I went into the National Guard Armory in Temple, TX first thing this morning. I told the SGT that I was there to pick up a forklift that's heading for Ft. McCoy, WI.He didn't know anything about it and proceeded to wander around from office to office asking if anyone knew anything about it. Typical.
I finally grabbed my cell phone out of the truck and made a call in to my office. He wasn't too surprised, we'd done this dance number before. He said he'd make a couple of calls.
A little while later the SGT came back looking kind of sheepish. It seems he just got his butt chewed on the phone by the transportation officer in Austin, who had emailed him all of the information and paperwork yesterday. I guess the SGT hadn't checked his email.
I detached the front deck and he drove the forklift onto the trailer. Once I had reattached and chained the thing down, signed four copies of the paperwork (that's the military for ya), I was ready to head for the National Guard Armory in Ft. Worth to pick up another forklift.
I called the number for Ft Worth but it was a bad number. I got the number for that transportation officer from the SGT and gave him a call. He called me back within 5 minutes with a good number and said that he had called them and made "damn sure" they would be standing by the phone for my call and that they had the right paperwork ready when I got there. LOL
I called them, got directions, and was on my way. Except for the never ending road construction on I-35 it wasn't a bad trip up to Ft. Worth. I got the thing loaded and secured, and was on my way again in less than 20 minutes. Much better than the 2.5 hours in Temple.
I'm now settled in for the night in a truck stop in the little burg of Savanna, OK. I have about 14 hours of driving time between myself and Ft. McCoy. I'll be getting an early start in the morning.
But there is a bar across the street...