Friday, August 5, 2011

After a very good nights sleep in the hotel went back to JFK this morning and finished loading my truck.  Hanger 17 is right next to the area at JFK where all the diplomats and "important" people including the President go when attending functions in NYC.  It was empty while we were there.

 It took a while to get the two antenna sections on the truck.  They are heavy and awkward.

It took 2 1/2 hours to drive the 22 miles to the George Washington Bridge.  Four of us rode in a procession with the "parade" truck up front.

I brought up the rear.  There were people driving past us taking photos of us as we drove along.  Lots of talk on the CB about us as well.  About 20 miles or so east of Dubois, PA there was a TV news helicopter hovering very low over I-80 as we passed under it.  We stopped at the Pilot truck stop in Dubois .  Will be starting out early in the morning. 

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Left the TA truck stop in Bloomsbury, NJ early this morning.  Drove all the way in to JFK Airport with only a small amount of bumper to bumper traffic.  When I arrived at the airport I pulled in behind two other trucks waiting out on the road near the hanger.  Just in front of our trucks in a small staging area off the road there were about a half dozen "official" looking vehicles and a bunch of guys in suits standing around.  They were Secret Service.  They were there for some unknown (to us) dignitary.  They left all together shortly thereafter and we never saw them again.  I found out that I was a back up truck and I was there just in case another truck was needed.  Such as one of the other trucks broke down or something.  So I didn't know if I was even going to be used.  We all went in to Hanger 17 where the World Trade Center debris is being stored.  There was a lot that has already been taken but there was an awful lot still there.  I walked all over the place, which is huge, and took about 80 photos.  Way too many to post here.  Here are just a few of them.

The next photo is of the base of the antenna from the top of Building 1.

The next photo is one of the motors for one of the elevators.

The next photo is the top of one of the antenna from Building 1.

After lunch they decided that they were going to use my truck after all.  There were a total of 6 trucks.  I was the last to be loaded today.  Here is what my load looks like:

After that was put on they decided to call it a day.  It was after 6 pm.  So this is where I parked for the night: (the blue thing is a subway car under a tarp)

They are going to put on more tomorrow morning.  I am getting some of the antenna.  The guy from the museum took us to the Hilton and got us rooms for the night.  Very nice rooms!!  We will be back over there at 7:30 am tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Tomorrow's load sounds like it has not been coordinated very well.  Still don't have much information on it.  For those of you that I haven't told yet, I have been selected to go to JFK Airport tomorrow, along with four other of our trucks, to transport sections of the World Trade Center debris out to Denver, Colorado for a memorial.  It is a tremendous honor to have been chosen to do this.  Click on the web sites below for photos, videos, and information about JFK Hanger 17.  There is an excellent video from a NBC News story about it.

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/17/6882607-hangar-17-is-home-to-world-trade-center-steel


http://www.airportbusiness.com/web/online/Top-News-Headlines/At-JFK-hangar--Twin-Towers-remnants-still-able-to-foment-anger/1$46178



http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/26738/ny1-tours-jfk-airport-s-hangar-17--where-wtc-debris-is-stored/

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Left the Pilot truck stop in Connecticut at 3 am this morning.  Beat the rush hour traffic and went to the Earle Naval Weapons Station in Colts Neck, NJ

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Weapons_Station_Earle   

and delivered the missile simulators.  When empty, I drove out to the TA truck stop in Bloomsbury, NJ to get a reset done before going to JFK on Thursday for our "special" load.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Went into Billerica, MA this morning and delivered the boxes.  After that drove over to Groten, CT to the Navy Submarine Base   http://www.cnic.navy.mil/newlondon/index.htm   and picked up two AURES Missile Simulators.  The place where I loaded was right in the middle of the munitions area.  There were big munitions bunkers all around me with only God knows what explosives in them.  Unfortunately, I was unable to get any photos on the base (for obvious reasons).  There was only one sub in port.  Cool to see that!!  The base is home to the USS Nautilus.  It is a museum now. The photo below is from the Internet.

Here is the load I have.  Had to take these photos when I stopped to get the truck washed.

Will deliver these tomorrow morning at the Navy Base in Colts Neck, NJ.  Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Milford, CT.  Glad I stopped when I did, got one of the last 3 parking places left.  These truck stops up here (what few of them there are) fill up FAST!!!