat others that are stuck behind them in such a fashion.
Some of these people are blocking that lane for miles and miles and miles and then have the audacity to flash their headlights at you when you finally are able to take advantage of a lapse in their purposeful blockage and get by them. You wonder why they are doing it and what is going through their minds. Or when you are climbing a steep grade and have a good speed going. You are about to pass a driver and then baaam, they pull out in front of you, no indicator light, just blink and they are there. Wow!! Yup, that happened twice today as well. You lose all your momentum, the person is going way slower than you are and again, you are left wondering what is going through these people's minds.
Never-the-less, finally got home and got busy. I wanted to get all of the linens, blankets, wash cloths washed today, dried, folded and packed and ready to go for the next time. Next time could be next weekend or a month from now, who knows, but have it ready while it was still fresh in my mind. I only left a fitted sheet for the queen mattress on it up there, the rest I brought home to wash. I saw that the mice weren't going under the fitted sheet on the mattress so I figured to leave it on there and bring the rest back. I am actually hoping the mouse problem is resolved, but who knows about that. That trailer is spotless at the moment, I thoroughly cleaned it from end to end. I don't "cohabit" with mouse droppings, thanks. I vacuumed, scrubbed and otherwise wiped everything down. Bathtub, sinks, counters, everything. Pulled everything up to find the mouse droppings to get them out of there.
So, if I have to go through that again, so beit. I will take the mini-wet vac with me again next time just in case. With everything I had to bring back - more than I took up there with all the linens and such - I barely got everything crammed into that car!! I figure between me, the dogs and everything else at least a 750 pound load on that car, lol.
Well, fresh work week starts tomorrow, as well as beginning of a new month. Our 2-man crew did around 470k worth of sales this month. Close to 100k of gross profit. There is already a large amount of work to be done tomorrow - which is great, I hate a slow work day and rarely see those anymore. Don't know if that's going to last. But most importantly, for right now? It's my bed time, lol.
G'nite.
ben
