Arrival (with stuff)

We bought the Gold Miner in the fall of 1986. Knowing that hiring a moving van from Pittsburgh to Eldora would be very very expensive, we bought an old flatbed truck which had been used to haul produce. We needed something large enough to move two tons of books and a rebuilt military truck wth winch. We employed a towing service to load the truck onto the flatbed. With the neighborhood watching and making the usual comments on how it could or could not be done, the wrecker crew very carefully placed the truck on the back of the flatbed.

The next task was to load 765 books weighing about five pounds each. Why we have 765 five pound books is another story.  We put the books in garbage bags to keep them dry and used them to stabalize the load. We then placed household belongings in any available space left. We headed west.

Just past a rest area west of Omaha we discovered that there were only three bolts, out of seven, holding on the left front wheel. The others must have broken off.  Fortunately, it was Columbus Day weekend and truck inspection stations along the interstate were closed.  The way to fix this issue was to drive a little slower.

After three days of traveling, we finally arrived in Eldora  just in time to go to the property closing. We now owned an 1897 Hotel, a flatbed truck with a defect but still fully loaded with about six tons of stuff and, of course it was snowing.

Getting the books off was irritating but did not take a lot of planning.  But then, how to unload the truck from the back of the flatbed.  The realator suggested, to save time, we back the flatbed up to a tree on a hillside, chain the load to the tree and drive forward. That worked. We realized then and there we no longer lived in the city. 

--Carol Rinderknecht