I had freight yesterday for three stores in a chain I deliver to a fair bit. They have a few fairly tight lots, but the two in Karsas yesterday were incredible. One corner or another of truck or trailer was in trouble the whole way, in both places. And one of them involved a blind back around a corner--with the same clearances. Even getting out required backing and filling just to get around that corner without dropping a tire off the road.
Other than that it was a nice day. I made my deliveries, shopped while they unloaded (Those people have some neat random stuff!) and otherwise passed the time pleasantly. Finished the last delivery pleasantly, then found a message from my dispatcher waiting when I got back to the truck.
I tend to assume bad news when I see messages like that. When I call and he says "There's someone from the Safety Department that wants to talk to you," I assume more.
The Safety Lady hastened to assure me it was nothing like that. They just wanted me to take a random screen.
As I've said before, I fear no cup, for my heart is pure; but this is the third one I recall, and it's always interesting. One of the more interesting things is getting to the clinic
When I asked if there was a place to park a semi, the lady blinked. And hastily consulted her computer. Then she said yes, but not if you take your trailer. Where to drop the trailer was the obvious next question, but fortunately that's a fairly simple one. The dispatcher found a nearby truck stop and told me where to go.
All seemed to be well. My first hint that it might be as…interesting as usual was when Google Maps told me hew to get there. The exit was marked "DOWNTOWN BUSINESS DISTRICT."
Not a good sign. But I had my instructions…
I got to the DOWNTOWN exit and started up a steep hill on a two-lane street. Halfway up the hill I saw a parking lot, exactly where two GPS's agreed I was supposed to be.
Making the turn was…interesting. Going down the lane between the rows of cars was…more so. I think I had a solid six inches of clearance on each side, but I'm not sure.
A huddle of security guards watched me in fascination. When I stopped to ask for suggestions, their first comment was "I've never seen anything that big here." Encouraging, that. But they did point out a place where I'd wouldn't be too much in the way as long as I was gone in a couple of hours.
Getting there involved slipping through the rest of the parking lot, pulling out ioto the opposite street, then backing back into the lot at another angle. But I made it. The I entered the clinic and said "I'm here for--" and they said, "Yes, we know."
They'd spent the last ten minutes watching in horrified fascination as that huge THING tiptoed past their helpless cars and came to rest beside their window.
Turns out no one had ever brought a truck like that into their parking lot. A few had parked on the street I'd backed in from (I hadn't known it was there till then), but even that was iffy--the street was pretty narrow.
Ah, well. No damage was done, the company received evidence that I wasn't a druggie, and all was well. And I threaded my way back out, turned onto the street I backed in from (trying not to imagine getting past a semi parked on it) looped around the building, made my cautious way back down that two-lane street, and escaped back onto the glorous expanse of urban Interstate
Getting back into the truck stop? Past a dozen drivers waiting in line for a fuel pump? Skimming parked trucks to line up and re-connect to my trailer? How could that be difficult? I had a foot or more of air around me all the time!
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