Got a load of telecommunications poles out of CHM, in Saginaw, TX, bound for Eugene, OR. Decided to take it, and get our home business done earlier than the end of the month. It was a hot day, 'only' 106 degrees, by the time we were loaded. The paperwork said to tarp, but the shipper said they didn't really need it, as they were going to be outside when they were installed, and they were empty poles, no electronic guts, yet.
Driving through drought stricken NW Texas, we got diverted around a wildfire that had Hwy 287 blocked off. It was a pretty hairy detour for big rigs, as it was narrow, and there were a LOT of trucks going both directions. It wasn't nearly as far as our flood detour earlier in the year, though; only about 10-15 extra miles.
We stopped in Jolly, Texas, to have the guys there install a couple "Centramatic" wheel balancers on the steer tires, since we had heard about them and the reviews were pretty good. They use what looks like buckshot in a fluid to balance the wheels as they roll. Good idea in theory. Problem was, they didn't get installed right. The guys were supposed to take the old weights off the tires, and they didn't. So all night the front end developed a pretty shimmy that got worse as the night wore on.
In the meantime, I'm driving on into the Texas panhandle, into a fantastic electrical storm. At the height of it, I swear there were a good five lightning strikes a minute; they sky was lit up almost non-stop, and I was in the middle of it all. I was praying for rain to accompany all that lightning, because the last thing Texas needed was dry lightning. And rain it did, fairly hard. It must have been enough, since I didn't hear any news about more fires.
By the time Collin took over in Amarillo, the shimmy in the front end was shaking the steering wheel pretty good, and when I took over again in Laramie in the morning, it wasn't long before the front end had periodic wild wobble sessions, enough to slow me down a few miles per hour. We had plans to meet Collin's brother Sheldon and his wife Tammy in Little America, and by the time we stopped there Collin decided to have the shop there remove the balancers until we could figure out what to do. When Collin brought the truck around to the shop, he noticed that the steer tire on the driver's side had steel belts showing through. This had happened overnight, as the guys in the shop at Jolly would surely have said something if they had seen that kind of damage. So we had to get another steer tire put on. Sheesh.
Brunch with Sheldon and Tammy was nice. We ate at the restaurant there in Little America and got some nice chatting and catching up done. It was nice to have finally caught up with them out on the road.
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