Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The trip down
October 24
Okay, where should I start? After spending several days in Michigan saying our goodbyes, we finally hit the road on October 23, yesterday at noon or so. I drove for a while, because I'm a control freak, and it was raining, and the only thing that makes me more nervous than pulling trailers is when someone else is driving.So we went straight for 600 miles or so, at about 45 mph in the rain, through the mountains and whatnot. Around 5:30 in the morning, I hear: BOOM! Clickity clackity clickity clickety whatever. I stop, get out, check, no visible probm
Intermission: I'll be right back.
Okay. I'm back. We're in Tennessee, and just stopped because there were two dogs by the side of the expressway, trapped, with no where to go but out through 80mph traffic, walled in by cement for a mile or more in either direction. We couldn't catch 'em. I think they found a way out. Whew. Okay.
ANYway. So long story shorter, no problems with the tire. Get back on, and the trailer feelslike it's swaying hard. I decide to pull over, but before I can, I HEAR the tire go. So now we do pull over. Left back on the truck, best possible one, we agree. We go to pull the spare, and find the tools are gone. Apparently someone I loaned my truck to in New Orleans had a flat that they never told me about. And didn't replace my tools. So using a screwdriver, a 5 inch long metal bar, we remove the spare from underneath and jack the truck with great difficulty. But can't remove the lugs. If only the 90 foot tall crucifix looming on the next hill were a four way lug wrench. So we walk. We ask a guy at the stop sign at the next exit if he has a wrench. One thing leads to another. This guy, apparently, is the owner of HTH grain processing. This is a company that processes 500 BIILLION dollars worth of grain a DAY. We found this hard to believe. His friend pulls over and they're both on the way to the plant. Keith Bruzzell (owner) tells John (psycho) that he should take us to the plant and give us any tools we need. Sweet. On the way there, John tells us that he is a safety officer because he sometimes gets to save a life to try to "pay back." He elaborates that he's an exmarine and he was responsible for a lot of killing. And "we did some things we shouldn't have done." Interesting guy. Since he's the one who supplied the "500 billion" figure" we take it with a pound of salt.
We go to the plant, get security clearance, and enter. While we are there, John fires two guys for smoking cigarettes on the company grounds. It's a homeleand security risk, we come to find out, and the whole place is highly explosive. No cell phones, no smoking. A real nice guy named Tommy is assigned to return us to the vehicle. And on his way, stops to pick up another fourway lugwrench in case the one way 13/16" is the wrong size. ( I brought a matching socket to make sure, and verified it, but he still wanted to). Tommy confirms the 500 BILLION A DAY number. Weird to hear that from two guys, something that sounds so far fetched. We go to the truck, 25 miles or more total driving, and he offers us his wrench to keep. This guy is a sweet old grampa. Then the Sherriff shows up. Man, people here are HELPFUL. Crazy. Apparently, Detroit is another world to them. We put the spare on. It's so soft, it's flat. SHEISSE!
We limp along.Go buy a wrench, a new tire for $20 (supposedly used, but wasn't) and saved about $130. The old tire looks like it has a shark bite out of it. A huge hole the size of my fist removed from the sidewall. Still don't know what I hit. Maybe a landmine.
Get some Long John Silvers, walk the dogs, sleep for four hours, and back on the road. I'm having flashbacks of the time I drove 38 hours straight to New Orleans, after having 1 flat, 1 wiring problem that stopped us, and a blown shock, and getting hit by one FEMA rescue truck that was lost because all the signs were blown away by Katrina. He bought me off for $500 bucks, then offered to sell me coke and deal to anyone I could connect with once down in New Orleans. I declined. That's why I'm still broke, and still not in jail.
As of /25 hours later, we are halfway there. But we're closer than we were.
Okay, where should I start? After spending several days in Michigan saying our goodbyes, we finally hit the road on October 23, yesterday at noon or so. I drove for a while, because I'm a control freak, and it was raining, and the only thing that makes me more nervous than pulling trailers is when someone else is driving.So we went straight for 600 miles or so, at about 45 mph in the rain, through the mountains and whatnot. Around 5:30 in the morning, I hear: BOOM! Clickity clackity clickity clickety whatever. I stop, get out, check, no visible probm
Intermission: I'll be right back.
Okay. I'm back. We're in Tennessee, and just stopped because there were two dogs by the side of the expressway, trapped, with no where to go but out through 80mph traffic, walled in by cement for a mile or more in either direction. We couldn't catch 'em. I think they found a way out. Whew. Okay.
ANYway. So long story shorter, no problems with the tire. Get back on, and the trailer feelslike it's swaying hard. I decide to pull over, but before I can, I HEAR the tire go. So now we do pull over. Left back on the truck, best possible one, we agree. We go to pull the spare, and find the tools are gone. Apparently someone I loaned my truck to in New Orleans had a flat that they never told me about. And didn't replace my tools. So using a screwdriver, a 5 inch long metal bar, we remove the spare from underneath and jack the truck with great difficulty. But can't remove the lugs. If only the 90 foot tall crucifix looming on the next hill were a four way lug wrench. So we walk. We ask a guy at the stop sign at the next exit if he has a wrench. One thing leads to another. This guy, apparently, is the owner of HTH grain processing. This is a company that processes 500 BIILLION dollars worth of grain a DAY. We found this hard to believe. His friend pulls over and they're both on the way to the plant. Keith Bruzzell (owner) tells John (psycho) that he should take us to the plant and give us any tools we need. Sweet. On the way there, John tells us that he is a safety officer because he sometimes gets to save a life to try to "pay back." He elaborates that he's an exmarine and he was responsible for a lot of killing. And "we did some things we shouldn't have done." Interesting guy. Since he's the one who supplied the "500 billion" figure" we take it with a pound of salt.
We go to the plant, get security clearance, and enter. While we are there, John fires two guys for smoking cigarettes on the company grounds. It's a homeleand security risk, we come to find out, and the whole place is highly explosive. No cell phones, no smoking. A real nice guy named Tommy is assigned to return us to the vehicle. And on his way, stops to pick up another fourway lugwrench in case the one way 13/16" is the wrong size. ( I brought a matching socket to make sure, and verified it, but he still wanted to). Tommy confirms the 500 BILLION A DAY number. Weird to hear that from two guys, something that sounds so far fetched. We go to the truck, 25 miles or more total driving, and he offers us his wrench to keep. This guy is a sweet old grampa. Then the Sherriff shows up. Man, people here are HELPFUL. Crazy. Apparently, Detroit is another world to them. We put the spare on. It's so soft, it's flat. SHEISSE!
We limp along.Go buy a wrench, a new tire for $20 (supposedly used, but wasn't) and saved about $130. The old tire looks like it has a shark bite out of it. A huge hole the size of my fist removed from the sidewall. Still don't know what I hit. Maybe a landmine.
Get some Long John Silvers, walk the dogs, sleep for four hours, and back on the road. I'm having flashbacks of the time I drove 38 hours straight to New Orleans, after having 1 flat, 1 wiring problem that stopped us, and a blown shock, and getting hit by one FEMA rescue truck that was lost because all the signs were blown away by Katrina. He bought me off for $500 bucks, then offered to sell me coke and deal to anyone I could connect with once down in New Orleans. I declined. That's why I'm still broke, and still not in jail.
As of /25 hours later, we are halfway there. But we're closer than we were.
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