I still haven't quite got over my amusement at the uproar brought on by the media and certain spotlight hounds over the phrase "nappy headed ho". Frankly, I think it's just hilarious. If that offends you, tough shit go read something else because I think it's damn funny. Seems a lot of other people still find it amusing as well.
Today I stopped into the truckstop to get a bite to eat after delivering my load and picking up another military truck from the factory to haul down to the yard. As I was sitting at the counter there was a youngish black couple sitting in a booth not too far away from me and it was obvious they were having a small argument although I have no idea what it was about and frankly, didn't really care.
At one point I guess the guy called her a "ho". She got a little bit loud, yelling at him about calling her a ho and "'dissing" her like that. I just couldn't help myself. I spoke up (my voice carries VERY well) and said "Well lady, at least he didn't call you a nappy headed ho".
The whole place busted out laughing. The couple totally forgot about their disagreement and busted out laughing too. I suspect that if she'd had lighter skin I would have seen her blush. Problem solved, no more argument disturbing my breakfast. Things were nice and peaceful after everyone finally stopped chuckling. Gotta love humor.
I hauled the military truck back to the yard, dropped it and grabbed another trailer, and headed right back up where I'd just been to pick up a very large generator heading for GA. I took it back to the yard where we loaded a military truck on the trailer behind it. I knew it was going to be a problem just by looking at it but I dutifully went down and weighed the rig on the scale.
As I already knew, it was far too heavy on the trailer wheels to even come close to being legal. We decided to take it all off (not a small task) and reload it all onto a spread axle trailer as the weight limits on the spread axles is several thousand pounds higher. I still suspected it wouldn't quite be legal, but what the hell I didn't have anything better to do.
I weighed this set up and it's still about 500 lbs too heavy, but that's far better than the 4,100 lbs too heavy on the other trailer. If I'm lucky and either catch the weigh stations closed or in a very good mood I'll probably be able to slide by with it. Most weigh stations allow you 1,000 lbs one way or the other anyway as long as your total isn't over the maximum gross weight. They know how hard it can be to get it all just right sometimes. I'm several thousand lbs under the max gross so it should be cool.
Tomorrow morning I'll start out for GA. The generator has a crane appointment set up for 9:00 am on Thursday, which shouldn't be a problem (as long as some grouchy scale master doesn't shut me down). The military truck is going on to Blount Island, FL (Jacksonville). Been there many times.
I haven't yet decided if I'll go home after that or just get another load back North. I'm torn between needing a break at home and needing some more positive cash flow. I guess I'll decide somewhere between here and Jacksonville.