So I have been bad about keeping up this blog. I will attribute that to new drug mix and the fact that I have been working to tie up some loose law office ends. Those are now tied down, and I should take the time to update here and attempt to write everyday.
I shall attempt to catch you up!
So, we know that I sold my last trailer. I then spiraled down quickly into a puddle of obsession to replace it. I spent untold hours lurking on Craigslist trying to find the new one. I even drove out to Longview to look at what I truly thought would be the next iteration, a tent trailer. On the web it looked in perfect condition. And it seemed to have a side that was larger and small, maybe twin sized, opposing bed. It was at a dealership.
I called the number and found that the guy had just come back from Seattle and really wanted to go home. But I asked a few questions, which he was happy to answer. He did not know if the trailer lights worked. But he would check. He called me back in about 30 minutes. Yes they worked! He mentioned that he was surprised with the amount of phone calls he had, so he guessed he had put the wrong price on this unit. This got me very excited. He agreed that since I was the first to call, I would be first in line the next day to see it. He called back another 30 minutes later, and I was unable to catch the phone fast enough, so it went to voicemail. I had given him my cell phone.
So now he knew I was a lawyer. Not good. This kind of ruins my ability to negotiate well. People have preconceived ideas about us……but I joked with him when I called him right back, since he was a used car salesman, he really didn’t have much of a leg to stand on! He laughed and we had a chat about life philosophies. We seemed to have similar views about how happiness is up to each individual. That it is a choice.
I have a quote on my office wall by Abraham Lincoln: “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
I truly believe this. That you can choose to see the big picture or focus on the minutia. The big picture is usually much sunnier than that tiny patch of ground over there under the dead tree……
He was calling to let me know that since he was a dealership the final out the door price was going to be $1650. This is much more than the $1200 he had it listed for. He tries to tell me that these are the licensing fees. In my mind I am wondering. When I licensed the Fleetcraft it was about $50. Hmmm. But I really thought that that was still a decent price for a small tent trailer.
I don’t like to go to places I have found on Craigslist without backup, so I called up AnnaLisa and lo and behold she would go down there with me the next day! So we arranged to meet and began our adventure. I was so excited that I went on the internet that night and managed to find the original owners manual and download it, print it and bind it with tabs. Woo Hoo!
Longview is 100 miles south of my house. It was a fun trip down with my friend. But as we pulled up to the dealership. Yes, a used car dealership. There was the trailer. Kind of tilted in a bad way. Looked like one of the beds had come off its rails. And it was HUGE. As we walked across a greasy, litter strewn parking lot surrounded by crap, towards the trailer it began to look worse and worse. The canvas was torn in a number of places. While it was clean inside, the outside was terrible, tape holding things together everywhere. And it turned out the bed that looked like it might be off its rails was really only pushed in half way with the canvas draped funny.
As I wander around this thing AnnaLisa steps to the back of the trailer and the whole thing tips. He hadn’t put any levelers on the trailer. Sigh. This freaked her out and she went to sit in the grimy office. At this point the guy comes out. We shake hands and start to take a look in detail. I am hugely disappointed, and completely intimidated by the thought of having to pack this thing up together and open it up all by myself. I think it is more than I can handle. Also the canvas is in such crappy shape. Dealer guy tells me it is just fine and if I truly want to change it up, I can find a hungry seamstress who can fix it for a small price. I happen to know that new canvas is $600 at the very least. Which I tell him. I am feeling worse and worse about this deal.
I give him the manual and tell him that I have to think about it, that I am going to take my friend to breakfast (did I tell you in order to be first in line to see it we had to be in Longview at 8 am? This means I got up at 6 am, and picked up AnnaLisa around 7 am—crazy!).
We got back in the truck and headed out for breakfast.
We did not go back.
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