Yesterday I was supposed to pick up a truck in Savannah. I got to the auction place a little after they opened up. The customer in MN was supposed to have a wrecker there to load the thing (it doesn't run). No wrecker. I called them and they said they would get right on it. They called back in a few minutes and said it was on the way. Cool.
Once it arrived we were allowed into the compound and I saw the truck for the first time. It was a wrecked tree trimming bucket truck. The cargo box was filled with wood chips adding a couple of tons to the weight, and the things was badly damaged. The right rear tires were not only flat but shredded and the right rear spring had been torn out causing the whole back of the truck to be badly leaning to the right. The outrigger leg was extended on that side propping the whole thing up so it didn't flop over on it's side.
In my opinion there was no way to haul this thing safely on my trailer. The wrecker driver looked it over and refused to even take a chance picking the thing up. Perhaps without the added load of wood chips it might have been possible, but the wood only served to unbalance the thing even more at that point.
I called dispatch and told them the thing simply wasn't safe to haul. I then called the customer and told him the same thing. Naturally he tried to talk me into doing it but I told him it was a moot point as the wrecker driver refused to touch it.
He then called the wrecker driver who flatly refused to take the unnecessary risk and stuck to his guns through a 5 minute discussion. We both then packed it in. He headed off on his next call and I came to the truckstop about 15 miles away.
I did get a couple of more calls from dispatch discussing possible solutions to make it safe to move, including wood blocks between the frame and axle to level it off a bit. In the end it was my call as the driver and I just said that as long as the wood chips were in the cargo box I didn't feel anything would make the wreck safe to transport. When it comes to safety the driver is the one who ultimately makes the call and that's that.
So I've been sitting here at the truckstop since late yesterday morning waiting for dispatch to find me another load. While I would rather be rolling up the road making money I am sitting around here knitting. Worse ways to pass the time of course, but it's not paying my bills.
While sitting at the counter and having my morning coffee I was working on a reversible cable scarf. All of the waitresses came over to check it out which is always fun. Several of the other drivers sitting around commented on it and one husband and wife team were especially interested in it. She said that she had always wanted to learn and he said he wouldn't mind learning 'something like that' to help pass the down time. I directed them to a knitting site that has lots of very good online instructional videos as a good place to start.
Now I am back in my truck waiting for a phone call that will send me on my way to who knows where, alternating between surfing the web and knitting on the scarf as well as watching the dozen or so seagulls hanging around in the parking lot looking for scraps and trying to not get run over while acting like they own the place. If you walk through them they grudgingly step aside and keep a little distance but give you dirty looks in the process.
It's a clear sunny day here but quite cold for coastal GA. The cold Canadian air swept through here yesterday with a fury of wind that would cut right through you. Not as frigid as up north, but still quite cold for this area.