Wednesday, April 14, 2010

I'm Back And I Feel Like I Was Run Over By A Mack Truck

That had to have been the fastest 6 days in history!

I am wore smooth out

...And I wore my mom smooth out too.

It was the maiden voyage of The Rodeo Rig...


My Honey deserves a pat on the back and a big 'atta boy' for putting together such a wonderful hauling unit for me. What an incredible ride, for me and the horses. It just floats down the road.

Boy oh boy did it get tested on the drive back to Colorado yesterday though.

I got the joy of driving in a 40-50 mile an hour head wind for 200 miles and then I turned west and got the same wind on my side for another 70 miles.

I finally had to pull off in Big Springs, Nebraska at the truck stop for an hour. I was tired of driving in that wind and phone calls from both mom and MH confirmed a rather nasty storm around the Sterling, CO area.

The ponies and I sat it out nestled in the 'big rig' line. It poured buckets of rain, but luckily the hail has subsided before getting to where we were. When the rain let up, I hit the road again and got to enjoy at least a few miles without having to fight wind, but before long it was back and coming from the other side. Would have been nice if I could have got to enjoy any of the trip with a tail-wind that would have helped my fuel mileage. Only getting 6-1/2 to 7 miles to the gallon just SUCKED.

Normally, the mountains between Denver and Dotsero is my least favorite part of the 700 miles between my homes, but I was ever so glad to finally get into them last night. The wind finally subsided.

I have pulled horses over the mountain passes obviously, but 7% grades with a 40ft trailer loaded to the gills with stuff and 4 head of horses had me wondering. I do not like to go down the mountain nearly as fast as I like to go up it-LOL. But the pick-up handled it fine. That new fangled manual transmission is THE BOMB!!!!!

MH and I have gotten quite a chuckle out of my middle brother's insistence that I would 'just hate' pulling that trailer.

Considering that the whole rig is 58 feet from bumper to bumper, I may have had a few doubts myself about having to wheel it around. Other than coming within a couple of inches of taking out a stop sign at the first exit I got off to fuel up at, I didn't have any problems-LOL. I just had to figure out just how far I had to get over and go out into the other lane to make those turns. No problem-LMAO.

All in all I still made the trip in 14-1/2 hours. It's normally a 12 hour trip when I've hauled horses and 11 hours without livestock. There was that one time when it took Megan and I 16 hours when we came over the passes in a blizzard though. I hope I never 'beat' that-LOL.

12 comments:

Mrs. Mom said...

Welcome back Wild Woman!

Now, Pix??? Cause, you know, we just gotta see some eye candy that you hauled home ;)

Lil Mama said...

My goodness! What an adventure.

Sherry Sikstrom said...

WOW ! that is quite the unit! I hate driving a truck/trailer in the wind. As you said at least a tail wind would have helped/. My dad always asks when I head to town with the wind at my back "make sure your gas tank does't overflow" I wish!

Mikey said...

That's SUCH a sweet rig!! I'm glad it hauled real good for you :) Can't wait to see what you're up to next.

Vaquerogirl said...

Nice Rig!!!
And I hate driving in the wind too- it just wears a soul out!
Glad you got home safe and sound!

SunnySD said...

Whoof-duh! That is one gorgeous rig - and I heartily second and third the wind dislike. Bleh. Yesterday was hot and way to breezy for this time of year. We've gone from flooded to extreme fire danger practically overnight. Of course, the parts that are still underwater probably won't catch fire, but still...

Glad you're all home safe & sound :)

Unknown said...

Awesome rig there girl!

Paint Girl said...

Very nice setup you got there!! Love it!
I found out on my way to Scottsdale that I prefer hauling a gooseneck over a bumper pull. They haul so much better! Even though you gotta watch out for turns, and yes, it does take some getting used too, a gooseneck will be my next trailer!
I hate driving in the wind, no matter what I am driving, rain is up there too. But unfortunately we can't always get nice, sunny weather when traveling! It would be nice though!
Welcome back and can't wait to see what you brought home!

Carroll Farm said...

Welcome back. Glad you made it through the weather safe! Can't wait to see what you got...

City girl turned Country Girl said...

DANG girl that made me tired just reading it!! Glad you are home safe and sound!! Nice rig for sure!!! So which 4 horses made the trip home?!

Laura said...

That is one big ass rig! lol It looks awesome hooked up with that truck. So awesome that you drive that setup with no problem. Glad that the maiden voyage all loaded up went well - minus the wind/rain, that is!

Mrs Mom is right (as usual lol) - we need pics of who you brought back to CO!

Rising Rainbow said...

You make hauling 700 miles sound like a piece of cake. Just hearing that distance gives me night mares.

I have a manual transmission too and I love it for going down those mountain passes.

That MPG makes me cringe. Talk about a killer wind.

Glad you arrived safe and sound!