Amusing factual stories - real life experiences in trucking

[Doctor Who]

Another GAS HAULING SNIPPETT... This even has a mention of a U.S. Marshal...

A while back I had to deliver a load of diesel to the company Travel Plaza.
Travel Plaza, not quite a truck stop but more like an oversexed,oooppss, oversized convenience store...

Anyway, I pulled into the lot and found, not so much to my surprise, a truck parked on top of the diesel UST. The space was clearly marked "NO PARKING" in yellow letters, still no surprise. I have been driving long enough to know that drivers do get tired and rest is neccesary but with a parking lot almost 40 acres large.....

I pulled my truck along side the offending truck, stepped out and knocked on the drivers door. The driver came out of the sleeper and I asked him, rather nicely, to move his truck so I could unload the fuel. As I expected the driver told me to go F*** Off!

I went to the store manager and asked her to call the law and a wrecker. She mentioned that the driver had given her a rough time also.
Well, the law did arrive and the both of us kocked on the truck door, this time the driver jumped into the driver seat cursing us both and threatened he would call a U.S. Marshal because we interrupted his slumber.
I started laughing, the LEO wasn't sure why until I explained to him that the U.S. Marshal's service wasn't going to do a damn thing for the moron.
The LEO and the offending driver continued to argue until the wrecker arrived.

The driver jumped out of his truck and was immediatly told that if the wrecker driver hooks the truck it would cost him quite a hunk of change.
The driver finally saw the error of his ways and most humbly moved his truck to a designated parking spot.
The LEO told him that his sleep time would have been less exhausting if he had moved the truck or not parked in the unloading zone in the first place.

Before the LEO left, he questioned why the driver would park in the unloading zone that was clearly marked. I just responded with "Maybe he was COLOUR BLIND!!!"

[Legodragonxp]

Just dropping in to thank DrWho and the others for the stories. I never did OTR (other than a busload of noise and trouble to Garden City Kansas once), but I was a school bus driver for 7 years and did a short stint as a local courier in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I'll be checking back for more

-Lego

[Doctor Who]

ANOTHER LIGHTNING TALE or possibly two!

I had mentioned elsewhere that I am a storm chaser however, close lightning strikes do tend to unnerve me a bit:

I had pulled my gas wagon into a store lot when a thunderstorm rolled into town. I figured it was my day to get wet so I proceeded with the unloading ceremony as the storm grew in intensity.
The "light" show was rather spectacular if not quite close. I tried not to let the display bother me but the flashing grew brighter and brighter.
Fortunately the unloading didn't take very long do to the load being split with another store.

As I was packing things up a clerk from the Food Lion grocery store near the unloading spot drove up and told me the folks in the Food Lion were taking bets on how long it be before lightning would hit the trailer.
I thanked the dude for his vote of confidence and I also mentioned that I would park the tanker in front of his store and wait for the next bolt to strike.
Neesless to say he left post haste as did I....

[Doctor Who]

Number Two:

The next evening, another load and yes, another storm rapidly approaching.
I hooked the hoses up to unload diesel when a driver walked up and asked me about unloading during a thunderstorm. I told him it was part of the job description and getting soaked was just an added bonus.
He asked me about fear of lightning and I responded that while there was nothing I could do to ward off the bolts of rampant electricity I just took as much precaution as I could. I also reminded him that lightning can travel a very long distance from a storm and that if thunder is heard lightning was sure to follow.
He seemed satisfied with my answers and started to walk back to his truck which, was parked by the fuel island when there was a bright flash and a very loud rumble of thunder. A bolt of lightning had struck about 30 feet from where we had been standing.

Yes it did get my undivided attention real quick as well as the driver I had been conversing with.

I was extremely happy that the load was my last for the evening and I was going to go to the house and not come out for a few days...

[Jackrabbit379]

Very interesting, Doc. Could have been shocking. :P

[Doctor Who]

Not as shocking as a bolt of intense lightning splitting above the gas trailer and striking both sides of the highway. It sure made a lot of travelers following slow way down and/or stopping just to stay away from the the lightning magnet...

National Weather Service alert: Severe Thunderstorm centered over I 95... Yeah, "NO ****" was the immediate response!!!

[Jackrabbit379]

That would be spooky. :shock:

[Fredog]

Another GAS HAULING SNIPPETT... This even has a mention of a U.S. Marshal...

A while back I had to deliver a load of diesel to the company Travel Plaza.
Travel Plaza, not quite a truck stop but more like an oversexed,oooppss, oversized convenience store...

Anyway, I pulled into the lot and found, not so much to my surprise, a truck parked on top of the diesel UST. The space was clearly marked "NO PARKING" in yellow letters, still no surprise. I have been driving long enough to know that drivers do get tired and rest is neccesary but with a parking lot almost 40 acres large.....

I pulled my truck along side the offending truck, stepped out and knocked on the drivers door. The driver came out of the sleeper and I asked him, rather nicely, to move his truck so I could unload the fuel. As I expected the driver told me to go F*** Off!

I went to the store manager and asked her to call the law and a wrecker. She mentioned that the driver had given her a rough time also.
Well, the law did arrive and the both of us kocked on the truck door, this time the driver jumped into the driver seat cursing us both and threatened he would call a U.S. Marshal because we interrupted his slumber.
I started laughing, the LEO wasn't sure why until I explained to him that the U.S. Marshal's service wasn't going to do a damn thing for the moron.
The LEO and the offending driver continued to argue until the wrecker arrived.

The driver jumped out of his truck and was immediatly told that if the wrecker driver hooks the truck it would cost him quite a hunk of change.
The driver finally saw the error of his ways and most humbly moved his truck to a designated parking spot.
The LEO told him that his sleep time would have been less exhausting if he had moved the truck or not parked in the unloading zone in the first place.

Before the LEO left, he questioned why the driver would park in the unloading zone that was clearly marked. I just responded with "Maybe he was COLOUR BLIND!!!"

this is completely off the subject, but I have a friend who is a fireman and drives the truck, one night after a call they stopped at Publix to get some supplies. they parked in the fire lane and an old lady told him they couldnt park there because people need that space to park and load their groceries. he just laughed and told her to go ahead and call the cops.

[Doctor Who]

FLASHES AND FAVOURS:

A week or so ago I was rolling along in rush hour insanity when I pulled along side a car at a traffic light. When the light changed to the go side the old lady in the vehicle next to me raised her skirt as the car pulled away. I started laughing as I watched the tanker yanker in front of me swerve a bit when the lady did the same to that driver. I don't carry a CB so I couldn't warn him.....

I arrived at my destination and proceeded with the unloading ceremony whnen, A rather rough looking pair of females came up to me and started telling me their tale of woe about how they were trying to get back to Goldsboro and didn't have enough money for gas. The older, I'm guessing mother, offered her and the younger females services for some product off the trailer.

A very horrible thought flashed before my eyes and I just took the suggestion in stride and told the duo that I had a full load of diesel on the wagon and that it would not work very well in their GMC Blazer.
I didn't have diesel though!!!

The forlorned duo went back to their vehicle and I called the store manager on my cell telling her what was going on outside her store.
Ten minutes later the Law arrived. I don't know what had transpired after that!

Another fun night in the Land of Gas Hauling

[Doctor Who]

A TREE FALLS IN LUCAMA

More to follow in the near future

[Jackrabbit379]

Is the tree ok? :shock: :P

[Twilight Flyer]

More importantly, did anyone hear it? :wink:

[Doctor Who]

Yeah I heard it when it hit the trailer.

[Jackrabbit379]

Ohh. :shock:

Sorry to hear that Doc.

[Doctor Who]

A TREE FALLS IN LUCAMA

Another stormy evening in Eastern North Carolina, the usual fare lightning, thunder, rain and wind.

The operator at Exxon held the loading proceedure up as the storm rumbled its way across the tank farm.

Finally loaded I headed out to I-95 north just in time to encounter the second line of storms. The storm wasn't too spectacular however, as a trained Severe Storm Spotter I still looked for the essential criteria, hail dime size or larger, frequent lightning, flooding where none normally occurs, large diameter tree limbs and/or trees knocked down, etc.

None of the above had occured with the exception of the last. A high blast of wind knocked a medium size tree down across the north bound lanes of 95 I pulled the tanker to the right into the breakdown lane but the tree still hit the trailer. I stopped to inspect the damage.
I did expect to see a huge gash and find gas pouring out of a big gaping hole. No large gash was found however, the huge dents and large scrapes did make for interesting conversation with the night dispatcher and mechanic.

The driver following me came up and said he expected to see a huge mushroom cloud as the tree hit the trailer. I told him I expected to see the same thing as I felt the trailer lean real hard to the right..

The Highway Patrol arrived in due time, the officers took our statements and asked us if we saw a car get buried by the tree. We hadn't seen any car but the other driver and I helped the patrol officers look for another vehicle, none was found.

Amongst all the excitement, I did manage to let the National Weather Service person know that a large DOWNBURST had hit the Lucama area as the storm passed to the east.

I did finish the run, brought the truck back to the yard, left a note for the day driver telling him of the incident. He still can't believe the truck didn't suffer anymore damage than it did. Me too!!!

[Doctor Who]

More PRODUCE FUN:

Not too long ago I was heading back to the yard on I 95 after yet another fun day hauling petroleum. Cruising along in the southbound lanes listening to the "OLDIES" radio station I noticed a Dodge Dualie pick up trying to pass me. Notice I did say "trying"

As the pick up struggled to get past me I saw the bed was loaded down with cantaloupes as was the make shift trailer it was pulling. Neither the truck bed or the trailer was tarped.
I backed off the throttle to let the driver get by me as the truck inched its way in front and started to pull back into the right lane we hit a rather rough bridge and not so much to my surprise quite a few of the round melons bounced off the trailer and out of the pick up bed.
What a mess that was created as the melons rolled under my truck.
The driver of the pickup just kept going as if nothing happened.
There was no damage to my truck but I knew a trip to the truck wash was next on the agenda.

As luck would have it, the pickup driver exited off the same exit I was getting off and I followed the person into the truck plaza. I got out of my truck walked up to the driver of the pick up and told her that she had lost some of her melons. She thought I was being crude until she realized I was talking about the produce she was hauling.
She apologized and offered to pay for the truck wash. I just told her not to worry so much about my wagon but she may want to fade into the darkness since there was quite a crowd following us at that section of 95.

[Jackrabbit379]

It amazes me, how people dont even look for stuff like that. It's like they have a short term memory when they drive a pickup, pulling a trailer.
Glad to hear that other than a messy outcome, that no damage was done.
So, did she have nice melons?

[Popeye]

So, did she have nice melons?

Glad you asked. I was wondering.

[Jackrabbit379]

Well, I always hate it when I stop to look at the fruit that folks sell from a pickup, and the fruit isnt nice!

:P

[eoplocust]

wow great reading. i can only hpope to enjoy my newfound wrk as much as you have