Weird/Interesting Loads

Just for fun: What's the weirdest or most interesting load you've hauled?

For me (in my very short time), it was hauling live tropical fish from Florida to Illinois. Not something I expected to be hauling!

Elmer’s School Glue. 44,000 lbs of it. Picked it up at the manufacturer and delivered it to a company in Memphis that was going to bottle it.

That’s an easy one...

My first load as a trainee was a pickup at Koehler; 38,000lbs of toilets. Yah never forget your first...

I was pulling a trailer for Stevens Transport that was decorated with Michelangelo Pasta ou t of Buffalo to LA. I delivered it to Eastman Kodak I believe. I was asked to get back in the truck while they were unloading w a forklift not backed to a dock. 15 min later was told to grab an empty and off to pick up produce. So basically, no idea. I had to call w my location when I shut down every night.

I didn't want to start a new thread on another recent Michael experience, but I think it's fitting here. I had shared with Anne earlier and she asked me to share, so here goes. She said Tom had never heard of something like this before, something for Michael to laugh about eventually.

It's not so much the load contents but the logistics. After coming back from Utah and dropping off a load near the Port of Stockton yesterday he was assigned a drop and hook at a nearby customer he had never been to before. He drove around trying to find the trailer he was to pick up and finally saw it at a dock and the light was green so he started to back up to it but a business type guy comes out. He explains to Michael that this is a union site and he's not allowed to back up to the dock, he needs to wait until a yard dog pulls it away. So he waits a while for that, hooks up, goes through his paperwork. There's a problem, the load is supposed to be in a dual temp Carrier trailer but it's in a single temp Thermoking trailer. He talks to the business guy and is told to drop the trailer and the yard dog puts it back at the dock and he wants for the load to be loaded onto the correct trailer. Whey they are done, the business guy says to just go ahead and back up to the dock, he's waited long enough, lol. I guess the union workers won't complain if they screwed up and loaded it on the wrong trailer. He then asks Michael if he knows what he's supposed to do when he delivers it to Target. Michael looks at the paperwork, no instructions there, so he says "I hope I don't have to unload it." The guy says "No, but you need to stand on the dock and check off the paperwork as each pallet is unloaded. Michael delivered the load to two Target stores in SoCal last night and this morning and said he's glad he doesn't normally have to do those. He's usually in sleeper berth during unloading.

His other unusual load was last year, a 700 mile haul of two pallets from Michael's Stores (dried flowers?) to two locations in Utah. Total weight of load was 83 pounds. No wind problems, fortunately.

Loads of ammunition. The interesting part is these are not categorized as hazmat nor explosives, yet fireworks are.

A hot load of furniture I had to deliver to a hotel up in Los Alamos NM at the Los Alamos labs. Up a tiny mountain road, had to blindside weave it into a parking lot not made for semis whatsoever and park it under the entry canopy. They hand unloaded it. It was very early in my going solo.

Handful of new tupperware containers hauled from KS to OK. I seriously could have put them in the sleeper. I never got the weight on it, but less than 50 pounds Id guess. Funny thing is that it was a live load, took about 5 minutes to load.

A load of tanbark loaded bulk with a conveyer into the dry van , they had to strap the sides to keep it from blowing them out. At the receiver they empty it by lifting the whole trailer up. was fun. Looked like a state fair ride.

A high value load out of the electrolux yard (that isnt electrolux anymore) right down on the border in El Paso. Dont know what was in it, but they said not park at truck stops if possible. Come to think of it, Ive had a few high value loads that were like that. They said absolutely no parking in Atlanta, LA, Chicago or any places like that unless it was at one of our terminals.

Back in about 1980 I picked up a load of armed 70mm (I believe that was the size) cannon shells from Seneca NY Army Depot. Arrived at guard shack, was inspected, given placards for explosives, told to follow escorts and not leave tractor for anything. Escorted to a bunker with MP's all around the truck, loaded and back to the guard shack. Signed out and told to have a nice day and be safe. Thanks a lot! Eveything went OK but never pulled ammo again.

Palm trees, from central Florida to the outer banks of North Carolina.

Heading West I remember repowering a load of New Jersey tomatoes that were heading east. Repower was in Ohio. Load was coming in from Cali. I remember asking my dispatcher why are "Jersey Grown Tomatos" coming from Cali? He laughed for prob 10 seconds and replied "we deliver loads, not question them"! Ok.