Well, Last week I was notified that my trailer was finished, only 12
days early! So I launched myself to McGregor, Texas to retrieve it. I
left at 5 am Tuesday morning and arrived in McGregor in the late
afternoon, nearly , about 1400 miles. Checked into the hotel, nice new,
and the only one in town. ANyone having a desire or need to visit
McGregor or Crawford (the President's ranch is there), this is a good
place to stay. Then went out to the Pace Factory and spotted my
trailer...among hundreds of them. Got up the next mrning, breakfast
checked out and wen t to the trailer place. They had to replace a low
tire (immediately I might add). When I looked in the trailer, I spotted
the big flaw...I had requested that one etrack be at 18 inches from the
floor and the other one at 36. Well both were at 18. So they simply
screwed another one in at 36 inches. Worked out well. Winch is a 5000
pound unit and that was bigger than specified but ok by me! Hooked on
and off I went. Went to Abilene, Tx to see my favorite Aunt but she
wasn't home. While there I watched the clean up of absolutely the worst
road accident I have ever seen: a tractor and 2 trailer rig has went off
into the median and littraly exploded. I bought fuel at a station only a
100 yards or so away and the clerk said that it was nearly 24 hours into
the cleanup and they still did not know whether or not there were 1 or 2
bodies to be found. The only thing left of the tractor was the frame.
Everything else was melted. The trailers were just bits and pieces and
being gathered up by a bucket loader and a small one at that. After
fueling I h eaded towards Amarillo via Snyder but my GPS got tangeled iu
up in it's panty hose and I spent a long time wandering the back routes
of Texas. Not bad, just not fast either. Finally made it to Amarillo and
decided to try for Tucumcari. MAde that and stopped for the night. Up
early Friday morning and off I go. No problems untill I reached Gallup
NM. There I crunched the trailer...yup, crunched it. I needed fuel and
turned into what I thought was a perfect layout for this big trailer. I
was looking at it wrong and got stuck. Thought i had cleared the pumps
but, alas, no. Caught one of the gaurd posts just behind the door...sad.
But repairable of course. Continued and got to Kingman where I needed to
take the alternate route to Las Vegas. My GPS let me down again and I
wound up taking old route 66 which in that part of it was a switch back
road for about 30 miles. And I was on it before the sign said vehicles
as big as this shouldn't be on it... yikes! But made it with only the
loss of a small center cap on one of the wheels. MAde it to Laughlin and
headed for vegas! Yee haa then I found the climb out of there to be very
very long and steep. Burried my foot in the old power stroke and up we
went, passing 18 wheelers! MAde it home about 9 pm Friday night. 3000
miles in 4 days. Pulling the biggerst trailer... I always said you can't
have too much trailer...I might have been wrong, but boy is it nice! Red
cabinets. stainles steel counter tops. Checkerboard floor (one piece).
Big ramp door with a36 extension so nothing special to load the car. All
led lights. Tripple axle. Load range D tires, aluminum wheels. 2 Big
quartz lights on the passenger side, halogen over the counter tops.
Small cargo loading light, fire extinguisher, 2 fuel jug racks, 4 ft
wide side door that is abot 7 ft tall, swing down step for entry. Power
can be plugged into the power pole at an rv stop or into the generator
recepticle. Oh, and a observation deck at the back! Brakes on all axles.
So I am making progress although yesterday I was pretty farkled...today,
I finished my new push bar and chute attachment and reinstalled the
hardware fo it. Installed the right dipstick. Got a new battery for my
laptop. Received the funny car boots from Stroud along with nomex
undies. Recieved th seat belts but that order is fouled up and will have
to be redone. Waiting on the rest of the suit from Stroud. Also Joe
Timney is getting me a Fire FOx 10 pound kit to replace the frakled
halon bottle. So all is good.
By the way, if any of you need race related stuff, check with Joe first.
If he doesn't have what you want he will know where to get it.
enough for now...
mayf
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