Fuel for Thought

What a day

By Dale
Posted Oct 20th 2009 6:22PM

             M y ‘assist’ load ended up being my only load yesterday, which wasn’t quite what I had hoped for.   But, it’s just the way it ended up, so I’m glad I took it.   It’s better to have a little money than none… plus, it paid well for the time involved.    Today I had another short run to a small town in Northwestern Ohio…about 30 miles or so from the state line.   It was quite an adventure.   The load was nothing extra-ordinary, just some machined parts… but as I got a few miles from the delivery, I ran into a detour.   I had to re-route due to a temporarily closed road, and I quickly became glad I was not in a truck!   I ended up on what appeared to be an oversized driveway, but was actually labeled a County Road!   I thought, this could be bad LOL.. but trusted my GPS to get me back to a real road!

It was gravel, and definitely not wide enough for 2 vehicles to pass comfortably.   The next road had low overhanging trees, and I ended up going thru a ‘one vehicle at a time’ archway/underpass that was 12’6’ in the middle, and 9’5” on the sides!   My CB antenna was nearly scraping the side LOL.   It definitely was NOT a truck route… and I hope if any trucks go that way, they have a truck routing GPS!

 

 

            Tonight, my family and I took advantage of me being home and went to a local festival in my hometown of Circleville, Ohio.   It’s called the Pumpkin Show!   ( www.pumpkinshow.com )   It’s billed as The Greatest Free Show on Earth!   This festival has been put on for over 100 years, and is really a big deal locally. What started out as a small festival where local farmers displayed there produce, has grown into a 5 day festival, where a small town of approximately 14,000 people will see several hundred thousand pass thru. Several blocks of the downtown area are blocked off, and fill with rides, food booths, games, etc.   And of course, since the theme is the venerable Pumpkin, there is any kind of Pumpkin product you can think of and THEN some.   There is of course, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Ice Cream, Pumpkin Burgers, Pumpkin Buckeyes, Pumpkin Cider, Pumpkin Pizza…. And of course the worlds largest Pumpkin pie… at 6 feet wide!  

 

            My brother has been the major displayer of pumpkins, gourds etc, for over 30 years… and has built most of the trademark pyramid, and a large part of the display. As such, it’s been a big part of our family tradition.   His kids grew up knowing that for 1 week in October, you will be downtown, helping sell pumpkins LOL.. To this day, many members of the family plan their vacation time to be there helping out.

 

            Alas, this year, my brother is not there. He is to weak to be there helping out, and it’s just not the same.   He had planned to be, but couldn’t.   We hope to be able to at least take him down to visit the display. We sure could use prayers by those who believe.

 

 

 

 

Dale is a solo van owner operator leased to FedEx Custom Critical, and is based out of the Columbus , Ohio Express Center.  He can be reached at [email protected]