Connecticut...REEEAALY...Connecticut!
Not real excited about our next trip Carl looked at me and said, "I sure will be glad when the freight picks back up so we can be a little more selective about what we haul and where we go. We are taking a communication building to Connecticut." "I know but I was sitting in the back praying for a load when your phone rang...with an offer on a load. So I don't think we need to turn this one down. The Lord just answered my pray. Next time I'll make sure I am a little more specific."
From the moment we got the load it seemed like Satan was putting people in our path to discourage us about going to Connecticut with an oversize load. First, we had someone to ask us how we were going to enter Connecticut because they do not allow prefab buildings into their state. "Really...that is the craziest thing I have ever heard!" Then the same man asked Carlos if we did get in how were we going to get out. I was like what...drive out just like we drove in. Who knew it wouldn't be as simple as that. Our permit would allow us to enter but once the load was delivered we would not be able to travel in that state because we would be too long. "Great...so what are we supposed to do...just sit in Connecticut from now on?" So, Carl called the permit office to find out if what he had just been told was true. "No, they do not allow prefab buildings, instead of listing it as a communication building we will list it as a concrete vault." What??? Looks like a building...built like a building...all the other states say it's a building...so it must be a building. No...it's not a building it's a concrete vault! Okay..whatever...as long as we can deliver this building aka vault...we don't care what it's called!
We were then told we would have to buy another permit to leave Connecticut...CRAZY!!! Then a few days later we had another driver tell us that Connecticut only allows oversize loads to travel Tuesday thru Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. He also looked at our Pennsylvania permit to see what route we had been given. His comment to that, "Good luck!" By this time Carl had gotten really discouraged. He kept saying, "What have we gotten ourselves into?" "Don't worry, everything will be just fine. Don't start stressing. Lets just wait until we get our Connecticut permit and see what it says then we'll deal with any problems." After our Connecticut permit came in and Carl read over it, he realized that because of the way the state measures the length, if he raised the third axle off the ground we would be good to go. Yay! Another problem solved.
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Now really...does this look like a road that needs to have a wide load traveling on it.
We ended up basically shutting the road down to get through. |
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| One of our detour roads. |
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| This is not a sign you want to see anytime...especially with an oversize load. |
Then while sitting in a rest area in Pennsylvania, we had another driver that came up to Carl and just started talking. I tell you what, he must have a face that says, "Come talk to me. I'll listen." Anyway, he was asking Los where we were headed with the building aka vault. "Stonington, Connecticut." "That's where I live. It's just a little ole fishing town. I don't know where you're going to park with that thing. There's nowhere in Stonington. The closest place is an hour and half away." WOW!!! What was it with all these people giving us discouraging news about this load. I don't think this has ever happened before. Satan was working overtime on this one. But we stayed strong and faithful and didn't let him get us down. It was a little difficult at times but God is Good! He helped see us through each frustrating moment.
For those of you that may not know, let me explain about the permits. Whenever we are hauling a load that is oversize which means the gross weight is over 80,000lbs or the height is over 13'6" or the width is over 8'6"...we have to have a permit. Each state issues its own permit and they tell us what roads we can travel and what times we can travel. This is to avoid roads that are under construction, bridges that may be too low and rush hour traffic in high populated cities. Also, if you are caught off route you can be faced with a very hefty fine! Simple enough right...until the detour is through towns with narrow, narrow roads or the roads have trees with low hanging branches or the roads are as curvy as a snake or it takes 106 miles to go what would have been 20 miles on the interstate...not so simple then and also extremely stressful.That is why the driver told us to have fun on the Pennsylvania detour. Don't you just love sarcasm!!!
Now, back to our journey that has been filled with reassuring words from our fellow drivers.
We ended up spending the night in the parking lot of a closed down shopping center in a little town just outside of Stonington. It's times like these that I am so so so so thankful that I have all the amenities of home in this truck...especially, a bathroom!!!
The next morning one of the crewmen from the job site came and picked us up. It is always so encouraging when we have to have a guide to lead us to our final destination. The journey to the site was about 22 miles of little narrow curvy two lane roads and more overhanging tree limbs. Once we finally reached our destination it was a sight to behold. I wasn't really paying any attention when our guide rode off into the woods and we pulled off the road...well, I can't really say we pulled off because there wasn't a shoulder to pull off on. We were more like half on and half off. But anyway...I was sitting in my seat playing with my camera not paying any attention to what we were doing at the moment. After about 15 minutes of sitting there Carl says, "They want us to go up there." I turned and looked, "What? Up there! There is no way we can get up there! We will tear our truck up!" I just started laughing. "They have lost their mind!"
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| The road to a day full of excitement |
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| Sitting on the side of the road with our communication building aka vault. |
After anxiously waiting another 15-20 minutes, one of the crewmen finally walked down the hill to get Carl so he could go scope things out. He was not a happy camper when he came back "Yep, we have to go up." It took all four of the men to help guide us up the hill. We had an 11'11" wide load and the road was 12'. It looked like someone went in there with a chain saw and cut down enough trees to make a path. There were large rocks on either side of the road and trees all up and down the edge of it. The limbs from the trees were hanging low and across the road. One side of the road was a hill that went up and the other side was a hill that went down. We had 2 men walking in front on each side of the truck and 2 walking in the back. The men up front had to make sure we would make it under the trees and that we had enough room to get between the trees. The men in the back had to make sure that when we went around a curve that the trailer would not hit a rock/boulder or hit a tree or for goodness sake slide off the hill. It was a very tedious job. The road was about 1/2 mile but it took us a good 15 minutes to get up. Finally...we made it to the top. Oh my...a little square with enough room for us to pull straight in...room for the crane...the pad for the building aka vault and another truck...that was the job site!
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| Our little hole in the woods. |
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Trying to relieve some stress.
I couldn't even take the sign off the truck because of the trees. |
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| A view of our surroundings. |
Finally, we got unloaded! Now, the fun part...getting out! One of the men told Carl that they could pick up our trailer with the crane so we could back up and get turned around. Yes, that would be so much better than trying to back down and risk tearing up our truck. So, I grabbed my camera and got ready to do some picture taking.
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| Getting unloaded |
They got the trailer hooked up and started raising it up. I'm standing down the road thinking this is the coolest thing everrr! Then I hear Kevin...oh for those of you that watch Big Brother and remember Jeff and Jordan from a few years ago...Kevin looked and talked just like Jeff. I finally asked him if he had a brother because I just knew he was Jeff's brother. They say we all have a twin out there somewhere...well, I met Jeff's twin. He was too cute! Ok ok back to the trailer...it's up in the air and I hear Kevin say, "Bring it down! Yes, bring it down now!" Then at that very moment the unthinkable happened...Our trailer. Fell. From. The. Sky. My heart froze, my breathing stopped, my hands starting shaking and tears started filling my eyes. I just stood there...dropped my head and starting thinking Lord what are we going to do now. We can't afford to be out of work...how are we going to get our trailer fixed. I just turned my back to everyone for a few minutes and got myself back together. When I turned back around and looked at Carl, once again he was standing there cool as a cucumber. I thought, "Really, our trailer just fell from the sky! How can you be so calm?" When I said something about it later on he said, "Well, what was I supposed to do? I think I was in shock and couldn't believe what had just happened."
After the trailer fell, everybody was quiet...nobody was saying a word. Then they started calling out to make sure everyone was ok and once everybody answered they got quiet again and just stood staring at Carl. He was like "Why are they staring at me?" I told him they were waiting for him to blow a gasket but he never did. He just said, "I am thankful no one got hurt. This trailer can be fixed." I was thinking, "Yes...yes it can, but how in the world are we going to get it out of here to get it fixed. I mean really...we're at the top of a hill and nobody can get out...and there isn't enough room for a tow truck to get in."
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| Going up...only for a minute. |
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| Bent landing gear |
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No this should not look like this!
This is the rub rail...both sides looked like this. |
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
James 1:19 says, "My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
With everything we had just been through my dear sweet husband followed both of these commands. He just kept saying over and over "I am so thankful nobody got hurt." He stayed calm...never raised his voice...never had a look of aggravation or disgust...and he listened with an open heart as Kevin told him what he was going to do. He prayed about getting the trailer fixed and the potential loss of work.
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| Doesn't Carlos look calm! |
Matthew 6:34 says, "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. Oh, how true this is and we certainly had enough troubles that day. Who had time to worry about tomorrow?? We had to focus on today. For a little while I thought we might be sleeping up in that little hole in the woods...along with 4 other people. But as I have said before God is so good!
Kevin immediately got on the phone and started calling people telling them what had happened and what they needed to do to get us out of there. He assured us over and over and over that his boss would fix our trailer. People...I can not tell you what a blessing that was. Most of the time if anything happens you are on your own. Not this time!
We were finally able to hook the truck and trailer back up. Let me tell you when I looked up and saw them raising the front of the trailer with the crane, I thought I was going to have a panic attack. But praise the Lord our truck and trailer were back together. They got someone to come up to cut the landing gear off (it had gotten bent and couldn't be raised). We were able to get the rub rail that had been snatched loose from the trailer cut off. I know this may sound quick and simple but it took about 3 1/2 hours. Now let the fun begin!!! When the trailer fell, it fell out of line with the road. Since we had no room and I mean noooo room to move around, Carlos had to move forward an inch back up an inch...turn the wheel to the right and move forward an inch...watch out don't hit the crane...turn the wheel to the left and back up an inch...look out for the boulders...turn the wheel to the left and move forward an inch...look out for the fence...turn the wheel and back up an inch...Stop...there's a tree...move forward an inch...stop...the fence again! This went on and on and on for the longest time. At one point we actually got to move 4 inches....oh the excitement there! If it hadn't been for the help of those 4 men guiding us and telling Carl how much room he had or which way to turn the wheel, I don't think we could have gotten out of there. Could ya'll see me trying to tell him what needed to be done....no....me either. But we finally did it....I say we...Carlos did all the work and I did all the praying! Bless his heart...his leg was given out after pushing on that clutch for so long. After the trailer was finally lined back up in the road, Kevin walked up to the truck shook Carl's hand and said, "After all that, backing down the road will be a piece of cake!" Once again with Kevin's help, we did what we did not want to do in the first place, we backed down the road. Finally...Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! We are out!
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| Backing down this was so much fun! |
We followed one of the workers back to their shop...filled our truck up with water...ate supper and went to bed. The next day they replaced the landing gear and fixed and replaced the rub rail to match what was on the trailer and by 5:30 we were on our way. It didn't cost us any time off work. So you see Matthew 6:34 is so very true. If we had worried about tomorrow it would have been worry for nothing. God had everything under control. Some of you may be asking, "If He had everything under control then why did this happen?" Well, I don't know exactly why it happened. But I do know that it's just part of life. Things happen and it's how we handle those things that matter...whether they're big things or little things our attitude...our words...our actions...matter. Jesus' life on earth was not a bed of roses so what in the world makes me think my life should be.
Yes, our trial that day was nothing compared to what others have had to face. I think it is the little trials that prepare us for when those huge storms hit. If we can't handle the little things then how will we handle the big ones. Big or small...keep your faith and trust in Jesus. He will guide you through. I said we had 4 men helping us that day but the truth is we had 1 big powerful God who was leading...guiding...and directing 4 helpful men...1 happy couple...and 1 rambunctious little dog.
What an adventure this was!!
Til we meet again!
Only by Grace!
Lynne
