Anyone want tenderized bird for dinner?
 

Yesterday was not only long (I parked with 10 minutes left on my 14), but also ended with a bang:

I was traveling on US-35 in OH yesterday evening, running approx 57mph, with about 15 minutes until I got to the truckstop in Jackson. I see this large bird (buzzard, hawk, crow, who the hell knows) flying across a field toward the highway. Just as the stupid thing got in front of me, it decided to turn around. Well, that was it's last mistake.

The bird hit just off-center (towards the drivers side) of my windshield. The bird not only exploded on impact, but it also shattered my windshield. Knowing where the truckstop was, I kept rolling. Luckily, there was a downpour going on, so the wipers cleared off all of the gore by the time I got parked.

I called into our breakdown department to report it. I had to give a complete accident report. The guy was asking me all the 'normal' questions: other vehicles, injuries, etc. I said, well, there was the one fatality and asked if it would be on my DOT history now - that made him laugh.

He then started calling windshield companies, but because it was approx 7:30pm, he couldn't get hold of anyone that knew anything. The main problem with that is the truck is a 2012 and out of the 3 companies he called, he couldn't find anyone that knew if they have a windshield for this truck or not.

I did lose the load I was under because it's due in Indianapolis at 2pm and I'm sitting approx 5hrs from there.

Glad to know that YOU are okay. Bird strikes can be bad deals! Just ask US Air!!

Seriously...... Glad you maintained control and didn't lay it down in the ditch. There are a couple deep ones just east of that truck stop.

Got the winshield replaced around 3pm today. The repair guy said to sit at least 18hrs before I roll out. Yay - just what I needed: 48hrs off (out of hrs on my 70), drive/work 14hrs, then take another 36hr restart. LOL

Thanks Orange. It scared the crap out of me, but I didn't so much as swerve. It's not like I could've avoided it anyway. I did see a turkey almost go through a car windshield one day. That car ended up in the median, but they stayed upright and didn't hit anything.

Got up this morning and sent a message in asking what it looked like for a load. The response I got was "Freight is a little slow. Be patient.". Be patient?!?! Seriously?!? I've had more time off *IN* the truck than I have had at home my last 2 breaks. And that's between Wednesday and Saturday. Arghhhh - I hate this job.

I know a guy who quit driving, back in 96 or 97(yeah......I forget the exact year). Some kid dropped a pumpkin off a pedestrian overpass that crosses I-90 in Bellevue WA. The pump kin collapsed the entire cab of his T-800 day cab. He had glass fragments in his skin for weeks. He managed to stop on the pavement....but it scared the crap out of him.

That's just asking for trouble. That kid could've killed some folks with that stunt.
Oddly enough, almost 3 years ago, we had a driver strike a buzzard also. Since he had a Freightliner Classic, his windshield was more easily replaced. It was much better than the 6" diameter tree branch that went through the passenger's side windshield on one of our Century's the next summer.
Either way, I'm glad that you survived that one relatively unscathed.

The entire bunch(6 or 7) weren't the brightest bulbs at the store. The ramps on each side of that overpass have cameras that are aimed right up and down the walk-ways....so they had video of which kids were carrying the pumpkins (I forget exactly how many)....but it took two kids to horse the big ones up over the screen that was in place to prevent that type crap. Now it is a fully encased deal...because of that one strike.....gas tanker doing 60 headed down a hill into a major interchange.