Wednesday

My load was to deliver in Chicago, IL at 6AM on Thursday... at the Fulton Meat Market.  Drag.  I don't like the market -- never have, never will.  It is dangerous and difficult to get around.  The streets are very narrow and crowded.  Most unloading is done in the street.  There are people walking around all over and it is hard to tell who the good guys are vs the others.  The lumpers sometimes have a nasty habit of jumping up on the running board of the tractor.  I hate it when they do that.  I just point at them and point DOWN.  If it is a lumper, they will get down because they want your business.  Needless to say, but I will anyway, if they have worse intentions, they don't generally respond to the pointing finger.

Fulton Market; Chicago, IL

Almost as soon as I came into the market I had a lumper right there at the driver's door.   He looked up at me, eyebrows raised, hands up -- asking "Hey, ya want a lumper?"  without speaking a word.  He pointed towards the running boards, again asking without speaking, if it was okay to jump up on the side of the truck.  I figured I'd be cool and speak his lumper lingo and did the old head flick to say "yes".  No, but really, I appreciated his efforts towards respect -- not jumping up on my truck and getting in my face like so many of them do.  I told him where I was going and the number of cases to unload and he quoted me a price.  I laughed at his price of $150.00.  In truth I wasn't surprised at the price, considering the load, but I wasn't about to tell the lumper that because lumpers typically first quote a higher price than even they expect to get.  He said we could "negotiate".  Like I didn't know that already.

All I wanted to do was get this load off and GET OUTTA HERE.  On the "Crime Index," this place rates a nasty "9".

A Bit About The Windy City

Chicago Slang Guide

Most dangerous cities in America

Chicago houses nearly 3,000,000 residents over its 228.5 square miles (that's approximately 25 miles long by 15 miles wide). The greater Chicagoland area contains nearly 8,000,000 residents.

Chicago is home to the world's busiest airport.

Chicago is known as "The Neighborhood City". The metropolis is divided into 77 distinct neighborhoods, each with its own name.

Chicago houses the largest public housing project in the world--the Robert Taylor Homes. Located just across the expressway from Comiskey Park, home for the Chicago White Sox major-league baseball team, these high-rise apartments extend in an unbroken 2 1/2-mile stretch.

Women with children comprise 34% of Chicago's homeless population.

Am I picking on Chicago?  No, I really am not even if it appears that way.  Unfortunately, the only part of Chicago I have ever seen is bad.  When you drive a truck, you don't often get into the touristy areas where things are clean, safe and nice.  You go into industrial areas and such.   I think that's why retired truckers often buy RV's and just take off.  It isn't that they haven't seen enough -- they just haven't seen enough of what they really want to see.

They weren't yet ready for my load so I had to go park in a lot a couple of blocks from where I would unload. 

I absolutely did not envy this driver.

To his credit, he put it in there very well with just a couple of pull ups.  This really is saying something because he also had to back around a building on a corner to even get to this jackknife dock.

While I was waiting, I decided to take a nap.  I don't know how I could sleep so easily considering where I was but I could and did.  My lumper and I had worked out the special knock he would use when he returned.  If I didn't hear that knock, I wasn't answering the door.  People will try to sell ya stuff - dope, stolen stuff, etc, or just rip you off if you give them half the chance.  I was avoiding the noid altogether by not answering the door.  If they stole my load, that would really suck but there is a reason for insurance.

He appeared a short time later and handed me a brown paper bag.  I took it -- holding it at arm's length - and slowly looked inside.  It was a perfectly innocent egg, ham & cheese sandwich.  Now I am truly impressed with my lumper.  I asked him if he doped it, and he misunderstood me and asked if I wanted some dope.  No, no, no, I told him.  Man, you can get anything here -- but sadly enough there's nothing that I want.  I thanked him and it turned out to be a fantastic sandwich.

He left again but returned in a short time to say they were ready to unload me.  We had to wind around through the narrow streets to get where we had to be.  It probably took 45 minutes to go about 5 blocks.  He played "tour guide".  Lumpers often ride along right on the tractor's steps and tell you where to turn, etc.  You often have to squeeze through areas that might have a couple of inches clearance on either side.  Lake Ave, just north of where I am, is marked as 13"6.  I dumped the suspension just for kicks but I think it is actually about 13"6 1/2 or slightly more.  The L track runs over Lake and the problem is actually the supports.  The reinforcements are crisscrossed and that is the real danger as far as smacking the trailer goes.

Naturally there's a roach coach for your dietary pleasure.

The streets are incredibly narrow.  I am unloading when this picture is taken. (in street)

The green truck wants to make a left turn... yeah, right.  He ended up waiting awhile.

It can take half an hour or better just to traverse a few blocks around here.

Typical street unloading. 

Note the fact that there's no room between these trucks for another truck to get through. 

If you need to get through, you just have to sit and wait. 

<North

After unloading my kindly lumper showed me a better way back to the freeway.  In the past I had always come back up Randolph and made the incredibly difficult turn on the ramp.

Excuse my poor talent using Microsoft Paint, but the diagram to the left shows what you have to do to return to the freeway from this area of Chicago via Randolph.  You have three lanes going the same direction and a ramp that turns back to the right very sharply.  (94E)  For 94W the ramp goes sharp left.  The area in the circle is the problem area -- because both walls of the ramp are concrete that stand about 3 foot high (or so).  If you don't swing wide enough you have two choices, neither of them good.  One, you can back up.  This is great because you have three lanes of traffic attempting to get around you.  Second, you can smash into the concrete barrier.

My reload was a drop & hook in Rochelle, IL.  It would deliver in Louisville, KY on Friday.

Monday

Load delivered on time in Mechanicsburg, PA even if I had some trouble finding the place.  My reload was down in Aspers, PA.  It would load today and deliver in Kansas City, KS on Wednesday.

Pennsylvania Service Plaza on I-76.  It looks pretty nice -- but there's little parking for big trucks here.

Wednesday

Delivery was made in Kansas City, KS on time.  (2:30AM, yuck)  I had to wait for awhile after emptying out to get a reload.  I was told to go to Grand Island, NE to load a load for my partner.  Then that was cancelled.  Eventually I was told to just deadhead back to Council Bluffs, IA and be done for the week.  It was an incredibly easy week.  Gotta love that.  The week topped out around 2800 miles.

Just A Bit About Docks and Dock Locks....

The red light in the background tells the driver that he/she should NOT try to pull away from the dock.

There are lights on both sides of you... just remember yours is (almost) always going to be the one you see in the driver's mirror.

Quite often if a place has these lights, they also have "dock-locks" installed.  These are large hooks that hook around your trailer's bumper. 

If you attempt to pull away, you will most likely leave your bumper behind.   (I will get a picture of these hooks and put it here)

The reason for all of this is because many forklift drivers have been hurt or killed when a driver pulled away from the dock as the fork driver went in / out of the trailer.  Some places make you unhook your tractor and trailer and disconnect the air lines.  Some even make you bring your truck keys in to them.