Battle Scars . . . .

So unfortunately Trooper got a little hurt today, which is pretty sad, I try to keep my car really nice as much as I can, but it never fails, something always happens. This is why I'm never going to have a car payment and never drive a luxury car or an expensive car that I want to try and keep nice all the time. It's almost impossible to keep it nice, especially here in Michigan with all the salt and the pot holes and all the idiot drivers. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten chips in my windshield or in my bumper. It's ridiculous. A car is simply that, something to get you from point A to B. Not only do they go down in value so much, they're so expensive and not worth investing in. Here's a link . . . .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIgLyl66QxQ. Let me tell you a little story of my saturday morning and afternoon . . . .
It started out very nice at around 9am. Darian, my roommate and I had planned on picking up a new riding lawn mover for his girlfriend, Becky. Darian asked me if I could help him getting it to Becky's, since my truck has a hitch on the back of it. I said sure, Troops was made to haul stuff and haul stuff it will. So yesterday Darian called U-Haul and got a reservation for a little trailer. Today we went to go pick up the trailer and when we saw it, it was a car transporter and there was no way this thing would work. The trailor Darian reserved was already rented out. What is the point of reserving something when the company doesn't keep to it? So I called Bob Keesee, who has let me borrow his trailer in the past, he didn't pick up, I just got his voicemail. While we kind of stalled for him to call back, we all went to McDonalds to eat Breakfast. Also, Tara came too for all of this . . .Also, Becky's Dog. The dog is a chocolate Lab and husky mix and it's really cute.
We just decided after we ate to just go back to the uhaul place and get the trailor they had available. When I saw the one, I have to be honest, I was a little concerned, Troops has a lot of power, but it's also a V6. This trailor was pretty large, also with this thing my car would definitely get less than 10 mpg. Anyways, we loaded it up and had the uhaul guy check everything out and went on our way. On my way down to Dexter, where the lawnmower was, I noticed a car hauling an empty unhaul trailer that would be PERFECT for what we needed going the other direction. I just joked to Darian, "Hey, there's your trailor going back to the uhaul place now." Sure enough, about 10 minutes later the unhaul guy called and told us the trailer Darian RESERVED was back. So suggested we go back, even though we're already there because we had to drive all the way up to White Lake, that's where Becky lives, and drop off the trailor etc . .. .So we had a long way to go still. We went back and got it . . . . Here's some pics of the difference. Also, this trailor is lighter, smaller and is more aerodynamic, all which helps Troops out. After we wasted about an hour of time, we got it all worked out.
So U-Haul trailers aren't like your normal trailers. The latch that hooks onto the ball is nothing like the usual. In NORMAL trailers the latch has a hole, in which you can put a lock or a bolt through to make sure it doesn't come out. U-Haul trailers don't have that at all, they have a handle you turn to make sure they're clamped, basically, you screw it down to make sure it's on. That's the stupidest thing ever. So in the process of hooking it up, I tightened it down, but it must have not been seated right. Normally I would bounce it up and down to make sure it seated but I guess I forgot.
As we were driving down US23 going about 70 miles an hour, suddenly I feel the rear of my car swaying like mad and screeching tires. You got, it unhooked. Thank God for the chains. I guess I didn't seat it right and it unscrewed on me. You should have seen what I saw in my rear view mirrow, the thing was fish tailing like crazy!! I'm surprised it didn't flip over and I THANK GOD there weren't any cars beside me. I remember multiple times seeing the whole entire trailor from my side mirror, that's how all over the road this thing was! I certainly made traffic slow down that's for sure. I tried to stop slowing as I didn't want the freaking thing slamming into the rear of my car destroying everything. I was so thankful it only did the damage it did (see above). I remember tightening it, but I guess it just didn't seat right and the empty light little trailor going over bumps managed to untighted and come up. I've hauled many trailors in my life and this is the first time this has ever happened. Thank God it didn't come unchained, that would have really caused some damage, although not to my car. So we went to Dexter checking every 10 miles or so making sure it was tight, and we didn't have a problem with it again. Anywho, the Riding lawnmower is awesome, they got a great deal on it, they got it for almost half of what it's worth. Becky wasn't at her house, she's with her family at Central Michigan University for the weekend.

Okay, I'm going to hang out with Members of my cell group tonight, I'll blog more tomorrow.