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Massachusetts: Are
you familiar with Formica and similar brands of laminated plastic panels used to
make kitchen counter tops, shower enclosures, etc.? If I thought about it at
all, I pictured all the raw materials coming in one end of a factory and the
finished panels going out the other. My enlightenment came when I picked
up a load of pulp paper - thick, whitish 4' by 4' sheets of partially processed
paper that felt like the material egg cartons are made of - from a freight yard
in Philadelphia and delivered it to a paper mill in Fitchburg, Mass. At
the mill, the pulp paper was soaked in water again to turn it back into a
cellulose mush which was then bleached, dyed, dried and rolled out into thin
sheets of smooth paper of various colors. These rolls of paper were then trucked
to another factory where designs were printed on - wood-grains, flowers,
geometric patterns, etc. The imprinted rolls were next sent to another factory
where the laminated panels were constructed. The process that I originally
believed only involved one factory now required at least three different
factories probably hundreds of miles apart, with trucks being the primary means
of transporting the materials from one factory to another.
Products taken into
Massachusetts: plastic bottle caps, snack foods, canned and packaged grocery
products, residential vinyl windows, extruded aluminum for commercial doors and
windows, electrical cable. Products taken out of Massachusetts: printed
food cartons, rolls of brown paper, corrugated boxes, damaged wooden pallets,
bottled drinks.
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| On
I.90 eastbound, the Massachusetts Turnpike, or the "Mass
Pike". I.290 goes through Worcester, pronounced
"Wooster." |
I.90
westbound, through rolling hills, worn-down mountains, and on to Albany,
NY. |
I
was impressed by the blocky formations I saw along I.495. They are quite
different from the layered formations that exist in most of
Pennsylvania. |
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| Lawrence,
MA. I stood in one spot to take these two pictures, first swiveling left
and then right, to take in the size of this building. It is at
least 2 blocks long, 1/2 block deep, and 6 stories tall. It used to be a
fabric mill, I think, but now is rented out to many smaller businesses.
I picked up skids of printed food cartons. |
The
sign says "Muddy River" but where is it? Is this from the song
by the Standels? Boston, MA. |
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| As
you can see, this is Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red sox. |
Another
view of Fenway and a sign proclaiming the Sox to be 2005 World Series
champions. |
More
buildings in downtown Boston. |
OK, back to
Massachusetts. There is a unique truck stop off Exit 2 from I.84, a few
miles into Massachusetts from Connecticut, called Sturbridge Isle. The main
building is like a large resort chalet with several levels. There is a decent
restaurant, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, a game room, clothing store,
souvenir shops, a tremendous rack of Jelly Belly jelly beans, and several decent
private shower rooms. Outside, there is a landscaped duck pond with walkways for
strolling.
I tried to plan my trips to that region so I could spend the night there. Since
I wrote the earlier part, the property was purchased by Pilot Travel Centers and
the resort building with the restaurant and other features closed. Pilot
renovated the fuel desk building, put in a deli and some showers, expanded the
parking area and continues in business while the resort building sits vacant.
I.90, a toll road, was
the main route to the Boston area. I've made many deliveries in and around
Boston, but since there are no truck stops and few overnight parking facilities
there, I always tried to get in and out as quickly as possible. One
delivery took me to a produce warehouse in the northeast section of the city.
I remember passing many ethnic businesses and warehouses - Italian, Chinese or
Asian, Hispanic.
| ©
2009 Mikie Metric Productions, P.O. Box 3216, Williamsport, PA 17701 |
truckermike@mikiemetric.net |
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