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Friday
5:30 AM - Got up
6:15 AM - Left house
5:50 PM - Arrived at Wisconsin destination
Due to concerns about the weather, made it a quick visit, wrapped the case in a tarp; wrapped that in a section of chain link fence; threaded steel cable around and through the fence; locked the cable ends to the corners of the bed of the Toyota.
6:45 PM - Headed back
Saturday
7:30 AM - Arrived at Oklahoma destination. (despite crapola weather and the fact that OK leaves the roads to Ma Nature; and you get to pick your way through the washboard ruts of previous travelers ... then they charge you full price for the turnpike)

End result:

One LESS tuba in WI; one MORE tuba in OK.

Cool road trip! You should have waved as you drove past Springfield MO on I-44 as you drove past. I would have waived back, even though I'm south a little towards Branson.

I was impressed with how IL and MO salt and plow crews were working the roads. Oklahoma nothing. Deal with it. But I already knew that. I saw the IL crews out in force on my up to WI -- hours before the ice moved it.

Oklahoma had gotten a hefty layer of freezing rain topped by what I estimate to be 3-5 inches of snowcone kind of ice, topped by a crust of more freezing rain. The road was rutted with the ride like a gravel road in severe, extreme, dire need of grading. I saw a FedEx truck go by, with dual trailer, at what had to be about 55 MPH. Whatever was in those trailers had to be getting the crap beat out of it.

Which I why I insisted on hand delivering my tuba my own self -- not going to trust this one to the "professionals".