Wednesday, February 01, 2006

IEPITA

If you had told me I would one day buy a $35,000 vehicle with at most 3 horsepower, I'd have laughed in your face. And yet, behold -- the Incredibly Expensive Pain In The Ass (or the IEPITA as I call it).

That's our living-quarters-built-in, tack-room-included, three-horse-stall gooseneck trailer. It has leather seats on the inside, sleeps up to four (or five if you're real friendly), has a shower and toilet for people, Texas-star cabinet pulls, and just about everything else you need to camp out in style while you ride horses.

It also has the undocumented power to drive me insane.

Ever week it's something else with the IEPITA. The winch breaks. The batteries drain. The solar panel for recharging the batteries fails. The pull-out canopy is moldy. You have to drain it for winter storage or the water lines explode. The generator needs testing. The butt-bar for the last horse stall is busted.

On and on and on and on and on ... Not to mention the difficulty of just hooking and unhooking it up to the truck. And driving it -- oy. It's like driving a bus.

But then, a bus has more than 3 horsepower, and the city has to foot the bill. I wonder if I can get a Cap Metro pass for the horses?

1 comment:

The Cow Whisperer said...

This post helped me decide NOT to pursue this type of trailer (with living quarters). Although I own an RV park, I have no concept of the care and maintenance of any vehicle/trailer that travels with its own crapper.

So thanks, Jeff, for helping me decide to spend 1/3 of the money (or less) on a stock trailer and reminding me that yours sleeps 4 (in case I ever needed living quarters...)