Wednesday, April 7, 2022
I got up early enough to get a shower in before people started arriving for work. Then I made a nice breakfast of sausage and eggs with onions and green peppers and cheese.
Just after 8, though my driver hadn’t arrived yet, I went over to the trailer we had dropped off for repair to take a quick look. I saw that the guys in the shop had installed a brand new pony motor! And, it’s a little bit bigger than the old one!
That should make a huge difference when we have to lift the load with the towers. And, it will be nice not to have to worry about it racing so much it might fly apart in pieces! I started it up, and let it run! So sweet to hear!
Next to our trailer was another one that a driver had hooked up to, but he wasn’t in his truck. Just a few minutes later, I noticed that the other driver’s steerman arrived, so I went over and we all talked for a little bit. They needed to relocate all their cross members, and add 2 more in order to be set up to load a generator over near Madison where we are going. They pulled ahead to give them themselves some room to work,
and I gave them a hand. Before long my driver showed up and joined in. It still took us over 3 hours to get that done.
Once we got that done, we got some supplies we will both need on this trip, like plywood and rubber scraps for shims. So much for leaving early!!
We pulled out with both trucks at about noon. It is about 320 miles over to the load site, which took us until almost 6. We arrived and parked in different spots.
And each team went right to work stretching the trailers out to 15′ wide. Once we finished that, the four of us went out for supper at a Mexican restaurant. I can stay Keto there if I’m careful. We came back, and the two drivers disconnected, and we all went to the truck stop for the night. the other steerman went to a hotel. The other truck loads first at 6 AM, so we will all be there to help. That truck will be taking their load to New Mexico, and two more trucks will be arriving tomorrow to load Friday and go a day behind us to Omaha.
Thursday, April 8, 2021
We were all there on time, and they had the other truck back in at about 6:30. This is one of those going to New Mexico, so the structure can not be put on, or it will be too tall to get to the site, because there is just no route we can find to get there and not hit a bridge. Another truck arrived who loaded that top housing unit
We all went to work to get the shims in, bottom tarps on, unit loaded, chained down, and tarped so we could get him outside. Since he has the longer trip, he was hoping that with our help, we could shave enough off the standard 7 hour load time that he could leave today and perhaps get a few hundred miles in. 
It was just before noon, and we were finished, and he pulled out, ready to roll!
Then it was our turn, so I steered us back and into the tight bay between all the generator units in various stages of completion. It was now just my driver and I, because that load to NM got on their way as soon as they could. Ours is going to Omaha, and we have found a route for those units at 17’4″ tall, so ours has the cover already installed on it. That saves far more than half the load time!
We had ours all finished and pulled out at about 2:30, just after the next truck of ours had pulled in. He and the next truck are scheduled to load tomorrow, and are going to the same location as us in Omaha. Somehow he talked them into allowing us to load him today, so the two of us, along with their team went right to work!
We had him out the door by 4 PM as the last truck was pulling in. That means he can now leave with us tomorrow. I started joking with the foreman there about how badly that last driver wanted to load today and leave with the rest of us tomorrow. He chucked, but said that would be overtime, and we understood. So all three teams stood around outside on their yard,, and talked for a few minutes.
Suddenly, the foreman showed up behind us, and simply said, “Hey, how about backing that last truck in, and getting it loaded tonight! I want that unit out of the plant to give me more room!” LOL Be careful about what you ask for! I had already loaded three trucks, and was exhausted!
So we all helped him load and we locked the doors after we pulled out! Then all three teams went out for supper, happy that we could all leave together in the morning with the two extra line lifting guys who will be with us to help!
I spent that night at the same truck stop, along with the 3 drivers.
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