Six Days

    Whirlwind, chaos, monumental stress, self-doubt, then elation. That pretty much sums up the last six days for me. But I will cherish every moment because of the support I had around me. Here is the story of my six days of "fun".

   The float for the parade was I task I took on willingly, no one forced me to do it, I gladly accepted the "job". I knew it was going to be a challenge as I had never done something like this before. Sure I had helped decorate a trailer that was all built and ready to go, but NEVER from absolutely scratch. Of course I had some grandiose ideas in mind as to what I wanted to do, I wanted to build benches and weapons racks and so on, I wanted to decorate with flags and banners and with dragons everywhere to celebrate the year of the Dragon. In my mind this was going to top any float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. But then reality woke up and slapped me upside the head, it is May 27th and the parade is on June1st, that is six days including the day of the parade!! Yikes, how in the world am I going to get this done?

   Step one, get the trailer to somewhere I can work on it in my free time, you know, those minutes I have just "floating" (float - haha - get it?) around. That was Monday. The trailer was pulled out of the pit it was in and was now in a heated well lit easily accessible area, time to get moving. A quick paint job to cover the rust, which by the way was everywhere!!. Then a quick inventory of wood, measure the trailer, draw a "plan", OMG it's already 8:30Pm, neither Kody nor I have even eaten supper, time to call it a night.

   Tuesday. Busy with "life" from 6:30am till 8:30pm. No working on the trailer today. 

   Wednesday. I leave work a few hours early, it's not busy there so my boss hints for me to go work on the float, Thankfully Kody has some time to help me out today. We start at 2pm ish and go hard for a few hours, cutting wood for benches and starting to lay turf to prevent slivers. I break away for class, then right back at it for a couple of more hours. It is starting to take shape, I think.

   Thursday. Between Kody and my parts driver Jerry (thank you for your help Jerry) it is a flurry of building. Again I am allowed to leave work early to do as much as I can in the short time left. Between the three of us the turf is laid and the benches are 75% built. Then I am off to class. Back at 7:30 with the IHC team. A little chaotic but a ton gets done, great job team 👏😅, I can now breath a little. But there is still a lot to finish up.  

   Friday, it's Kody and I for about 5?+ hours. Checklist time. Benches assembled and safely secured check, turf on and trimmed check, Dragon platforms done and installed check, covers for benches on and stapled check, odds and ends overlooked and addressed (there was a lot!) check, re-trial run of trailer to truck fitment  check, truck sign attached to grill of truck done and check, I think we are 95% ready.

   Saturday. I'm at the trailer for 6:30am ish.  Make sure truck is fueled, washed and ready check. A final walk around to check for safety issues or obvious flaws, none found check. Off to Kwoon to load Lions and odds and ends, back to the trailer, everyone is there are ready. Off to the marshaling spot and then.......

Parade Time!!!!!

 

   Now I'm driving a truck and trailer full of people in a parade. Problem is I am not a trailer guy, this is a first for me, one of many over the past six days, white knuckle all the way from start to finish, I am a puddle of nervous sweat the whole way, kids EVERYWHERE on the road, OMG!!!!!! I would hate to think of what my blood pressure was, I have driven in white out blizzards that were less stressful than this. But we made it, I let out a few shaky breaths and take a moment to relive the adventure. But not too long, I totally forgot that we are now doing a demo, out comes my insane laugh, hahahaha. 

   Demo done, off to the Kwoon to unload Lions and such, apparently I am driving to fast, whoops sorry, my mind was in reset mode. Unload done, off to storage to park the trailer with the intention of disassembly to be done by Kody and I over the next week. Nope! A hand full of awesome team members unexpectedly and immediately jump right into taking the float apart. An hour later we are done, I am in awe of these people, thank you sooooo much. Kody and I do go back later and finish up some stuff but the help we had earlier turns a four hour job into a one hour job. 

   So that's my story. I tried to keep it short, I just wanted to get this done in word before it starts to fade.

 

Big Big shout out to Kody, I bet you put in 15-20+ hours of work on the trailer, I would never have had this done in time if not for you, thank you.

To everyone else who stepped up to make this float awesome, I thank you as well, every hand that helped in any way was greatly appreciated. Great job team.

 

 

P/UP 13077

S/UP 13015

SPAR 320 min

1609 KM 669.45 km

AOK  600 recorded

HAND FORM 150

WEAPON FORM 170

MASTERY 12