When I got to the shipper on Sunday to pick up the CNC machine it was obvious right off that this was going to be "one of those" trips.

The oversize permits were supposed to have been faxed to the plant and waiting for me at the guard shack. They weren't. The guard had no idea what I was talking about. Ah well, I can't say I was too surprised. I would have been more surprised had they actually been there.

Actually loading up the machine and all of the associated parts didn't take too long. There were three guys there to do the loading and to help me get everything tarped and secured. That was a big help as it is a big machine. As the thing is 12 feet wide it took three tarps to get it completely covered. Quite a job for one person, but not too bad with four.

Once I got everything done I left the trailer sitting there and headed for the nearest truckstop, about 20 minutes away. Not much else to do until Monday morning when I could have the permits faxed over from the office.

Monday I got the permits faxed and was able to take off. There was about 17 miles of two lane road I needed to run to get to the interstate. Technically I was supposed to have an escort vehicle for that 17 miles but I didn't feel like waiting around while one was located and could get there as that could have taken an entire day. I just took off and hoped my luck would hold out long enough to make it to I-16.

It did.

I made it out of GA and through TN into KY and then noticed something was amiss on the trailer. I could see a couple of straps flapping loose on the stuff I had loaded on the top deck. I pulled off into a truckstop just inside of KY to see what was up.

The stuff on the top deck was basically a large steel table sort of thing and some framework that went with the CNC machine. The whole stack wasn't all that heavy, maybe three or four hundred pounds at the most. Two of the table legs had gone through the boards on the deck. That's not good. Those boards are very strong wood and shouldn't break so easily. I could only assume they're starting to rot which means it's time to re-deck the trailer.

I tried to lift up the stack enough to slide some boards under the legs but there simply wasn't enough room for me to stand well enough to get good leverage for lifting. Ok, Plan B.

I rigged a strap across the top of the stack, hooked it onto the lip of the table on the side that had broken through, and then to the frame rail on the opposite side of the trailer. By ratcheting the strap I was able to create enough of a lever action to lift that side of the table enough to slide some boards under the legs. I'm really glad I had paid attention in science class when they taught us about levers and fulcrums. See kids, the stuff ya learn in school really does apply in the real world!

I re-secured everything, double checked the straps on the rest of the load, and then went a little further into KY before calling it a day.

The problems had cost me quite a bit of time and at that point I knew I wasn't going to make into Chicago on Tuesday before evening rush hour. Can't take a twelve foot wide load through Chicago during rush hour and besides, who would be crazy enough to do it even if it were allowed? Traffic is dangerous enough through there with a normal load.

I am now parked at a truckstop about an hour or so away from my delivery point. I'll leave here in the morning just about time for morning rush to be ending. The legal time for that is 9:00 am. Traffic will still be heavy at that time but not quite as bad as prior.

I normally enjoy oversized loads, but this one has been a pain. I had to stop once today because I saw something sticking out from under the tarp. It turned out that one of the side panels had vibrated loose from the machine and had slid down and was coming out from under the tarp. A few more miles and it would been laying on the highway or worse, in someone's windshield. Good thing I keep a close eye on my load as I drive.

I pulled the thing the rest of the way out and strapped it down on the back of the trailer. I checked the rest of the machine and everything else seemed solid enough but I haven't trusted the load since. I hate that feeling when I am trying to get down the road.

Ah well, I'll be rid of it tomorrow morning. Then on to the next pain in the ass, errr I mean load.