WIDE LOAD



    Two loads of "caps" were loaded on our trailers in Amarillo, Texas, U.S.A. to be delivered to the oil sands in Ft. McMurry, Alberta, Canada.  These 23 feet wide, 28,000 pounds and 6 inches thick steel "caps" were the ends for high-pressure vessels.
 
 

        Wide Load                                  Photo by Duncan Smith                   

 
Wide Load                                              Photo by Duncan Smith 

 
 

    Running through some states we were only allowed to drive on four-lane divided highways, while other states we were permitted to go on gravel or paved side roads.  Operating through small towns and villages with these widths caused many headaches when going around sharp corners and meeting oncoming traffic.  23 feet wide loads take up two lanes of road and require that we be accompanied by pilot cars, one in front and one in the rear of each of us.  Each load also had to legally travel at a distance of a mile apart.  At one point, I mentioned on the C.B. radio to my lead pilot car that he should find a large parking spot so that we could all go for lunch together.  Forty minutes later he found a spot near a restaurant where we all ate lunch.  After lunch we checked our loads and started down a gravel road, myself in the lead.

    We were all talking on the C.B. radio when somebody mentioned how nice it was to be 23 feet wide and having everyone get out of our way.  Just then, I noticed someone coming towards us that was even bigger!  It was a house!  Now we were in trouble, at 23 feet wide and the load coming towards us was about 28 feet wide by 25 feet high, all on the same gravel road that was only 20 feet wide.  We stopped to discuss the situation when someone mentioned that there were two of us and only one of him, but in the end we gave him the right of way.  If the house load had pulled off the road it would have tipped over, as his center of gravity was a lot higher.

 
 

Oversized house moving along road                           Photo by Duncan Smith 

       I pulled off the road over in the grass without problems as did the other identical load` behind
me. The house slowly went by.  Not long after that a driver made a smart remark about, "never say you are the biggest as there is always someone even bigger than you". Traveling down all these narrow side roads rather than on the ‘big road' (four-lane divided highways) put on an additional 120 miles to our trip

Amarillo to Ft. McMurry is 2123 miles (3416 km) plus the detours



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Created 3 March 2002
Last Updated 4 September 2006 19:20