Stuck under a bridge at midnight in a forest

Photo by Holly Preble.

This May will be our 3rd year in business for Sirius, and one of the things that Chuck grins about is how Holly Year 2 plans events versus how Holly Year 1 planned events. So, what changed? We have added forms, questionnaires, checklists, and standard operating procedures as time has passed. Making mistakes is fine. Everyone makes mistakes. Repeating them is what we try to avoid. Whenever there is an incident that we do not want to see repeated in the future, we make a change: add a question to our client questionnaires, create a rule or fail safe, etc.

Here is the story of why we ask if there are any low bridges or known obstacles to commercial trucks around the event location that you are aware of:

Our first year in business, we had back to back events one weekend. We worked until 9 pm at one location and had a 6 am event the next morning. On the logistics side, how did this look? After the night event, we ran back to the commissary kitchen and reset the trailer. Dishes were washed, the water tanks were emptied and filled, more food was loaded, veggies were prepped, etc. Then Chuck took off with the trailer and the oldest child, headed toward the event. The plan was, he would get in position the night before and sleep on-site since the upcoming race would be shutting down the roads.

So at about midnight, I called my husband (knowing our daughter would answer) to check on their progress. The conversation went something like this

“Hey. Are you there yet?”

“Ummmmmm, no. We are stuck.”

“What do you mean stuck? I thought you would be off Interstate 5 by now. Is there construction? Is there an accident? What does “stuck” mean?’

“Uhhhh, Mom, I mean STUCK. We went under a bridge that is too low and we are stuck.”

Clearly my next words were “put your father on the phone”. The reply of “I don’t know where he is.” was not exactly what I was hoping for.

Just to make sure we are all on the same mental image page: Our F450 pick up truck towing our 27 foot long food trailer (that is our source of income to feed my family and keep them off the streets) is stuck under a bridge somewhere with my child in it at midnight, and she does not know where her father (aka the truck’s driver) has gone.

So, I continue to question my daughter; she says she is safe where she is and does not need to move to a safer location. The story then unfolds.

“Sooooo, we were driving and going down a hill in a little forest, and we went around a curve, and once we got around the curve there was a sign that said there was a bridge, and it wasn’t a tall bridge.”

 “It said low bridge? How low? “

“Dad thought we could just barely make it and there was no where to turn around, so he went slowly, but then the hood vents starting making a scraping noise.”

“Scraping noise? As in causing damage to them and the trailer scraping noise?”

“We did not hear them like, fall off, or anything. Nothing hit the road like you see on the low bridge Youtube videos, so I think they are ok.”

“Fabulous”, I said. “We are not YouTube worthy yet. Where is your father?”

“Dad hopped out to look and then you called.”

“SO, just to make sure I am understanding this, you are at the bottom of a hill in a forest, under a low bridge and around a corner in the dark, an hour away from me, and you are not sure where your father is. Really????? “

“Yea. That is pretty much it. I think Dad is looking for a place to back up and turn around. He said he would be back and to stay put.”

As you all know, the trailer survived and so did Chuck and the oldest. So how did they get out of this mess? Chuck found a treeless Scotch Broom area next to the road that other trucks had clearly backed into in the past, and a kindly motorist stopped and offered to help. So, Chuck backed the trailer up the road (which had a surprising amount of traffic, for it being midnight and not in a city area I was later informed), while the good Samaritan helped to ground guide and direct traffic. Chuck unhooked the trailer, turned the truck around so it was facing up the hill, and reconnected to the trailer. This obviously took a while and blocked both lanes of the road for a bit, but got them headed back up the hill and out of there, never to return.

Now after 27 years in of service in the United States military and multiple deployments to foreign lands in times of war, this was NOT the most hair raising night in Chuck’s life. Chuck is, above all, unflappable. When I questioned him after it was all over, he said with that boyish grin I fell in love with in high school “It was fine. No one was shooting at me.”

When contacted with a “Hey, we are running late, and here is the situation” update the client’s reply was “Oh. I forgot to tell you about that bridge. Trucks get stuck and have to turn around there all the time.” Sadly, this hasn’t been the last time we’ve found ourselves at a site where our 51 foot long rig just would not fit, but we work hard to prevent these situations… This is why before booking your event, Sirius now asks that you fill out 3 questionnaires with questions ranging from “Are there low bridges, tree branches, narrow passages, tight turns, cows in the road, etc. to what appetizers, salads, and desserts would you like?”

Also, I have to give a special thanks to my parents, who sent us a gift of a trucker GPS with all the low bridges marked so we do not come around another bend in the road to find a nasty surprise.

Holly Preble

Event Coordinator