STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

VEINTE Y OCHO DE MAYO (Life Day 21139)

May 28, 2005 on 2:39 pm | In On The Road |

On the 26th, I left North Baltimore at 10:00 AM and drove to our Terminal in Columbus, OH. I arrived at Noon and after feuling and a pleasant romp off-leash with the BCC, I departed at 1:00 PM. I drove to Nitro, WV (I don’t name the towns folks, I just drive through them). A half-hour break here, and I was off to Cleveland, NC (not Ohio, the Mistake by the Lake). I arrived at 8:45 PM. This is a drop/hook Customer, so I spent little time at their facility. After securing the last empty Swift trailer, I drove the 2 blocks to the minuscule Truckstop to await further instructions. At this point, I only had about 1.5 hours remaining to drive and in my 14 hour driving window. The Planner offered me a load that picks up tomorrow AM in North Wilkesboro, NC and delivers in Brownsburg, IN (51 miles empty and 518 miles loaded) ASAP. I accepted it and after a moments deliberation, decided to just stay put for the night and leave from here in the AM. I was already in one of the 4 plausible parking spots available here and decided not to take my chances elsewhere (a bird in hand is worth 2 in the bush). I drove 490 miles in 9.25 hours.
On the 27th, I left Cleveland at 7:45 AM and drove to North Wilkesboro. The directions I had proved to be woefully inacurate, and before I could blink, I was through town. I pulled into the North Wilkesboro/Fairplains Joint Volunteer Fire Department’s parking lot (the last wide-spot before the road narrowed to 2 lanes) and called the Shipper. None of the landmarks given in the original directions matched after entering North Wilkesboro. He however, couldn’t understand where I had gone wrong, and gave me some directions from there. I followed these directions and GOT LOST AGAIN. I stopped at a tire repair shop and asked if they could help me (and to turn around, again). They gave me directions and in about a mile, I was looking directly at the Shipper, but there was NO WAY for a big truck to enter. I slowed to a CRAWL and called the Shipper again. After explaining exactly where I was, he started to rattle off directions again. I said: “WHOA, just stay on the line and TALK me in.” He did, and I discovered how I had gone awry in the first place. The Subway Sandwich shop (one of the landmarks in the original directions) was closed and just another vacant building. The directions said to make a right turn immediately after passing the Subway, however, this is not a road, but an unpaved PRIVATE RESIDENTIAL DRIVEWAY about the length of a Football Field!! By this time, I’m thinking that this guy has never been in ANY TYPE OF VEHICLE other than the SHORT BUS that brings him to work and picks him up at the end of his shift. At the end of the driveway, however, not visible from the highway, is the entrance to the facility. But Wait, There’s More!! After making the extremely tight left turn at the end of the driveway to enter the facility, you are staring at the wall of a building about 150 ft from you, and there appears to be NO PLACE to go except directly through the wall. By this time, I’m thinking that he’s just a SADISTIC S.O.B. having a PRIVATE JOKE at my expense, and am contemplating various schemes to HIDE HIS BODY after COMMITING MURDER MOST FOUL when, and if, I finally get to the ACTUAL loading docks. About this time, a “garage door” off to my right begins to open, and he instructs me to go through it to the loading docks. Another extremely tight turn (this time to the right) to get my 8.5 ft wide vehicle through the 10 ft wide door, and I’m staring at a POSTAGE STAMP sized dock area. By this time, I don’t know WHAT to think. I just stop after entering the dock area. It appears to be too confined an area for me to do anything. Directly to my left are 2 docks, both already occupied by trailers with the nose of the trailers facing my left door. Directly ahead of me, about 100 feet away (bear in mind that my truck/trailer combination uses up approximately 72 feet if this distance) is a 15 ft drop-off onto the roof of an adjacent building. Directly to my right are 4 docks, the farthest dock already occupied by another trailer. These docks are situated so that the nose of the trailer is facing the precipice. Directly behind me is the previously mentioned “garage door”. The “shipping guy” comes out to my truck and tells me back into Door 1, the closest door on my right, and heads back to his “inner sanctum”. I decide that it’s time to exercise the BCC and survey the surroundings to weigh my options. After the walk, I have a “plan”. If I pull forward, and bear right, barely skimming the edge of the precipice, then go “hard” right at the trailer in the far dock, doing a couple of “double jacks” (going as far forward as possible in the turn, then cramping the steering wheel in the opposite direction while backing up, then cramping the steering wheel back into the original direction while going forward) to miss the building, then angling toward a narrow space to the far (precipice) side of the trailers which were on my left as I entered, I MIGHT be able to back into the 3rd dock on my right without plummeting over the precipice into the abyss. After about 20 minutes of, literally, inching my way in, I was SUCCESSFUL. I went into the Shipping Office and told him that unless he wanted to hire a CRANE, dock 3 would have to suffice. He said that dock 3 would work, and began to load me. WHEW, I EARNED my “meager stipend” this day. It took about an hour to load me and do the paperwork. I left the Customer at 11:00 AM. Compared to getting into the dock, getting out was “a walk in the Park on a sunny Sunday afternoon with someone you Love”. I knew the matriculations necessary to un-ensconce myself from the dock as well as the “escape” route out of the facility by then. I drove to Wytheville, VA. I had lunch here and walked the BCC. I departed Wytheville, and drove to Walton, KY. As I was having dinner, it occured to me that this was the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, and that I was going to Brownsburg, IN, about 10 miles WEST of Indianapolis, home of the Annual Classic, the Indianapolis 500, held each Memoiral Day weekend, virtually since the invention of the internal combustion engine. HUNDRERDS OF THOUSANDS of people will be converging on this spot for the festivities. I would be approaching from the EAST, so I would have to go completely through Indianapolis to get to my destination. I decided that I was close enough for now. I drove 492 miles in 8.25 hours.
Today, the 28th, I left Walton at 7:00 AM and drove to Brownsburg, IN. Much to my surprise, traffic through Indianapolis was light. I guess that since the race isn’t until Tomorrow (I think, though it may be on Monday??) the Traffic Crunch hasn’t ocurred as yet. I always thought that it was an event like the Super Bowl, or the Kentucky Derby, where there is something going on for the whole weekend. I passed within a mile of the Speedway about 9:00 AM (11:00 AM local), and NOTHING. One would think that there would be “speed trials” or some sort of “pit area” activity to attract a few fans. What about a “fan appreciation day”?? SOMETHING. Maybe it’s just my impeccable timing. Anyway, I digress. I arrived at the Consignee at 9:45 AM. This is a drop/hook Facility. Unfortunately there were no Swift empties onto which to hook (I’m detecting a disturbing pattern here). I dropped my trailer and ‘bob-tailed’ to a Wally World just down the street to buy some food for the BCC, and yours truly as well. I also picked up some needed toiletries. I settled in to wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. About 1:00 PM I contacted the weekend DM du jour. He said that he had messaged the Planner for this area. About 2:00 PM, I decided pull up stakes and drive to the Flying J in Indianapolis. I wanted to get a ‘prime’ WiFi parking spot, which I did. The outlook for getting a load today is BLEAK. It’s now 8:00 PM. Tomorrow, if they can’t move me out of here, I’ll move myself out of here. There is a ‘drop yard’ here similar to the one in Buffalo, NY. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find an empty trailer there in the AM.