My adventure in moving furniture from NH to NC

[Jim_Rogers]

My step daughter, her husband and the kids moved from NH to NC on the weekend of 9/16-18/17.
I helped them with their move by driving the furniture rental truck for them. On Saturday the 16th, I picked it up from the rental place in Exeter, NH and drove it over to Seabrook, NH to disconnect the car hauling trailer so that the truck could be loaded with their furniture that was in storage at the self storage place in Brentwood, NH.
I drove the truck over to the storage unit and the guys loaded up the truck with all their stuff. see picture



 

Afterwards, I hooked up the trailer and with my stepson in law's help we loaded her car onto the trailer.

Here is a picture of the rig just before the incident, see picture



 

At 7:48 am after driving some 250 miles into my 900 mile trip I heard a loud bang and looked into the rear view mirror, and saw a big cloud of blue smoke. I looked into the other rear view mirror and saw that the trailer tire was out of line with the trailer. I had assumed it had just blown a tire.
I got out after calling it in and found this, see picture



 

The axle of the trailer had broken. I called that in to the truck rental 800 number. They said that they would send me another car carrier trailer and that it would take 90 minutes for it to get to me. And it took a lot longer than 90 minutes.
This is where I sat for quite a while, see picture



 

When the service guy arrived I asked him: "how do you want to do this?" He replied: "well, not here!"
He mentioned that there was an off ramp just down the highway and just beyond that was a truck stop. I asked him which one did he want to use. He told me the truck stop. And to slowly drag the trailer down the breakdown lane till we get there. He would follow me along with this ramp truck and his lights flashing until we get there.  See picture



  

I drove down the breakdown lane past the off ramp and one on ramp and there was a sign there that said, rest area 2 miles. So I went down to the rest area the 2 miles down the breakdown lane.
After getting there, Bill, the ramp truck driver helped me get her car off the broken trailer. See picture



 

And then we swapped trailers and reloaded her car. See picture



 

Around noontime I got back onto the road.
Other than being a very long slow ride pretty much everything went ok after that. I arrived at their new apartment house at 11 am on Monday. I unloaded the car with husband's help and took the car trailer to the drop off store, for them. Monday afternoon, I flew home to NH.  Step son in law and his wife, picked me up at the airport for the ride back to Seabrook, NH.

Not as colorful a story as Howdy's story, but I thought I'd share it with you.

Jim Rogers

[Kbeitz]

You was real lucky that the trailer did not pull you of the road or flip over.

[Savannahdan]

Agree with Kbeitz about the trailer and glad you made the trip safely and got home okay.  My longest personal move was from Bangor, Me, to Cape Girardeau, Mo.  Even had a stop over in Media, Pa.  Everything went okay on the trip and we got out of Maine just before a bad snowstorm.  That was years ago.

[Ianab]

You was real lucky that the trailer did not pull you of the road or flip over.

Advantage of towing with a good heavy vehicle, like an actual truck. When something goes wrong, the tail is a lot less likely to wag the dog. Towing the trailer behind a light pickup or SUV, and your towed weight gets up around the vehicle weight, and things could easily go bad in a hurry.

[Howdy]

Golly, makes my travels sound like a day at the beach.  Thanks for the story and I am glad you did not have any more trouble.

[submarinesailor]

Jim,

Sorry you had the problem.

Wish I had known about your trip.  Could have bought you breakfast/lunch/dinner when you came thru this area on I95.

Bruce

[Jim_Rogers]

Jim,

Sorry you had the problem.

Wish I had known about your trip.  Could have bought you breakfast/lunch/dinner when you came thru this area on I95.

Bruce

Bruce
I almost called you about someplace to park the rig for the night. But I pressed on until 10 pm and then stopped.
Jim Rogers