Tuesday, June 1, 2021
After a wait of over 2 hours, we were told to drive over to the crane to get unloaded. I am not allowed to take pictures or video at the building site, so can not show you the tight corners we had to navigate in order to get there. Some consider it a real pain, but I consider it an adventure! I love the challenge of steering it through tight spaces, where precision is essential.
They got the crane hooked up, and had us unloaded within an hour. We pulled to a different spot to shrink the trailer back down to just 12 feet wide, and we were on our way. We had been told to head back to the shop in Minnesota, and that’s the route our permits had, but we had no idea what our schedule was, or where either of us would be headed next.
Then my driver got a call from dispatch. He would be taking some time off at home, but I needed to get back as soon as possible. He didn’t say why, and my driver didn’t ask. I suppose it would be hard for some people not to know where they are going, or what they are doing next. But for this business, it is the normal life. So we set our sites on the Iowa 80 Truck Stop. It was a long shot, since we already spent half the day getting unloaded. But if we could get there by nightfall, we could make it back to the shop just after noon tomorrow.
I was amazed when we pulled into the largest truck stop in the world before dark.
We actually made it!! We drove over 547 miles to get there, after our task of getting unloaded and shrunk up! My diver stayed in his truck, and I made a quick supper and slept in my van. I was in bed by about 10, and knew it was going to be a short night because we knew we had to leave early to make it back to the shop after lunch.
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
I was up at 4:30 and met my driver at his truck by 5:30, and we pulled out before 6. We had all highway, but had a construction delay, and had to stop for him to fill with fuel. but we drove the 400 miles, and made it back to the shop by 2 PM. I parked my van, plugged it in, got the AC going, made out my invoices, sent them in to the office, and went in to see what my next adventure was going to be!
My next driver has a lot to get done on his trailer before we can leave, so I went out into the yard to help him. He had spent the morning pulling out all the cross members. Those are the bottom cross rails you see in this picture.
They slide in and out as we change our width from 12′ up to it’s maximum of about 18′. Over a few months, they get filled with sand from the road, making it extremely difficult to slide back and forth. He ran the fork lift, and I maneuvered things into place, and beat the sand out with a sledge hammer while the fork lift had it hanging in front of me. We worked until almost 9 when it was getting dark, and went out for supper. We got them all clean and set in place.
Thursday, June 3, 2021
We were back at it at by 6 AM, and began to secure the cross members back to the frame, then shrunk it to 12′, squared it up, put the flags back on, and some other odds and ends, and left at about noon for our destination near Columbus Wisconsin.
Our plan is to load a generator inside it’s enclosure in the morning, which will make us 17’4″ tall, and take it to Omaha, where we are scheduled to unload on Wednesday. It was a 300 mile trip, and we got there in time to expand the trailer to 15′ 6″ park it, check into a hotel (it was 96*) and make it in the door of the local restaurant 5 minutes before they closed the door at 8. It will be another short night, because we want to be back at the truck by 6 in order to be ready to load by 7.
Friday, June 4, 2021
They were ready for us shortly after 7, and we were loaded by 9. However, once we pulled outside, we still had to adjust the shims, block the towers, and put the wire skidds over the top. It was hot. HOT! So we took several breaks to cool off. The office was not sure how fast we could get ready, so didn’t schedule our HP and wire lifter to arrive until tomorrow, so by 2 PM we were finished for the day.
Even though it was still in the mid 90’s I could not resist the temptation to spend the rest of the day at the campground. I’ve stayed here several times before, and knew I could find a shady site by the river.
I enjoyed the afternoon in my lawn chair as I worked on my blog, recorded invoices, and did other bookwork. On my way there, I stopped and bought some hamburger. Ten fresh patties for $10! So I fried up a couple for supper.
I was on bed by 8, with the AC running because I’m getting up early in the morning.
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