Tuesday was definitely a day when Vince had wished he had
stayed in bed. That morning we were up at 4:00 am in Lake
Station , IN to head into Chicago . It was snowing and as we headed onto the on
ramp of the freeway we discovered that the on ramps in Indiana were apparently not a priority that
day. We saw a pick up had smashed into a
barrier wall and there were other cars and trucks off the road on the various
ramps as we made our way into the city.
Fortunately the roads were clear just not the ramps.
When we got into Chicago
we were happy to see that the J&J driver of the single axle (small cab
truck) was already there ready to put our trailer in the alley. Regular trucks
are too big to maneuver trucks into the alley.
Since, trucks are not allowed on the streets of Chicago from 7:00 am – 9:00 am getting into
the alley was very important. Well
wouldn’t you know in the alley was a truck delivering food products. Instead of parking in the wider alley adjacent
to the theatre he had parked where our trailer needed to go. Vince explained to the gentleman that they
needed the alley and he stated he would not be long.
While waiting for the driver to get out of the way Vince
unhooked from our trailer so the J& J driver could hook up to it. After unhooking we went around the J&J
truck and pulled up to the curb on the left.
After pulling near the curb Vince started to back up with his four ways
on to straighten us with the curb. When
we had gone around the J&J truck there was no one in the lane. As Vince started to roll back we heard crunch
sound. Vince went to the back of the
truck and found a cab driver had pulled in right behind us as he was backing
up. The collision caused very little damage
a scratch on the hood of the cab and only took out our right (passenger side)
light in the back. But we were
definitely getting the feeling this was going to be one of those days.
Remember the driver said he would not be long, well an hour
and twenty minutes later he was still in the alley and it was 10 minutes until
the 7:00 am curfew was to begin. Of course while we were waiting that hour and
20 minutes in the street we got a $75 parking ticket. Once again Vince was wondering why he got out
of bed that morning.
At 6:55 am the guy got out of the way it was finally time
for our trailer to get backed into the alley. All of that thankfully was uneventful. While
the trailer was being loaded Vince called a Freightliner dealership just over
the border in Indiana
and they had our tail light. So things
were looking up a little at least as far as I was concerned.
We pulled out of the alley just after 9:00 am and headed to
the Freightliner dealership. As we were
going through the toll booth in Indiana the monitor read our transponder for
our EZ pass and gave us the green light, but the gate only went up 2/3 of the
way. Vince pushed the call button and
explained the problem. The woman on the
other end said just a moment. Then she
came back on and asked us if it went up and we said no. She stated just a
moment again. She came back on and asked
if we could drive under it and Vince shared no he had a semi, we got the just a
moment again. She came back on and said
it will be a moment and apologized for the inconvenience. At this point we were at 5-7 minutes of
waiting. Vince went out to see if he could move the arm up but it was
stuck. The attendant the came back on
and said it would now be another 10 minutes because someone was coming from
somewhere else to look at it, but she apologized again for the inconvenience. I had had it by that point because we all
know 10 minutes wasn’t going to be 10 minutes. I got out of the truck and asked
if Vince was sure I couldn’t hold up the arm while he drove under it. We tried but I wasn’t strong enough to get it
up high enough. Vince then pushed the
button and asked if we could remove the arm, the women said she couldn’t
authorize him to take it off. She didn’t
say we couldn’t do it she said she couldn’t authorize us to do it. So we took the arm off and were on our
way. We didn’t damage it by driving
through it like someone in the lane next to us must have done because half the
arm was gone; we just took it down and laid it beside the base.
After picking up the tail light we headed to the Flying J
for breakfast, which thankfully was also uneventful. As we were leaving the Flying J Vince turned
on the wipers and the washer fluid didn’t come out. It had been working fine all morning but now
was not. Vince started cussing and I
started laughing, you know that Tom Hanks laugh in the Money Pit when the tub
goes through the floor. Vince appeared
to be getting a little mad at me for laughing and I said “Honey you have to
accept that this is the way the day is going to go, embrace it and go with it”. He wasn’t happy with me or the truck but
really what can you do but embrace it.
Fortunately the rest of the day went smoothly, which I believe confirms
that embracing it works. We were able to travel through Indiana
and then stop in Ohio
for night without further incident.
We delivered to two shops yesterday in CT and today head
back to Chicago . Unfortunately, we were taken off a Chicago to Durham run and
instead get to spend two days shuffling trailers in and out of Chicago .
Apparently someone thinks I like cold places because I have spent many
Januarys going in and out of Buffalo and now
this year it’s been Chicago .
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