Amusing factual stories - real life experiences in trucking

[TennesseeAngel]

To go storm chasing has got to keep the adrenalin going I would imagine. Well, glad to know no one was hurt with the one tornado on the ground. I would imagine that the little girl will tell that story about chasing a tornado for years to come. No doubt it made her day, even if it was scary. You all have more nerve than me. I want to go the opposite way of a bad storm.

[Doctor Who]

You all have more nerve than me.

Nerve??? Nerve has nothing to do with it.... Lack of sense would be more apt. Plus, a very abnormal upbringing does help!!!

[Doctor Who]

Here's another tale that is not too amusing, but factual just the same..

Way back in the day my Dad drove a truck on the weekends.
On one particular Friday night he had a run that left Linden NJ went through Philadelphia, PA, Wilmington DE and back to Linden..

He left Linden at about 2100 and headed out to US 1 and went south
He was not fond of running the Turnpike towards Philadelphia..

Down around North Brunswick he noticed a bright blue car coming along side of him and like all truckers he looked down to see what was inside.
He couldn't see much until the car got ahead of him. that's when he noticed a woman driving and someone laying down behind the front seats.
He sped up to catch the woman and blew the horn to get her attention. The woman just sped up. He figured the woman thought he was trying to flirt with her.. I should mention that he was driving an International Loadstar 1800, which had a gas engine. A real powerhouse...

Now this section of US 1 is stoplight to stoplight for 20 miles and as luck would have it all the lights stayed green. Dad did all he could to catch up to the car, but the woman just kept the pedal to the floor.
She stayed a good distance from his truck and Dad figured it was a lost cause as the truck hit a big hill, until he saw the brake lights come on and the car swerve to the right. Dad knew the woman turned into a diner parking lot..

The truck finally made it to the top of the hill and he turned into the Sand Hills Diner parking lot and found the woman talking to a couple of police officers. Dad stopped the truck jumped out and ran over to the car opened the rear door and pulled a big guy out from behind the seat.
His first instinct was to beat the guy senseless, but since the law was there he let them have the privilege.
The woman was in shock and told Dad she had no idea the guy was there.
Dad told her he tried to get her attention. The officers were very happy to take the guy to jail...

Dad did make the local newspaper. I asked him if he felt like a Hero. He said no, he just did what he had to do and that he would expect me to do the same..

In memory of my Dad!!!

[Silver Bullet]

Great Story Dr.

Sounds like your father was a good man who lived by his principals. No tellin what the guy in the back seat would've done to her.

[TennesseeAngel]

Yes that is a wonderful story Doc and your dad sounds like a wonderful man. I know you are proud.

[Doctor Who]

Sounds like your father was a good man who lived by his principals. No tellin what the guy in the back seat would've done to her.

Consider this, the year was 1969 and for the most part car jackings were not really news worthy... The details after the arrest were sketchy at best, but from what I do remember the guy said he was trying get a ride from New Brunswick to somewhere near Trenton.. I doubt the police believed him...

As for Dad, he was 5'7" tall and 97% full blood Sicilian with a temper to match. I had no problem believing he would have pounded that dude into a coma. He did say the guy was over 6' tall. Of course me being the smartassed teen told him anyone over 5'8" would be tall... We did have our differences over the years, but I do miss him..... Alot!!!

[Silver Bullet]

I'm sure you do miss him alot. I live in Alabama, and my father is in Pennsylvania. I get to see him for about 1 week of the year, and I miss him immensely. Like you said, we have had our differences too, but I would sure like to see him alot more than I do.

[bluebeetle]

I lost my dad in 1983 and miss him incredibly.

I know that he is watching and laughing his tail off everytime my son does something.

Hey Doc, my dad was 5'8, 215 lbs and 18'' biceps. Watched him press my mom standing in his hands lying flat on his back straight up in the air. At the time she weighed close to 175 pounds. I didn't smartoff, just discussed things very carefully!

8)

[TennesseeAngel]

I lost my dad in 2001 and I still can't believe he is gone. He was a trucker himself and I think back on some of the stories he told me when he was out there, it does help put a smile on my face. I try to remember him as he was instead of what he looked like when he passed away and it does help. He survived the Vietnam war, worked hard at being a aircraft mechanic most his life, and also became a truck driver so he was pretty tough. For the most part, we had our differnces but when he spoke, we listened..CAREFULLY..We sure didn't know the meaning of argument when we was growing up...

[Doctor Who]

Time to shift gears, oh wait, for the shift lever challenged, it would be when the automatic decides to shift...

Just about everyone who works for a living has had a time when they wished they had never gotten up in the morning, or for the entire week..

Drivers seem to have more than their share of days, weeks, months like that.

During the early days of the Chemical Brothers we were late for every load. No matter how hard we ran we were late. The team dispatcher voiced an angry opinion about our skills as a team. It wasn't so much getting used to each other as a team, we were brothers no problem there. It just seemed that the entire Chemical hauling world was out to get us. Flat tyres, wrong trailers and so on.
Finally, at the end of the second week we decided to take a break and we told the dispatcher we were going home for a few days to regroup and we would call him when we were ready..
At the end of our 4 day leave we met up in Wilmington, received our dispatch and from that day forward everything clicked in to place, almost. We ended up being early which was a good thing...

I'll go home until you figure out what happened:

Way back in the last century I was dispatched on a load of Ethyl Acrylate to deliver in Baltimore.
I arrived at the yard dark and early, dispatch handed me the papers and I headed out to the yard to find the trailer.
Now as I had explained in another story EA had a nasty smell to it and it would be rather difficult not to miss the loaded trailer. I drove up and down the three rows of loaded trailers, found the trailer and started to back under it. Something kept nagging at me to get out and check the trailer. I stepped out and noticed I didn't smell the EA. I climbed up on the trailer and checked the seal, seal number was correct, still I had a bad feeling. I opened a small cap and waited for the overwhelming smell to knock me off the trailer. The smell was not what I expected. Judging by the residue on the cap the trailer had Napthalene, which smells like mothballs. Down the ladder I went and drove back to dispatch. The dispatcher kept yelling that I was crazy and he went out and checked. 10 minutes later he comes back and agreed something was wrong.
His problem was he had 10 trailers preloaded and he now had to find the mistake...
He had me check 6 more trailers and all 6 had Napthalene, but not what was on the bills. The plot thickend, but by that time I was getting angry and told the dispatcher I was going home and to call me when he figured it out...
The mystery was solved that afternoon, the driver, who preloaded the trailers, was quitting and had a deep dislike for the dispatcher, so sabotage was a way to settle a score... Should have never gotten up that morning...

Here's the trailer number to pick up:

Read the message on the Qual-comm. I sent the reply and headed over to the warehouse to get it. It was a cold, miserable, rainy day in the Heartland and I was really anxious to get home.
I pulled into the warehouse driveway and started hunting for the trailer. I drove around the building twice, couldn't find the trailer number I was given. I walked inside the building and talked to the shipping boss and he told me there was no such trailer there.
Back to the Qual-comm to send the message. The reply?? Stand by.
10 minutes or so went by when a new message popped up with a new trailer number. No that wasn't there either.
This went on for one whole hour. At the end of the hour the dispatcher was accusing me of lying to him and that I was sitting at a truckstop. I told him to check the GPS and that would tell him exactly where I was at.
Plus, he was getting a phone call.
I went back inside the building and asked the shipping boss to call the company.
After a much heated debate the shipper handed me the phone and to my surprise a very much humbled dispatcher was telling me that he was in error. I asked him if I should be surprised. He went on to explain he had me confused with another driver, who was in Illinois. I told him I've heard that before also and added that there was only one driver with a last name like mine.
Then I reminded him that I was in Iowa, not Illinois. I knew that he was trying to cover his ass, but wasn't succeeding..
I told him I was going to a motel and not to bother me until he got his mess straight... Another day I should have never gotten up....

[Doctor Who]

More often, than not, in the course of a typical day of a Professional Driver, there will be one complaint heard above all others. "MY DISPATCHER LIED TO ME!!!"
These are mighty strong words and most times it was the driver that misunderstood the instructions. Yes there are some dispatchers that have no Damn clue as to what their job is supposed to be. It is the Human Element and will not change until the computer can be perfected...

This dispatcher don't lie, he beats the crap out of the truth!!!

Another Chemical Brothers adventure...

The tank line we worked for had a dispatcher at our domicle terminal that could con the birds out the trees. I think in an earlier life he was a Snake Oil salesman...

Glyn Cook was an older gentleman and had a Southern charm about him, that Colonel Harlan Sanders couldn't beat.. His phone manner was something to behold.

On a Monday morning I wandered into the office and Mr. Cook was sitting at his desk talking on the phone. He looked up at me and had a slight smile(read as evil grin) on his face.
After hanging up he handed me the dispatch and said "Well I declare here's the better half of the Chemical Brothers and I knew you two could do such a fine job on this load I held it just for ya'll."
I was still rather new with the company, but I was forwarned about Mr. Cook. I looked at the dispatch and shrugged my shoulders, thanked him and walked out.
When I got to the truck, my brother asked what had happened. All I could tell him was "I think we got shafted?!?!"
Sure enough we got the shaft, but good.. The load was one of the 7 Deadly Loads From Hell. The type that was a tractor pump at the shipper, tractor pump at the receiver and a real pain in the ass to get cleaned.
After we unloaded we called Mr. Cook and thanked him. He just said "He knew we could handle the job."
Sure!!! he couldn't get anyone else to take it...
As a team we did not interact with Mr. Cook on a regular basis, just on the initial run out of Wilmington and when we came back in at the end of our tour of duty...

After the company split the Chemical Brothers up, I had walked into the dispatch office and the first thing I heard was "Here comes the better half of the Chemical Brothers!"
I looked at Mr. Cook and just said I was the younger and better looking one at least.
Mr Cook laughed and said "Have I got a load for you!"
Without hesitation I said "I bet you do and just how much K-Y Jelly do I need to get the task accomplished?"
He looked at me with a stunned expression "Why Pete I never!!!"
"Really??? Maybe you should try it sometime!!" I replied without missing a beat
There was a burst of laughter, which came from the adjoining office.The TM came out still laughing and said that I was nothing like my brother.
I agreed and told him that it was a shame the company split us up.
The TM asked why and I responded that I needed at least another six months to completely convert him.
The room went silent, I could see Mr. Cook and George the Terminal Manager thinking about what I had said. No response was necessary the looks on their faces said it all.. "Oh my God, not two of them!"
I bid them a fine after morning and went about my task being a Tanker Yanker with the number three edition of the 7 Deadly Loads from Hell..

I must say this. I did on occasion see Mr. Cook get angry and I was the recipient of that anger once. The incident was beyond my control. I had no hours to do a run and four other drivers had refused it. After I took my required break I talked to him about it, he did apologize for getting angry and he knew I wasn't trying to shaft him.

Mr. Cook has retired and the tank line is no longer a privately owned company as it has been consumed by Superior Carriers. However, the brother and I keep in contact with Mr. Cook via email. Can't say that about very many dispatchers!!!

[Doctor Who]

As most people know I hold an Amateur Radio license. I was introduced to the service back in the early days of my trucking career.

This story was first published in an Amateur Radio magazine as part of a challenge..
The title of the story:

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I was rudely awakened by the obnoxious ringing of an electronic telephone, or what ever that noise is they make.
On the other end of the receiver was a very distraught dispatcher asking, no more like, begging me to come in and take a "HOT" load to California. Every load in the trucking industry is "HOT".
I half heartedly agreed to do it, got my stuff packed and drove to the yard.

I walked into the dispatch office asked for the manifest and what ever other information there was to get. I did mention that I couldn't get to California in two days as required. The dispatcher told me I was running team, something I didn't like to hear, especially after the incident with Ed.
I was told it wasn't Ed and the guy I was teamed with was really a good guy. First thought "Yeah right!!!"

The dispatcher pointed to a gentleman who had walked in the door and said he's my partner. I walked over and introduced myself. My partner was an older gentleman, who's name was Ray.
Ray took my gear and said he would bring the truck around while I got all the paperwork in order.

I heard the familiar sound of a two chime airhorn and walked outside to find a cabover Peterbilt bristling with more antennas than a Russian fishing trawler. A sudden feeling of panic set in and I wondered if I could refuse to go on the trip.
I got in on the drivers side and the first thing I noticed was a stack of radios on the dogbox. It looked more like a sidewalk sale at Radio Shack than a truck.
I asked Ray about the electronic wonderland and he said he was a "Ham".
I wasn't going to argue with that.
He noticed the confused look on my face and he explained he had an Amateur Radio license. It was getting clearer, but I still wanted out.
He also asked me if I would mind driving first, as he found he could make a lot of contacts at night on 40 and 80. I thought he meant Interstates.
I was corrected when he said meter bands. I told him not to explain anymore, but if he wanted to drive at night I wasn't about to argue with him.

The trip out was not very note worthy, with the exception of hearing mighty strange noises as Ray drove along in the dark. Odd sounding voices, letters, numbers, QTH and CQ were quite prevelant
On my shift I got a lot of questions and smart assed remarks from other drivers regarding the rollling antenna farm.

On the second day I was awakend by the non motion of the truck. I opened the curtain to find Ray talking to a woman on one of his radios.
He looked at me and said we were on Cajon Summit. That much I figured just by the lights in the distance. I knew Ray was married, but I didn't picture him as a swinger. He put my mind at ease by telling me he was talking to his wife in New York. Now I was impressed, we were 3000 miles away and his wife sounded as if she was in the truck with us.
I stepped out to water the grass while Ray chatted with his wife.
I climbed back in the truck and asked Ray if he wanted me to drive. He said he wanted to stay on the summit for a little while longer. His words trailed off as a voice came out of another speaker.
Rays reaction ws priceless "Wow, I haven't heard Hawaii on 6 in a long time!!!"
I just said "Whatever, enjoy and wake me when you're done!!"

The load was delivered on time and the ride back was educational.

It has been quite a few years since that trip. I received my first license in 1988 and upgraded to Extra class in 1993.
The sad part is I can't remember Rays last name, or the rest of his call sign. All I do remember is the call started with W2.

I haven't seen Ray since that trip and would like to thank him. Just another bright spot on the road to retirement....

[Doctor Who]

While there is quiet moment in the story thread. Been comtemplating moving the stories to their own little website and have started construction of same.. Haven't made any commitment, as of yet, to the host company, still not sure if such a site would be popular enough to make it worth paying X amount of dollars a year for.

The plan is to make it a free site for all asking only for donations to help the site run, or maybe find someone who would be willing to advertise, Trucking Only(NO PORNO SH*T, or stupid things like that!)

The site may never come about as doubts creep into every conversation.

As always all comments and suggestions are welcome

[trckndadsangel]

Have you checked with your IP most give free web space. I will check the web to see what I can find for free web space for you. It may take a couple of days for me to get back to you as trckndad only has a couple days home before he goes on the road. I will get back to you with what I find though. Your stories are great and we think its a great idea to put them on a web site. Have a great day.

[Doctor Who]

Originally Posted by trckndadsangel

Have you checked with your IP most give free web space.

Yeah I just found it!!! The site was under construction until "explorer committed a sin" and shut down.... Explorer SUCKS!!!
Anyway, the site is in the works... I still like the donation part though :wink:

Your stories are great and we think its a great idea to put them on a web site

Thank you on both counts

[Doctor Who]

After a few trials, tribulations and the occasional explorer **** up.. The website is finished WOOO-HOOOO

All the good folks on CAD are welcome to check it out

I finally made the big time!!!

Tell your friends and neighbours... Well maybe not the neighbours!!!

[Twilight Flyer]

All right! Lookin' good! So, is the whole book going to go out there? Or are you going to try and have others post their stories?

[Silver Bullet]

Hey Doc,

The site looks great! I'm sure you'll draw many CAD members to read your stories.

[Doctor Who]

Originally Posted by Twilight Flyer

All right! Lookin' good! So, is the whole book going to go out there? Or are you going to try and have others post their stories?

Possibly and yes.. I would like to add other folks stories as well.. Hopefully my brother will add some of his also, but time will tell.

Silver Bullet says:

The site looks great! I'm sure you'll draw many CAD members to read your stories.

Thanks Bullet, I'm still working out some of the kinks, I'm hoping more than the great members of CAD check it out, I want to be known WORLD WIDE

[Silver Bullet]

COME ONE, COME ALL!!!


A once in a lifetime opportunity to take a rare glimpse into the life, trials, and tribulations of a long time truck dweller.

The Amazing Doctor Who.

He will keep you mesmerized with stories of his life on the road. He may also throw in a few stories featuring the now World Famous Chemical Brothers.

Folks, this is sure to be a crowd pleaser. 20 minute question and answer session after the show.


Disclaimer:
For your safety and the safety of others, no glass containers allowed. Show dates subject to change. Rain dates to be announced at a later date. Autographed photos available for a fee.