Just getting the printer home was an adventure all by itself. This Canon Pro2000 is a large format printer, but the smallest of the large format line in that series. It’ll print up to 24″ wide which is plenty big enough for me. Besides, I don’t have a spot in the house where I could even dream of putting a bigger one. The package weighed about 300 pounds, so it came by way of freight truck.
How am I going to get the Thing Home?
A freight truck cannot pull up to our curb. That’s because we don’t have one. A freight truck cannot come up our driveway. At least for the time being, we do have one of those. In the not so distant past, for a little while, we did not. Nor can a semi drive to the end of the driveway. It would be lucky to make it past the first Felkins creek bridge.
These were some of the humorous suggestions given by the friendly tech support on the other end of the line at LexJet.com as I was trying to convince them that it couldn’t be delivered to our house. One of the neighbors has brought logging trucks through, but those guys have some off-road experience. I wouldn’t want to give the average truck driver that sort of trial.
Ranch One to the Rescue
There is a store in town that has a loading dock. I gave Ranch One Feed & Realty a call to see if it would be alright to have it shipped there. This is the great thing about living in a small town with friendly people. They were glad to help out. They didn’t want payment, so I’m going to give them a large-format print once I learn how to work the thing.
The Pro2000 Arrival!
Craig from the feed store called to let me know my shipment had arrived on Wednesday morning. Well, they called Wednesday morning, but the package had actually arrived Tuesday night. Fortunately someone was working there at that time and he very kindly moved it indoors for me, rather than leave it out on the dock. It’s not the sort of thing someone was likely to just walk off with, but it was the rain that worried me most.
What?? No Way.
So I pulled up to the dock and backed in toward a pallet with a ridiculously small box on it. No way the printer was in there, but Craig said that’s the one. “It’s real heavy and it’s got your name on it.” I’m sure skepticism was written all over my face, but I checked it out anyway. Sure enough, there was the expected origin label.
Hmm. Unless that box was packed with lead, I didn’t think it would be all that heavy. So I tested the weight of it. The box felt empty, and when I looked back at him, Craig and Barb were quietly laughing and I could see that I had been had. That wasn’t the box. A practical joke I didn’t see coming, and it really was funny!
The Real Deal
THIS was the box.
Time for Lunch
So they loaded it into the back of the truck and I stopped to eat lunch at the cafe. Fried chicken day on Wednesdays, and Barb Worth, our local fiber artist, had offered to treat. So I couldn’t turn that down.
Made it home and the neighbor’s son, Johnny, very kindly came over to help me get it unloaded.
We opened the box and took a peek inside. That’s when I realized it might take me more than a little while to get to the printer.
Assembly Required for the Pro2000 Stand
The stand has to be assembled first. I don’t like doing assembly much. So I debated on whether to go on and park the truck in the shop or or work on the stand in case I could get it done this evening. In the end I decided I’d better go on and park the truck in the shop. So I taped the top shut, closed the tailgate and went on down to the big garage door.
Safely stashed Little Red next to Big Red and went back to the house.
Lucky I was Having a ‘Being Proactive’ Day
Not an hour later, this happened.
Glad I parked it in the shop.
More to Come
So I’ll update this later with the news on how the rest of the Pro2000 installation went. For now, it’s ‘hurry up and wait’ again. I haven’t announced the giveaway on Instagram yet, but I will as soon as I at least get the printer in the house. After that it shouldn’t take me long to get it running.
Update 8-26-19
The stars aligned and finally got the printer moved into the house, thanks to Greg Hall of Oddbowlz Ceramics and a friend. Now I need to level it and begin the setup process!
