Happy Birthday!

January 12th, 1978- this was a different sort of TR Transport trip. I was boarding a train in Baltimore, changing trains in Petersburg, Virginia, and picking up a chassis to drive back from Roanoke. I started out at mid-morning, arrived in Petersburg in mid-afternoon, got on my next train, and sat there and sat there. The rumor was that there was some difficulty with frozen pipes in the rest rooms. So it was late afternoon when we began rolling. It was after 6:00 when we pulled into Roanoke. Snow was falling. I called the truck place. No answer. I checked into a motel and spent my birthday all alone in a strange place. Those who know me would know that this was an excellent birthday present for me.

I called my brother and sister-in-law and had a cheery birthday conversation with them. I was supposed to come over that evening, but it wasn't going to happen. I think we all were relieved.

Early the next morning I checked out, and slogged through the ten inches of snow for about two miles to the place. My boots were soaked. "We woulda come gotcha if you'da called," the guy told me. I always get that kind of information too late.

I got my chassis, which is a cab on a stick with wheels, and spent a harrowing six or seven hours slip-sliding, driving barefooted through the mountains, hills and valleys of Virginia and Maryland back to Baltimore. My boots were almost dry when I got home. Happy birthday!