Saturday, August 18, 2018

Trucking with Mike

Back in April, I had the chance to do something really cool...

...ride right seat with one of my buddies in this! My buddy Mike drives this here and there part time, and invited me to tag along on a trip to Roanoke to pick up some steel rebar. We met at the trucking company's office in the morning, I signed a waiver and borrowed a hard hat, and we were off.

We followed Route 29 south, then cut over and joined I-81 a bit south of Charlottesville. Mike told me this was the Waynesboro side of Afton Mountain.

The view was definitely different from so high up; you could see a lot more. It was fun to get to ride along I-81, too; I had driven this way when I picked up our wiener dog puppy a few years ago and remembered it being really pretty, so it was nice to see it again.

If you're anything like me and have always wondered what it's like in the back of one of the big trucks, here you go! There's room for a mattress, and lots of storage space overhead and along the sides.

We made it to our destination with a bit of free time before our appointment, so we had plenty of time to eat our lunches and prep the truck for the rebar.

You don't really realize just how big a 53' trailer is until you get a good close look at it! That's Mike way at the back of the trailer.

Mike finished prepping the truck, and we pulled up to the weigh station to check in. That's our weight in pounds on the display.

It takes a bit of precision to make it onto the scale; there's not much room on either side!

Mike finished up the paperwork in the office, and we pulled forward to join the line of trucks waiting to be loaded. And waited. And waited some more.

We eventually made it to the front of the line, and when the light on the left side of the building turned green, it was our turn to drive inside and load up.

This may have been one of the coolest places I've visited in a long time. There was already a truck in the building ahead of us, and I could have sat there all day watching the electromagnetic cranes zipping back and forth with giant bundles of steel.

After a few minutes, they started to load up our trailer. The entire side of the truck sagged down when they set down the first bundle; that rebar is HEAVY!

You can see the yellow crane on the ceiling bringing over more steel for our trailer. The operator sits in a little cab on top of the crane; it looked like a really fun job.

The crane operator didn't just plop the bundles down; they'd gingerly place them down, release them (which was pretty loud as all the steel settled down), then gently pick up another bundle and move it to distribute the weight a bit better. Once we had five bundles loaded on the trailer, Mike backed us out of the building and we drove off to the side to secure everything for the drive back.

There are a bunch of ratcheting straps along the side of the trailer, so Mike got to work getting everything secured. He let me try to ratchet one; I had all of my weight on the ratcheting bar to the point of being completely off the ground, and Mike was still able to get two more clicks out of it. That steel wasn't going anywhere!

AT 8,651 pounds per bundle, I wasn't kidding when I said the steel was heavy.

We stopped at the weigh station once more on the way out. We were just a bit heavier than we were when we arrived! (And this is why you should always give big trucks some space on the road...imagine trying to stop that kind of weight quickly!)

After leaving the weigh station, Mike took a few more minutes to make sure everything was secure before we hit the road again.

We stopped again after a little while to grab some snacks and check the load once more. You can see the rebar hanging off the front and back of the trailer.

We drove back up the same way we drove down. We crossed the James River...

...and passed a bunch of farms.

And lucky us, we also got to pass through a bunch of traffic lights and traffic in Charlottesville. I'm sure Mike loved that.  :)

We made it back to the trucking company just fine, though. Mike was going to spend the night there before taking the steel a bit further north for an appointment early the next day, so I had plenty of time to grab a couple more pictures. Imagine trying to shift this thing!

Mike closed out the electronic log for the day. It was pretty neat to see how that all worked and the time restrictions they have to deal with.

Ta da - back in the parking spot! I said goodbye to Mike and thanked him for the ride...it had been really neat to tag along!

Mike sent me a couple of pictures the next day after he had delivered the rebar. I bet that was a fun building to back into!

They unloaded the steel and Mike was on his way back to drop the truck off. It was really neat to see how the trip went; it definitely gives you a different perspective on driving around big trucks!

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