Re: the stories about the "Checkpoints" in Florida? Here's the one on I-95 this morning (6 min vid)
First of all, please don't bother with the "You were holding your phone while driving?!? HOW DARE YOU!!" Yeah. I was HOLDING the phone, not texting on it. I don't own a GoPro and I didn't think to bring a tripod with me when I left for this trip at 2 AM. I've been doing this shit for over 30 years now, and have over 2 million miles without a scratch, so while I understand any concerns in this regard, trust me, I wasn't being unsafe.
I also apologize for the framing, as I was indeed watching the road and glancing at the screen, so I tended to drop the phone a bit.
Anyway....
This is just to show what the Coronavirus checkpoint looks like, how it is set up and how they were directing traffic on Interstate 95, just south of the Georgia line, about 30 miles north of Downtown Jacksonville.
The first segment begins as I approached the state line, heading southbound in Georgia, crossing the St. Mary's River and into Florida. I have to enter an Agricultural Station (Florida and California are the only two states to have such inspection stations) almost immediately south of the state line, but this is a simple "What are you hauling" question that the answer "US Mail" results in a wave on through. Usually the officer recognizes our company or trailers as mail carriers and doesn't even open the window, just waves at us.
This second segment of this vid begins just after I pulled away from the Ag Station window and shows the 2 mile ride down the highway to the Truck Weigh Station, where the checkpoint is set up;
vimeo.com/404655764
The highway warning/message signs show as flickering because of the frame rate of the iPhone camera (I said "Shutter rate, but you get the drift) but were in fact clear as could be.
Here is a Google Maps link to the location if you want to see exactly where it is;
https://goo.gl/maps/oDbXZ2QMRdxLHFyeA
It obviously wasn't backed up and it didn't appear as if there was any real delay for passenger vehicles, but of course, it was early on a Monday and traffic is way down generally speaking.
= new reply since forum marked as read
That whole bit where Jerry's parents get the place down here was genius!
Thanks for the chuckle!
Nice video.
Not a damned thing wrong with that, either!
Very interesting and informative
Safe travels, friend
Glad you liked it.
The sign said "Trucks" stay left, but didn't otherwise specify, so if you were in a UHaul, who knows? They might have chased you down. No idea. If you remember, the signs before the Ag station DO SPECIFY that "Rental Trucks" are to enter, and over the years I have seen scores of Uhauls and Penske Rentals pulled over by the Ag Cops south of the Agricultural Inspection Station.
Whether or not they were doing that with this set up is something I do not know.
The only exit closed was Exit 380, the one for US 17, which is the only exit between the state line and the Weigh Station, the Scale being about 2 1/2 miles inside the state.
And yes, the Rest Area/Welcome Center was also closed off.
And howdy, fellow First Coaster!!
You’re forgiven for holding the phone. Thanks for the ride.
Between YouTube and now TikTok, there is a shit ton of truckers making videos about how much of a humongous, bad ass Billy Big Rigger they are!
Funny that most of them were still shitting yellow the first time I pushed a clutch in on a ten speed, but there you go!!
I appreciate the sentiment.
