Guest Post by Paul Curran – May 15, 2015
“Hey Paul, you got a minute?”
“Yeah sure Greg, what’s up?”
We were in the company office in the Burnside Industrial park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Greg was a fireman who worked part-time for the heavy equipment hauler where I drove. He often did two or three-day trips during his off time from the station but didn’t take any of the longer runs. His wife, Melanie, was the company accountant.
“Can I ask you a favor?”
“Sure.” This was getting quite drawn out, I felt a bad one coming on – but Greg was a good guy so I should be safe.
Exterior of R Model Mack (like our company trucks)
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2756/5850585721_4ce69421cb
“Well, I had promised Melanie that we would take a trip together in the truck and she arranged her vacation for the next two weeks. I was supposed to be on vacation too, but one of the guys at the station broke his arm and the lieutenant told me I have to work in his place and take my vacation later.”
The conversation was stretching out and I still had no clue where it was going.
“She is really looking forward to the trip because she’s never been in a truck. She can’t change her vacation because other office workers have the time booked. Can you take her for a trip this week?”
“Greg, I’m going to Detroit tomorrow with an ACL [Atlantic Container Lines] RoRo [Roll-on Roll-off the ship flatbed trailer with the freight already loaded] – I have no clue where I’m going from there, I could be gone a week or more. They sent me to Toronto once and I ended up in Seattle.”
2200 Kms (1367 miles)
“That’s fine, I talked to Mel about this and she really wants to go for a trip. She said she would prefer to go with you if I couldn’t go.”
This was a bit awkward: take another man’s wife in a truck for a week? We would be within arms length 24/7 for 7 days or more. I didn’t doubt my ability to be a gentleman, but even the optics were bad and I had never done anything quite so suggestive looking before.
“Are you sure that you are OK with this Greg? I don’t mind taking her but I don’t want any flak. You know the other drivers are going to gossip.”
Interior of Mack Truck (not much space)
http://www.acordex.com/solutions/transportation/pictures/01Cab2Big
“Yeah, I know but Mel can handle herself.” No doubt about that. She saw every driver after every trip as she was responsible for the paperwork and she could easily deflect any inappropriate comments.
“All right then, she needs to be here for 4:30 am tomorrow morning. I’ll go talk to her now.” He thanked me and I walked down the corridor and into Mel’s office knocking on the door frame as I went through it. We greeted and I told her that I be happy to take her for a trip as long as the owner agreed. She explained that she already had Mike’s [the owner] blessing as he wanted her to understand what the drivers saw and did. Fair enough. She agreed to be in the yard at 4:30 am the next morning.
Melanie looked just like this
http://hairstylesday.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/beauty_black_hair_color_for_beauty_women.jpg
Melanie was about 5’ 8” with shoulder length jet black hair and a cupid face. She was 35 with two young children and was drop dead gorgeous. She was very smart and soft-spoken, preferring to sit quietly. One of the biggest issues when taking passengers is their bladder size. It turned out that she and I had about similar capacities, which was perfect. Stopping a tractor-trailer and finding a washroom was a time-consuming activity. I typically stopped every 4 hours and knew all the coffee shops and truck stops along the way – each about 4 hours from the last.
ACL’s Fairview Cove Container Pier (McKay Bridge in the upper left)
http://images.marinas.com/med_res_id/107563
The next morning we crossed the McKay Bridge to Halifax and arrived at ACL’s Fairview Container Pier about 5:30 am. RoRo’s were used by customers who did not want their freight handled or cross docked. They loaded an ACL highway flatbed at the shipper’s and the trailer with the load was rolled onto the container ship, transported to the closest port to the destination and then hauled by truck to the end-user. This particular load was a trailer full of German-made Opal engines that were going to a GM plant in Detroit.
Rows of these stacked inside the trailer
(Inside crates)
http://www.gotengines.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/gm-ecotec-engines-for-sale
By 6 am we had the trailer and were on our way, beating the morning traffic as it began to flow into the city. We had an R model Mack truck – which was fairly small inside with only a single sleeper berth. It was a workhorse, not very pretty but with a powerful engine and our load was light so we could make good time. The trailer was an ACL 4 foot rack and tarp – it had removable side panels (four feet high and about 4 feet wide) with a tarp over the top (including the bows this left about 6 feet of head room down the center). It could be converted to a flat-bed by removing and rolling the tarp taking out the aluminum bows over the top then removing and stacking the side panels. The area in the front of the trailer where all this was kept when disassembled was called the “pen”.
Assembled Rack and Tarp
http://www.shipflatbed.com/images/client_images/RackandTarp
We made excellent time as Mel and I chatted. I encouraged her to ask questions and told her stories of some of my experiences. There were some comfortable silences as the miles sped by. My goal was to make it to The Curry Hill Truck Stop in Ontario, just west of Montreal, where I could fuel and we would sleep. This was a bit past the half way point and would allow us to reach Detroit in time to unload on their night shift the following day and get out-of-town before resting. Detroit was not a good place to spend the night. Log book regulations, in theory, limited the number of driving hours, so it had to be planned carefully. Although our average speed would be a bit over 85 kmph, I could paper log it at 95 (this entailed accounting for the driving as if it were done at the higher speed and thus increasing the distance that could be travelled in a day while still maintaining a log that looked legal). At 95 kmph Detroit was 23 driving hours from Halifax which allowed me to log 13 driving hours per day and still have 3 left when done in Detroit to get out of the city after the rush hour.
We reached Curry Hill on schedule and had supper and watched some TV in the drivers’ lounge. I gave Mel the bunk and I slept across the steering wheel – a skill that I had perfected over the years. That was fine for one night; we’d have to get a motel the following night.
The following day went smooth as Toronto sped by and then the long drive through the farmlands between there and Windsor – where we would cross the international border on the Ambassador Bridge to Detroit. I called ahead to confirm our delivery appointment for 7 pm. I also spoke to dispatch to determine which direction to head when we were empty. They gave us a reload of commercial contractors’ air compressors from Ingersoll Rand in Campbellsville, Kentucky back to the dealer in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. I called Ingersoll and made a pick up appointment for 2 pm the following day.
Garbage Mouth?
http://www.topnews.in/files/gm-logo
We arrived ½ hour ahead of schedule at General Motors in Detroit [note: this was some years ago – before the reorganization of the auto sector and the closing of plants]. I registered Mel as a trainee and we were assigned a dock which we found and backed into.
We walked up onto the dock and gave our paperwork to the supervisor and then proceeded down to our door where I removed the two rear racks, opening up the trailer for unloading. The forklift driver was very ignorant, at first refusing to speak to us at all.
*Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow!
So far, this is as entertaining as a scenic drive. Looking forward to Part 2.
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Thanks Glazed – it develops as we go forward. I originally wrote it as one post and when i was done, it was over 3,200 words – way too big for a post. I was not impressed and wanted to rewrite it or replace it, but Gibber seemed to think it is worth publishing so she suggested we split it into 3 parts. Normally I get some gut feeling for the quality of a post but this one, leaves me unsure of how it will be received. Your honest opinion would be appreciated. This is a learning experience for me. 😀
This whole thing is true and was chopped to get it down to the 3,200 words. If I missed anything or you have any questions, please do’t hesitate to ask. Thanks so much for dropping by and being the very first commenter on the very first post on Julienoblog.
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You’re welcome. I wanted to make sure this wouldn’t be a Julienoblog nocomment blog, so I made a comment. Yeah, I like the post, and I enjoy the pictures you’ve interspersed throughout it. Nice touch.
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I should teach Paul how to sign in so he can respond to these. 🙂
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He responded, as you can see above. You are training him well to be a blogger, Gibber Jab.
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I saw that after I left this message ha! But he could respond with the “Julie Noblog” gravatar. 😉
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I am honored to be the inaugural blogger on this new platform. Thanks to List of X for setting this up, to Julie for inspiring a space for those wish to blog as if they were blog free like her, and last but certainly not least to Gibber for her administration, realization of the potential for this space, and her professional editing and publishing of this post ( I get the feeling that she may be doing some WP teaching in the near future 😀 ). You guys are amazing.
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Thanks for breaking the ground Paul! Have you accepted the invitation for the blog I sent you?
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Thanks! I honestly have received nothing in my e-mail Gibber.
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What is your email address? I’ll resend
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paulccurran@hotmail.com
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Okay I’ll try again
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Got it!
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Invite sent. I think I might have gotten your email wrong the first try. Sorry about that.
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This is an awesome post. Everything about it is well done, and it looks like it was done professionally. I’m looking forward to the next installment.
This is really good stuff.
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Wow Sirius – thems high praises. Thank you very much. I am so glad you are enjoying it. Thank you for dropping by for a read and a comment. Please drop by again.
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Well, I’ve yet to read even a mediocre post by you, so I will be stopping by again!
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Yay! And we have lift-off!
(Since nothing much exciting has yet happened except for the fudging of some driver logs and an serendipitously broken fireman’s arm, I’m looking forward to the parts 2 and 3)
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Some excitement is coming X. I’m sorry about that. It happened when we split it into parts – I’ll do better next time. Thanks so much for dropping by.
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Oh, I’m intrigued! Well done, Paul. Also, I’m laughing at the predicament you found yourself in. I suppose there are worse things then getting trapped in a truck with someone gorgeous 😉
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Thanks so much for dropping by IB. Ha! Mel was good company and sure turned some heads when we went into truck stops. Phew! Something happens to our relationship further on…. I behaved! Honest, i did.
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I can hardly wait to hear the rest of the story, Paul, whether you behaved or not 😉
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Excellent start to what I am sure is going to turn out to be a wonderful no-blog. I think Not CM might want in at some point (just kidding – she has a blog, but I think you’re going to have way more followers than her).
Paul – this post has been added to your page on my blog, and I’ll look forward to Parts II and III.
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Thanks so much for dropping by CM. And thank you for adding this to the list. I am pleased that you enjoyed this – I hope the following parts are as good or better.
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Thanks so much. It’ll be interesting to see where this blog goes..lol
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Way to go! I love Paul’s stories! And thanks, Gibber for doing all the heavy lifting.
Now we need to get Julie (and Dana) on here!
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Thanks so much Elyse. It is a pleasure having you here. agree, we have to get Dana and Julie to contribute now. 😀
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Happy too. We do need to get Dana and Julie on board! I haven’t seen Julie in a few days…hmm.
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Imagine. Taking a couple of days off …
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It would be nice.
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I know Elyse! You took the words right outta my mouth! Paul is such a good story teller!!
(I might cheat and put up my guest post I did for Trent.)
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That was a good story — and I’m all for re-treads! (That’s all I’ve been doing l ately since work is so nuts.)
But you’re a good story teller too. We who bug you to blog want to hear more of your stories!
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I know she’s an awesome writer!
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That’d be great!
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Yeah Julie! let’s see some posts where your blog is. 😀 🐻 🍸
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Love it! Learning about how stuff gets where it has to go… the open road… the adventure… the… uh… load… I can’t wait to post here… good thing she finally has a blog to call our own… I mean… ummm… her own…
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Aha it’s everyone’s it’s not mine. Let me know when you want to do a post and I’ll send you an invite.
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I was talking about Julie having a blog… stop hogging all the limelight…
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Ha! I learned from you..
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fair enough
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😉
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yup
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Thanks so much Art!
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no… thank you…
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Thanks for inviting me over! Good post – looking forward to Part II. 🙂
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Thanks so much for dropping by Lynette. I am pleased that you enjoyed the post. Stay tuned for more…
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I do like the title! 🙂
Sounds like a pretty great trip so far, though I have a suspicion that didn’t exactly last. Can’t wait for more…
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Thanks so much Mel! I’m pleased you are enjoying it. The second part publishes this morning around 10 am eastern time.
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I wonder why you like the title? Ha!
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I don’t know, Paul. Driving for days with another man’s lovely wife–sounds like a recipe for disaster. Even with your polite willpower, it would be a struggle. We’ll see what happens!
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Indeed you will see what happens. And i did behave myself. **bows with a flourish **
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Top notch, Paul!
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It’s nice to hear that. I’m a fan of Charlie Brown and in his wisdom he once said: “Doing the right thing is like peeing yourself in a dark suit. It gives you a warm feeling but no one notices.” Ha!
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I’m cynical and therefore worried about where this is going!
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Ha! It turns out , hmmm, different , but I remain a gentleman,
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Stay tuned.
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AUSSA!! You really are everywhere aren’t you?
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YES 😉
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Good company so far, Paul. I have a feeling things are going to change …
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They do actually change Mark – you’ll have to read on…. ha!
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I will read on. Part II, so good. Bring on Part III!
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Paul! Thank you so very much for breaking the ice on Julie No Blog has a Blog! I love your stories, and I couldn’t have asked for a better beginning, I mean besides the beginning X did… without his beginning it wouldn’t have been available for your beginning, and without Gibber, it would still just be sitting around….
In any event I’m waiting as patiently as I can for the finish!
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What does patient mean?
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Thanks so much for the opportunity Julie! It is a pleasure – I’ve never been anyone’s first before.*blushes* 😀
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On long road trips, being in sinc for pit stops is very important.
(and as the story rolls on, lulling the reader into a smooth calm……just around the bend waits -)
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Bwahahaha! Indeed it does. Thanks so much for dropping by and following the series.
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Pingback: Melanie- Part 3 |
Pingback: Melanie-Part 2 |
Great start Paul! Looking forward to part 2 and the BUT! 🙂
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Thanks for dropping by RW! It’s great to see you here. Thanks for the compliment. art two is posted at https://julienoblog.wordpress.com/2015/05/19/melanie-part-2/ and oart three is up as well – ust follow from part two. Thanks again for yeh visit. Please come back again.
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Always love your storytelling style Paul! Headed to Part 2 now 🙂
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Thanks so much for dropping by Sadie…read on!
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