On Yore Side

You might not know that I’m a cabinet designer by trade if you haven’t been reading this blog for very long. I’ve been building cabinets since I was 16, but January 8th of this year (it was my birthday) was the first time I took on a full-time cabinet sales and design position. Before that I was always either a builder or installer, working mostly for companies owned by family members (we are a cabinet making clan from way-back).

Over the years I took stints away from cabinets to tour the east coast and europe with various rock, jazz, and blues bands. And I did alot of moonlighting as a journalist for newspapers and magazines. But cabinetry was usually my main source of income and always a great craft to fall back on when the gigs dried up.

Well since I started selling cabinets this year, I’ve been riding around in my 1989 Chevrolet Celebrity that I bought from its first owner 3 years ago for $1000, when it had a mere 90,000 miles on it. It’s been a fabulous car, and has only cost me one repair job that was well under $100. While being a salesman it did me right because it got decent gas mileage and was dependable. For a while now her paint and interior lining have been coming off by the yard, so she’s got that “stripped” look, and I loved her dearly.

But two of our installers recently left the cabinet company, and I’ve been installing some of my own jobs myself. It’s pretty tough to install cabinets in a sedan. Eight foot moulding flaps in the wind and sometimes, if you have it sticking out both sides, you find yourself airborne. So I sold the car to a coworker for $700 plus a paint job for our bathroom, and got my old 1992 Dodge B150 installation Van with the rotating caution light and cage behind the cab legalized for the road.

The air blew cold when I jumped the old van off, and the CD player kicked out the John Schofield tunes with beautiful clarity. Air conditioning is important in southern Georgia, and the car didn’t have it, so this was nice. the van needed a new battery, but after receiving one ran fine for a day of putting about town. I decided it was fine for a trip out of town to a job I needed to finish up. The old trudger got me there just fine, and after I’d finished I cranked her up, threw her into reverse, and proceeded to high-tail it out of there. And then it cut off. In the middle of the road. It wouldn’t start back up. Nothing.
My client came out to help me, God bless him, and we pushed the van back into his yard. He gave me the keys to his truck and recommended a mechanic. In the morning, back at my house, there was a puppy underneath the truck, and it ran out to greet me. The dog hasn’t left since, and I’m wondering what to do with her, but that’s another story.
Anyway, I went back with a Trip-A card to get the van the next day and it cranked right up. It rode me about 20 minutes, all the way to my exit, and then petered out. Clients needed cabinets, builders needed quotes. The mortgage company needed a pay off figure. Secretaries needed invoices. The van wasn’t cranking.
So I called Trip-A and cruised in the tow-truck to the mechanique garage. Girlfriend Tammie graciously came and picked me up, and back at the house I fielded the onslaught of phone calls. My boss called to tell me he had bought me a new truck and it was waiting for me at the office.
So today I am driving a brand spanking new silver Ford XL F150, and all the jobs and invoices and mortgages are getting handled just fine. Thanks boss! You rock!
Just a few minutes ago, the mechanic called to tell me that the fuel pump was gone in my van, and that his estimate was $667. This weekend, I’m towing to the home of my good friend and collaborator, Kenny Savage.

Now, Kenny and I have a great idea as to exactly what we are going to do with that old 1992 Dodge B150 Work Van with the rotating caution light and cage behind the cab. It’s a crazy idea, but I think you’ll like it. Tune in next time when we have pictures on our blog!! Of the Van!

Until then,
May you ever hop high and long!
-J.L.L.