Tarp Blowing in the Wind
For the past 8 weeks, I have carted around a FIRST Lego League table, basically a big piece of plywood attached to 2×4’s, in the back of my truck twice a week. I would take it from Cougar Mountain to the school on Tuesdays, then back on Fridays. Especially after the rains set in and a tarp was required to prevent the thing from getting too wet, it became quite the hassle. Lets just say that a piece of wood just too big for the bed of the truck, and a tailgate that doesn’t stay closed very well, plus a tarp thats about two times too big, all add up to a big mess when crusing down the highway at 70 mph… or even 50 mph for that matter. I had to stop a number of times on my way between places to stop the tarp from billowing up and blocking my entire rearview mirror – and on a truck without a right side view mirror, that is a big deal. I’ve had the distinct honor or merging blindly to my right, hoping that no one is over there, and trusting that if they are, they’re getting out of the way. Then there was that time where the tailgate popped open and the table fell halfway out, freaking out the driver behind me pretty well. Fortunately, one of the 2×4’s jammed in the tailgate crack, and everyone survived the incident. That was as close to disaster as I came, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was flirting with it all the time. Now thats over, and this Saturday is the 2004 FIRST Lego League competition for Washington State. I’m volunteering there, and then tis no real FLL for another year. Kinda. We might start up some sort of year-round program, but it won’t be a high stress. At least, I’m not taking the table anywhere.