Yikes! Jay!
Glad you made it though the tire episode intact....
Thanks Ed Sharpe archivist for SMECC
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Jay West" <jwest_at_classiccmp.org>
To: <cctalk_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 12:53 PM
Subject: My VCF trip (long)
> The Burlington VCF trip was my first VCF. I enjoyed myself immensely.
Three
> cheers for Sellam for putting in the work to organize the thing. I did
talk
> to Sellam a bit about possibly having a VCF central in St. Louis - I want
to
> bring my cherished HP2000/Access system. I refuse to cart that system
across
> the country to either coast, or even to KC :) Sellam, I'll be in touch to
> discuss some stuff about seeing if we can have a VCF in St. Louis
sometime.
> The hotel (mariott) was wonderful, and it was so great to put a face with
> the email address on so many of the people I've been talking to here over
> the years. I will definitely make it to a few more VCF's, but hopefully
with
> less travel problems.
>
> Ah yes, so many have asked about "The Great Trailer Incident(tm)". Here's
a
> synopsis of my trip to VCF and what all went wrong - presented here
entirely
> for your amusement and as a lesson so that others (including myself) may
> avoid my screwball missteps.
>
> I left St. Louis on Wednesday the 14th, about 8am. Drove non-stop to
> Washington PA, about 600 miles and spent the night in the Red Roof. My van
> was loaded with two HP racks, and in tow was a 5x8 flatbed trailer with
two
> more racks and a few 7906 disc drives. The van and trailer were handling
> wonderfully. I checked the tires on the van before leaving Saint Louis,
but
> neglected to do that on the trailer. The trailer I had just gotten about 6
> or 7 months ago for $500 (because it included a PDP-11/45 on it at no
cost).
> It had driven back to St. Louis from TN just fine then. So anyways...
>
> I left Washington PA thursday morning to drive the remaining 600 miles to
> burlington. I was about an hour or so from burlington, headed east on
I-84,
> just 4 miles from the massachusetts border when the tire blew and
> disintegrated. I got out an looked and there was a few shreds of rubber on
> the wheel, the majority of my tire being about 30 feet behind the trailer.
> Pulled off the highway and pondered if a normal car jack would lift a
> trailer that was pretty heavily loaded, or how I was going to possibly get
> to the spare van tire with the van fully loaded, and if that tire might
fit
> the trailer, etc. etc. My adventure had begun.
>
> I called AAA and said "I'm not a member, but I'd like to be". They laughed
> and said they wouldn't sign me up for membership AND place a help call at
> the same time. How helpful. But they at least said they'd get me the phone
> number for a service station in my area. I had virtually no cellphone
> battery left. After getting transferred around to quite a few different
> service stations, one finally had a human voice instead of an "I'm sorry,
> we're closed" recording. Cool. Told them I needed someone to come out with
a
> certain tire, and where I was located. They said that because of the
> location/highway I was on, I HAD to have police come out before they could
> get out there. Huh? I told the guy I had no cellphone left, and would he
> please call the police for me. He said sure.
>
> Almost two hours later, still no police. What fun. It was around 11pm by
> then and I was getting pretty testy. So I called information, got the
police
> phone number. They said they weren't located in the area I was in, and
would
> transfer my call to another police station. Click... dead line. This
> happened about 3 or 4 times. Apparently police stations can't transfer
calls
> without hanging up on people. So next call I got the original police
station
> to give me the phone number for the right police station. Wrote it down
and
> asked him to transfer me... click... hung up on again. So I dialed the
other
> police station directly. Fast busy. Waited a while, fast busy again. This
> cycle repeats a few times. Finally called the original police station, he
> transferred me and joy of joys this time it went through. The police
officer
> at the new station politely got all my information, location, etc... then
> told me that I was talking to the Danbury police, which were on the entire
> opposite side of the state of connecticut from where I was. They offered
to
> transfer me (ARGH!) to Troop A, who were in my area. The kind people at
> Troop A said they didn't handle the area I was in, and transfered me to
some
> other Troop (F-Troop I suspect). When the transfer went through, I
received
> a recording "I'm sorry, but our offices are closed. Our normal business
> hours are..." ARGH!!! So I called the original police station, again told
> the guy where I was, that I had no battery left, and needed him to get
> someone out there, then hung up.
>
> About an hour later, an officer pulled up behind me and asked what the
> problem was. I suspect it was too DARK for him to see the SHREDDED TIRE at
> his feet. I told him I wanted someplace to come out with a tire and
replace
> mine, or tow to a 24 hour service station, etc. He then politely asked why
I
> called the police, that I should have called a towing service. ARGH! That
IS
> how I started out, and the towing service told me to call the police
first.
> What fun.
>
> The officer informed me I had two choices. Leave the trailer, and come
back
> in the morning and get it with a new tire, or call for towing. I wasn't
> going to pay towing to burlington, over an hour away. I couldn't get a
close
> hotel, because I had prepayed with late checkin for the mariott at
> burlington. I didn't want to leave the trailer on the side of the road.
But
> not because of what the officer said... he asked what was on it (no, I
> didn't jokingly say 'cocaine'). When I told him "antique computer gear"
his
> eyes got wide and he cautioned me about theives going up and down the
> highway picking stuff off vehicles/trailers left behind. Of course I told
> him that I wasn't concerned about general theives... I was concerned about
> my fellow collectors who may also be driving into burlington along I-84
that
> night, THEY would certainly stop and pick the trailer clean *GRIN* (just
> kidding). I decided to leave the trailer, chain it with padlock to the
guard
> rail on the side of the highway, and drive the rest of the way into
> burlington and deal with it tomorrow. I finally got to the mariott at
about
> 1am or so and the bed never felt so good.
>
> The next morning I got up, and drove the van to VCF so I could empty it
out
> and not haul that weight back to the trailer. As I was pushing gear in the
> front door, I met Sellam and asked him if he could make sure the stuff
made
> it in the rest of the way, that I had a flat tire on 84, and had to go
> retrieve it - so I'd be late to the show but would be there. Then I went
to
> sears just up the street from the service center, bought a tire, and
headed
> out an hour away on 84 in search of my trailer. Found the trailer, jacked
it
> up, grabbed the rim, and spent about 1/2 hour looking for a service
station
> that would put the new tire on the rim for me. Pulled in to something in
> studbury? and the mechanic said no problem, fired up his tire machine,
> and... *POOF*. Showers of sparks everywhere. His machine was not going to
be
> putting tires on rims anytime soon. So, he directed me to another garage a
> few miles away. They got the tire on the rim just fine. As the mechanic
put
> the tire in the van, I asked "how much do I owe ya?" fully expecting the
guy
> would do it as a freebie, or maybe 5 bucks. No... he wanted 20 bucks -
cash
> only. At this point, money was no object, I was 100 miles away, missing a
> computer show I drove 1200 miles (one way) to go to. GRRR.
>
> Drove back to the trailer, put the tire on and thankfully pulled away. Of
> course, when I put the tire on I got the bright idea that perhaps I should
> check the other tire on the trailer too. It was in really bad shape,
> probably would have gone anytime soon. So I limped back to burlington, van
> in tow, never exceeding 40 mph cause I didn't want the other tire to blow.
A
> few fellow highway drivers weren't particularly happy with me driving at
> that speed, and made that point quite clear with various hand gestures
wild
> gesticulations.
>
> So when I got to VCF I unloaded the trailer, then dropped the trailer off
at
> sears so they could replace the other tire. Went to VCF and had a total
> blast!! When I got into VCF, apparently the story of "The Trailer
> Incident(tm)" had spread like wildfire and grown substantially. I think I
> overheard one incarnation that involved my trailer being on fire and me
> being put in jail. Hehee... amazing how a story grows through retelling.
> Then much of the VCF folks went to Victoria's Station for dinner - where
the
> portions were huge and quite good! I had to leave during dinner to pick up
> the trailer (Sears closed at 8), but then came back for some good
> conversation and story swapping with my fellow classiccmp'ers. After
dinner
> I met in the lower parking lot of the marriott with Dan Cohoe, William
> Donzelli, and Evan Koblentz. Was rather funny to see three vans pull up
into
> an empty parking lot, starting moving a bunch of "big boxes" between them,
> then all go speeding off. Hummm. I got alot of really great DEC and DG
> stuff. You would THINK this would be the end of the story. NOT!
>
> I had taken four empty HP racks to the show... and confirmed with all four
> collectors before I left st. louis. Of course, at the show, one of the
> collectors didn't show up at the show at all, and the other one apparently
> left before I got there late friday (due to the above). So, I was stuck
with
> two large HP racks, sitting in Sun's building. I couldn't load them back
to
> my van, which was already full (and scheduled to get more at bobs and
> bills). So I was scurrying around asking Sellam for any ideas for
disposal,
> etc. Finally Dan Cohoe stepped forward to help me out and took both racks.
> One is still destined to go to the person who wanted it as they aren't too
> far from Dan C. The other... well... haven't heard from that collector yet
> :) Dan Cohoe - THANK YOU!
>
> I had to leave VCF a little early, because I had gear to pick up from Bob
> Shannon in Leominster, then more gear to pick up from Bill Dawson in
> Washington PA on the way back. Stopped at Bobs and loaded up, then headed
> for Washington PA. After about 120 miles, I noticed I itched. I was
getting
> bug bites. I looked across the dash of the van, and there were flying ants
> (or something like that) crawling over the entire dash, the seats, my
legs,
> etc. Apparently some of the gear I picked up at VCF or later had a low
rent
> housing project for these bugs going on inside of it. Opening all the
> windows while going down the highway, and then (later) closing the van up
> tight at night, seemed to get rid of them.
>
> It was pouring down BUCKETS of rain, and I had to pull off the highway
> several times as visibility approached 10 feet. When I got to Washington
we
> loaded the Reality into the trailer, and inbetween breaks in the rain got
it
> all tied down and ready to roll. As I was laying on the ground underneath
> the trailer hooking bungee cords up, Bill mentioned to me as an aside "Um,
> you do realize you're laying in a bed of poisin ivy don't you?". I now
have
> the rashes to prove I did NOT have any idea. I got perhaps 2 miles from
> Bills house before the trailer started fishtailing wildly. Cool! More fun!
> So I pulled over again but this time couldn't see anything at all amiss.
So,
> I called Bill, and trouper that he was... he drove up to help. After
> scratching his head a bit, he stood on the tongue of the trailer and found
> the problem. A seriously negative amount of tongue weight. We were pretty
> sure we had distributed the weight well (especially with the 11/34 up
> front), but, apparently not as the power supply for the reality is built
> into the bottom of the rack, and it is VERY heavy. So, I turned on the
> emergency flashers and followed Bill to a nearby closed gas station that
had
> a large covered area. We spent the next hour and a half taking everything
> off the trailer, re-organizing how it would go back on, retarping,
tie-down,
> and re-bungee'ing everything. Finally I was ready to continue home. The
> thing drove great on the highway now and I settled in for a long, relaxing
> drive back towards home - st. louis. There was really heavy fog around PA,
> and just as I was settling down into "watching the miles tick by"
mode.....
>
> Suddenly I see a large piece of scrap metal on the road in front of me. It
> came out of the fog, was no way to avoid it. I patiently braced for the
> dragging of metal, and my patience was rewarded with a wonderful shower of
> red sparks going up both sides of the van, from the piece of metal being
> drug under the van. Cool! All this fun, and a fireworks show for free to
> boot! The metal looked like a piece of aluminum siding all crunched up, or
> maybe part of a corrugated tin roof... something like that. I continued to
> drive for about 500 feet, because the metal piece looked pretty
> small/flexible and I figured it would work it's way out from under the van
> in just a few feet. It didn't. So I pulled over on the shoulder and sat
> there for a minute, contemplating what egregious sin I had comitted in a
> different life that merited this amount of trouble. I was trying to figure
> out just how (un)safe it was going to be, crawling under a van in the
dark,
> on a fast highway, trying to unwedge a piece of metal debris from under
the
> van. To my suprise, when I got under the van, there was no metal, and no
> damage, in sight. Apparently the metal HAD come out just when I pulled
over
> to the shoulder of the road.
>
> The rest of the trip home to St. Louis was, in fact, totally uneventful :)
>
> Again, it was really great to meet the folks there at the show. Everyone
was
> most friendly, helpful, and it was just a plain blast to put a face with
the
> name, and just sit and chat with people about this hobby. Hopefully,
people
> won't hold my grumpy attitude the first day at the show against me, now
that
> they see just what my thursday night/friday morning was like! Well, I'm
off
> to sort through old email, the business cards I collected at the show...
and
> try to somehow get back to restoring some more of the machines in my
> collection. VCF St. Louis anyone?
>
> Oh - by the way - if I had to do it all over again, with the same problems
> as above, I would. VCF was THAT fun. However, next time I will be taking
> along a spare tire for the trailer :>
>
> Regards,
>
> Jay West
>
>
>
>
> ---
> [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]
>
>
Received on Sun Jul 25 2004 - 14:31:09 BST