Thread: So There I Was

A very entertaining post, and you kept it classy!

Great read and it basically describes the daily drive everyday here in Tucson. It only gets worse during our "winter" here with the influx of snowbirds.

As a Florida native I understood every word and emotion the OP had, and will have in the future as it will only get worse around here.

Along the same lines as the OP, I worked for a company that did a lot of "heavy haulage". We got a call from the major electrical supplier in this area asking if we could move a portable sub station from Lancaster, TX to Sherman, TX. I got in the company pick up with another driver and we drove over and surveyed the job. That thing was a MONSTER. It was basically a huge transformer on wheels. It had 10 axles under it. It was composed of a five axle "jeep" and a five axle trailer. The jeep carries the front of the trailer and the tractor hooks to the jeep. It weighed 249K lbs and hadn't been moved in three years. Vic and I measured and checked various bits and we decided my old KW would handle it better than his rig. My old truck was '77 KW "Constructor". It was nine kinds of ugly and stouter than tank water. The 16K front axle was set back from the front bumper about four feet and it had a lot of ground clearance.

The day of the big move came and I hooked up to that punk by winching my tractor under the tongue of the jeep with my 60Ton Tulsa winch. About an hour later, we had clearance to roll that show and off we went. The route was permitted and rather than running a straight shot up US75, I had to detour all over Dallas. We ended up on Hwy289 which is also Preston Road in N Dallas. Lots of traffic lights and traffic buzzing in and out of fashionable stores.

Bear in mind, this rig looked liked huge grey contraption from outer space with an orange and white tractor in front. I had a pilot car in front, and strobe lights flashing brightly all over the tractor. It was pretty hard not to see. I also had a set of three chime Leslie locomotive horns on it for the hard of hearing.

Between some of the lights up there I managed to get that punk up to about 40 mph and was trying to figure out if I was going to be able to keep on or stop for the next light when a young lady in a little MG pulled straight across three lanes of traffic, straightened up in the lane I was in and then STOPPED. I did my best to screw that thing to the ground and it shuddered and bucked and ever so slowly ground to a halt. I watched wide eyed as the the car disappeared from view under that long hood. I set the brakes and stepped out not knowing just what I was going to find. I found the car. It was under the front bumper. The tow pin was so close to her back windshield that a cigarette paper wouldn't have fit between them. The front spring hangers were over the top of the trunk and the steering axle was a couple of inches from her back bumper. No contact had been made. The little girl was sitting in her seat crying. I was rather sharp in my criticism of her driving abilities.

She finally rolled the window down to apologize for being an idiot and I was met by the awful stench of what she had done in her drawers. I about died laughing and told the kid she needed a glass belly button so she could see where she was going with her head up her butt.

Poor child.

Bless her heart.

I made it to Sherman about dark that evening. About half way up there, that rig blew out eight of its 40 tires at 70mph. That was exciting and then sitting on the side of the road for 5 hours waiting on the poor tire guy was boring.

Just another day in the life.

Oho! You guys are great! Yep, it is true. Nothin can be done about it, though! I agree that ol GI is quite an articulate writer! Wullie aint bad, either!