other dog

Well, there just happened to be an ATCA show in Martinsburg, Pa. Just over the hill from Johnstown. It was a good trip, I enjoyed Johnstown, especially seeing the dam site, and the truck show too.

Looks like that girl had a little "chill" going on, even though it was warm and she had the window down.

Old Bill said he was cleaning out his picture collection and sent me 4 discs. Two were videos and I couldn't save the pictures on the computer, so I paused it and took a picture of the screen. Some nice looking rides here!

Camera review- My old Nikon that I dropped was the best camera ever for taking drive-by pictures. The new one works well, it's actually a better all-around camera, but it has a wider angle lens that I don't need because I'm usually shooting for the one truck, or one goat, or one girl in a car. It has a lot more manual settings and features that I don't even know how to use. It has a lot more zoom too, that I don't really need, but it's very impressive for a point-and shoot. It zooms so far that it's hard to hold it still enough to take a clear picture, even resting it on the steering wheel or the window. But i'm pleased with it so far, and it was only $156, factory refurbished by Nikon. My old model S8200 was discontinued, and this S9700 was the closest thing I could find to it. Here's how close it will zoom in. I was backed up to the dock in Chester, W.V. waiting to get unloaded and took these from inside the truck. I reduced the size exactly the same on the computer- no zoom regular zoom and then when you hold the zoom button it gives you even more, I forgot what you call it, zoom-zoom I guess.

I brought a load of dumpsters from Greenville, Pa. back to Lynchburg. Jo called me Monday and told me my new to me refurbished replacement camera came, so I went home Monday night. Unloaded the dumpsters Tuesday morning and went to Moneta to load lumber going to Conneaut Lake, Pa. It was very hot in Moneta. Saw a nice looking cabover KW there. Saw a golden pickup for sale near Meadville. Saw a big green truck in McKees Rocks. I even saw an airplane in the sky. Rock trucks in West Virginia. They're doing a lot of excavating there for something. The goat on Powell Mountain. A girl in a car. The "WTF" of the week- I saw another driver at the shop when I got in yesterday evening. He had loaded something at a "secure" facility, and either they wouldn't load him or they wouldn't let him leave after they loaded him because the Conestoga wasn't "secure" enough to suit them. He said a little skinny security guard came out and looked it over and squeezed up inside the trailer between the curtain and the rub rail. They took pictures of him in the trailer from the shoulders up and sent it to the supervisor. Well, that just wouldn't work, they had to fix that. He said they called some place and they wanted $400 to "secure" it, so him and another driver did this themselves- they put all those grommets in up both sides, and put the cable seal thinga-ma-bobs on it, and all was well. I think he said it took them about an hour and a half, but now no terrorist or anyone with criminal intent can get into that trailer!..unless of course he has a box cutter, pocket knife, piece of broken glass, sharp stick, keys, or any number of things he can use to poke a hole in that thin vinyl side. Once you poke a hole in it big enough to get one finger in you can easily rip a hole in it big enough to drive a bus through.

Well, vacation's over, back to the old grind, I mean work- I left here Sunday going to Erie, Pa. with a load of lumber. Saw three wild animals crossing rt. 20 in W.V. near the coal dump. They were still near the road when I passed by, but they had blurrified themselves. They do that as a means of defense, they blurrify themselves so they're harder to see. Only certain deer in certain parts of W.V. can do this. Since I dropped my favorite camera in Johnstown last week and broke it, I took an old Kodak we had laying around to use for a spare until my replacement camera came, but i'm sure the deer made themselves blurry and it had nothing to do with the camera or the camera operator... A groundhog in Erie. A Corvair near Meadville. Looked like a 1963 model, but i'm not sure. A golden pickup for sale. Apparently it has some kind of trick paint on it to make it appear blurry. A girl in a car. Neat looking old Ford riding with a load of newer units. A new T800 at the yard, beside a T660. If Jeff takes one i'm all over it. These have ISX15 450 Cummins engines, 18 speeds, and 3.55 rears. For the routes I usually run the 18 speed and 3.55's should be a big improvement over the 10 speed and 3.36's I have now. The horsepower's about the same but the engine brake should be a lot stronger too with the 15 liter engine. The Paccar engine brake is about the same as not having one at all, very little difference. I like the stacks in front of the sleeper a lot better too.

Great pictures, great descriptions- very gripping! I need to step it up a notch with my descriptions...no girls in cars?..what a shame.

I saw you pulled over with the hood open, broke down, in Iron Gate yesterday. Sorry I didn't have time to stop.

58FWD was probably involved some kind of way. I think he was spotted traveling south this week too- coincidence?..I think not.

it looked like the deer in the Hartford commercial...helluva rack!

...and I almost got a picture of it, but as usual "you should have seen the one that got away!" I got a picture of the smaller one though. I would rather have gotten just one bad picture of the other one, it had the biggest set of antlers i've ever seen, I do believe.

Well, it's the thought that counts...at least that's what they say. Shame too, because I was broke, hungry, driving a dirty truck, and my load shifted because my straps were loose.

This is an actual depiction of Victor Heiser, age 16. His father told him to go down to the stable and free the horses, in case the water kept rising. The water was rising just from the heavy rains, they had no idea the dam had broken. That act saved his life, while the rest of his family were all killed in the flood.Victor went on to become a world famous doctor, and lived until 1972. Heavy stuff indeed! http://www.jaha.org/edu/flood/rebuild/survivor_stories/victor_heiser.html

I must say, to see those exhibits, read the history, and actually see the site was a very moving experience. This is from the back of the dam, the downstream side, looking up at the top of the south end of the dam remains. This is looking up at the south overlook from the bottom- I was surprised at how deep the lake actually was. By the way, where the heck is Vision386? He's been AWOL for a while now.

I've heard that about glider kits too, I was trying to interest Jeff Moore in trying out a glider kit from Fitzgerald Glider Kits after nocluejoe66 told me how much he likes his, but he's sticking with new KW's. The new one's going to be a T800 with a Cummins instead of the Paccar engine though. You're right-on about the issues too, we have trucks swinging behind wreckers all over the place because of those issues. If you get anything new you'd better get the towing covered in the warranty.

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Forgot one- I came back down rt. 220 to Moorefield, W.V. to show Jo where the goats come out on the hill. We only saw one, they usually wait until almost dark before they appear. I took this from over in Moorefield, probably close to a mile away. Saw two hawks on the ground too when we went to pick up Other Dog at Jeff and Teresa Moore's.

At the Johnstown Flood National Memorial, where the dam remains are. The dam, from the visitor center. That's rt. 219 to the right, looking south. Exhibit in the visitor center. Part of the lakebed, from the dam. The lake was 2 miles long, a mile wide, and 70 feet deep in places. The dam from the lakebed side, with rt. 219 in the background. I was walking back from the overlook at the end of the dam when I went to get my little camera out of my pocket...and dropped it. The Nikon that i've taken hundreds of "Pictures of the Week" with- a goner. It bounced off the pavement and into the weeds, with the battery flying out of it. I put the battery back in it, but it wouldn't work...it's a goner. It's a discontinued model, but I ordered a Nikon refurbished camera that looked most similar to it from Amazon yesterday. The spillway at the north end of the dam, with the visitor center in the background. Here's an interesting picture. I didn't see the weird looking thing in the sky until I got home and put the pictures on the computer. The inset to the right is the full size view of it. I have no idea what it is, it might just be something on the camera lens- but it doesn't look like it. This is the only picture it was in.

I took a few- very few- pictures last week before I went on vacation. I rented a car- a brand new Nissan Rogue with only 7,000 miles on it- and took off to Pennsylvania Thursday. We went to Johnstown to the Johnstown Flood Museum, then up to the dam at the Johnstown Flood National Memorial on Friday, then to the truck show in Martinsburg Saturday. Pictures before we left- it was pretty warm when I was loading in Moneta on Monday- Saw an older Ford beside a newer Sterling- Saw this bird on the ground in Fairview, Pa. so I threw it a Ritz cracker. It was easier to eat after the forklift ran over it. Another older Ford dump truck. A pedestrian in Greenville, Pa. There's greendash way up there ahead of me- i'm gonna blow his doors off on this hill. ...or not. S.B. Cox's Superliner again- Here's some from Johnstown- the museum- Johnstown pteradactiles- The stone bridge, where a massive pile of flood debris was caught against the opposite side in the picture. Some reports said it covered thirty acres, others said it covered sixty acres. Then it caught fire, burning many people to death who had survived the flood but were still trapped in the debris pile. Debris wall exhibit in the museum-

Doug Maney told me that on facebook, I changed the title. I sent you a disc of all the pictures too- mailed it to Canton, that's the only address I had. There was some fine looking units there- notice the "before" pictures on the side of the White tanker truck. Both the tanker and the dump truck were outstanding restoration jobs, the wooden cabs looked great- you could tell a lot of hours and a lot of dollars went into those trucks. They hauled those in with the yellow B model.

Here's all the rest of the pictures I took. My internet was out from Sunday until just a few minutes ago, when the UPS man delivered a new modem. https://www.flickr.com/photos/28526133@N04/sets/72157656508525002

A green Mack truck.

Good shot of Farmer52's MH. I'm still re-sizing and cropping pictures. I liked this one too-

BMT!

...forgot the fire truck. It had a "for sale" sign on it.