Yesterday I left the yard with an over sized load. A pretty long one. Most of our trailers are either 48 or 50 feet long, but we have a couple like the one I am now pulling that can stretch out much longer. Mine is currently stretched out to 63 feet, which is 10 feet longer than the legal maximum.

The load is a very large control house for a very large crane. I am hauling it to a steel plant in Alabama. While it’s only 9 1/2 feet wide, it’s length is the real issue and what makes this load something of a monster. With the stretched out trailer the overall length of my rig is a little over 86 feet. That makes getting around corners a bit tricky.

I ran down out of WI and through most of IL yesterday before it got dark (can’t run after dark). I parked at the Petro in Effingham, IL for the night. I pulled in just as it was growing dark out. After eating dinner I accidentally walked over to the tavern next door for a couple of cold ones before hitting the sack.

While at the tavern I met a fellow pipe smoking trucker. We talked about pipes and which tobaccos we like and which we don't. He mostly smokes Captain Black, which is a pretty decent over-the-counter pipe tobacco but hardly on a par with the finer blends found in proper tobacconist shops.

I reached into my messenger bag and pulled out a tin of W.O. Larson 1868 and offered him some of it to try. He filled his bowl and fired it up. I could tell by the look on his face that he hadn't smoked a truly good tobacco before. He wanted to know where to buy it and I recommended a few tobacconist shops that I know are truck accessible, as well as a few other good tobaccos to try out.

This morning as I crossed into Kentucky I got to thinking about him and his Captain Black. I hadn't smoked any of that in several years but had always liked it well enough. I pulled into a truck stop that I knew had a tobacco shop across the road. I walked over and as I grabbed a pouch of Captain Black I noticed a white cardboard box with a single pipe in it.

The sign on the box read "Large Pipes $15.00". Well, heck, a pipe for $15.00. Can't go wrong there I suppose. I bought it along with the tobacco and left.

Once back in my truck I examined the pipe closely. It was a "basket pipe", which is a factory second. It has some flaw or other that prevents the maker from selling it as a premium pipe, but is otherwise no different from the ones that sell for much more money than one pays for a basket pipe.

The only flaw I could find was two small fills in the side of the bowl. Very small and narrow, where obviously the briar had been dinged against something and had to be filled to make it smooth again. Hardly a big deal to me.

I filled the pipe with the Captain Black and expected a mediocre to terrible smoke from the cheap pipe. I was quite surprised to find that it smokes extremely well. As well as some of my $100 pipes smoke in fact.

Without the minor cosmetic flaw, this pipe would most likely have sold in the $50 - $80 range. As a second, it doesn't bear the maker's mark, only the single marking of origin "Italy", which doesn't help much as there are a great many pipe makers who manufacture in that country. But I would love to know who made the pipe.

It's too bad it was the last one they had. It smokes well enough that, for that price, I would have happily stopped on my way back and bought a couple more of them.

Once I made it down to near the Kentucky/Tennessee line I was met by my escort driver. TN and AL both require this long load to have a rear escort. I suppose they think the idiot car drivers will run into it just because it's long or something. Who knows?

We made it through TN and a good way through AL before having to stop for the night. This load doesn't deliver until Monday morning and I'll actually be down to Southern Alabama where it delivers tomorrow right after lunch time. I'll be sitting down here all weekend.

Naturally, since I have to sit all weekend my stupid generator decided to quit on me tonight. I'm hoping that once I get parked tomorrow I can figure out the problem, but I doubt it. The damn thing is a royal pain at times. I'm considering getting a room for the weekend, but will have to wait until tomorrow to decide as I am not sure what my paycheck will look like and the house payment is due. That takes priority over a hotel room in my book. I nearly lost my house earlier this year and was only able to keep it through the generosity of some fine, caring JoeUsers. For that I am eternally grateful.

Not much else going on. Same old, same old for the most part. Since I will be sitting over the weekend maybe I can get some knitting done, as well as some laundry.

I've just finished reading a Dean Koontz book called The Face. It was quite good, if a bit odd. I;ve just started reading Stephen King's Just AFter Sunset which so far has not disappointed.

I should hit the sack as I want to get a reasonably early start in the morning. The sooner I get to where I am going the sooner I can get started on all of that nothing I need to get done over the weekend. And the sooner I can cut loose my escort driver so he can return home again.