other dog

No, I just looked and took some pictures.

I took the red headed woman that I love back to the airport in Roanoke today. I usually take rt. 43 from Altavista to Bedford, then 460 to Roanoke. When I was coming back today I happened to notice a big orange rock truck parked in a field over here at Leesville- you know, where that tri-axle Ford tractor with the lowboy is usually parked. I thought "hmmmm...that looks like a big Mack rock truck!" And of all the times to not have a camera- I always have my camera!..except today. Fortunately, you can take fairly decent pictures with a phone nowadays. So I stopped and pulled in the driveway and asked the guys that were standing around that Ford if I could take some pictures of the Mack. The man said "absolutely, start it up, drive it around the field!" And I thought he was joking, but one of his guys went over and cranked it up- started right up too. He told me that the state bought it in the 70's, used it on one job up on rt. 130, then he bought it and he's had it ever since, and still uses it doing site work from time to time. He said it only had 2,000 hrs. on it. I posted a little video of it running on Facebook.

I drove an F model with a 350 Cummins, but it was much later, it was a 1979. Had a 350 Cummins with a 10 speed overdrive, Roadranger trans, Mack rears.

I will put all the pictures on Flickr, or where ever I always put pictures, and post a link to it ASAP. Maybe tonight, I have to take the red headed woman to the airport in Roanoke this afternoon.

Thank you, y'alls trucks looked great! I didn't get farmer52's truck either because I was over near it when Dave pulled up in a golf cart and told me to get in, so I did. The next thing I knew I was over at the opposite side of the grounds, about 4 miles away, and I never got around to getting back over to where we were abducted- I mean given a ride. But it was all good, we both had a great time, it was nice seeing everybody and talking. I'm with Dave, that's the best part. I know a few people, but Dave knows everybody.

Thank you, thank you very much!..huh?

...but wait, there's more- ...and, the BMT group photo. I didn't get everyone together at once, just individual photos. Ken Claar, AKA Farmer52 was there also, but I didn't get a picture with him, so I got a blonde in a green bikini as a substitute.

"The best looking A model Mack in the world"- Dave Coutu, AKA Maint1.

As Randyp would say- excellent kodiakatronomy! Looks like Ross probably doesn't worry about whether he has enough cash to pay for his purchases when he goes to Family Dollar.

Wow, we were just talking this evening and I was telling her that people used to put Jolly Ranchers in some kind of drink, but I couldn't remember what.

I will- she's coming back Friday, we're going to Winchester.

Happy birthday.

Nice GMC! Way too cheap with that patina though, would you take $85,000 for it?

Yep, that's when I stopped at Hoover Dam, back when you still drove over the dam itself.

Didn't I hear that the national show was going to be in Va. year after next?..seems to me I heard it somewhere, but I could have dreamed it.

I got a 30 min. break in at Hawk's Nest, plenty of time to look around and walk that little loop trail.I have stopped there before, but it was new to Zina. One of our drivers said I should show her the full truck driver experience, taking a shower at a truck stop. But I told her to start with she would not have to do that, we would get a motel room at least every other night. So I figured taking her across rt. 60 from Charleston would also be a true trucking experience, like back before the turnpike and I-64 was finished and you didn't have much of a choice. And the Hawk's Nest Tunnel was very interesting, I hadn't bothered to google it before, but she did. The intake for the tunnel is all the way to the far right side of the dam. I used to take the time to stop and look at a lot of things, but the idiotic hours of service and electronic logs today pretty much put a stop to it. Some places I have taken the time to look at include Hoover Dam, the aquarium in Boston, the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, Mt. Rushmore, the New River Bridge in WV, and i'm sure there's more. Now I can drive by and look at things, but there's hardly ever time to stop anywhere.

I got the new Show Time magazine today, and several BMT members had their trucks pictured in it. There's probably more, I didn't have time to give it a real close look, but here's some that I saw, Freightrain, High Binder, and Farmer52's trucks.

A few more from Hawk's Nest, and the state capitol dome in Charleston.

I've never owned a pair of Nikes, I usually wear the shoes from Walmart that are about 12- $14 around here in the summer.

This week I got to bring my lovely assistant with me. I made sure she had the proper safety equipment. We went to Salina, Kansas. We saw lots of animals. ...and nature- She got a big kick out of this in the ladies room somewhere in Illinois, so she went back to take a picture of the "donkey hay". I've seen similar items in lots of men's rooms, but I didn't know they had them in the lady's room too. And this- A Jim Beam truck in Kentucky. We went across Hawks Nest coming back. Stopped at the overlook. Putting a new wiper blade on. Oversize load in Suffolk, Va. We even saw a girl in a car. Having an assistant was the best part of the trip, she took almost all of the pictures.

This is proper safety equipment, as demonstrated by a beautiful redhead. The steel toe boots, reflective safety vest, and safety glasses are not visible in the picture.

Wow, unbelievable prices some of those trucks went for- I mean cheap! The GMC concrete truck sold pretty high though, I liked that too.

...and she's wearing effing Nikes!

Could have, I unloaded pipes in New Castle and then went to Kittanning to get a load of graphite. Ran 422 all the way from New Castle to Ebensburg.