OOIDA tour trailer stops in Monee, Ill.

Marty Ellis plans to have the OOIDA tour trailer to the Petro truck stop in Monee, Ill., on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 26-27, The Monee Petro is at Exit 335 from I-57.

The Monee Petro has parking for 190 tractor-trailers. The Iron Skillet sit-down restaurant is open, but only Monday through Friday.

Monee is south of Chicago and is part of the group of suburbs that bills itself as Chicago Southland.

The town’s name derives from a couple who operated a fur trading post, Marie and Joseph Bailly. This is according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago. She was an Ottawa Native American, and “Marie” became pronounced at “Mo-nee.” Treaties in 1932 apportioned land to “the five daughters of Mo-nee by her last husband, Joseph Bailly.”

Side underride guards, load securing

Ellis regularly discusses what he sees on the road and hears from drivers on Friday Land Line Now broadcasts. On Friday, he discussed with host Mark Reddig a new product he’s seen that looks good for securing loads. He also talked about an issue that has drivers worried.
The push to require side underride guards on trucks has some drivers concerned, Ellis reports.

Ellis said it seems like a solution in search of a problem because it is rare in his experience for a passenger vehicle to run under the side of a trailer.

Ellis also discussed a new piece of equipment to help keep pallets from tipping over in a reefer trailer, the Single Pallet Stand-up.

“It’s always a challenge when they put one pallet in the back. You try to make sure they don’t but most places, now, you can’t even get on the dock, so you don’t know how they’re loading it,” he said.

Normally, two pallets side by side in the rear with a load lock behind it keeps the pallets from toppling.

The Single Pallet Stand-up with the load lock keeps the pallet from tipping sideways. It was invented by a trucker, he said.

When you do have a product tip over, you know there’s the loss of product with the damaged boxes and a lot of times you get it put back on your trailer and you have to go find something to do with it, depending on your broker or who the shipper was. It could really save some people not only some time and some money, but some big headaches.

Here is a YouTube video about the product.

Howard Ridgeway Sr. is CEO and founder of Maple Heights, Ohio-based HRT II LLC. He also has had his own trucking authority since 2000. His trucking company is H.R. Transport LLC.

Listen to Land Line Now

Stop by when you see The Spirit

If you see the OOIDA tour trailer, stop by and say hello. Ellis looks forward to visiting about the Association’s activities and current issues. There are copies of Land Line Magazine to pick up there. You can join or renew your membership for $10 off the regular price at The Spirit. Face masks are available at The Spirit for anyone with a commercial driver’s license.

Last weekend, he was at the Commercial Chaos for a Cure event in Sanborn, Iowa. After the Monee, Ellis plans to haul the OOIDA tour trailer to the TopGun LargeCar Shootout in Rantoul, Ill., and then to Lake Station, Ind.

Here is the schedule for The Spirit. LL