An Epic False Start

July 9, 2012

As soon as my new/old truck arrived, I contacted my landlord to inquire about renting access to his outbuilding (when we first moved in, he offered to rent the outbuilding).  When we first moved here, we didn't have a need for the extra space, but now, I knew it would be worth the extra money each month.  After a little bit of back-and-forth haggling, my landlord 

agreed to a fair monthly rate and I was ready to get started.  His shop was perfect...it is located on the property we rent and is gigantic--large enough to house two huge RV's:

The best part about it was the proximity to our home---a mere 100 feet from our back door.  This prime location would allow me to work in the evenings after my daughter had gone to sleep and save valuable time from having to drive to-and-from a rental garage located in town.  Things were all coming together...I was going to have a sweet place to work on my truck and it was only a matter of a few weeks before our landlord was going to make a trip out from California to hand over the keys to the shop and preform a brief "pre-rental" walk through.  

It wasn't until about a week before he was supposed to arrive that my master plan hit its first major obstacle...he requested an "itemized list" of everything that would be in the shop (he claimed it had to due with insurance purposes).  When I disclosed to him I would be working on my truck in the shop, he quickly rescinded his offer and told me to find another place in town for my project.  I tried to persuade him to change his mind...I told him I was willing to put down a deposit on the shop and would sign a lease agreement holding me responsible for the condition of the shop...he still refused.  I even offered to rent the shop for his original asking price of $200/month...which is outrageous) and he still refused.  He claimed there wouldn't be enough space for me in the shop with the items he currently has in there....I have my doubts (in fact, I looked through the window and there is enough room in there for me to restore 2 trucks).  I think the real reason is that he just doesn't want me working on anything in there.  

Regardless, my plan of restoring this truck came to a screeching halt.  All of the sudden I found myself with an old rusty pickup and no place to actually work on it....I felt like a guy with a boat in the desert.  I considered renting a place somewhere in town, but something tells me my wife would quickly become tired of me "disappearing" from the home and family for hours on end to work on my truck.  For this project to work and for me to remain married, I was going to need to find a solution that allowed me to work on the truck in close proximity to my family.  

Talk about being all dressed up with no place to go.  I couldn't start disassembling the truck outside on the driveway.  To be honest, I felt like a damn fool...here I spend this huge heap of money on this rust-bucket only to find it starring me down every time I went outside.  As a consequence, the truck sat parked in the driveway for the next 2 1/2 months.  What was worse is the fact that I had now become what I once had mocked...a truck hoarder!!!  Now all I needed to make this nightmare come full circle was for someone to knock on my door and asking to buy the truck. I can see it now:

"Oh, that truck...the one sitting on my property that hasn't moved in months?  Nope, I'm going to restore it."  

Yup...I had become what I had mocked.  With each passing day, I became more and more tormented by this irony.  In fact, I'm not sure which was more menacing--the giant "off-limits" shop sitting in my backyard or my sad looking pickup sitting in my driveway.  

Needless to say, I had my first "Humble Pie" entry.