A trucking team tells their story….. the trip from Hell.
By Crystal Adams
This story was a winner in our
‘Worst Trip Ever’ Contest.
We were picking up a load of Halloween/Christmas decorations in Ohio to deliver to New Canon, Connecticut. The place where we were picking up was designed for day cabs with pup trailers.
We were in a Peterbilt 379, with a 53′ trailer. I told the lady at the receivers, after an hour of trying to get in to unload, that the trailer wasn’t getting in there because the of the facility design and also because of the fence, cars and yellow poles in the way.
She argued with me, so I told my husband to dolly down. I told her if she wanted her freight moved, that she would need to figure out how to get the trailer in this spot!
Little did I know that the ‘trip from hell’ was just beginning.
An old Dominion driver, then volunteered to put the trailer in, but also said ‘good luck’ getting it out of there! It took him 20 minutes and it was in the door. We pulled it out when it was unloaded. They were missing some shrubs, after we left!
We then made our way to New Canon and when we arrived, we had to be police escorted as this was a small rich town. With a cop in front of us and another behind us, a meter maid walks almost in front of the truck, to let us know we weren’t supposed to be there. I pointed out the police escort to her and she went about here ticket writing elsewhere.
The delivery place was a small hardware store, no bigger than a small gas station. We go inside to check on the appointment time. They tell us we deliver at 3pm… no problem, it’s 2 pm. The manager tells us to pull it around back. The back was fenced in and cars were everywhere. I informed him that it wasn’t
going to happen because he’d be missing a fence and some cars. He came outside and said ‘Damn, they sent THAT?’ The trip from Hell was just beginning.
He decided that we would be spending the night on the street until morning. With flashers on and triangles out, all night, people sat behind our big truck honking their horns. So with no sleep, and 3 broken triangles, we now had to help them unload this trailer in the street. That wasn’t the end of it.
To get out of this place, we had to make a left on the down slope of a set of commuter train tracks. It’s pouring rain and traffic isn’t stopping in the opposite direction, so we can make the turn. Trains were appearing every 5 minutes! I then called dispatch about that police escort. They said, they got you in there, but do your best to get out on your own, and good luck!
I was then hoping that the train wouldn’t hit us, or we wouldn’t flip and get hung up! ally a meter maid stopped the traffic for us to make this corner slow enough before the train came. So we then have to make a right and another left. They said that would get us out of town.
The right hand maneuver was sharp and the roads are 2 lanes. So I get out in the pouring rain to go check out what’s on the other side of the turn before we get into it and have no place to go. After the turn we was golden. So I make my way back to the truck to tell my husband it was fine and that I would stop the traffic on the other side of the turn for him to get through it.
As I’m crossing the street to the truck, a woman comes flying around the curve in her minivan. I started to run to get out of the way and slipped on the pavement. She came 2 inches from hitting me. She got out and was mad asking if I was okay.
I yelled and said, ‘lady you need to slow down’, I’m fine. So I told my husband about the turn finally and then returned to stop traffic. Well I had a line of about 6 cars waiting on him to get around the corner, when another idiot decided to go around everybody and met my husband half way into the corner.
He too was mad and yelling at me. So I said to him, ‘if you would just have some patience, the truck will be out of your way…. sorry we are inconveniencing you on your trip to the dry cleaners.’ And the trip from Hell wasn’t over yet!
He threatened me, so I gave him 2 fingers. That’s when he decided to show me his gun. Being raised in a big rig and with my Daddy’s attitude, I smiled and said , ‘bring it on!’ He must have thought I was crazy or he wasn’t stupid enough to kill somebody over a turn, so he backed up.
My husband finished his turn and we were on our way….me with some scrapes and a huge bruise on my leg and hip. We called our dispatch and they laughed and said, said ‘no worries’! ….And that was the ‘trip from Hell’!
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