Thurs, Dec 4... One Day I Will Laugh

Some day I'm going to look back at this blog and sit for hours or days just laughing! There's never a boring day. There is always something going on... good, bad, or indifferent.

Today started like most... Trapper up at the crack of dawn and me... well... still asleep. I awoke in Bloomington, IL (I think) to a crisp and quite chilly 14 degrees! Trapper had already thrown a log on the fire, so it was nice and toasty in the truck.

We left the truck stop and drove our 25 miles to Bedford Park, IL to pick up merchandise that is going to the QVC place in Florence, SC. We found the place, without incident, and docked. Trapper had to stay inside while they were loading us, so I took this chance to do reimbursement paperwork and get the map set for the last leg of our journey.

Being in IL, kinda freaks me out... our experience with the low bridge in North Aurora, IL a few weeks ago, well, I still have flashbacks. I was a rookie then... I'm a 12 week wonder now!

I put the info in the map and our British speaking Garmin. Both devices told me to go the same way.... Cool... easy job for me. And because we were in IL, I decided to check the book with the low clearances, restrictions, etc. I looked in the book... didn't see anything on our route, so I was confident we would be fine. Remember... it's a lot easier to keep this rig going forward...

We were loaded and rolling... we had a total of about 10 miles to drive. First turn, no problem... second turn, no problem... we are tooling on down the street, Trapper's on the phone with his Mom... we stop at the red light and what do I "think" I see just beyond the intersection....

You guessed it! A train trestle... with a clearance sign of 13' ??''. I grab the little binoculars, but we're bouncing and I can't see it clear. A few feet closer I can see it CLEARLY.... 13' 0"...and yes, we're 13' 6".

Trying not to be rude and interrupt his conversation, I point to the sign. (We're moving really slow, which was good) Trapper points to the GPS and says, "We've got 2 more miles before we turn." At this point... interrupting the conversation was the last thing on my mind and I reply, "13' clearance!"

He cuts their conversation off, in midstream and we try to hang a right. If the fire hydrant hadn't been there we could have. However, we couldn't get turned. There I was, for the second time in my life, out on the streets of Chicago... stopping traffic!!

An hour and a few minutes later, we successfully finagled our way out of Bedford Park, IL and back on the "big roads". Every time this happens I loose time off my life expectancy and at least one fingernail.

The rest of the day was great. We made it through IN and stopped just east of Louisville, KY for the night. Tomorrow we'll be in our home states of TN, NC, and SC.... familiar places!