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skybytch

Impromptu Mad Dash XCountry Road Trip - Lots of Pictures

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We are kinda into pinball.  Played a fun game at a pinball event last month - Black Knight Sword of Rage.  We already have the original Black Knight (circa 1980); SOR  came out in 2019 and is the third in the BK series (the other one came out in the late 1990's - Black Knight 2000).  We kinda liked it. Like, so much that even though we swore we didn't need another game and we didn't want to buy a newer game cuz new games suck, we started looking for one.

There were none nearby, but I found one at a good price and it was only 2650 miles away in North Carolina.  I heard that the leaves are pretty there this time of year and we didn't get a vacation last year and we are both impulsive as all hell, so I contacted the guy.  He thought it was a fun idea and wanted to play along so he was willing to hold it for us to get there. Hubby got the time off work, we planned some cool stops along the way, hooked up the trailer and 10 days after contacting the guy, we were eastbound.  I40 from Barstow to Little Rock, a bunch of side roads down to Fordyce, Arkansas, more side roads into Alabama and Georgia, Chattanooga to see Lookout Mountain battlefield park, then up to Asheville, N.C.  The drive home was I40 west all the way from Asheville back to California.  Stayed at one motel (Russellville, Alabama) and two nights at an RV park (Asheville); every other night was either in a rest area or a WalMart parking lot.

Trip tidbits - There were at least 5 trucks to every car on I40 between Barstow and Oklahoma City.  Route 66 has some fun and free things to stop and look at.  It is impossible to see the 7 cool places you planned to see when you have 10 days to drive over 5200 miles, so we had to be happy with seeing an old friend (Lindsey - dz.commer from way back) and a Civil War battlefield instead of the Jack Daniels distillery, a National Park, an old friend, a pinball museum, a presidential library and two Civil War battlefields.  Always put new tires on your travel trailer before leaving for a 5200 mile trip so you don't have to replace them all, one at a time, along the way.  North Carolina apple cider is out of this world delicious.  We ran out of superlatives seeing the autumn colors.in the Smoky Mountains. The people we bought the machine from had 10 others in their basement arcade - had to sell it because they didn't have room for it anymore.  Truckers with refrigeration units who park right next to RV's in WalMart parking lots overnight are assholes.

So was the new toy worth the trip? Ummm... yeah..... Check it out!

Would we do it again?  If we could take 3 weeks instead of 10 (okay, 11) days, absolutely.  The really bad part of the trip was driving by so much cool stuff, especially after hours long delays caused by road work or truck accidents that took time we could have spent stopping there. 

TL;DR Drove 5300 miles round trip to buy a pinball machine that we could have found within a couple hundred miles from home because we are impatient and impulsive and we would do it again. Here's some pictures.

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On 11/29/2021 at 8:41 AM, BIGUN said:

Next one of you sumbitches gets close to Tulsa on 40 or 44 and don't PM me for a free lunch; we're gonna fight. :`(  

Looks like you had fun!

Damn it!!  If I'd known... I wanted to go around and up to Tulsa anyway, there's so much Route 66 stuff along that route.

We'll be back. :D

 

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22 hours ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Totally copied the copyrighted "Nerdgirl" (Marge) selfie.

Wow, taking pictures of one's feet outside a moving vehicle and then posting them on the interwebs is copyrighted?  Sure hope I don't get sued for doing what I've been doing since at least 2008. And here I thought I was just entertaining myself on a long drive.

Is not knowing who or what a Nerdgirl is an acceptable defense? 

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26 minutes ago, skybytch said:

Wow, taking pictures of one's feet outside a moving vehicle and then posting them on the interwebs is copyrighted?  Sure hope I don't get sued for doing what I've been doing since at least 2008. And here I thought I was just entertaining myself on a long drive.

Is not knowing who or what a Nerdgirl is an acceptable defense? 

Sheesh. We really  need a 'sarcasm' font on here (or an 'I'm just kidding' one).

You don't remember "Nerdgirl" on here? 

She's been gone for a while, but she was pretty prolific, mostly in SC.

She's a professor down in Georgia, and really smart.

Somehow I'm not friends with her on FB anymore, but she posted a LOT of pics that included her feet up on something.

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(edited)
On 11/29/2021 at 9:44 AM, skybytch said:

Truckers with refrigeration units who park right next to RV's in WalMart parking lots overnight are assholes.

Truckers see it this way. RVers have a lot of places they could park. Truckers worry all day long about  finding a parking spot somewhere near the place where they run out of hours they can drive. I hate it when a reefer truck parks beside me too. But that doesn't make them assholes. Park somewhere else. It is far easier for you. Walmart parking lots are places of last resort for trucks. Do you buy frozen food? How do you think it gets to your store? 

Edited by gowlerk

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14 hours ago, gowlerk said:

Truckers see it this way. RVers have a lot of places they could park. Truckers worry all day long about  finding a parking spot somewhere near the place where they run out of hours they can drive. I hate it when a reefer truck parks beside me too. But that doesn't make them assholes. Park somewhere else. It is far easier for you. Walmart parking lots are places of last resort for trucks. Do you buy frozen food? How do you think it gets to your store? 

Hi Ken,

Re:  How do you think it gets to your store? 

As a former Teamster, IMO this is what people should remember & understand.

Jerry Baumchen 

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(edited)
On 12/7/2021 at 8:11 PM, gowlerk said:

Truckers see it this way. RVers have a lot of places they could park. Truckers worry all day long about  finding a parking spot somewhere near the place where they run out of hours they can drive. I hate it when a reefer truck parks beside me too. But that doesn't make them assholes. Park somewhere else. It is far easier for you. Walmart parking lots are places of last resort for trucks. Do you buy frozen food? How do you think it gets to your store? 

 There are truck stops and rest areas for truckers.  I didn't whine about the one parked next to us at a rest area and we didn't even try to sleep at a truck stop. Those are their places, they have jobs to do, I respect that.

WalMarts are not truck parking areas, they are stores that allow RVs and trucks to park overnight.  Some only allow RVs because hey guess what, trucks are loud. 

At this particlular WalMart - not rest area with truck parking, not Love's or Flying J truck stop  - there was a shit ton of space on the other side of the parking lot... where all the other trucks with drivers who weren't complete dickwads were parked. . 

Park somewhere else? I parked all the way across the lot from the trucks, I'm sound asleep, it's 2 am and you pull in next to me with your fucked up reefer unit cycling every three minutes and I'm supposed to move? Fuck that.  Want respect?  Show some. 

Edited by skybytch

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17 minutes ago, skybytch said:

I parked all the way across the lot from the trucks, I'm sound asleep, it's 2 am and you pull in next to me with your fucked up reefer unit cycling every three minutes and I'm supposed to move?

Note to self: Do NOT interrupt this woman's sleep. Check. :$:rofl:

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(edited)
24 minutes ago, skybytch said:

There are truck stops and rest areas for truckers. 

Just try to find a spot there after 9 pm. There is a nationwide shortage of truck parking. trust me.

 

24 minutes ago, skybytch said:

Some only allow RVs because hey guess what, trucks are loud. 

Mostly in cities. Some don't allow RVs either. There is getting to be more tolerance of overnight truck parking in pandemic times. One of the main reasons stores don't like it is that so many idiot drivers leave piss bottles behind. 

 

24 minutes ago, skybytch said:

there was a shit ton of space on the other side of the parking lot... where all the other trucks with drivers who weren't complete dickwads were parked. . 

The "dickwad" knows his reefer is loud and he parked away from the other trucks in order not to bother them. Most trucks these days don't need to idle overnight, the have battery powered APUs. 

 

24 minutes ago, skybytch said:

WalMarts are not truck parking areas,

Neither are they campgrounds.

 

24 minutes ago, skybytch said:

Fuck you. 

Fuck you too! Seriously though after a while you will easily figure out where to park your  35 ft unit where the 70 ft tractor trailers can't bother you. The list of places you can go is very long. The list for them is much smaller. I don't drive a reefer myself and I also don't like to listen to them running. But you have an easy solution, I don't. I have moved away from the noise at 2 AM as well. It's a PITA especially when if you move at a speed of more than 4 mph the computer will change your status to "driving" and you will have to start your rest period all over again from zero. I know drivers who claim to be unable to sleep without the sound of the reefer running. They call it "white noise". You can switch them over from cycling to continuous running and many do just that at bedtime. 

Edited by gowlerk

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2 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

Just try to find a spot there after 9 pm. There is a nationwide shortage of truck parking. trust me.

Judging by the 10 to 20 trucks parked on every on/off ramp along I40, I believe you.   They were stacked butts to nuts at one rest area in Texas (which, btw, has some of the nicest rest areas in the US).

 

5 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

The "dickwad" knows his reefer is loud and he parked away from the other trucks in order not to bother them.

But it's okay to bother folks in RVs. Gotcha. 

I get your point completely, but truckers who do this kind of thing make all of you look like jerks as far as I'm concerned.  You aren't doing professional drivers like yourself any favors by defending those who lack common courtesy.  

I was a skydiver but I am also a raging bitch. Doesn't mean all skydivers are raging bitches... but anyone who knows no other skydivers might think so. :rofl:

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10 hours ago, skybytch said:

I was a skydiver but I am also a raging bitch. Doesn't mean all skydivers are raging bitches... but anyone who knows no other skydivers might think so. :rofl:

Given that you can't be less of a skydiver perhaps there is another opportunity on offer.

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On 12/9/2021 at 5:35 PM, JoeWeber said:

Given that you can't be less of a skydiver perhaps there is another opportunity on offer.

Introduce people to other skydivers?  

Actually I am less of a skydiver than I used to be. Happens when you don't jump anymore. 

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