The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Old Dominion Stovebolt Society (MD, VA, West VA, DC, DE and PA) HQ Move .... Epic adventure... or fake news???

A Stovebolt Special Report. We'll go indepth as we look back at what some are calling a monumental logistical feat accomplished solely through a bi-partisan Herculian effort that drew in friends from across the wide expanse of the ODSS to pull off a move that was thought impossible. We'll hear from many voices and perspectives, piece together the story from the anecdotes, sift through the claims and wild stories to bring you a complete overview of merely just another move? Or a legend of Homeric proportions detailing a dangerous journey through many perils and lonely miles as John, Peggy and friends seek a new home in a promised land.

Fact? Fiction? Legend? You decide.

We'll start in Late July.

John and Peggy, having recently completed their several jobs (NAVAIR, Guy Excavating, Grandchild development, neighborhood management, water coaching ...), decided that there was nothing further they could contribute (except for criminally high taxes ...) and that it was time to leave the Old Line State to return to their beloved Alabama.

"It was a difficult decision," recalled Peggy recently, while sipping Cumberland Mountain Water perched high atop her new lair in the Alabama highlands and wrapped in a Marine Corps blanket given her by Bread. "Nor one we made lightly or quickly.

"But ..."she went on, "there was nothing more we could do here. Our work was done. We could go."

But why the highlands of North East Alabama?

"The question had always been when to go, not where," Peggy stated with steely eyed determination. "I was living in Alabama when this dashing young Marine Corps aviator to be swooped in and took me to the far side of the world. He had gone to school at Marion (Marion Military Institute in Marion, AL). It was our Home Of Record while we were active duty, we kept a townhouse there and so Alabama has always been home for both of us. And the Alabama Highlands are just a beautiful place to live."

Not all agree, though, that their work in Maryland was "done."

When asked for comment, Pat Guy, owner of Guy Excavating, spat out his Mountain Dew.

"His work was done??? If I loaded all THAT hog manure into the triaxle dump, it would snap the frame in half," he snorted. "He left in the night, left a truck on a job site, a bunch of logs that Big Dale had to carry to the mill... shoot, he even ran the Potomac River Bridge, dodged the toll and now that truck has been impounded. And now I have to go get a couple of trustees from the county lock up just to fix the mess he left behind."

"His work wasn't done, he ran before they collared his [butt]. Maryland probably doesn't have an extradition agreement with Alabama ..." he surmised, clearly not a fan.

Despite detractors, the move actually started a year previously.

"When we began considering the move, we had developed a set of criteria," Peggy explained. "Even though we had Alabama in mind, we wanted to consider alternatives. Our primary requirements were that we wanted to go to a very Red state with a good economy where our retirement dollars went the furthest and our taxes went to things we believed in. We didn't want to follow the herd, necessarily, to places like Texas or Florida, so looked in Tennessee (with Hotrod Lincoln helping), in Mississippi (Southern Truck helping) and even Arkansas."

"After considering everything, we still couldn't find anything we liked better than Sweet Home Alabama."

So John and Peggy turned to Zillow.com in their search and in July, found a piece of property near Scottsboro, Alabama that checked most, if not all, their requirement "boxes."

"John entered our search parameters -- small house, at least 5 acres, garage, barn -- and it came right up first on the list," Peggy said. "We contacted the seller and everything just fell into place. Jerry (Hotrod Lincoln) even came over to meet with the real estate agent and put eyes on the property for us and do an inspection. We closed in October and John left with the first load the next day."

That first trip was an adventure in its own.

John, ever the careful truck driver, packed the van and the trailer full. As in "over weight."

"Being heavy made the 12-hour trip down I-81 rather sporty in places," John recounted. "I spent a lot of time in the slow lane with the 18-wheelers in mountains."

No problems?

"I wish," he said. "The van only has the 5.4 liter V-8, not the diesel or the V-10. So it kept kicking into passing gear. THAT resulted in blowing a coil pack in Bristol TN, and a 3-hour delay to fix that."

John still managed to arrive at 7 pm (CST) to meet with the seller, collect the keys and see the property for the first time...

.....

Next installment .... Trip 2 -- Miss Peggy takes "The Voyage Home!"

Welcome to rural living. You’ll love it!

Don

I see you took the important stuff (the tractor) on the first load.

Reminds me of Friendship Forest!
Relocating, even if the life you choose requires some of it, is something I do not want to think about.
Looks like a wonderful setting and I wish you guys all the happiness you deserve….and then some!

Beautiful place y’all got there. I can’t wait to visit the next time we’re passing through with the RV. Looks like there’s plenty of room to park my Beast. I’ll be sure to bring a rock for Miss Peggy.

Looks Great John. Did the bus make it's way down there yet ?

Two questions.
Is that tractor a Hoyt-Clagwell? If not, surely one would have conveyed with the purchase of that property.
Who is that smoking hot redhead whom apparently and wantonly sidled up to Hotrod?

Carl, Nope. Wouldn't want a Hoyt Clagwell after seeing Oliver Wendell Douglas' experience with one ... That tractor is the same Farmall Super A you saw at Wrenchfest

Joe -- No. Bus is still in Maryland waiting its turn. Next trip to Maryland will bring it down here.

Well, maybe I can interest you in the Defective tractor. They came with the 3 point hitch of which, the Hoyt-Clagwell was lacking.
All for the moderate price of $35,000.

52Carl
Haney Enterprises.

Sorry to be so late in this epic story. That trip out,when John took the first installment of our stuff, was thrilling. John had so much to say about the place, and the trip. The trip sounded scary to me. But the farm, he kept saying, "You're gonna love this place!"

We had some real tele-communications problems. *I* had pretty good communication .... John, not so good. Not good at all. When he got to the house, he could only get one bar on his cell phone. Some times, he said, it was NO bars!

John had to go out to the middle of the field to talk to anyone. Kinda hard to schedule stuff. And no searching ability with his phone.

He'd go down the mountain in order to get better signal. I kept on with my searches so when he called, I could give him details on some of the things that needed to be done: like water and electric hookup.

I started to do some address changes but was amazed at how many businesses would not do a change of address without verification. Was not a bad idea but I should have kept at it because it came to be a bigger problem later. USPS in Leonardtown would only hold our mail until we give them verification. We had a month to get it done.

I was really hoping for pictures (you all know how I am) but I didn't get many pictures from John because of the bandwidth problem. I had to rely on my imagination and John's descriptions. Boy, was I way off.


I'm anxious to have John do the return back to Rosalie.

Sounds like John does need to install a pole to make phone calls. There is a reason why they call them "telephone poles" out that way.

You'd think being on a mountain, at the top of the mountain at that, would give us GREAT reception.

Peggy, there are places where location (or altitude) makes no difference in cell phone reception. It's all dependent on "line of sight" to a cell tower. I've considered approaching one of the cell companies about building a tower at the top of the big hill on our place. We have to drive about half a mile to get a reliable cell signal. Fortunately, the land line service is pretty good, and should get better once the fiber optic system that's partially complete around here finally goes online.

Get John off his behind and come visit us- - - - -soon!
Jerry

John's anxious to come visit. May be soon! (Need some advice on fixing the burners on the gas stove. )

We had a morning full of strife with Verizon and these cell phones. We do have a landline and John got a better phone to set up. It's been awhile and I'm curious to see how a portable has changed. I'm guessing it's got more options than we need. Or already covered by the "phone company" (actually the power company).

And we also had problems for a few days with the emails. That was resolved this afternoon and it's been full speed ahead answering those.

Best of luck on your retirement. Looks like you’ve settled on a beautiful place.

Welcome to the wonderful world of rural cell phone coverage! Our land line and internet has been provided by the local independent phone company for the past 30-something years. The beginnings of a fiber optic system is being installed- - - -no idea when it's going to be functional, though! There's also a wifi that comes with the Dish TV service, but it's also a bit less than reliable. All things considered, having the nearest non-family neighbor a quarter of a mile away, a bit of hassle with phone service is definitely worth it, though! Pretty soon, there will be four generations of us living on our 100-something acres! Two kids, two grandkids, and a great granddaughter!
Jerry

Episode 2 -- The Peggy Trip

So .... Off loaded the 1st load. Spent a day taking it all in. Hit the rack shortly after sunset. Woke up at 0230, sh*t, showered and shaved and was on the road to Maryland at 0330. No issues on the return trip and got in to to Rosalie Way shortly after sunset.

Then the real work began -- Peggy was going on the next trip.

I had her figured for trip 3 ... But ... SWMBO.

Fortunately, I had about a week to prepare for it. And our "adopted" son and grandson, Blaine (and Landon), signed on to help load and make Trip 2.

Plus ... Mike B offered to go on the trip and haul something. We loaded the '73 IH 1310 dump trip ("Hobbes") on his trailer, along with some misc stuff, and sent them off ahead. We'd see them in Alabama.

The first issue ... I had figured the bus would be making the "Peggy Trip" loaded with the household goods (kitchen and bedroom stuff). And because that was originally programmed for Trip 3, the bus was in line over at Sensenig's garage for a transmission service and general check to make sure it was ready for a 700-mile road trip at max gross weight. So when Trip 3 got bumped up to Trip 2 ...

I had some quick reconfiguration to do to the logistics plan.

One of our dear friends and ATHS brothers, Henry, lent us his enclosed million foot hauler trailer... Cool -- the thing was nearly the size of a semi trailer. The problem was that the trailer's empty weight exceeded the towing capacity of the Quigley. OK ... Blaine's F-250 could handle it.... Only, the trailer's payload was *vastly* less than it's capacity. Meaning that we would max the load in the trailer well before we cubed it out. Meaning ... why pull such a ginormous trailer 1400 miles mostly empty?

So I sheepishly returned Henry's graciously offered trailer and pondered next step.

That turned out to be a U-Haul trailer. Blaine and Landon showed up. We got the prime household goods loaded in the U-Haul trailer. We loaded the VW wagon packed full of stuff and put it on the car hauler trailer with a few other really heavy things (like the HQ Shop main roller tool box and the tiller), got a berth set up for Peggy in the van and off we went to Alabama.

It was a relatively uneventful trip, except for the hateful traffic in Knoxville and Chattanooga.

Arriving again well after dark, Peggy made her triumphal return to Alabama without issue. But not for long ... But that's for next time

Nothing like the adventure of an adventure.
That's why they call it an adventure.
If one were to take on any other frame of mind for such trips, it would be called something quite different. Fill in your own blanks.

I need to get my "take" on all this. I started but need to sort out which trip was which. Duh ....

One of these days, I'll report on our trip from California to Tennessee in 1980- - - - -with me driving a 1970 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham I borrowed from Dad, and towing an 18 foot backhoe trailer with three (count 'em!) mobile home axles. Mary was following me, driving the 59 Burb that's still parked out behind the barn, and towing a Datsun station wagon. The Caddy and trailer weighed 16,700 pounds when I bought an "over-wide" permit because of the 100" wide trailer axles at the Arizona border. The Cadillac got 5 MPG for 2500 miles, California to Tennessee,- - - -and the Burb got 10!
Jerry

Mr Milliman

When is the next chapter starting? I got some funny $#!+ to share!

Perhaps once we are all settled in and waiting for our winter storm (coming Friday), we'll be able to get to the next part. John is liking the idea of just watching snow and not out plowing the roads for the state. Pat Guy and his group sounded a bit distressed. "COME BACK JOHN!" is what I heard screaming in the phone.

We will need to plow our driveway, which will be fun for John. We have a great hill for snow rides. John has plenty of cold weather gear thanks to ndkid275.

About the adventure, I have a bunch of notes on the move that i sent in a PM to myself. I needed pencil and paper to recall which trip was which. Plus, the long list with dates from the Discover card has jogged the memory.

Okay. Here goes. I'll try not to be too boring for some of you.

Being part of the "Peggy trip" was actually a lot of fun. Blaine and Landon were a huge help in packing. I had the bedroom, bathrooms, pantry, and a big share of the living room/kitchen/computer area ... hmm. Actually all the house except the Back Room which was totally John's. (That was some serious sorting; a few of you are familiar with that room. )

I had to sort out what needed to go this trip and what could wait for the next one (supposedly the big one with RoseBus). I was looking with Minimalists eyes (my fav). We took a few days and used a bunch of totes that we had gotten over the years. Many of those were carryovers when moving from Friendship Forest. Others we picked up when on sale. The totes were better than boxes for most things because we could see what was in them. We had them designated for easy unpacking.

We cleared out the "Kids Room" and that became our packing materials area (with a table). It also served for completed boxes staging so we could keep open as much space as possible in the Big Room.

We needed to sort by weight, too, trying to keep totes and boxes somewhat balanced. Hence some ended up with odd stuff on top or just a few extra items got stuffed there to "close out" a tote. That made for some fun surprises on the other end.

Having the U-haul was great. We stuffed soft or delicate items into furniture pieces, surrounded by clothes. That was something we learned when doing PSC moves with the Marine Corps.

John did set me up with a nice bunk area in the back of Q. I was afraid I was going to be too cold but he had plenty of blankets close by. Turns out, I got really hot once the sun came up and I peeled off the blankets. I tried to keep my little area neat despite a lot of stuff packed around me. I was in charge of the water bottles and the power charger. Over some rough roads, some of the bigger things near the back of the van shifted, which was a little scary. Plenty of rattling going on in the back most of the trip ... besides my wheelchair, not sure what the other things might have been.

Glad to say, nothing got broken or spilled on the trip. It was a long ride but it was nice to follow along using the cell phone. Checked in with Blaine ... Landon was mostly sleeping. I was able to be a back-van driver, doing the directions only ... I couldn't see the roadway front or back.



On the Chattanooga TN traffic, I do not think I would've liked that one bit. Maybe our timing was off -- probably rush hour craziness.

So, this part was getting ready and the actual driving trip for the second leg, with Blaine and Landon and a moderate amount of stuff. It was real fun once we got here. I'll let John do his first take on that chapter.

Couldn’t see the roadway?
I would have puked , but that’s just me. 😊

Soooooo ..... There (um, here) we were -- Safely arrived In Alabama with the bare minimums rather hastily thrown together at the last moment as we had pretty much tossed the original logistics plan and made up a new one on the fly.

We were settling in ... Sortta. Blaine and Landon stayed a couple of days and we (Blaine ...) worked on a few needed house projects, like changing out the locks, fixing some doors and cabinetry, and then, all to soon, Blaine and Landon were off, back to Virginia.

Peggy and I started realizing we were more "visiting here" at this point than "living here" ...

"Where's the ________??" one of us would ask. The answer, invariably, was "Still in Maryland." Harrumph.

For anyone who has done a military PCS move, we were living with only our "express" shipment and really needing our HHG (HouseHold Goods) shipment. Only difference being, Acme Moving Company (under contract to the Marine Corps) wasn't going to show up with the rest of our stuff. Not only was that cavalry not coming, it had disbanded and shot all its horses a looooooong time ago. If we wanted the rest of our junk (which we kinda did), we had to go back for it.

We took about a week to work on things here like getting the utilities switched over, address changes at the post office and a few other of the zillion PITA things you have to do to keep all those cards and letters coming (i.e., bills and notices). And once in a good spot, we redid Peggy's spot in the otherwise empty van, hooked up the trailer and headed back North for Trip 3.

Trip 3...

Returning to Maryland, we found out the the critical transportation asset for Trip 3, the bus, was not going to be available. Apparently, critical apparatus from the Leonardtown VFD had come in and bumped Rosebus to the back of the line .... sigh ... Couldn't get too mad over THAT, I suppose ...(Grrrrr stooopid firetruck .... ).

Sortta like when you have a tactical plan that requires a helicopter. At the last minute you get told that the helicopter ain't comin. BUT ... here's a canoe. Good luck!!

Alrighty then. No bus. Okay .... as Pooh Bear would say as he tapped his forehead, "Think... think ... think..."

After more forehead tapping, it suddenly became clear what we had to do -- pile everything in the back yard, douse it with diesel fuel and put a match to it.

As much as Peggy would have loved that option, we ultimately decided not to. Mainly because such a fire on top of the septic tank would probably be a problem .... Also, of some concern ... were all the Stovebolt.com files and computer equipment ... and OLD CHARLIE!!!

So I rented a U-Haul truck!

We had arrived back in Maryland on Thursday. Arranged things on Friday. Pickup up the U-Haul truck Saturday morning. And our plan called for us to be back on the road to Alabama at Oh Dark Thirty Monday morning (which happened to be Veterans' Day ...). Not a whole lot of time to throw together a new "Plan B" packout plan and get it loaded. Fortunately for us, we still have a few friends at this point!

The first to show up were my Marine Corps Brother, Andre and his son, Treshawn. They even showed up with pizza!!

Because this trip was planned as the Main Peggy/HHG trip, we had a lot to load -- the bed room furniture, the Stovebolt Office (computers, table, printer, file cabinets, etc.), tools ... Thank our Good Lord who provided Andre and Treshawn. And then, shortly after, Dan P arrived ("Roverdan" as he is known to the ODSS).

But I get ahead of myself ....

Rewinding back to Friday .... Shortly after I had made the reservation for the U-Haul truck, I got a call from a sales/logistics rep from U-Haul. Would I be willing to also haul one of their trailers to my destination? Apparently, they were short of assets in North East Alabama and they needed trailers. And if I would take one along, they'd let me use the trailer as well as pay me $50. So I said "Sure!"

Wow. A U-Haul truck AND a trailer! Considering how much Blaine and I had packed into the first trailer .... We were going to get a LOT on this trip!! I started a new pack out plan ... I shouldn't have bothered ...

Saturday morning arrives and our waterside neighbors, Sarah and Willie, drive me down to Lexington Park to pick up the rig. Imagine my ... surprise ... when I find out the trailer is actually a car hauler, not a box trailer ... Hmmmm.... Driving back to Leonardtown, my brain was full on mental gymnastics reworking the plan. Plan A -- Put Charlie on the car hauler to free up the flat trailer for other stuff ... Nope -- Charlie's wheelbase is too long for the car hauler. Plan B -- The tractor?? Nope. With the FEL, it's also too long (even backwards). Besides, the rear wheels are too wide.

So we went with Plan M -- The Malibu.

Until this point, the trusty Malibu was not planned to make the move to Alabama. We were just going to sell it in Maryland. But now, it had a reason to go to Alabama, For one thing, we could slap it on the trailer and pack it full of ... whatever we could cram into it. For another thing, it could make a one-way trip back to Maryland for Trip 4 when I was going to return with the bus.

Problem solved!

But heeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy .... wait a minute.... go back a bit .... Why are they so desperate for U-Haul assets in North East Alabama they're willing to PAY ME to relocate a trailer down there???? Hmmmmmm. Something we should know here???? (Note: In retrospect, we've determined that all assets in this part of the South were depleted in the wake of the hurricane that ravaged our neighbors to the East so it wasn't because we were moving *to* an area that most folks were leaving. )

OK, where were we ... Ah, Saturday pack out with Andre, Treshawn and Dan. Also playing a vital role are our other neighbors, Jimmy and Pam. And then, later in the day, Erik arrived.

Having the U-Haul truck instead of the bus opened up a LOT of possibilities. To begin, the first thing I loaded in the U-haul was Peggy's mower. Not just *any* mower (lest you be thinkin' that it would be easier just to sell it and get another one in Alabama....), Peggy's mower is the one we got at the Christmas tree farm -- a special ordered John Deere commercial diesel ZTR with no foot controls. A mower so rugged, our great grandchildren will be mowing with it. Leave it behind? After all we've been through??? So it went in first. And it was amazing what we could pack around it. We literally buried it. As back at Friendship Forest, it will be Peggy's outdoor power chair here.

After a while, the plan (staged items of various priorities) just went completely out the window and we were just grabbing whatever fit the next hole we were trying to stuff.

Thanks to the creative thinking and perseverance of Andre, Treshawn, Dan and Erik, we packed the U-haul and the Malibu full, full, full! I doubt even an ant could have crawled aboard the U-Haul. It was well after dark when the Trip 3 Packout crew declared victory and went home. A HUGE thanks to them!!

That was Saturday -- One truck and trailer packed (the main one). For Sunday, we still had to figure out what was going in the van with Peggy, behind the van on the flat trailer, in the back of Mike Roache's truck and on Mike's trailer.

I'll get to THAT next!

Okay, one more post and then I'll leave it to Sweet and Roache and whatever babbling/disinformation they care to share ...

Anyhoo ....

Sunday 10 November, 2024. An auspicious day, being the 249th birthday of the Marine Corps ... At this point, the U-Haul truck is packed and ready to roll with the Malibu packed and on the trailer. I forget what time Chris Sweet arrived -- he'll have to fill in that blank. But our next order of business was getting Charlie ready to go on Mike Roache's trailer when he arrived. Also, we had to get the tractor on the trailer behind the van. Last things on the agenda would be the most critical items that would get packed in around Peggy in the van. We did not forget the van's roof rack ... That got loaded, too, with the ladder collection smile.

As a funny side note, after we had gotten the van packed, and the last few items at oh dark thirty on Monday, I got Peggy in the van. As I turned from transferring her, I was looking down at her wheelchair sitting there next to the van .... The chair seemed to be saying "well, Sparky??? Got a place for *ME*?????" Oooooooppppps .... blush

Some quick repacking at the back of the van, and the chair was in!

Good thing the van has tinted windows .... The trailer was another story. The tractor (with FEL and box blade hanging off the back) only weighed about 4,000 lbs. The trailer was good for another 4,500lbs. Having learned my lesson about over loading the van on the first trip, I wasn't planning on maxing out the van. But we did have some space and some weight available. So we used it. And it must have looked a little like the Clampetts ... Along with the tractor, I had my bike strapped to one side, the pressure washer strapped to the other and the roto tiller on the front. In the tractor's bucket, we had stuffed a few other items. Rounding out the load was the van's spare tire and the garden hoses under the tractor.

Mikey then showed up and we put Charlie on his trailer. Rounding out Mike's load were a few items in the back of his truck that could ride low and not interfere with the gooseneck trailer. More Lego/Tetris playing with all the pieces.

The rest of Sunday wrapped up with moving everything left (that wasn't making this trip) to the sea container to clear the house for the incoming renter. Not sure when Chris and I wrapped that up, but we all crashed pretty hard. Besides, it was going to be an early reveille. Mike and family had finished their load out and returned home. We would meet up with them in Dahlgren, VA.

The next morning, Chris, Peggy and I got up about 0400, got the coffee going and prepared to move out.

We met up with Mikey at the Sheetz in Dahlgren and started what was going to be a very long day. Peggy and I in the van, Chris piloting the U-Haul truck and Mikey in his truck with Charlie. Turned out that our van had the shortest legs so Peggy and I called the fuel stops along the way. There were about four of them. We had some issues with the CBs but Mike can fill in on how he resolved that issue. We were well able to communicate and stay together through some very bad traffic in Knoxville and Chattanooga.

We hit sunset about at the Alabama state line and made the rest of the trip (about an hour from South Pittsburg, TN to Skyline) in the dark. I think Mike and Chris were surprised at the end. When I said we were going "mountain climbing" they thought I was joking ...

Well, I wasn't.

We made it up the mountain and onto the Skyline Ranch (AKA Stovebolt HQ about 2030 hrs or so (CT). We unloaded essential items from the van (including Peggy ) and then all 4 of us crashed.

We spent Tuesday unpacking and then Mike Chris and I took Charlie and the IH dump down into Scottsboro for a late lunch at Payne's, got back in time to do a little pistol shooting and then that was that. A few projects the next day and then they hit the road for home.

Again, a huge thanks to Chris, Mike, their families and the previously mentioned folks who helped us pull this off!

Roll Tide!

This was my first Alabama experience. Like with all ODSS adventures, the trip down was well planned and uneventful. Fortunately there were no mechanical issues with any of the vehicles with the exception of the CB radios having issues throughout the trip.

Upon arrival to HQ we explored the property. What a place. Has a nice pond, rolling hills, and plenty to room to do whatever you wish. We spent the week unpacking goodies, setting things up, and making a few repairs needed. Each time we went out we learned something new. John being the social butterfly he is, would engage in conversation with folks and the first thing anyone would say to us was: "Where y'all from?" since our accents did not match the southern twang of the locals.

We found some places with hidden gems. For instance, Mike was being helpful once we unloaded Peggy's mower. As he mowed for some time John and I noticed he stopped and the hood of the mower was up. We go to see the matter and find the air filter cover had come loose and fallen off onto a hot engine. The cover melted and we needed another. We ride around town and found a farm equipment junkyard! Who would have thought? While they did not have what was needed, it was good to know that place was there for the future.

While on our trip Mike was in search of a signature southern item. Pecan Pie. Everywhere we went, he would look without success. The day before leaving, we took Charlie and the International out to introduce the flagship of Stovebolt.com to the locals. When we made a fuel stop I went into the station to find an entire case of pecan pies! I sent Roache in and to his delight he found what he was looking for. These pies became closely guarded items for the trip back to MD.

While we did quite a bit of work getting John and Peggy settled, there was also a large amount of joking around and laughing at each other. Something I needed. Thanks for having me along for the ride!

Mike probably had difficulty finding a pecan pie because when those folks out that way hear someone say "pecan" wrong, why, they figure that feller must be a yank, then Bob ain't your uncle no more...

Well, A lot has gone on since my return home from the Alabama road trip. Things are a bit fuzzy, but here we go.

When we left on the trip. I had the only working CB for communication between the bunch. I brought a second radio for the U-Haul van that Sweet was driving. Turns out both my radio that Sweet had and John's radio in his van both had bad microphones.

At the first of many, many, many fuel stops, I remedied the microphone issues quickly with brand new microphones.

We got back on the road with better communications. Until several hours later when we traveled through Chattanooga TN. Holy crap!!!! That stretch of road sucks! Big time!! I've only been on one other interstate that is almost as bad as that one. Pennsylvania Interstate 83 northbound and southbound.

Anyway, Chattanooga bounced my General Lee so badly, it left that chat and only sporadically worked after that. Gonna have to go to the radio shop in Doswell VA sometime this winter.

About Alabama. At Johns new house, we were able to get his John Deere zero turn off the U-Haul. We stowed his trailer behind the barn after I cut the 2-foot grass, so it had place to be unhooked.

Well, once I get mowing, it's hard for me to stop............Until. I was mowing the fence line and the mower shut down due to too much chaff clogging the radiator -- after only half an hour. Good thing -- smoke was coming out from under the hood.

The cover holding the air filter in was incorrectly installed and decided to fall onto the hot manifold and melt. This prompted John and Chris to come over in the van and find out what happened.

"Well, I guess you get to find and meet your local Deere dealer, John. " Your welcome."

I got blamed, but, asking me to add to the move collaboration, has given me a chance to clear my good name and blame the real, less mechanical culprit. Did I say less mechanical? Sure did, stand by.

The pies! Chris and John decided that the last night Chris and I were in town we were going to go to downtown for a cruise. Mind you, the roads in John's area are back roads with highway speed limits that are only suggestions at best.

John jumps in Charlie and Chris and I jump in John's newly acquired International Harvester dump truck (Hobbs) with me at the wheel. We took off for town with John in the lead.

Yes, John lives on the top of a mountain! We are running somewhere just above the speed limit. That little International will roll along nicely...... until John comes to a dead stop for a school bus just over the peak of the 4-mile downgrade. I go for the brakes and there's nothing but hopes and prayers.

Chris, not immediately aware of what was transpiring, was asking why I was cursing and hollering to hang on. I was looking for a landing spot in a ditch or woods to keep from wiping John and Charlie off the mountain.

John takes off and I'm able to gather up the control of truck. I found a nice low gear and carried Chris and I slowly to the bottom of the mountain to the traffic light at the bottom.

We travel down about a mile and a half to a little Mom and Pop gas station\snack joint. I got out of the truck and swore I won't be moving it one inch. John and Chris are still not believing my story to this day, I guess. I raised the hood and checked for brake fluid. There was nothing but rusty mud at the bottom of the master cylinder. Might have found some other mud a bit later after we arrived home.

Chris went into this little fuel place and came out with the brake fluid and said that I needed to go inside. I was still kind of trying to get myself together after our near-death experience.

"Inside!?!? Dude! I just want to go back!!"

Chris said not till you look inside.

"Ok, I will." I walked inside and there was a little lady running the place and there was one of those old, refrigerated display cases filled with probably 40 or 50 genuine, homemade, southern Pecan Pies!!!! Jackpot Baby!!! What truck? What near death experience.

"Are those pies for sale? Are they homemade? I'll take 2!"

A mere $30 and Chris, me and my pies got in Charlie and wished John good luck in the Dump Truck. We had a nice snack in town while I watched over my pies in Charlie.

Chris and I left Alabama in the morning, and I had pecan pie for dessert that night at home. John is not allowed back in Maryland or any gathering where we meet without no less than 2 pies.

How's that for a wrap up, John?

Wow, Mike! I was part of the CB radio segment. And I heard a little about the mower. However, I had no idea about Hobbs and the brakes. It can be quite scary rolling down the mountain. Had you seen the OTHER side of the mountain? A beautiful view ... and breathtaking in other ways, too.

Ok, I’ve read all of the moving stories and I must say, I’m exhausted 😴

It just reaffirms why I only want to make one more move from where I am…..and that would be to Stovebolt Heaven!!😊

Sounds like you landed in a beautiful spot and I’m happy for you both!

That was an awful writeup, Mike! Full of disinformation and lies! LIES!!!

That air cleaner cap was installed correctly. It was *obviously* operator error.

Harrumph.

Victor ... *You're* exhausted???? Sheesh.

Post script....

So here we are at the beginning of February. Heart of winter.

Peggy has been calling the authorities, claiming I have been keeping her hostage within the confines of HQ. Tied to the distaff as it were, slaving away at the laundry, cooking, cleaning, managing Stovebolt, blah, blah, blah....

And perhaps she is right.

But despite my best efforts, she managed to escape yesterday and get outside to the Gator. You KNOW how she is about her Gator ...

Yes, she FINALLY got her first Gator ride around the new Stovebolt Galactic HQ campus. It was glorious.

I'll let her speak for herself ...

Happy wife happy life is the motto I live by

Glad to hear Peg got to survey the grounds!

Have you had any snow up on the mountain? Travelling on the road into town would NOT be fun in a snow storm!

Mike B

Mike -- Yes, we got nearly 4 inches on the ground from the storm that came through a couple of weeks ago. The storm that dropped 10 inches on the Gulf Coast passed south of us.

State Highway Department here did a great job keeping the road open considering this is Alabama and we only get a storm like this once a decade maybe. They have a few pickups with 8-ft snow blades. I was actually impressed. I didn't need to go off the mountain but I suspect the road was manageable.

It was such fun to be in a Gator again! John's been looking for the *right* stick so I can drive it ... one of these days. Glad we saved our little Gator toy ... that *was* just a fond memory.

It is very different to see the farm from Gator-view and Gator-speed. Lots of pausing to soak it all in. Some of the areas that John described to me earlier were far more wonderful than I could visualize in my noodle. I'm not very good at that (hence I'm always asking for pictures ).

John has had a great time cleaning up around the place - both inside and out. You fellas who visited would get a nice "wow" at how the place is taking shape.

Today, we tested all the circuits at that panel in the garage. What a crazy layout ... but we got them all figured with the old tested method. Lights on all over the place. (Mike B would be proud of us; but probably shaking his head at what we found. ) The big electrical job will be getting power to the barn. There are other piddly electrical job but that's the biggie.

Yes, that snow was amazing. I remember the ONE snow we had when I lived in Warrior AL. The girls (3 and 5) liked sliding down the ramp. It was about 2" of snow and it was gone by the end of the day. Their "first" snow. We didn't really have *cold weather* gear.

I really like the picture of the house and flag with the snow...looks great!

Glad to hear you got the electric figured out! So what's the plan for the barn...lots of big power or just lights and a few outlets?

Mike B

The ... "Current" ... plan (like that??? ) for the barn is to just get the existing lights and outlets operational again. I'm still considering a garagemahal so if that happens, big power can go there. In the meantime, my plan is still to use those two 220 outlets in the house garage for the table saw and dust collector.

In the house panel, we discovered that the washing machine and the oven are on the same side of a tandem breaker ... issue? Or do we just not run the oven and the washer at the same time? Speaking of tandem breakers, Do I need to worry about a panel full of tandem breakers? Well, you saw that when you were here so is it safe to assume that if you didn't pop a red star cluster over it, then neither should I?