Once again it was house divided.  The Planner went to pick up the first shipping container in big city #2 at dark-thirty, the Kid went to grandmas for the day sometime later while still dark-thirty, and I was up at a later dark thirty.

Getting up with the darkness does have it benefits. The world is quiet and sunrises. After completing some chores when the world was still dark, I finally went to work just as the first light began to show.  Sometimes, going our separate ways is the for the best. Multiple things can be accomplished and it allows everyone some time for their own thoughts. Everybody needs some time alone.

All was going well until the phone rang. You know what I am talking about, right?  That moment when you can feel the change about to happen in your stomach, the catch in your breath, the prickle at the back of your neck. The tension caused by this moment pushes you to answer the phone with a “Hello, what’s wrong” but courtesy only allows the simple, unobtrusive “Hello”.

Apparently, what should have been a straight three hour trip from big city #2 to big city #1 turned into a five-hour grueling test of the wills.  Have you ever been to the same big city more than once?  Notice how the roads are always under construction?  Always, not sometimes or occasionally for brief repairs, but always! I’m talking about permanent concrete divider construction because once the highway is completed, it is outdated and construction starts all over again.  Yep, I knew you’d understand.  Construction, traffic with a 40′ trailer, and headwinds. Any winds when pulling a trailer are bad.  This is such the case there are roads with official signs warning drivers about cross winds. So image what pulling a shipping container 9’6″ tall on a trailer with a deck height of 38″ against never ending headwinds would be like? Yes, your are correct, the Great Wall of China.  Ugh.  It’s pretty sad when being passed by full sized trucks pulling 53′ trailers loaded down with products up a hill. Thinking maybe the F350 is not enough truck to handle this process.  But wait, the man the trailer was purchased from hauled containers to and from drill sites all across Texas in his older than ours F350.  If his can do it, so can ours.  Maybe.

Then again, maybe not, as the phone rang again not two hours later. “Hello”, I say calmly pushing panic aside. After clearing big city #2 and its surrounding miles of suburbia, the Planner was heading through no man’s land when trouble arose again in the form of turbo malfunctioning. It wasn’t so bad that it kept the truck from running, it was that it kept the truck from running anything faster than 45 miles per hour.  On a good moment, on the downward side of a hill, speeds could be reached up to 60 mphs.  Fairly confident truckers were laughing as they speed by, a nap was needed to refresh the spirits. And because the Planner has been awake since just after midnight to get to big city #2. After a decent nap and more grueling hours on the road, big city #1 was finally reached. Truck, trailer, container, and one very tired driver.

No news is good news in my book.  Ring, ring goes the phone. Squelch, squelch goes the stomach.  This time all niceties were forgotten.  “Are you safe?  Is everything ok?, Do I need to come get you?” Okay, so I don’t know how I would have easily gotten to no man’s land between big city #2 and big city #1 but I would have packed up the kid, the dog, and the beep-beep and been out the door in ten minutes.  Wait, calm down and think rationally. The Kid is at grandmas and you drive a beep-beep. All I could have done was come with the doggo for moral support. Breathe. This, the third phone call, only called to tell me I’d be sleeping alone. Whew! Gosh, what a relief.  It was a long day for all.

Here’s the thing about mornings, problems from the night before tend to look better. This may have not been the view from big city #1 where the Planner was sleeping on a pull out couch or the Kid at grandmas. But it was my view on from work.  Yeah, it was an awesome to start the morning.

The turbo was removed and taken to a diesel mechanic where it was inspected and returned with instructions on how to replace the worn out parts. Since the truck was driveable, so long as no races were being run, the trailer and container were left in the big city #1.  Parts will be ordered over the weekend and next week the turbo will be replaced. 

Thank goodness for YouTube, friendly mechanics who specialize in Ford diesel, and friends with a shop full of all tools needed to complete this massive undertaking. At this rate, the entire truck will be replaced one part at a time and a whole new truck will be in its place.  Ahhh, if only it were that simple.  Remind me to tell you about Daddy’s Red Truck.  I will save that post for a day when there is nothing happening.  Haha, nothing happening. Who knew I had a sense of humor?