Sweet Home Alabama... and a Few other Places

Okay, so while I was delivering my fiberglass insulated panels in Montgomery, Alabama, I met a very nice black man who helped unload me and we enjoyed some pleasant conversation together.  As I was leaving I told him that it sure was nice being down in the South.  He wanted to know what I meant, and I told him that the people here are so much more pleasant than the folks in the North East.  I know that is a generalization, but for the most part it is true - although I have met some really nice people in Upstate New York, they are completely different from the people in the city of New York.  Anyway he grinned and said yeah he knew what I was talking about.  He queried me as to where I was headed next and I said New Jersey - we both laughed, because that place is famous for rude people.

I went right up to Birmingham and picked up this crazy looking load of vinyl fencing products.  This load is hanging a few inches over the front and the rear of my 53' long trailer and it is about eight foot six tall from the bed of the trailer.

I had to use 16 straps to secure this conglomeration of mixed sized bundles just to make it safe to roll down the highway.  There is no easy way to climb up on top of this load with a 135 pound tarp so I got the fork lift operator to lift both me and the tarp up onto the load.  I only had to put one tarp on the front half of this load - that is called a smoke tarp - it supposedly protects the load from getting stained by the smoke from your diesel exhaust.

After delivering that to Millville, New Jersey I picked up a load of steel tubing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that I delivered to another driver in Lorain, Ohio.  Then from there I rolled right through some very beautiful, predominately Amish, country so that I could get to Coshocton, Ohio to load two suicide coils that I'm taking to the Penn Terminal port in Eddystone, Pennsylvania.  The corn fields that I passed had corn in them that was "as high as an elephant's eye, it looks like it's reaching right up to the sky".  Today is Sunday, and I started my day at 2:00 am driving from Coshocton to Eddystone.  There are a lot of Amish people on that route.  I guess they don't work on Sunday, but they sure do like to take a buggy ride on the Sabbath.  I saw more traffic backed up due to various buggy riders along my way than I ever recall seeing over in this area before.  It is so ironic to see the traffic backed up and waiting for the buggy to find a place to pull over and let them by because the whole world seems to have moved on and left the Amish in some kind of a time warp, but on days like today the Amish seemed to be holding back the rest of the world from their progress.

Here is my current load of coils.  They are actually bound for New Zealand - they will be loaded on a ship at the port where I'm delivering them.  They are tarped for protection from the elements, but this is the first black and white tarp I have ever even seen in our fleet, it came to me from the driver that I delivered the steel tubing to.  While running down the highway with this load the wind was filling it and deflating it so that it swelled out and sucked in sort of like a bellows.  With those black and white stripes and the bellows effect of the wind it looked like I had an enormous angry caterpillar on my trailer as I watched it in the mirror.

Speaking of suicide coils, here's a photo that will help you understand why these coils that are loaded with their eyes to the side are called by that auspicious name.

That is a coil being extricated from some poor drivers cab.  When he hit his brakes hard he got a wake up call.  Now what went wrong here is not that he stopped too hard, it was that he didn't do his job correctly in securing his load.  That name "suicide" ought to make you think twice when securing one of these loads.

As I was coming through Somerset Pennsylvania (one of the highest elevations in that state) I decided to stop and check my load, take a little walk, and find me a place to get some breakfast.  I happened upon a neat looking little diner called "Summit Diner".  It was so picturesque with it's retro design complete with a 60's muscle car parked out front, I had to give it a try.  Turns out it was opened in 1960 and was owned by the same folks for forty five years until 2005 when it was sold to the local family that owns it now.

I had a delicious and hearty breakfast for only 4.99, and the girl who waited on me was decked out in a poodle skirt!  I wanted to get a picture to show you, but decided I didn't need to be asking young waitresses if I could take their picture!  But, I did sneak a picture of the beautifully tempting pies on display in the pie safe.  I didn't do it, but some folks were ordering pie after they finished their breakfast.  It's funny how some things will give you a random memory, but those pies reminded me of how Alton Herring used to just belly laugh when he would tell that old Jerry Clower story about the guy ordering "Apple Pie and Coffee"

Well, that's just about how my week has gone.  I've driven 3,000 miles this week, and had a grand time doing it.  I'm just a truck driver, but you'd be hard pressed to find a man who is more content and satisfied with his life.  I miss my wife and family, but I know that "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him...in truth.  He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them."