Emergency Relief; Happily Offered and Gratefully Received
For the last couple of days, my truck has been a complaint-free zone. What makes this unusual is that it coincided with a trip to New York. Ask any big rig driver and he'll tell you that the northeast is where good driving records go to die, along with good manners, good vocabulary, good truck stops, clean facilities, free parking, and more. But this time was different.
Two days ago, I was in the midwest being loaded with emergency supplies for Red Cross relief efforts in the aftermath of the storm. Leaving Indiana yesterday morning and arriving in New York today with over 40,000 pounds of supplies was a tall order, but one that I was happy to fill. I made it as far as the Pittsburgh area last night, but the number of utility trucks and other 18 wheelers on the road, plus the fact that significant sections of Interstates 70 and 76 in Pennsylvania are now one big construction zone, wore me down, so I found one of the few remaining parking places at a truck stop and shut down for the night.
Enjoying a pizza in the restaurant, I remembered my experience of just last week while making a delivery in the Bronx. Oh how I dreaded that delivery, even going so far as to ask friends on Facebook if there was anything I could steal for them while I was in the area. If the people acted as badly as they drove, I reasoned, I'd be lucky to get out of their without having to post bond. But to my eternally happy surprise, the people there were delightful! I was disarmed. After delivering at a BJ's Wholesale Discount Something Or Other there, I decided to set out on foot to look around. A few minutes later I stumbled on yet another surprise,…a restaurant that advertised "country cooking." Why not, I thought? I've seen stranger things, including food moving around on my plate in Korea. So I walked in and was greeted by people so polite, so charming and so utterly delightful that I wondered if they were in the middle of a robbery and were being extra nice so the bad guys wouldn't blow their heads off. But this was not at all the case. The meal was delicious and everyone from the customers to the staff were just as courteous as you please. And that experience was repeated in every single business I visited in the neighborhood.
Back in the truck, I was reevaluating my general impression of people in New York City when I got back into traffic and made my way toward the George Washington Bridge. I rolled down the windows and was busy enjoying the breeze when someone cut in front of me so close that they almost did a Vulcan Mind Meld with my bumper. That wasn't very nice, and worse still I thought, it shattered the happy mood. Wasting no time, I yelled, "I was just thinking nice things about you, you (expletive)!" Charming as they can be in person, these people turn into raving, maniacal moon bats behind the wheel. Once again, I was happy when my next load assignment sent me to Kentucky.
But that was then. Finishing a quick meal last night, my mind was on getting the relief supplies back to the region today. Up long before the sun, the biggest challenge in the early hours of this day was simply getting 75,000 pounds up the Pennsylvania hills, and then back down the other side without burning up the brakes. As the day progressed, the volume of truck traffic picked up dramatically. The combination of relief supplies and the freight demand from businesses who need to ramp up their operations after the storm made for a congested highway.
At 2:30 this afternoon, I rolled into the Red Cross center in Middletown, NY. It looked to be staffed mainly by retirees, all of whom have been working long hours, yet none of whom made the slightest complaint. They had processed so many big trucks already, that they had no room left in the warehouse to unload more freight. They asked if I would mind leaving the trailer with them rather than insisting that it be unloaded on the spot. "Of course," I said. Still, the bureaucratic impulse is there. I asked the shift leader if he could sign a copy of the bills of lading for me so that I could provide it to my company as proof of delivery. "Of course," he said, and then handed it to his assistant with instructions to make a copy for me. The assistant in turn dutifully handed it to his assistant, a dear little old lady whose hearing isn't what it used to be, with instructions to go make a copy. She took the paper and began wandering the hallway with it while the leader and his assistant tended to other matters. After awhile, the shift leader returned and asked, "Are they making a copy of the bills for you?" "That's the rumor," I said, at which point he found his assistant and fussed at him. His assistant went looking for the dear sweet soul of a little old lady, who by that time had found a copy machine but wasn't sure what to do with it. He showed her how to make a copy and she smiled the smile of a saint.
As I left, the shift leader was assembling several Red Cross drivers who had just received orders to take several vans of food and other supplies up into Maine. I warned them about a sink hole just down the road that had caused part of the road surface to cave in several feet, and then made my way to a nearby truck stop.
One of the things I found most satisfying about being in the military was the opportunity to be a part of something consequential. Our missions back then were often to bring death and destruction to the enemy. Today's mission was to bring help to people who needed it, and I have to say, it was very rewarding.
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Re: Emergency Relief; Happily Offered and Gratefully Received
I took a bus up to NYC on Friday and marveled at how all the semis were coming in the opposite direction, presumably rushing to get out of the storm's path and inland to safer places. Thought of you.
And thanks for delivering those supplies. Hope they get where they're needed up north.
Re: Emergency Relief; Happily Offered and Gratefully Received
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.: I took a bus up to NYC on Friday and marveled at how all the semis were coming in the opposite direction, presumably rushing to get out of the storm's path and inland to safer places. Thought of you.
And thanks for delivering those supplies. Hope they get where they're needed up north. · Aug 29 at 6:45pm
Mollie, as long as that dear little old lady at the Red Cross center isn't driving, I'm sure the supplies will find their way into the right hands.
Jun '10
Re: Emergency Relief; Happily Offered and Gratefully Received
Nice story, Dave! As with all your stories I enjoyed reading it. Thank you.
Re: Emergency Relief; Happily Offered and Gratefully Received
Thank you sir!
Jun '10
Re: Emergency Relief; Happily Offered and Gratefully Received
This post is why America works -- folks like the Red Cross volunteers who work to make life doable for those affected by Irene, drivers like Dave who make the extra effort to get supplies there, and the need to matter.
Thanks, Dave.
Re: Emergency Relief; Happily Offered and Gratefully Received
AUMom: This post is why America works -- folks like the Red Cross volunteers who work to make life doable for those affected by Irene, drivers like Dave who make the extra effort to get supplies there, and the need to matter.
Thanks, Dave. · Aug 29 at 8:34pm
It was a privilege to help out.
Okay,...we now resume our regularly scheduled whining about the hideous driving habits of these little kamikaze demolition derby drivers up here. It's a wonder they don't run their relief supplies right off the road and into a ditch! I even had one guy that,...wait,...that'll be another post.
Jun '10
Re: Emergency Relief; Happily Offered and Gratefully Received
"His assistant went looking for the dear sweet soul of a little old lady, who by that time had found a copy machine but wasn't sure what to do with it. He showed her how to make a copy and she smiled the smile of a saint."
This is a great example of the difference between your wonderful attitude and the typical NYC attitude (mine.) I would be fuming at this doddering old fool, wondering why the heck she agreeed to make a copy when she didn't even know how to work the machine. Seriously, she has no self-awareness, I'd be saying to myself. Sometimes the best way to "help" is to stay the heck out of the way. She could have easily wandered away and lost your bills of landing and you'd be out of luck. But she'd be bragging to anyone who would tolerate her about how much wonderful, selfless volunteering she did for the Red Cross.
You see her as a dear sweet soul. I am impressed.
Dec '10
Re: Emergency Relief; Happily Offered and Gratefully Received
The majority of my family lives in New York/New England, and is currently without power. Many thanks for the supplies, Dave!
As a recent emigrant from New England, I can tell you that despite being a hotbed for liberalism--and occasionally rudeness--New Englanders are good people and the area has it's charm, to be sure.
Once you get off route 95 and onto the other highways, it can be quite beautiful. The old New England towns are quite pleasing to the eye, and I have many good memories of the Mass Pike and route 93. Spring, summer and fall especially are great times for a drive, as well as parts of winter before it gets too bad.
Glad you enjoyed your stay, Dave. Thanks for the help.