Lesson 1: Don't rent tow dollies

Lesson learned: April 1, 2011. I rented a 26' U-Haul truck to move my garage stuff to Charlotte, NC, from Bloomington, IN. I saved $76 over the cost of a vehicle trailer. A tow dolly allows the front wheels of a front-wheel drive vehicle to be raised onto the dolly platform and towed behind a truck. The free-wheeling rear wheels follow along, and all is fine going down the interstate. Until you hit a bump... That's exactly what I did somewhere in the last 100 miles of Interstate. When we stopped for gas, I noticed a tear in the bumper! YIKES! I can only guess that the truck hit a low spot on the Interstate, causing the rear to go down. This raised the bumper of the traililng car. When the truck recovered, rising up further than normal, the towed vehicle bumper dropped too low. The bumper scraped on the freeway and caught on something, ripping the connector between the bumper and the frame off, splitting the rear bumper in half. No minor problem, this. the estimate at Wilburn Auto Body repair was about $1200...and loss of the car for 2 days. Lesson learned: Pay the extra money and get the car off the roadway. Rent the tow vehicle that puts the entire car body onto the trailer. There will probably be more to come on this one...

Why this blog?

Inspiration comes in many forms, but not always happily. I am in Charlotte, North Carolina, looking for a rental so that I can start my new job at UNC Charlotte. Sitting in my hotel room on a Sunday morning, I was looking at Facebook, and found How to Steal Like an Artist, by Austin Kleon. In his blog, he recommends writing a little bit every day. He claims that at the end of the year you will have a large book. Now, I'm not certain I'm going to write every day for a year, but my plan is to write down the things that I learn. I will concentrate on lessons I have learned each day, but will beg a little artistic license and dig into the past as the old lessons come to the fore. So...wish me luck...or not. This is my collection, and it is not likely that the lessons I share will be earth shattering. They will be real...and important to me. If they are important to you as well, let me know. Thanks, Austin...your article was an inspiration, at least to me. -Kurt-