May 2001

Size: +/–

Roses and razzberries

A ROSE to American Motorcyclist Magazine for the article about Morris Boswell, an Arizona biker taking a cross-country trip. Boswell apparently stopped to ask a trucker about the weather at an El Paso, TX, truckstop and was surprised when the trucker offered to put the bike on his low-boy trailer if the weather turned bad. Morris thought the trucker was kidding, but 50 miles later in a torrential downpour, the empty flatbedder pulled over beside him on the highway and loaded up both the bike and Morris. Morris reported that from there to San Antonio he heard plenty of CB chatter from other truckers who thought hauling one motorcycle was more than a little unusual.ROSES to the anonymous flat bedder, too.

OOIDA member Bob Stewart had a real bad day on March 16. His truck was involved in an accident on I-70 during blizzard conditions in Kansas. No injuries to Bob or his co-driver, but plenty of damage and it took five hours to clean up the accident. Bob wants to give a ROSE to the Trego County Sheriff Kurt Bender for his overall courtesy and professionalism.

Motor carriers hogging available parking spaces at truckstops never sits well with a tired owner-operator looking for a place to rest. One OOIDA member wants to give RAZZBERRIES to Dick Simon Trucking for using the truckstop parking at a Washington Flying J as a drop lot, plus RAZZBERRIES to the Federal Way Flying J for cooperating. In our Land Line verification, the equipment manager at Simon said the company did lease spaces for drop purposes at Federal Way. The Flying J folks in Washington pretty much denied it and Flying J corporate headquarters said it was against their policy. We’ll let this photo, taken by the persistant member, speak for itself.

RAZZBERRIES to Marriott Distribution Services in Hanover Park, IL. The company’s recent notice to truckers was sent to OOIDA and we’d like to share this wisdom with all. It announces that Hanover is an “appointment” facility with receiving hours from 0400 to 1000 Monday through Saturday. Appointments are taken from 0700 to 1200 Monday through Friday. The best part is the new schedule of late charges. If you’re 30-90 minutes late, it’s $100; 91 to 150 minutes is $150. If you are over 151 minutes late you’ll pay them $200 to unload you. In addition, rescheduling is another $50.

Bill and Robyn Taylor have a special relationship with students and staff at the 450-student John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Windsor, CT, through the Trucker Buddy program. When the Taylors delivered a load to California last October, their new rig was stolen. While they were fortunate to get the tractor back (after three months) they incurred many expenses in getting the truck repaired and for two trips to California to work with law enforcement officials. ROSES to the second grade class who helped their “Buddies,” by holding a popcorn sale each Friday for a month to help with expenses.

Until a couple of years ago, parking on the East Coast wasn’t much of a problem. But members living in New England says things have certainly changed, especially in Massachusetts. Places like the Big Kmart in Milford, MA, have big parking lots and could sure help out. Instead, their sign clearly states, “All Trucks: No rest, sleep or layover parking.” Big Kmart? Big RAZZBERRIES.

(What's this?)