45FMJoe
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- Charleston, SC
Bear with me, folks while I share with you the worst trip in the history of worst trips. My best friend and I won a pair of M101 trailers in Anniston, AL. We were hoping the EUC would clear quickly as his boss was going on vacation July 4th week so we would have been in trouble if it cleared then. Wednesday the 15th at about 1300 the EUC cleared. I called him up and we decided to just leave then. Our EUC was submitted on the 6th for those keeping notes. So I left work, went home to shower and pack a bag for the 9 hour trip from Tampa, FL to Anniston, AL.
JR calls me as I'm leaving to drop my dog off at my parents' house, he got a nail in his left rear tire and was taking it to Firestone to be patched. The flatbed trailer we were taking belongs to my dad's best friend, and said best friend is notorious for breaking the lights on the trailer. I decided to trek up to his house to hook up new lights for the trip. I decided to simplify the installation by bolting the lights on to the trailer and just running the included harness up the side of the trailer instead of tying the new lights into the existing wiring. JR showed up a couple hours later and I just left my Jeep and we were off. The 4-pin flat connected tail/stop/turn signal lights were working and the 7-pin RV plug gave us working running lights on the trailer. After a little stumble we're off running.
As we drove on into the night in Georgia, we noticed a ton of lightning in the gloomy skies around us. The National Weather Service was issuing severe storm warnings left and right, and the weather apps on our phones were showing ridiculous storm systems. Suddenly we lost the running lights on the trailer. Eery. We decided to stop and get some fresh fountain beverages off I75. That's when we realized I'm an idiot and put the taillights on the wrong side of the trailer AND only one light was working. <Insert expletives here>. We flipped the lights to the correct side and just then the rain moved in so we just beat feet. The trailer had a tail light and it sits well below the lights on his '04 Ram 1500 anyway. A ways down the road we found a Walmart right off the interstate so we decided to get a new bulb and see if that would fix it. As we're opening the housing to figure out what bulb we need the sky opened up. I ran inside, procured a bulb and we parked under a gas station canopy to switch it out. JR left the lights on the truck and I didn't pay attention so when I tried to wrestle the old bulb out with pliers a spark shot out of the plug and blew out the left turn signal in his truck. <Insert expletives here>.
It was getting late, we were aggravated but we at least had a working tail light on the trailer again so we decided to take off. It was already past midnight. We figured a new flasher bulb in the truck the next day would fix our trailer flasher problem. We pulled into the parking lot of the Sleep Inn in Oxford, AL at 0300 hours our time, tired and frustrated. Showers and sleep were in order. We woke up at 0700 hours, locked up all our pistols in the hotel, ran to Home Depot for some ratcheting tie downs and made for Anniston Army Depot. After going through all the hoops and waiting 45 minutes at the badge office for a DRMO escort, we make it to our trailers. They're awesome, and in great shape. We were loaded and tied down in 30 minutes thanks to very quick forklift operators. Just as we're doing a final inspection I notice a nail in the left rear tire of the truck. Yes, the same tire as yesterday. <Insert expletives here>.
Well, checkout at the hotel was at 1200 hours and we needed to get our handguns and bags out before the cleaning people invaded. So we gingerly drove back to the hotel, grabbed our stuff and hit up Wendy's for lunch. We were in dire need of a tire shop, though. Luckily, we find out there is a tire shop not a mile down the road. We pulled in and the owner greeted us. He jacked up the truck, took the wheel off, chalked the tire at the wheel weights and popped it off the wheel. One of his guys patched it up, the owner inspected it, the mounted the tire back on the wheel and got us ready to go again. Total elapsed time was maybe 15 to 20 minutes. We were expecting to pay at least $50 for this service, so the only word out of my mouth when the owner said "$22.50" was "what?" We handed him a $50 and told him to buy lunch for his guys. OK, we're ready to go to the CMP and buy M1s. JR bought a nice Service Grade Winchester with a new CMP stock and I bought my dad a Service Grade H&R with a new CMP stock. His barrel was a 0/2 on the ME and TE and my dad's barrel is a 1/1. Not bad at all. Let's start heading back and find a Walmart.
We stopped at the first Walmart we could find off the interstate. We replaced the flasher bulb in his truck but still had no turn signals on the trailer, and now no marker lights. We decided we'll just cruise in the slow lane and park for the night at a hotel before the sun goes down. The ride is uneventful for the next few hours. We decided to duck Macon, GA by jumping on I475. It was already 1730 hours and we figured we would start looking for a place to stay the night. As we approached the apex of the curve just south of Exit 3 we saw shredded semi tires in our lane. We didn't see them in time, and we couldn't safely swerve anyway so we had to keep on. JR tried his best to avoid the debris with the truck but we hit something hard and felt a nasty vibration. As we exited the curve we saw a semi on the side of the road, we ducked out in front of him. As we got out to survey the carnage we were almost waffled by a Jeep Grand Cherokee who lost its front right tire and was smoking and heavily braking trying to pull over. We're still not sure what everyone hit but the semi lost two tires, we lost both left side tires on our trailer and the Grand Cherokee lost its left front. <Insert expletives here>. The semi tires were nothing but sidewalls and metal strands, our trailer tires had gaping holes in the sidewalls and the Cherokee's tire was cut from tread to wheel. Whatever we all hit was nasty. <Insert expletives here>.
The Grand Cherokee's passengers were two women, one of whom was pregnant. They had a full size spare but no lug wrench or scissor jack hardware. The responding Bibb County Sheriff Deputies had a lug wrench and I used the jack hardware from JR's truck. As I jacked up the nose of the Grand Cherokee the scissor jack broke, slid down the frame and lodged in the lower control arm mount. <Insert expletives here>. Some judicious hammering with the lug wrench eventually dislodged the jack. Triple A showed up pretty quickly and got the two ladies on their way. But that left us and semi tireless. The semi was hauling 41,000 pounds so he dropped his trailer and we waited. Luckily Bubba's Mobile Tire Service in Macon would respond an hour later. He brought us two brand new trailer tires and the semi two used tires. He charged us $300 and changed our tires on the wheels right on the side of the road. At this point we, the semi driver and the deputy had become best friends so we hung around and helped with the semi. Eventually he was ready to roll and he hooked his trailer back up but accidentally slid his fifth wheel back, and pinched one of the air hoses for his brakes. Luckily it was easy to put it back where he thought it should be and I verified he didn't break the hose. Finally, some good luck.
About 5 hours after the ordeal began we were all ready to part ways. We had become friends with Deputy Moore, and wished her the best. I was very impressed with how well she treated us and how well she took care of us. She stayed with us the entire time, laughed and joked with us, and blocked the right lane with her car to try to keep us all a little safer. I have her card and I will be writing a letter to her supervisors. It was a lousy situation but it could have been much, much worse. Good people all around made it much easier to handle. Of course, it was now pitch black and we had no trailer lights. We found a trailer light fuse in the truck was blown, swapped it for the horn fuse and gained marker lights again on the trailer, so the Deputy told us to just drive to Centerville/Warner Robins and bunk down for the night. Plus there is a Walmart there if we needed lights. We pulled into one of the first hotels we saw, took showers and walked to the Hooters across the street. A pitcher of Blue Moon and a good night's sleep made it better.
The next morning we took off and eventually made it home without any more problems, but I will never forget that trip. It's amazing how much can go wrong in such a short amount of time. Today JR called me and told me he figured out why we lost turn signals and brake lights on the trailer. There were three fuses that control those in his truck and all three were blown. Well, that solves that. And today after work I unhooked the 12-pole connector, wired myself a 4-pin flat and plugged it in. All my lights work, and I swapped in 12v bulbs tonight - though one of them was bad and I need to return it to Walmart in the morning. I wired up JR's trailer for a 4-pin flat connector, too.
Well, that's the saga. Yes, it was long. Yes, it was a heck of a trip. If you read the whole thing and thought that was too long, just imagine living it!
JR calls me as I'm leaving to drop my dog off at my parents' house, he got a nail in his left rear tire and was taking it to Firestone to be patched. The flatbed trailer we were taking belongs to my dad's best friend, and said best friend is notorious for breaking the lights on the trailer. I decided to trek up to his house to hook up new lights for the trip. I decided to simplify the installation by bolting the lights on to the trailer and just running the included harness up the side of the trailer instead of tying the new lights into the existing wiring. JR showed up a couple hours later and I just left my Jeep and we were off. The 4-pin flat connected tail/stop/turn signal lights were working and the 7-pin RV plug gave us working running lights on the trailer. After a little stumble we're off running.
As we drove on into the night in Georgia, we noticed a ton of lightning in the gloomy skies around us. The National Weather Service was issuing severe storm warnings left and right, and the weather apps on our phones were showing ridiculous storm systems. Suddenly we lost the running lights on the trailer. Eery. We decided to stop and get some fresh fountain beverages off I75. That's when we realized I'm an idiot and put the taillights on the wrong side of the trailer AND only one light was working. <Insert expletives here>. We flipped the lights to the correct side and just then the rain moved in so we just beat feet. The trailer had a tail light and it sits well below the lights on his '04 Ram 1500 anyway. A ways down the road we found a Walmart right off the interstate so we decided to get a new bulb and see if that would fix it. As we're opening the housing to figure out what bulb we need the sky opened up. I ran inside, procured a bulb and we parked under a gas station canopy to switch it out. JR left the lights on the truck and I didn't pay attention so when I tried to wrestle the old bulb out with pliers a spark shot out of the plug and blew out the left turn signal in his truck. <Insert expletives here>.
It was getting late, we were aggravated but we at least had a working tail light on the trailer again so we decided to take off. It was already past midnight. We figured a new flasher bulb in the truck the next day would fix our trailer flasher problem. We pulled into the parking lot of the Sleep Inn in Oxford, AL at 0300 hours our time, tired and frustrated. Showers and sleep were in order. We woke up at 0700 hours, locked up all our pistols in the hotel, ran to Home Depot for some ratcheting tie downs and made for Anniston Army Depot. After going through all the hoops and waiting 45 minutes at the badge office for a DRMO escort, we make it to our trailers. They're awesome, and in great shape. We were loaded and tied down in 30 minutes thanks to very quick forklift operators. Just as we're doing a final inspection I notice a nail in the left rear tire of the truck. Yes, the same tire as yesterday. <Insert expletives here>.
Well, checkout at the hotel was at 1200 hours and we needed to get our handguns and bags out before the cleaning people invaded. So we gingerly drove back to the hotel, grabbed our stuff and hit up Wendy's for lunch. We were in dire need of a tire shop, though. Luckily, we find out there is a tire shop not a mile down the road. We pulled in and the owner greeted us. He jacked up the truck, took the wheel off, chalked the tire at the wheel weights and popped it off the wheel. One of his guys patched it up, the owner inspected it, the mounted the tire back on the wheel and got us ready to go again. Total elapsed time was maybe 15 to 20 minutes. We were expecting to pay at least $50 for this service, so the only word out of my mouth when the owner said "$22.50" was "what?" We handed him a $50 and told him to buy lunch for his guys. OK, we're ready to go to the CMP and buy M1s. JR bought a nice Service Grade Winchester with a new CMP stock and I bought my dad a Service Grade H&R with a new CMP stock. His barrel was a 0/2 on the ME and TE and my dad's barrel is a 1/1. Not bad at all. Let's start heading back and find a Walmart.
We stopped at the first Walmart we could find off the interstate. We replaced the flasher bulb in his truck but still had no turn signals on the trailer, and now no marker lights. We decided we'll just cruise in the slow lane and park for the night at a hotel before the sun goes down. The ride is uneventful for the next few hours. We decided to duck Macon, GA by jumping on I475. It was already 1730 hours and we figured we would start looking for a place to stay the night. As we approached the apex of the curve just south of Exit 3 we saw shredded semi tires in our lane. We didn't see them in time, and we couldn't safely swerve anyway so we had to keep on. JR tried his best to avoid the debris with the truck but we hit something hard and felt a nasty vibration. As we exited the curve we saw a semi on the side of the road, we ducked out in front of him. As we got out to survey the carnage we were almost waffled by a Jeep Grand Cherokee who lost its front right tire and was smoking and heavily braking trying to pull over. We're still not sure what everyone hit but the semi lost two tires, we lost both left side tires on our trailer and the Grand Cherokee lost its left front. <Insert expletives here>. The semi tires were nothing but sidewalls and metal strands, our trailer tires had gaping holes in the sidewalls and the Cherokee's tire was cut from tread to wheel. Whatever we all hit was nasty. <Insert expletives here>.
The Grand Cherokee's passengers were two women, one of whom was pregnant. They had a full size spare but no lug wrench or scissor jack hardware. The responding Bibb County Sheriff Deputies had a lug wrench and I used the jack hardware from JR's truck. As I jacked up the nose of the Grand Cherokee the scissor jack broke, slid down the frame and lodged in the lower control arm mount. <Insert expletives here>. Some judicious hammering with the lug wrench eventually dislodged the jack. Triple A showed up pretty quickly and got the two ladies on their way. But that left us and semi tireless. The semi was hauling 41,000 pounds so he dropped his trailer and we waited. Luckily Bubba's Mobile Tire Service in Macon would respond an hour later. He brought us two brand new trailer tires and the semi two used tires. He charged us $300 and changed our tires on the wheels right on the side of the road. At this point we, the semi driver and the deputy had become best friends so we hung around and helped with the semi. Eventually he was ready to roll and he hooked his trailer back up but accidentally slid his fifth wheel back, and pinched one of the air hoses for his brakes. Luckily it was easy to put it back where he thought it should be and I verified he didn't break the hose. Finally, some good luck.
About 5 hours after the ordeal began we were all ready to part ways. We had become friends with Deputy Moore, and wished her the best. I was very impressed with how well she treated us and how well she took care of us. She stayed with us the entire time, laughed and joked with us, and blocked the right lane with her car to try to keep us all a little safer. I have her card and I will be writing a letter to her supervisors. It was a lousy situation but it could have been much, much worse. Good people all around made it much easier to handle. Of course, it was now pitch black and we had no trailer lights. We found a trailer light fuse in the truck was blown, swapped it for the horn fuse and gained marker lights again on the trailer, so the Deputy told us to just drive to Centerville/Warner Robins and bunk down for the night. Plus there is a Walmart there if we needed lights. We pulled into one of the first hotels we saw, took showers and walked to the Hooters across the street. A pitcher of Blue Moon and a good night's sleep made it better.
The next morning we took off and eventually made it home without any more problems, but I will never forget that trip. It's amazing how much can go wrong in such a short amount of time. Today JR called me and told me he figured out why we lost turn signals and brake lights on the trailer. There were three fuses that control those in his truck and all three were blown. Well, that solves that. And today after work I unhooked the 12-pole connector, wired myself a 4-pin flat and plugged it in. All my lights work, and I swapped in 12v bulbs tonight - though one of them was bad and I need to return it to Walmart in the morning. I wired up JR's trailer for a 4-pin flat connector, too.
Well, that's the saga. Yes, it was long. Yes, it was a heck of a trip. If you read the whole thing and thought that was too long, just imagine living it!
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