The World Is My Dock

Oh come on guys, us reefer drivers have some very interesting days as well. This week I delivered to a Hispanic meat market in Houston. Had to ask their customers to move so I could back into their alley so I could hit dock. I speak no Spanish they spoke no English. It was interesting!

I love my job, and most people would assume a tanker is going to big plants. Not always. We have several fertalizer companies we go to. I have delivered several times in fields where the customer had their tanks and we did a tank to tank transfer. You know it will be interesting when the customer says I’ll meet you at the truck stop and lead you to the delivery location.

Google Translate app has helped my in these situations. Select language English to Spanish, type what you want to say and it displays in Spanish or touch the speaker button and it will speak it in Spanish in case they are illiterate.

Oh come on guys, us reefer drivers have some very interesting days as well. This week I delivered to a Hispanic meat market in Houston. Had to ask their customers to move so I could back into their alley so I could hit dock. I speak no Spanish they spoke no English. It was interesting!

I enjoyed flatbed work in the 90's for the variety. My most memorable delivery was transformers to Charlottetown Prince Edward Island in Canada. They had started building the bridge from New Brunswick to the island but it was years from completion. I drove my tractor/trailer into the belly of a ship and it took me to the island. Then I took a ship from PEI to Nova Scotia to pickup lumber for backhaul. Great trip! I'm returning to flatbed for the variety of places and loads!

With jobsites and odd places, it's best to get in contact with the shipper/receiver. Even better if you can talk to the person who I'll actually be doing the loading/unloading. Occasionally however, I would end up delivering to the Amish who didn't really use phones. That was always stressful. One of my last deliveries with Maverick went to some guys house in the sticks in Ohio. There were chickens and pigs on my tarp while I tried to fold it. Barefoot kids and abandoned vehicles, the whole nine.

I'll bet there was a banjo playing softly in the background...

I've been to job sites where we deliver into a spreader and they lay it down and mix the dirt. I've also known guys that gave delivered cement to sites in the middle of the woods and needed special permits to cross a 10 ton bridge because it was the only way in. Cant say I'd be to excited to roll almost 40 ton across a 10 ton bridge