
Originally Posted by
Lady's Human
But I've seen some amazing attempts at loading.
Yupperz ... GUILTY! 
I was still in high school - "workin" in Pete's basement "fixin" TVs and early two-way radios.
We needed CONCRETE in the driveway - our outdoor repair area for mobile radio equipped vehicles.
The "adults" decided a pick-em-up truck would be needed to haul dirt out and materials in.
They actually found a U-Haul type place that would RENT a 3/4 ton (not so spry) truck -
3-speed on the column tranny, small engine ~~ she'd been around the block a few times.
We spent DAYS hand-digging and hand-shoveling dirt & rocks into the truck, hauling it off to
a place wanting "clean fill", HAND-shoveling it all OFF, and returning for another load.
We're ready for "BASE" for the concrete.
"Baby Stu" - a BIG college kid / member of the Gang found a local (15-20 miles away) Steel Mill
that sold "genuine STEEL Blast Furnace Slag" (read that as HEAVY Stuff).
Stu had proved to be one of the few who could master shifting the balky column shifter,
so he and I took the first Slag Run. We went in the Office to order ...
What'cha want, guys?
Stu spouted off the slag "flavour" we wanted.
How much?
Fill up the truck.
WHAT Truck? he said, looking out at the parking lot and only seeing our lil pick-em-up.
"Ohhhhh" he sez. He punched the intercom and *mumbled* to the Plant Operator.
"OK - Pull on the scale, guys."
We weighed in and were motioned to pull under the Plant.
We'd hardly stopped when a mighty ROAR erupted and the truck violently
for a few seconds ... dust filled the open cab windows. I guessed we were "loaded".
We looked back ... that's not a LOAD! LOTSA space left! We looked up at the Plant Operator
(who if I remember correctly was like the Cheshire Kat) and
motioned to put s'more IN.
He politely asked "Are you SURE?" over the squawk box. We both nodded "YES!"
He motioned for us to *step back* ... flipped a few levers and "s'more" was loaded into the Hopper.
Another ROAR and more truck violent ... We now had TWICE what they
normally put on a pick-up ... "I can squeeze a lil more on if you'd like" The Voice boomed out.
I detected a slight in his voice ... we declined any more.
"Head back to the scales, guys" ... He was almost falling out of his chair, LAFFIN!
He KNEW we couldn't GET to the scales ... the front tires hardly touched the ground ...
we couldn't *TURN* the truck! He'd already radioed the Front End Loader to come over ...
Another WIDLY- Operator pulled up behind us and nestled his bucket under the
truck ... "TRY to drop the tail-gate, guys - I'll catch as much as I can in the bucket."
He had to climb down and help push on the tail-gate so we could un-latch it.
And he'd brought shovels - TWO shovels ... he crawled back up into his air-conditioned cab
and started drinking coffee - whilst Baby Stu and I shoveled off a mountain of
HEAVY Slag!
We scaled out and stopped at the Office to settle up ... "WOW! ... That's STILL A LOT
for a pick-em-up ... how far you guys GOIN? ... Better stop at the Maintenance Shop
and get some AIR for those back tires!"
We aired the tires ... the Mechanics all came out to watch us leave the Plant -
we quickly figured out WHY!
The poor truck STILL could hardly turn! Over 20 mph - it was impossible to turn!
We made another 4 or 5 Slag Runs that week ... but we let the Plant Operator
decide when we were "Full"! The never stopped.
I often wondered how may bets were placed against our getting "home" with that first load.
/s/ the Assistant Truck Driver
/s/ Cinder, Smokey & Heidi
R.I.P. ~ Boots, Bowser, Sherman, & Snoopy
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