[Doctor Who]

WAITING FOR THE CONCORDE

In honour of the last flight of the ugliest passenger plane ever created.

Quite a few years ago I was making a delivery in Queens, NY, yes the same Queens of another tale.
I was standing by the trailer waiting for the final pallets to come off, when I noticed a guy sitting on a railing looking up at the semi blue sky. I had to ask him what he was looking for and he told me the Concorde to fly over. At first I thought he was an aviation fanatic so, I asked if he liked the plane, he said no; planes didn?t thrill him.
Before I could ask him another question he said the Concorde flew into JFK at 10:00 and that was break time. I was going to ask him about buying a watch, when a loud rumbling sound caught my attention, I looked up and sure enough there was the ugly plane I took a quick look at my watch the digits showed 10:00 plus, to cap it all off, the catering truck pulled up. The guy hopped off the rail and said ?See; I told you!!?

Another fun day in NYC

This was originally written sometime last year but was lost to the glitch, you know the horrible little critter that spins data into oblivian...

[Doctor Who]

FLATBED FUN

I picked up a load of coiled steel consisting of two medium sized coils. I eased out of the loading bay to perform the chaining ceremony. Two drivers from Jacoby were in the yard just finishing up their chaining ritual as I started on mine.
One of the drivers came over asking why I was using four chains per coil and I told him it was how I was taught. He laughed as he told me I was wasting my time and pointed to his truck, he used only one chain per coil. I didn?t say anything to him but I kept hearing the voice of the guy who, taught me, saying ?It only takes a few extra minutes to prevent a major fuck up!?
More good words to drive and live by.
The Jacoby twins left before me plus, I had discovered we were going to the same consignee, something I was really looking forward to!

After finishing shifting all the gears in my two stick Mack I cruised along I-95 all the while listening on the CB for the ?Dynamic Duo? from Jacoby. I doubted I?d hear them since they had a big head start. I crossed into NJ and dropped down onto US 1, a fun stop light to stop light, highway.
As I drove north the radio activity increased ten fold as south bound drivers kept repeating there was an accident on the north side. I had planned on cutting cross country and get on US 130 to avoid the mess however, something told me to continue on 1 just for curiosity sake. I obeyed the inner voice and 10 minutes later I found the back up as traffic was at a snails pace.
Rolling along with the slow traffic for 30 minutes I came up on the cause of the delay, in the right lane were the two Jacoby trucks and one rather oblong coil lying in the road.
I drove around them; pulled off onto the shoulder and walked back to see if either driver was hurt, neither was, with the exception of pride and a HUGE fine for nonsecured load for one of them. The coil was mangled as a wrecker picked it up placing it back on the trailer from which it fell. The very HUMBLED driver started to resecure it. I asked him if he was going to use one chain, he mumbled something obscene as I walked away laughing

[farmaller]

Way to go littleman!

[Lady18wheels]

FLATBED FUN

Was in the local news in B'ham not too long ago - a driver dropped a coil on a bridge somewhere in town. Busted through the concrete to the rebar. They were talking about making the trucking co pay to fix the road. Definitely wouldn't want to be in that driver's shoes!

[Doctor Who]

ANOTHER MOOSE TALE


On a road trip to Coeur d? Alene Idaho the interstate came to an abrupt end dumping all traffic onto a sometime 3 lane road. Plodding along towards Coeur d? Alene I finished negotiating a tight curve when a HUGE four legged creature bounded out of the forest on to the highway. I brought the truck to a stop. ?Damn? I said to myself. ?Look at the size of that dog!!?
My partner came out of the sleeper observed the situation at hand and said. ?That?s not a dog Dumb ass, that?s a moose!!?
As sad as it sounds I had never seen a real live moose, the closest thing to any moose was Bullwinkle.
My partner told me to ease on around it and don?t pull the horn chord, he also told me it must be mating season and the Bull Moose was looking for a date. I asked him about the horn and he said the horn would sound like a challenge to a Bull Moose which would make him attack defending its territory. I tried to imagine the bosses reaction to a phone call concerning damage done to a month old Peterbilt caused by an over sexed moose.

A few miles down the road I pulled into a small truck stop for a break and driver change. The quaint little establishment was located next to a rail yard. Yes truckers and railroaders mingled together at this place. My partner and I had just settled in to a booth in the restaurant when a driver came in when a driver came in cursing and yelling about his truck being damaged. A few of us followed him outside to see his bright yellow KW W-900 with the right fender mangled. Someone asked him what did he hit, all the driver could say was a moose attacked him. I asked him if he blew the horn, he did. We all had a good laugh at the drivers? expense.

Dinner over we were about to leave when a train crew came in laughing, my partner asked the engineer what was so humourous. The engineer told him the train he just parked had tangled with a moose. This we had to see, so the crew brought us to the train and pointed to a dent in the snow plow, along with the dent there was various moose parts. The engineer said a damn Bull Moose was on one side of the tracks and the lady moose was on the other and the train was in the middle, so the Bull saw the train as a rival for the lady?s affections. No one ever said moose were very high in the intelligence department.

A while back I was visiting with some friends telling them about the above when one of their kids asked me who Bullwinkle was. A cold hard slap of reality hit me; I was mentioning a cartoon character kids never heard of.

[Lady18wheels]

I've always heard this about moose, but I figured it was a wive's (or trucker's) tale.

...one of their kids asked me who Bullwinkle was. A cold hard slap of reality hit me; I was mentioning a cartoon character kids never heard of.

This kid'll probably never know what it's like to have to get up to change the channels on the TV either. We're gettin old Doc....

[Doctor Who]

This kid'll probably never know what it's like to have to get up to change the channels on the TV either. We're gettin old Doc....

What's this "We" stuff!!!!

Anyway, I have to go deeper into the journals to find the other moose or, was it bear, tale...

Oh by the way Magician it's page 32

[Doctor Who]

GOT TO LOVE THE 5.0

Another ditty from my car hauling days.

The last car on the truck, last stop Norristown, PA and looking forward to heading home.
I pulled up in front of the dealership climbed up on the head rack and started the unchaining ritual. A sales person approached the truck saying he had been waiting for the 5.0 I was unchaining. I was overjoyed to hear that piece of information as the last chain was removed. The first attempt at starting the Mustang was futile; I figured it was out of gas since Ford didn?t put very much in the tanks. The second attempt was successful as the 302 roared to life. The Steve McQueen in me took over as visions of the car chase from Bullitt danced in my head. I put the stick in first and started rolling when I noticed the trailer was rocking violently I stopped the ?Stang and was looking at the front end of a police car. I stepped out as the sales person came running down to the truck, yelling all the way. I asked the officer on the passenger side what was going on. He told me he bet his partner that he couldn?t drive up on the trailer. Well, the driver did win the bet. I told them both that I bet he couldn?t get back off.

Making sure the Mustang was secure I climbed off the trailer and stood next to the very distraught sales person to watch the fun.
20 minutes had ticked away and the police cruiser was still on the trailer. The passenger yelled to me asking for help. I walked up the trailer told them both to get out and get off. I backed the car off the trailer and was tempted to do an emergency brake 180, but didn?t want to upset the officers any more than they were.

With the police drama over, I went back to the Mustang and finished the unloading process. Steve McQueen did make an appearance when the car tyres met the asphalt. I drove down the street a few yards or so and spun the car around using the emergency brake plus, I had to do at least one doughnut before driving it up to the front door.
The sales person would have had a coronary if he had seen either stunt?

[Doctor Who]

My Adventure in Quebec Province

The ever ?trustworthy? Central Transport dispatcher Mr. Cook called me and asked if I could take a load to the ?North land? of course I couldn?t refuse the smooth talking gentleman from Wilmington, he even went so far as to have the tank loaded for me, as I said, a real nice guy.
I picked up the paper work, hooked to the tank then I looked at the destination
?Saint Jean-sur-Richelieu P.Q.?
I pulled out the ever faithful Rand McNally and discovered to my dismay that I had better brush up on my French. I went back into the office to ask Mr. Cook about the load, he just gave me the usual response about he knew I was the best driver for the job, I didn?t believe him. I asked him about the paperwork for the customs people at the border, he assured me all was taken care of, again I didn?t believe him. One thing I was glad of, I had my amateur radio equipment with me so I could at least talk to other amateurs on the ride up.

After many hours of driving I arrived at the Canadien border, parked the truck, and brought all the information into the customs office. The chap in customs told me he had no record of the shipment. Did it shock me??? No! I called the broker listed on the B/L to get the mess straightened out. 3 years later I was on my way towards St. Jean. I had a lot of fun driving along the French countryside especially checking out the Canadien ladies.
When I took the exit for St. Jean I immediately realized I was in for a hateful time. The map I had didn?t show individual streets and my French was nowhere near good enough to ask for directions, or so I thought? I stopped at a service station and asked if anyone knew the plant I was going to. I will say for the record that I heard from quite a few travelers that the French Canadiens were extremely arrogant and refuse to speak English unless someone speaks to them in French first. I had seen an interesting piece written on a wall stating French Canadien drivers are smarter because they can speak our language!!
I thanked the attendant for his useless information and rode around the city a bit more until I pulled up in front of a police station I walked in and knew from the first word I was going to have a problem. The desk sergeant got up and said ?Oui????
I thought to myself ?Oh Hell even the cops are evil!!!?
I then remembered the traveler?s advice, so in my best Brooklyn French I asked the cop if he spoke English, of course he did and then all was right with the French universe, well not exactly, he gave me the worst directions. I thanked him and walked back out to the truck. Out of the jumbled mess of odd words the cop did mention a street called Brosseau I looked at the sign on the corner by the station, it was Brosseau. I wandered over to the street and found the plant I was looking for, it was directly behind the police station. The cop was sending me on a grand tour of the city just to go 1 ? blocks. I pulled into the plant and told the receiver, who spoke English, about the cop. He wasn?t very surprised and said it happened quite often.

Unloading completed I was never so glad to get out of a place such as St. Jean. I worked my way back to the Canadien interstate and went south, or is it sud??? Anyway I pulled up to the U.S. bound side of the border, where the lady in the booth was not in a good mood. She asked me my country of birth, I told her Brooklyn. She was not amused.
I followed with ?It is a different country isn?t it???
She had a real evil look on her face and said it would $5.00 to enter the U.S. What a joke having to pay to get back into the country I was born in. I didn?t dare argue with her figuring she probably would have shot me.
I had to go to Paulsboro, NJ for my next dispatch but that was after I stopped to see mom!!

[Doctor Who]

Doctor Who's "Adventure in moving" coming soon as well as "You've picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel" and "Careful what you wish for part 4"