We headed from Cleveland to Harrisburg, PA on Wednesday with a Billy Elliot trailer that was damaged while on the lot in Durham. As you may recall the home office is Harrisburg. The above pictures are of the home office building and trailer lot.
The first step for getting the trailer repaired was to unload all of the equipment. I told Vince I would help him unload the equipment. Before unloading the trailer Vince told me we needed to go in and see the dispatchers to talk about where to take this trailer and discuss which trailer we would be picking up. As we were talking with them I heard one of them read off the numbers for the equipment on the current trailer. The standard package is 6 load bars, 12 straps, 12 pads. So imagine my surprise when I heard what I thought was numbers much higher than that being read off. I immediately asked “how many load bars”, to which the reply was 36 load bars, 48 pads, 38 straps. For me the pads and straps weren’t as big a deal as the load bars. The bars weigh approximately 20 pounds each and are roughly 100 inches long. These bars are awkward for me to carry and the hooks on each end that allow the bars to be attached to the walls of the trailer slide out when the bars aren’t level thus changing the balance of the bars. After hearing the number of bars I stood there thinking about how I needed to remember to ask more questions before I volunteered to help in the future. But there was no backing out, I had volunteered, plus I really do love helping Vince.
Once outside Vince backed up the trailer to the equipment trailers and we got started. After getting rid of the blankets and straps, it was time for the load bars. Vince slid them to the end of the trailer while I took them off the trailer and stacked them on the equipment trailer. The photos are of me placing the last load bar into the trailer.
You may be wondering why I didn’t move them in the trailer, well that would be because I have a fear of getting out of the trailer. Note I said out of the trailer. You see while getting up there isn’t the easiest thing for me; I can do it, but the getting down part, not so easy. There has been more than one occasion when I have gotten up there, freaked out and said I couldn’t get down. When it has happened Vince very patiently stood down on the ground and told me to just put your foot on the bar underneath then step down. I would start to do as he said but I think it is the fact I can’t see the bar underneath that freaks me out. So instead of getting down I would turn around and say “I can’t”. Vince would continue to say “yes you can” until I would finally climb down. Trust me I know there have been at least two occasions when this went on for over five minutes before I finally got down.
So today I took moving the load bars over crawling up into the trailer. Of course that was until Vince had to remove three bars from near the ceiling. He couldn’t get leverage on one of them so he yelled “Honey you are going to have to help me with this one” in that I know you don’t want to but I really need you tone. I stood there thinking are you kidding me, but then I realized if he were hurt in the trailer I wouldn’t think twice about jumping up there. So up I went into the trailer to help. Surprisingly I did get down on the first shot and without much coaching but I will continue to avoid it whenever possible because the thought of falling from the height scares me.
Our next step was to take the trailer to the repair shop 45 miles away. That ride gave us the opportunity show how smoothly a tractor can ride with a trailer. The attached photo is of some items Vince had placed on our tool box in Harrisburg. He forgot to put them in the tool box before we left and when we got to the trailer repair place there they were, exactly where he had left them.
No comments:
Post a Comment