Irreversible commitment of resources 💸
It feels like that even more when I have to go SEFCU and get that bank check made out to Ruth’s for $4,500 to pay the remaining balance off on the truck cap, which getting installed as I work today.
The bank opens up at 8:30 AM, 💵 and I’ll get the funds out to pay for the truck cap, and then drive over to Ruth’s. Hand them the check, hop on the bike, riding over to Central Avenue and catching the BusPlus downtown. I said I would be in to work by 10 AM, probably earlier, and would leave at 3:30 PM this afternoon to pick up the truck, the cap permanently installed.
People question the wisdom of getting a truck cap, 🚛 especially after getting an F-350 SuperDuty. You could carry a lot more weight on a 1-ton axle. Those fiber glass caps are limited to how much weight they can carry on their roofs, only 150-200 lbs, though that’s plenty for the solar and the kayak. But I didn’t want a truck that’s real top heavy, when navigating the highways, especially as with the MX Cap that kayak does ride high. The truck should be more stable then lifted Silverado, as on SuperDuties, especially with the “little” Minizilla 6.8L engine, it sits low in engine bay, making for low center of gravity, even if the SuperDuty on 33s rides nearly as high as the Silverado. I looked at the steel caps, the modular once you can get, but they tend to leak more in the rain, and lack bug screens, and don’t give you extra roof height for sitting in the back. I considered used slide-in, but they are expensive, have a high-center of gravity and worse clearance, and are much more frilly and comfortable then what I want for camping. So I made my decision, to stay with the status quo.
Maybe I have too much of a bias to the status quo, 🪹 refusing to change my mind or adapting new technologies and ways of doing things. But I wanted a big ol SuperDuty, and the half ton engines with all the fuel economy and emissions crap are such unreliable turds these days. 💩 I was actually continuing to study the route across Ohio into Michigan, and maybe I’m wrong about the Ohio Turnpike being a shit storm of truck traffic and a bazillion on-off-ramps like Interstate 81. The Midwest isn’t a fast growing part of country, and if you take I-280 from I-90 down to the Ohio Turnpike, you mostly stay out of the worse of Cleveland Traffic, and you’re actually south enough of Toledo. Still 8 hour drive seems a bit much. Maybe I can do a stop over on the way out in Ohio but skip that on the trip back. Let’s see what gas prices are like in 5 weeks. I am thinking of leaving on July 29th and returning home on August 9th, whether I go to the Finger Lakes or Michigan or Warren National Forest in Ohio. An alternative I’m exploring too is driving down to Allegheny National Forest, overnighting there and then driving down to Warren National Forest. I just got to figure out what’s interesting and fun to see in that part of hills of Southern Ohio. ⛰️ I am sure there are a lot of great things I’m unaware of. The Finger Lakes are easy but boring. 💤
Truth is I didn’t sleep well last night. 🛏️ Just thinking about all these things. 🧹 I washed the truck last night, and swept out the bed this morning, so it’s clean with the cap 🚛 being installed today. I was standing in the bed, looking at the truck, smiling a bit. ☺️ I tell you though, buying more wire conduit, twist ties, screws, and a few other components I needed and it was $33 bucks, I was like fuck. The aluminum bar I needed was only $25.31 so that wasn’t so bad, and I got 10 foot rather then 8 foot (splitting it with dad), but whatever. And then groceries were expensive, as I needed coffee ☕ and olive oil 🫒 among other supplies, so that was over $100. But I make good money, and it going to be a lot of good adventures. When I got to Lowe’s and started looking for M8 bolts 🔩 to tie into the tracks for the second solar panel mounting, I discovered that couldn’t be the right size bolt. Then when I got home, looking through my toolbox, I discovered I had appropriate sized bolts, and I have “A” base plates they attach to. I should have everything for my truck build now, except the second battery box, which I will be getting at Walmart this evening after picking up the truck this afternoon. The aluminum bar scratched the bed liner a bit, which I wasn’t happy about, that bedliner was certainly cheap and not good quality. But there isn’t a Line-X or BulletLiner dealer locally any more, and I wasn’t going to get to an even softer RhinoLiner or OnyxLiner which I hear is tough on the knees.
At any rate, to get going 🛻 I set the truck to remote start at 8:10 AM 🕗 to give it a few minutes to warm up before heading out on the highway, which should get me to SEFCU by 8:30 AM based on Waze. I am bit excited even if I am a bit nervous.
