other dog

Everytime I hear Nazareth I think of the band. Anyways it sounded like you had an enjoyable week. The race season starts back in a feew weeks. Over at the bristol track around christmas time you can drive on the track, because it fully decorated with christmas lights. Those banks around the curves are higher than what people think. You was talking about racing, I wish they still had the big truck races around. I'd love to see that. I never was a fan of tarping myself, but some people don't mind it. We've had crazy weather here also. Last weekend in was 4 degrees when I left for work and this monday it's gonna be 60 degrees, that'll be a nice day. Anyway have a good one.

I remember the band.When I was a teenager "Love Hurts" was a big hit for them. That and "Hair of the Dog" are the only Nazareth songs I could name though.

I was going down 81 to Chattanooga or somewhere a few years ago and decided to drive down by the Bristol track just to see it and it was lit up that night too,pretty awesome looking.I've still never seen it in the daytime. I guess the banking is like taking a picture of a hill,the picture never seems to show just how steep the hill is.I've seen a couple of pictures at Hank's truck pictures that looked scary steep even in the picture,but not too many.I'll try to find them if you want,you might've seen them before. But the best Bristol example i've ever seen was when Ned Jarrett had a racing show that came on every Sunday morning.He had some really interesting stuff,like what 200 mph really looked like-he was driving 55 mph at Talledega and Terry Labonte passed him doing 200+. He wanted to demonstrate how steep the banking was at Bristol,so they took a crane and lifted A VW beetle over the wall (this show came on probably 20-some years ago,before it was so built up all the way around) and set it down at the top of the banking. When they turned it loose it just rolled right down to the bottom. Good stuff!

And tarping-I've pulled flat beds most of my career and it's just part of the job,something you gotta do,so it doesn't really bother me that much, EXCEPT- it really burns me up when like i've mentioned before people want you to tarp stuff for no apparent reason. I've picked up lumber in Palmer,Massachusets before that was supposed to be tarped,and it had snow a foot deep on top of it. I told them they could unload it if they wanted,but I certainly wasn't going to climb up on a load of snow covered lumber to tarp it,and I didn't.

We used to haul lumber for Hoover treated lumber in Milford,Va. and they wanted everything tarped,year round,even though they stored it out in the weather and everywhere we delivered to did too. A lot of the steel we haul is the same way,it just makes no sense at all. Nothing that I know of gets wetter just because it's loaded on a trailer,and there's no salt on the road when there's no snow or ice,especially in the summer. I think a lot of these idiots in management have absolutely no common sense,plus they just hate trucks and truck drivers. And that's what gripes me about tarping!

I'm glad you finally checked in. I was thinking about calling the police, and having them put out an APB. I miss you and Joe when you are gone all week. Sounds like you've had another busy week. The thing I remember most about folding a wet lumber tarp, is that they are slicker than snot on a door knob, when you have to roll them back out. Not much fun with a 13 ft load, with the wind blowing. Be careful, James

,Yep,last time I unloaded in Orville the wind tried to blow the tarps away 'til I got them drug inside the building,this time it was the cold. The tarps still had ice and snow and salt on them,there was snow on the ground,and when you try to roll them up you can't get any traction on anything so you can't get them rolled very tight so they end up big as a small car,and hard to handle. And I don't have a lumber tarp,I carry two smaller ones. And It's hard enough to stay clean on a flatbed anyway, but when you get the salt all over everything it's even worse,all you gotta do is touch the truck or trailer and it seems to be all over you,and tarping and untarping is really bad. I'm not complaining though,I don't care for slick roads either.

And it's good to know that if I go missing somebody would actually notice-thanks!

[i always heard chewing gum helped or keep a tooth pick in your mouth. When my uncle quit smoking he picked up chewing tobacco..go figure

Yeah,thanks for reminding me Joe,i'm outa' here tomorrow headed to Nazareth, Pa. then to parts unknown...always an unknown adventure ahead,at least I can come home and relax for a while...haven't smoked one since the last one,new years day I think.

Sorry, I know it sucks, anymore it seems like the only time I'm home is to sleep then back to doing something. Glad to see you are holding strong on smoking.

lol,yeah,that's about it Joe-as whatya macall'um used to say,thank you for being a friend-and I ain't smoked one yet. If I didn't burn one last week I should pretty much have it made.

P.S.-aaaaargh!!!!!!!!!

things might be altogether different now,but when I worked at Cumberland Auto Service from '74-77 we had a brake relining machine that was a pedal operated air machine,and all you did was put the rivets in the hole,lined the rivets up in the machine and worked from the center out to the ends of the shoe-put the rivets in,line it up ,step on the pedal,brad the rivets,move to the next hole outward-you're done. I did it as a teen ager and never remember a lining cracking,you started in the center and worked outward like tightening down a cylinder head.That doesn't mean I know anything...maybe it just means i'm getting old and relining old shoes just isn't done that much anymore.

Yeah,thanks for reminding me Joe,i'm outa' here tomorrow headed to Nazareth, Pa. then to parts unknown...always an unknown adventure ahead,at least I can come home and relax for a while...haven't smoked one since the last one,new years day I think.

One of my early excursions in a truck involved rt 250. I had taken a load of ice-packed chickens to Moorfield W. VA, and upon calling in, I found that my next pickup was at Farmdale Ohio. Hey, I said, you know we don't have permits for Pa. Just look on your map and find yourself a way across the Allegheny front. Ha, at the time I wasn't sure that the folks in Littleton had ever seen a tractor trailer before. Maybe they had just never seen anyone driving on the sidewalk. My first little truck was a 4070B IH, with a 144 in, wheelbase, coupled with a 42.6 reefer trailer. I had to use three sidewalks and barely missed a light pole. I have to say that the road did not get reeeal steep until after Littleton. Everyone should try it once.

I had to get my road atlas out and look Littleton up- I know exactly where you're talking about. Years ago,when I was young and dumb,as opposed to now being old and dumb,I left either Martins Ferry,Oh. or maybe Beech Bottom,W.V. and decided to run 250 from Moundsville down to 79,just to check it out. I was driving an F-model Mack pulling a 42' flat bed with a load of coils. Shortly after leaving Moundsville,climbing up a steep mountain,I started to wonder if i'd made a wise decision when the road disappeared.It looked like it just ended,and if I kept going i'd just drive off the cliff into space,like Thelma and Louise. I thought " what the ...",then I looked out of the passenger side window and saw the road again,a tight hairpin curve to the right while climbing steeply at the same time. Then after a while I got to this town and had a time making that turn -a hard left the way I was going -I didn't remember the name of the town,but it was up in that area so i'm pretty sure that's the place. Once I finally got to 79 I said I wouldn't go back across there bobtailing.

But as far as 250 goes,i'd say the crookedest and steepest part is between Churchville and Monterey,Va. You'd like going to Moorefield now-55 across the mountain from Baker is a four lane 65 mph superslab now. I run up 259 from Broadway then 55 to Moorefield and go 220 north pretty regularly now,and it's all good road. 259 used to be so narrow you had to hit the shoulder if you met another truck,or you'd likely get your mirror knocked off.

There's still a steady stream of chicken and turkey trucks running across there to Moorefield. They have the four lane finished to Wardensville and it's supposed to eventually go to I-81,somewhere around Strasburg I think,but that parts not finished yet.

You're exactly right though,everybody should experience something like that at least once. I think these guys that start out hauling coal in the hills,or logs or pulpwood out of the woods end up being the best truck drivers,unlike the swift,werner,u.s.express,etc. ( they're all pretty much the same ) that after 2 weeks of truck driving school only think they are.

Believe it or not my friends name is jim. He said he looked at the map and seen that hwy. 250 was leading to the town he was going to so he decided to take it. If you could have heard him going on about it. He said the worst part was it started raining hard and that fog was heavy so he was having a rough night all together. I'm trying to get ahold of him to see excatly where he was going to and I'll let you know.

Just talked to him he was in beverly at a armstrong wood plant.

Sounds like you've had a decently busy week. I hate them stupid dispatchers that think you can pull of a miracle to get their on time, they think because their not tired you shouldn't be either. One company dad worked for down here in town had a dispatcher like that and that's why dad and a few others left. Come to find out the dispatcher bought it from the owner, so I believe you know the rest of the story. Congratulations on being smoke free, and good luck.

Yes,that is correct-when I first went to work for H.H.Moore his grandsons Jeff and Todd were still in high school. When they were old enough they started driving,local at first,then long distance,so they know the deal.They realize that when they go home at 5 O'clock the drivers still have a days work to get done to deliver the next morning,something a lot of dispatchers seem to think happens by magic.

A buddy of mine was a driver for awhile then went to dispatching, and said some of the people in that office talks about drivers like they are dogs.. really pisses me off. I just talked to another buddy of mine and he's in west virginia, said he got off of interstate 81 @ exit 221 then went across hwy 250 into west virginia. He said it was pretty steep hills to get across, have you been through there? I was just wondering if it was as bad as he was letting on. Glad to know your boss realizes how it is not many does. See ya Buddy.

oh,'52 F-600-what kind of shape is that in? I ain't got no money,just curious...got any pictures of it?

Sounds like you've had a decently busy week. I hate them stupid dispatchers that think you can pull of a miracle to get their on time, they think because their not tired you shouldn't be either. One company dad worked for down here in town had a dispatcher like that and that's why dad and a few others left. Come to find out the dispatcher bought it from the owner, so I believe you know the rest of the story. Congratulations on being smoke free, and good luck.

Hey Joe,how's it going? What's Parker and Paxton been up to,if anything? Parker called me the other day,I think it was Tuesday,and said Paxton had been picking on him. Paxton called Wednesday and said Parker had been teasing him . I told them both you'd get them straight this weekend. ( kidding of course...they called me,but didn't say anything about picking on or teasing each other )

I checked out your cabover gallery-I drove a truck like that to Chicago once. H.H.Moore had several Internationals like that,with 400 Cummins engines and 13 speeds in them. I never had one as a regular tractor,but drove one to Chicago when my truck was in the shop for something one time.

I don't know about all that locking release in the tool box beneath the sleeper,but I once stopped at a self service car wash in Buena Vista,Va. when I was on the way to Covington with a load of chips to spray my truck off. I jacked the cab up and it wouldn't go back down. I pushed on it so hard it left dents in the front of the cab,but it still wouldn't come down. Finally I called headquarters and told Teddy what the problem was,my cab wouldn't come back down. He said after you jacked it up past a certain point you couldn't just release the valve,you had to jack it back down too...oh...I put the jack handle in the jack,pumped it a few times,and it came right on down. I didn't know that.

And the cold-I can deal with that. I have a sub-zero sleeping bag that I've never used, A Czechoslavakian military surplus parka I ordered from Sportsman's Guide for about $19.95,it's really warm-so warm I haven't worn it yet ( weighs about 8 lbs!). You can always put on more clothes-but i've never been a heat person. I don't particularly like driving in snow and ice,but I took an Orchard Park over a Boca Raton a while back. The heat like we had here last summer was just miserable to me...I can still remember the 114 degrees in Savanna,Ga.when I was loading something or other,and i'll take the cold anytime.

Where do you go in Zelienople? Rome metal , ( slabs) Main steel (coils) I live and work around town maybe some day I'll catch up to you & buy & a coffee. 75T

Thank you Joe,I really appreciate the encouragement.

I couldn't have said it better...Wow!

not a problem,Paul- just go back and look at the digital pictures you took and printed when you were taking it apart.

VERY FUNNY!

PVS

Hey Joe,how's everything? What's Parker and Paxton doing?

not a problem,Paul- just go back and look at the digital pictures you took and printed when you were taking it apart.

Quitting the smoking is the hardest thing I have ever done.

Been about 16 years for me.

Good Luck.

Paul VS

ARRRGH!...none since Wednesday.Just one then-it was an ultra lite.

Hey Joe,I hope Parker and Paxton are doing well...did you check out the youtube videos yet? I told you they were pretty bad,but everybody has seemed to like them. Makes me want to borrow Teresa's video camera and try it again.Should sound better anyway-I was surprised that little camera of mine picked up the sound as good as it did. Take care,catch you later.

I know exactly where you're talking about,though I've never been through there in the snow. Most of the old road has been bypassed with the 4 lane. I've always wanted to stop at the little truckstop on top of Steam Valley hill,but never have. Old Bill had an excellent story about it in his stories-it's the Florida trip story. All his stories are really good. You might have already checked them out,

http://www.thedieselgypsy.com/Florida%20Bound%20-%202.htm

Next time I get a load going that way i'll let you know,and give you my cell phone number.

Boy I haven't been up and down Rte.219 in a long time. Probably 20 years or more.

I have travelled that road a lot in my past.

Used to have a good friend and racing partner in Mahaffey, which is a little south of Dubois & Punx'y.

If you get to Orchard Park with some time on your hands, you are welcome to visit our shop,

which is a short hour east of Orchard Park on I-90, or I can meet you somewhere for dinner.

On another subject - I am curious - what is a typical mileage rate today for a flat trailer and tractor?

I haven't kept up with current charges, except for the heavy hauls that my uncle's company does.

And that work is all done by the hour.

I'm not sure about the per-mile rates,but I can figure it out sorta close when my pickup gets back with my pay stub still laying in the seat. I get paid by percentage.

If I have to load steel at Lackawanna,which I hate to do because the people are so hateful at the steel mill, I run 90 over to Rochester,then 390 down to Corning and run rt. 15 back down to Harrisburg. I like running 15 from Corning to Williamsport too. I've tried 20 and 20a across,but it's just as quick,maybe quicker, to take 90.

nine years?!! she's probably forgotten about it by now,so it'll be a big surprise

Tom,

If you get to Orchard Park again, and have a little time on your hands, give me a call.

It's less than an hour from me.

Paul VS