Well, I'm back home in Texas now. This was the worst trip I've ever had. And saying goodbye to my son was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

So the plan was to leave on Friday. I picked up the U-Haul on Thursday and didn't make it to storage to start loading until about 4:00pm. They close the storage gates at 7:00pm so we didn't get much done. So we end up having to do more loading on Friday, thus hindering our plans of leaving on Friday. So Friday comes and we go back to storage and start loading the truck some more. We get everything we can to fit into the U-Haul truck and we still have stuff that didn't fit. No big deal, I was towing my pickup with the U-Haul, so we could put the rest in that before we left on Saturday.

Saturday comes and it's time to load my pickup on the U-Haul trailer. It doesn't fit. My truck is a tad too wide and the tires rub on the siderails of the trailer. So I go to the hardware store and purchase some two 8ft pieces of 2x8 lumber and cut them so I can put them on the trailer and raise the truck up just enough so that the tires don't rub on the siderails. It worked, kinda. The tires were still barely rubbing so I put some cardboard down to keep the metal from rubbing on the tires.

So after the truck is on I go to strap it down, only to realize the truck isn't straight and one strap doesn't fit right since the truck isn't straight. So I have my wife guide me off of the trailer and she didn't realize that the front right wheel wasn't all the way on the ramp. My truck fell off the trailer and the front bumper caught the tail light on the trailer. She had never directed anyone on/off of a trailer and I have never driven on/off of a trailer, so no one is to blame, was just inexperience. Luckily nothing happened to the truck or the trailer, and I managed to get the truck unstuck and loaded and strapped properly.

We're about to take off when we realize that on the back of the truck, the turn signals, brake lights, and hazards don't work. They work on the front, just not the back. Since my wife was following me, she was my turn signals and brake lights.

We load up the rest of the junk into my pickup and we're off, finally. Turns out they gave me a shitty U-Haul truck. Going uphill, towing the trailer with my pickup on it, I was only able to go like 20mph. I could hear the transmission slipping and making weird noises. It was a bad deal. Halfway through the trip the "Service Engine Soon" light came on. WONDERFUL. The oil and transmission fluid levels were fine.

Mother nature decided to be a bitch to me as well. All the way through Washington, through the top part of Idaho, through all of Montana, and half of the bottom part of Idaho, was nothing but rain. Then we got some clear weather then hit some of the most dense fog I've ever seen. That sucked, especially with no brake lights. Then we hit some really harsh wind (about 55mph wind) which was making it really hard to tow the pickup with a big U-Haul. Now, keep in mind I've never towed anything before, so I was quite a bit nervous and didn't need all this shit that mother nature threw at me, but I managed to make it through.

So we get to New Mexico finally on Monday and I drop off my wife, unload all of her stuff, and say goodbye to her and to Damian. That was hard. Really hard. I didn't say anything to her mom and she didn't say anything to me. Probably for the best. Her dad is still willing to talk to me, which is cool. Before I leave NM I have to call the U-Haul 24 hour service thing to get my brake lights and turn signals fixed. Since I dropped off my wife, I had no one behind me to act as my brake lights. It would have been a rear-ending waiting to happen. It turns out that it was two fuses. I could have fixed that myself, had I known about the OTHER ... HIDDEN ... fuse box under the hood. Stupidasses. Who hides a fucking fuse box. Bah.

So I left New Mexico around 8:00pm last night and drove alllllll night through Texas. Anyone who has driven through Texas knows how boring the roads are in between cities. It was hard, boring and motononous. Nothing to be seen but baren desert nothingness. I almost fell asleep a few times. Got home around 1:30pm. Here I am, using my parents computer since I need to fix mine still and buy a computer desk.

Ummmm. Yes. I know no one is going to read this far into my entry. "Too long, didn't read." Heh. Oh well ... this is mainly here so I can point everyone to this post when I tell them that it was the worst trip I've ever had, rather than telling the story 400 times.

Though, on the bright side, I did think of some programming ideas while I was on the road. But, now that I try and remember them ... I can't. God damnit. I'm sure they'll come to me after I've recouped from 4 days on the road.

I miss Damian.