Matt Gehrisch Online

I don’t seem to have enough storage space in my house.  I’m sure I’m not alone in that.  Yesterday I took on a little construction project in my garage.

Back when I lived with my parents, I had a pretty cool bedroom.  My dad and I had built a loft style bed that mounted to the wall on two sides.  The unattached corner was suspended by a chain from the rafters in the ceiling.  I had a couch under the bed where I could sit and watch TV.  When I moved out, we saved that bed in case it was ever needed again.  Yesterday, we found a new use for it.

I needed a storage shelf and a place to store my truck cap.  A quick trip to Lowes and and we were ready!

We turned that old bed into a twin sized storage shelf in my garage.  We mounted two 2×4′s on the walls in the corner to make a mounting rail to support the bed and make hanging and leveling it easier.  Next, we added a couple of support members to the roof trusses to strengthen them.  The trusses are designed to be loaded from above, and I was concerned about suspending the corner of the shelf from the bottom of the truss without extra support.

The other half of of the project was to build a rack to store the truck cap that came with my truck.  I’m not a fan of caps, but this one is to nice to get rid of.  At some point, I’m sure I’ll be glad I have it.  The rack for the truck cap was also suspended from the ceiling.

I was hoping to get a couple more years out of my old Blazer, but it had finally reached the point where maintaining it was going to cost more than the payments on a newer vehicle.  It served me well for the 7 years that I drove it.

Surprisingly, my suggestion to get rid of the ’97 Blazer and my ’94 Silverado and consolidate down to a single newer pickup truck received full support from Becky.

For the most part, the decision to buy another pickup truck instead of a car was based on the fact that we heat our home with a wood burning stove.  I need a vehicle to haul firewood.  I’m always on the look out for a “score”.  A “score” being a tree that has been cut down (and many times cut up) and left for the taking.  Sometimes they are left left by the power company, other times they are left by the property owner.  Free wood is like money in the bank.  There were simply too many times that I would pass a good score in my blazer and wish that I had been driving my pickup truck so that I could stop and collect it.  My old pickup truck had issues of its own though, which was why I was usually driving the blazer.

The other part of the decision to buy a pickup truck instead of a car is the simple fact that I’m a truck guy.  I can’t help it, a nice truck will catch my eye any day.  In fact, my seeing an nice truck on the road has been known to totally derail a conversation.  My new pickup is a 2004 Chevy Silverado 4×4.  I absolutely love this truck.  In addition to the start of wood scrounging season, I’m really looking forward to loading it up and heading out for camping and fishing trips this summer.

I’m not a big fan of truck caps, but the one on it is too nice to get rid of.  I’m going to suspend a rack from the rafters in the garage to store the truck cap so that it will be out of the way.  At least I’ll have it if I need it.  After I take the cap off, I’ll be able to put to put on a set of bed rail covers and install my toolbox in the bed.

I’m also working on plans to install my radios and antennas.  New toys are fun.

There has always been a part of me that has wanted to pick up and move out of Central Ohio.  I’ve dreamed of moving to Upper Peninsula Michigan, Alaska, Colorado, or even somewhere in Canada.

Last week, Becky made a comment that she thought that Montana would be a great place to live.  I’d have to agree.  Don’t get me wrong, I like Ohio, but I have to be honest… The scenery here has nothing on the scenery in Montana.

I’ve always loved the outdoors.  I enjoy fishing and camping, and would like to hunt.  Montana is frequently described as an outdoorsman’s paradise.  According to information that I’ve found online, the entire state (forth largest in the US) has less people than the Columbus Metro area.

The consensus among my friends over at hearth.com is that they would move in a heartbeat.  The thought of relocating is a bit daunting, but quite exciting at the same time.  I’m not sure what the next steps are at this point, as I’m still trying to figure out if this is just a dream that is better left as such, or something that is worth pursuing.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think!