RP trucking diary by jules.raton (DAY 4)

[jules.raton]

DAY 2 : Back to Paris (Part I)

I woke up around seven. Armin was sitting in the chair right at the desk, texting probably.
He greeted me and so did I. I could see he was antsy.
"We can go to hotel's restaurant to get a breakfast, I asked. But I need to take a quick shower. Go ahead, I'll be there in 10 minutes."
He flew across the room, grabbed his cigarettes.

My head was kind of fuzzy.

I got to the restaurant but couldn't see Armin. I went through the reception, pushing the front door I saw him on the phone.
As I was already there, I went in the cab and grab my cigarettes. The pack was still almost full.
I stood there for less than a minute when he hang up. It was Iona. The guys at Nagel hadn't finish loading the trailer yet, she would keep us posted.
Where are we going, I asked.
Back to Paris.

We took a quite long breakfast. But didn't speak much. I wanted to ask him why was he retiring but it felt kind of inappropriate.

By eight we were back in the room, Armin turned the TV on and we waited.
I hadn't watch TV in a long time and I sure didn't miss it.

At 10:40, Iona called us back.

We packed our stuff and headed out. I took the liberty of shutting the TV off just for the pleasure of it.

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I paused again at the front door and starred at the Scania. I was pretty proud of myself.

I started the engine and locked my seatbelt when I heard a very loud beep go off. I looked at the dashboard.
"Ah. Air pressure. leave the engine running, it'll go off. said Armin.
-I know, it just super loud in this truck, don't you think?
Meh, I've seen worse!" he laughed.
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It kept beeping and I wanted to be on the move. The smoke was already building up in the cab.
I rolled both windows down and Armin grumbled.
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A minute or so later we were moving. But I kept his window cranked more that it was yeasterday.
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There weren't many cars at this hour.
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Arriving at the gate, one of the opposite car was so kind to let us go.
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And I made sure she'd have enough space to go while I was waiting for the gate to open.
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The dispatcher looked a little bit rested. Though it wasn't arctic cold outside, I'd put some gloves if I was him.
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Our Schwartzmüller was right where we left it yesterday.
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A quick backup job and I was ready to hook up.
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Starting with the airhoses.
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Crutches.
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And a look around the trailer. Doors were closed alright, no busted lights, tires were fine.
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No time for long goodbyes, I wanted to hit the highway before noon. If possible. Armin signed the papers and gave the dispatcher his. I hadn't even glanced at them. I was too excited I guess.
"You have about 12 tons of cans" he said as we exited.
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A "few" roundabouts later, we were ecaping Metz.
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By 11:30 we were on the two-lane heading for the A4.
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I lost my momentum breaking too much for the turn and I struggled a bit up the lane.
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Finally, a box truck came, I believe, faster than he should have been...
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At noon we were through the first tollbooth.
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Gotta say, those hills were nicer by day!
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Luckily, that dreaded trench was only on the other side. It looked even scarier from where I was now, with that semi going along.
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I guess some farmers were a little late. With the snow forecasted for the next days, they should cover the haybales up.
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I diin't see the guy merging dangerously and had to break a little hard.
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I kept looking as he was doing some radical maneuvers...
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by 1pm I was at the second toolbooth before Reims.
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Very nice trailer!
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But keep your eyes on the road, especially those cars merging on the right.
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Twenty minutes later we were nearing Reims.
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And I was reasonnably seesighting, but it's not very effective when you have cars all over.
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Back to the A4!
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I saw something that looked like a huge farm of some kind. I had never seen one of those. Not that size anyway.
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Nice Antos, but Don't you merge on me!
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Further down at the tollbooth, this one I'm going to let him pass. I'm not messing with a tanker.
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Again, you can't leave this outside, they'll rot.
I saw the rest area that was advertised a few kilometers down the road and decided to take a break.
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I had quite some time left on the tachograph but I needed to stretch my legs a bit. And as Armin would say, always stop for your coffee!
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It was getting a bit chilly outside and I had to go back in the cab to fetch my jacket.


Part II coming soon!
All photos are 1080p resized to 960x540 at 300ppi, to ensure they appear best on this forum.
The photos marked with a *can be clicked on to access their high resolution twins

Hope you enjoy!

[BK Vissers]

That's one heck of a good story and accompanying screenshots. Well done, Jules!

[Killerhangar]

About filling up the double tanks: I haven't seen or heard about any brand that has second transfer pump to fill up from only one tank. But, some guys make some hose-patents going across the cab's real wall, so they fill up the tank, then connect the pistol to the hose and fill up the another tank.

Also, wtf was in those cans. Full trailer of empty coke cans is about 3t load weight. And full load of food cans are about 22-25t

But nice story!

[jules.raton]

Day 2: Back to Paris (Part II)


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Since the most recent events, police and gendarmerie presence was heavier on higways.
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A quick visit to the loo.
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I brought Armin's coffee to him and enjoyed mine on the terrace outside the store.
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See what I mean. That wasn't 10 minutes later.
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The coffee didn't last very long and I'd finished my book last night so I walked along the parking lot. Looking at the trucks, taking some photos.
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Just before the end of my break , i fetched coffees and took these on the way back.
Burnt myself with one of the cups.
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Just as I got in the cab, two scanias V8 passed. I loved the sound of that 730.
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There was a lot of trucks and buses stopping here and the way wasn't clear just yet.
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Armin looked like he was waiting for the coffee to kick in.
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Let's merge.
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45 minutes later, we were at he tollbooth before the N104 and nearing our destination.
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Merging on to the N104, this guy was a little bit slow and I decided to give some space.
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We were very close now.
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Coming into Gonesse, my house was actually not very far.
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We'd just have to take a left here I thought.
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But we kept going straight, all the way to DB Schenker warehouse.
"Very big, white and red. You can't miss it" said Armin. And he was right.
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The dispatcher didn't know our spot just yet, so as instructed by Armin, I drove a little further, parked and triggered the warning lights.
"Do you know how long it's gonna be? I asked.
-Not long, someone must be late for pickup so it messes up their schedule."
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I kept looking at the dispatcher waiting for a sign.
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Then I heard him shout. The third one was mine.
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Between the waberer's and the fridge.
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I u-turned at the end of the depot and come back to be on the right side to back up the trailer.
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Not prefectly aligned, but it'll do.
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All good, left some space between the trailer and the dock.
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They were ready to unload straight away, I jumped out the cab and opened the trailer's doors. Then went back in.
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And backed up a little bit more.
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Trailer buddy.
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I took a quick look around the depot and spoke with one employee. He was rather sick of his job and said he envied me.
I didn't know what to answer back so I talked about weather...
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[BK Vissers]

That was like being along for the ride! Well done.

Clever idea to have your character take pictures of other trucks. Nice touch.

[jules.raton]

Day 2 : Back to Paris (Part III)

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It took them a little more than two hours to unload and by the time it was already dark.
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I moved the truck a bit to close the doors.
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I was eager to get back to Poissy and do the same road again to come back home.
I almost asked Armin to drop me off but again, I didn't feel very comfortable asking him things.
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We left DB Schencker and I took a right instead of going to the A1 entrance.
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Armin was a bit mad, as we would have to go through Gonesse now to rejoin the A1.
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I knew the way quite well, but at this hour, it was pretty busy and it took 30 minutes more than it would normally have to get back to the A1.
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I felt so stupid
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But finally we were there.
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A1 wasn't full luckily
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But yet again arriving near Poissy, that was another story.
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One police van was struggling his way through. I tried getting myself on the rightside as much as I could but other cars weren't so cooperative
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As we were approaching our turn, he still hadn't made it. What are these people thinking?
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Looked like the opposite way was heavely packed.
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That oldie almost kept going. That would have been a crazy move on her part.
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And we were finally home.
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Well, at least the truck was.
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I unhooked the hoses and moved a bit further I really wish SCS were to work on some kind of animations and models for the hoses, I know it's not THAT important but it would really had to the feel, as advanced trailer coupling did.
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I took my phone and stuffs and exited the cab. I gave the keys back to Armin. "You should have left the engine running. I'm not staying long. he said.
As I started apologizing, we heard a femimine voice break our manly silence.
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-Hey guys, how was the road? Did he good Armin? asked Iona.
-He'll be alright.
I blushed, and she noticed it.
-Don't worry, you will. she said to me. How are you. A little bit tired?
-Yeah yeah. I'm fine. I need to sleep I guess."
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We talked for a few minutes and Armin got in the cab and headed home.
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I stood up out the sofa and walk to the entrance to see the truck leave.
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Iona went back to her office to get her stuff.
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I finished my cigarette and got to her office and waited for her to be ready.
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We said goodbye and she left in her smart car. God, these looked so funny.
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I got back my dad's audi and turned on the ignition.
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Compared to a scania, even an L6, my audi sounded rather dull now.
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But it was nice to go faster than 90 kmph, I'll admit.
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It was already pretty late when I went by the DB Schenker warehouse again, but that meant I was almost there.
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A few turns...
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And there it was!
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Backing up the alley was simple and I imagined doing the same with a trailer.
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It was almost 1am when I cut the engine off.
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My body wasn't tired, but my head needed some rest. Hauling was extremely exhausting for the mind I thought.
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I went upstairs and opened my room's window a bit. It started snowing.
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I went back down, made a sandwich for myself and turned the radio on. I always like to listen to France Inter at strange hours. Once my dish finished, I looked at my mails. I was too tired to stare at bills though.
I took a shower and headed back for the bedroom. I forgot the window I left open.
It was freezing cold and some snow got in. Wetting the carpet.
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I closed the window, took my notebook downstairs and sat in the couch. I opened a movie I didn't even want to watch to put myself to sleep.
It was still snowing good, and I wondered if it would stuck. That would complicate things up a bit...


To be continued...

@BK Vissers Thank you very much for the kind words mate! I'm really glad you enjoy it.
And about the random trucks photographs, having all jazzycat's truck packs I actually do that a lot when I normally play

[BK Vissers]

I think we all appreciate participation in our threads.

So you're finished with "training". Now the real thing begins! Great story. Some very nice touches, like the 2CV almost going for it.

[Hakan]

Awesome shots! amazing real story!

[Andrei_03]

Such a beautiful story and shots!

[MarcusDG]

Love this thread


If I can point out a little detail (again, Sorry ) usually when you back a trailer to a dock, you have to open the doors before starting your thing, as most of the time there is not enough room between trailers to open the doors (i know in ets you could park a complete truck between each docks, but this game has great lack of realism sometimes ) otherwise your story sounds so real ! Congratulations about that and keep it up !