The Driveway

I remember as a kid my dad trying to teach me how to back up a trailer.  That was a disaster!  It wasn’t until I was an adult, and my dad was long gone, that I had occasion to back up a trailer.  I was apprehensive but found that it wasn’t that hard after all.  Maybe something my dad was yelling at me sunk in, or maybe it’s just not that hard.  Whichever, I certainly have had the opportunity to hone my skills.

Since starting a winery at my home, which is located at the end of a thousand-foot driveway, and possesses a turnaround that can barely accommodate a three-point turn in a passenger car. The only access to my cute little winery tucked away at the end of this long driveway is to back a truck and trailer in every time.  Often this must be done in the dark, and to make matters worse the driveway pitches slightly up for three hundred feet, then down for seven hundred. When I’m backing a load in the dark and crest the hill in the driveway, I’m backing by brail.  There are a few moments when I have no idea where I am, and the running lights on the trailer just aren’t adequate to guide me in the dark.

Then there is the matter of me bringing things down and pulling them out, at all manner of day and night.    We are not just talking about normal things that you see coming and going in a normal suburban neighborhood.  No, I have my trailer loaded with bins, filled with grapes, of the finest quality.  Sometimes, it is racks and racks of beautiful French Oak barrels, filled with the finest red wine, which I’m transporting in and out.  Other times, I have my trailer stacked high with cases and cases of finished wine, on its way to the tasting room and your table.  Just today I brought home a 1000 gallon fully jacketed stainless steel wine fermenter.  Polished stainless steel, variable capacity, and glycol ready.   It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.  I wonder what my neighbors think of the strange goings on?  Maybe they don’t even notice!  They certainly notice as I’m blocking the highway, maneuvering the truck and trailer into the driveway.

Flint

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