Another FLYING OBJECT TALE

A while back during a day filled with high wind gusts I met up with a fellow petroleum hauler who, had an experience to share.
The driver was traveling north on US301 when a Nissan pick-up left a parking lot and a huge gust of wind blew the bed-liner out of the vehicle.
I asked him if the bed-liner do any damage and he told me it just scared the shit out of him. I then asked him if that was the first time he had seen such an event. he did say yes.

Well, it would have been the first for me too if I was witness to the event.

Flashing forward to later that day. My daughter came home from work and entered the house in a very angry mood. I did ask her what had happened and she told me that she was leaving her place of employment to get lunch and a gust of wind yanked the bed-liner out of her pick-up. I just laughed a little and told her that it did scare the shit out of James.
She did look a bit confused. I then told her that James, the petro hauler, was behind her on 301 when the liner flew out.

 

A shocking moment in "HOME DELIVERY" coming soon or, the last installment of What To Say To A Naked Lady

Alan Funt has nothing to fear!!!!

Stay tuned!!!!

 

Just yesterday I was examined by DR. Who but he spells it Hu I guess he is Chinese. True story Gonzales La. look him up.
Here it goes my first day on the job as a trucker. I didn't have too much experience in any truck other than a u-haul or my grand fathers winch truck. At least the u-haul had brakes that was good the winch truck did not but we never went on the open road with the winch truck and in a junk yard all you have to do to stop is rub against some junk and you will stop but the interviewer at Bond paving didn't ask questions and I failed to mention it.
It was 1986 Gulfport Ms. I applied at Bond paving and was given a road test Gary did the road test the vehicle was a little 6 wheeled GMC dump truck gas powered it was more like driving a pickup truck but with a lot more weight than I could imagine. The stopping distance was soon realized when I stopped mid way of the intersection at the first red light. I was trying to be smooth on the stop but learned I had to drive much slower than usual, Gary was cool and just observed and I explained that I really didn't have too much experience driving fully loaded trucks he remained quiet unimpressed not surprised just quiet. We get to the place where we were to unload the truck and had placed one of the truck tires on the sidewalk to position the truck to back to where the grey haired man was working. When he noticed that I was on the sidewalk he walked up to the truck steaming and screaming he was operating a bomag (a hand positioned steamroller) and just walked away from the machine letting it proceed unmanned until another worker ran over and stopped the wayward machine Mr. James Bond was so angry he snapped and just went into tunnel vision in an attempt to prevent damage to a sidewalk I didn't know that I could damage sidewalks with the heavy truck. I was so green at the time they still had the blue and yellow in separate jars. It was at this point Gary said I better take over from here. I watched every move, as he was involved in getting off the asphalt from the tiny dump truck each little dump then the loaded dump box slammed down onto the frame. He instructed me what to do to keep the bed of the truck clean and to my surprise when we arrived back to the yard Gary was asked well can he drive He said sure he can the man in the window said ok be here 06:00 bring a lunch and water. Back then things were very different and you learned as you went along. I was able to grandfather in on the cdl so I didn't get a real road test with a dot officer until 1994 when I progressed to a class A CDLTPX. Hard knocks is a different kind of school but I have to confess it is a more expensive school because of all the lost money had I just went to a trucking school when I turned 21 I would have been on my way to top pay inside of 2 years my way of driving local then going OTR was expensive if you are in the same situation of blue and yellow yet combined get to a school before you get green. I have to confess that driving in a construction zone day in and out really got me to think how to communicate with others we are communicating when driving weather you realize it or not. My current wife would marvel that when we were dating I could tell her on multiple occasions slow down this person is turning left very soon she would ask how I knew this every time. I said after years of driving you pick up on folks tells and can keep a healthy following distance if you just observe the information it is there all you have to do is be open enough to recieve it. I like to go on happily achieving rather than achieving to be happy it is a better place to enjoy the journey of life.

 

Since I’m not riding on 18 wheels anymore I thought the entertainment value of the motoring public would be long gone. I was wrong. I have discovered a whole new source of entertainment… Home Delivery!!!

On one occasion my partner and I made a delivery of a washer and dryer to a two story house. As Mr. Murphy would have it the appliances were to be brought up to the second floor. What a joy that is!!!

We brought the washer up first and hooked all the hoses. As we were hooking the machine up I kept hearing a voice saying something about facing the machines together. I looked around and started thinking that my medication was wearing off when the owner of the house yelled out that the suggestion was not possible. He did state that his spouse was taking a shower. What a relief it was to me…

On the second trip up the stairs we stopped for a breather. At that point I heard a door open and noticed that my partner’s eyes opened real wide and his jaw dropped. At first I wasn’t sure what was going on, I didn’t hear the eerie violins from Psycho and I was waiting for the sharp pain of a knife in my back. I turned ever so slowly to see a dripping wet female standing in the bathroom door way. I looked away real quick when a young female voice yelled out “MOMMA!!!!” The door slammed real quick!!!

Needless to mention my partner and I hooked the dryer up post haste, handed the husband the delivery ticket to sign, he had been downstairs during the brief episode, then hauled ass out of the house, closed the back door of the truck and drove away from that house as fast as the raggedy International could take us…

My partner and I did not speak of the incident the rest of the trip nor to this day do we ever mention the “The House on Jack Road”

Home Delivery not just a job but a BOOK FULL OF TALES TO TELL!!!

 

Stay tuned gang, more Gas Hauling fun will arrive straight away....

 

Hey, Do You Have A Light?????

Hauling petroleum products does have its own set of odd quirks but the rhetoric from the non-hauling public does grow tiresome after a while.
Case in point.....

Unloading gas at a truck plaza can be a challenge within it self as drivers try to get close to the safety cones as possible in an effort to unnerve the gas-hauler. That can be taken in stride but the old joke "Hey, you got a light?" does get a bit old.

One such incident occured on a miserable rainy/cold night when a driver, trying to impress his buddies came up to me and asked that question. I looked at him and he walked away laughing. This happened two more times, same driver.

The last time he walked up to me and asked that question I turned to him and told him to step closer to the unloading valves where I could get a better angle to flick the lighter as I reached into my pocket. The drivers eyes grew real wide, he backed away and started stuttering something about he was kidding and I was insane. He left with his buddies in a BIG hurry.

Needless to say I wasn't bothered anymore while the gas unloaded.

PAGE 50

 

That's good that you are no longer bothered, Doc. 8)
Atleast, you are happy, even though you have gas. :P :lol:

 

That maybe true but it has become increasingly difficult to get gas. It would seem the supply has been GAS X'd a bit too much!!!

More HAPPY ROAD TALES TO COME....... Sooner or later

 

Hopefully sooner than later... I just finished reading all 50 pages of your stories and have enjoyed every one of them. About a month ago I got my Class B and have been enjoying every minute of it.


Jason

 

Another GAS HAULING SNIPPETT!!!!

Quite a handful of years ago I was riding with a trainer early one AM hauling a load of LSD (Low Sulfur Diesel) to a company store in a "rough" neighbourhood... It wasn't so much of a bother since I come from downtown Brooklyn NY and the trainer came from Boston..

The unloading event wasn't too painful however, we kept hearing a couple of fools yelling at us but we couldn't quite figure out what was being said.

With the unloading ceremony completed I took the paperwork in to the store for the clerk to sign and picked up two cups of coffee, I wandered back to the truck and the trainer told me to drive. I didn't question him but did notice he was acting a bit odd.

As I wheeled the T-800 and tank wagon out of the lot and down the road I noticed a car on the side with the hood up and a few folks standing around and one threw a gas can as we passed.

I asked the trainer what that was all about and he told me after I had walked away two guys walked up to him and told him their car had run out of gas and he was going to give them some gas off the trailer, keep in mind we had a load of DIESEL!
The trainer obliged and filled the gas can.

Needless to mention a GAS powered car does not run very well on LOW SULFUR DIESEL!!!

AH yes GAS HAULING not just a job but a great source of entertainment