What is your craziest or funniest story from the road?

oh my God,Where do I start..

Also,If our stories make network approval- What kind of Royalties are we talkin' about?

 

You need to pm Heavy 1.
Just curious, how are you going to verify how true these stories are.
I have a friend that has a picture of a sign that he took out of the cab of his truck, that reads you are now interring international waters, does that count. lol

 

The werner trainer crapping his pants is a classic on this site

 

I can come up with some stories and have from actual happeneings in my lifetime. Now who knows what others would have thought about it. Not funny but rather called it lunch counter story telling, in other words tall tales, Fiction, never happened etc. HA.. if only.

Here is a short.

I was in NC about east of Asheville and hunting a shipper. I got good and lost so what I did was pull into a local fire hall. They are usually good with directions because they are raised in the area. After examining the situation of where the shipper be at, they laughed and said two things.

First I am very close all I have to do is follow this road a couple of miles that way and turn left at the great big baptist church. Cannot miss it. Ok fine. Here in the south Baptists build em big or like to think they do. (Reference the church off I-30/I-40 between US 67 and I-30 in North Little Rock.)

Anyway, off I went happy as a clam because now we get this loaded today. I find the Baptist Church on the left like they told me.

Its the second baptist church. The first baptist church was next to that one on the left. There was a third baptist church on the right, a first assembly of some sort. There were three total paths of turning left I could go turn to get to the shipper. But which one?

They said to me the second baptist church. Ok do I take them at the literal meaning and turn left at the second baptist church? or do I go past the first church on the left and turn left at the SECOND baptist church past the first one on the left?

We eventually found the shipper. But that particular day was memorable on several different levels when it came to directions. Sometimes you get close and the help that you receive isn't very precise.

Another time... late 80's City Dock Philadelphia. Large Reefer (Cold storage) ship unloaded grapes and apples etc. The grapes were particularly good, having arrived from South America import for Kennet's square in Pennsylvania. Now my boss dispatcher being short on words like he is always, he just barks get them grapes to Kennetts square and hurry up they are waiting on you. Its not far. (To a American Long Haul Trucker 50 miles is not far. More on that in a moment)

Where is this here Kennetts square? So I talked to some of the locals and they all pointed several blocks away, there is Kennetts square and the company name matches the bills etc. (More on that later) It could not be this easy. Usually when something falls neatly into place like that its known as a gravy run in trucking. This is where you have to stop and double check with the boss to be sure that's where it's going.

Pappy hangs up on me saying stop bothering him like a needy child he does not have time for this. (Oh really, he would regret that outburst)

Fine, I deliver those grapes into Kennetts square a few blocks downtown Philly from the city dock in the water front.

Called pappy, saying bills signed and am empty. (Not even a hour has passed)

Pappy sits a second and says where are you at? I said Kennetts square. Pause. Pappy says thats impossible you aint there yet. Takes you two hours to get there on US1 west of Philly accounting for traffic.

Turns out the actual customer and buyer of those grapes of the entire truckload was Kennetts Square cold storage facility about 40 or so miles down west on US 1 as the crow flies outside of the Philadelphia-Brandywine limits. Which is quite a drive from the City Dock.

There was silence for half a hour as the enormity of the screw up hit Pappy's mind what I have done. Then he explodes. I told him to save that noise because he says in his own words he aint got time for that earlier around lunch time that day when loading, remember?

There was a moment of silence and I thought I heard a old worn out grown man cry.

At the expenses of a load of grapes, it;'s value and what it will have to be done to replace it and make good that order to the actual customer west of Philly.

All because he could not be bothered by my routine request for exact information as to where in the world this Kennetts square is at?

It cost him a great deal to make that particular problem fixed. I was not charged for it because there is nothing wrong with asking for information in order to take care of our Trucking Shippers and receivers accurately and without losses.

I laugh about it now and Pappy has passed on years ago. But it took him a couple of years to understand he is not to blow his drivers off like that again on the telephone no matter whatever else was pressing in the office that day. It was to be a very costly screwup and very well cost him the account and any future income and business delivering grapes to that particular buyer who simply hires a better trucking company who does have time to take care of information accurately to their drivers who have need of it.

Thats just two of many stories I have from my experience in trucking. There are many I recall that others cannot believe as truthful. They would rather give me a hard time saying I am just dreaming up BS lunch counter stories.

If I wanted to write fiction and dream up lunch counter stories for trucking entertainment, I can do that too. But I rather not. =) Its just not right.

To this day I have never bought or eaten any of the grapes out of the grocery store. =)