other dog

On 2/6/2024 at 5:51 PM, Joey Mack said:

I dug through all my small Mack parts and only found 2 straight keys..  This is how they get us..  Make essential small parts obsolete.  I wish I had a crystal ball 10 + years ago..  I may have bought a few of them, as well as other smalls..  Mack's price is $85.00..   I saw a PAI version for $103.00..  None in stock..

This has nothing to do with your parts issue, but as for the crystal ball- I've said many times that if I knew then what I know now I'd have bought a bunch of the old metal flake gear shift knobs every week, they used to have a whole aisle of of them at every truck stop. Now they bring unbelievable prices on e-bay or wherever you can find one. If I had bought some back then and put them in the deep freezer I could retire.

10 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

I have a lot of respect for Senator John Kennedy.

Me too.

16 hours ago, Joey Mack said:

I guess theres enough illegals here to vote for Democrats, to tip the scales.  So now its time to look like a hero and close the border. They are saying that Republicans are at odds about it..   B.S. !!!   We had a President who was getting it done!!  What a sad state we are in..   Very sad........

I'm with you there, 100%!

19 hours ago, mowerman said:

I was actually watching for Xena from Florida and besides, I didn’t notice you without your big red tea 800

That's what I was driving. Zina was very excited to have her name on the passenger side door.

17 hours ago, carlotpilot said:

well where did you move to 

Just over to Spout Spring, right outside of Appomattox.

9 hours ago, tjc transport said:

"scrapple, salami, and sardine sub"

ketchup, or mustard?

Miracle Whip!

6 hours ago, mowerman said:

And yes, I think that was me was on a special assignment that week or some different scenery. Ha ha besides I was watching for you…. Bob

That's funny, I waved at you and you didn't even wave back.

10 hours ago, mowerman said:

I also lost a jacket it wasn’t that rugged just this cool pretty warm jacket I bought years ago as you said it just vanished last time I wore it was around 20 years ago,,, and I have no idea what happened to it… bob

I left a nice one in a booth in Lee-Hi Truck  Stop one time. I knew exactly where I left that one, no need to go looking for it. I'm sure somebody else wore it out of there.

Funny how that works...

Not funny "ha-ha" but funny weird. It's been very cold 🥶 here like pretty much everywhere else for the last week or so. And I was looking for those warm gloves I bought last fall. I got a pair for myself and a pair for Zina. Found hers, in the console in the pickup, but mine are nowhere to be seen. And ever since I had that allergic reaction to a tick bite a couple of years ago, when my head swelled up like a pumpkin and my hands swelled up to the size a small ham, my hands get really cold really quick when I go outside. Never used to bother me, but now they're super sensitive to hot and cold. So I ordered us both a pair of good gloves, she's always cold anyway.

So while I was looking for the gloves, I remembered the parka. You know, the military surplus parka that I bought about 8 or 10 years ago. I used to keep it in the truck in case of emergencies, along with a sub zero rated sleeping bag- one of those lessons learned. It was a really nice parka too, it was heavy, probably weighed 15 pounds, and supposed to keep you warm in temps well below zero. I never even wore it except to try it on because it never really got cold enough. You couldn't work in it, you'd be sweating in just a couple of minutes. 

And even though I never wore it, it's driving me nuts that I can't find it. It got lost in the move somehow. I've been through this house from one end to the other several times. I hope I didn't throw it in a dumpster by accident, but I can not find it anywhere, it just disappeared.

10 hours ago, GA_Dave said:

Back in early 1984, I was working 2nd shift at a business in downtown Rochester, NY.  I didn't have a car at the time and rode the bus back and forth, from about three miles away.  The storm hit around 7 PM and by midnight, it was really getting ugly out.  The buses stopped running by 9 that night.  I had no desire to stay at work overnight, so I set off on foot.  Since the walking portion of my usual commute was a couple hundred feet at most, I was not dressed for what I encountered.  I had on jeans, a T-shirt, tennis shoes and a light jacket. 

The temperature was around zero and the winds were high.  While it had been snowing for several hours, there was little on the ground.  It was kinda like walking in a sandstorm, with visibility changing between fifty feet and zero.  I walked as quickly as I could, but it still took me over 90 minutes to get home and I had a pretty good coating of ice on me by the time I got there.  The next morning, the TV said that the temp had dropped to almost 10 below and the wind chill was about 50 below. 

I haven't been cold since!

Wow, lucky you're still with us!

One night I was coming back from Chillicothe, Ohio- with an empty log trailer as a matter of fact. It was snowing hard, but 64 was in pretty good shape when I came across, but getting worse. When I got on rt. 60 at Buena Vista and started east it was pretty bad. So I decided that if rt. 60 looked like it had been plowed going up the mountain I was going for it, if not I would just pull into the Food Lion parking lot on the left before you start up the mountain. This mountain was a 2 lane road, 4 miles to the top, 7% grade, nowhere to stop until you went over the top. So once you started up you were committed, there was no where to pull over if you wanted to. And for some reason the road looked like a salt truck had been up it so I kept going. But it didn't take long at all to figure out that my eyes had deceived me, because no plows had been up the mountain, and neither had anybody else. I spun my way almost to the top, where the Blue Ridge Parkway crosses over, then almost lost it. The truck was almost completely sideways by then, rear end toward the ditch, I was facing the center line. But it was still moving- just barely, but still moving. I was really sweating bullets by this point.

 The speedometer said I was doing a couple hundred because I was spinning so  much, but actually I was hardly moving at all. But I was moving. And I thought "if I can just make it to the top I'm pulling into the big wide spot about a half mile down and calling it a day- I shouldn't have tried to get over the mountain until tomorrow anyway". And finally I got a little more traction and a little more straighter and made it to the top.

And I pulled right into that big pull off and jumped in the bunk. I had barely gotten stretched out when I heard a noise and looked out and saw 2 salt shakers coming up the mountain. At least the Amherst county side was out getting it done! I knew they would turn around at the Parkway because that's where the county line was. So I got back up and decided I should follow them off the mountain when they came back through. When they finally came back- they usually had a cup of coffee and a smoke at the parkway- I let them get about a 2 curve head start and pulled out behind them. You could see way down the mountain because there were no leaves on the trees. 

I went all the way back to the woodyard that night, hooked to another load of wood and went home, because once I got off the mountain it was mostly just raining.

It turned out to be a good decision to follow the salt trucks down the mountain too, they had a major ice storm over that way and a lot of people didn't have power for over a week. Trees were down blocking roads all over, so if I hadn't followed them I might have been stuck over there for several days. 

1 hour ago, mowerman said:

lol wild story… it’s happened to me a time or two spin out and you can see the top.. bob

Funny, it always seems to work like that. One time I was coming back from Westvaco in Covington with an empty log trailer. It was snowing hard and by the time I left the paper mill and got on 64 the road was completely covered. I pulled over on the shoulder at the on-ramp at exit 36- right before you start up North Mountain. It was 5 miles to the top and I wasn't sure I could make it because I hadn't seen the first plow truck working. I figured that a salt shaker would come along eventually and I would just follow it to the top. Finally one did,  and I did. No problems- until he turned into the crossover about a quarter of a mile from the top. I couldn't believe he had abandoned me like that, but he did. And I caught hell making it that last quarter of a mile too, it was touch and go for a while there.

12 hours ago, mowerman said:

But when you put them on all the time big rigs, it just takes a few minutes I could chain up both sides in about 10 or less my uncle used to have a summer home in old orchard beach Anyway, last winter, I only put two Chains on the entire winter don’t really mind putting them on. I just don’t like running them for miles and miles.

I got stuck over on rt. 60 in West Virginia one night with an empty log trailer. It did exactly like the weather man said it was going to do- come down as rain but it was going to freeze the instant it hit the ground. I figured I would just make it as far as I could then stop when the rain started. It started raining and the next pull off was the big wide spot at the top of the mountain before you get to Rainelle. And I almost made it. But not quite. I was going uphill, almost up to where it leveled off before I got to the big pull off, just sitting in the road spinning the tires like I was on ice. Because I was on ice. 

A state truck came by spreading salt, went around me like I was sitting still, because I was sitting still. Then he said on the cb "hey big truck, you stuck?"

I really wanted to say "no, just thought I'd stop in the middle of the road in the middle of nowhere at 3am" but I said "yeah". Then he said "ok, I'll back down in front of you and throw some salt out". He started backing up and started sliding right away. He said "whoa, it's slick ain't it!"

I said "yeah".

Then he said "let me throw my chains on". I thought I should give him a hand with the chains, but he was chained up and backing down the hill by the time I got my jacket on.

On 1/11/2024 at 1:48 PM, mowerman said:

Glad this is my last winter had to run 120 miles on tire chains  yesterday chained up three times ran out of hours had to get a two hour extension and with that I just barely made it in uuuuurrrrhhhh!!!!. Good thing I took the F150 instead of the Mustang, 7 inches of snow at my house although I do carry chains in the car, I’ve had to chain it twice to get home…… bob

I've only chained up one time in my life, and that was to get over to the beer store, 2 miles away.

All I heated with for many years was wood. Kept the whole house plenty warm. No doubt it was a lot of work finding, cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood but I was young then and never minded it, actually I enjoyed doing all that.