Amusing factual stories - real life experiences in trucking

[magician_73]

Okay, won't pick on your home! Hey, that's right, the board did hiccup, wonder where it would be now if that had not happened?

[Doctor Who]

Hey, that's right, the board did hiccup, wonder where it would be now if that had not happened?

Yeah, sure did more than once so the count probably would have been a lot further along but it's cyber space and the black holes are every where.. Nothing worse than being SUCKED into a cyber black hole and being spit out somewhere near Paducah!!!!
Oh the humanity, not to mention the explaining that would have to be done!!!
Speaking of which it's time to post another Farside adventure........

[magician_73]

Well, way back when (back in the 70's)- just for the 'youngins' information - the hammerlane was known as the 'Monfort' lane - why, because there were very few trucks in the country that could run with them. Most of them had V-12's. They hauled 'swinging beef' from Greely, Co to everywhere and anywhere. Anyway, I remember one dreary night rolling across Nebraska (I-80) somewhere between North Platte and Grand Island when I spotted headlights rapidly approaching in my mirrors. A voice loomed on the CB and asked if I had any 'coffee' - to which I replied, 'sure do' - in fact, I had two thermos of coffee which I had just filled at Sapp Bros in Sidney.
'Would you be willing to share some', came the question? 'No problem' I replied - 'where are you'....'coming up on your back door'....Before I could bat an eye, a large car (black Pete) was beside me in the hammerlane - a Monfort truck. The driver, whose handle was 357 Magnum, said, 'hold her steady driver - back her down to about 50'....'and roll down your window'....I complied and back out of it til the odometer read a 50 mph....I glanced over and the passenger door of the Monfort truck opened and out on the steps, stepped the co-driver. I took a thermos in hand and held it out my window as far as possible and the Monfort driver grabbed it and retreated within his truck. About five minutes later, his door opened again and the co-driver stepped out and handed back my thermos. 'Thanks partner', 357 remarked as he put the pedal to the metal and left me staring at his trailer lights pulling away in the night. Several months later, I happened to be parked in Denver when a driver walked up to my truck - 'hey, I remember you - you're the driver we got coffee from going across Nebraska'....'Yup, I'm the one'....and with that we went inside and chatted for a while. Seems they left the terminal with a load of swinging and both forgot to fill the thermos.
I asked him if they did that often, referring to standing on the steps while rolling down the blvd. 'Nope, he replied, 'that was the first and hopefully the last, but we really needed our coffee and didn't have time to stop'. That has to rate close to the top as the strangest things seen while cruising down the blvd.

[magician_73]

Oh, for the good old days. Remember the ole vacuum wipers - the ones whenever you stepped on the throttle, they would stop. It became especially touchy when you were climbing a mountain, in a snow storm, throttle to the floor - no wipers! So, we had a string attached to the sides of the wiper and pulled on the string while climbing the mountain so as to see. It also was helpful sticking ones' head out the window to make certain you were on the highway.

Oh, for the good old days, when we sat a bucket of ice on the dash and had the windshield fans blowing over it for 'air conditioning'....

Oh, for the good old days when Donner Pass was just a narrow windy two lane and you could look down over the side and see trashed wrecked trucks laying there. In those days, they made no effort to recover the truck or freight, just the driver.

Oh, for the good old days when most of the Husky's and Skelly Truckstops had bunkrooms for drivers. Cost - $0.50 a night.

Oh, for the good old days when almost every truckstop gave a driver a free meal on his birthday, and with a fillup - regardless of the amount.

Oh, for the good old days when we pulled 42, 45 ft trailers,and the gross was 72,380. We would work our butts off backing into a slot because without powersteering it became an effort.

Oh, for the good old days when we sat hour after hour in seats that didn't have air suspension, or tractors without air-ride.

Oh, for the good old days when we laid a 3/4" piece of plywood across the seats for our bunk.

Oh, for the good old days when we got our first sleeper - with a suicide hole to crawl through - either feet first, or head first. And had a whole 28" bunk to sleep on!

Oh, for the good old days, when we had to hold in the igniter to lite the glow plug before the engine would fire, or give it a shot of ether as an added incentive.

Oh, for the good old days when you could cruise down the highway and see the top of some stacks glowing in the dark from having the engines turned up to max.

Oh, for the good old days when we had twin sticks, a 5 and a 4, reached through the steering wheel to shift and prayed we didn't miss - cause if we did, we headed for the shoulder and started over. There was no forgiveness in the sticks.

Oh, for the good old days when we could leave our trucks unlocked, cigarettes lying on the dash and come back to find everything still there.

Oh, for the good old days when you headed for the shoulder because of a flat, or engine trouble and before you could set the brakes, there would be several other trucks stopped to help.

Oh, for the good old days when drivers would help each other change turbos, waterpumps, etc. in a parking lot, or on the shoulder if needbe!

Oh, for the good old days before the advent of the CB's when we signalled each other with hand signals, or light signals. We didn't know what was in store for us when the CB's came out.

Oh, for the good old days when there was regulation - when you didn't see bull wagons hauling onions or potatoes - you hauled what you were licensed to haul period.

Oh, for the good old days when we had to manage bingo cards, bingo plates and dozens of tax decals on the side of the truck.

Oh, for the good old days when 'truckers' were a symbol America looked up and represented a 'Guardian' on the highway to anyone in distress - albeit a flat or mechanical or whatever.

Oh, for the good old days when a driver would park on the back row, get out his 'grill' and dozens of other drivers would show up, chip in and everyone would have a feast of a meal that day.

Oh, for the good old days when drivers' had respect, courtesy and concern for each other - a bond like no other, but no more!

Oh, for the good old days - I sure do miss them!

[trckndadsangel]

Magician you sure brought back some memories talking about the good ol days.

When I was little my Mom worked at Bears truck stop in Shelby, Montana and one day a week she had no sitter for me so she would just take me to work with her until my older sister got out of school. I remember so many times my mom telling the cook to put a little extra on the plate for the driver or her filling a thermos and not charging the driver. I can remember the drivers telling anyone who cussed to watch there mouth that there was a child in the room. You sure don't hear that much anymore either.

[Ironturkey]

My grandad started driving in the forties and quit in the late seventies, my mother was an O/O in the seventies before she was killed in 79'. I started my driving career in 94' in a 54' White with a set of sticks and a milk crate to sit on.

In 1996 I was working for Boise cascade pullin double possum bellies. This trip I was going up to Republic, wa. for a load of sawdirt. I decided to take a different route this time and go up through grand coulee and cut off at nespelem and go across cash creek rd.
Well I could'nt remember if it was cash creek or peterdan creek rd. so I chose the later, peterdan creek rd. is an 8% grade goin up and coming back down the otherside. On the way up I seen a turnout bout halfway up, and I really had to squirt the dirt so I pulled in and sank up to the axles in sand both trailers still out in the road.
After 2hrs of tryin to dig it out with a coffee cup a sheriff and a tow truck show up. The tow truck pulls the tractor up onto the pavement and the pup is now sitting in the holes that I made with the truck.
After gitting the bill I proceeded up over the top and down the otherside at 50mph about halfway down I decide it's time to apply some brake, but there was none. At the bottom of the road it T's with hwy21 the otherside of the T is a lake. I was runnin about 1300rpms I tried and did hit the next hole down, I got down to 30mph by the time I hit the T and thank God that there was'nt nothin comin. I made the corner still dont know how but I did thought for sure I was going to roll it.

[Doctor Who]

a Monfort truck. The driver, whose handle was 357 Magnum,

Wow, now this really brought back a memory of meeting the same driver on I-80 in Pennsylvania for all of 10 seconds in a blur of lights!!!

Oh, for the good old days. Remember the ole vacuum wipers - the ones whenever you stepped on the throttle, they would stop. It became especially touchy when you were climbing a mountain, in a snow storm, throttle to the floor - no wipers! So, we had a string attached to the sides of the wiper and pulled on the string while climbing the mountain so as to see. It also was helpful sticking ones' head out the window to make certain you were on the highway.

Yes I drove a truck or three that had these gems of human engineering!!

Oh, for the good old days when most of the Husky's and Skelly Truckstops had bunkrooms for drivers. Cost - $0.50 a night.

Yeah this too sure made for a comfortable evening after running all day with a day cab!

Oh, for the good old days when we pulled 42, 45 ft trailers,and the gross was 72,380. We would work our butts off backing into a slot because without powersteering it became an effort.

Oh yeah, Kenworth W-900 with Armstrong Steering, didn't know what "power steering" was until 1989!!!!

Oh, for the good old days when we sat hour after hour in seats that didn't have air suspension, or tractors without air-ride.

There was air ride in the 70's??????

Oh, for the good old days when we laid a 3/4" piece of plywood across the seats for our bunk.

Yeah still have splinters to prove it!!!

Oh, for the good old days when we had twin sticks, a 5 and a 4, reached through the steering wheel to shift and prayed we didn't miss - cause if we did, we headed for the shoulder and started over. There was no forgiveness in the sticks.

Now this I can relate to real well, I really do miss the dual stick Macks I drove....

Oh, for the good old days when drivers' had respect, courtesy and concern for each other - a bond like no other, but no more!

This is true but we did bring the disrespect on ourselves, you did mention the CB and that in itself created a major part of the problem today!!!

Do I really miss the "Good Old Days" not really, there were a lot of problems we tended to ignore, cause we were too busy hustling freight down the highway to pay attention.

[Doctor Who]

Still not quite 9000 but the anniversary has arrived 2 years, 16 pages and 8600 + views still not too shabby...

The Long Island Expressway and propane always fun on a hot summer day!!

Yes I was the driver who closed down the Long Island Expressway.
It was a hot summer day and I was shanghaied into pulling a propane tank to Long Island no matter how much I objected I was on my way.
On the ride over I kept hearing something hissing I pulled over to check the airlines, they looked OK but the hissing persisted I looked at the air tanks, they were tight, plus the gauges weren?t fluctuating, so I just wrote it off and continued on.
I dropped on to the L.I.E heading east all the while noticing cars and trucks passing me blowing their horns, it was New York, so I ignored them. That was until I crossed in to Nassau County when I caught a glimpse in the mirror of a plume of smoke shooting out of the top of the tank. It didn?t take long for the Nassau County Police to pull me over and that?s when the fun began. The police immediately closed both sides of the expressway while we tried to come up with a solution to prevent the inevitable KABOOM. Several fire companies arrived and started spraying water and foam on the tank to keep it cool. I noticed the news helicopters circling overhead I wondered who was going to call home first. The interlude was interrupted by a firefighter telling me he could fix the leak. He commandeered a captains car and we rode to the nearest plumbing supply house. The firefighter told me he was a plumber, who was I to argue with him. I paid for all the parts necessary to fix the problem ruining the commuters day.
When we got back he climbed up onto the back of the tank and went to work. 20 minutes later the leak was sealed with $5.00 worth of parts.
The crisis averted I went on to finish the run.

When I got back, the people who owned the tank were extremely upset I told them I didn?t want to do the run in the first place. The inquisition wasn?t over by any means after I got home. Dad said my Uncle called and told him I had created a major mess. I told Dad I hated to do things half way. I also received a bunch of phone calls due to my 30 minutes of fame and a lot of them weren't extremely friendly!!!

It is good to see others posting stories, this thread just may hit 10,000 by year three!!!!

Magician was correct this thread did reach page 16...

pages should be around 16

[Doctor Who]

Hey Magician does this one sound familiar?????

One of the dumbest things ever done by this individual (don't like admitting it) but it's funny since years have passed....Way back when, I loaded cabinets in Grants Pass, Oregon and all the broker said was they were going to East St. Louis Park....that's all I heard from him...And, I didn't bother double checking the bill of lading, etc...So off I headed ....Easterly bound on I-84...then down US 30 to Kemmer, Wy...to I-80...over to Laramie and down US 287 to Denver and I-70...headed straight across to St. Louis...grabbed a St. Louis map and checked the address....no such street address...well, called the broker...no answer...finally, out of desperation, stopped a local cop and asked him if he had ever heard of this address....He proceeded to call it in, and the response came back...no such address.. ...Well, it finally dawned on me to double check the bills just in case the street address was wrong...and to my surprise....there beside East St.Louis Park....in barely readable letters were MN....I grabbed the Atlas and sure enough...southwest of Twin Cities...lay East St. Louis Park....did I feel stupid, or what? Put the ole gal in the wind and drove non-stop from St. Louis to East St. Louis Park and made the delivery the next morning...fortunately when I was in St. Louis, I was a day early and ended up making the drop in East St. Louis Park on time...
Never did mention it to the broker. But it has to rate as one of the dumbest things done by this individual...

This is an original by Magician 73.....

[Doctor Who]

This can a bit unnerving especially at 03:00 in the middle of Nowhere:

Rolling across I-40 in Oklahoma late one night I was pushing harder than I should have I was trying to get to Amarillo before day break. The coffee cup was empty for quite some time and the numbing effect of exhaustion was slowly creeping up on me, I kept telling myself I could hang in for another 200 miles or so. One other thing I noticed the highway was almost totally void of traffic, which was not a very good sign, and the CB was quiet except for the occasional distant voice.
As the last lights of civilization disappeared from the mirrors exhaustion enveloped me with a vengeance however, I continued to fight it off until I saw a covered wagon cross the interstate in front of me I locked up the brakes up and pulled off the road. The adrenalin rush was enough to wake me up but I knew I had to find a safe place to pull over and sleep. An Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer pulled up and asked me if all was well. I gave him a description of the wagon he just looked at me and said ?You need to get off the road?
No kidding. He gave me an escort to the next exit I went up the ramp crossed over the intersection and pulled off to the side of the entrance ramp, crawled into the sleeper and drifted off into much needed sleep. Amarillo would have to wait.

To this day I swear the ?mirage? was the ghost of a lost pioneer family!!

[Doctor Who]

Another from Magicians archives....


Another incident involving inspection sheds....right after the 53' trailers made their appearance, and I latched onto one of them, I made the first trip into California with it. Sure enough as I crossed the scale at St. Onofre (On I-15) the scale master pulled me around. Well, I had the trailer slid all the way back and with my 285" wheelbase, was about 72 feet long. I started pulling into the shed and as I neared the other end, I checked the mirror and the scale master kept motioning me forward...Next thing I knew, most of the tractor was out of the shed. He finally motioned for me to stop. He walked up and looked at me, 'you're kinda long, aren't you?' - I looked down and smiled, remarking, 'no sir, your sheds just a wee bit short'....he laughed and proceeded with the inspection. Again, my philosophy of getting them laughing proved successful...To this date, that ole inspection guy remembers me and the last time I was crossing that scale, I walked in and volunteered for an inspection (which I received) and he merely checked my lights, air, turn signal, etc...Never bothered crawling under the truck to check the brakes, etc...And put a new sticker on the windshield, and trailer...

As an added note. in all my years of driving in California, I have yet to be really hassled by any DOT...there were several occasions which could have went in that direction, but because I had them laughing so quick, it turned out alright. That's my secret of handling the California DOT....

Reprinted with permission!!!!

Damn, I missed the anniversary time by 12 minutes......

[Doctor Who]

Still didn't make 9000 but the clock is still ticking!!!

Hey how did you get the lights to blink like that???

On a few of the chemical runs I was on I carried my HF Amateur radio so I could talk to folks all over the country and where ever else the signal reached out and touched.

On a run to Deep Water, NJ I had stopped at Toms Brook, VA for the obligatory 8 hour break. I was running a bit ahead of schedule so I ran a piece of modified coax to the trailer, so I could use it as an antenna. Yes, this does work with a tuner; I could use the trailer on a few different bands.
After a few hours nap I got up and tuned the radio for an evening schedule with some friends in Florida and Georgia and who ever else happened to wander in. As I was conversing I heard a few drivers talking on the 11 meter radio but not really paid much attention to it until a driver knocked on the driver side door. I rolled down the window and he asked me how I got the lights on my trailer to blink like they did. I wasn?t sure what he was talking about until I keyed up the radio again and talked watching the lights in the mirror; sure enough they blinked every time I said something and they were in perfect sync. I told the driver it took a lot of practice to get the lights to behave like that.
Did he believe me??? I don?t know but just for fun I switched to Morse code and really had fun, each dot and dash played out on the marker and clearance lights. The truck was the talk of the truck stop as I disconnected the coax and proceeded on to NJ.
No, the coax didn?t ride very well as I found out by trial and error... I also discovered that a full trailer actually worked better than an empty one. Ah yes one the many mysteries of radio!!!!

More to come.....

[magician_73]

1159 to go Doc!


Gee whiz, Doc - missed the anniversay by a day. Just couldn't find time/nor a working kiosk to check in.

Ain't no doubt in this ole fart's mind, we's gonna reach 10,000.....by the way, you didn't comment on the old suicide sleepers - crawling through that stupid hole head first or feet first !

And, speaking of mirage's - had a few of those in the good old days....
Once particular occasion, strolling across the bottom of Arizona, New Mexico on I-10, wee hours of the morning....look ahead and seen brake lights directly in front of me. Locked the ole gal up bigtime, damn near jack-knifed....finally stopped, and look ahead once more. No lights of any kind. Pulled off on the shoulder, got out and walked around looking in every possible direction for those brake lights...none to be found. I got back in headed for an off ramp and found a nice pulloff to take a well deserve nap. There were also occasions when I remember distinctly of being passed by elk, rabbits and trees....those occasions also prompted a quick nap. Or of looking at a mile sign, a town just 12 miles ahead, and next thing remembering I'm well past that town and haven't the slightest inkling of ever going through it....

One other item, meant to ask you - in your adventures way back when, did you have occasion to run across a driver from N.C. with the handle of 'Carolina Shaker'...an ole boy that had been around for years, years...?

[Doctor Who]

by the way, you didn't comment on the old suicide sleepers - crawling through that stupid hole head first or feet first !

I overlooked it. The W-900 had a squeeze through sleeper but it was a bit bigger than the 28" version. I still remember the steel hauler from Indiana who drove a Mack U-700 with a crawl through sleeper, now that took a lot of balls!!!!

One other item, meant to ask you - in your adventures way back when, did you have occasion to run across a driver from N.C. with the handle of 'Carolina Shaker'...an ole boy that had been around for years, years...?

I do remember Shaker, never did have the privilege of having coffee with him... There was one other character called the Peashooter, who used to drive for the Double Diamond (McLean, for the youngins) I know this guy real well......

[Doctor Who]

I had a load just recently that delivered in Orlando, Florida, not too bad I got to check out the tourists while I was riding to the delivery point.
I never really paid attention to the unloading point until the forklift driver dropped a crate and a big lizard arm fell out. ?What in hell is that?? I asked the driver. He said it was a dinosaur arm and it was going to be used in the new theme park. Of course my curiosity was peaked and after he finished unloading we went for a little walk through the back lot for Jurassic Park. Ah yes Universal Studios, Orlando and a tour of the back lot of Jurassic Park was in order, it was really cool and the best part it was FREE!!!!
I managed to spend a few hours before someone in dispatch realized the truck hadn?t moved. I got back in the truck and found I had 10 messages on the Qual-comm mostly asking what was I doing at the stop for an extended period of time?

I answered all 10 and headed off towards Saint Petersburg to make a pick up and ride on to Atlanta.

This is the Prequel to......

[Doctor Who]

It's been two years I guess it's safe to post this now!!!

The original was lost due to a board hiccup!!!

Beware the Lunatic Fringe

I finally made it to the Atlanta facility after making the pick up in Saint Pete and making a bunch around Atlanta. I walked into the dispatch den and overheard a heated argument between a dispatcher and a driver. I signed the board and asked what the problem was, the dispatcher said he had a load going to New York and the angry driver refused it. I said the driver lives in NJ but the driver still refused to go, I told the dispatcher I?d take it in the assumption I would get a load back towards the house.
I took my 8 and wandered into outbound dispatch and looked over the load, it had two stops in Queens, one stop in Brooklyn not bad $30 a stop plus the miles, sort of like going home?

I arrived at the 1st stop, a floor tile place on 55th Street about 07:30 Thursday morning. The establishment had an inside dock so always the one for a challenge I tried, in vain, to back the trailer into the dock and discovered the landing gear was one foot to long and got hung up. Instead of risking damage to the trailer, not to mention, losing the safety bonus I pulled back into the street, parked along the curb and waited for the forklift driver to come out. As I waited on the sidewalk I was watching the traffic in the street and was amused by a concrete mixer that was painted Carolina Blue with pink polka dots. The next thing I knew I was laying on the ground looking up at a Honda mini-van and the forklift driver looking over me saying ?Dude, you OK???? I asked what had just happened and he said you got hit by the van. The driver of the concrete truck came over and said ?That was some back flip you did!!!? ?I did??? was the only thing I could ask.
They helped me up in time to greet a NYPD officer, who, happened to be standing on the corner by a diner. I apologized to him for interrupting his donut break; he was not amused and proceeded to talk to the driver of the van. I will state for the record I understand a few foreign languages but the guy in the van I couldn?t understand it sounded for all the world like a poorly edited rap record. The cop turned to me and said ?I can?t understand a word he is saying!!? I looked at the cop and told him I couldn?t understand a thing he was saying. That should have been a clue something was wrong!
It seemed like forever before I could sort events out but from what little I did understand the van was stolen, had no insurance and the guy didn?t have a drivers? license and I think he was in the U.S. illegally?

For the record EMS was never called. I called dispatch and was told he had no one to come get me and I had to finish the run, the cop grabbed the phone and explained to the dispatcher what had transpired but alas to no avail. The guy who owned the tile company knew the guy at my next stop so, he called them and when I arrived 10 guys were there to unload their part of the load. As luck would have it the guy at stop #2 was the brother of the receiving manager at Kraft food in Brooklyn so, he called there and told me I was going to be backed around the trucks waiting. By the time I got to Kraft the adrenalin had pretty much worn off and the manager told me I looked like **** and he?d get me unloaded real quick and have me back on my way. He was good to his word.

I finally made my way back to the Cross Bronx Expressway, when I heard a NYPD dispatcher on my scanner tell cops in Manhattan that a building collapsed at 65th and Park Avenue. I was just about to the George Washington Bridge and I knew what was going to happen next. The bridge was shut down. I begged the cop to let me get across and explained what had happened. I also told him to check with the Queens precinct if he needed verification. He called and the next thing I knew I was getting an escort across the bridge.
Just as I got the truck parked at the Newark facility I was pulled from the cab and taken to the hospital, where the doctor had a fit because it took me so long to get any medical attention. He took a bunch of MRIs and he found my spine was twisted and my right knee was just about jelly?.

Obviously this isn?t very amusing but it is a memory that?ll last me well past retirement!!

Also this is what I get for never refusing a load, or "No good deed goes unpunished!!"

[magician_73]

1093 to go Doc. Yup, Clock is ticking!


Yup, won't be that long before the magical 10,000 arrives! I wonder what kind of celebration will be in order? HA

[Doctor Who]

1092

When are you getting to the east side again especially NC east of 95??

Not sure what kind of party will be thrown as you saw there wasn't much of a woopti doo during the two year anniversary... Oh well can't have the cake unless someone bakes it... Oh no it's beginning to sound like MacArthur Park!!!

I saw a blip on another site about cyclists getting fined for pissing in public. Hmm I have to dig up another story from the Dark Side about the "FLY" inspector, all 250 lbs of her!!!! :shock: :shock:

[magician_73]

Clock is ticking, I know!

Relating to 'Carolina Shaker', it's a shame you never had the opportunity to meet him. He was one 'character' to say the least. A renegade/outlaw in every sense of the word. I think at one point in time, every state between the Carolinas and LA had warrants out for running scales, speeding, etc... I know way back when I followed him through Los Cruces, NM to the Texas line and when we neared the NM port, he killed all his lights and floored it, and by the time they came out, he was long gone. I know ' Carolina Shaker' had one of the few trucks out there that could pass a Monfort. If memory serves me correctly, one particular truck he had, had a KT600(Cummins) in it with a 6 and a 4 two stick.

[magician_73]

Finally got off that 'blue' kick!

Anyway, remembering way back when, heading from Shiprock,NM over to Montcello and up to Moab, etc...and on the stretch between Shiprock and Montecello, a narrow windy two lane, it was misty rain, light fog and visibility not the best in the world. At one point, I noticed headlights coming up on my backdoor, and when the opportunity presented itself, eased over as far as possible and two 'chicken' trucks passed me like I was standing still with only perhaps three/four feet between them. I thought to myself, boy are they living dangerously. About ten miles down the road, I came up on a curve and looking staight ahead, there sat both 'chicken' trucks out in the field. The lead truck missed the curve in the fog and the one behind followed him right out into the field. I got on the radio and asked if they were alright (they were) and one quipped, 'the boss ain't gonna believe this when we call him'. I can well imagine the boss' reaction to having two of his trucks sitting in the corn field.