Kudos for taking it to a safe place. That was quite a chore hauling it that far.
They go away from water to a dry area to lay their eggs. They don't always pick the best spot. Sadly due to lack of natural nesting areas they have become endangered in many areas.
We were heading home one afternoon & there was a large snapping turtle on the road. It had climbed up a steep bank from the creek & was heading to the corn field across the street to lay eggs. We turned around & went back to see if we could get it off the road. Cars & large dump trucks loaded with stone were zooming by it. Then a school bus went over it. It jumped up & got injured just above it's tail, but not too serious. We stopped traffic & finally my husband was able to push it off the road & down the bank into the water. He figured it needed the water to help stop the bleeding. The turtle tried to bite him many times & thanks to his leather boots that was avoided. Hopefully it chose a different place to lay it's eggs.