Countdown to Leche: The Trailer Drama T-3 Days

My checklist has progressed 

✅ Trailer serviced, all done and picked up and mechanic approved to go to Cali

✅ Pack trailer: Spare halters, multiple lunge lines, spare lead ropes plus what's already with her in CA. First Aid kit, lots of buckets.

✅ Book a place to stay in California

✅ Buy grain for Leche: I have a bin for grain storage that will go on the shelf, reusable ziploc bags to hold the grain, just need to figure out portion sizes for her and bring some of her old grain with me to transition her

🔲 New board contract signed

🔲 Make feed instruction sign for grain room

🔲 Pack clothes for trip: we did do a ton of laundry over the weekend so this should be easy enough

If you recall, I had mentioned that there was drama involved with dropping my trailer off for servicing. The weekend prior to my scheduled drop off date at the dealership, a friend borrowed the truck and it had a dead battery. The truck was jumped and they proceeded with their dump run with minimal fuss and the truck was returned and parked. 

I intended to drop my trailer off the night before so I didn't delay the start of my work day, except when I went to start my truck, that evening, it wouldn't start. It wouldn't even try to turn over. Since both of our other vehicles are electric, we had to pull out the marine battery I use for camping and my CPAP and jump the truck off of that battery. It turned on and the engine purred just fine. I hooked up and headed to the dealership with the trailer.

Once there, I discovered that they close off their lot. So while they may say drop off after hours is okay, there wasn't a good place to put my trailer that wasn't painfully obvious to someone who might want to take it. I agonized about putting it in the back of their spare lot but ultimately decided I didn't' want to leave it overnight in an open lot. 

All of this was occurring on February 7, which just so happened to be the 20th anniversary of when Claire and I started dating. 

So I headed back home, a little discouraged and wondering how long it was going to take to get the truck running the next morning and worried that I wouldn't get the trailer serviced in time. I parked everything, turned the truck off and prayed that the battery was holding a charge after the driving I had done.

Nope. Immediately dead.

So Claire and I went on a late night drive to AutoZone to purchase a battery and we spent the evening slowly figuring out how to remove the hold battery (and shearing a bolt in the process) and install the new battery. 

The new battery was, thankfully, the solution. When Claire looked up life expectancy of truck batteries we were looooong past end of life for my truck, so it's honestly surprising there weren't issues sooner.  

The trailer was in good condition according to the mechanic, all electrical was good, bearings on both the main tires and spare were great. It's peace of mind.

And then I had far too much seafood at an after work dinner with colleagues. 

And there were flowers in early February!