The Rest of the Story

The rest of the story.

I told you in yesterday's post that there was more to tell about the weekend. It's just your typical trucking frustration. One of those things that you roll your eyes at, shake you head, and deal with because what else are you going to do.

We stopped at the house Saturday night with the intention of taking a short layover on our way to ND to deliver. We planned to be there Monday afternoon/evening. Well, we'd been driving for the past week with a tire that was out of round and getting gradually worse, on the trailer. As a result it was making the whole truck vibrate, an annoyance that was gradually intensifying, making it harder and harder to sleep. Going past the house presented the perfect opportunity to do something about it, especially since Malcolm already had spare tires there.

So Sunday he headed out to do the job and get it over with. And it all went smoothly and by mid afternoon he was nearly done. I was inside doing laundry and giving the girls their pedicures and hair cuts and baths. We had just finished the last bath and were celebrating by chillin' on the couch together when all of a sudden..."Ka-BOOM."

We all jumped up off the couch and I stood looking out the living room window. There was the truck backed into the shop, and all looked peaceful. But Malcolm wasn't anywhere to be seen. I stood there a few minutes waiting, thinking that it had sounded an awful lot like a tire blowing up or something and picturing Malcolm laying out there bleeding. I was just about to jog out there and make sure all was OK when he walked out of the shop and stood there looking at the trailer.

Over the years you learn your spouse's body language, and get to where you can read it from a great distance. He wasn't bleeding, but I could tell from his stance that he was very unhappy about something. So I went out to see.

Thankfully he'd actually gone to get a tool or something and had just returned when it happened. For no apparent reason, one of the air bags on the trailer had blown, just randomly exploded. I can't imagine how deaf he would be right now if he'd been under there with it when it went.

He spent the rest of the afternoon trying to track down a shop or parts store or anyone who was open (on a Sunday...on a holiday weekend) and who might have the part (which of course, just our luck, is an odd ball airbag that no one carries). He was calling people as far away as Billings and Rapid City (4 hours drive one way) and even calling the oil field service companies. That's how desperate we were. The few who were open didn't have the part. The one's who thought they could get it, couldn't get it till Wednesday because their suppliers were closed for the weekend. So much for a Monday afternoon delivery.

Long story long, because I've already passed the "keep it short" point, he finally got hold of a trailer sales and service company in Bismarck on Tuesday morning that had the part. He drove all the way to Bismarck (4 hours) and all the way back (4 more hours), fixed the trailer, and then we loaded up and headed back to Bismarck and beyond to Jamestown to make a 1:00am delivery. We pulled in and the guy at the scale house was flustered. Said he didn't know what to do with us because they hadn't been expecting a truck, there wasn't anywhere to put the potatoes and the plant was closing down for the day for cleaning.

This on a week when our broker was on vacation and had gone to great efforts to get our trips all planned out and lined up and it was all a great plan except that it was on time constraints and we were already a day behind. Thankfully they found room for the potatoes and let us dump them off. Then we drove 2 hours northwest, reloaded in the morning, drove to Twin Falls, ID and delivered Thursday morning, jumped to Collinston, UT and reloaded and drove all night to deliver north of Sacramento this morning. Whew! That was tight! But we got it all done, and are now reloaded with fertilizer with a long weekend stretching ahead of us. Stockton to southern Idaho is not a great weekend load, but it does get us lined up for another potato load on Monday.

"So", you might ask, "what did you do with the extra day at home?"

Memorial day was extremely windy, so we stayed inside and watched a movie, and lounged in our pajamas and were completely lazy. And then later in the afternoon, when I couldn't stand being inside any longer, we drove out to see the baby hawks that I posted about yesterday (see following post). While we were out there, we went to visit the horses too, because we had to travel through their pasture to get to the hawks. But because of the wind, they were acting crazy and pretending to be wild ponies. That didn't make visiting very easy, though I did get a little time with Sky because he always comes to love on me even if he is playing wild pony on the prairie. The rest of them kept their distance, but everyone cooperated with my camera! I was thrilled with the results! I'm curious....

...which of these three is your favorite? What titles can you come up with for them?

I have decided the time has come to perhaps start doing something with my photographs. Maybe enter some contests or something along those lines. Just for kicks.