Last Saturday, we got into the truck and headed towards Moriarty, New Mexico. Little did we know what was coming.
We drove just about to Blanding, Utah, where we stopped to fill the truck with gas. We went into the gas station to buy some drinks and when we go to get back to the truck, we realize that the keys were on the dash and doors were locked. Apparently, when I was getting out of the truck, I hit the electric door lock with my elbow and the doors were locked tight.... Fortunately, the gas station attendant had a buddy who had a door tool, and we got the truck unlocked in just a few minutes.
All went relatively well... We were tired when we stopped and checked into our hotel. But, not too tired to notice a clown at the head of the bed... I hate clowns. They're scary.
We should have realized that the clown was an omen, because the rest of the trip was an adventure indeed.
We had a little window of opportunity to get back home - the weather report said there was a big storm coming, and we needed to get past it within a few hours.
We got to Moriarty, New Mexico, and loaded the backhoe on the trailer.. Everything seemed to be going as expected.
Then we get on the freeway and discover that the trailer sways like a beauty queen waving on a parade float in the Rose Parade. So the maximum safe travel speed turns out to be about 52 miles per hour. Add about 3 hours to the return trip. . . .
About an hour into the return trip, we pass a police car at the side of the road....Now, we knew that we were going to be crossing state lines, so we came prepared.... We had the bill of sale for the backhoe and the trailer. We had registration and insurance on the truck. We had drivers licenses, and were even wearing seat belts... which is amazing, because I really hate seat belts. We had everything in order. So we get pulled over.
This police officer comes up to the trailer and has his flashlight looking at everything and then saunters on up to the cab.... he starts with telling us that he is a certified Level 4 DOT inspection officer and we have an illegal, unsafe load. Apparently, the guy who loaded the backhoe and chained it down, didn't have a clue what he was doing... there weren't chains at each tire from the "contact points", the boom at the back wasn't secured, the bucket at the front was hanging over the tongue of the trailer.... he's talking about $10,000 in fines and impounding the truck and trailer. And we're just about having a heart attack.
The officer then has two of his buddies show up, and we're sitting at the side of the road, with three police cars around us, and one of the officers asks Jim to get out of the vehicle. The officer is asking Jim questions like, "Do you have marijuana in your vehicle, do you have cocaine in your vehicle, do you have a large amount of cash on you, do you have weapons...?" Jim just keeps saying, "No, no, no."... It really was giving me a chuckle because Jim is about the most conservative guy on the face of the earth, and they're asking him about drugs!
The officer told us that he had spent the last 5 years in Alaska, and he just wanted to protect us in case we would hit an elk or a moose...A moose? There's moose in the New Mexico desert? As soon as he said it, he says, "OK, maybe not a moose."..
Ultimately, we don't get any tickets and the truck and trailer aren't impounded. The first officer shows Jim how to secure the backhoe properly, and after another round of, "Are You A Drug Dealer"...and sitting at the side of the road for about 2 hours, they leave and we have to secure the vehicle... It takes Jim about another hour and a half to secure the vehicle. And we are losing our window of opportunity!
We're on the road another hour, and what do we see....? Freakin elk... Four elk are walking across the road, and we are barreling down the road at 50 miles an hour with 15,000 pounds behind us pushing... Jim realizes that he can't stop, but at the last moment, two of the elk jumped back on the shoulder, and we drove by safely.
About 1 hour after that, we hear a loud click and we lose the running lights on the trailer. We pull over, and find that we have blown a fuse. Jim has come prepared and changes out the fuse, but as we are getting back on the highway, we see sparks and realize that we've blown a tire on the trailer and it has taken out the light and shorted the wires. This is problematic because it turns out, we don't have a jack big enough to lift the trailer with the backhoe on it. We had just passed a truck stop, so we go back to see if we can get help. It's about 1:00 in the morning at this point, starting to snow, extremely cold (7 F), but we see this trucker and he could potentially help. Jim goes over and talks to this guy, and he's from California.. He has a jack, but it's out of oil and he doesn't know how to get the oil into it. But, Jim does. So Jim fixes the jack, and the two of them change the tire. Now, it's really starting to snow...
We start through a section of hills at over 7,000 feet elevation and realize we are not going to be able to get up the next hill. So the rig gets stuck off the side of the road with no help in sight. The trailer was unhooked and we were able to drive on to the next gas station. It was now 4:00 in the morning and the gas station is closed. Without any options we slept in the truck until 6:00 AM when the station opened.
A very nice Navajo lady offers to call her husband Andrew who has a four wheel drive truck and can help pull the trailer over the hills. So at 8:00 AM in a driving snow storm, we retrieve the tractor and trailer up to the gas station just west of Councillor, NM. After some negotiations we decide to store the tractor and trailer at Andrew's house until we can return when the weather breaks in a few days or so.
From then on, the trip is uneventful and we returned to Provo - minus one Case 580B tractor.
Sigh... I blame the clown...
Until the next adventure, Jim and Cheri
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