I am on the road!

Last weekend my friend Kevin Carbury invited me to join him on a shakedown trip of a used car hauler he was taking down to Hayward, California to bring cars from a car auction to dealers in Spokane. He had found a 1989 Freightliner with a Boydston carrier integrated into it. The equipment was in remarkably good condition.

We headed out on Saturday and got in on Sunday. I got to do quite a bit of driving in the areas of the route which did not require high levels of experience.

The main route was four lane (I-90 to Ritzville and US 395 to the Tri-Cities and the Oregon border)for first 140 miles. Then we moved onto two-lane roads down to I-5 in California -- Washington 14 to Biggs, Oregon and US 97 to Weed, California. Further on we moved from I-5 to various sub-interstate highways and on to Hayward near Freemont on the East Bay side of San Francisco Bay.

After a few hours of sleep we helped one of Kevin's other drivers load the another one of Kevin's car carriers -- another Freightliner with an Boydston carrier -- after an hour or so he was on his way. We then loaded our carrier -- I pulled the cars and Kevin did the loading. We had a breakdown in part of the hydraulic system on the carrier so we were limied to six cars -- we had to leave two 2005 Jeep Cherokees in the lot for another carrier which was on its way.

By the afternoon, we were on our way. After Kevin got us out of the freeway maize around San Francisco I took over. Having a car on top of me hanging out over the windshield and truck engine took a bit of getting used to but I felt comfortable after an hour or so.

The road north of Redding on the East side of Mt. Shasta was a real challenge. I gave up the wheel so Kevin could apply his experience.

We had snow near Bend and north of Madras. I took over again just north of Biggs at the junction of US 97 and Washington 14. From there I took the truck in to Spokane.

It was hard work but I loved every minute of it. What a fine change from practicing law for over 37 years.