View of the day-Al fuels the Dodge up across the street from a vintage Chevrolet dealer...when GM actually made money.
We were up early again and since we were fueled up and ready to go, it was a matter of hooking up the camper and heading out. We were fortunate that we did not have to contend with any of the bad weather during the night, making for a good sleep...except that we had no water in the camper. In our rush to get going, we hadn't cleaned out the antifreeze from the water system, so when it was time to 'powder ones nose', so to speak, it was a trip over to the shower shack in the city park...not fun at 4am.
We were thrilled that we actually had a strong NW wind to push us for a change, so we made good time until we stopped at Reliance, SD for a stretch and Al discovered the hook that was welded to the inside front of the grain box had broken off. This hook was used for a ratchet strap that looped over the cargo trailer axle and kept the trailer from rolling to the back of the box. There was someone welding in the shop where we had stopped, so Al asked him about doing a bit of welding and when he looked at it, he said we shouldn't have to worry about it rolling to the back because of the stand we had under the hitch and the fact that the jack was all the way down as well. We believed him and forged on.
We stopped in Springview to fuel the Dodge up out of the slip tank, so we would be sure to get all the way through Nebraska...not that there were a lot of places to stop. We aren't complaining about that, it's actually nice to drive straight through without having to slow down for towns every 15 miles. We stopped again in Elm Creek at the truck stop and had a quick snack before making the move for Kansas...and that was pretty much where we lost our north wind. It couldn't just get calm after it quit...noooo...it had to switch around and start blasting out of the south...again.
We made it through to La Crosse, KS before Marilyn had to stop to get enough fuel to make it the rest of the way to Great Bend, KS. Al stopped to check his load...and discovered that the ratchet strap that was to keep the shop trailer from moving to the front of the box had broken. This allowed the trailer to roll to the front of the box and put a healthy dent in the endcap for the tarp...just great. It was getting close to dark and we wanted to get the 50 or so miles to Great Bend, so we just dropped the hammer and hoped for the best.
We made it to Great Bend just as the sun had sunk below the horizon...the fact that it was cloudy didn't help matters...the sun disappeared even earlier, making lights a necessity. The way our day was going, it was no surprise that the headlights on the General had a mind of their own and the breaker kept kicking them off. Good thing our campground was on the west end of town and we didn't have to navigate the streets with a wide load and without lights. Another wild day...536 miles!
Marilyn got the camper parked while Al tried to survey the damage in the grain box...we won't know until daylight now, it was just to dark. We did get the water system in order and with the great water pressure we have here(the best on the run, actually) we haven't found any leaks from the winter storage...and the air conditioner still works, good thing too, it was hot inside once we got parked.
Tomorrow we get to load the combine...or try to...
We were up early again and since we were fueled up and ready to go, it was a matter of hooking up the camper and heading out. We were fortunate that we did not have to contend with any of the bad weather during the night, making for a good sleep...except that we had no water in the camper. In our rush to get going, we hadn't cleaned out the antifreeze from the water system, so when it was time to 'powder ones nose', so to speak, it was a trip over to the shower shack in the city park...not fun at 4am.
We were thrilled that we actually had a strong NW wind to push us for a change, so we made good time until we stopped at Reliance, SD for a stretch and Al discovered the hook that was welded to the inside front of the grain box had broken off. This hook was used for a ratchet strap that looped over the cargo trailer axle and kept the trailer from rolling to the back of the box. There was someone welding in the shop where we had stopped, so Al asked him about doing a bit of welding and when he looked at it, he said we shouldn't have to worry about it rolling to the back because of the stand we had under the hitch and the fact that the jack was all the way down as well. We believed him and forged on.
We stopped in Springview to fuel the Dodge up out of the slip tank, so we would be sure to get all the way through Nebraska...not that there were a lot of places to stop. We aren't complaining about that, it's actually nice to drive straight through without having to slow down for towns every 15 miles. We stopped again in Elm Creek at the truck stop and had a quick snack before making the move for Kansas...and that was pretty much where we lost our north wind. It couldn't just get calm after it quit...noooo...it had to switch around and start blasting out of the south...again.
We made it through to La Crosse, KS before Marilyn had to stop to get enough fuel to make it the rest of the way to Great Bend, KS. Al stopped to check his load...and discovered that the ratchet strap that was to keep the shop trailer from moving to the front of the box had broken. This allowed the trailer to roll to the front of the box and put a healthy dent in the endcap for the tarp...just great. It was getting close to dark and we wanted to get the 50 or so miles to Great Bend, so we just dropped the hammer and hoped for the best.
We made it to Great Bend just as the sun had sunk below the horizon...the fact that it was cloudy didn't help matters...the sun disappeared even earlier, making lights a necessity. The way our day was going, it was no surprise that the headlights on the General had a mind of their own and the breaker kept kicking them off. Good thing our campground was on the west end of town and we didn't have to navigate the streets with a wide load and without lights. Another wild day...536 miles!
Marilyn got the camper parked while Al tried to survey the damage in the grain box...we won't know until daylight now, it was just to dark. We did get the water system in order and with the great water pressure we have here(the best on the run, actually) we haven't found any leaks from the winter storage...and the air conditioner still works, good thing too, it was hot inside once we got parked.
Tomorrow we get to load the combine...or try to...
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