This is what makes the day at the Westfield race seem even longer . . .
 

A shipment of kayaks was due to arrive in the US on Wednesday the 18th. I had been told to expect them to clear Customs in 24-48 hours and expect delivery early the following week. Having had previous difficulties on International shipments, and feeling somewhat anxious, I called the Import Broker to check on the status at 10:00AM. After the usual exchange of pleasantries and light conversation, he checked on my shipment.

"We show that it has been unloaded, cleared Customs this morning, and is on a trailer."

The driver called within a few hours and delivery was set for 10:00AM on Thursday.

Now, I was expecting to have a weekend to make final preparations on the storage space before delivery. Fortunately, the space had been cleared, I had purchased the building materials to create the pens, and the initial construction had been started, but there was still much to do. We knocked off at about 9:30PM on Wednesday with 90-95% of the project completed. I stopped back at 7:00AM to finish the remaining tasks. While that seems like plenty of time to get a good night's sleep, I was way too excited to sleep. Thursday would be almost like Christmas for me.

The shipment arrived a little after 10:15AM on Thursday and we finished unloading the boats at about 12:15PM.

With that done, it was time to see if there was a truck available and if our customers would be able to (or would like to) take delivery sooner than scheduled. At 6:30PM I returned with a truck. We did some additional sorting of boats, and loaded the truck. A quick stop at home for a bite and I was on my way to Gilford, NH by 9:30PM; adrenaline rush still with me.

The first sign that things were not going to go as smoothly as hoped was finding out that there was a governor on the truck. I'd make OK time, but I would lose serious sleep time.

The first yawn didn't come until about 1:00AM, the end of the thruway. I kept thinking I should stop before I got really tired, but as the miles went by, I wasn't getting tired. Springfield, Palmer, Auburn,  and Worcester all went by without another yawn. Into NH I went. Tired yes, but not tired enough to stop. I asked the toll taker about hotels on upcoming exits, and off I went. In Concord, I decided I was tired enough to stop, too bad the hotel was full. I pressed on to Tilton, and was able to get a room, two and a half hours of sleep, and a nice hot shower before continuing on to Piches in Gilford. Boats were unloaded in record time, and after a quick visit I was back on the road by 8:45AM.

I want to say that the ride back seemed faster, but it didn't.

I arrived at Liverpool Sports Center around 4:00PM. The adrenaline long since gone, the boats were unloaded, the truck returned, and I came to rest at home shortly after 6:00PM Friday.
 
 
 

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