The Big Day

Just getting her on to the flatbed was an adventure in and of itself. There was a narrow strip of grass the width of a driveway running along the side of the house, with a gate opening into the yard. The driveway was flanked on the other side by the neighbor’s vehicle collection, one of which had no engine and so could not be moved. The first careful attempt at driving in resulted in the truck wheels sinking down into the sandy Florida soil and spinning out. This turned out to be a good thing in the long run – better to get stuck there instead of way back in the yard with the trailer loaded up!



The ol’ Trailwind was tucked into the back corner of the lot, and after a 20-year stint as a backyard shed, had dug its heels into the sandy soil. A tree had grown up around it on the back fence side, and its younger branches had recently begun to explore the interior of the trailer through a small, cracked side window. The tires were completely flat and the tongue had rusted 90% of the way through, so we really weren’t sure how we were going to move it.





Luckily some neighbors happened to have a four-wheeler handy and nothing better to do. That four-wheeler saved the day. We had to back the truck and flatbed trailer out and in again to get that thing into the yard, but it was well worth it, as he managed to yank the trailer out of its ruts and tow it all the way to about 10 feet from the gate before the tongue finally decided to give up the fight. At that point we were able to push it out the gate and over to where the flatbed was backed in, waiting.



Since the tires were flat and not free-spinning, we started winching it up onto the flatbed with a come-along. The ramps weren’t perfectly aligned with the tires so at one point we actually had to rally about 6 people and lift the back end of the trailer to move it over so the rims wouldn’t give out.



By this time it had gotten pretty dark out, so we were running around shining a couple of flashlights on the situation. Everyone was in pretty good spirits and determined to make it work…or at least determined not to have to deal with it in the morning! We got her up there without any more “incidents.”