PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

Keep being cautious my friend, because too many folks aren’t legit.

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@98tacoma27
@Gr8fl

I had another parking-related incident in Doylestown on Wednesday, but I handled a lot better than I did when I had that other incident back in September (with the guy in the Maserati). What happened with the guy in the Maserati is that I'd seen his car parked there once before, and I thought he was just some entitled rich guy who could bully me into giving up the parking spot. It ended well, and I am now borderline friends with the guy (I linked this post to that post).

It was on November 8th, and I was driving a free loaner car (2017 Toyota Camry SE) since my Tacoma was at the dealer getting a broken TPMS sensor fixed following the BJ's fiasco. My boss sent me to the state store to pick up 120 bottles of vodka (10 boxes). There are two stores in Doylestown, and I went to the smaller and older one right in town. To say the parking situation behind this store is tight would be an understatement. I pulled the Camry into the parking lot between the liquor store and the fire station, like I always do with my Tacoma when I pick up booze. I then proceeded to back the Camry up. There were cars parked on each side and a narrow space between them leading to the back door of the liquor store. As I'm backing the Camry up, this woman pulls up in a gray Infiniti, pulls her car into a handicap spot belonging to the fire station, and just stares at me. She is giving me a classic "What the fuck?" look, so I put my foot on the brake pedal, throw up my hands, and mouth "WHAT?!?!" to this woman. She then begins pointing at the empty spot to my left and says that's my spot. I shout out the window (not because I'm mad but because (A) I'm getting over an ear infection and my ear is kind of "stuffed up," (B) I am probably two car-lengths from her, (C) I've got the stereo on in the car, (D) She's probably got her stereo on, and (E) The engines in both of our cars are running; I shout "It's okay, I'm picking up booze! I work at a bar!"

I then continue to back up the Camry, get out, and hit the "trunk open" button on the key fob. The vodka was already paid for, so all I had to do was sign for it and load it up; This would have taken a few minutes. This woman starts ranting about she needs to get work at the hair salon next door and how she pays rent for both the parking spot and the building where she works.

My response was that "I've been picking up booze here, and parking back here, for years and nobody's ever cared," "I am not stealing your spot," and "I'll be gone soon." She wasn't having it and proceeded to go on about how she paid rent there. I'm like "Are you really going to make me pull this car all the way out so you can get to this spot?" She's like "Yeah."

I stand there next to the Camry for a few seconds, clenching my fists and gritting my teeth as I find my happy place. I then get in the Camry, drive forward, and let her in. As I'm backing the Camry up, she's getting out of her car and I lean out the window and say "If this car didn't have a backup camera, you would've had to wait." It's the truth!

I hate backing up to that liquor store, even in my own truck which has been equipped with a backup camera since September 2016. In a vehicle without a backup camera? Forget it! I had purchased collision on the Camry, just in case, and it had a backup camera; But I would not have risked backing into someone's car or the back wall of the liquor store and dealing with the subsequent bullshit that followed.

She continued to go on about how she paid rent there and needed to get to work. I more or less ignored her until she walked into her hair salon. Then, she came back outside and asked me what bar I worked at. Like a dumbass, I told her, and she said "Thanks, I was just curious." I could tell by the tone in her voice that she wasn't "just curious," and it wasn't until she disappeared again that I realized I might have screwed up.

So, I signed for the vodka, loaded it into the Camry (it actually fit just fine; All 10 boxes!), and drove back to work.

Believing this woman was going to "report me" to my boss or the bar owner, I told my boss what happened. I told her that I'd remained calm, and hadn't cussed or anything. I also told her that I had dashcam footage to backup my story if this woman came out of the woodwork and told a different story. My boss believed me but was understandably annoyed. It's been over a day since this happened and we haven't heard from her that I'm aware of.

So, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm going to run into jerks on a regular basis, and all I can do is remain calm. However, it is really starting to annoy me that people in Doylestown get so fired up over their parking spaces. I would never knowingly park in someone's private spot, and in this particular case I was not. If it hadn't been me, it would have been someone else from any of the nearly thirty bars in the Borough who ran into this woman...

Basically, what I'm trying to say is this...

SHIT HAPPENS! PEOPLE UNWITTINGLY PARK THEIR VEHICLES WHERE THEY AREN'T SUPPOSED TO, ALL THE TIME! PEOPLE ALSO MAY END UP BLOCKING ACCESS TO A RESERVED PARKING SPACE WHILE CARRYING OUT THEIR NORMAL WORK-RELATED DUTIES! STOP ACTING LIKE I'M PISSING ON THE GRAVE OF YOUR DECEASED RELATIVE BY PARKING MY CAR IN A CERTAIN SPOT!

I also think the fact that I was in a random gray Camry, and not my distinctive Tacoma, played a role in this encounter. Just about everyone in that part of town knows my Tacoma, even if they've only seen it in passing and it's more of a subconscious knowledge. I've never seen that woman in the Infiniti before, but I'm pretty sure I've seen her car. She's probably seen my truck, but has never actually seen me. I still say she should have either been nicer, or just kept her mouth shut and waited...

 

And then there was the time back in the summer of either 2015 or 2016. It was a brutally hot day (even by summer standards), and I think I was on break from work. It may have been my day off, but either way I was just cruising Doylestown with no particular goal or destination in mind. Then, I spotted a really nice 1995 Chevy Astro AWD that I just had to have a picture of. Problem was, there was no public parking nearby. On a more mild day, I would have parked a few blocks away and walked, but like I said it absolutely brutal. Just the mere thought of leaving the air-conditioned comfort of my Tacoma made me start to sweat. The Doylestown Agricultural Works was right there, and I figured "Yeah, it's parking for Ag Works Customers Only, but who the hell is going to care or even notice if I park my truck here for a few minutes to take pictures of this van?" I turn into the lot and immediately notice a beach chair with a book propped on it under a tree in the grass. I think it's a bit weird, but continue on. I begin pulling into the first empty spot I see, and the next I know this crazy-looking old man comes out of nowhere. He runs up to my truck and starts screaming "You can't park here! You can't park here!" Not knowing who the hell this guy is, I throw it into reverse, bury the gas pedal, and chirp the tires as I peel out of the parking lot.

At some point within the next couple of minutes, I put two and two together; I realized that the empty chair must belong to this old guy, and that the Ag Works must be paying him to weed out non-customers. I turned the Tacoma around, went back, explained what I was trying to do, and somehow managed to talk him into letting me park my truck in the Ag Works parking lot for a few minutes while I took pictures of the van...

But, yeah...

That should tell you how cutthroat the parking situation in Doylestown Borough can be...

 

Mountainview tires broke mine blamed it on already being broke. The one they replaced it with keeps creating a zero pressure reading and error message every 30 seconds so now i gotta go back and wait another 3 hours to see if theycan fix the programming. Nothing but issues

 

How cold is it near you today?

Right now it's in the 30s across the Philly burbs/Delaware Valley, with a wind chill that makes it feel like it's in the 20s, and it's only getting colder...



But that's okay, because the heat in my Taco works so good I'm wearing just a T-shirt and jeans!


And I don't even have the heat all the way up!

 

Steadily getting colder, and I'm barbacking in this Arctic hell!

 

Right from summer to winter.

 

The best kind of weather here!! Love the rain

 

Our house sound tech, affectionately known as "Soundman Mike," was vacuuming the venue stage. There were feathers, among other things, left on the stage by last week's act.

This is what it all looked like swirling around in the vacuum cleaner...

 

So I arranged the portable propane heaters just as you see in the photo, about an hour ago. My boss comes downstairs looking for me while I'm helping the sound guy move stuff around and prep for tonight's show. She says she needs me to put my jacket on and move the heaters. I'm like "I did that already. Don't you like it?" She's like "No, that's why I need you to move them."

I put on my jacket, followed her upstairs to the patio, and that's when I found she hadn't really seen how I arranged the heaters. She's like "Nevermind, Charlie. Great job! Just turn them all on low for me."



And by the way, it is officially below 30F now with a windchill that make it feel like it's below 20F!

 

Actual temp has gone down by a degree, but windchill temp is the same...

 

Big fan of Sonoma and Napa, great memories. Valley of the Moon Fistival, awesome people and awesome times.

 

Yeah it’s crazy to drive around in the hills/motions and be suraoinded but burnt trees and grass. It was the scariest two weeks of my life to-date

 

Oh yeah this happened today

 

Love high mileage vehicles, too many people discard great equipment. I view very high mileage as a badge of honor. Keep it climbing!

 

Hell yeah! My brother got this truck of his 18th in 2012 with around 35k on it. I got it two years ago when I got me permit, when I got it it had about 119k on it and two years later here I am 17 with one bad ass truck