It was around 7 PM last night when we finally were able to leave on the long trek to pick up the new laying chickens and a couple of Tamworth hogs (a heritage breed). Google told us the shortest, fastest route was 101 miles and 2 hours and 18 minutes down winding back roads. Somehow all of that sounded so doable when we planned it.
Had it not been for being so pleased with the previous batch of Tamworth pigs we'd gotten not so long ago, we probably wouldn't have even thought of going so far.
Our first attempt at leaving was foiled by the discovery that there really was something wrong with the brake line on the green truck. I thought so. I had taken it to do some errands the day before and I was sure I was pressing that brake pedal MUCH further to the floor to effect a stop than I should've been. We returned the very short distance back home and Paul unloaded all the chicken crates and unhooked the cattle trailer.
A quick call to Blake in Vermont for advice about using the white truck had us scrapping that idea. Blake didn't think it was a good idea given the extent of the transmission repairs that are here waiting for his return. (That is, when he gets fixed his own mechanical troubles that are keeping him detained in Vermont a little longer than expected.)
Well, the obvious choice left was Paul's dad's truck. All hitched up, we left again.
The long and winding roads were pleasant really. Paul and I both really enjoy country drives.
Along about an hour and a half into the trip, Logan calls us on the cell phone letting us know that Poppy----who had just gotten home----said the headlights on his truck DO NOT work. Hmmm. It was getting dark enough to actually need lights.....and, you know, he was right!!
What to do in the middle of really no where with no headlights? We turned on the fog lights. That was good enough for our purposes at the moment.
We made it there and loaded up the stock and started the long drive back home around....I don't know, 10? The clock in the truck by this time had been reset a few times because we were messing with the fuses, trying to get the lights working. It didn't help.
Thankfully we did discover early into our return trip that the tail lights of both truck and trailer weren't working either. It took us a while to finally decide that hazard lights would have to suffice! We also discovered that, for the most part, if we held the turn signal level back in the "brights" position that we did have headlights. It was tedious, though.
In all this driving home, I'm not sure if we passed 50 cars. It
was the middle of the night, I guess. We also noticed an accute lack of gas stations along the route we took.
The kitchen clock said quarter till 2 when I walked into the house. That was a long day, given we'd started it at 6 am the day before. We had spent the day, among other things, butchering nearly 200 chickens, canning some meat, and we also started working up the 6 bushels of peaches that have now become today's work.
Did I mention that we're getting new broiler chicks today....and our pens out in the pasture still have broilers that need dressed in them? That means....I suppose....that we'll be dressing more chicken today........
~Colleen
