We, the Crazy Sleep Deprived People:

Were not horribly sleep deprived at one point. That was before the phone call. And the 30 hrs of adventure.

Logan had left with the tractor* and made it five hours down the road before they decided the head gasket was officially blown. He had tried changing different parts all day and it would drive fine for a while. The tractor had to get to the Deutz tractor dealer in the middle of Pennsylvania and then Logan had agreed to pick up a car that was bought on ebay by a family friend in Connecticut. Then there was a vacuum packager that his dad had bought in Philadelphia and he was going to make a loop down through there and head home.

After I took my lovely walk home on Saturday night thinking my long week had come to an end, Blake called and suggested I get ready. He'd come through and pick me up, and hoped I could have a clean change of clothes ready for him since we really needed to get moving. Blake, once again, to the rescue!

We left about six but got distracted less than 10 miles out when we came upon this scene:

After running back to the shop to get a scan tool, and then diagnosing it to be injectors for sure, Blake made arrangements for Andrew to go change a couple injectors that night. Another guy who stopped to help, towed this New Jersey car hauler's truck to the shop. We moved on out quickly.

We finally started thinking this over. I had packed a bag so we could possibly just find a place to spend the night and haul the truck home on Sunday after we delivered the tractor. I had forgotten about the car, but Blake hadn't. Logan had made arrangements to pick the car up Sunday morning instead of Saturday night.

Unfortunately Logan's phone had died at this point. We hoped the address he'd given us was correct!

By midnight we arrived at the parking lot where Logan and Joe, a friend who went along for the ride, were sound asleep. Everything went well. Logan unhooked the one truck, Blake backed up and hooked to the truck we drove out in. Logan parked the farm truck, Blake checked the lights. Everything was great, and so we headed to get into the truck. All the sudden the second truck died! Since I was the only one in the truck they of course all looked at me, but I hadn't done anything. In typical Blake fashion, he sat down and had a really good laugh out of it! Then they set to work figuring out what was wrong. Apparently the chip on the truck caused some sort of problems so when they unhooked that, we were good to go. Whew! Talk about a relief! I had sat there imagining having to call for another truck to now come pick up two of our rigs.

About 2:30 a.m. we arrived at what I called a Deutz tractor junk yard. I had heard it was a Deutz tractor dealer. It was dark, but Blake and I walked up around back while they unloaded and loaded up a few other tractor parts. I have never seen so many tractors sitting on one hillside, all in various stages of tear-down. I wished it was light so I could see better!

Connecticut saw us about 7:00 a.m. The trailer was high and the car was low and although the bewildered seller thought we were crazy, we realized that a car this small,

really could be loaded onto a trailer this high.

They unhooked and raised up the front end of the trailer with jacks and cinder blocks. Then we all helped lift up the bumper so nothing scraped and that little car went right on. We told the seller that we had to fit the truck on this 30 ' trailer too and the car was 16 '- a little longer than we had imagined. He just was shaking his head in amazement at us. He also said that up there they don't have trucks with tail pipes that you can stick your whole head into either. He was referring to the 5" exhaust tip on the truck.

As we left, he told us that if our friend Daniel ever wonders how brave we are, to just have Daniel call him up.

I had never been to New York City before, but we drove through some pretty crazy sections of road and Blake and I agreed that it's not natural for people to pile up on top of each other. We were glad to get back to some country where you could see whole fields! There were a couple of neat bridges that we drove over, this being one of them.

Then the vacuum packager was in a residential section in Philadelphia, but was fairly simple loading up and strapping down. And that was where my husband explained to me that if I set my cell phone with higher pixel settings, you can see the pictures better. Wow- what a novel idea! So now my pictures are clearer. :)

We hadn't taken the time to stop for a full meal of food up till then but I selected a Wendy's a mile down the road. I do so like to eat! Logan had tried eating some dry raisin bran that just happened to be in the truck, but I had declined.

 Instead of being able to head directly home, we had to then swing north to that little parking lot where we had left the truck with this note:

When we got there at 5 p.m. though, we had to face the fact that our trailer was six inches too short. :(

Joe and Blake studying the situation:

 After discussing all kinds of ideas for a long time, they finally agreed that taking the bumper off the truck was good to try. Logan decided that for good measure, he'd take the grill off too.

Since Blake had chosen to do all the driving up to this point, he went and took a 1/2 hr nap. When he woke up, this was what he saw.

All loaded and ready to go! I called this success! (It really truly was success when we got it home.) Yes, the trailer was bowing. Daniel's car still has all the paint. We even taped a blanket to the front of the trailer to ensure safety for the front bumper. The vacuum packager and tractor parts are on the back of the white truck.

Logan drove the rest of the way home. He told us when we were almost back that the bummer is that he has to drive a work crew back right back to PA in a couple hours. I felt bad for him, but he seemed quite chipper about it! Let's just say I would not have been chipper about getting out of my bed two hours after we got back home!

Home never seemed quite as cozy as when we got back at midnight. Ahhh the things we do for the people we love! 

Here's a map of where we went. It says 1,195 miles, 22 hours 47 minutes.

*referring to an earlier post...