Enough With the Shed, Already!

The old shed.

I'm not the kind of guy who is ever ready to declare a home-improvement project over. I can always do “one more thing” to make it even better, but I can finally declare my shed project completed. Actually, it was a two-part project that began in August with the epic tear down of the old shed. That required a couple of weeks. I managed to get through that portion of the project unmolested: No falling scrap ricocheting off my mellon; no rusty nail through my foot; not even a splinter in my hand.

With the previous shed demolished, I had to get serious about a new one. Without a shed, I had nowhere to store my lawnmower, lawn tools and other odds and ends that wind up in a storage room.

In planning for the new shed I was torn between going cheap with a plastic or metal shed, and investing about twice what such a shed would cost and go with wood frame. Additionally, I had to decide between going small to just accommodate the must-store stuff or building a structure large enough to house the lawn gear, as well as a work bench and all the boxes and plastic containers stored in my spare upstairs bedroom.

Because the shed would be visible from the street, I opted to go with wood frame. Not to mention I have some hope a wood-frame shed will add to the house's value when I sell the joint. I found an 8'x10' shed at Home Depot's Web site that appeared to fit the bill. The price tag was under $1,000 and came pretty much ready to build. It required buying some additional elements, such as sheets of plywood for the floor. I figured the final cost would reach about $1,300. Home Depot didn't stock this particular shed; so, I would have to order it online. I thought I'd order it and have it drop shipped to the Home Depot about 2 miles away. Then it would be a small delivery fee. Nope, I would have had to have it freighted to my house at an additional cost of $300. My $1,200 shed just escalated to $1,500!

My carport full of building material.

For whatever reason, Home Depot has changed this policy and this shed can now be picked up at the store. But the extra delivery fee at the time was enough to get me looking at other options. I took a look at 84 Lumber's Web site. It offers the lumber to construct a 10'x12' shed with fewer extra elements to buy for less than $1,000.

I considered 84 Lumber because I have a buddy who works there. I called him. He put together a estimate for me that included a few extra things I chose to add. He crunched the numbers, added a nice discount and arrived at a total with delivery of $1,060. A larger shed with more stuff and at a savings of more than $400. Deal!

The material delivery came as promised. Because of my travel schedule, I knew I wasn't going to begin construction for another week or two. I had the lumber dropped in my carport to provide at least some degree of protection from the weather. I waited until late October to buy the material and begin the building phase to get past mosquito season. Among just about every other nasty thing that can be said about a backyard, is that in mine mosquitoes reproduce like they are performing for a segment on Animal Planet. My plan then was to wait out the warmer temps that seem to be some sort of a mosquito aphrodisiac, holding out for the first frost. This semi backfired as the temperatures began a downward spiral.

Should have paid more attention to my level.

Structure placement was a big decision. I chose not to build the new shed on the site of the old one. My entire backyard slopes. Where the old shed sat would have required a major excavation, including adding sand and gravel. Instead, I decided to locate the new shed in the only spot in the yard that resembles a flat, level surface. It still required a good bit of digging before laying the cement blocks on which the floor framing would sit. I then laid three 12' 4x4s on the blocks. Despite my work and the relatively flat surface, the floor still wound up about 2 inches out of level. I didn't think it a big deal at the time, but it would come back to haunt me.

I framed the floor and nailed the OSB board to the framing. I bought a compressor and framing nail gun online along with a couple boxes of two different-size nails. I never used a nail gun before. It really made the work fly.

With the flooring down, I framed the walls and stacked the walls on top of one another on the shed floor in wait of an extra set of hands or two to help me set them. That came in the form of my buddies Erick and Jeff on Black Friday. Arriving about noon, we set the walls and nailed on the siding. It was pretty chilly eliciting a fair amount of grumbling from the unpaid help. With only one electric cord, things slowed down a bit as I had to plug and unplug the circular saw, drill and nail-gun compressor as each was needed. We pushed and pulled the walls to get the plywood siding to halfway fit. This is where the floor being out of level first reared its ugly head. We really struggled with the siding, but by the end of the day, we had sided most of the shed.

The next day my 84 Lumber buddy Steve arrived to help with putting the sheets of OSB on the roof. Truth be told: It was more like me helping him. He did the heavy lifting and most of the nailing. This job was also impacted by the unlevel floor. I had a series of car events in early December and the shed took a backseat. I was shopping for a roofing nail gun and dreading the shingling process when Steve suggested he give a roofing buddy a call. As it turned out, the buddy was willing to finish the roofing for $75. How could I turn that down? I returned home four days later to a fully roofed shed. I was so happy with not having to shingle the thing, I gave the roofer $100.

In terms of construction, all that was left were the trim, doors and ramp. I assembled and added the doors. Now I was finally able to put my ladders, compressor and so forth in the shed rather than hauling them back up to the house. I was ecstatic. The next day I added the trim. My math failed me in guestimating the length of the trim pieces along the roofline on the l2-ft walls. I had to piece them a little and then caulk the seams. I was coming down the ladder after the last bit of caulking when I took a misstep resulting in a hard landing and a hyper-extended left knee.

After rolling around on the ground for 30 seconds, I limped around the yard cleaning up my tools and putting stuff away. I walked with a cane for a couple of weeks and still have a brace on the knee, but I was back working on the shed by the first week of January. I added a ramp that folds up in front of the door, locking in place.

I nailed 14 2x4s together to construct the work bench. I built a few shelves, bought hangers to secure my ladders. Moving all the boxes, containers, and other odds and ends from the spare bedroom to the shed took more than a day – a job that still isn't quite finished.

Tah-dah!

It took me an afternoon to cut in the siding with stain and another morning to roll the flats. Putting a primer coat on the trim took a couple of hours as did applying the finish coat. My three-month shed building ordeal was finally over.

Now it's on to the closet-building project in the spare bedroom. Oh boy.....

No Pretender to the Brand: Jeep Renegade Is a Full-Fledged Off-Road Ninja

I'm not the kind of guy to ever turn down a serious bit of off roading – even when I might not be sure that the vehicle in question is really an off-roader. That was the situation when Jeep gave me the nod for a dash to the California coast in late January for some wheel time in its all-new compact-SUV Renegade.

You see, carmakers are always tinkering with their brand in the hope of expanding the customer base. Mainstream brands move upmarket trying to hang on to their customers as long as they can as they grow more affluent. The Kia K900 leaps to mind. Luxury marques keep creating smaller, less pricey vehicles trying to lure younger, less affluent buyers. The strategy is to hook'em early and then hang on to them as they buy ever-more expensive cars. Think: Mercedes CLA and BMW 2 Series. 

Creating an all-new entry-level SUV provided Jeep with the opportunity to launch some watered-down pretender to the brand, slapping a bargain-basement price tag on it and luring buyers, who always wanted a Jeep, but couldn't afford it, into buying one.

But, Jeep didn't do that. Nope; the Renegade is a remarkably capable compact SUV with all the Jeep off-road engineering and technology that could be crammed into it. I know this because Jeep didn't pull any punches with its off-roading venue: Hollister Hills State Vehicular Recreation Area that's about 50 miles southeast of San Jose.

Jeep provided two courses for testing the Renegade's mettle. One a steep up-hill-down-hill course that not only showcased Renegade's ability to claw its way up a steep grade, but also presented an opportunity to really test its Hill Descent mode. The other course had a wide variety of off-road hazards. Renegade performed brilliantly on both.

Not only did this compact Jeep shine when off the pavement, it was pretty impressive grabbing the asphalt on road, too. Composed and pretty damn nimble for an off-road slugger, Renegade proved to be surprisingly agile in the twisties.

Shoppers have two engine choices: a 160-horsepower 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder in the Sport and Latitude trims, and a 180-horsepower 2.4-liter Tigershark four-cylinder standard in the Limited and Trailhawk trims. A six-speed manual is standard in 2WD and 4x4 Renegades with the 1.4L engine; while a nine-speed automatic comes standard with the 2WD and 4x4 2.4L. Jeep has yet to disclose fuel-economy numbers, but promises highway fuel economy of at least 30 mpg for the 2.4L. 

The Trailhawk gets Jeep's Active Drive Low 4WD system with a crawl mode. Other trim levels use the Jeep Active Drive ($2,000 option). Both include Jeep Selec-Terrain with the choice of modes, such as Snow and Mud.

There is nothing cheesy about the interior. It's well assembled and comfortable. Everything is logically located. The A-pillar is thicker than most and does somewhat hamper outward vision, but it's an understandable compromise helping Renegade achieve its structural rigidity. A two-piece “My Sky” sunroof can be removed, opening much of the roof to the open air.

There's lots of standard and available technology. Chrysler's Uconnect with a five-inch touchscreen is standard on all but the base Sport model, as is a rearview camera.

Base pricing begins at $17,995 for the 2WD Sport and works its way up to $25,995 for the 4x4 Trailhawk. Renegades will begin trickling into showrooms in late February.

Jeep hosted this little Renegade hoedown at the Hotel Valencia Santana Row in San Jose. I flew in and out of San Francisco's airport, roughly 45 minutes away. Characterized by large guest rooms and friendly service, Hotel Valencia is in the trendy Santana Row district. The area is composed of restaurants, upscale shopping and pricey residences. 

On night one, Jeep staged dinner at the SP2 Restaurant. The food was good and the bar sported a couple of decent ryes, which the bartenders encouraged us to sample. The second night was right up my alley: LB Steakhouse. I do like red meat and the steak was grilled to perfection.

The bar at SP2.

 I guess if I were to sum up Renegade I'd say, it may be small in size, but it's huge in heart and capability.

My No. 1 Obsession of This Season's Crop of New TV Shows

McDermott and Q on "Stalker."

I'm not the kind of guy who refuses to be away from home on particular nights because of being hooked on some TV series. That's mostly because I have a DVR and record everything I even think I might want to watch. If that weren't the case – and with what ATT Uverse charges me per month for my HD channels and DVR it might not be the case much longer – one of the shows I wouldn't miss is the CBS series “Stalker.” Wow; am I ever hooked!

My DVR provides such freedom from being tied to the TV that I had to look up the series just now to know that it airs on Wednesday nights. 

The "Stalker" squad.

I somehow missed the first episode when it aired, but then set the trusty DVR to record the rest of the series. I think I had 10 or 11 episodes piled up by the time I finally got around to watching the pilot on my PC. I then binge watched all the recorded episodes over three nights.

The premise is fairly simple: A squad of detectives specialize in stalking crimes. There, that's it. Of course nothing is ever that simple on TV. There are a couple of back stories afoot, too. One involves Dylan McDermott's character Jack Larson, who has a checkered past with another police force and is estranged from his wife. His ex also just happens to be with the DA's office. Then there is the squad leader Beth Davis, played by Maggie Q, who has a tragic past and is currently being stalked herself by a nut-job she came across stalking someone on another case. 

A fangless Klaveno.

Another key character is Mariana Klaveno's Janice Lawrence. “True Blood” fans will know her as Lorena. She looks pretty good without fangs.

One of the elements that keeps me coming back is the music track for the last three or four minutes of the show. It's an eerie cover of some 80s hit. Sometimes I have to listen for a minute or two before I recognize which song it is. “One Way or Another,” “I Want You to Want Me” and Hungry Like the Wolf” are particularly good. In fact, I searched around on iTunes, Amazon Digital and other places to find seven or eight of them, which I downloaded.

Is it “Masterpiece Theater?” Nope, but it is good TV.

A Little Wine, a Little Craft Beer and a Whole Lot of Nissan's Murano: A Napa Valley Outing

Historically my Decembers are relatively quiet; usually very boring, really. Even my dot-com clients that require a steady stream of content grow relatively quiet the last month of the year. December usually provides an opportunity to catch up with other projects or just decompress a bit. Not so this past December.

As recently as October I was bemoaning to fellow motoring-press road warriors that I was going to miss Platinum Medallion status with Delta by a significant amount. Boy, was I wrong. Suddenly the invites to December media events came pouring in. When the smoke cleared, I wound up being away from home 21 days of the month, including my 8-day Christmas vacation at my sister's in New Mexico. I was awash in media trips: three to the California coast and one to Austin, Texas. I wound up blowing past the 75,000-mile requirement for Delta's Platinum status with more than 1,000 miles to spare.

Sandwiched into my travel schedule between events for the Chevrolet Trax and Kia Sorento was an excursion to California's Napa Valley for the Nissan Murano.

Nissan makes Nashville its North American home base, building roughly 85% of the product it sells in the U.S. in this country. Among that number is Murano, assembled at Nissan's plant in Canton, Mississippi. Having visited that plant, I can tell you it's quite amazing.

Here're a few things you should know about the third-generation Murano: AWD is available and about 55% of Muranos going out showroom doors have been AWD. It features an all-new IT system with smart phone-esque controls. A power panoramic moonroof is available. With a coefficient of drag of 0.31, it cheats the wind roughly 16% more effectively than the previous Murano. This contributes to the nearly 20% improvement in the new Murano's fuel efficiency: It delivers an EPA-estimated 24 mpg in combined city/highway driving. Nissan offers it in four trim levels all using a 260-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 to turn the wheels via a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

Some other facts: It has an active grille shutter to enhance mileage. A power rear liftgate and heated outboard mirrors are available. Front and outboard rear seats are based on a NASA design to reduce fatigue. A rearview camera is standard. Pricing begins at $29,560 for the FWD S and climbs to $40,600 for the Platinum AWD model.

This is a seriously good-looking crossover. Nissan views Murano as sort of a traveling sitting room, and is targeting empty nesters. It is uber spacious and comfortable (It has a best-in-class rear cargo volume of 39.6 cu.ft. with the seats in place and nearly 70 cu.ft. with the second-row seats down.). Nissan mapped out a drive route for us that took us to the Pacific coast, and included a variety of road and traffic conditions. I felt right at home behind the wheel, as well as in the front-passenger seat. This is a remarkably hospitable cabin. 

My cottage at The Carneros Inn.

Nissan put us up at The Carneros Inn in the town of Napa. It's owned by Plumpjack winery. I've stayed there a few times and always found it comfortable and relaxing. Most Napa visitors are in search of a lifestyle getaway. The Caneros Inn provides such an experience. The bulk of the guest accommodations are stylishly furnished cottages. 

My cottage's outdoor fireplace.

 Each has both indoor and outdoor fireplaces and an outdoor tub. The convertible shower can be rapidly converted from indoor to outdoor as well. I took my morning showers indoors, but made the switch to outdoors when showering for dinner. The tiled bathroom floor was heated. I could have gotten very used to this place.

Nothing like an outdoor shower in 50-degree temps to get the blood circulating!

I had to chuckle, though. As with all upper-crust California lodgings, The Carneros Inn encourages guests to save water by hanging towels back on their racks after each use, indicating a willingness to reuse rather than laundering them. Here's the thing: Coaxing hot water out of the shower is something akin to sucking a watermelon through a knothole. I would have to start the water running at least 10 minutes before I was ready to step into the shower to ensure at least some degree of warm water. When I was in a rush, I would turn on every hot-water faucet in the place to hurry the process to eight minutes. I can't imagine washing my towels required less water than a hot shower. 

Now you might think that being in Napa meant swimming in wine. Well, I like wine. I like it a lot, but my love of craft beers motivates me to seek them out wherever my travels take me. My driving partner and I managed to sneak off for an hour or two and visit a couple of nearby craft breweries after the organized ride and drive. We visited the Hispanic-owned Carneros Brewing Company where I enjoyed a Morena Ale. Then we were off to Napa Smith Brewery. We had both been to Napa Smith previously when Subaru rented the entire place out to host a dinner last year for its WRX media event. There we had its Nitro Bourbon Barrel-Aged Porter. Good stuff!

With Nissan marketing Murano as a lifestyle crossover, the choice of a venue to introduce it to the media couldn't have been better than Napa. Great wine and wonderful craft beers: I was in Heaven!

Hobbling Through the Holidays!

I'm not the kind of guy who heads to the doctor at the drop of a hat. In fact, if I'm in good enough shape to get around under my own steam, things aren't bad enough to require an encounter with a medical professional. That's my policy and has been for decades.

Having said that; it should come as no surprise that after a recent knee mishap, I rubbed some dirt on it and carried on. Well, not exactly, but I did opt to self medicate. I don't need no stinkin' doctor. At least I hope not. Still too soon to tell.

I'll provide the 411 on exactly what happened in a followup posting, but the important takeaway is that my knee was wrecked and I still had a Chrysler trip to Austin and a my annual trip to my sister's in New Mexico over the next 10 days.

My Austin trip was just 50 hours after my knee “went south” with an early-morning flight out of Greenville on Tuesday. I grudgingly invested $30 in a cane and managed to get myself where I needed to go on Sunday and Monday. First thing Monday morning I texted the Chrysler's trip planner and facilitator. Explaining my situation, I offered to bail on the trip rather than be a big P.I.A. Chrysler wouldn't hear of it, promising to take good care of me.

True to their word, Chrysler bent over backwards doing just that. I was babied, pampered and catered to. I sort of liked my new status. I was never really worried.

My major concern was my plane change in Atlanta and getting to baggage claim in Austin. I knew I wouldn't be able to alley-oop my rollerboard into the overhead on the plane; so, I decided to check it. Still not convinced I could hike the mile and a half usually required to change planes in Atlanta, I requested wheelchair service.

Here's the thing, once I was past the huge bruise to my ego, I fully embraced the whole wheelchair thing. It was great. Normally I get to board right after First Class with the other 50-to-90 Medallion members who are always part of any flight out of Atlanta. But at least I don't have to board with the commoners with their paper-bag luggage and chickens under their arms. (I made that part up.)

The best news ever: Roll up in a wheelchair or hobble up wielding a cane and you get to get on the plane ahead of First Class. Sweet! I could easily become accustomed to both the wheelchair service and preboarding.

I had a wheelchair meet me on the jetway when my plane landed in Austin and the attendant took me all the way to baggage claim. As we moved along the concourse I waved around my cane shouting, “Make a Hole! Precious cargo coming through. Make a hole!” Not really, but I considered it.

I didn't bother with wheelchair service on the trip to my sister's in New Mexico a couple of days after my return from Austin. I drove over and flew out of Atlanta, knowing I'd be at the airport in plenty of time to get myself where I needed to go. I flew to Denver, picked up a Volvo V60 Wagon delivered there for me and drove to my sister's some 450 miles south in Los Lunas. I managed to get myself from the plane to baggage claim without any assistance, but still took advantage of early boarding.

Although I had injured my knee almost two weeks earlier, the week I spent at my sister's was my first real opportunity to get off it and give it a rest. I spent most of the time in my brother-in-law's recliner asking for stuff like cookies, eggnog and anything else I could think of. Yep, I could get used to this.

My first order of business when I finally climbed out of the recliner was to head to the drug store to buy a knee brace. I spent a whopping $15 on that. (For those keeping score, my total investment in this injury so far is $45.)

The brace makes a remarkable difference. My knee is much more stable. I have no clue if the injury is such that it will heal itself, but I am hopeful. I did aggravate it a bit at the Denver airport as I checked in for my return trip. It had begun to feel pretty good up to that point.

Oh, well, I'm going to cross my fingers and think happy thoughts. In the meantime, I'm going to try a light workout at the gym on Jan. 2. It'll be my first time there in three weeks. If you hear a loud snap and a girl-like scream, come a runnin'.

Making Tracks in San Diego in the All-New Chevrolet Trax

I'm not the kind of guy who turns down flying to San Diego for a media launch on Monday with a return home on Tuesday despite already having flights booked to San Francisco on Wednesday. Maybe I should be, but I'm not.

This was part of a December of barnstorming back and forth across the country with carmakers that isn't over yet. Over a 10-day period, I flew to and from California twice and Reno/Lake Tahoe once. I still have a round trip to Austin to squeeze in before heading to Christmas in New Mexico. All of this while trying to make a little money and finish the construction on a new shed. It's been a stressful and busy December.

My San Diego overnighter was with Chevrolet and its all-new small crossover, Trax. This is about the only segment in which Chevy wasn't represented. Well, it is now. 

Friends don't let friends drink Stone Beers.

I arrived in time for lunch at Stone Brewery from which the ride and drives were staged. Anyone who knows me realizes this wasn't a pleasant experience for me. I am convinced that Stone is the great Satan of breweries. Have you seen its logo? After the stunt it pulled in South Carolina, I have nothing but animosity toward it. Here's the brief 411: Stone came to South Carolina with the promise that if laws were changed that permitted breweries to serve beer on site, it would establish its east-coast beachhead brewery in South Carolina. Getting this done involved a lot of SC movers and shakers, but get it done they did. Things moved right along and reached a point where a couple of local brewers in the know were convinced Stone had chosen Greenville as the site. “It's a done deal,” one of them told me. Apparently, though, no one at Stone had bothered to look at a globe until months into the process because suddenly it announced that SC wasn't central to the east coast, and it was now considering Ohio. What? I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but wouldn't determining what is a central location be the first step in such a process? What a collection of jerks. The last I heard, the clowns at Stone have since made another 180, choosing Richmond, VA as the site. I can just imagine some blindfolded doofus in Stone's executive offices tossing a dart at an east-of-the-Mississippi map.

So, I no longer drink Stone beers. I had a Stone shirt that I pitched in the trash after lining my cat's litter box with it. And, on my GreenvilleInsider Web site, I have a policy statement on the home page that reads: “Friends don't let friends drink Stone beers.” 

In any event, I wasn't happy being in the belly of the beast. But it was a terrific opportunity to put a few miles on Chevrolet's new crossover.

A global vehicle, Trax has been on sale in some regions for a while. It's built in South Korea. Chevy offers it in three trim levels with one engine-transmission combo: a 138-horsepower 1.4-liter turbocharged four and a six-speed automatic tranny. Pricing begins at $20,995 for the base LS that includes the MyLink infotainment interface with a seven-inch touchscreen, as well as 10 airbags, rearview camera, full power accessories and an iPod interface. It gets 34 mpg on the highway.

Things can get pricey. One of the versions I drove was a top-of-the-heap LTZ with AWD that priced out at $27,430 with its $900 worth of options. Of course, it was packed with all sorts of goodies.

A few other things worth knowing: All trim levels come with OnStar 4G LTE which includes a Wi-Fi hotspot. AWD is available across the trim spectrum for $1,500. Rear-park assist, a Bose seven-speaker audio system, power sunroof, heated outboard mirrors and heated front seats are available or standard on specific trim levels. 

The driving routes weren't particularly challenging, but did reflect the driving environment most people will find themselves in when piloting around a Trax. Without raising the bar, it is fairly quiet and comfortable. It can go toe to toe with more established competitors like Nissan's Juke.

After about three hours of driving, my driving partner and I headed to the Hotel Palomar, where Chevy boarded us. Located downtown on 5^th Avenue, it is a 20-floor hotel that is modern and friendly. I didn't spend much time there other than to sleep. The product presentation was in its pool area, but otherwise, it was a blur.

Chevy hosted dinner that evening at the trendy Searsucker Restaurant. The food was excellent. It also served one of the better beers I've ever had: Belching Beaver Brewery's Peanut Butter Stout. Oh, lordy, it was good.

A whirlwind trip: I was in Chevrolet's hands all of 18 hours, but it was well worth it; well other than that Stone Brewery element.

Flying Delta Between Atlanta and Greenville Is Not a Gimme

Greenville-Spartanburg Airport.

I'm not the kind of guy who bitches incessantly about traveling in general and Delta – my airline of choice – in particular. Although, if you read this blog with any regularity, you might conclude otherwise.

In truth, I complain less now than I used to, but I used to fly 120,000 miles in an average year; now I fly around 75,000 to 80,000. I guess that could explain my more accepting attitude. I'd like to think I've mellowed in my declining years, but that's probably not the case.

I just completed my fourth Delta trip between Greenville and Atlanta in less than a week (I had a trip to San Diego 7 days ago that caused me to change planes in Detroit rather than Atlanta or it would have been my fifth Greenville/Atlanta slog.). In any event, I just completed my fourth 25-min flight to or from Atlanta.

These four flights involved six planes; half of which were broken, causing a delay. The worst experience was six days ago on my San Diego return. My original Greenville flight would have got me home at around 3:30 p.m. I have some Delta status, which means, among other things, that occasionally I get upgraded to first class. I was among the lucky first-class lottery winners for this flight. I was all the way down the jetway and could see the first of our group beginning to walk through the plane's door when one of the crew stepped into the doorway motioning us back into the terminal. Apparently the pilots discovered a fuel leak of some stripe and called for maintenance.

If this was the Wagon Queen Family Truckster station wagon, the fix would have involved some duct tape and a prayer that it would stem the fuel leak until some future day when it could be driven to the shop and fixed. This isn't how it works with planes. Whatever operation was required to permanently repair the problem had to be performed before the plane could fly. I don't have an argument when the issue is mechanical even if it does inconvenience me. My benevolent nature, however, doesn't cover non-mechanical issues that have no bearing on safety; say, like a burned out light bulb, which grounded a plane I was scheduled on from West Palm Beach to Atlanta earlier this year. Some officious snot from the FAA or some other alphabet federal agency in the course of performing a surprise inspection found the felonious bulbs and grounded the plane for two hours while the issue was resolved. Our tax dollars at work.

In the case of the fuel leak last week, the flight was delayed for about an hour as the leak's source was found, deemed not fixable at the gate and a replacement plane secured. Our departure gate was changed and in mass, 100 or so passengers adjourned to the new gate where we waited for the replacement plane to arrive and disgorge its passengers. No sooner had the last passenger walked into the gate area than the gate attendant announced that, you guessed it, this plane was also broken and the delay would be at least 45 minutes and probably longer.

When the original delay was announced, I phoned Delta and backed myself up on the next flight that was scheduled to leave around 4:45. With the announcement of the second broken plane for the same flight, I walked out of the gate area and headed to the gate for the 4:45 flight. I even retained my first-class upgrade. Delta does get some things right. I wound up arriving around 5:30, dumping me into the I-85 rush-hour traffic jam between Spartanburg and Greenville.

Concourse B at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport.

That was on Tuesday. My Wednesday-to-Friday flights to and from San Francisco went off without a hitch. My luck didn't hold, though. This morning as I waited for my flight to Atlanta kicking off a three-flight trip to Reno, a mechanical issue delayed me once again. Fortunately, it was only about 20 minutes. I baked almost a three-hour layover into my Atlanta stop; so, I wasn't concerned other than it was another broken plane.

I have no clue why mechanical issues are such a regular element of these uber-short Greenville/Altanta flights, but I find it worrisome. With Delta's change in the way it will compute its Sky Miles status levels in coming years, giving greater weight to money spent annually, I am forced to tack the Greenville/Atlanta flights onto more tickets to drive up the money spent, rather than driving over to Atlanta's airport as I historically have. In doing so, however, it appears not only am I flying more miles on planes that don't seem to be in good repair, but I take the chance of missing connecting flights. A rock and a hard place? You bet.

With the specter of flying more between Greenville and Atlanta, I expect to grow less and less happy with Delta and the condition of its regional fleet.

The down side for you, dear reader, is that my complaining is bound to increase. Consider this fair warning.