Way back when I was contracted to David Freedman in Detroit and they supplied very large forklifts (hi-lo's) to exposition centers like Jacob Javits and McCormick in Chicago as well as the exposition center in St. Louis and DC and I hauled them on a 50 ton tri axle lowboy (detachable) and there was nothing more interesting and scary than driving down Broadway in NYC at 3AM in the morning (Javits) and when you stopped at a traffic light you got propositioned by hookers and people driving cars were oblivious as well. I got to the point (after a few times) to put on my turn signal, count to 3 and move over. If they got out of the way, all well and good, if not, oh well. I remember one time I was on 34th street and had to make a right turn but there was a car parked almost in the intersection, a Beemer at that. I'm sitting there unable to make the turn and a NY cop came up and told me to make it anyway, I said to him "I'll run over the car" and he said just do it, so I did. I flattened the Beemer and when I got around the corner, the cop put a ticket on it. Quite an experience flattening a nice new Beemer, when I got done, it was maybe 2 foot high. Bet the owner wasn't too happy and got a ticket to boot. Gotta love downtown NYC. I can still hear the tires blowing in my mind...
FYI, my wife is from White Plains so I know all about the attitude. Her family is still mostly there and we visit a couple times a year.
Once I got to the Delaware Water Gap on 80, it was all downhill after that. Nice thing about delivering to Javits was you actually drove right inside the building and parked and the union millrights unloaded the truck (after I dropped the gooseneck) and pulled away. They even had accommodations and restaurants inside for the drivers and I laid over there more than one time. Was a very nice place to deliver, not so nice getting there however. One time I delivered one to a construction outfit on Canal Street. That was a trip in itself, narrow streets, tight turns and the usual inconsiderate motorists and really good Kosher corned beef places too. Glad I'm retired. Don't believe my nerves could handle that today.
My hat is off to any semi driver that has to go there regularly. Though I never went to Hunt's point, I heard horror stories about that. Stuff I hauled had nothing to do with any market. It paid really well but the aggravation was always high.
My wife is the only gal I ever met that can put the 'F' word in a sentence 4 times and make it grammatically correct...
One nice thing about delivering overweight and overwidth Hi-Lo's is I didn't need any escorts, just a permit to deliver and that was it. I was never over length or over height but I was certainly over gross and usually over width as well. The trailer I pulled (Kozad) had folding outriggers on each side and the back axle was a flip axle and the forklifts all fit nicely in the well. Those were the days..
I drove a cab over Kenworth double bunk with a 1693 Cat and a 4x4 all on air. Nice truck and not overly long either. In NYC, you want to be as short as possible. Company truck, of course.
Guess that's why I like DJT.
