Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27610 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27610 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
“Thanks again. Glad you had it in stock. The way the past couple of weeks have gone, I’d figure it’d be out of stock and on back order.”
“You better knock on some wood. Don’t be jinxing yourself now.” He’s not wrong, which is why I rap my knuckles on the counter. We go through the exchange of money, say our goodbyes, and then I head out the door.
My truck isn’t parked too far away, and I make my way toward it. Still won’t be able to drop off my parts and walk to my next place of business. Especially with all the damn supplies I’m going to need at the next store.
“Damn.” I pop open the tailgate, looking at the back and seeing all the shit I haven’t off-loaded from working in the pastures yesterday. I knew I should have grabbed the horse trailer on my way out. Now it looks like I’m gonna have to either head back up to the mountain or deal with putting everything on top and driving really fucking slowly. Seeing as how if I go home, I won’t be coming back, it looks like I’ll be driving like most of the Sunday drivers and piss off everyone on the way.
CHAPTER 3
Minnie
Imay not have wanted to make too many stops in Nebraska, but I sure can appreciate its beauty. The farmland, the sky, and the snow-covered areas. My experience wasn’t bad, not at all, but it did make me realize that December may be entirely too brutal for van life. I have a feeling January will be even worse, which means visiting anything in this state will have to happen another time. There’s no way I’d want to view everything from the inside of a car or hotel, and I just bet come summer or fall, it’ll be a totally different story. The ground will be lush and green, or the trees will be a nice burnt orange and red, leaves falling slowly. Yeah, another time when I’m able to go on another road trip. Too bad that’ll probably be no sooner than in ten years.
Hopefully, today is better than yesterday. I didn’t expect my dash to light up like a Christmas tree with a low tire pressure and a check engine light. Double homicide for sure when it comes to taking a long-distance road trip. It was probably a good thing they came on, though, because it made me pull over during the heaviest of snowfalls, and while Nebraska is known for this type of weather and the streets are kept fairly clean, at the end of the day, I’m still a novice behind the wheel when it comes to the white powdery stuff. I pulled off the highway and found the first available gas station with an awning to shield me from the wind as well as the cold stuff dropping from the sky rapidly.
Lennon saved my ass again. God, how I love my big sister. The basket of goodies she sent with me had a rechargeable air compressor that also works as a jumper cable of sorts. That meant while I aired up two of my tires, I was able to stay out of the weather. Well, somewhat. I’d like to say the low-pressure light on my dash was abnormal, but truth be told, even in Florida when there’s a drastic change in temperature, my car would do the same. After airing them up, I checked to make sure the light was off but also at the right number. Then, because I’m a glutton for punishment, I looked up what could make the check engine light come on when the van is practically brand new. Talk about a domino effect. It could literally have been anything. I checked under the hood; not like I knew what I was looking for, but it was worth a shot. All the hoses looked good, so walking around the van seemed to be the next viable option. And since I found nothing out of the ordinary, I was at a complete and total loss. Luckily, I happened to be at a gas station, so I went ahead and filled my tank up, and what a freaking surprise… when I opened the fuel tank thing, I saw the lid hanging on the plastic contraption to keep it from dropping on the ground.
All I could do was laugh at myself. How ridiculous, not thinking or being too wrapped inside my own head to screw the freaking cap on. I made sure after re-fueling that the cap was secured and then got back on the road. If I thought Missouri was cold, Nebraska said, ‘Hold my beer, let me show you the real deal.’
The wind kept whipping my van around, and the snow never let up, so I white-knuckled the steering wheel until I finally made it to the border of Nebraska and Colorado. Which was a good thing because after hightailing it the whole day, trying to beat the intensity of the snow and sleet, this girl was tired. I put the name of my gym into the GPS, which meant I got to enjoy all the creature comforts. A hot shower was exactly what the doctor ordered. I scrubbed, shaved, buffed, then shampooed and conditioned my hair. The end result had me feeling like a brand-new woman. I slept like a baby even with the howling wind hitting my van all night.