I hit a wall in Chicago, IL...literally. My Chicago delivery location has a somewhat challenging back-in maneuver. I haven't had a problem with backing into their single garage-like stall until today. Everything was going smoothly until I noticed that my passenger side of the trailer seemed a little too close to the steel wall support beam. Without thinking the matter through a bit more (like getting out of the truck and looking at exactly how close I was to the beam!), I eased the truck forward and in the process managed to kiss the beam ever so slightly. The next thing I heard was the sound of something banging and clanging--not good. That's when I got out of the truck to find the passenger door on the ground and leaning against the side of the garage-like entrance. Definitely not good! It was at that moment that the dock worker politely informed me that the door fell off. Ya think?! I wished he would have screamed "STOP" when I was backing up. Oh well....At least the steel beam suffered zero damage.
After finishing the job (backing the truck up without taking the other door off), I proceeded to notify the appropriate departments of the company (three in all). Then I unloaded the truck with the help of the receiving department. They tried to cheer me up a bit and it helped. Face it, I committed a rookie mistake. Nothing much could cheer me up. However, after a while, I pondered the fact that all things considered, if the worst thing that happened all day was losing a door, well that wasn't bad at all (of course my company would see things differently!). What I mean is that of all the things that could go horrendously wrong in a trucker's life during the course of a day, losing a door wasn't as bad as it seemed (OK it is bad--but there is far worse things that could have happened than losing a door).
After unloading the trailer was complete, I pulled the truck forward just enough so that I could try to hoist the door back into the trailer. The company wanted me to try and get the door back into the trailer, push it to the nose of the truck, secure it, and then drive to their downtown Chicago yard where the trailer could be repaired (the alternative was for them to send to trucks out to my location--the fix-it truck and a flatbed truck to hold the door in place while it was re-attached to the truck. That was the more expensive way to go if I couldn't get the door back onto the truck. Oh yeah, I was told half-jokingly not to get a hernia in the process of trying to get the door back into the truck.
A trailer door isn't light. I managed to tilt the door vertically (as it looks on a trailer) and then the aforementioned dock worker and I shimmied it into position behind the truck. Then we gently leaned it (controlled drop) against the back of the trailer. We then lifted the end of the door up off the ground and pushed it into the trailer. Whaddaya know--we did get the door into the trailer! I let all thee departments know the good news and then started out towards the company's yard.
Only two other truck drivers casually pointed out to me along the way via the CB-radio that I had lost a door along the way. I of course casually replied back "Got any extra's?" So, there were some chuckles at my expense that brought some smiles to the faces of other drivers.
When I reached the yard, they couldn't get to the trailer door repair right away. So dispatch suggested I help out another dedicated account over in Michigan (I had been scheduled to go to Minnesota when I got back to the yard later in the day. That of course wasn't going to happen.). So I agreed and off I went to the Lancing, MI area. Basically I was to take my 10-hour break there and then help them out in the morning and presumably end up back in Wisconsin before the day was done. However, along the way there, I got a message from the dispatching team for this particular dedicated account asking me to deliver a shipment after my 14-hour day expired in a few short hours. I politely QualCommed them back and said that wouldn't be happening. Then they suggested another load whose preplan I never received. I was starting to get a wee bit agitated as I wasn't sure I'd be able to even help them out in delivering a load in the time I had remaining for the day. Hmm...it appeared this would be a very interesting evening once I arrived at the shipper.
Well, after arriving at the shipper, I spent close to 45-minutes before actually finding the person who was sending me the QualComm messages. That's when she told me to just take my 10-break and come back in the morning (just like my dedicated dispatch team originally suggested!). So much for an interesting evening.
Tomorrow's a new day and I've vowed not to lose any more doors! If everything goes well, I'll finish my deliveries for Michigan tomorrow, head back to Chicago and pick up the repaired trailer, and then head back to the delivery location where I lost the door. They had some items to return on the trailer to the warehouse, and since they were jammed for space, I thought it would be a good idea to stop by and pick up the items they wanted me to take yesterday. Who knows, I may even make it back in time to have supper with my family!
miles driven = 375
PostScript: Forgot to mention about the lightning bugs along I-69 to Lansing. I don't think I've seen as many lightning bugs since maybe I was a kid! It almost looked like a twinkling Christmas tree on both sides of the road. Neat!
11:45:02 PM
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