We're off! My son and I are going to Valparaiso, IN to pick up the newly minted RV hauler truck that has been in the making for the past twenty-five months.
It is a 630 mile drive, one way, to Valparaiso from our current location in Georgia. With stops we can be there in a mere eleven hours. We got an early enough start on a Sunday morning that we were checking in to the hotel by 5:30pm and had time to kill so we drove another 15 minutes and were on the shore of Lake Michigan. My son had never seen the lake and I had only seen it from mostly Lakeshore Drive in Chicago, never in its "wild" form like where we were at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
We had to poke around for awhile to find someplace legal to park. When we were getting out of the car we noticed other people in the parking lot and they were dressed in winter coats, long pants and gloves. We thought that a little curious since our whole drive that day was in 90degF heat. Then we noticed a stiff wind out of the north, coming straight in off lake. It had a little bite to it we thought, but not bad, on to the shore we went.
Holy cow! By the time we walked the 25 yards to the shore my teeth were chattering. It was now abundantly obvious why people were in winter coats.
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| Always impressive to look across a lake that appears to be an ocean. |
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The waves rolling in and making small crashing noises were no
different than what I was accustomed to all along the Gulf Coast. |
Okay, enough of that. Yup, it's an impressive lake but I'm freezing. Snapped a couple of pictures hustled back to the car.
We drove back to town and went straight to the restaurant, Industrial Revolution. Interesting place, it pays homage to the working people that pioneered high steel and other elements that made cities what they are today. The bronze sculptures are amazing, and everywhere.
On the Friday before we left I got what I presume to be the last pictures from Classy Chassis. They were giving it a bath before putting it in the shop for the weekend, ready for its Monday delivery.
Next morning we were up early and down to the hotel's hot breakfast. Had to eat slow to kill time because it was way too early to go to Classy Chassis. But the time did finally come.
Chad and I arrived just a few minutes after the door opened. You could tell that people were just getting themselves into their work routine. We were greeted on sight and immediately got down to business.
It was a bright, clear morning that promised to turn into a scorcher but made for a good picture taking setting. The presenting of the keys!
And with that, we're off. Georgia here we come. I had eleven hours to get acquainted with all the bells, whistles and systems but it was obvious I was going to have to spend some quality time with the owner's manual. Not everything is common sense to use.
However, I can't put my feet up and read a good book yet. There is still one major chore to be done. There is no way I am letting six new Michelin tires on the 2006 truck drive away and be left with the factory issued Continentals on the new truck. Those Continentals will be lucky to last 10,000 miles. I typically get 50,000 out of the Michelins. So it's off to the truck tire shop for a swapping out.
This was not a simple matter of moving the wheels and tires from one truck to the other. I wanted to keep the new wheels on the new truck and the 16-year-old wheels on the old truck. Every tire had to be dismounted and remounted and balanced.
With that done full attention can be turned to selling Big Gulp. But first, a family portrait.
Outwardly there is not much difference except for color of the truck and shape of the bed. Inwardly the differences are enormous. The two engines couldn't be more different and electronic appointments in the new truck didn't even exist when the old truck was built. Noise is significantly less, power/torque is significantly better, turbo-lag is virtually gone, ride comfort is marginally better, and entertainment options are so many I am still finding new ones each time I drive it.
With the color, power, aggressive stance, and commanding presence we tried to find an appropriate name by testing a couple dozen different ones. There was one that seemed a natural fit and continued to feel that way days after first trying it out.
Meet CHIEF
Now it is time to do a deep dive on the owner's manual and start contacting the folks that were interested in buying Big Gulp.
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