EerWeGoAgen Departs Sept 1st 2013

[BruceS]

Now I don't know if Dee's taking the Mickey out of me or is serious!!

Apparently a club called CMCA are having a doo (AGM) down the Newell......... (Narrabri)
Ask Shonky.......... he's the man!!

[Dot]

Day THREE rest area trucks blockaid.jpg

Day THREE rest area trucks blockaid002.jpg

[mottleemob]

Dot where are ya? Are ya hiding tonight?
cheers Phil

[Dot]

Have settled into the intended destination of Marburg Showgrounds after a long and harrowing day on the goat tracks called highways. Late start this morning 1030hrs because I wanted a shower. Last to leave again. Was going to stop the night at Millmerran but the sign was not very accurate and we were through the town before we could blink so decided to stop at the next stop but the road works kept getting in the way, the workers had claimed most of them for their machinery and because that side of the road had the roadworks it was not easy to get to them so onward we went. Then the fun began when we hit Toowoomba, Roadworks again, single lane, peak hr, trucks & more trucks, hill starts, hundreds of traffic lights, small cars trying to push in front and NO indicators to boot, luckily my window was open and so was his so I guess he heard a new word. Then going down the hilly side of town, same again, road works, one lane trucks and more trucks, stop start, couldn't get to the service stations easily because of the works so we got fuel where we could. Then we thought we shall park up where ever we could find a spot but ha ha not even a truck stop to be seen so continued along the roadwork road till we came to the Marburg sign by this time it was dark so we got to see that the lights worked. It was a small hilly winding road to the showgrounds but at 6.45pm we found the entrance and the caretaker David who pointed us to our resting spot for the next few nights. $15 pr night power etc. Shall have a look around town tomorrow and have a well earned rest. The back has certainly had her share of jolts today so the good pills have been put to use tonight. Did 489ks today and we made it from home to here 2 days earlier than planned upon. Here is the pic of the Rest area we stopped in last night Tookeys Rest area showing a few of the trucks that snuck in over night and Edna who was left in a tree by ?? And an extra wide load we met along the way. There was 2 escort vehicles, 1 was about one klm in front (on the right side of the road) and the next vehicle about the 300mt in front of the truck. So now looking forward to a good nights rest. Year right, I think we might be in the flight path of some air force base, yep the Amberley Airforce base. Can we pick spots Got to sort the pics out some hitch back soon x

[Dot]

Trucks at Tookeys Rest area 4th Sept.jpg

Edna @ Tookeys.jpg

wide load on way from Tookeys.jpg

Here they are. The sneaky trucks that came in throughout the night. Edna was left hanging by ??
& the wide load we met early today after leaving the rest area.
P.S. This wide load had 2 trucks pulling it along, would some one tell me how that works??

[supersparky]

Welcome to Queensland. There aren't all that many roads on the main travel routes that aren't doing their best to remind everyone that there is an election soon.
Good to see that you and G have arrived safely. See you in a few days.

[T1 Terry]

The 2 trucks are to pull the weight, too much for te drive line in only one truck. a special skill needed and good drivers unless tey are automatics, which I doubt. They must both change gear at the same time so neither truck is left pulling all the weight, stopping is another bit of fun as well

[Keith Morris]

"tanks" here Dot. I was about to say that one truck was a "SPARE" in case the other truck would not go, or had a flat tyre.
--but T1-Terry got in before me and explained it all. [my reply was to be a joke]


In my old army days we used 2 long nose Macks to move the Centurion Tanks from Puckapunyal to Bandiana . In those days the 2 movers were connected with a sort of telephone system to co-ord the revs and gear change.

As T1 said; it took very experienced drivers to control the rig. The Centurion weighed 62 ton and used most of the road. I was one of the Harley-Davidson escort riders and we would ride ahead to stop traffic and get them off the road. In those days we only managed a max of 30 mph on a flat road and sometimes down to around 10 mph up hill. Nowdays, they blast along at around 100 kph, and even stop for morning tea and Ice Cream.

After I was discharged from the army I drove "Skinny Dogs" [Greyhound Coaches] on the Brisbane-Toowoomba run and the road was nothing like it is today. The floods caused a lot of damage to the surface and the bridges. Keep paying your taxes to help.
Have a great holiday and enjoy the drive--make a cuppa, or have an Ice Cream, while you wait for the traffic to clear. Get an e-Book reader for the long delays.
Keith.

[Dot]

Thanks Terry & Keith, now there is an invention for someone, a "drone truck" or one that is programmed / connected to the driver's truck. Wouldn't it be easier to have a "super truck"? one that has all the power needed for such jobs? would be expensive for sure but reckon they would get their $$ back soon enough. Good night's sleep after some nice pills for the back. going for a nice walk down town this morning, nice and warm as well. Keith, don't pay tax any more but I guess the amount we did pay should be taken into account. Ice cream hmm now that is a good idea but I really am hankering for nice fresh strawberries.

[T1 Terry]

They do have special trucks for very heavy loads. When they moved the generator turbines and transformers from the inner harbour at Port Kembla to the Tru Energy gas turbine plant at Tallawarra, they had 4 to 5 trucks attached to move the steerable multi wheeled plateform trailer. It travelled at about walking pace through the main highway sections surounding the steel work, but got going once the reached the freeway, up to around 20km/h I believe. they moved them at night, had to cross over from one side of the road to the other at one point to get under a bridge. You could smell the tar and tyres, the tracks formed in the road never fully recovered so all that section had to be ground out and resealed. Each prime mover was specially built for these jobs, triaxle drive and only enough room for the dolly on the back, the rest was weight to provide traction. even though they were moving at walking pace, all the truck engines were at full noise.
I can't even try to guess how much those moves cost, one of the rail bridges had to be strengthen before they could even start