July 6, 2009

View of the day-A pit stop for repairs in Nebraska...the main battery cable had rubbed through and was touching the frame of the Freight which left Al powerless...literaly.

We had a leisurely morning, getting some things prepared for the move north. After the Chinese buffet for lunch Al took the pickup over to the Quick Lube to get a much needed oil change and interior detailing which only took 20 minutes. We got the landlord paid up for camping fees then headed out to the bins to get things aired up for the trip to Ansley, Nebraska, which would be the mid-point for our trip.

We left the bins around 3:30pm and started north...a lot of traffic going both ways, but really uneventful...most of the way. Marilyn called Al on the radio and when he didn't answer, she thought he was on his cell phone, so she continued driving, but just puddling along until he could catch up. It was at this point we had reached a pocket of decent cell service and the message alarm went off on Marilyn's phone. She noticed that there was a voice message and it ended up being a blank message, then Al called on his cell but couldn't seem to hear Marilyn. After checking the other voicemail left on the phone, she learned that the power had just quit on the Freightliner so he pulled over to see what was the matter...it turned out to be that one of the cables was shorting out on the frame because it had worn through.

Marilyn was about 6 miles ahead but found a place to turn the rig around and head back to help out. There was already a hose over the cable for protection and it just needed to be slid down to cover the wear spot and we were back on the road again. We made Ansley around 8:30pm, got the stuff parked and then started back for Great Bend. We stopped at the big truck stop at Elm Creek for a sub and a break, then continued on our way.

Tomorrow we do it all again...