Watching the Parade go by

Hello all. Great site! I got off of active duty in 1990, started driving with Schnieder, found an O/O that was leased to them and ran a dedicated run for Bayliner boats with him, Arlington Wa, to Ok, Fla, Ga and Tenn, and back to Wa, repeat. Moved to De in '91 and pulled a tank for Reichold Chem for a year or so and got out of it for 4 yrs and worked at DAFB. I had had a chauffers license so I went and got my CDL and drove part time for a small company, 3 days a week '95-'02, pulling a 48 ft reefer and hauling Perdue chicken up to NYC, all 5 boroughs. Unloading Ice pack off of the streets of Manhattan, going to Hunts Point meat mkt, Harlem, Long Island, Brooklyn, back haul to Balt and DC and back to De, loved every minute of it! Moved back to Ok, in '02,working at TAFB, drove for Western Flyer Xpress in OKC and took some time off of work and ran my tail off for a few months, quit the base again for a little while, my civilian job (you'd think I would have learned my lesson by now ), retired from the reserves with 27 yrs in (9 active and 18 Reserves) and pulled a tanker for a small outfit, home everyday then started staying out a little longer each week so that was enough of that, worked for Sunstate Equip hauling const equip on a step deck with a folding ramp. Decided I had messed around enough in trucking so went back full time at the Air Base and still there. I miss driving really bad but I'm not young any more (54) and I have a young one now (11) so I'll just watch y'all go by on the interstate. I live right off of I-35 in Moore, Ok so if any of you are going to be this way and feel like a free meal just let me know ahead of time if possible and I'd be happy to buy you a meal and talk truckin if your in the mood.

 

I had a lot of other drivers that were experienced going up there and were more than helpful, even drivers from other companies, and a really good map that broke down all of the streets and routes. Did you know that 100 truckloads of chicken go to NYC every day? That includes Long Island I believe. Perdue, Tyson, Townsend, Allens, and ton's of smaller outfits and O/O's hauling those companies chickens.

I remember before my first trip by myself I was nervous as all get out of course and the owner of the company came out and was talking to me and he said, "you know, I've never had to go and get a driver out of the City, your going to get lost but you'll always find your way out", and he was right, it didn't take me long to figure it all out.

It helped that it was a good company, good equipment, good pay, good and interesting customers and only 3 days a week. I never experienced the horror stories of robberies, break ins and such that I had heard so much about and I never felt uncomfortable anywhere, night or day, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Harlem, never had a lick of problems.