27 SEPTEMBER 2024 WorldWide Drilling Resource® by Tim Rasmussen July 17th was the day the container was scheduled to be loaded and shipped to Guatemala. This shipment date had been settled upon after several changes made necessary by shipping and trucking delays and the uncertainty inherently associated with international shipping. Gary had been working for weeks getting things organized and loaded on pallets, weighed, and staged for the loading. We would have about two hours to get the container loaded when it arrived, or would have to pay an extra couple of hundred dollars for the delay, so it was important the loading went smoothly. Two days before the scheduled loading day, Gary received a call from the trucking company asking if they could come one day earlier. This was not possible because we could not have the volunteers ready on instant notice. They said they would get back to us, and later that day, they did. The news was the loading schedule would have to slip one day to Thursday, the 18th. Gary sent out the word to our volunteers to come on Thursday morning and most of them agreed it would work for them. The time was set for 8 a.m. Shortly before 8, the truck driver called to confirm the directions to Gary’s shop and was told to make sure to go to the bottom of the hill and turn around so the driveway entrance to Gary’s shop could be easily negotiated. Everything seemed set. The volunteers arrived, but the truck did not. After about 15 minutes, the driver called and said she was stuck on the turn into the driveway. Rod went down to check, and sure enough, contrary to instructions and common sense, the driver had tried to turn in coming down the hill. She had been unable to make the turn and the truck was hung up, half turned in and partly in the ditch, unable to back up or go forward, and blocking the entire roadway. Rod and Gary went back down with a backhoe. After tugging and turning for about 20 minutes, they managed to get the truck turned into the drive without destroying the mailboxes or the gate opener. Success at last? No. The driver got to the big doors on the shop, but had a lot of difficulty getting backed up squarely. There isn’t much room and it took about 15 more minutes of forward and back and forward and back before the truck was set squarely in front of the open doors and loading could begin. Eight o’clock had become nine o’clock just getting the truck into the yard and into position. We had a short prayer to ask the Good Lord to protect the workers, the driver, and cargo, then set to work loading the pallets. The work went well. No one was hurt, no fingers smashed, no slips or falls. About three hours later, the doors were closed and locked, the paperwork completed, and the truck ready to go. Another prayer of thanks for the safety of all and the cargo, and the truck pulled away from the shop. Educated by the trouble in the arrival, the driver went out the drive and down the hill, turned around, then started on the trip to Seattle. There, the container would be gated into the dock and loaded onto a ship to start the 40-day journey to the highlands of Guatemala where the material will be used to better the lives of people in remote villages. Water for Life thanks all our volunteers and all the folks who make our work possible. Mostly, Water for Life thanks the Good Lord for watching over everything as we do what we can to save lives and make living just a little easier for the men, women, and children who live their lives with just about nothing. If you would like to help, contact Gary Bartholomew at 509-939-1941. Tim Tim Rasmussen may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com WTR
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