People have asked about my trip to Ga. to pick up packages. Thanks to all
who offered advice. Ultimately, I didn’t decide what I was going to do
until I got to the UHaul place. I had decided to rent a dual-axil open
trailer and billy-bob a box around the packages for the return trip. But
when I looked at a closed trailer, things seemed infinitely simpler to go
with the box trailer, load the packages and drive with the back cargo door
open. I would have preferred more ventilation but advice was the open door
would be sufficient. And the cargo trailer was available for a 1-way
rental for less than $330.
So my copilot and I took two days to drive from Albany, NY to S. Ga. First
day got us to somewhere in South Caroline. It was a pleasant, though long
drive. The pleasant part was watching “spring” progress as we travelled
south. Leaving New York, daffodils were just blooming. By the time we got
to Pennsylvania, dandelions were in full bloom, and they were in seed when
we hit Maryland. Redbud and dogwood were magnificent in Virginia and the
Carolinas! We made it to somewhere in South Carolina on day 1 (7AM to
9:30PM) and we stopped for the night.
We were on the road the next morning by 7AM, and made it to our destination
around 3PM, stopping only for fuel, food, restroom and once to buy
obligatory Georgia Pecans! I would have loved to stop at the Uncle Remus
Museum, but the schedule was tight. Original plans were to spend the night
in Georgia, load early in the morning and head back. But we were offered
the option to load that afternoon and head back that evening. It seemed a
better plan to travel at night than during the day, so we were loaded and
on our way by 6PM. I had a wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer to monitor
temperature in the trailer. Temp would rise disconcertingly when we
stopped; a few degrees in 5 minutes! So we were anxious to keep moving,
and we did, stopping only for fuel and bathroom breaks. The only SNAFU we
hit was we discovered that the trailer lights gave out somewhere on the
road. We discovered this about 3AM at a fuel stop. Fortunately, the
emergency flashers worked, so we drove with flashers until sunrise. It was
also very interesting sharing the highway with the overnight trucker
culture. It's something I've never thought about, I like to sleep at night
and we were also on the trucker' routes. It is common for rigs to simply
pull over at rest areas and exit/entrance ramps to sleep. We had to drive
on, taking 3 hour shifts, although the passenger shift wasn't very restful.
Anyway, other than the lights, the trip was uneventful. Wasn't totally
comfortable hauling the trailer, and was amazed at the amount of traffic at
the time we were traveling. But it was good that the majority of our trip
was at night; the bees traveled better with the night time temperatures. We
left Ga around 6PM and arrived at my house around 4PM. Loading and leaving
at 6PM turned out to be a better plan, but we hadn't planned on driving
from 7AM Wed to 4PM Thurs non-stop. Grueling!
But the bees travelled fairly well; 2 packages were not salable upon
arrival, but 2 out of 185 wasn’t bad. I guess the best part was an overall
successful adventure and exposure to the trucking culture. It made me
appreciate a phenomenon that I very much take for granted.
Aaron Morris – I think, therefore I bee!
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
