After the docks episode, I was hauling into Michigan and Pennsylvania pretty steady now, loading both ways and getting to know the regular customers on first name basis.

Bob L, the young guy that steered me to Franks had lost his truck in a fire, and was looking for some work to fill in. He stopped by my house and we talked. I told him that I could not really afford to hire a driver at this time.

It was still in the dead of winter, with lots of snow this year. My tractor had a Granning air ride tag axle, but was not equipped with the third air lifting bag. For traction, I could let air out of the suspension, but could not lift it. When bobtailing, I would back the rear tag axle up onto a curb. I would then have a short piece of 2 X 4 and jam it under the guide block. When I pulled ahead the block would settle onto the chunk of 2 X 4 and the rear axle would ride about 16 inches above the ground. It road a lot smoother that way, but with the weight hanging off the rear, it would lift a thousand lbs off the steering. You had to be careful when driving in snow. It had lots of traction but slick on steering.

I had some personal business to take care of and could not do it while on the road. I told Bob that if he wanted the work, I could let him drive for me while I took care of business. He ran a couple of trips and then was loaded for Guelph, Ontario. Guelph was only about an hour and a half from home. The customer had closed for the day, and that gave Bob a chance to get home for a good meal, a cleanup and sleep, with plenty of time to get back to Guelph before the lumber yard opened in the next morning. He dropped the trailer in a secured area, and after seeing me lift the axle a couple times, decided to do the same for bobtailing home. He got it up off the ground OK and headed down the highway. He lived just one street off the exit ramp. This particular ramp was the Southbound Don Valley Parkway in Toronto. The ramp was a tunnel under another Passover. This tunnel had quite a curve inside it, and being night time and in the winter; it had a coat of black ice on the pavement. Bob came into the tunnel curve, and with the axle lifted and the steering extra light, the steering response was lost. The truck would not turn with the curve and slid straight ahead and into the concrete wall, ripping the left fender headlight out and fracturing the left fibreglass fender.

(It was an R-Model Mack, fibreglass hood & fenders, 1 piece.)

I lived only a couple blocks away at the time. Bob called from home and explained what happened. I told him to bring the truck over so as I could see the damage. He was really shook up over the incident, and did not know what to say. It was still drivable but with one headlight less. I told him that he was going to finish the trip. Unload and bring the truck back for repairs.

He jumped in the truck and bobtailed home. He was living in an apartment building on the ground floor. Parking on the street right beside the apartment the truck was just a few feet away from the window.

It wasn't 3/4 of an hour when my phone rang again, it was Bob. He was really upset, and said that "you aren't going to believe this", and I answered "try me".

Bob was just sitting down to supper and there was a loud crash outside his window. Jumping up and looking out, he was horrified to see a car crashed into the back of the tractor. It was a Nash Rambler station wagon, with a woman driving and a young kid in the back seat. The cops were called right away and were there almost immediately.

Apparently the woman was driving down the street when the kid was acting up. She more or less stood up a bit turned and was in the process of smacking the kid to straighten him up when she drifted to the right and ploughed into the left duals of the tractor. The car was completely written off. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt. In the meantime it was only a 5 minute drive for me to get there.

It was hard to believe the damage to the car and only knocking the left rear mud flap off. Bob was parked legally and was not charged with anything, but the woman on the other hand was charged with dangerous driving, and a couple other things. While the police and the woman were occupied in discussion, I happened to look down the tandems for alignment, it just did not seem right. The force of the accident pushed the left side of the tag axel forward a couple inches, throwing the alignment out and shifting the frame a bit. I showed it to the police and was added to the report so as to show the damage for insurance reasons.

Bob was really depressed by now. I told him that they build these things every day, and the main thing is that no one was physically hurt, but you are still going to finish the trip.

The axel was still up in the air so getting back to the load was no real problem. The load was parked on the customer's property anyway. He delivered the load and brought the truck back home, and in the meantime, I had made arrangements to get the tractor into Bus & Truck Collision shop.

The frame had to be realigned; brackets replaced and had the fender repaired. During all this time I had scouted out another company to put the truck on with. Franks at that time still had no office staff to take calls. He was always out somewhere entertaining customers or playing with the snowmobiles. It was a pain in the butt trying to get information when needed. It was time to move on.

 ---------------- William (Diesel Gypsy) Weatherstone.                     RETURN TO STORY MENU