Novacane, I am happy to hear that you go the money back. You did all the right things, and like I said, the money is federally insured so it was no loss to the bank. They were just trying to pocket it, but with you fighting for it, you got it and not them. Have a great one, and God Bless.

Skills

 

"the north is so much different than the south"

I had another good day today, a little slow, but good none the less. I had to hang out in Marshfield waiting until almost 10 am for all the paperwork and permits to get ready, getting my oversize signs, and flags, typical stuff.

I grabbed an empty trailer and headed for Prentice, which seems to be where all these type loads come from, now I don't know for sure, but that yard is the only place I have ever seen them. It's the same piece of machinery I pulled last time, 88k pounds...... 8)

I love pulling this stuff, I wish there was a company out there that did nothing but oversize loads, this is what it's all about to me. Anyway, I made it there no problem, parked the empty I brought, and went to find my load.

Another driver was there and came over to chit chat as we often do. He told me that I need to be careful when parking in the lot when there is snow and ice on the ground. Its seems as though the hot tires from the drive there will melt the snow and ice enough for the truck to sink down, and get stuck! I have never heard of this stuff, it's just amazing to me, first you are prevented from some roads while they thaw(the freaking ROAD has to THAW!) then you have to be careful about your truck sinking in the wide open parking lot due to melting of the ground, the north is so much different from the south.

So I find my load, and go to hook up, here you have to use the goal method frequently, because the machine isn't as wide as a normal trailer, so as you are backing into it to hook up, you don't have a reference to go by. I was off a couple inches the first try, the second one lined up, but it didn't hook right, and the third was the charm. So here I am, going over everything in my mind(pulling these machines is a lot different from a normal flatbed trailer) making sure not to miss anything.


I did everything right, crossed all the T's and dotted all the I's, and I was finally on my way. I didn't run as far as I hoped before sunset, but did finally make it back to Illinois, or about a 6 hour trip with the load. I was hoping for Indianapolis, or at least the Gary terminal, but with the late start, and the fact that the company didn't want to pay tolls for the load and put me on little rinky dink roads for miles through little towns(no big deal, it just takes longer) and such, I only made it just short of Chicago.

Now according to streets and trips, it is still a 18 hour trip, and I will only have around 14 hours of drive time to get there on time(Thursday morning 10 am) so I will try to make up some serious time tomorrow and hope I don't hit any bad weather, traffic or wrecks, but those days are few and far between especially when you are driving the whole day, but we will see.

I will keep everyone updated. Now lets head for the warm(er) south weather!

 

I haven't really worried about sinking before, but yea your tires will melt the snow and its like you parked on a skating rink, and your tires will freeze to the ground. Pretty funny when you try and pull away. I move a bit after about 15 mins of being parked.

We are going into road ban time here. We have some leeway in the winter as far as axle weight goes, as long as we aren't over gross. Now we have to be perfectly legal on all axles. Sometimes I think they cut you back a percentage too.

 

Not only will your warm tires sink down a bit you'll have a nice glaze of Ice forming underneath them. Carry some kitty litter with you in your Compartment to throw under your drives when the need arises.
There are companies that only haul permitted loads

 

That's right yooper, we have a company right here in VA making runs with the "World's Largest Beer Kegs" every Sunday and Wednesday. Things are about 100 ft long, 20 feet in diameter and weigh 80K each. Moving them 95 miles to the new Coors Beer Brewery opening up here and takes between 10-11 hours to make the trip. The truck and trailer bring the load close to 100K and over 130 ft long. I will try to get some pics one night when they come thru on their midnight runs and post here.

 

Here is a link to the local paper with a story and some good pics of these behemoths that are more than half a football field in length.

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2...3062006/173140

 

go ahead and deliver one of those babies to my house. Make sure its full and throw in a tap
:lol: :lol: :P

 

Coors plant in Va?

 

MrFord95, awesome stuff, I would love to pull something like that. Now that I have got to pull something using the oversize load signs, flags and beacon, my next "dream" load will be one that I have to have escorts, that would rule, but I highly doubt that Roehl would handle stuff like that, although I don't know for sure.

 

Coors plant in VA