Moncks Corner's Revenge - Part 4

Some years passed since that first trip down to Moncks Corner... and I had mistakenly thought myself free of the small town. I mean, let's be real. The town's very name makes it sound like a quiet place where nothing happens, right? At least nothing fun, right? I mean, it sounds like the home of a monastery, doesn't it? Or is it just me?

Well, on my first visit to Moncks Corner, I never really got the chance to get out and about and meet the indigenous population- the locals - in their native habitat. And let me tell you what, backwoods North Carolinians are an ... interesting bunch. But I didn't get to... observe them then. Rather, I simply went into our customer's shop, installed all the equipment and software as instructed, and skipped out the next day. We did receive a ride to that airport, and I use that term lightly, from the supervisor of the customer's shop - no truck ride with junkyard dog for me this time. Oh no! We went "high style" and rode in the company Dodge Neon, baby! Go Mopar!

That was years ago. A few years after that quiet, ominous, foreshadowing of a trip, my company ran into a bit of dry spell. We sold off the company plane - the advent of numerous "cheap and dirty" airlines (you know the type? - Valujet and their ilk) - made it economically unfeasible to keep it. Which was fine by me... at least until that whole Valujet airlines making various impromptu ocean landing strips" business. Cutting through the odd haze of the last several years and thinking back on it, you know, I didn't mind flying around in that little plane; but the loud drone of the engine and the barely pressurized cabin (to 10000 ft) got a bit wearing on my sinuses and eardrums. So much for my dreams of a cheaper way to becoming a licensed pilot, eh? Ahh well...

In any event, it turned out that we had to return to Moncks Corner. I got the "lucky draw" for the trip, so I decided to drive instead. I do like "earning" mileage. Back then, I believe the rate was 28 cents per mile, or something close to it. Gas, waaaay back then, was just over a buck a gallon... maybe a $1.22 / gallon? (Anyone else remember the middle ages?) Well, let's do the math - about 600-700 miles round trip @ .28/mile... that's about 200 bucks in my pocket for driving (minus the gas). I definitely needed the money then so...

I drove my Camaro down there. I had just recently purchased it and was very much jazzed about it. I had just recently installed a new stereo system with Infinity speakers (only the best, baby) and a CD head unit. Oh yeah! Considering my previous car had been a somewhat less than new Dodge Omni (the version that looked like a chinese take out box turned upside down) with a tape deck that only played properly in one direction - it ate tapes the other way - and could only receive fm stations under between 96 or so and 103... well, you get the idea. It also had enough power to go from zero to 60 in under an hour! Yeah, so I dug my new ride.

Now this trip, of course, afforded me the "opportunity" for viewing some of the local sights, at the expense of me having to drive the 300 or so miles down... hooray. (Yes, the lack of an exclamation point and the presence of a period instead was intentional. Can you hear the rejoicing I was doing? I didn't think so.) The ride down was quick and drama-free - a welcome change, as I am sure you would guess - and I arrived at the customer shop early. And so started my revisit to Moncks Corner...
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