Hot Temps and a cool load...

I've finally made it back to a web connection, this one in West Memphis AR, so the saga can continue.

I made it to Chester PA in good time, dropped a trailer and waited to hear from the dispatch gods where I was going next, and waited, and waited.

I figured this would be a good time to get some grocery shopping done, I fired up Edith, and she showed me a supermarket less than a mile from my location. "Awesome" I thought "I'll just walk it, I could use the excercise". Well after walking past several burned out houses and abandoned house lots, I got to the "supermarket", which was basically a house converted to a mom and pop store where pop had left years ago. They sold chips, soda, and toilet paper. Not needing any of these staples, I decided to walk back to the truck and wait it out there.

Yes, the walk did require me to pass a state prison. Not a good neighborhood...

Getting back underway, I headed to Paulsboro NJ. OK sis, a made a trip to the Jersey shore just for you! and loaded for Nitro West Virginia. This took me through western Maryland, which is beautiful country but it is steep and slow going. When I reached the West VA side, I found the sun! Haven't seen the big orange ball for days, and this was a welcome sign.

Got to Nitro, and got unloaded which led me to what has been my favorite stop to date.

There is a Kellogg plant in Kimper KY. This was my next pickup. I pull into the lot and see this river of water running out of one of the loading doors. Having worked at a dairy for a while, I'm used to seeing some water used to wash the production floors, but this was a river. Obviously something was wrong in this building I was about to walk into.

Getting inside the Shipping area, I can see through a locked door that there is a huge lake forming in the middle of the warehouse. People are running around trying to figure out what to do, and someone passes me saying It'll be a minute before they can help me.

I cannot do the Kentucky/southern accent justice, so just ad lib your own through this story.

Another trucker comes in, He's from Texas, nice guy with a really big mouth who starts in with "Y'all got a problem in there." no kidding.

The shipping manager finds a couple minutes to help me out, but the pickup number I give him doesn't match anything in his system, He starts helping the other driver out while I go to the truck to call and get confirmation on my pickup. Fortunately, I know the trailer number I am supposed to pickup, and I see it in the lot. Unfortunately, my trailer has yellow caution tape run around it like a college TP party. Now I'm concerned. I go back inside Lake Kellogg, where now there are suits and ties looking at the big puddle. Going back to the shipping office, I give the man my new number, which still doesn't match anything in his computer. He now explaines to me that a woman on a forklift accidently hit the water main for the fire supression system, this is like a 6-8" diameter high pressure water pipe, and that is where all the water is coming from.

"OK" I say, not knowing exactly what I can do to make that situation better, "Now about my load to pickup. I know it is the trailer covered in caution tape."

At this point the guy's eyes light up "Well why didn't you say so!" (KY accent please) "I got that paperwork right here!"

Before he hands it to me, One of the people working on the broken pipe comes out and grabs the Shipping guy away from me. Seeme the valve for the water pipe is locked out and cannot be turned off. Sounds like a job for someone from shipping to me...

Getting back to me, he hands me the paperwork, 23,000lbs of pop tarts. It's the pop tart factory! I still don't know the meaning of the yellow caution tape, and probably never will, but as I'm about to walk out the door, the guy says (in your best KY accent please)

"Hey, Yew want some pop tarts?"

"Yes, yes I do Please" I said very calmly. He proceded to give me four big boxes of them.

These were the happiest people I've met. Great spirit working hard, and laughing non-stop. I mean, hey, I'ts a pop tart factory. Feel comfort in knowing that the next box of pop tarts you buy was made by very happy people.

I made it through most of KY before I bedded down for the night at a rest area. I was back on the road by 6am feeling good about getting an early start, when I was passed by a fire truck which I was hoping was not making it's way to the Kellogg plant 300 miles away. Nope, for right in fromt of me traffic had stopped. A minivan that had rolled over and the LifeFlight helicopter had landed in the southbound lanes. So much for an early start to my day. I was there for an hour and a half waiting for traffic to clear. Most of us were out of our vehicles walking around, and I had a good conversation with many of the people surrounding me.

View in front all stopped...

View Behind me

Every day is a new adventure out here!