By the time Darren returned with the Charger, there was barely enough light from the fading sun to load it in the trailer. By the time everyone showered, packed, and headed out to load up, it was well and truly dark. Dale was behind the wheel of the Kodiak, with James in the jump seat. Darren landed on the couch in the sleeper/lounge area of the Kodiak, and was snoring before they got out of the neighborhood. Boone and Dad ended up in the 1 ton pulling Dale's Gremlin, while Rachael and I were handling the double b-body rig.
After a fuel stop, we jumped on US 169, and I handed Rachael my phone, "Text Darryl and let him know we are finally rolling". That text went out at 8:30pm, and we had 680 miles between us and Drag Week Tech in Bowling Green. As I had expected they would do all along, they pulled away and left me before we even jumped on the Muskogee Turnpike. Forty-five minutes later, my phone went off, it was Boone. "Dale blew out a trailer tire, just after he got on I-40...and he doesn't have a spare. So we need to see if yours will fit." "I guess I'll be there in a bit", I answered as I drove past a five miles to I-40 sign. Typical of my brother with a 48ft. enclosed, three axle, mini-fifth wheel trailer on a 1360 mile round trip, and no spare, brilliant! I pulled up behind the Gremlin, and 1 ton, which was behind the big rig. The blow-out was on the drivers side, and they had pulled over enough to have most of the shoulder to work with. Boone came back to me as I was removing the spare from it's perch, "Do you have a jack that'll lift that thing?" "Great, I don't know, I had a bottle jack in here last trip, but it's probably buried under all this junk. I don't know if this 3 ton floor jack will lift it or not!" "Do you have that break-over bar and socket handy that we used on yours?" Boone asked. "Good Lord! Did they bring anything to change a tire?" "Apparently nothing that is within easy reach", Boone laughed. After driving the front axle up on boards, and using both my jack, and Darren's 1.5 ton aluminum jack, they finally got it up enough to change the tire. Once we got rolling again, I was out front, with Boone and Dad following me. Three miles later Boone called, and told me the straps looked loose on the Belvedere. Rachael and I pulled off on an exit as they went ahead, and of course, everything was fine! I passed them again just after we entered Arkansas, as Dale appeared to be driving more conservative now. Boone and Dad started following me again, and my phone rang after about five miles. "Your trailer is walking around a bunch." "Yeah, If I try to run faster than 60, it isn't happy...the cars are a couple inches further back than when I came out here, so apparently I don't have it balanced well." "Do you want to pull over and re-adjust them?" "No...no I don't...I want to get on down the road!" I was getting perturbed, "Look, if you don't like following me, you are more than welcome to go around!" He hung up, and then backed off. Eventually I lost sight of how far I was ahead of them. A couple hours later, the phone rang again, and again it was Boone. "Dale blew another trailer tire! Exit 124 in Conway...I guess they've decided to unload the Charger and drive it, then just leave the tire off the middle axle and try to limp on...But they want you to scout out the truck stops and try to find another tire when you get into Little Rock." "I'm in Little Rock already, but I'll look around". I stopped at one truck stop, and got the same answer they gave me in Albuquerque, which was nothing smaller than a nineteen inch rim. My mindset at that time was just to cut the cord and get my tail to BG! At exit 193 I pulled into a small fuel stop and filled up the truck, then pulled over on an empty lot and thought about it. Finally I called Boone, with my plan. "I'm going to unload the Belvedere, and Satellite. Then when Darren get's up here, we'll load the Charger on the front of my trailer, then load the Satellite. Rachael and Pops can take the Belvedere with it's 2.76 gears, and get on to Bowling Green while we work our way across here." "Sounds solid to me", Boone decided, I'll call them and set it up."
