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  2. other dog

    ...good Question...

    By other dog,

    I found out quitting smoking is ridiculously easy-all you gotta do is not do it anymore! Now that I know that,i'm gonna run over to 699 Market and get me a pack...no,can't do it. I know from past experience,having quit several times before. And I don't mean quitting for 39 minutes,I mean quitting for years-then starting back. Once I was over at the hunting cabin,hadn't smoked for years,quit- A man named Dennis got the last cigarette out of the pack,crumpled it up,dropped it on the coffee table and said " see y'all tomorrow,i'm going home" and left. I picked up the pack to throw it away,and said "this pack ain't empty,there's still one in there-i'll just smoke it". So I did...next thing ya know i'm en route to the store to get me a pack. Then Henry was over at the house one time,and said " here,have a Newpote". I said " thanks,but I don't smoke,I quit". He said "quit?! awh,come on man,smoke a Newpote with me-besides,one ain't gonna hurt 'ya!". So I did,and it wasn't long before I said "hey man-can I get another one of them Newpotes?". When somebody said ''We're going to the store-anybody need anything?",I said "yeah-pack of Newpotes!". I know you're wondering-yes,alcohol was involved. Then there was the time-well,never mind,you see what i'm saying-I've done that time after time. Must be like a recovering alcoholic I guess,when they say they're one drink away from being back-I understand what they mean. You can't smoke just one,can't take one drink,or you have to start to quit all over again. I can kind of take it or leave it when it comes to drinking,but I like a beer as much as the next guy.In fact,i'm having one now...and it would be so good with a cigarette...but ...it's been 4 days-I can't promise I won't buy a pack tomorrow,but i'm not going to tonight.
    And I went to Fremont,Oh. Wednesday...cold as a-and snowing across W.V... Turnpike was clear though.Just getting to the Turnpike,and after you get off it, can be a problem though. Loaded at Macedonia and unloaded in Roanoke Friday morning,now loaded for Zelienople,Pa. for Monday. Might even see Big Jim,he's going to Zelienople too.He's my best friend,we talk on the phone regularly,but seldom actually see each other in person.We're always on opposite ends it seems.
  3. other dog

    ...or Not

    By other dog,

    My load to Richmond was a Bobcat and attachments-a set of forks,an auger and trencher,like on a ditch witch-some straw,a machine that looked like an overgrown tiller,and 6 big holly trees.Yeah,it was a landscaping job.Right in a residential area with narrow streets,and a tri-axle lowboy.Had to detatch and unload everything right in the street.Fortunately there wasn't a lot of traffic moving in the area-got there about 10am.Caught hell getting turned around and out of there though.But it was a good load-it was exactly 100 miles from the shop to the jobsite,and it paid me $150.I left the shop at 8am and got back at 1:30. Then I went back to the shop and picked up my regular trailer and took a load of pipe to Weaverville,N.C.-just north of Ashville.This evening I went by Staley,N.C. on the way in and picked up a load of structural steel for Monday morning delivery in Wilmington,so for the sad news I just don't see how I can make it to the Winchester show.It's about 200 miles,and I hate-just hate-to miss it,but by the time I drove all the way up there,then drove back,then gotta leave Sunday-well,I might be biting off more than I could chew.I ain't as young as I used to be.Besides,things have been kinda slow lately and I really couldn't afford to go...but if I didn't have to go out Sunday,I would go anyway...dang it,this is the first time I've ever missed Winchester.About the only thing that would cheer me up is if Johnny Carson's former sidekick Fred MacMurry showed up here with a check from publishers clearinghouse.
  4. other dog

    #@%&! Taxes!

    By other dog,

    I'm off to Car Quest to see about getting a new line made.Just wrote a check to pay my real estate taxes- $239.00. I sold my house in Appomattox on 1 and 1/4 acres and bought this place,a single wide on .73 acres for $28,500 and now they've asessed it at $59,000 at tax time.I don't know whether to feel like I got a heckuva deal or if I got screwed big time. Gotta wait 'til later to pay the vehicle taxes-about $270.00.They asessed the mixer at less than half what I paid for it. I would take offense at that,but i'm afraid it would make my taxes go up. I must be off.
  5. other dog

    3 Month Know-it-alls

    By other dog,

    When I was coming from Macedonia Thursday night headed to Roanoke,running with " BB Brain",somebody started yelling on the radio when we were coming down Sandstone mountain on I-64,east of Beckley. Turns out it was a Swift driver,but it could have been any number of the company drivers you see nowadays. He said "get off your brakes,you're going to burn your brakes up,have to go in the runaway ramp,and never be able to get another job with another company".Then something like "get off your brakes,I smell brakes-you're gonna die in a fiery crash.I see your brake lights,just use your jake brake,or you'll die in a fiery crash,and never be able to get a job with another company-you should kick your trainers a**!- my trainer didn't teach me like that!". And this went on for a while and I was just listening-the Swift and the other truck,I don't remember the name,it was a something-or-other express, were both in front of me,and the other truck driver never answered the Swift driver,so I finally did. As I said,I was behind them,and I never smelled hot brakes.Smelling brakes doesn't really mean anything except your brakes are working-i've had to get on the brakes hard at a red light and could smell brakes when I got stopped.Now,if you can't see the truck for the smoke,and it looks like a burning brush pile coming down the mountain,that's a different story. Maybe the other truck didn't have a jake.Maybe he did and it wasn't working.Maybe he liked his job and didn't want to drive for a different company anyway,but I can see why a Swift driver might assume everybody else does,because he drives for Swift. Jake brakes sure are nice,but I remember when nobody had a jake-you might see one once in a while,but they certainly were not a common item like they are today. Many times I've loaded over 50,000 lbs. of coils at Armco Steel (now AK Steel) in Middletown,Ohio and ran rt. 60 from Charleston,W.V.over to Sam Black Church in an F-model Mack with no engine brake,no power steering,and an AM radio that didn't work-I-64 wasn't even finished,it ended at Sam Black Church.Rt. 60 was the only way you could go,unless you ran the W.V.Turnpike to Princeton,then 460 over to Christiansburg,and picked up I-81. The steel usually went to Harrisonburg or Buena Vista,and that was too far out of the way to go through Princeton,so going across "Hawk's Nest" was no big deal-I still go across there occasionally,just for the adventure.It's very steep,and crooked as a dog's hind leg.So,back to the Swift truck,I finally told him "I guess if you didn't have your jake brake and power steering,and GPS,satellite communication with dispatch,cell phone,and color TV,you'd just park it at the top of the mountain quit,and walk home,since you don't have any brakes except your jake brake".He said "oh no,I could drive this truck without a jake brake-or power steering". I kind of doubt that he could,if he had to run the old road,but it's all he's ever known,having all the modern equipment.That last curve at the bottom of the mountain going into Rainelle would probably be the end of him,like it's been for many others.
  6. other dog

    A 550?

    By other dog,

    Just as suspected,I see little or no difference in the way the truck pulls. Jeff said "I told ya so,it's the torque-the torque is still 1850 foot pounds,there ain't gonna be any difference".But still,75HP is quite a step,you'd think it would pull a little better anyway. I think maybe the guy that did it has computer skills like me-when he got done instead of clicking "save" he clicked "delete" by accident.
  7. other dog

    A B-61

    By other dog,

    I went to Appomattox to see Jeff and Teresa today.Took the back roads and stopped to look at a B-model i'd seen a long time ago.It was sitting in a field near a row of trailers,back off the road a quarter of a mile or so. All you could see was the back of the cab,but I could tell it was a B-model Mack. I said I was going to stop someday,and today was the day. An elderly lady came to the door when I knocked and she said I was welcome to look it over.I asked if it was for sale,and she said " it probably is ". You could tell it's been there a while,and I didn't examine it real-real close but it looked pretty solid. I was impressed when I looked inside,it looked better than I would have expected from the outside.It's a B-61 with a quadruplex,I don't know what year.I'm gonna post the pictures in my album,and if anybody wants me to check into it further i'll be glad to . I told the nice lady that I couldn't afford to pay attention when she said it was probably for sale,but someone else might be interested. Oh,I also saw a White Compact in a field,and A Transtar International grain truck in another field,so I stopped and took pictures of them too. Good day to be outstanding in a field I guess.
    Yes Paul,a tandem like this,in these colors would look good with your name on it.
  8. other dog

    A Different World

    By other dog,

    The year before last I went to the ATHS show in Winchester for the first time. I saw A book there on Saturday called " 100 Years of Semi Trucks",but I didn't buy it.I kept thinking about it and decided I was going to buy it the next day,but ended up going on A side trip to Altoona,Pa. and never got back to the truck show. I ended up ordering the same book from Amazon.com,and I don't remember the price but it was money well spent.I had it out today looking through it,and this one paragraph on page 21,chapter 3,says so much about how trucking has changed from the 30's to today-" Driving trucks back in the 1930's was not easy. Although the highways were improving,riding comfort was not what it is today.Most of the roads were two-lane highways and in the mountainous regions,a driver could wear himself out by all the frequent shifting. 'The First 50 Years',a history of Consolidated Freightways,recounts a run by a C.F. driver in 1937 from San Francisco to Reno on old Route 40. From Roseville,California,to Reno,a distance of 125 miles,the driver shifted gears 844 times. On a 36-mile stretch from Roseville to Colfax , he shifted 318 times in 1 hour and 58 minutes. And on another stretch from Fox Farm to Donner Summit, a distance of 3.2 miles,the driver shifted 59 times in 18 minutes. A lot of trucks at this time had two sticks to shift,compared to one stick or an automatic today." ...WOW!
  9. other dog
    I delivered the load from Texas to Milton, Pa. Tuesday, then rode over to Brookfield, Oh. and got a load of coils and went to Roanoke. I thought I was going to Chester, W.V. with a curtain side, or Conestoga, or whatever you call it Thursday (they won't unload a flat bed in winter, and we didn't know if we could get a return load for a van), but they got a Fremont, Oh. load so I took that instead. Ran in lots of snow (again!) all the way (well, all right, most of the way!) up and back. Had to go from Fremont over to Butler, Pa. to reload at AK Steel-I hate AK Steel by the way, have I mentioned that before? My appointment was at 3pm, got there at 3:15 and waited in the holding pen until after 6 when they finally called the 3 o'clock trucks. Didn't get out of there until 9 last night, when it was blizzarding (I just made that word up). I drove down I-79, saw a cop in the median just before exit 99 in West Virginia, I looked at my speedometer and was doing 74 mph (speed limit was 70). He didn't move but then a 4 wheeler passed me like I was tied to a stump, and he came out and pulled the car over. I stopped where you get on rt. 19 and pulled on the shoulder and took a nap until almost daylight. Then I came on down 19 to Summersville and took rt. 39 over to Nettie, stopped at the GoMart for a coffee and sausage bistit, then rt. 20 to Charmco, and rt. 60 to I-64 at Sam Black Church. 39 and 20 was pretty much snow covered, but no problems. Everything was lovely when I got on 64, and I got to the shop about 11:30. Took some good pictures along the way too...
    here's my truck Monday, all clean and shiny-except that hubcap ain't too shiny anymore
    same 'ol dirty trailer though-been to Seattle and back, and didn't get a wash job
    unloading in Milton,Pa.-I'm gonna back under the crane where that forklift is
    a frozen river in Pa.-I 80
    a river not frozen in Pa, I 80
    this looks like it could be in Montana or somewhere, but it's just east of Clifton Forge, Va. headed west on I-64
    this looks like it could be in Wyoming or somewhere, but it's on rt. 250 in Ohio
    this looks like it could be in Ohio
    four wheeler off roading-rt. 20 in Ohio
    lots of snow-rt. 20 in Ohio
    took this this morning-approaching Nettie, W.V.
    GoMart at Nettie, where I stopped for a bistit and coffee
    rt. 20, W.V.
    rt. 20, W.V.
    here's my truck Saturday- not so clean or shiny anymore.
  10. other dog

    Air Leak

    By other dog,

    well sh...oot! sometimes it doesn't pay to try to save a couple of bucks. I got my power steering hose made,$34.00 and went to put it on. First thing I did though was to take the air line off that I put on yesterday and put some thread tape on the fittings. It only took a few minutes,it was easy to get to. The power steering hose was much more difficult ,but I got that on and started the truck and turned the wheel back and forth then refilled the reservoir and was good to go,until I pushed the brake button in and heard the air leaking.The old line just had a small pinhole in it,and there was one on the shelf at the shop with the right fittings,it was just longer,so I put that on. They don't use that type air line at all anymore,the rubber hose type. And it's no good,it was leaking around the swivel part of the fitting,not around the threads. I saw similar airlines at the parts store hanging on the wall,and should have gotten one,but they're closed now. Now i've gotta get one and get it on by Saturday morning.
  12. other dog

    Amish Adventure

    By other dog,

    I took a van load-actually part of a load, only had 5,600 lbs. and the trailer was about a third of the way filled-to an Amish stove shop just out of Ashland, Ohio. The address said it was on rt.545 so, I could either go through Ashland on rt. 96 and go north on 545 or, stay on 250 up past Bailey Lake and come back south on 545. I opted for the latter so I wouldn't have to go all the way through town. As usual,I picked wrong. The place was easy enough to find,but it was on the right and I had to back in the driveway off the road. Since the driveway was angled in the way I was headed it would be nearly impossible to blind side in with a 53' van,so I went to look for a turnaround plce. Ended up going down to rt. 96,turned left,and had to go all the way into Ashland before I could get turned around. By the time I got back another truck was there parked in the road,waiting to back in.I didn't want to park in the highway,so I kept riding north on 545 until I got back to 250,then went back into Ashland to 96,then back to 545 and turned north again. By the time I got back this time the other truck was just pulling from the dock to close his doors.I wasn't going to make another lap around Ashland so I waited in the road for him to pull out. It was not a high traffic area.After I got unloaded with hand pallet jacks,and getting two crates reloaded to take back to Lynchburg because they weren't done right,I headed down to Vinton. Didn't really look like there was any good way to get from Ashland to Vinton,so I just took the direct route. Didn't see any low underpasses listed in the road atlas so I went down 13 to 256 to 664 to 93 to 324 to 160 to Vinton. I even had directions to this place-"look for a stable in front of a white farm house" But again,I found it with no problem and they even had a big gravel lot with plenty of room to back up to the dock.The place was called Ashland Stove Company,and the place in Ashland was Shrock Stove
    This was a really neat operation here. A man and a woman was on the dock soldering some kind of boxes together,but they put 3 of the boxes at a time in a rack,painted some acid or flux on the seam,then tilted the rack back so the seam dipped into a thing like a trough that was filled with molten solder and the solder would stick everywhere they had painted the flux on. Then they'd turn them over and do the other sides. Then a little girl who looked about 10 or 11 would put them in a large sink and rinse the flux off then set them on the dock. Then she'd put a plastic handle in between two tabs on each end of the box,stick a piece of precut threaded rod through it,put a nut on each end and tighten them with her little wrench and a box ratchet. Everybody there was working except the dog,I didn't see him doing any work,but he was there,not sleeping in the shade like some dogs do. There were 2 little girls about 4 or 5 years old riding scooters back and forth the whole time,on the dock,between the buildings,in the buildings-just room-a-zoom-zoom the whole time I was there. Even the boy loading the trailer would ride the pallet jack like a scooter down the slight incline to the next building to get another pallet,and there were several near misses with the 2 little girls' scooters,but no crashes.
    The trailer was almost full with this load,and I had 35,000 lbs. I slid the tandems up behind the landing gear legs like a Swift truck on the way up so I could go across 60 to Charleston,and left them there and came back the same way. When I went around the 15mph. curve at Chimney Corner I looked in the mirror and saw dust,smoke,rocks,gravel,asphalt,and concrete just flying! The bumper on the back of the trailer drug the pavement all the way around the curve-it's a tight hairpin to the right but drops down steeply too. Didn't hurt the bumper at all,I don't think it plowed the road up either. I backed the trailer to the dock in Lynchburg last night,dropped it and bobtailed home.
  13. other dog
    So,as I was sayin' I went to Greensboro yesterday morning and came back and went to Dillwyn and picked up a load of kyanite going to Chester,W.V. I should have delivered it today,but Todd told me to go to the doctor and deliver it Monday. So I did,except for the going to the doctor part.I've had a sore throat on one side all week-hurts all the way from my ear to my neck on the left side. It hurts so bad when I swallow I couldn't even sleep Wednesday night.I went to the store and got some Sudafed,Sucrets,Chloraseptic and aspirin so I hope that'll get rid of it. My son,his wife,and Jeff all had a sore throat recently,so I don't know what's going on.
    Now,back to the jobsite adventure- 5 of us loaded 60' concrete bridge beams in Bristol,Tn. and took them to Surry Co.N.C, near Mount Airy. We got off of I-77 at exit 93,turned west,then turned on a little skinny road that was not big enough for a truck. Then we came to a dead end and had to turn right off of a narrow bridge onto an even smaller road. Followed that to another dead end and had to turn right,then back up almost a mile to the bridge job. Had to back across another bridge with a 90 degree turn as you come off it,then around a couple more curves before getting to the jobsite.Then we just backed onto a temporary bridge over the creek and got unloaded.The beams had to be set in sequence,so we unloaded in the same order we got loaded. I took some pictures of course...
    hope I get 'em in the right order,but here goes-1. waiting to get loaded, 2.coming to the first narrow bridge,where we had to turn right at the end, 3. the curve coming off the second narrow bridge that we had to back around, 4. still backing up, 5.still backing up 6.still backing up 7.waiting to unload-i'm first in line,which means I was last to unload 8.first truck empty,pulled around to front-notice how narrow the road is! 9.sitting on the temporary bridge,waiting to unload 10.the dead beaver in the mill pond,before we got back to the bridge where we had to make a hard left onto on the way out 11.turning onto the bridge 12.totally unrelated,but I liked it-this is on rt. 250 in W.V. somewhere south of Moundsville.
  14. other dog
    I left here last Sunday,put my new radio in before I left ( the old Cobra wasn't acting right,but i've had it for 5 years ),and went to Brook Park,Oh. Reloaded at Brookfield and went to Roanoke,then to Dillwyn and on to Fremont,Oh.Then to Brookfield and Roanoke.Then to Moneta and Clarion,Pa. and Brookfield and Roanoke. Got to Roanoke about 6:30 last night and got unloaded at 11:30 So,instead of being home I slept in the truck up at the truckstop just south of Lynchburg. Called Jo at 5:30 this morning to come get me. She didn't cuss me or anything (well,at least not on the phone!),she came right on. I've put well over 200,000 miles on the truck now,and Jeff will have had it 2 years sometime in August. Think i'll run over to Wal-Mart now and get some fertilzer for the garden,they're calling for more rain today and tomorrow.Grass needs mowing again too. Maybe I should teach Jo how to push a lawnmower, but maybe I shouldn't push my luck.
    I have no new pictures now,so here's a recycled picture of a '66 Chevelle.
  15. other dog
    Had another interesting week,and it's not even over yet. I went to Macon,Ga. with a load of pipes Sunday. Blew a trailer tire on the way down and had to wait 3 hours for a tire. I wasn't pulling my regular trailer,the new aluminum Fontaine.They were supposed to switch the load at the shop,but for some reason they never did so I had to pull the raggedy 53 footer it was loaded on.( I know-whine,whine,whine!) When I got to the jobsite Monday morning I ran by the road I was supposed to turn on.There was A Wal-Mart just a little ways past it,but it was on the left and I was in the right lane. So I just stayed on rt. 129 into Macon,finally got turned around and went back and turned on Graham road,like the directions said. Didn't see a jobsite anywhere,so I stopped in the road to ask a man that was walking across his yard to get his newspaper. Then a cop pulled up behind me so I said "well,gotta go,see ya,bye!" I followed Graham road all the way through to the end,and it made a big circle and came out further north on 129. So I went back to the other end again and turned,then I called the phone number on the bills. Guess I should have called at first,but I had directions-the guy at the jobsite said "you need to turn on Chrissy road,it's right past Graham rd." Well-how do you get there from here? "You can't" he said."you've got to turn off of 129". Great-after my first pass I knew there was nowhere to turn around,so I went all the way through again,and down 129 to Chrissy road.Only problem was,the way the road was angled I couldn't have made that turn if I was bob-tailing.So now that I was pretty familiar with the area since i'd been riding around for what seemed like half a day,I went to the Wal-Mart and turned around and came back to Chrissy road and turned in. They had just started unloading the TMC truck that was there,so I was still there in plenty of time.
    Then I went to Atlanta and picked up an empty 40' container and delivered it to Glade Spring,Va. Tuesday morning,then went down to Bristol,Tn. and loaded a 60' concrete bridge beam and took it to Surry county,N.C. Went back to Bristol and reloaded and did it again today.That was the great adventure,not the Macon,Ga. jobsite. But i'll finish that story later,and i'll have some pictures. It's about time to turn in,and i've got a van load of kyanite to deliver in Greensboro in the morning...I must be off.
  16. other dog
    Man,what an adventure I had today! Last week was pretty routine,went to Triadelphia with a load of piling,Galv-tech back to Lynchburg,then I took a van load of kyanite to Orchard Park,and brought a load of hay back from Edinboro,Pa. to Altavista for Stacy Compton,the race car driver. (ok,that part wasn't so routine) He drives in the Craftsman truck series this year. I had 580 bales in the 53' van.Hay is scarce around here because of the drought.
    So I left Sunday going back to Point Marion,Pa. with another load of piling.I told Todd Friday I didn't want to go back up there because the job site was such a mess.He said this was going to the other side of the bridge,across the river from where we unloaded before,so I said "OK,maybe it'll be better"...WRONG! When I got there this morning,after running rt.119 out of Morgantown which is crooked as a dog's leg,I saw the crane sitting there and said "that doesn't look bad at all". Then they told me they parked the crane there over the weekend in case it flooded.When they walked the crane back down over the bank right to the edge of the river-actually on a platform of crossties on a pile of rip-rap in the river-it didn't look so easy anymore. No wonder they moved it in case the river got up. I had to back down straight to where the crane was at first,then cut the trailer over to the left...or right,depending on how you look at it. The problem was a great big hole they had dug on my left and the chain link fence on my right,so I had very little room to turn the cab. I had to pull up and back up several times,working the trailer over a little at a time. I finally got backed into position and unloaded,and of course the bank was so steep they had to pull me back up it with a bulldozer. I took a couple of pictures,but they're not developed yet.
    When I left there I had to go to Galv-tech in Pittsburgh.I was going to take 88 up to 21,but I didn't think I could make the turn onto the bridge when I came out of the job site,so I figured i'd just go up 119 to Uniontown and then 51 north. And I thought the first part of 119 was crooked! I kept hearing the dump truck drivers that are all over the area saying "southbound at the wall" or "northbound at the wall" and had no idea what they were talking about. I found out pretty quick though-a little ways out of town I got to this curve to the right with a big concrete wall on my right,and it took every bit of the road for me to get around it-if i'd have met anybody in it somebody was going to have to back-up.
    Got to Galv-tech and was the only truck there,got loaded pretty quick and was going down rt. 40 somewhere between Uniontown and Keysers Ridge when the engine light came on and I lost most of my power and my engine brake was doing little or nothing. I struggled onward to Keysers Ridge truck stop and pulled in and checked the fault code-intake valve actuator malfunction. Jeff said to try to make it in and take it to Cat in Lynchburg,so I did. Only took about an hour longer than normal,got passed by everybody on the highway. When I dropped the load of coils in Lynchburg I tried to phone home so Jobyna could pick me up at Carter Cat.The phone rang,and rang,and rang-no answer,not even the answering machine. Billy-Bob was at Handy tarping his load when I dropped the trailer and offered to give me a ride,so I got him to pick me up at the Cat place and he brought me over to the store two miles from here,over on 699.He could turn around there easily and go back to 29 and continue on to Duluth,Ga. I walked the two miles home. In the dark. By myself. Only one dog came after me and he turned out to be friendly,even walked with me for a couple hundred yards. When I was about a quarter of a mile from home my phone rang-it was Jobyna. She said the phone hadn't rang all day and didn't have a dial tone.I told her I walked all the way from Lynchburg.
    My investigation found that the phone line was pulled part of the way out of the wall plug.The line goes behind other dog's (that would be the beagle,not me) bed and aparently he had gotten tangled up in it and pulled it loose. That's all right,I needed the excercise anyway.
  17. other dog
    I'm trying to remember where I went the first of the week...oh that's right, took a load of beams to Syracuse, N.Y. -Beautiful country up in that area. Then I went down rt. 15 from Corning, N.Y. to Trout Run, Pa. (near Steam Valley) to pick up a load going back to Lynchburg. That's another of my favorite rides, from Corning down to Williamsport, Pa. All routine, except the load tore my tarp all to pieces.
    But the next trip, a load of pipes to Paintsville, Ky. was a horse of a different hue. The directions said to meet the contractor in the K-Mart parking lot in Paintsville. I told Jeff before I left that that was never a good thing, "meeting the man in the K-Mart parking lot- he's probably gonna take us up a dirt road right up the side of a mountain". And sure enough, that's exactly what we did. It was too steep to get up the hill going in, and I had to be pulled the rest of the way up with a bulldozer. They could only get one truck up there at a time, and there were 5 loads. After I got unloaded-I was first-I eased back down the hill and turned right on rt. 40 because I couldn't make a left like I wanted to, or i'd have taken the guardrail with me. Had to go past the entrance going in, up to an intersection, and turned right and then backed up into the road to turn around so I could turn left into the jobsite entrance. The front axle on the trailer was dangling over thin air when I turned in as it was. I got all the way over by the guardrail on the right and dumped the air on the rear trailer ax axle so I could turn a little shorter, but as soon as I turned I started climbing, and the rear axle was the only one touching the ground.I had the power divider in and poured the coal to it, but still couldn't make it all the way up. You can see where the truck was spinning in the picture taken on the right side. That's Kentucky rt. 40 down at the bottom of the hill, and it was a really tight turn- should have walked down a little further and took a better picture. Oh well, bring on the bulldozer...
    when I finally got unloaded I saw one of the other trucks that had tried to turn around, and got stuck in the process. He had to call a wrecker to get out. And i'm sure everybody else had to be pulled up the hill too. Once again, when it's bad, there's always somebody worse off. Nice looking wrecker though.
    I also hit a bird on the way, and the passenger window was down about 2 inches-what a mess!..feathers all up in the cab...bird parts all over the window.
    Loaded with beams now going to Birmingham, to deliver Tuesday. I have a doctor appointment Monday to get this huge cyst on my back looked at. It's been there for years, right up between my shoulder blades, and i've had it "removed" a couple times, and had to have it lanced several more times, but it's always come back. It'll be fine for several years usually, then all of a sudden it'll get sore and very painful, like it is now. Can't lean back in a chair or sleep on my back at all.
  18. other dog

    Another Long Week

    By other dog,

    Just got home about 7:30 this morning.Could've been in about midnight,but I ran out of power and had to take a nap. The power plant load kinda sucked-it's near Fremont,where I deliver Kyanite regularly, and it paid about $100 more dollars than a Fremont,but when you consider that I had to go to Richmond to load,then go through two separate security checks when I got there-they looked under the hood,in the sideboxes,all the tool boxes on the truck and trailer,in the cab,in the sleeper, then after I went through 2 security gates where you pull in and a gate closes behind you before the one in front opens,they did the complete search all over again-it's just not worth the hassle. I know they're just doing their job too,but since i'm not a criminal it's kind of offensive when they get up inside the cab and sleeper and go through everything...twice.
    Then I went to Masury,Oh. Thursday with a load of beams. Everybody hates to go to Masury because the load has to be tarped,winter or summer,even though the beams are stored outside on the ground at Petersburg where we load them. Apparently it somehow gets wetter if it's on a trailer,and it's hard to tarp beams without tearing the tarps up. I didn't cover the ends and still tore several holes in the tarps. After I'd been there about an hour and a half they decided to unload me,and I went on down to Galv-Tech in Pittsburgh and loaded up 5 coils for Handy in Lynchburg and dropped the trailer there this morning. Now i'm home raking leaves...well,i'm going to in a minute...maybe.
  19. other dog
    Made a couple of trips this week, to Chillicothe Oh. with lumber, reloaded coils in Franklin coming back to Suffolk, Va. then took a load of beams to Neville Island, Pa. in a Conestoga and reloaded coils at the dreaded AK Steel in Butler, Pa. to unload in Chesapeake Monday. Took a few pictures along the way of course. I went over to the produce stand this morning and bought some squash and green beans so I can tell Paul it came out of my garden. I planted green, purple, and yellow green beans.
    Saw a strange sight this morning-we were standing in the front yard minding our own bidness and an ostrich came trotting down the highway. No, really-it was about 7am and I hadn't drank anything but coffee. Otherdog took off chasing it and it made a right and turned into the driveway next door and fell down. I figured it had killed itself, but it was up and running again in a second. Headed to our back yard. I immediately thought since it didn't kill itself when it fell i'd do it myself when it crashed into my anti-rabbit defense fence and destroyed my garden...was already thinking about how to cook it...but it missed everything and went crashing into the woods. We saw it come out a couple houses down, it ran through their back yard and back to the road, took a left and trotted right back by here towards wherever it came from. Strange! I didn't know anyone around here had ostriches, never seen any near here. Still wondering what the dog would have done with it if he'd caught it.
    photos are a big Mack mixer
    a big Mack truck
    car hauler in Crewe, Va.
    ...looks like a nocluejoemobile...
    old Mack on rt. 422 in Pa.
    a rhinocerous on rt. 422
    self explanatory
    Otherdog taking a break-he's got to rest in case he has to fend off an ostrich attack
    vegetables I picked...bought, I mean...this morning
  20. other dog

    Another Week

    By other dog,

    Got back to work this week, after having no paycheck last week. Shoulda got AFLAC I guess. I went to Metals USA in Ambridge, Pa. Monday with a 60' load of beams then loaded almost 49,000 lbs. of angle and channel in North Jackson, Oh. going to Petersburg, Va. Reloaded another 60' load of beams going to Oneal Steel in Ambridge, Pa. to deliver Friday morning, then brought a load of firebrick back from Alliance, Ohio to deliver in Madison Heights tomorrow. Should all be pretty good paying loads.
    Picked the first produce out of the garden today. Cut a head of cabbage to make cole slaw-delicious on that venison barbecue I made yesterday!
    took some pictures this week-
    this is what I saw walking in the front yard when I got up Saturday morning-Jo in a robe, her Snoopy pajamas, and wearing my steel toed work boots.
    a truck on a pole...
    and some pictures taken on Sandstone mountain in West Virginia, showing both runaway ramps.
  21. other dog
    Another long week,and short weekend coming up. Delivered in Butler,Pa. early Tuesday morning and went to Brookfield and was loaded and ready to go by 10:30 am,figuring i'd get to Roanoke and unload early Tuesday night and come home. But,that all changed when I had to go to Malta,Oh. and make another pickup.Last time I went there and loaded the cement mixers I was empty,this time I had on almost 44,000 lbs. of the big Metalsa coils right in the middle of the trailer,and couldn't make much time on the very narrow,crooked,small,twisty,skinny,roads getting there. Picked up 5 mixers and a small skid of unknown product over there,going to Vinton,Va,near Roanoke. So I didn't get home,but I got paid for 2 loads in one,so it was a very good round.
    Then I had to go to Petersburg and get a 60' load going to Wheeling,W.V. that wasn't ready until about 6 o'clock Wednesday night. I delivered there Thursday morning,then went back to Brookfield and loaded more coils for Roanoke. Got that off this morning and went to Dillwyn and loaded kryptonite,or kyanite I mean, (I can't haul kryptonite,it makes me sick,especially green kryptonite) for Brook Park,Oh. That's near Cleveland,so I'll be leaving early Sunday.
    Got a roll of film developed today that I took during my recent travels-a B-model Mack on rt. 60 between Rupert and Charmco,W.V, a plane towing a sign when I was unloading in Avon,Oh,a Superliner for sale in Moorefield,W.V,3 shots of climbing the mountain out of Uniontown,Pa. headed east on U.S. rt. 40-the little notch to the left of the sign is where i'm headed,then i'm almost to the top with Uniontown visible in the mirror,then the motel at the top. This mountain is so steep the speed limit going down is 10 mph. I once got stopped going down it for doing 17 mph in a 10,with an empty flatbed . Cost me about $100 near as I can remember,that was about 20 years ago. And,some of those giant windmills on a mountaintop,somewhere near Pa,W.V,or western Maryland.
    P.S.-How about Mushroom colors on your B-67 Paul? I like it,very colorful.
  22. other dog
    So, where was I? Oh, last week I went to Petersburg to load a 60' load going to Masury,Oh, but just as I was pulling off the scales I got a call from headquarters telling me not to load it because they didn't want it in Masury until the end of the week. I ended up taking a load to Piedmont,S.C. instead, then loaded a load of 60' re-bar in Darlington for Fredericksburg,Va. Had a flat on the way back with that load, had to call road service to bring me a steer tire. Then I went to Petersburg and loaded a 60' load for Masury,Oh. All on my 48' trailer. I like my trailer.Not as good as the old Ravens I used to pull though- cain't beat a Ravens. Everybody hates going to Masury, because you have to tarp the steel beams that are stored outside, and everyone who works there is an a-hole, from the people in the office to the guys on the floor. Just hateful for no apparent reason.
    But I survived and loaded at Brookfield for Roanoke. I unloaded there Monday and then went to Dillwyn and loaded for Fremont, Oh. Haven't been there for a long time, it's one of my favorite runs. Then I went back to Masury and loaded coils for Roanoke. Then to Petersburg and Wilmington,N.C. Then empty back to Lynchburg and picked up a Duluth,Ga. From there I went to Birmingham and picked up skidded coils ( good thing-I left my coil racks in the tool box on my trailer in Lynchburg) to unload in LaCrosse, Va. Monday. I ran over 3,000 miles from Monday 'til Friday.
    Then I made some of the best chili ever today, even cooked some pasketti noodles and served it Cincinnati style-very delicious. And of course I took a roll of film to Wal-Mart, only to find they don't do 1 hour phtos any more! Had to go to CVS, but I got 'em.
    A nice looking Argosy Freightliner from Canada,loading in Petersburg.
    Colorful leaves in West Virginia
    Colorful leaves in West Virginia
    Coloful leaves in West Virginia
    wtf?!! looks like the truck ain't setting level...
    oh...tire's flat-time to get my air hose out-maybe I can pump it up
    Jeff's other truck, W900 Kenworth, on the scales in Petersbug
    ...uh...thumbnail's too small for me to identify it yet,must it must be something important-ok,a neat looking old building in downtown Gormania,W.V.
    Rt. 220 in W.V.- Used to have to keep straight here and cross this old iron bridge
    either the first snow of the year, or a cotton field in South Carolina-can't remember which
    Superliner Mack
    Superliner Mack
  23. other dog
    Not much good to report. Been at home since Tuesday, but just got a load going to Orchard Park, N.Y.
    And how about the ticks this year? More around here than i've ever seen. Can't get Diazanon any more, but I tried some other kind of poison and it doesn't seem to have any affect.
    But everything i've planted so far came up, and the garden is growing like crazy. I put a second picture of the garden, taken from the back porch, because it's raining again-first was taken Friday,second Sunday morning. The beans have nearly doubled in size!
    Now not only do we have lots of ticks, I have to worry about creatures like this when I go outside! I think it's a non-poisonous garter snake, but i'm of the opinion the only good snake is a dead one. The dog was barking at it about 4' from the garden, under the rose bush where Jo was cutting flowers yesterday. I applied the shovel to it's head.
  24. other dog

    Back To Florida

    By other dog,

    I finally left Tuesday and bobtailed to Florida to pick up a trailer at the St. Lucie nuclear power plant and bring it back to Lynchburg. Got there at 3:30 Wednesday evening but couldn't leave until Thursday morning. Had to wait for the paperwork, then they wanted it back in Lynchburg at 8:00 AM Friday The most interesting thing I saw was a crab crossing the highway just before I got there. I've seen lots of things, but that was a first. Now i'm loaded with sheets from N.B.Handy going to Boca Raton, Florida.
  25. other dog

    Back To Work

    By other dog,

    Last day of vacation is over,so back to the old grind. I was ready to go after a couple of days off, now it'll take a while to get motivated to get back at it.
    Hope they fixed the list of problems with the truck,instead of just putting somebody in it and sending them on their way.
    By the way,water,hot sauce,and soap does NOT deter rabbits- -as a matter of fact,they must think it's pretty tasty-3 of them were in the garden last night,one was standing on his hind legs holding onto a cabbage plant with his front feet while he ate. Think i'll move the owl back to the garden and let the squirrels have the peaches-if that doesn't work i'm gonna put a white flag in the garden.
    Once again-I must be off now.

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