48 Feet

Not only got to drive my Mack yesterday to the regular stop And a new stop (such a brave BettyBulldog to work out a new sitcheeation) ... but also got to swap out the 28 foot trailer for the 48 footer. Woo hoo! Alley docked that baby in just 3 pull-ups. I rock!

What's involved in a swap, you ask? Well, mainly dis.

1. Unhook -- remove the primary and emergency air brake lines and the electrical. 
2. Lower the landing gear (ie crank n crank n crank the big jack-in-the-box handle on the side of the trailer). 
3. Hook the release-latch, plant your foot on your duals (tires) and pulllllllharrrrd while simultaneously yanking to your left so you can lock it in an open position. (It's good that this is hard to do since one relatively little lock around a ball is all that holds trailer and truck together.) 
4. Get in the truck and carefulcarefulcareful pull out, watching that the landing gear holds before completely pulling out from under.
5. Hook Up. Back under the other trailer until THUNK, the plates meet and the latch closes around the ball.
6. Try to pull forward (with the trailer brake on). If you can't, you're connected. 
7. Hook up the air and electrical.
8. Lift the landing gear (ie crank n crank n crank, only dis time the other direction)
9. Feel the burn! Wipe the brow! Screw the gym membership! woo hoo!

And then, baby, back that thing into a dock between a 40 foot rail on one side and the trash compactor on the other. With just 25 feet or so to play with to the front and to the left of you. A good day.