Squalor to splendor in 24 hours
Well the crack hos and the drug dealers may have had a good night’s sleep in Newark, but not these truckers. We got stuck on a stand-by load that left the shipper at 03:20 am for Boston. Loaded miles were 250 and it had to deliver in Boston by 08:00 so it was a tight run to put it mildly. Four and a half hours for that trip is too tight especially when you are dealing with Boston morning rush hour traffic, but we made it with 12 minutes to spare. WooHoo.
Had planned to shut down in Boston and get some proper sleep after we were unloaded, but we were immediately put on a load that was to pick up in New Hampshire the next morning and decided it would be better to head north to get closer to the shipper before shutting down. Got within about 30 miles of the shipper and shut down for a good long sleep. Woke up fairly early that evening and got to grab a decent meal and shower then headed on into the shipper so we would be on the spot in the morning.
Turned out to be a pretty awesome facility. It was one of those massive old buildings that they just don’t put up any more. The shipper said it was constructed in the 1850s and was made of poured concrete. He said local lore was that there was a severe shortage of concrete workers at the time so a crew was brought in from Italy to do the work and that only one of them spoke any English. After the building was finished, he was the only one who went back to Italy while all the other guys stayed there locally and raised families.
Milton, NH factory and the trees of Maine in the distance
At one point they used the train trestle to the right to back coal cars over the ravine and dump the coal onto giant hoppers to power the factory operations. Then they “went green” and converted to a hydro-electric operation which is still used today next to the river at the bottom of the picture.
Massive Milton factory and train trestle
Wish I could have captured the sheer size of the building and the majesty of its former glory but it’s a lot easier to capture the majesty of crack hos. Oh well. Finally we were loaded and off to the Midwest. I’m not positive but it feels like our miles are taking an alarming upturn lately. What’s up with that?
Awesome building! Do you guys usually go all over the country or is it mainly the East Coast?
That building is wonderful!! And I can only imagine how much better it would look if you’d seen nothing but crack ho’s, as of late.
Jen,
We go all over the place, but we usually only whine about the East coast which might be why it seems like we’re there more than other areas.
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Ginny,
It was a breathtaking building. About seven stories high in the back over the ravine. Oh sure it wasn’t as interesting as crack hos based on the curiosity factor… but still stunning.
that place is so cool….glad to see they’re not tearing it down and putting up another “box”!…our miles have picked back up this week as well…really cuts into my beauty sleep regiment!!