Week 10: Loafers and Burmese Chickens: Part 2

The delivery to Ocala went fine, but the traffic was ridiculous in this tourist town. I was glad to get out of there and head toward Palatka, Florida to pick up a load of Gypsum board to take to Stallings, North Carolina. Kitty now enjoyed peering out the floor window on the passenger door as we rode along. She seemed to like being on the road now.


From Stallings, I was slated to pick up a load of steel in Columbia, South Carolina to deliver to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. The only problem was that dispatch didn’t send me any directions or a valid contact number for the Jacksonville destination. I called my driver manager to request the information I needed.

“Sure man!” he eagerly replied.

Two hours later, I still had nothing. So, I called Ringo (the person) on his cell and asked his advice. He gave me a suggestion that I took.

I called my driver manager back and told him that I would go ahead and pick up the load, but if I didn’t have any directions or a contact number by the time I got it, I’d drop it off at the Savannah terminal and let them figure it out. He hesitated for a moment and reluctantly said, “Okay”. Ten minutes later, I had both my directions and contact number. Thanks, Ringo! After Jacksonville, we would be going to Fitzgerald, Georgia to pick up lumber.

On the way to Fitzgerald, I went right past the shipper because the log truck ahead of me blocked my view of the sign. I saw it only as I was zooming past. Herein was contained a valuable lesson about big trucks on rural roads: If you miss your turn, there may not be anywhere to turn around for miles. I had to go almost 20 miles before I found a place to turn around.

Fitzgerald, Georgia is a unique town because it is the only city, of which I am aware, where chickens can be seen running around in the downtown area. Not just any chickens, mind you, but wild Burmese chickens. Fitzgerald and surrounding Ben Hill County boasts Georgia’s only known wild Burmese chicken population.

In the 1960’s, wild Burmese chickens were stocked all over the state to be hunted like other game birds. For some reason, the chickens never took hold in other areas of the state, but prospered in the downtown area of Fitzgerald. The residents of Fitzgerald have a love/hate relationship with the wild birds. Some folks buy seed and feed them; others chase them out of their yards with a broomstick and a few expletives. But, love ‘em or hate ‘em, Burmese chickens are a familiar part of the Fitzgerald scene. Fitzgerald may, in fact, be the only city in America where chickens have the right of way.

We delivered our Fitzgerald load to Millwood, Kentucky on Friday, and then went back to Shoals, Indiana for another load. This guaranteed that I would not get home until Saturday. My patience with this trucking company was starting to wear thin. I had not, yet, adapted to the lifestyle of an over-the-road trucker.