Learn to tie your load down, dummy!

[wolfie]

Yep, he expected someone else to "Tie me kangaroo down".

[Jay 2K Winger]

Yeah, always make sure your load is tied down and secured.

Or if you're hauling things in a small trailer with a hinged lid, make sure the hinges are facing the direction of travel.

I say that because I once encountered that while driving on I-95 up to Philly. (I've related the story before here on the boards.) The lid wasn't fastened down very well, and because the hinges were on the back, the airflow eventually popped the fastener loose and the lid came straight off. I had seen this coming and had given the vehicle plenty of room, so when the lid came off, I had room to swerve around it.

An amusing note to go with the story is, I was driving with a friend, Sam, who was talking a wrestling gimmick he wanted to do, a particularly tasteless one. I had been trying to dissuade him without much success-- until that lid came flying at us. Sam went quiet for a minute after the near-miss, then looked upward and said, "Okay, God, I get the message, it's a bad idea. I'll leave it be now."

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

Were there traces of pot ash in the cab? How much of the load was lemon-lime flavour?

Also, considering where you're from, have you ever seen Rolf Harris traveling with an unsecured kangaroo? Cookies for reference.

Buahahahaha! Dunno about the pot-ash but lemon-lime was one of their best flavours! I was too busy trying to navigate through broken glass, crates and effervescence to notice if the driver was red-eyed or munchy...

I have seen plenty of unsecured kangaroos, but Rolfs are an endangered species. Last known one in captivity is in the UK now. I suspect the endangerment came somewhere during the 70's when a small band of three English odd-job blokes had a run-in with a whole flock of Rolfs. <cookies for that reference!>

Come to think of it, last unsecured roo I saw should have ended up tied down. Stupid critter was standing in the middle of the lane - at night, country road - around a blind corner. A car coming the other way meant the lights were on low, couldn't see him till we hit him (no, I wasn't driving). Should have tied him to the bull bar...

[Nunavut Pants]

Buahahahaha! Dunno about the pot-ash but lemon-lime was one of their best flavours! I was too busy trying to navigate through broken glass, crates and effervescence to notice if the driver was red-eyed or munchy...

Either you missed Wolfie's reference, or I missed yours... Because I thought the earlier ref was to chemical soda--potash being one type, lime another type.

[wolfie]

I'd say the former. Soda, Potash, and Lime are obsolescent names for Sodium, Potassium, and Calcium (as in Caustic Soda is Sodium Hydroxide, Caustic Potash is Potassium Hydroxide, and Soda-Lime glass contains Sodium and Calcium compounds).

[dawnfire]

Either you missed Wolfie's reference, or I missed yours... Because I thought the earlier ref was to chemical soda--potash being one type, lime another type.

I think she was meaning the Slades soft drinks which were sold in glass bottles in crates that resembled milk crates.

[Chromatix]

Limestone is calcium carbonate, I believe.

It's slightly soluble in water, so limestone deposits are a great place to find massive cave systems, and limestone is also a pretty risky building material in places with lots of rainfall. Yeah, the Midland Railway didn't really think that one through.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

Either you missed Wolfie's reference, or I missed yours... Because I thought the earlier ref was to chemical soda--potash being one type, lime another type.

No, I got it. But I turned it around into a reference on pot ash (weed) and flavour. I do try to Americanise my language on here hence the soda reference in the first place.

There are so many words used in different context between US and Aus... I had to explain once to an international group why a rubber thong was the natural enemy of the redback spider. Yup, they all thought I meant a pair of flimsy rubber knickers. Well, I suppose you could use them like a slingshot!

Dawnfire, similar to Slade's, only Crystal something or other. Crystal Life maybe?

[Minflick]

<,There are so many words used in different context between US and Aus... I had to explain once to an international group why a rubber thong was the natural enemy of the redback spider. Yup, they all thought I meant a pair of flimsy rubber knickers. Well, I suppose you could use them like a slingshot!
>>

Snicker! OK, that's my giggle for the morning! But I TOTALLY agree on the footwear vs spiders thing - one time I was shuffling stuff out on a back porch to get ready for the winter rains, and dislodged over a dozen black widow spiders happily hiding until I Moved Things.... The pair of shoes I was first wearing had lug soles, and spiders escaped. After that, the flip flops came out and squished appropriately!

[Racket_Man]

I saw one today. I was helping my Ex and my daughter move to a new apt. across town. After we had loaded up and I was driving the U-Haul to the new place, I spotted a sport-utility vehicle with some sort of high high back chair on the roof.

I had to do a double take as did my daughter who was riding in the truck with me. We BOth commented The chair was NOT FRACKIN tied down in any shape or form. NO rope, NO come-a-longs, NO wire. NO NOTHING.. IT was just sitting on the vehicle roof.

[eltf177]

I had to do a double take as did my daughter who was riding in the truck with me. We BOth commented The chair was NOT FRACKIN tied down in any shape or form. NO rope, NO come-a-longs, NO wire. NO NOTHING.. IT was just sitting on the vehicle roof.

Somehow I suspect it wasn't there for long...

[paperfiend]

Saw this in the news this morning and immediately thought of this thread...

http://www.startribune.com/dashcam-c...-94/384772291/

[BrenDAnn]

That motorcyclist is lucky he walked away! They may never find that SUV driver, but I hope they do, and I hope they show him or her the video, before throwing every fine they can at them. Wow!!

[wolfie]

If a professional has an improperly secured load (including illegible tags on a couple straps, so that those straps aren't counted due to not having a legible working load limit), it's a 5-figure fine. If an amateur loses a load, resulting in a crash (including the incident on the NJTP a few months back where a trucker was killed swerving to avoid a Jeep that swerved to avoid a lost mattress), there's no penalty.

[csquared]

Georgia cracked down on unsecured loaded after someone died when they hit a new, inbox washing machine that fell out of a pickup. Police traced the machine's serial number to find the owner.