High Centered

Sooooo.....I was cruising in Clakamus, Oregon after a long trek from Los Angeles just about to turn onto 205 headed north. I had a 43 foot power boat on my lowboy and decided to pop into McDonalds for a break. This particular McDonalds had truck parking in the back but the driveway was steep and lumpy. I entered ok, spun around the bottom and parked for a bit then left.

As I crossed the driveway with my cab fully extended at a 90 degree angle across 2 lanes I heard the dreaded screeeeeetch of the lowboy dragging on the high point. I figured it just started to drag so I'd just back up and hit it at a different angle. Famous last words.

I tried to back up and the tires on my new Pete just spun. Locked my axles and differential....still no good. Tried to go forward and made 2 or 3 inches--now I'm worse off. So now I get my buddy to lash his 4 wheeler to the back with a 4 inch strap and pull me down the steep driveway while I try and back up. Nothing happens until the strap breaks.

I get two new straps---one for my buddy and one for a stranger that has a dualy that looks beefy enough to do the job by himself. They both hook up while a crowd starts to form. They have cell phones going and are laughing and shouting out various helpful and not-so-helpful comments. At this point I realize I'm the next YouTube video.

Two 4 inch straps, two pickups, we try again. Straps break with a loud pop and one swings around almost cutting off the knees of a bystander. This is when a guy with a full dump truck towing a pup pulls up and drags out some chains. We lash the chains to the pickups and.....well, nothing. Nothing with two pickups and me spinning the tires while clouds of black smoke spewing out in all directions. Didn't budge an inch.

Now, the dump truck with the pup shoots in behind me. I couldn't believe how adept he was in the tight space with that rig ! He attaches the chains to the front of his rig, yanks as I spin, and I'm suddenly free!

Ok, so now, even though I'm free, I must still get over the now infamous bump, cars on both sides of me, people coming and going without giving a ( rhymes with spit ) as to my predicament and irritated that I'm blocking their way to a Big Mac while, at the same time, I'm blocking two lanes at the front.

I get my pole car to block off traffic on the other side of the street. Now the whole street is blocked. I line up my lowboy with the big boat hanging off both sides with the parked cars at the bottom of the steep hill. The dump truck driver wishes me luck...and I floor it trying to get up as much speed as I can before I hit the driveway. Fortunately, the Big Mac crowd finally absorbs the problem and stays out of the way.

As I reached the top of the driveway I made a quick glance to my left to make sure there was no traffic coming, the lanes across the street were now backing up where my pilot car had blocked them. I went ahead and made a quick angle to the left as I crossed the high point I had been stuck on.

The tires spun black smoke like an old coal train. The engine screamed along with the lowboy as it drug along the concrete. I saw sparks flying in rearview and heard screams of "keep going" !! Made it to the roar of the crowd and about 50 cell phones high in the air. I blew my air horn long to thank everyone and it echoed off the buildings in glorious triumph.

 

I've been looking on YouTube and haven't seen anything yet. I'm sure it's just a matter of time. I'd have posted my own but I was rather busy.

 

Old trailer with no hydraulics. Unless you're talking about bottle jack or some such.