A bunch of useless crap
Published on January 30, 2007 By MasonM In Blogging
I delivered the Army trucks this morning at Ft McCoy and then had to drop down through the woods to Northern IA, just South of Dubuque to pick up three large generators. One of them doesn't have a housing and so had to be tarped. grrrrrrrr I hate those big, dirty, wet, slimy, heavy-ass things.

I did get the guy on the loading dock to help me put it on the generator, which was a huge help, but I still put quite a strain on my back just heaving the damn thing up onto the top deck (of course it was on the top deck, nothing is ever easy about tarping).

Tarps are evil things that do everything in their power to hurt you. They will try to catch every little bit of wind possible and try to flip you off the trailer and break your back. They will never, ever cooperate with you when trying to get them over something. And no matter what, they will always get your clothes filthy so that you look like you've been sleeping behind a dumpster for the past six months.

I finally managed to get everything tarped, strapped, and chained down as needed. I'm taking a brief breather before starting towards the yard. It's about 5 hours from here and I will only go part way tonight and finish the trip in the morning. Maybe I can find a cold beer someplace (after changing out of my dumpster sleeping clothing).


Comments
on Jan 30, 2007
Agreed, there needs to be some kind of technological advance that could replace tarps. What about some kind of portable shrinkwrap. This si the stuff they use on boats for long term storage. What is you could bring one to any job site and put it over what you needed covered and activate it somehow. This would help solve the problem.
on Jan 30, 2007
Ok.. you're cold.. and you want a cold beer.. and they say women have strange cravings..grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hope your back is doing better... stay warm,

I do know of some people who enjoy getting things strapped & tied down..even some w/ chains.........weg...lol
on Jan 30, 2007
Yeah, I'm working on the portable force field, but so far no good.

Seriously, they do have systems where the tarps are permanently installed on the trailer and one simply has to slide the tarp assembly along tracks to cover the load, but they're extremely expensive.
on Jan 30, 2007
Had a close call. Going down the road I can't see the two pallets right on the tail end. I can see the straps at the sides and so can tell if they're still tight, but not the actual pallets.

Coming up the road I could see that it looked like those straps had loosened so I exited at the truck stop to check it out. As I pulled in a driver came running over to tell me that a pallet was about to fall of the back. Ooops.

I parked and sure enough, the one pallet was only still there because the strap had snagged an edge as it slid back. Whew! About that time one of our drivers came walking up and helped me loosen the straps and get it slid back onto the trailer.

I reworked the straps into an X formation that wraps some of the taller parts so that even if the straps loosen the thing can't go anywhere. I should have done it that way the first time but I had no idea the stupid thing was as prone to the wind shifting it as it now seems to be.

That's as close as I have ever come to losing a part of a load, and I really don't care to come any closer. That's what I get for trying to get in a hurry.
on Jan 30, 2007
Ok.. you're cold.. and you want a cold beer.. and they say women have strange cravings..grrrrrrrrrrrrrr


A cold beer is always a good thing. I won't be having one tonight though. The only bar next to this truck stop is in a hotel and is non-smoking. As I won't patronize a non-smoking place I'll just do without.

*side note: the non-smoking bar had exactly zero customers and it was happy hour. Non-smoking bars do not go over well in WI.

Hope your back is doing better... stay warm,


Thanks. I'm warm enough now that I'm in the truck again. The back, well, it's there.

I do know of some people who enjoy getting things strapped & tied down..even some w/ chains.........weg...lol


Yeah, some folks are into that sort of thing.
on Jan 30, 2007
Glad you didn't loose your load... off your trailer that is... I know I know.. bad snowbear... mind functioning in an entire different plane tonight..lol

I will admit.. I had a big cold beer... just needed something... take care.. and sleep warm.. its to be 10 tonight here in kc.
on Jan 31, 2007
Substitute for Tarps?  How about the cone of silence?
on Jan 31, 2007
I will admit.. I had a big cold beer... just needed something... take care.. and sleep warm.. its to be 10 tonight here in kc.


Sounds good. (the beer, not the temp)
on Jan 31, 2007
I hate, loathe, despise, and detest tarps myself, Mason!


Anyone who has every handled one hates them.
on Jan 31, 2007
Substitute for Tarps? How about the cone of silence?


That might work!