Dave and I agreed on a flat rate and he scheduled one of his tow guys, Steve Johnson, to come out and make the move. Since Steve lives in Vancouver, they asked if he could do it on Thursday evening on his way home rather than waiting for Friday morning. Steve met me at about 2:00 PM at my mother's house where the truck was sitting with the goal of getting it hooked up and delivered in time to go home for dinner. Nothing ever goes as planned.

Since the engine would not fire up (carburetor needed to be rebuilt), we could not build up air pressure to release the parking brake cans. Steve said that was no problem, he could crawl under the truck and clamp the cans to release the brakes. That would not work, as these were early Maxi Brakes and they were of a different design. We decided to run an air line from his truck to the air fill by the door. After about an hour of messing with fittings and couplings, we came up with a combination that allowed us to couple the air systems and release the brakes. We were able to tow the truck about 25' out the curved driveway before we needed to change the angle of approach. That meant we needed to go back forward, the only problem being the tow truck was behind us and could not get by to be in front. I had my ranger 4X4 pick-up in the driveway, so we rigged a chain, put it in four wheel low and towed the truck forward and got it straightened out.

We eventually got it out to the street where we would be able to get lined up and hooked to the back of the tow truck. Because it is a cab over truck, the axle sits back from the front, creating a long reach for the under sling device. After working at it for about an hour, Steve had it hooked up and began to lift it up. It just wasn't to be, as there was too much weight on the back of the tow truck, reducing the front axle weight to a point where Steve did not feel safe. By this time, it was about 7:00 PM and Dave agreed to meet us first thing in the morning and bring along a few tricks he had up his sleeve.

While Steve and I waited for Dave to show up, we removed the front bumper extensions, which would allow the tow bar to get closer to the axle. Dave showed up with a couple of pieces of steel that he had cut from the frame of an old Peterbuilt semi and showed Steve how it was done in the "old days". Like I said, Dave knows his stuff, and it sure showed when he was getting things hooked up.

We got everything cinched down and headed out, with the first leg of the trip being down the steep hill of Mt. Scott. Steve, being the professional driver he is, took things real slow until he felt comfortable with the way things were going. We made one stop at the bottom of the hill for adjustments, then got on I-205 and headed for Vancouver. It was real exciting seeing Fire 32 moving on the freeway, knowing much overdue work was finally going to get done. Steve said he got several thumbs up from people, including a Portland Police officer who passed him on the freeway.

We made it to the shop with no problems, but Steve was not done. He took another half hour or so jockeying things back and forth until we had the engine just where I wanted it. He was not willing to accept my statement of "that's close enough". No, he was not going to unhook things until it was perfect.

Although I have always been impressed with Speed's Super Tow, what Dave and Steve did for me over the two days was far above what I had expected.