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Sat.May.20.2006

3:18 am EDT        45°F (7°C) in Dearborn, MI

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When I made my last update a half-hour into Monday (here in the Eastern Time Zone, at least), I had no idea what a logistical nightmare the next two days would become. The plans I had as of last weekend are way the hell out the window now, and I might as well tell the story.

I went in for my D.O.T. physical on Monday afternoon in Carlisle, PA. After signing in, I was subjected to an hour of the F-Word Rethuglican Propaganda Channel, including an interview with Darth’s traitorous (to her fellow GLBT Americans) spawn Mary Cheney and her total lies about which political party threw her under the bus in 2004, in the waiting room before I was called back. I gave them a urine sample and was then subjected to another hour of FAUX News before I was called again for the actual examination. Having wasted three hours at this point, I was told by the doctor that no matter what health I was in, he couldn’t pass me until May 25 because of five little words on my return-to-work release form: “no lifting for 2 weeks.” (Said form was faxed to my company on May 11 by the surgeon who did my appendectomy.)

I was not about to spend 10 more days in a semi-dive of a motel in south-central Pennsylvania, and since I was due to be home tomorrow (May 21) anyway, I hatched a plan: I would simply add the other week of vacation time I had available to my already-planned time off, and take off 20 days starting on Tuesday. After making several phone calls to OK the idea, I rented a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx from Hertz in Mechanicsburg, PA, and spent Monday night driving it up to where my truck was parked in Binghamton, NY. I spent about an hour late Monday night (technically Tuesday morning on the calendar) and a few hours Tuesday afternoon completely emptying my truck out, loading all of its contents that belonged to me in the rental car, and around 3:30 pm EDT Tuesday, I locked the truck, left one key with the truck stop fuel desk, and began heading home with my stuff.

Some eight hours and 45 minutes, 530 miles (853 km), and $93 of gasoline later, I arrived at home. My mother helped me unload the car Wednesday morning, and then my father and I returned it to Hertz’s Detroit Metro Airport location in the early afternoon, well before it was due. As far as the company issues go, I will have to go back down to their Columbus, OH terminal at some point after May 25 to have this physical re-done, and then I will be returning to work and getting a different truck on June 5. (If a driver is going to be idled for any more than 14 days, they want the truck turned in so they can assign it to another driver if they so desire.)

In any event, I’ve managed to get a few things done in my first few days at home. On Thursday, I undertook a project to replace the spark plugs in my car; it took a while to find the right tools to use, but once I had figured that much out, it wasn’t hard at all. I’ve also been looking at rental car prices for my sister’s move to Wisconsin for the summer, which will be coming up next weekend.

I’ll be back in a few days …