Thursday, August 20, 2009

Crunch Time

So, last Friday afternoon, while picking up the new fenders for the trailer I learned from the salesman that I would probably have a long wait with State Patrol to have our trailer inspected. Great, this was NOT in the plan.

Monday morning found me making multiple calls to several of the inspection stations. You can NOT speak to a living, breathing human. You only get a recording and each different location gives you different information. I left countless messages and then sat back to wait and wait and wait some more.

Tuesday afternoon I finally got some return calls. The closest station had no appointments until the week AFTER we need the trailer. We are planning to leave on September 10th for the big WetWestie campout in eastern Oregon. Another somewhat close location could offer me September 8th. I took it, but it's a BAD day for The Bearded One to take off to get this inspected. (The first day back to work after a long weekend is always crazy with too many fires to put out.)

The 3rd closest location, 1-1/2 hours away offered me next Wednesday -- August 26th. I took it too. So now the big crunch to get this trailer finished by Wednesday so that it can be 1) inspected 2)certified weight & 3) licensed.

Here's what we have to show for 5 hours of labor yesterday:

The hatch is FINALLY skinned. What a pain! On Tuesday evening we realized our measurements were a bit off and we had to trim 3/4" off the length. With help from our wonderful friend Charles, that job was made much less painless than anticipated.

The Bearded One has off today and tomorrow as we are heading out camping for the weekend. Hopefully, today, things will go smoother than they have been and the rest of this thing can get skinned. Then it's just lights, latches and the rest of the trim. Why is it that everything takes at least 3 times longer than you had planned on?

Wish us luck!

3 comments:

backporchquilter said...

Don't you just love rush, rush deadlines! Take it easy---you'll make it! Do you want me to come over this weekend to help???

*karendianne. said...

Liz,

I have no answers for the way things go but I do hope you'll have a second for final updates before you head out. I'd like to hear how the Tear Drop is coming along, how the Bearded One is holding up and how the Patient One is coping. hee!

Batiklover said...

Oh Liz, the count down is getting shorter. Hope you are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Let us know how it goes on Wed.
Hang in there, we are keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well.