other dog

I'm thinking about buying a John Deere combine to use as a daily driver, do you think I should take the 12 row corn head off or leave it on? Sorry, I was only joking!

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Yay, Christmas pictures!

just what i'd expect in Baltimore, somebody's already stolen the tires and wheels off it.

The truck washer guy did an outstanding job on my truck Sunday morning- I took a load of steel from N.B.Handy in Lynchburg down to N.B.Handy in Greenville. Brought this load of steel back from All Metals in Spartanburg to N.B.Handy in Lynchburg. It was raining, so I had to untarp inside. I thought maybe that would be the only trip I made this week. They had a couple of loads at Handy, a Greensboro and another Greenville, but when I called headquarters Randy (that would be dispatcher Randy, not randyp, Randy Y, or Randy M) said to come to the shop, they had something going on. There was a couple of loads of pipes sitting there so I figured i'd probably get one of them. So I filled the DEF tank, then filled the fuel tank, then called up to the office. They said there was a Greensboro load at N.B.Handy I could get. I said "I know, I just left Handy, and Randy said to come down here!" "oh...you just left Handy" "I'll go to Handy and load the Greensboro then" "OK" So I went back to Lynchburg and loaded the Greensboro load. I had plenty of fuel to get to Greensboro at first, but the load didn't deliver until the next day anyway. Had two stops on, one coil went to one place and I had two stacks of sheets and two coils going to the other stop. It was pouring rain yesterday morning, and I had to pull the tarps off outside. They didn't have a door to back in and they said "it's gonna have to get wet." So the steel was wet and I was soaked by the time I got unloaded. Then I went to some little tiny place out on some little tiny road somewhere south of Winston Salem and picked up a load of those concrete parking lot curb things, the things on the ground that go in front of parking spaces. Had 10 pallets of them and one pallet of the concrete things you put under your gutter- felt like I was grossing 90,000. There were three of these Fords parked in the bushes where I loaded. I didn't go take a close look, because they were in the bushes, it was raining, and I had to be in Lynchburg by 3:00 to get unloaded, but they looked to be in pretty decent shape. Saw these old Glosson trailers there too. Then when I was almost to Boxley's in Lynchburg I got held up by a train for about 10 minutes, but I still made it in time to get unloaded.

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So, that means I have free reign to photo-chop any picture of you I want?..sweet!..wait a minute- how's that different from what I did anyway?

There used to be a 1468 V8 IH for sale at the John Deere dealer in Crewe,Va. Sat there for a long time, but it's gone now. Good looking tractors, had a big wide hood on them, and the twice pipes!

I'd guess 35's, maybe 36 C's...load range C i'm talking about of course.

...and I could have been back at the same place Tuesday morning- when I unloaded the load of bricks that I went all the way to Sugar Creek, Ohio to get after we unloaded in Zelienople, they told me to run by N.B.Handy and see if they had any loads going out. They had a Raleigh, Greenville,S.C, Hanover,Md, and some place down on the coast of S.C. I picked the Greenville, and they have a load of coils in Spartanburg coming back to Handy. But when I was on the way to the shop I saw I had a message on my phone- they wanted me to take the Raleigh load, unload Monday morning, then come back to the yard and get another load of pipes going to the same place in Zelienople. I would have liked to had that run, but i'd already loaded the Greenville load.

I took a load of steel from N.B.Handy in Lynchburg down to N.B.Handy in Columbia, S.C. this week. Stopped at the truck stop at exit 48 on I-77 to get a bite to eat. Saw some big ti- uh, tires on a Jeep as I was leaving. Then I went to Ehrhardt, S.C. to get a load of posts going to Schaefferstown, Pa. Saw some trucks, buses, and tractors parked along rt.321. At least one of the Massey Ferguson's had a V8. My neighbor just up the road has a V8 Massey Ferguson, an 1155 I think, and he always keeps it clean and shining like a new one- never seen anybody keep a tractor as clean as he does. Saw a red truck too, and some posts in the mirror. Cotton field, and some more posts in the mirror. Nice green trees... Lots of posts at Keystone Fence in Schaefferstown- Amish buggy on rt.501 in Pa. Saw several of these loads going south on 81. Looked like bundles of old tires, the trucks were out of Quebec. I picked up a load of bricks in Williamsport, Md. and took them to Lynchburg, then got a load of pipes going to Zelienople, Pa. Saw a nice looking old International on rt. 60 in W.V. And a really nice looking R model behind it- there's Redneck up ahead of me with another load of pipes. We were both going to the same place. When we were getting unloaded the next morning on the side of rt. 19, standing out in the rain talking, a man walked up and introduced himself as 75T. He was passing by and saw the truck and stopped to say hello. I asked him how he knew it was me and he said "I saw double-nickle". Pretty cool I thought, for him to stop. Real nice guy, he had offered to help me and offered a place to park when I had the incident in Evans City with an overweight ticket.

Yep, it's like being in a giant roaster when it's 100 degrees. I thought I would have a heat stroke after 20 miles! P.L.Duncan's-

This would be nice-

I didn't see many photo opportunities this week....kind of like last week...and the week before. Only made one trip this week, a load of pipes to Washington, Pa. Loaded two coils in Pittsburgh and unloaded them in Madison Heights this morning, then went over to N.B.Handy and loaded up for Columbia, S.C. to deliver Monday...been kind of slow. All I saw in Pa. was a dump truck on the side of the road with the body up. This morning at Oneal Steel I saw this gas guy burning off some gas, this was before daylight, I don't know what he was doing. The Charlie Brown Christmas tree at Handy had a new ornament on it this year- a dead lizard that I saw on a stack of 4x4's last week had been spray painted gold and hung on the tree. I painted a bumper and put it on when I got back to the shop. It was very warm today, on my way home I saw a girl on a boat on Winfall Lake.

They have one at the Keystone Tractor Museum in Colonial Heights,Va. They've added some trucks since I was there last, probably a couple of years ago, but at the time the guy that worked in the museum said it was the most valuable thing there.

Me somewhere around 30 years ago, that was an 84 model KW.

I went up to Troy and unloaded those two coils today. When I was on the way back I might have seen Paul moving some things down to Fork Union, but I can't say for sure. Saw a colorful mixer too.

This is a B 53 too. I've seen it at a lot of shows- looks great, but it's got late model running gear.

He has some great stories- my all time trucking hero. Driving all across Canada and the U.S. in a B model Mack, no sleeper. I sent him a comment on his site years ago, and to my surprise he replied, and we've been friends ever since.

I think he has family or friends in Florida, he might be coming that way! He held up a can to the camera, but I forgot what it was-it was a blue and white can. I asked about Molsen, because that was the only Canadian beer I could think of- he doesn't drink Molsen. I think it's pretty good, but it's hard to find. He said after a couple of his beers I would be face down on the ground.

I know - I mean "I heard"- that we some people used to get a "prescription only" in the U.S. diet pill called Ionamin over the counter in Mexico. One of the side affects was that you would stay awake for a long time, and feel good going it...or so I heard. You could get it around here without a prescription at certain truckstops for $1.50 a pill...or so I heard. And go to El Paso and cross the border and buy all you wanted cheap as aspirin...or so I heard- all hearsay, I know nothing. Hey, I was in my 20's then, cut me some slack- kind of what I was talking about when I said I wished now how I should have taken care of myself more in my 20's and thirty's, when I thought I was invincible, and getting that load there was the most important thing...come to find out it's not.

I talked to Old Bill (http://www.thedieselgypsy.com/) on skype this morning. His wife of 51 years, Muriel, passed away last night. She was diagnosed with alzheimer's disease 8 years ago and has been in a nursing home in Blind River, Ontario for several years. He said he will move back to Elliott Lake now. He said he might come to see me some day too- I told him if he did I would pay for his gas to get here, and I certainly would. You might think that will never happen, but he told me last week that he got "cabin fever" and drove to Vancouver, by himself, just for the hell of it, at 79 years old. He said he wanted me to barbecue, and that he would bring me some "good beer", which according to him i've never had.

Come to think of it, I did smell something fishy when I walked by- maybe the black and white thing in her cart was a killer whale, eh?

I do not know. I don't even know what kind it is, some people said it was a Rex, others said McNeilus- i've looked all over it and haven't seen a plate, sticker, or name on it anywhere.

miscellaneous pictures- I went up to the shop in Concord today to put a bumper on a Dodge pickup. I got a piece of 3" square tubing Monday from Moore's Machine in Spout Spring, Va. They cut it to length, capped the ends, ground everything smooth for me, loaded it in my pickup, and only charged me $39. I told them you couldn't beat that with a stick. They're the same folks that made a lid and put an offset smoker box on my grill last year and charged me $50. Looks like 4" tubing would have looked a little better, but it's thick wall tubing and pretty heavy so I was trying to save weight so I wouldn't have to put a counter weight on the front...this looks better than the "no bumper at all" I had at first anyway. I cut some brackets out of a piece of plate and bolted them on, then I was just going to weld the tubing to the brackets and paint everything black. I could have finished it today but I couldn't get the stupid welder to work. The wire wouldn't feed at all so I unscrewed the tip...still nothing...pulled on it with pliers...still nothing. The thing-a-ma-jig- or is it a thing-a-ma-bob?..I don't remember- anyhow, the thing in the machine was just spinning on the wire but it just wouldn't go through. Had plenty of wire. They should have the old fool-proof stick welder there, but they don't. I put the license plate on the front too, but I didn't put one on the back because there's no bumper to put it on yet. The truck washer guy took my truck to wash it too. He was just getting back when I was leaving so I went down to where he was hooking back up to the trailer and said "how am I supposed to be in Minneapolis at 7 in the morning when you're out riding around?" He started apologizing, then I told him I couldn't deliver in Troy, Va. until Tuesday. He said "man, that truck runs good- I left the stop light down here and it felt like somebody hit me in the ass!" The difference in the way it runs and pulls compared to the Paccar engine is like night and day. It almost- almost- makes me look forward to getting in it and going up the road. And, I saw this girl in Winfall on the way home. She appeared to be broke down, but I didn't have time to stop and investigate the situation.