Seen it all ????

[TJ959]

I thought I had seen or done it all but I was wrong. I picked up a load in El Paso TX and took it to a ranch near Cliff NM. Dispatch said the drop may be a little hard to find so I had my wife google the name of the business to get some clues. This place was on a fairly well graded private dirt road bearing the family name of the property owner. I passed a few ranches (all owned by members of the same family) until I found one that had a large service building and looked like the place. This guy said "you want Fred. He's down the road on the left. Pass the house and stop at the pole barn on the right". Now I'm back in there about six miles and I come around a turn. There's a stream across the road. I sat there for a while and got up the courage to ford the stream. Sprinters don't like soft ground at all and I could picture a very large towing bill. I got through the ford and found Fred.

This was a unique experience for me and one to tell the grandkids, if I ever get any. The terrain was stark and very beautiful. It looked like a set for a B western. ... Now top that one.

This story is entirely true. It's not a sea story. Terry can tell you a fairy tale starts out "once upon a time" and a sea story starts out "This aint no ----".

 

[Moot]

Great story TJ. I hope the stream wasn't too deep. Sprinters don't have much ground clearance.

I delivered to a farm in North Dakota. I had a contact phone number and called from a small gas station off the main highway. A man in a pick up truck met me and told me to follow him. I chased him for about 10 miles on gravel roads. He was doing about 60 m.p.h. and I was going about 40. I was mostly following his dust plume. Along the way I crossed several small bridges over dry creek beds.

After unloading I found my way back to the main highway. I noticed that the bridges I had crossed were all marked 10 Ton Limit. I was in a tractor/trailer. Oh well!

 

[RichM]

I will never forget the time when I delivered some very expensive rolls of carpeting to a huge mansion in CT. After driving all night I arrived at the gate house and the guard told me I had to shave and change my shirt before I could enter and deliver the carpet to the main house. I got pissed and refused and we had a Mexican standoff until the installers arrived clean shaven and accepted the the carpet at the Gate.

 

[Dreamer]

I love those stories.. LOL. And I know they're true, because they didn't start out with "You ain't gonna believe this *&&# but....." (the trucker version of the fairy tale )

Dale

 

[butterfly610]

Once when we were at home in Houston, we got called to do a mini. We took it because it picked up downtown at Conway, and delivered sorta close back by the house. It was some boxes of chicken feed. We thought this was kinda strange, because the part of town it delivered to was a really nice, upper-class suburb. We kept following the directions, and ended up in a regular neighborhood with all these big houses, and luckily the people lived on a cul-de-sac, or I'm not sure how we would've gotten the truck turned back around. They were all dead-end streets. The guy backed his pick-up to the truck and hand unloaded every box into his pickup. Seems like it would've been cheaper for him to pick them up himself...unless those companies don't allow personal pick ups. It was kinda weird though. Made the box stink!

 

[cheri1122]

I confess I was just a mite skeptical, the first time I was given a motel room, as the delivery address, but it's happened a couple times, along with rental storage units, and one exactly like Moot's, in Sunrise, Montana.
My all time favorite, though, is still the ship in Boston Harbor - awesome!

 

[Falligator]

I had a load p/u in Tenn and go to the Cadbury factory in Toronto, Canada. Had to deliver candy bar wrappers. This was in early August. When I got there I scored a few free samples (awesome) from a nice person who was there and I dh to Grand Rapids. I had a few of the dispatchers wanting me to go back to Akron to bring them some free samples but when I got to Grand Rapids they gave me a weekend run from G.R. to Laredo, TX. Well, so much for the candy. Guess if they couldn't have none I couldn't either. I was on a pretty good sugar high for some time. I drove for an owner at the time.
Guess it was a pretty "SWEET" run! lol not joking about the load going to tx.

 

[TJ959]

Cheri, I am jealous beyond words. I'm a ship and boat fanatic and I would kill for the opportunity to deliver to a ship anywhere.

 

[RichM]

There is a factory in St Joseph MO that manufactures ship anchors. Theyn told us that they were only 2 maufacturers of ship anchors in th USA. We picked up a 10,000 pound anchor,hauled it to the Norfolk VA Naval yard and delivered to a Navy ship.

 

[JohnO]

When driving team we got a call to pick up at a private residence and deliver to University of Virginia Library. Qualcomm listed shipper as J. Bond well I was hoping some of the Bond girls would also be at home.

Upon arrival went to door and was greeted warmly by Julian Bond a protester, politician, scholar, and lecturer. We were packing and taking tens of thousands of papers he had stored at his home. While packing boxes with folder after folder all were properly label with contents I couldn’t help but read excerpts from several identified as FBI reports on this action and that one. It meant for some interesting reading needless to say. Every folder had been previously been inspected by associates making sure nothing libelous was included.

We had several conversations covering a wide spectrum including baseball he told some interesting stories about Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby and a host of others.

I asked him for an autographed photo for fleet owner myself and co-driver he graciously agreed. My co-driver wanted nothing to do with photo or anything about this job a real charmer he was.

I called my boss who happens to be black and advised him whose house we were at and he was elated I also told him if he promised me a high percentage I would get him an autographed photo and maybe even a chance to talk with himself. He laughed and said why sure thing.

Just before we left he gave me the two photos and I asked if he could talk with fleet owner as he was a big fan he graciously agreed and I made the call giving them a chance to talk.

Never did get higher percentage but meeting somebody in our history and finding about the real person was quite enjoyable.

 

[hedgehog]

Cheri, I am jealous beyond words. I'm a ship and boat fanatic and I would kill for the opportunity to deliver to a ship anywhere.

TJ959:

I too am a boat/ship freek. If it floats, I'm there !!

One of my favorite runs was a pu in Philadelphia, PA to a freighter in Cleveland, OH which was docked for the winter about 10 years ago.

The pu was some type of a pump repair manual for the freighter. There was only the ship's engineer onboard when I arrived and he had all winter to repair the pump that was misbehaving.

I asked him if I could look around the ship on my own, and he said he would show me the entire ship !!

Saw the crew's mess, quarters, the holds, and even the bridge.

Thought I died and went to heaven.

LOL !!!

 

[tom tinker]

Hi all. I can verify TJ959 [ Tom] defiantly as boat or ship man as you can get, what ever term you Lime's use LOL.
I have been out to breakfast with him, he sure lights up talking about his service days, and anything with boats in it. Must have something to do with the boobing around on the water.
I was a medic in the Army, I have no urge to visit hospitals, LoL. Tom tinker here

 

[Moot]

If you ever get to Duluth, MN; the ore carrier the S.S. William A. Irvin is open for tours. The tour lasts about an hour and covers the entire ship. From the cargo hold to the luxurious staterooms reserved for special guests of the steel companies. I have toured the Irvin several times and always find it interesting. The entire Duluth waterfront is a fun place to spend a day, in the summer!

 

[Turtle]

Making that delivery to the nuclear sub, USS North Carolina, at the shipyard in Newport News was pretty neat, but probably the kewlest place I've ever delivered to was deep inside the mountain near Promontroy, Utah where Thiokol builds and refurbishes, among other things, the Shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters (the SRB's). It was like something out of a movie, and was in stark contrast to the Golden Spike Historic Site just a few minute's drive away.

 

[hedgehog]

About 15 years ago, I made a drop in Wilmington, NC and the receiver gave me directions to the Naval museum on the river, if I remember correctly. There were 3 vessels docked for tours including a WWII aircraft carrier.

Also, if anyone is a looking for a sub tour in Chicago, the Science Museum (downtown Chicago) has the only German Uboat ever captured during WWII which also can be toured.

Be safe.

 

[arkjarhead]

In Little Rock,AR you can tour a WW II sub called the USS Razorback. Talking about boats makes me think of the coolest one I've ever been on. The USS Ronald Reagan. I was on it for 2 weeks. She's the biggest boat our country has.

 

[nightcreacher]

i delivered to a ship at the brooklyn piers,have done that a couple of times,getting on the ship was the scary for me,ladder was moving as i was climbing up it.