One lousy trip

On Sunday, I had a trip to Metairie, LA. I was supposed to leave about 11:45 a.m., but I was a little late, because I couldn't find my trailer; we have loaded trailers all over the lot, due to the Christmas season.

So, I headed out east on I-20. I got out by Canton and stopped at the rest area. When I pulled in, I heard a funny noise, like something rubbing on something else. I stopped and found the inner fender had fallen off and was stuck behind the tire! This is a fender liner, made of plastic. It looks like the nuts holding it just fell off! My guess is that one of the mechanics had it off to work on something and didn't tighten it up. I picked it up and put it in the passenger seat.

Soon after I got to LA and headed down I-49 toward Lafayette, dispatch called and said that the previous load for the store I was going to had been delayed and that I would have to wait for them to finish unloading it before I could deliver my load.

Then, just south of Ville Platte, out of the dark I saw a sudden flash of brown and white and a big thud came from the front of the truck. I'd hit a big deer! I pulled over and examined the truck; the front bumper was ruined, but there didn't seem to be any further damage. I called dispatch to report it, then headed on my way again.

Sure enough, I had to wait 2 hours at the store before I could deliver it. No major problem, but it just capped off a pretty rough trip.

But it seems like these things run in groups.

When

Oh that was a crummy trip! For you and your truck.

I almost hit a deer Fri morning on my way to work. I was coming up on a 45 MPH zone so was slowing down. Saw some movement to my left and realized it was a deer, hit the brakes, luckily it wasn't on a dead run across the highway. It turned just before it made contact with my left front quarter panel. I screamed and didn't need any coffee when I got to work.

What a day eh Mike. I'm glad its over and you survived none the worse for wear, aside from a little frustrated and tired.

Hope the rest of your trips this week are not near as bad.

ETA: whats the policy there, if you hit a deer? (I realise you were in a work vehicle, but ignoring that, are you allowed to claim it?)

I have trips every night this week, now, to Houston, or San Antonio, or whatever.

That's the first deer I've hit in 32 years of trucking. I've been hit by an antelope and a deer before, but both of them actually hit my truck in the side.

I hope that your next trips are more uneventful

Even the most routine of misadventures are just that much worse this time of year - be careful out there