So, as many of you should know, I moved from Iowa to Oregon last August to be closer to my girls.  This was an adventure, as I knew it would be.  I bought a 1996 Dodge 2500 (3/4 ton) 4×4 pickup with a topper from a friend.  It had been a work truck (snow plowing and the like) it’s entire life, but it still had some life left in it.  It wasn’t that impressive to look at, but if it would safely pull my trailer, I was in.

The trailer was a 28 ft long by 8 ft wide by 7 foot tall enclosed, car hauling trailer that we had used to move a few times before.  Dual axles, with electric brakes on both axles.  I had replaced the brakes and the main wiring harness on the trailer a couple of years ago, so I knew it was good.  Unfortunately, as soon as I starting putting weight into the trailer, I knew it would need new tires…  so, 4 new tires later, the trailer was a good as it was going to get.  So, I preceded to overload the thing with all my possessions.  This was going to be a do or die trying adventure.

The trucks trailer wiring harness needed to be replaced, so I did that work in a friends driveway.  I took it to another friend and asked him to get it ready for the trip…  He changed the oil and air filter…  then I took it to a shop in Cedar Rapids and had some front end work done to tighten up the tie rods and ball joints.  A snow plow truck in IA has a rough life.

The day came to head to my other friends house and pick the trailer up and take off for Oregon.  Luckily for me and everyone around me, before I picked up the trailer…  On I-80 about 45 min before I got to the trailer, at around 70 mph, the right front tire blew.  That’s a bad enough situation…  to make things worse, another car had blown a tire and was parked along side the road right where I should have pulled over at…  we were both lucky that I didn’t careen into them and kill them.  Anyway, that meant 4 new tires.

So, I was a little late picking up the trailer…  but was able to get going that night.  Driving at night was part of my strategy with the old truck and very heavy trailer, cooler temperatures and less traffic.

So, I made it to western Nebraska (North Platte) before the next issue came to light…  a pin hole sized hole in the top radiator hose was spraying the whole top of the engine with radiator fluid.  It wasn’t a big enough leak to cause problems at that point, but I hadn’t made it to the hills yet and the worst was to come.  I choose to get it fixed, and while they had it apart, we put a new lower hose and a new thermostat in as well…

Eight new tires (four trailer, four truck), two new radiator hoses and a thermostat, I headed for the hills.  I had decided that I wanted to know for my own knowledge what the trailer weighed, so at a truck stop I went to pull through their scale…  I took it as a sign from God that I didn’t need to know what it weighed, when the scale had an ‘Out of Order’ sign on it!!!  I know I was way over loaded, but I have no idea by how much.  A slight indication was the rate of ascent I was able to maintain and the heat I was generating…  at one point I was down to 15 – 20 mph on the up hill and near red line on the water temp….  If I had had to stop, I never would have gotten going by myself…

Don’t mind the brake light in the corner…  it was always on.  This wasn’t the worst of it, I was afraid to take my hands off the wheel in the bad stuff.

So, going up the hills was bad enough, but the tough part was getting down.  The worst was the run down the hill into Salt Lake, NV.  I made it down without setting anything on fire, but I basically cooked the brakes on the truck and heated up the trailer brakes pretty bad too.  I ended up in Elko, NV putting on new brake pads and shoes on the truck (front and back) with new rotors and rebuilt calipers on the front before tackling the rest of the big hills.  I’m glad I did, if for nothing else but piece of mind.

Did I mention my Co-Pilot?  Roscoe was there the whole way…  he made a great co-pilot except when he was in my line of sight for my mirrors…  pulling a big trailer, sometimes I wanted to see what was beside me.

Well, Roscoe, the truck, trailer, and I made it to Oregon…  we didn’t set any speed records that trip, but we made it with all the important stuff and didn’t hurt anyone else or ourselves in the process.

I flew back to Iowa the next month and drove my Expedition out west…  no trailer, willingness to drive at all hours of the night and day…  I averaged 72.5 mph over the 1943 mile trip!!!  That’s pretty much flying.

And now…  a new life in Southern Oregon…