Joho

I worked out of the Chicopee, Massachusetts barn in the early 70's . Our TM was Audrey Snow. You couldn't miss the terminal - it was painted PINK. The terminal had about 9 doors, that's if they all opened without kinking to one side. In the winter, the wind blew across those docks without mercy. The B67's were all on their last leg- but, we managed. The dirt yard blew sand and dust all over the place. We had one mechanic who operated out of his van. The break in the day was listening to the chatter over the company land-line, watching the TTY stream endless reams of paper punch tape of someone lookin for missing freight. The roadmen use to pull in from the Mass Pike, leave the tractor running, get out with the driver's door wide open, come into the terminal office, call a taxi then leave. Unusual bunch, like they had a chip on their shoulder or something. Our terminal was broken into so the TM got this guard dog - named it ...DOG. (figures) One of the dock guys felt sorry for the dog one brisk night and let him sleep in one of the trailers in the makeshift bone yard that we had. Unfortunately the trailer was just used to haul mothballs. The dog was higher than a kite. A cop patrolling the area, heard a strange noise coming from the area, stopped and opened the trailer, only to be greeted by a row of teeth and one spaced out dog. There was a small farm in back of the terminal and a couple of goats/rams got out and chased a few of us around the gas pumps for a while. Things were tough then, tested the best of us. But, after working there, everything else that followed was really boring. Damn, that was the best job I ever had. Good people, good trucking. A man by the name of Lindquist use to visit us. Nice guy.