Blade from a wind turbine, trucking down the highway

I passed this wind turbine blade on a highway in Iowa yesterday. Looking a bit like a giant dinosaur femur (or, from another angle, a really, really, really big beluga whale) it was both awesome in the classical sense and kind of a driving distraction. Here's the best part. After we drove past it, we found another vehicle about a mile ahead that was clearly part of the same caravan, but was just a small truck. It took a couple of minutes to figure out why it was so far out ahead of the turbine hauler, but then we noticed that the little truck had a tall, upright pole attached to it, wobbling slightly in the breeze. Our best guess: The upright pole was a measure for overpass clearance. If the little truck couldn't get that pole under an overpass, then they'd pull over and radio back to the semi that was hauling the turbine blade. The truck was out far ahead so that the whole caravan would have time to stop before the (presumably very expensive) blade could get lodged under a bridge.