May 17-18, 2021

Monday, May 18, 2021

It was another great night in my van. I was plugged in, so the rooftop system kept the air moving and the temperature at about 66 for comfy sleeping without covers.

I was up and ready to roll, and was the first to arrive at the trucks! Of course, I was also the closest! There was a suspension issue with the other trailer, which took a few minutes to solve, so we left about 30 minutes behind schedule at 7:30. My truck didn’t need a front escort when empty, so I led the pack in front of the first truck, because that one is a little longer.

Because we were only 50 miles from Cambridge, MN, we arrived on site at 8:30,

and they were ready to load us with these 145′ propane tanks

It took us until noon to separate the dollies, turn them around, load the tank onto the front end, raise the back end and slide the rear dolly under, square both ends up, chain the tanks down, run electric and air hoses to the rear dollies, and put flags on in the legally required places. Each team worked on their own as the site crew ran the fork lift and crane to help us get it all done. I set my HPs 6″ above the load height at 16′.

I didn’t have time to take any pictures of the process, but my truck was on the road before 1 PM, and we made it to the Indiana line just after 2 PM where our trooper was waiting for us. The other truck was an hour behind us,, and was scheduled to meet their trooper there at 3.

He joined in, but didn’t really help much. He passed through several intersections and stopped as I had to jump out and direct traffic in order for the truck to get through and make the turn. We were a very impressive at 180′ long! People stopped and stared as we passed by! LOL

The delivery site was just 78 miles away in Barron IN, and at about 4 PM we made our last left turn onto a skinny little road, which had to be manually steered. Just as the back end cleared the main road, the pony motor died! I drove to the opposite end of the little road to block anyone from coming down the road and have to turn around, because our truck took up the entire road. My steerman and driver tried everything, made several calls for advise, and called for local mechanics, but they just could not get it started, and could not drive with the rear tires still turned. Finally, after about 45 minutes, they found a way to disconnect the hydraulics and back the truck up with blocks behind certain tires to force the rear axles to turn straight enough to limp the last half mile to the site, where we parked on the road out front.

One of the mechanics they had called came out and determined that the engine was blown, and had to be replaced. Meanwhile, the second truck caught up to us and waited at a wide spot until we cleared the road so they could come and drive into the site. Here are a few shots of them making the turn into the site with our truck parked out on the little road.

Now do you see why we are likely to take out a stop sign or light pole on a corner like that?

That team parked and went to the hotel. My team waited for what my deiver called “the best mechanic I know of” to arrive from the shop in a truck, pulling a trailer full of tools, and a new pony motor. It was my friend Lloyd! And he did not disappoint!

He arrived at about 8:15 while i was starting to make myself a pizza for supper. Within 7 minutes he had the motor running and steering the trailer! SEVEN MINUTES! LOL I had to drop what I was doing to help guide them around that same corner and through the gate.

Once parked inside, Mr driver and steerman left for a hotel, and I offered to stay and help Lloyd tweak the motor a bit. I finished the pizza while he did that, and then he joined me on my couch to share the pizza. Now THAT’S what I have my van for!! LOL

He went for a hotel and I went for a campground 3 miles away. It was 10:20 by then.

Tuesday, May 19, 2021

I took this shot as I was walking back from the shower house at the campground.

We all met at the site, backed our truck up, and pulled under the crane. Once we were under the crane,, and manually steering was done, Lloyd was free to leave, so he pulled out with the truck and trailer, and took that new pony motor back to the shop. We were unloaded within a few hours, and the second truck pulled up. . . .

Doesn’t that give you a feeling of just how long a 180′ truck is? That’s a normal 18 wheeler, PLUS 100 feet. Or, two 18 wheelers, plus 40 feet! LOL

It took well over an hour to turn the dollies back around, store the chains, binders, wires and hoses, cables, straps, bungie cords, and hook the dollies back up backwards for the ride home.

But that’s what we did, and parked those empty trucks at the company yard just after noon. I went in to see the two guys in dispatch, and see what my next adventure would be. They told me there were still some gaps until things get going in June. So I suggested that rather than hang around with gaps in MN maybe I should drive home to NC and perhaps catch one of the Ohio loads coming back in a few weeks. But if they can keep me busy, I’ll stay. They said they would figure it out before the end of the day.

I made some lunch, made up my invoices, and turned them in, did some financial work, and returned some emails. Before the office closed, I went in to see what was cooking. The owner’s son was there, and spoke right up, “Hey, Dave. How would you like to HP a load from Tea SD tomorrow down to Columbus OH? You can not travel over the weekend, so will be stuck in IA, but then Monday you can leave there, and park it on site Wednesday. We can’t unload until after the holiday, and don’t need a front car on the way back empty, so when you come back to work on Tuesday, you will be his steerman. Would that work for you?” Wow! That would be perfect! But I had him.assure me that i would not be bumping anyone out of work.

So I went right out, unplugged my van, and hit the road. It was a 5 hour drive to Tea SD, and I got there at about 10:30, parked in the familiar truck stop, and set the alarm for 6 when the restaurant opens up for breakfast.