Going up I-39 last night in Wisconsin about 21:00 I came up on a flatbed with a flapping tarp.

Well, not just a flapping tarp- the right rear corner had come unrolled, it had been covering sheet steel stacked on the trailer. The steel was maybe ten inches or a foot tall, it was low and flat. A piece of tarp about six feet long was flapping up and down every couple of seconds.

His truck was governed at 62 and I wasn't in the mood for a ticket so it took a few miles to get near him. So, I'm wondering- why is this guy ignoring his loose tarp? It was slapping the right rear trailer tandems and it looks like it's about to...

A hundred yards behind him while I was watching, the whole rear half of the tarp jumped up in the air and was torn off his trailer in about one second. I AIN'T NEVER SEEN NOTH'IN LIKE THAT HAPPEN BEFORE- but wait- what the heck...

Three seconds later, I got hit with a hailstorm of broken straps and S-hooks. Two new chips in the windshield, more chipped paint on the new hood. Luckily no one was in the left lane next to me when I had to dodge the shredded tarp. What a freakin MESS !

And the other driver just kept driving. He didn't wiggle all over the road, didn't slow down, just.... kept driving.

I come up on his tractor and you ain't gonna believe what I found. This dummy was leaning over the steering wheel with both elbows in the bottom of the wheel. His hands clasped together at the top with a cigarette sticking out of his right fist. He's wearing a headset- talking and smiling, looking at me and waving like he's my cousin or something. He's on the phone with his girlfriend (or someone). He's leaning forward so far he can't see behind him in the mirrors and he's entirely zoned out talking on the phone.


In other words he didn't even know what just happened. No clue at all. In his happy world everything was good.

So- I smiled and waved back like he was my cousin or something and kept driving. He's a driver for one of the big flatbed companies, (or he used to be) and I wonder how he's going to explain this to them.

Flatbedding never appealed to me, anybody have any thoughts about this guy? Ever have a tarp ripped off of your trailer like that?