Day four continued

I get backed up and out of the way over on a side street where I'm told to sit and do not move until I have my escort car there, and a commercial vehicle officer will be here in a moment to issue me my tickets. Well, a really friendly officer shows up and tells me that the powers that be have told him to write me up with as many violations as he can find, so he has to follow orders, but the only problem is he can't seem to find any thing that I actually did that was illegal. As it turns out, since I was still on the New Jersey side I wasn't legally bound to have my escort yet. Even though I have to have the escort to get on the bridge I never even really made it on the bridge so technically he doesn't think he could write me a ticket that will stand up in court. He also says that after thoroughly inspecting my load securement and truck he doesn't find any thing out of order, but he is under strict orders to write me up with anything he can find. He does notice that after I'd traveled all the way from Alabama to get there that the wind has stretched my "Oversize Load" sign a little so that is obstructing part of my license plate. So he will write me a ticket for that which is not considered a moving violation and I can just mail in the fifty bucks instead of having to appear before a New York magistrate. I think I let out a sigh that could have been heard in Texas when he finished telling me that.

I can't get through to anyone at my company because they are so busy all the lines are tied up, so I just handle lining up an escort service myself and after sitting for about four hours now I'm on my way across the Hudson on that very trying George Washington Bridge. By the way it cost my company a little more that $500.00 just to get that load across the bridge! Crazy isn't it - but that's life in New York. The really cool thing about crossing this time with the wide load on my truck is that the escorts blocked off all four lanes for me and I sailed through that thing without a care on my mind - what a relief! Also the escorts knew exactly where I needed to be as far as which lanes to be in all the rest of the way across the state until they dropped off at the Connecticut line. They would tell me in advance over the CB radio which lane they were blocking off for me to get over into and it made it so easy to maneuver through the state without any mishaps or damage to my sensitive cargo.

I keep trying to make this long story short, but it's not going too well, I keep remembering things about this trip that made it an unforgettable learning experience. I left out all the details of running through the other states and trying to park at truck stops with my wide load, but it has to be shortened because I just don't think I can hold your interest for that long.

The customer was thrilled to see me when I finally get there and they unload me with a smile on their faces at the condition their precious beams and trusses are in. Apparently they were having considerable anxiety about them while they were in transit. It's always good to see your customers so satisfied after you just went through all kinds of trouble that they don't even know about to get them their goods.

Well, it was about the end of the day on a Friday when I got this ordeal over with and that makes it hard to get a load for the weekend, but my dispatcher came through for me. The only catch about that next load was that I had to go over to the Long Island area to West Babylon and pick up a load of garbage! Such is the life of a truck driver, you just never know what you might be pulling across the country. Apparently those folks in Long Island have no place to deal with their trash, but the people in Ohio are more than willing to make them pay good money to have it hauled over there and buried in an old mining site. That was a stinky load! Now I know how those bull haulers feel when they have to go park next to somebody at the truck stops. I didn't really want to stink up the place, but I had to shut down somewhere along the way.

Well, there you have it. I probably shouldn't have put that in there about the garbage load, I feel like I've had a positive influence on some of you to go with a flat-bed job. Well, now you know it's not all fun and games.