Growing up in a farm, far away from everything, including school; we had to get up very early just to be able to catch the only bus and then walk forever to get to school. From there, I was shipped to boarding school, where we had to be up at 4am for 5am mass, everyday but the weekends. Don’t worry, we still had church on weekends, just not at 5am. It was a Catholic school. I say all that to say, Being a morning person is ingrained in me. Right now, I’m blogging you at 4:40am inside a truck, while I wait for dispatch to confirm my load information. I checked in before 4. I’ll wake up at 2 for a 4am call time, bo problem but please don’t make me work nights!
I’d an evening time delivery in Colorado state. I did most driving during the day in hopes that they would let me deliver early, then I can go to bed as usual. When I arrived at the location and saw what looked like hundreds of trucks in the staging area, I knew that wasn’t to be! I found a spot, shut my curtains and called it a day. The guard had my number. They’d call me when it was my turn. The called around 1am. I mean! It’s already tomorrow by then! I was dazed and confused. There was a long line into the place. Line went as far as down the street. Instead of waiting to catch the line when it got to where I was, I realized that I might wait forever. Nobody was going to let me in in front of them. I drove out of the staging area to catch the line where it ended.
Earlier, when I checked in, the guard had told me to move my tandems to the back. Meaning, slide the trailer on the wheel base, as far back as you can. They tend to do this to make sure the trailer door is not out of synch with the doc door. I think. I’m out in the street, half awake at 1am looking for somewhere to turn around. Company truck has a camera which gets triggered when you make illegal moves such as making a U Turn. Which is what I was fixing to make. I saw a bridge ahead of me, And decided to go make my turn there. It was a bridge from one direction of traffic to another. Perfect! As I entered that block, I saw a NO TRUCK 🚛 sign. Great! I make my turn into the bridge as wide as possible so as not to hit anything. The truck felt funny. I didn’t fit in like I expected to, having been as wide as I was. I almost make it out of the bridge but I had a conundrum. One more move and you could either lose the bumper to the curb or end up in the river with trailer tire. Story of my fcking life!
I go forward some and hit the curb with my low suspension Freightliner bumber. Now, the truck won’t move. Stuck on the curb. Fck! I didn’t wanna be there too long, lest the cops. No trucks, remember? I get out of the truck to evaluate. I didn’t know how strong the bridge was. Did it have the capacity to carry my loaded trailer as long as I was on it? There must be a reason they said no trucks. If it’s the size of the bridge, I might be in trouble! Well, I was already in trouble. Long story long, I ended up having to get out of the truck, pull the bumper out from the tractor. It was already broken but semi hanging on. Now what do I do with this hiant piece of plastic! That thing is HEAVY! Do I liter and leave it here? It had my registration number. Someone was gonna be able to trace with that! Do I put it inside the truck? Yeah. Let’s try that. Maybe the shop will be able to screw it back on. Dod I mention how heavy that thing was? I managed to poke it into the passenger door. I needed an extra set of hands to pull it inside as I pushed up. I didn’t have an extra pair of hands! Gosh! I was just trying to join the line! Wtf!
I hot it inside the truck, i had to break boxes I had and put them on my bed and lean the thing against my bed. The bumper wasn’t designed to go into your bedroom. Finally! A sigh of relief! Into the truck and off to the line. After I go unloaded, the sun was was rising. My favorite time of day! I drove 5 miles to the company yard in Denver. I went to the shop straight away. They kept my bumper to dispose of it for me, drilled my registration plate to the truck and told me they didn’t have a new bumper for me. I drove that busted as truck looking like that for months! I tell you what? In a sea of whitr Freightliner trucks; It was easier to spot.
I found out months and months later that a truck / trailer behave differently when the tandems ate slid all the way back. This is how come I ended up stuck on a bridge. Had I know that……
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