**Peeks in and makes an appearance***** HAPPY HOLIDAYS *****Jumps back into the Shifty Swifty Truck to deliver another load*****

 

Thanks for the kind words Doc. It means a lot coming from a driver like you....30+ years?!! That's awesome....hope I make it that long! I think that I will,its in my blood.(for 6+ yrs now)

 

Ok,no blood or gore here...I think you all will find this amusing....

I was waiting at my pick-up for a dock. (sound familiar? LOL) It was a nice summer day. I had my trailer doors open,waiting for my turn. I finally backed in,went inside,and opened the dock door. I looked in the trailer,and to my amazement,there was a bird flying around inside! I believe it was a sparrow. Poor little guy! He didn't know which way was out!

I told the forklift driver that there was an unexpected guest in the trailer,and asked if he wanted me to pull out and free this critter first. I was worried that the bird would get into their plant. He said,no,thats ok,and proceeded to load me. All the while,the bird would fly fore and aft of the trailer,avoiding the forklift. I was kinda surprised,I figured the shippers wouldn't want bird crap on their product! But everything was boxed and stretch wrapped,so I guess it didn't matter.

So,I go to deliver the load,about 45 minutes from pick-up( my company does LTL and OTR) I open the doors,hoping the bird would fly out,but no luck. I couldn't see the bird,but knew he was still in there. I go into the receiver,and tell them that I had a "stowaway" and that he may or may not be in there by the time I back in.I was hoping he'd fly out while I was talking to the receivers.I go out and back the truck in,hoping that the bird escaped. No,not this time,he was still there,at first sitting on the floor between the skids,but then while unloading,started flying around again.I couldn't believe that the bird could not find his way out,I'm sure he was just scared.
Well,I toted my new co-driver around for most of the day,when finally,at my last pick-up,I opened the doors,and he took off like a bat out of hell! I was relieved,I guees the bird finally saw the light! LOL

You gotta love truckin'! Hope you all find this funny...but at the time it was a pain the a$$

 

Lexmark wrote;

Yes it is a shame that is all that's ever printed, typed in a message forum and so on, it's the nature of the beast, so to speak.

No matter where the drivers are from Canada, US, Mexico, Europe, etc. there will always be the group that has nothing but bad to say about the industry, trucking companies, and fellow drivers it is a given in this profession. The miserable group will justify that misery or, poor career move, by talking down to anyone and everyone about anyone and everyone. I'm not sure about the other professions but I believe the trucking industry holds this honour all to itself!!!

Lex, I do believe you stated that you're trying to enter this profession, I will say to you is learn all you can and be the best driver you can be. Take all the negative press and nay saying and turn them into positives and never once let anyone belittle you for being a professional driver.

 

Rattle snake.... Great eating


Back quite a few years ago I had the privilege of pulling a liquid nitrogen trailer to Amarillo, Texas. When I arrived at the unloading spot one of the workers warned me about rattle snakes, he told me that the critters loved shade. This much I knew from way back in grade school. With all the warnings and pleasantries out of the way I started to hook all the essential components to start the unloading process when I heard a ?hissing? sound, first I checked the expansion relief valve, nothing there. Something told me to look under the storage tank and sure enough there was a very angry rattler, who was getting angrier by the second. I wasn?t sure what to do at first but I did know that I didn?t want to be the recipient of the snakes charm. I grabbed the discharge hose, opened the valve and shot the snake with the nitrogen for about 5 seconds, the temperature of the nitrogen at unloading was -200, after 5 seconds the snake was pretty well solid, I then proceeded to hook up and unload the trailer into the tank.

I reached under the storage tank and pulled out the very well frozen reptile and a sudden pang of dread overcame me? ?Damn? I thought to myself ?This thing is going to be pissed when it finally thaws out!!!?
A plant person came up from behind startling me which, in turn, caused me to drop the snake. We both watched in amazement as the snake shattered into a bunch of pieces as it hit the ground. The only thing I could think of at the moment was the Rolling Stones song; ?Shattered?
The plants employee shook his head, signed the paperwork and said something about making peace with the Snake Gods, or something like that?

After the unloading show was over I drove to the local Amarillo truck stop to take the mandatory break. I asked the truck stop people where the best place to eat was and they directed me to the Big Texan, I drove to the restaurant and had ?Rattlesnake? for dinner. I did ask the server if the snake on the plate could have been a relative of the snake I broke earlier in the day?

 

DOC you are a total goofball. I mean that in the kindest way. :P

 

:shock: This coming from a man who hears voices !!!!!

 

Uh-oh I can see another he said-she said coming on...

While those two discuss their mutual differences, I will make an addendum to the the snake story, liquid oxygen and propane can be used as well. The propane was used on a very agitated Water Moccassin not too long ago....

As always there's more to come...

 

I bet if you used the liquid oxygen on the snake, you could have a nice trophy.

 

Hey Doc,your story reminded me of the movie Terminator 2.....if any of you have seen it...remember when the "bad" terminator was driving the tanker full of liquid nitrogen? And then he wiped out,and got covered in the nitrogen,and was frozen? Then Arnie shot him,and he shattered into a million pieces.I was wondering if that is what would really happen,I guess you answered that doc! I've never hauled hazmat or pulled a tanker,but I have a lot of respect for those who do