Trip Overview
Trip Overview:
The trip was really excellent. There were a few bumps in the road (so to speak), but we had a great time. John (jkelly66) drove down to my place this past Thursday (2 hour drive) and picked me up at approximately 8 a.m. First order of business was to find some breakfast for our journey. We settled on "wafflehouse" and I do believe that we pigged out!
The drive down to LA was fairly uneventful. It was a quick drive and relaxing over all. I can thank John for that as he was driving *grin*. We talked most of the way there...from my place it's approximately 550 miles one way, so you can imagine all the yackin' that was done. As a note, it's good to be able to meet new folk and learn about their history, etc. Was refreshing to me. The Lord really blessed us with a great trip there.
We arrived at our destination and hit Walmart for some new batt's. We then hit a buffet for some dinner and went to our hotel. There weren't many choices and we were "stuck" with a suite each...bummer hehe. I didn't get much sleep that night...was up at 10, then 12 and then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and the alarm woke me up at 6 a.m. (yes, up each hour...blah). Perhaps it was the “pink” sheets on the bed…but ya. Anyway, pickup hours: 8-4 tues-frid. I called SGT. Brad Morgan at 7 a.m. and was invited right over (cha ching).
We drove right through the gate (stopped to say hi lol) and found the BLDG Sarge was at...called him and then drove over to the "back 40" to open the gate and WOW, look at all those brand spankin' new HEMTT's, etc. *faints* hehe - So Sarge drives over to the deuce, slaves it and cranks it right up. He doesn't have the paperwork handy for Citizensoldiers Pioneer trailer (wasn't aware we were picking that up) and heads back to retrieve. We took plenty of pics and looked around in the interim.
Anyway, Sarge gets back with the Pioneer trailer after a few minutes. John then drives the trailer around to load the deuce at a better angle. The deuce loaded well and the next order of business was to get the Pioneer onto the deuce. Sarge gets his crane and makes short work of the load…and off we went!
Driving back to GA was a long, but very enjoyable trip. We stopped numerous times to stretch the legs and check the bindings to ensure no issues would arise. Then it happened *plays scary music*…about 30 miles from Pineville, we blew a trailer tire. It really bites to have that happen…but not 3 mins later a good ol’ farm boy drives up on his VERY LARGE John Deere, stops, offers to help…calls Wilson Tire for us (2 miles up the road). Approximately 45 mins later our assistance arrived. Not too long after that we were back on the road…mind you quite conservatively. It was a decent drive back and I believe we averaged 60-65mph. I think that’s rather good considering the weight we had behind John’s dually.
We arrived at my place approximately 1:15 a.m. and pulled the deuce off John’s trailer with the Kubota. Quite honestly, we were barely able to get it off, as the bota’s tires just spun. K…deuce off, chocked, trailer prep’d for John’s trip home (about 2 hours) and off he went. I really can’t thank John enough for all of his hard work. He was a real trooper, driving the entire trip. We had great fun, lots of good yackin’, good food and it was a mostly uneventful journey. He took time off to assist…that was incredible. SteelSoldiers.com is truly a great site, with wonderful people. I’m quite fortunate to have met so many fine folk thus far. I’m trusting I’ll be meeting more in the near future.
As a note: this morning I got up fairly early…aint been able to sleep *wonders why*…fired up the CAT 951c, drove the deuce over to it, strapped the Pioneer trailer up and lifted it right outa the deuce. Yes, I did take out the troop seats first *grin*. We have video of that…looks neato. So I hooked the Pioneer up to the deuce and drove it around…well to “test drive” it for Citizensoldier *grin*
Below are some more pics:
![[thumbzup]](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/images/smilies/icon_smile_thumzup.gif "Thumbs Up [thumbzup]"){kind=icon}
Holla when you're ready to come my way 
