Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Always Pave Up

Every now and then, I look back over the different jobs I have held and decide that I miss working with my hands.

In such moments, I like to remember my years working in the road construction industry. When Katherine and I were first starting out, I went to work for an asphalt paving contractor as a laborer. When I started the job, I had very little experience in asphalt paving, but soon picked up a keen interest in learning the different job stations. Although the work was hot, tiring, and mentally challenging, I came home with a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment I have found hard to duplicate in other job fields.

It didn’t take me long to learn that, when it comes to paving, you didn’t want to be stuck working in a parking lot. Rather, you wanted to be paving a long, straight road where you could set the screed, put the paver in high gear, and (as they used to say on the crew), “let ‘er ride”.

Pulling on main roads involved very little physical or mental effort.

 On the other hand, parking lots were a headache of epic proportions. Drainage was a challenge, the paver was constantly having to pick up and set down in tight areas, and there was a slew of “hand work” to be done, which translated into shoveling and raking piles of steaming asphalt where the paver couldn’t fit.

If you worked on a paving crew, you did what you could to avoid having to face such an ordeal.

Like it or not, though, our crew ended up working its share of parking lots.

Like any unpleasant task, we got used to the tedious labor and tried not to complain too much if we drew the shortest straw and worked for a few days in tight quarters.

One day, our proverbial number had come up and we were pushing our way through a large parking lot somewhere in Newport News. That particular morning, I happened to be standing near the foreman as he directed the paver to the low side of the lot to begin paving.

I looked at the operation he had set up and wondered why he was paving the lot in this particular manner.
To my thinking, it would have made more sense to do it another way.

When I asked him about it, he told me something that I have always remembered since:

“You should always pave from the low side up,” he said.

I asked him why.

“It helps keep the ”V’s” out of the parking lot,” he said.

 You should know that “V’s” in a parking lot are an absolute taboo for a paving contractor. Unless the V is there by design (in which case it is called a “swale”), the defect in the asphalt topping will trap water and prevent it from draining. When it rains, the V’s in a parking lot are readily noticeable because there is standing water left on the surface. Since water is known to erode asphalt over time, the “lakes” and “puddles” that are left after a storm will diminish the life of the parking lot. Soon, the asphalt will degrade and crack into pieces, causing a need for expensive and unsightly patches.

Such drainage problems can actually cause a parking lot to fail inspection, with the general contractor refusing to pay for the parking lot until corrections are made.

My foreman’s rule of thumb in starting operations at the low side of the parking lot proved to be wise.
“When you’re paving up,” he explained, ”it’s much easier to spot the V’s. If you do happen to spot a V in the asphalt, you can stop and have a quick redo while the asphalt is still hot. On the other hand, when you start at the top and pave down, you often get to the last pull where you are tying in to the gutter and discover too late that you have a V in the asphalt. By that time, there’s not much  you can do because the asphalt has been rolled and is cool.”

After that morning’s conversation with the foreman about V’s, I began observing the asphalt to test his theory.

I found that what he was saying was true.

For whatever reason, looking up across the parking lot while paving made V’s much easier to spot. Over the years, I worked with other foreman who decided not abide by this rule, and found out the hard way that paving from the top down could sometimes lead to disaster.

As I have remembered my escapades in asphalt paving lately, I have thought often about this tailgate wisdom in always “paving up”.

Perhaps there is a bit of practical inspiration in there that transcends asphalt paving operations.
“Paving up” may have implications for each of us.

Whether we are breezing along on a mainline section of road, or are stuck in a parking lot looking for the dreaded V’s, or maybe even struggling along the road of life just trying to make it through another day, there is something that is soothing about focusing our eyes upward.

Not only are we able to more easily spot and deal with the occasional V’s in our lives, we are also able to fix our minds resolutely on where we are going, which tends to lend even the most mundane and exasperating days a sense of meaning and purpose.

With each pass we make across our parking lot, we get closer and closer to the top.

We know that when we get there, we will be able to look back down over our work and see a functionally beautiful work of art. We will also have the confidence to know that if a storm comes through and drops a load of rain, there will be no water left standing on the surface to crack and destroy the fruits of our labor.
In that moment of triumph, when the work is all done, we will have peace.

Until then, we continue trying to keep our gaze pointed upward and pray for the strength to back up and redo the V’s as they come.

In my church, we call that ”repentance”.

In pondering this long and sometimes frustrating process, I am reminded of a statement made by Joseph Smith to George Albert Smith:

“Never be discouraged,” he said. ”If I were sunk in the lowest pits of Nova Scotia, with the Rocky Mountains piled on me, I would hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage, and I would come out on top.”

If your life has taken a turn off of the ”gravy train” of main-line pulling and you find yourself mired down deep in the bowels of a parking lot battling the sweltering July heat, remember to “excercise faith and keep good courage”.

No trial lasts forever.

As my Grandma Jones used to say:

“This, too, shall pass.”

In the meantime, just keep moving.

Each shovel full of asphalt brings you one step closer to finishing of the parking lot.

Look out for the V’s as you go.

Don’t be afraid to back up and fix a rough spot if you have to.

And remember the wisdom of an asphalt foreman spoken not so long ago in a parking lot that probably still drains well after a storm comes through:

Always pave with your eyes looking up.