After weeks of dread, the actual day for the trip arrived and I overslept! I was on the road by 4:30 a.m., and made up the half hour late start. Managed to drive fast enough to give myself time for breakfast in Greenfield, Mass. Arrived at John's in West Springfield at 8:45 only to find that he too had overslept, except he couldn't make up the time since he wasn't driving! Rather he, and his friend and helper Andy, were madly working on the pallet of the Ludlow, cutting, drilling, pounding nails, wrenching in lag bolts. I bounced around, handing them tools, setting up the piano rack in my truck. Andy replaced the scraper holder from John's spare parts source and then it was ready to be loaded. They did it with a minimum of fuss.

I thanked Andy for his help, and immediately drove to the nearest gas station to put more air in the tires. After that I followed John to his Letterpress Store in Chicopee. There John and I moved the right-hand pull cabinet and the mat cases down to the loading dock, along with a printer's saw. With the sun beating down, we wrestled the stuff into the truck and got it settled. I called home and gave my ETA as 5:30 which could be passed on to my helper who was going to meet me on that end. Some money changed hands and I was off with John's map of extrication from Chicopee in my hand.

I promptly got lost, but continued to head north. Three sets of people later I came out on 91 North. I had never driven a fully loaded truck before but it seemed fine right around 65. So that's where I kept it. The only thing I noticed was that suddenly my V-8, 3/4 ton Chevy was behaving like the big rigs--it was slowing down near the top of the big hills. I went through 3 quick deluges. But after each the sun came out and I figure everything dried off immediately between the sun and the 65 mph wind blowing over everything.

When I stopped in White River Junction for gas, I didn't have to worry about anyone stealing the Ludlow! I arrived home at 5:20 and Lowell, my friend who earns his living as a piano mover, pulled in about 10 minutes later. We off-loaded all the extraneous material onto the lawn and worked the Ludlow up onto pipe rollers with the Johnson bars and moved it toward the back of the truck. Then we worked it up so that we could put two piano dollies under the pallet--one at each end until they met in the middle. The pair of wheels at each end were up in the air and the Ludlow was scooting along on the four that were under its middle. It moved along the his brand new $500 ramp fairly easily (I was the only nervous one!). And, with a slight thump it came off the ramp and into the shop.

At that point we broke for food, consumed enormous amounts, had cigarettes and went back at it. I had already realized that the position I had planned for it wouldn't work because I needed to clean the water tank and so it had to be positioned where I could get at it. We ended up putting a 4 x 6 across the rafters in my shop and,using Lowell's Come-Along and my piano moving straps, hoisted the thing an inch above the floor where it swung gently in the breeze from my panic-stricken breathing, while the rafters creaked and groaned. We got it turned and set it down on the pipes. When it was close enough to the wall we extricated the pipes and left it sitting on the pallet on the piece of plywood I had laid down for it to sit on.

All that was left was to unhook the straps and put the top back on. My legs were rubber, but it was in!

We put the rest of the stuff in, formed a bucket brigade for the mat cases and we were done! 8:30 p.m.

If you ever need a piano moved in the northeast/mid-Atlantic states, Lowell is the man to call!

I realized then that I had been so worried about the impending move, that I had never had the pleasure of anticipating actually having the Ludlow in my shop. But, now it was here. I ran my aching hands over its surfaces, wrote down its serial number, and put the pins back in the the top hinges. It was here--all 1300 pounds of it! Time for bed.

The next morning I checked Dave Seat's site with the serial number in hand. #10195. Model L. 1956.. I announced to the LETPRESS list that my Ludlow was "at home" and received these words of encouragement from several list members:

from ----TramPrinter:
Congratulations on the birth of your Ludlow. A Model L too, how nice. And such a nice name: "Serial No. 10195." Now you can look forward to giving it untold years of TLC; you must water it, feed it lead, clean the well and plunger faithfully, apply soothing oils regularly, and nurse it through innumerable hot-metal ailments. In return it will spit hot metal at you, refuse to let go of cast lines, drop said lines on the floor, turn its pot stone-cold overnight, and bite your fingers whenever it gets the chance. But it will be all worthwhile - you will love it.

from Geoff:
Plus it will throw its belt off and jump off the large cam down the bottom and then break the safety pin just for the hell of it. It will also make very satisfying noises and deliver you wonderful lines of clear crisp type on which the spelling mistakes only occur after you have locked up the chase and let the Ludlow go cold!

from J. Mike:
Hey, that's darndest thing, mine can't spell either.

Don't screw around with the mouthpiece screws!!!! You'll be sorry! And, for heavens sake sort your metal carefully so that you don't contaminate your stash with Zinc, Magnesium, or some other terrible poison--poison to your metal and your neat Ludlow, that is.

from Milton Watkins:
Good on you Clair; you sound as excited as I was when I first received my first Ludlow, it is a wonderfull feeling, good luck with it hope it all runs nice and smoothly for you.

Now all I have to do is clean it, learn how to work it, and get the electrics in.

Dave Seat is sending me two books that will help with learning. Then I have to scratch up the money for the electricity. Meantime, I can clean, and oil, and polish to my heart's content. Old 10195 has found a good home.

---THE END! or rather perhaps, the beginning!