So we unloaded in Cleveland, right? We had a truck load of flour going to the world's oldest, dingiest, most wrong neighborhoodest (not a word) flour selling place, ever.
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| The black hole for flour purchases. |
First of all it was in the middle of a beat up urban neighborhood. Forget the crack dealers and hookers, I'm talking about narrow roads built for horse and buggy. Tight turns, low clearances and light poles leaning way out into the street.
The place itself was built by the Romans in the Pleistocene Era, I think. The dilapidated old brick building could barely stand up under it's own weight and everything was higgeldy piggeldy stacked everywhere. Huge bags of flour, salt, dead Roman soldiers, millions of pallets. All of it out on a open dock area. People came in their cars and backed up to the dock to get 10 lb bags of flour...I guess. The whole thing looked a little shady to me.
The place itself was built by the Romans in the Pleistocene Era, I think. The dilapidated old brick building could barely stand up under it's own weight and everything was higgeldy piggeldy stacked everywhere. Huge bags of flour, salt, dead Roman soldiers, millions of pallets. All of it out on a open dock area. People came in their cars and backed up to the dock to get 10 lb bags of flour...I guess. The whole thing looked a little shady to me.
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| See, they aren't even IN Minneapolis! |
Himself is such a professional driver that he got into the area to unload without mishap. Lesser mortals would have given up and quit on the spot. I sure would have. Backing up a big truck is all about angles and patience. You must be one with the truck and he is. It still took maneuvering one millimeter at a time for 47,000 times. Getting out of the truck to lay eyeballs of the angle of things.
This is why he drives the truck. After the first, oh 10 times, I would have screamed and cussed at the truck and the building then stormed off to find a new life in Cleveland.
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| Not a dramatic picture. But still. It was bad. Take my word for it. The horror of the angles! |
We did take a walk around the 'hood to stretch our legs. We Tumbleweeds don't want to become complete globs of unhealthiness.
So we walk around the block, which is about 10 miles because the neighborhood was built with the same angles as the building. Little old houses that have sprawling industrial buildings in their backyards next to payday loan places.
Some of the houses were in pretty good shape really, given the neighborhood. We saw a For Sale sign on one and the flyer described it as a "Cute Slavic Village Colonial" for $24,000. Maybe I'm just not hip to Cleveland-ese, but I had no idea what a Colonial Slavic Village looks like. I do now! It's ghetto crack house with a fresh coat of paint. Who knew??
So we walk around the block, which is about 10 miles because the neighborhood was built with the same angles as the building. Little old houses that have sprawling industrial buildings in their backyards next to payday loan places.
Some of the houses were in pretty good shape really, given the neighborhood. We saw a For Sale sign on one and the flyer described it as a "Cute Slavic Village Colonial" for $24,000. Maybe I'm just not hip to Cleveland-ese, but I had no idea what a Colonial Slavic Village looks like. I do now! It's ghetto crack house with a fresh coat of paint. Who knew??
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| It all ended with a pretty sunset going away from Cleveland... |
Let me begin by reminding you that I am in no way prone to being unduly alarmed or suffer sudden unwarranted attacks of paranoia. Having said that - NEVER GO BACK to that den of inquity!!!!!!!! I believe you and himself were the unwitting mules for a cartel of cocaine smugglers under the guise of innocent flour merchants. All the signs are there, the location and description of the neighborhood, people just walking up buying ten pounds of flour or some other more nefarious white substance and the most shocking of all, dead Roman soldiers. I haven't figured out how the Roman soldiers got involved unless that's some gang famous only in Cincinnati. One more huge indication of illegal drug trade, their name is Minnesota Flour and their facility is in Ohio? Likely a way to stay ahead of the law. I'm going to try and keep this secret from your dear mother, only if you both give me your solemn words you will never put yourselves in such a dangerous situation again. You don't want your mother to come out there and make a citizen's arrest, perhaps taking out a few Roman soldiers herself.
ReplyDeleteMona
Yeah... I'm not so sure that this was flour, either! YIKES! Be careful out there!
ReplyDeleteGreat sunset photo! :)
a TRUCKLOAD!!?? in that size truck...i sure hope it WAS flour!! but at least you got it delivered...and whatever happens with the load now is NOT your problem, right?!!
ReplyDelete>>it's gotta be tough to find yourselves in these run-down...slummy...parts of town...where you just want to get UNloaded and get OUTA there!!
beautiful sunset...bye-bye cleveland...
((enjoy your stories...always makes me laugh...and i like following you all over the country too. i wonder...how many days out of the year are you 2 on the road??)) take care...safe travels... :]
note to self: don't move to Cleveland
ReplyDelete@ Mona, you may be onto soemthing there...although, I may have exaggerated slightly! we won't be going there again for at least a week!
ReplyDelete@ Becky, thanks, I thought the sunset came out pretty good too. And that's while we're moving! I love our digital camera!!
@ Laura, thanks for trucking with us! We do over 100,000 miles in a year, about 300 days on the road. Thank goodness for sattelite radio and the internet!
@ Glen--smart boy!
This reminded me of my futile attempt at trying to learn how to backup a trailer w/boat; although compared to what yall were dealing with, I'm sure it would have been a cake walk for Himself. I had no idea just how hard it was until I actually made the attempt. Everything is the exact opposite of what you are used to and it was the most frustrating thing I ever endured. I never did get it right and never want to have to even try again. So hats off to Himself and all the others who have mastered this talent.
ReplyDeleteI too loved, loved, loved the sunset picture. Was this through the windshield going down the road? Amazing!
We were going down the road at 63 mph, my head was out the window because there were too many bugs on the windshield! :0)
ReplyDeleteIf I had any bigger ears, they would have been flapping in the wind like Harley's!