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darrel in ND 
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Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Location: Hebron, ND
Points: 8633
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 Topic: Not such a good day
Posted: 20 Jun 2018 at 10:04pm |
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I guess a lot of you know that I took on a job this spring delivering ag chemicals from a wholesale warehouse to the farm chemical dealers around the area. I've really enjoyed it, especially the people I work with. Today, one of the drivers had just three 30 gallon drums and two cases of chemical to deliver, so he took the 3/4 ton pickup. Don't exactly know yet what turn of events lead up to it, but he had only gotten a few miles out of town and he hit a semi head on. I don't know for sure how fast my co worker was going, but the semi driver was going at least 65, and didn't have a second to slow down. I guess it was one of the nastiest crashes a lot of the emergency workers had ever seen. My co worker was killed; they figure he died instantly. I had only known him since I started this job, probably about 3 months, but he was one of the best people to work with that you could ever ask for. He basically taught me all of the fine details of the job. Even though we were technically "drivers", we probably spent more time working together in the warehouse than we did driving. He had really became a good friend in those three months, and now in an instant, he's gone. What can I say.....work is going to suck for a while, probably a long while. Darrel
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allisrutledge
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Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Location: SurgoinsvilleTN
Points: 1355
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Posted: 20 Jun 2018 at 10:15pm |
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Sorry to hear , co-workers can be closer than family sometimes. I'll be praying for his family and you also.
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Allis Chalmers still exist in my mind and barns
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shameless dude
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Joined: 10 Apr 2017
Location: east NE
Points: 13607
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Posted: 20 Jun 2018 at 10:22pm |
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sorry for the loss of your friend, it may be possible that he had a medical problem before the crash. I think about that a lot when i'm out driving. I used to do the same thing you are doing when I was a young'in. I liked it too! lots of money in them truck loads you are hauling!
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Red Bank
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Joined: 18 Apr 2018
Location: Germanton NC
Points: 1051
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Posted: 20 Jun 2018 at 10:42pm |
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Sorry to hear about the accident.
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JohnCO
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Joined: 11 Sep 2009
Location: Niwot Colo
Points: 8992
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 12:14am |
So sorry to read about this Darrel, I hope the semi driver wasn't seriously hurt. There was a fatal crash near my farm Monday, a woman from elsewhere pulled in front of a KW roll back truck with a car on it. The truck probably was going over the 55 mph speed limit but the state patrol suspects the woman saw the light turn green for the north bound lane and pulled into the intersection. The highway is divided and about 200' between the north and south lanes. The lights aren't synchronized so one being green doesn't mean the other is. The truck driver wasn't seriously hurt but the cab was nearly removed from the frame. It's a fairly new truck so they will be able to see what speed he was going. Her fault, but the trucker perhaps could have avoided the wreck if he was going slower.
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"If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer"
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Hubert (Ga)engine7
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Joined: 12 Sep 2009
Location: Jackson Cnty,GA
Points: 6291
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 1:00am |
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Darrel, sorry about the loss of your friend. That will put a dark cloud over your work place for quite some time. Seems that a lot of times the good ones are the first to go. Praying that God will grant his family as well as you and the rest of his coworkers comfort and peace.
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Just an old country boy saved by the grace of God.
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JC-WI
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Joined: 11 Sep 2009
Location: wisconsin
Points: 33824
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 3:00am |
Sometimes a fellow makes enemies almost instantly without even trying and never become friends with the other... and sometimes you becomes friends with another almost instantly and are friends for life... Those you can thank the greater powers to have placed them there for you to get to know them... and be thankful for that time. They say you know a mans worth by how many miss him when he is gone. Darrel, sounds like your co-worker was an awfully nice fellow, sorry for your loss.
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He who says there is no evil has already deceived himself
The truth is the truth, sugar coated or not. Trawler II says, "Remember that."
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desertjoe
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Joined: 23 Sep 2013
Location: New mexico
Points: 13575
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 4:25am |
Gosh,,Darrel,,that's a tough one for sure,,,,I guess I may be one of those that fully believe in driving defensively cause there are an awful lot of drivers out there that are NOT paying attention to the highway. I expect the statistics will someday tell us how dangerous them dang cell phones are while driving. Up until the wife got out of rehab, I was puttin alot of miles back and forth to C-Bad and I been seeing sooooo many people texting while driving,,!! I always honk at em to wake em up,,,  Fact is,,,yesterday, I had to take the wife to clinic up in Mescalero and had never noticed a concrete barrier on one of the big, sharp curves going thru mountains,,,,,,that concrete barrier had SOooooo many tire marks on it,,all the way around the curve. Some of the tire marks looked like car came close to going over the dang barrier,,,,WHEW,,,!!!! YOU be safe on your new driving job,,,!!!!
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klinemar
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Joined: 14 Sep 2009
Location: Michigan
Points: 8002
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 6:28am |
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Sorry for your lost Darrell. Co workers good one's that is can become as close to you like family. I have one who retired and moved to southern Indiana. He is stopping by in a week on a trip back from a horse show in Northern Michigan. As for accidents, I have had 3 close calls this month with people running red lights.2 were women talking on their cell phones. The other was a guy just in a hurry trying to beat the light! Lucky old klinemar was awake and looking around or he would have got T boned!
Edited by klinemar - 21 Jun 2018 at 6:31am
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darrel in ND
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Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Location: Hebron, ND
Points: 8633
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 6:31am |
 shameless dude wrote:
sorry for the loss of your friend, it may be possible that he had a medical problem before the crash. I think about that a lot when i'm out driving. I used to do the same thing you are doing when I was a young'in. I liked it too! lots of money in them truck loads you are hauling! |
I have had that same thought, Shameless, about the possibility of a medical condition occurring. Randy (co worker's name) was 59 years old, and seemed to be in good health, but you never know. The place where the crash happened had such great visibility that there is no way that under normal circumstances that this should have happened. Putting bits and pieces of the puzzle together, what I guess happened was sort of like this: He came up behind a semi pulling a grain trailer that was slowing down and going to make a right turn. I don't know whether or not the semi in front of him had functioning brake lights and right blinker or not, but some how Randy didn't get er slowed up in time, and in order to avoid rear ending the grain trailer, he pulled into the left lane smack dab in front of a semi hauling a load of oil field pipe, which he hit head on. About a mile before that intersection where it happened, you crest a gentle hill, and can see the road for about at least two miles ahead of you. Unless there was something wrong with him, he would have known that the on-coming semi was there, he would have had plenty of time to know about the semi in front of him. Something doesn't add up. I imagine that today I'll learn more, but it's all water under the bridge anyhow. I know that if he could have done something different, he would have. There were 3 occupants in the semi that he hit, and they are all OK, one or two may be hospitalized, but not too seriously injured. He was a bachelor, so he doesn't leave behind a wife or kids, but many family and friends who will miss him. Darrel
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darrel in ND
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Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Location: Hebron, ND
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 6:44am |
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And also, I have to add, that I can say with 100 percent certainty that he was not texting, because all he had was a flip phone and didn't even have the texting option. Texting drivers were a pet peeve of his, and he complained of them often. Darrel
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Tbone95
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Joined: 31 Aug 2012
Location: Michigan
Points: 11604
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 9:47am |
Sad to hear, and tough to think about and deal with. We've had several deaths here at work the last couple years, most recently last week a guy in his late 30's. Leaves a heck of a dark cloud over a place. Prayers for you and your workplace and any friends and loved ones of the guy. Just gotta wonder and say, don't veer left! If you have to veer, veer to the ditch. In a way, it is lucky it was a semi that was hit, if that was a mom and kids in a mini van, there would be more deaths most likely.
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shameless dude
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Joined: 10 Apr 2017
Location: east NE
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 1:11pm |
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thru the years of working accidents, I've seen so many and maybe more accidents on straight level roads than on hilly roads. weird...but it's true. I suppose the drivers take to many things for granted that it's a safe area of roadway to do dumb things?
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Ray54
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Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Location: Paso Robles, Ca
Points: 4524
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 3:14pm |
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Prayer for you and all your coworkers. May the next person you get paired up with also be someone that is a good match to you as well.
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DMiller
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Joined: 14 Sep 2009
Location: Hermann, Mo
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 4:21pm |
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Prayers from here as well. I too picked up a driving part time job of late and late in life where any small health issue could be my last. Praying especially for his family that depended on he and his income.
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johnkc
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Joined: 22 Sep 2009
Location: KCMO
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 10:46pm |
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Prayers to your friend, his family and you Darrell
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I support the development of hybrid automobiles and alternative fuels as I need DIESEL fuel for my ALLIS CHALMERS!
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Tracy Martin TN
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Posted: 21 Jun 2018 at 10:47pm |
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Prayers to all involved! God Bless!
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No greater gift than healthy grandkids!
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Bob D. (La)
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Posted: 22 Jun 2018 at 5:12am |
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Prayers for you and all involved. May the Blessings and Peace of God support you as you go through this period of loss of a dear and special friend. God Bless.
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When you find yourself in a hole,PUT DOWN THE SHOVEL!!!
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darrel in ND
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Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Location: Hebron, ND
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Posted: 22 Jun 2018 at 6:13am |
shameless dude wrote:
thru the years of working accidents, I've seen so many and maybe more accidents on straight level roads than on hilly roads. weird...but it's true. I suppose the drivers take to many things for granted that it's a safe area of roadway to do dumb things? |
There is likely something to that. Another thing is that there is some statistic about how the majority of accidents happen within X number of miles from your home. Well Randy had this wreck just a few miles from where he lived his whole life of 59 years. Plus, he had been doing this chemical delivering thing for 25 years, and about on third of the loads hauled out go down that hi way. So he had driven that road so many thousands of times, that maybe he did take something for granted. he loved to use the cruise control, so the possibility of that sticking on is real, especially since the pickup had 370,000 miles on it. Could have been a brake failure. Whatever happened, went to the grave with him, and no one is ever going to know what really went wrong. We went and visited his family last night, and it was the first time I had met most of them. But what a nice bunch of people. darrel
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Red Bank
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Joined: 18 Apr 2018
Location: Germanton NC
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Posted: 22 Jun 2018 at 11:07am |
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Visiting the family was a good thing to do Darrell. Having been on the receiving line it always meant more to me when someone who just got to know the deceased would come and talk to the family. It says a lot about the deceased and about you Darrell. Sorry again for your loss and sorry for the roller coaster week you have had.
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JC-WI
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Location: wisconsin
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Posted: 22 Jun 2018 at 11:53am |
Darrel, Knowing old vehicles, anything could have happened specially when ye got 370,000 miles on it, like a tie-rod breaking or frame rusting or some worn part letting go... We had a neighbor that drove this road many times... and then one late afternoon he came across the old cement bridge a little to fast, which made the car have a little jump and the tie rod came off and thus he went into the ditch on the left side and up the embankment and hit the electric pole... A quarter mile away and it sounded like he hit the pole out in front of the house. For all the other places that car could have gone, it had to hit that pole... square on, totaling the car. A 68 Dodge Charger. He was pretty shook up and banged up and survived but had he been going faster,... He might had totaled more than just the car. He had just been over to his fiancee's to help with getting ready for their wedding the next weekend. Earlier when he was dating her, she told him he had to stop drinking and he was very glad that she had or it could have been a whole lot worse.
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He who says there is no evil has already deceived himself
The truth is the truth, sugar coated or not. Trawler II says, "Remember that."
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tadams(OH)
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Posted: 22 Jun 2018 at 2:45pm |
Prayer for you Darrel and your co workers and his family. Tom
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Ted J
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Posted: 23 Jun 2018 at 11:08pm |
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So sorry to see this Darrel. It really hurts when it is someone close to you. Even worse is a new friend and co-worker.
My condolences to his family, you and all the guys and gals at work. Prayers go out from here in WI.
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"Allis-Express"
19?? WC / 1941 C / 1952 CA / 1956 WD45 / 1957 WD45 / 1958 D-17
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Stan IL&TN
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Posted: 25 Jun 2018 at 1:47pm |
Prayers to the family and to you Darrel. Took my truck in last week. Guy asked me what was wrong and I told him I wasn't sure but it wasn't feeling right to me and could he check the tie rod ends and ball joints. Those were fine but the pitman arm was shot. Glad that little bird on my shoulder told me something was wrong.
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1957 WD45 dad's first AC
1968 one-seventy
1956 F40 Ferguson
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