 |
CEDARGROVE FARM , CHAPEL HILL , TN.
Tales from the truck stop...
A funny thing happened to me on the way to Chicago... Exciting things happen when I go to work. My job is an adventure sometimes , I work the graveyard shift at a local truck stop travel center. My job is to fix what is broken... (trucks...big trucks...big huge gigantic enormous heavy duty over the road freight shakin trucks... Freightliners , Peterbilts , Kenworths , Internationals , Volvos and the like...)
Sometimes when a driver comes into the shop, he knows that he has really screwed up, yet hopes that if he understates the damage he won't be held responsible. For example , I came into work one evening to find a large truck parked in the flower bed in front of the travel store . The flower bed is bordered by a concrete curb about six and one half inches high and served as a divider separating the diesel fuel island from the gas island . Trucks are diverted to the left and passenger vehicles are diverted to the right. The driver said , "I was putting my shoes on in the sleeper and was going to go inside to pay for my fuel when the truck started to roll(approximately 75 feet)when it jumped the curb. Now at first this may seem to make sense , except , the fuel island is absolutely flat, no grade whatsoever.The driver would have had his shoes on already to fuel his truck and the rear tandem on the truck was the one stuck in the flower bed. What really happened was, the driver in a hurry did not see the curb or the flower bed and hit it under power , when he realized what was happening instead of trying to stop, he decided that he could take his International cross country, thus hanging the truck up in the flower bed. He then decided that if he locked in the power divider and made both drive axles pull he could get out. About twelve hours later with the assistance of a class c wrecker(can you say big and expensive?)he got his truck free. With only minor damages, two blown airbags , broken trailer rail, blown tire on the right rear inside drive not to mention the water line he cut in two while spinning his tires. This is only conjecture and may not be true, however my story is the better one. It is better only because it can happen to anyone in a hurry . His story just makes him look worse than I portrayed him....How many professional drivers FORGET TO SET THE PARKING BRAKE BEFORE GETTING OUT OF THE DRIVERS SEAT?????...
Send E-Mail to: cdrgrve@united.net
Copyright © 2004 Shadow Hawks. All Rights Reserved