Your Funniest, Best, or Worst Experiences While Broke Down

Discussion in 'Road Stories' started by UTurn55, Mar 14, 2011.

  1. UTurn55

    UTurn55 Light Load Member

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    Hopefully there won't be alot of nightmare experiences from the newer drivers out there. In an effort to keep drivers I would hope there are fewer stories of truckers staying several days at the Kenworth or Mack dealership sleeping in the truck while waiting for parts even if the highlight involved the mechanics treating you to a night out.

    One of my funniest broke down stories happened on I-15 just south of Salt Lake City. I blew a tire and pulled to the shoulder. Unfortunately, a DOT cop also pulled to the shoulder a short distance behind me. Now he did not pull up and offer any assistance, nor did he seem in any hurry to leave. This was before I had a cell phone, so I climbed a fence and walked to the nearest business on the frontage road and called the company. From inside the business while I had my dispatcher on the phone I could see the DOT officer had pulled up by the truck got out and walked around the truck. I was pretty sure he was making a note of everything from the time of day to my license plate number. Then he drove off. My dispatcher couldn't believe I was insisting on a service truck instead of limping on in to the next truck stop but went ahead and ordered a service truck. I was told he would be there in a few hours.

    It was a beautiful day. I grew up in southern california and from experience I know when the interstate gets shut down you pull out the lawn chair or a blanket and make the best of it. That is what I did. I changed in the truck into a cute little 2-piece bathing suit, spread a blanket on the shoulder between my truck and the fence, and along with suntan lotion, a good book, and my boombox set out to make the most of some down time on the I-15.

    It wasn't long before a news reporter showed up. He explained that this was the area's first beautiful day, the first without rain in weeks and my sunbathing was the talk on all the local radio stations. He pointed out their eye in the sky! Apparently, the bulk of the callers were concerned the obviously crazy trucker sunbathing on I-15 was creating a road hazard!
     
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  3. Sequoia

    Sequoia Road Train Member

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    ..compared to that, I got nothing.
     
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  4. UTurn55

    UTurn55 Light Load Member

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    Thanks Sequoia. I take it to mean you don't own a cute 2 piece?
     
  5. Sequoia

    Sequoia Road Train Member

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    Not with this fat!

    Last time I went to the beach, Greenpeace tried to rescue me and drag me back out to sea.
     
  6. Les2

    Les2 Road Train Member

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    Ha Ha! Thats a good one!

    I did that once and they tried hauling me off to jail....:biggrin_25523:

    I'll have to think really hard to remember any good break downs, most if not all were bad.

    Worst that comes to mind was in Chicago. IIRC it was the coldest temps at the time, back in the late 90's. The temp was -20 and windchill was -70. Dad's truck quit in dalton, il,(south side) and I was all the way up on the north end. I was wearing two layers of clothes, insulated coveralls and could still only get out of the truck for 5 minutes before being frozen. It took us over 16 hours to get the truck back running once we figured out the problem.
     
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  7. Les2

    Les2 Road Train Member

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    kicked back in my lazyboy...
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    :biggrin_2559::biggrin_2559::biggrin_25514:
     
  8. UTurn55

    UTurn55 Light Load Member

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    Yeh, but the newbies need to hear the really bad ones so if they become mildly inconvenienced they'll laughingly remember your nightmare and get over it. :)
     
  9. UTurn55

    UTurn55 Light Load Member

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    Oh my God! Thank you so much. Once again having a great evening laughing my ### off. Since that story is about 15 years old believe me I will keep Greenpeace in mind if ever invited to the beach.
     
  10. Sequoia

    Sequoia Road Train Member

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    :biggrin_25525:

    It's funny you mentioned that, though. I was talking with a friend of mine about doing that if we were ever stuck at a company terminal for a few days in the summer. Break out the beach chairs (the ones that fold in 3s), put on our bathing suits, slather on some sun screen and lay out and work on our tans.

    "Hey, can you rub some lotion on my back?"
    "Oh sure, flip over."
    "..why are all those guys staring at us?"
    "Get used to it, honey."
     
  11. lil may

    lil may Road Train Member

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    Just depends where your companies terminal is
     
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