There I Was, Revisited, or There We Were!

There we were – once again! So today, Holly (Ellie May) and I, Frankie Boy (Jed Clampet), took a trailerfull of trash to the dump. Now many of you have taken full trailers to the dump. But not like this trailer. Years ago I got a trailer for our pool business and it served our purpose well, until it fell apart. So, I decided to rebuild the trailer from the base up. When I got done, it had been converted to a utility trailer in which I could haul things to the dump. I put a new floor and new sides – however, for several years the trailer was used only a few times, and sat down at Holly’s behind the fence. Still not bad. Then today happened.

The trailer was full of stuff that needed to go to the dump. Holly had asked me if I could pull the trailer to the dump with my truck. Frankie Boy was ready. First I had to get the 2011 tag for the license plate… the last one put on was dated 2009. When I got down to Holly’s, I noticed that a couple of the side boards had fallen off, as had the entire tail gate. Oh well, that’s what ratchet straps are for, right? I got everything into the trailer and put the tarp over the trash and strapped it all down. Then I took the piece of the tailgate that had the license plate and put it into the back of the trailer and wedged it under the ratchet strap…. It should easily travel the 5 miles to the dump. (Remember, I’m the one who had just posted the “There I Was” series). The next hurdle was hooking the trailer to the truck … which went fine until I tried to secure the hitch on the ball…. good thing I had a hammer! Done. So, off we merrily went to the dump. About as soon as we turned onto Highway 195, heading South, a pickup truck passed us tooting his horn and pointing. Now this isn’t anything new, you see, because whenever I go to the dump, I lose a bag or a box and have to stop and retrieve it. We stopped and got out to look what we had dropped… I was sure hoping that it wasn’t the license plate. It was. Ellie May asked if we should continue on to the dump and find the plate on the way back. I thought we would be wiser to go back and get it now. At the next intersection, we turned around and drove back. We thought we saw what could have been the remains of the tail gate remains that I had loaded into the truck. So we turned back around and sure enough, the 4 foot long 4 x 6 was now a bunch of toothpicks. The license plate had come completely unattached from the board and was laying by itself, embarrassed, I’m sure … not of being detached, but that the Killeen Hillbillies were back to get her. Ellie May picked up the big pieces of wood and put them in the back of the truck, put the license plate up front with us, and off we went. And, without further incident, we arrive at the dump.

Not only that, but I actually backed up the trailer into the dump area without running into the fancy-dan truck parked next to us. We unloaded our load in good time – but I noticed that in the back of the trailer was the left wheel fender that I forgot had fallen off some time back. So our trip to the dump was hauling an illegal trailer – one that had no wheel cover. Remember the side boards that had fallen down? I felt it prudent that we reattach those before we left. So I got a wrench out and began tightening the bolts that held the boards in place, right there in the dump, while people were outside waiting for me to vacate my spot. Of course, none of my good wrenches would fit the bolts, so I got our the crescent wrench, which worked fine, except and every other turn, it slipped off the bolt and out of my hand, and onto the ground. But, I kept on keepin’ on and soon the trailer was ship shape, and the guy waiting for us to move was relieved we got done. Except we still had no wheel cover, but I decided that would need to wait for another day or time. So off we go, headed back to the house. Did I mention that we plugged in the lights on the trailer, but they had stopped working long ago? Anyway, we got all the way home and as we were backing the trailer to its parking spot, the right side tire blew…. Just went flat very fast. So we unhitched the trailer and had to leave it where it was until Jethro (Leslie) got home to muscle it back into its parking place. Yes, Frankie Boy and Ellie May had quite a day.