Why I need my Cummins

This is why I need my Cummins.

My business simply demands a lot of travel. Back in the ‘old day’ it was a lot easier – and a lot cheaper – when fuel was only about a dollar a gallon. It was easier and profitable to travel all over the country to shows, and know that I could still come out with some money in my pocket. Now that fuel is more than three times the cost, it takes about $150 to get from Toon Town to Colorado, instead of the old $40-$50.

Vehicles have changed also. Back when I first started working at Ren Faires, and just before I started traveling full time, the vehicle of choice was the Ford Econoline F150. EVERY rennie had one it seemed. James and I bought one after our first summer on the road, and I think he eventually got around 300k miles on it. Larry and I have been through at least 3 Ford vans over the years. That 351 V8 just seems to have been the best ever engine for hauling your stuff around. And rennies have stuff. Lots of stuff.

I’ve seen people take a 20 foot, 20 year old travel trailer and load every square inch of the floor, bed, tables and privy with their clothes, costumes, books, stock, tents, you name it. And then they wonder why the springs break. And the van that they try to pull it with is just as loaded, although, somewhere, there is a nook they crawl into for sleeping on the road. Good as that Econoline was, it didn’t have enough oomph to pull some of those trailers.

These days the Econoline is a retired icon. Now I see more Dodge Cummins diesel at faires than any other vehicle. Maybe it’s just the newer technology, or who knows, but rennies have discovered the power of diesel. Power strokes follow a close second. Everyone has their favorites, but I am sold on Cummins. Larry is a former truck driver, with more than 2 million logged commercial miles. That takes an average of 20 years to accumulate, and that’s only his logged miles *wink*. Trucks is what Larry knows. He is a Cummins fan. And after we got our first Dodge back in 1998, I’ve been a fan every since. We sold our second Dodge last April so we could buy this...






We had bought the trailer last August. We sold the Dodge in order to buy the International, needing something that could haul that big ass trailer. And we acquired the Ford 150 above for a runabout. I MISS my Cummins! It was so weird to drive a gas engine again. There is nothing else like driving a Cummins and once you’ve driven one, you’ll never want to drive anything else again. Granted, this little Ford has proven to be a really good workhorse – it has more than 300k miles on it and it’s still going strong. But we simply need more. The picture above the bed is totally loaded, with more stuff in the rear of the cab, so hauling a 4 horse trailer with two ponies in it is stretching the limits.

The good news is that the International that we bought will be fairly inexpensive to switch engines in it. It came with a DT360 in it, which doesn’t have much more power in it than our 5.9 liter Dodge Cummins did. But on big trucks all parts are interchangeable. You can take a Peterbilt or a Kenworth, drop in any tranny you want in either, or a Detroit or Cummins – they all fit. So Larry is going to find an older Cummins with a half a million miles on it and put it in. We’ll never be able to overload now!

More CRF

It is difficult for me to not keep saying "wow" when I'm in Colorado. The rainbows here are particularly great. We got this double rainbow the other day when we were leaving the showers on site.



I got this shot of Erika working in the booth on the second weekend. Doing her usual good work.



Sadly, Erika had to go back home after the second weekend and Friday morning July 9 her mother passed away. Erika was able to spend her last moments with her. Our condolences go out to Erika and wish her the best.

Don't like the weather? Just wait a second.....

Colorado is a wonderful place. It can also be a harsh place. Larry and I don't do the extreme sports like a week of wilderness camping in the winter, or rock climbing. In fact, we don't even hike much anymore, but we have done some awesome exploring over the years. But if you spend any time in Colorado at all, you will experience its intenseness.

Opening weekend at Colorado Renaissance Festival was one of those trying weekends. It was SO un-Colorado like for the weater to be has cold, rainy and harsh for so long as it was. It wasn't the best impression Erika had of the state that I've so long praised. But we got through it without incedent and had a couple of good weekends weather-wise and crowd-wise.

This weekend - weekend number four - was typical of Colorado. Warm and dry, actually almost balmy in the mornings. And right on schedule - about 3 o'clock in the afternoon - along came the 20% chance of rain. The rain on this day, as is common, turned into hail. First, the normal pea sized hail. After about 15 minutes it stopped.

But the clouds didn't go away as they usually do. Withing 20 minutes it started again. Marble size hail. The hail abated. Then more. Eventually, after about 60 minutes of on again off again hail, the hail got bigger each time, until it was golf ball size!

With the onslaught of the first hail, people ran for the booths. Oh yes, we like that! "Come on in!"



They crowded in and browsed. One young lady was sniffing the oils and the hail was bouncing off the trees and off of the ground and hitting her in the legs! That's cold!

Of course, as is always in Colorado on the front range, the clouds move out onto the plains and the sun returns. People swarm out of the booths the same way they swarmed in. Merriment abounds!

Erika's Colorado Adventure

After settling in behind the booth at the Colorado Renaissance, I found my accommations extremely modern. Especially with some of the other faires, its either a tent or a hotel room. Havin an efficient apartment right behind where I work is the ULTIMATE. My drive from Alabama to Larkspur, Colorado was long but very beautiful! My co-pilot Tasha was enjoying the ride herself. She is such a great travelin companion. Makings of a good rennie dog...lol

Life is definitely interesting on the road. Im used to that everyday hustle of the corporate world. The job that is always in the same place...how boring! My first week in Colorado was one for the books in my travels. Colorado Renaissance started off on a harsh note. It was so cold and wet and instead of bringing a heater on the road I brought a fan instead. Must remember to prepare for anything on the road. Thank god I wasnt in a tent!

Last week, Larry and Kerry took me on a quided tour of absolutely beautiful scenery and a drive up to their property up in Whitehorn. It was a WOW kind of day. With the cold weather we had that weekend, the mountain tops were covered in snow. As soon as I figure out my digital camera I will post some pictures.

Its an absolutely beautiful day here today, so Im taking Kerry's advice and Im taking the day off to go on a walkabout with Tasha. Need to remember to buy batteries for the camera.

Short - REALLY short - updates

I keep telling Erika to enjoy her time in Colorado but yesterday I realized that we are working her a bit too hard. Thanks for being such a trooper Erika, but this week we will insist on you getting out and relaxing some.

Second Saturday at CRF was perfect weather. Sunny, yet with enough afternoon clouds to keep it cool. The new sales help Domonique seems like she will fit in just fine. But after hanging out at the fair longer than I intended to, I'm tired and I am off to bed!

Arrival!

Where did I just say just say blogging is like time/money? If you have money, you usually don't have time, and if you have time, you usually don't have any money. So with blogging, if I have something to write about, I don't have time to write, and if I have time to write, I don't have anything to blog about.

Our trip up here was fairly uneventful. We had one stop south of Fort Worth to replace some coolant hoses, then on our way. It was hot - for Larry mostly, as me and Shadow had A/C in the Ford. We arrived at the ranch where we are staying about 5 pm. After unloading the ponies and parking the trailer, we drove over to the faire site and unloaded the pickup.

Sunday saw about 2 more 'unloadings'. I think when I die I will have my tombstone read

"Finally Unloaded"

The booth is in amazingly good shape. There is very little to do to get ready except rearrange a few shelves to accomidate a slightly different setup in the back room. The sign out front needs a small touch up.

Everyone is there of course. If they aren't there, they are pulling in everytime I turn around. Irish is already there. Cricket is there. And Zak on the other side. Yes, this is a good booth location.

Erika drove long on Monday. She left Fort Smith Arkansas Monday morning and got into Colorado Springs about 11:15 pm. We met her at a local 7-11 and guided her to the booth. I hop in her car as we follow Larry. Tasha her pomeranian isn't very sharing with the front seat. Erika is packed to the gills and her car smells like ours! Waifs of aromas meander by with every turn!

It's only 8 miles to site. "Here ya go, Erika. See you in the morning". We don't stay long.

The next morning we all slept in. How can you not sleep well up here in the cool, dry mountain air?

Tuesday. Erika has gotten all her stuff unloaded and set up in her bedroom and even showered. She is thrilled! And it IS a very comfy bedroom for a booth. I've been in and stayed in a lot of different renn booths over the past 30 years. There are some nice apartments and then there are some no better than a cardboard box and you have to argue with the rats for sleeping space.

At one point I take Erika on a tour of the site. I just keep trudging away, up hill, down hill. At first Erika stops a few times. I'm trying to tell her that she REALLY will consider quiting smoking after this trip to Colorado. I hope so.

Lots to do. Today I will get Erika's internet connection set up so she can start talking about Tennessee and her thoughts on Colorado. That will be good, because I have a lot of catching up to to on my other blog. But now we are done traveling for a bit, I will have more time on the 'puter, assuming I don't fall asleep early like I did last night.

Rennie road trips

Gotta say, I think rennies must have the best road trip stories. Even if we haven't gotten on the road yet! Larry and I have been working for several weeks without break in mid-ninety-something degree weather and we are about whupped. This vagabond traveling makes for great campfire stories, but sure is tough when it's happening.

Last summer, if you remember, we bought us a big trailer. This spring we bought us a big truck to pull our big trailer. The Tennessee Renaissance Festival was suppose to finance the putting together and fixing up stuff, but because of the massive flooding and the rain in Tennessee, the faire made the budget a bit tighter. But that really isn't the problem. It's time.

Time is what Larry doesn't have. At his age, it is just difficult to be crawling around under a truck fixing things, picking up and pushing things. It takes longer - so it seems - to do things. When you are 30 or 35 years old, hell, even 45 or 50 years old, a person still has a good measure of strength and endurance. Larry celebrated - if you call it that - his 71st birthday a week ago today.

But I think it isn't even that. This truck IS a good truck, but every day it seems Larry finds another thing that needs fixing before we can put it on the road hauling a 42 foot trailer.

First we had to take off all the lettering, which was my job, and clean it and then paint on "Non-Commercial For Recreational Use Only" to help get past the DOT. Both Texas and Colorado DOT told us that is what we need to have in order to not be pulled over. And the truck is a class 4-6 and under the 26,000 lb weight limit for CDL, so I think we will be cool there, but there is always the occasional trooper that has to check things out. I hope there will never be a blog about that.

Then I put in some carpet and carpet padding (not in that order!). All the while Larry is finishing up a few basics in the trailer - mostly the pony stall. Then he has to drill through 3/4" steel and mount the ball for the gooseneck, and put on a sheet of plywood for a makeshift 'bed' behind the cab. Then he had to fix the brake lights on the truck. Before all that he had to put the seats back in the truck and fix the air lines. I had the fun of getting under the truck to put on the washers and nuts. Got to know my drive line real good there.

Somewhere in there I put on some limo tint on the back window of both the big rig and the pickup. Helps keep the heat down in the cabs as we head west. The big truck doesn't have any A/C, so Larry will have to drive with the windows down, but once we get to Amarillo it will be better. Less humidity but the weather is forcasting 100 degree days up in the Texas panhandle for the next couple of days. As we are also hauling some livestock (our two ponys, which you can read about on my other blog Hoofbeats), we are seriously considering doing some driving at night.

At one point Larry fires up the truck to move it, and the brakes are stuck...that took nearly a day to unfreeze. Today he finally hooks the truck to the trailer for the first time and spent nearly an hour fixing the wiring on the pigtail because the turn signal wires were switched. Oh yea, he had already had to correct them when he fixed the brake lights earlier, because he had the wires backwards. When you turned on the left blinker the front left and the right rear would go off and visa versa. Once he got the truck blinkers all in sync, the trailer lights were switched! Larry was smart enough to put in a terminal fuse block on the trailer wires, so it was easier to work with. For anyone who has tried to wire a trailer pigtail and get all the right wires matched up with the correct wires on your truck, you know what a headache THAT can be. In fact, when we picked up the trailer last August in Hobbs, NM, it took Larry and two others all day long to try and get turn signals and brake lights working correctly......and never did.

So Larry pulls the trailer out and is going to run it down to Dave's Country Store for a test run, see how it feels. Larry doesn't stop at Dave's because Larry doesn't have brakes. Uh oh......

Another job. It is obvious we aren't leaving in the morning. I am beginning to think I have done something bad to someone and it's my karma to keep staying here on the Texas Gulf Coast in June. Hot. Humid. Sticky. Mosquitos. This is one t-shirt a day weather.

Trip number 582 to the NAPA parts store. More calls to the local International Truck place with questions. It is a air brake canister. Good news, it is on sale this month for only $48. Beats the $87 International wanted.

And all this before we even pull out of the driveway. Larry won't get his CB put in either. One of these days I will find that 5 page story that the late Bear wrote about how it took him 2 weeks to get from the Colorado Renaissance Festival to the Michigan Renaissance Festival. Ever rennie has a road story.