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other dog

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  1. other dog
    I left here last Sunday,put my new radio in before I left ( the old Cobra wasn't acting right,but i've had it for 5 years ),and went to Brook Park,Oh. Reloaded at Brookfield and went to Roanoke,then to Dillwyn and on to Fremont,Oh.Then to Brookfield and Roanoke.Then to Moneta and Clarion,Pa. and Brookfield and Roanoke. Got to Roanoke about 6:30 last night and got unloaded at 11:30 So,instead of being home I slept in the truck up at the truckstop just south of Lynchburg. Called Jo at 5:30 this morning to come get me. She didn't cuss me or anything (well,at least not on the phone!),she came right on. I've put well over 200,000 miles on the truck now,and Jeff will have had it 2 years sometime in August. Think i'll run over to Wal-Mart now and get some fertilzer for the garden,they're calling for more rain today and tomorrow.Grass needs mowing again too. Maybe I should teach Jo how to push a lawnmower, but maybe I shouldn't push my luck.
    I have no new pictures now,so here's a recycled picture of a '66 Chevelle.
  2. other dog
    just some random photos taken recently. I try to get pictures of the old trucks I see...plus added bonus pictures of me-in days gone by.
    The little girl on the back of the bike is my stepdaughter-now married and has three children. I was a true trucker back then-note chain drive wallet!
    and Jobyna (on left) and sister Sharon in days gone by.
  3. other dog

    Procrastinating

    By other dog,

    I should've picked the tomatoes yesterday,but said "naw,i'll do it tomorrow". Now it's raining,and been raining all night. Not only is the 'mater patch muddy,the rain will cause them to split open ...but,my laziness aside,we do need the rain .
    The weather has been causing the satellite signal to come and go,so the pc works periodically. Watched Bullwinkle this morning.I thought he was Canadian,like Dudley Doright,but he's from Minnesota. A fine actor too,I didn't appreciate his humor as much when I used to watch him and Rocky years ago,but he's a great comedian-I like the way he talks...mmm-hmmm.
    and Joe,saw this in the Tractor House paper-got "NoClueJoe66"written all over it...
  4. other dog

    Busy,busy,busy

    By other dog,

    Last week when I left Thursday going to Masury,Ohio (everybody hates Masury ) Todd told me to "run this load, and you'll be done 'til after Thanksgiving". That didn't really happen, as I left Monday and took a load of fingers (well,that's what they called them) to Milan, Ohio. When I left he said "run this load, and you'll have a four day weekend coming up anyway". That didn't happen either. I delivered in Milan Tuesday, which is near Norwalk, and ran in snow all the way from Strasburg to Milan to Macedonia, which is near Cleveland, and back down I-77 almost to Charleston, W.V. before I ran out of it. I unloaded in Roanoke this morning and went to Dillwyn and loaded up an Orchard Park load for Monday. This is good, I was hoping he was joking when he said i'd be done 'til after Thanksgiving. I like to eat and have electricity too.
    After I got home today I processed the turkey-you know,got all the accessories out that they put inside of 'em-and put it in salt water to soak overnight. It's in a cooler on ice on the back porch, along with the four extra turkey legs I bought-the ones that cost more than the whole turkey . Then I made turkey stock from the accessory pack i'd previously removed, and cooked all the sweet potatoes I had and made six pies. I feel like I had a pretty good day. I'll slap that turkey in the smoker oven first thing in the morning, everybody come on over!
  5. other dog

    In Memory Of Gary Barr

    By other dog,

    When I left Sunday headed to Erie,Pa. I called Ma to tell her I wouldn't be in the Christmas parade this year. She said ''you knew Gary Barr died didn't you?". No, I didn't.Gary was an old friend,been knowing him since high school.Been driving a truck all his life practically-he changed the date on his license to run double to California with me in 1979 because he was too young to run out of state, and he had been driving for several years then,even owned his own truck and leased it on with H.H.Moore Jr. Trucking Co. in Appomattox,Va. hauling wood chips to Covington,Va. Was an old 7400 White daycab, with a 220 Cummins and 10 speed. We ran together until I quit, and soon after they caught up with the license deal so the let him go,but told him to come on back when he did turn 21 because he must know what the hell he was doing.Years later Barry Warner and myself were on the way to Boston one night loaded with structural steel and ran across him on 95 between Washington and Baltimore. Gary was driving for P.L.Duncan then,Barry and I drove for H.H.Moore. We stopped in Baltimore and "hung out" for a couple of hours( you could do more,or 'get away with' way more then than now!), then Barry and I rode the rest of the night to be in Boston by 7 am...but we made it.
    When I stopped at his house and took the pictures of the Diamond T it was the first time i'd seen him in years. He was driving for Abilene, had been with them a pretty good while.We talked in his shop,and he showed me the truck and told me how he'd found it in N.Y. and brought it back in an Abilene van. I printed the same 2 pictures I posted here full page size on my best photo paper and mailed them to him.When I saw the parade entries listed in the Farmville Herald, I noticed one said "In Memory of Gary Barr" but it just didn't register-I thought he had the Diamond T in the parade in memory of his Dad or something,but no,it was him. His Mother called him to come eat dinner last Monday night and when he didn't answer she went out to his shop and found him dead of an apparent heart attack. He was only 49,and a truck driving son of a gun!
  6. other dog

    New Hat...and Gloves!

    By other dog,

    OK, maybe it doesn't take a lot to excite me anymore. I got soaked in Fremont while untarping a while back, then soaked again in Erie Monday rolling my straps up. Already had a cold, and was wishing I had something to keep my head warm. The old baseball cap just wasn't doing it for me. Found just the thing at the local Wal-Mart store today. Covers my ears and if I have trouble hearing I can open the fold-out ears to hear a pin drop miles away (see second photo). It's camouflage colored except for the fur part, but you can't see it because it's camouflaged. And no,I won't be afraid to wear it-I wore it around in Wal-Mart until Jo insisted I take it off. I'll take comfort over style, especially when it's freezing in Ohio. And I picked up some new gloves too-the ''dollar a pair'' cardboard ones I usually get at truckstops only last a day or so before they're worn out. So i'm happy as a dog with two-well,you get the idea.
    I went to Duluth,Ga. when I got back from Erie and picked up this load of racks ( the orange things on the trailer, not the things you rate online-uh...never mind that) and brought them back to King William,Va. I'm backed inside the warehouse at Nestle-Purina on Tidy Cat rd.(yeah,really-but everybody's gotta be somewhere) getting unloaded. I also took a picture of Jeff's new truck that I passed on.. It was at the shop when I got back Friday, but it was dark by then as I had to go to Petersburg and load for Montgomery, Alabama for Monday. Might be good to be headed south again because they said it's supposed to be very cold in Ohio tomorrow...very,very cold. Coulda' tried out my new hat though.
  7. other dog

    Bidness As Usual

    By other dog,

    I went to the eye Dr. Monday,and she said everything was looking good.I have to use eye drops every day for glaucoma. They put drops in my eyes and dilated my pupils,and shined that really bright light in them.Then I went to the shop and picked up a load of beams at the yard going to Export,Pa.It was almost dark when I left the Dr.'s office and I could see pretty good.By the time I chained my load down and left it was full dark,and everything was a little blurry,and every time I met a car their headlights looked like aircraft landing lights.So I made it up to Charmco,WV about 10 pm,decided to take a nap for a couple of hours,and woke up at 6 am. Still got to Export around lunch time.Then went to Macedonia,Oh. and loaded to Roanoke,then took a load of Kyanite to Chester,WV and back to Macedonia and Roanoke.I'm off until Monday morning when I have to go to Tightsqueeze,Va. and load a load of pipeline pipe going to Anderson,S.C. Stopped by Food Lion on the way home yesterday to pick up a few things,and the bill came to $92.22.Even got a turkey to smoke in the old smoker oven-haven't used that in a while.
  8. other dog

    Smoked

    By other dog,

    Done smoked that turkey-kind of blackened,but delicious. Hated to break in a new oven on the Thanksgiving turkey,but I didn't have much choice.This gas oven has a single bottom,where my old electric unit had two bottom panels,with an empty space in between. These pictures show the finished product,plus some extra drum sticks,the fire box,oven smoking, and plattered turkey.The sweet potater pies were delicious too,some of the best i've ever tasted-wait,is this the food forum,or trucks ? Oh...never mind. guess I should've resized my pictures too.
  9. other dog

    I Love My Job

    By other dog,

    Had a long week this week,driving in snow for most of it. I left last Sunday for Orville,Ohio and when I unloaded Monday morning it was snowing and the radio said the wind was gusting to 50 mph.When I took the straps off of one side of the tarp it blew off and over the trailer and was flapping like a flag,still holding on by the straps on the other side.I finally got it detatched and it blew up under a trailer parked beside me.I struggled with it for a while and decided I was never going to get it folded,so I was waiting to get unloaded so I could just get it up on the trailer somehow and get it strapped down. When the truck at the dock beside me pulled out I grabbed a corner of the tarp and dragged it up to the dock and stuffed it under the door.Then I went inside and pulled it in and got it folded and rolled up with no problem,then did the other one the same way. All this titanic struggle with my tarps probably took 30 minutes,and the tarp was winning the battle until I outsmarted it. Went from there over to Sharon,Pa. and loaded up 2 coils and back to Lynchburg.The crane was broken at N.B.Handy,so I had to take them to the shop where they unloaded them with the forklift.Then on to Dillwyn to load a Fremont,Oh. I knew they were calling for more snow in Ohio Tuesday night,so that motivated me to get all the way to Fremont,trying to beat it. It started snowing about the time I got there,around midnight. Wednesday morning it was still coming down,with about 3 inches on top of the tarps.I had to get a broom and get up on top and sweep the snow off before I could pull them off,because it was so heavy. Again,I had much difficulty trying to fold them,not because of wind this time,but the snow.I had to fold them on the ground in the snow,and when I got finished they were about the size of a Volkswagon beetle,and weighed about 1400 lbs each ( that's just a guess ) so I had to get Troy to put them on the trailer with the forklift. Then I had to go to Macedonia to load coils for Roanoke.It was still snowing,but the roads were in good shape,plenty of salt. Ohio does a good job on the roads,they were putting brine on them from the time I crossed the state line at Marietta Tuesday night,long before the snow started falling.That's key,getting an early start on them instead of waiting until they're covered and people start wrecking,like they do in West Virginia. I made it all the way to Beckley with no problems,but when I got on I-64 and headed east it looked like they had used up all the salt allotment for the year,or they forgot 64 was even there. It was completely snow covered and I was a little nervous starting down Sandstone mountain...OK,I was a LOT nervous! I mentioned Sandstone before,if you haven't been across there it's a 5 mile 7% grade,speed limit is 45 mph for trucks,and it has 2 runaway ramps on it.I was easing down in the low side until about halfway to the first runaway ramp when it appeared to have been salted and you could see the pavement again.It was clear the rest of the way down,across the flat,and about 3 quarters of the way up the other side,then it was back to completely covered. When I got to the top there was a truck jackknifed on the westbound side,a pickup in the ditch on my side,and a car in the median in a distance of about a mile. I was trying to get to exit 161 where I was planning to stop for the night anyway.The ramp is at the bottom of a hill so I was still taking it pretty easy,running about 35 mph. A car was ahead of me about half a mile,so I wanted to keep plenty of distance in case I had to stop if he decided to slam the brakes on to see if the road was slick. Right about the top of the hill a Swift truck went by in the left lane and he must have been doing 60 mph.That's fine if you're by yourself,the hill was straight down and straight back up,but if something were to happen unexpectedly in front of him,like that car spinning out on the bridge at the bottom of the hill,there's no way he could have gotten stopped. So I finally made it into the fuel stop and parked.From Beckley to there I saw just one truck salting the road. I went on to Roanoke and unloaded Thursday morning,then by the shop for fuel,and went to Petersburg and loaded some beams going to Carnegie,Pa. Got up there Friday morning,and yep,snowing like he....uh,heck,snowing like heck. Took a long time to get unloaded because the forklift was spinning in the snow and he could barely get up to the trailer. Once he got a lift of beams picked up it was all right,then he could hardly get back from where he was putting them on the ground back to the trailer to get another lift. I finally did get unloaded of course,then went over to Galv-Tech in Pittsburgh to load coils for Handy,and by the time I left there it had warmed up and the roads were just wet,so I hammered down to Lynchburg,dropped the load at N.B.Handy about 9:30 last night and bobtailed home.Got the Cumberland County Christmas Parade Sunday. It's the longest trip of the year for the mixer,about 55 miles one way. At least they're calling for nice weather,with temperatures in the 50's!
  10. other dog

    Rant For The Day

    By other dog,

    I must be off now-going to Roxana again with piling. Good thing they're building that pipeline from Alberta. Hauling the piling to the refinery has really been good, keeping us a little busy anyway. Haven't been making but one round a week lately, and deadheaded back to Knoxville and Rome, Ga. the last two times I went to Roxana.
    We lost 2 of our regular hauls lately, the treated lumber out of Moneta and return loads of steel to Roanoke. A large flatbed carrier, like the mickow corporation, cut the rates and just took the hauls. Bidness is bidness I guess...a dog eat dog world.
    ...And how about Miss California? I saw the headline yesterday on the yahoo home page but didn't read the story. It just said her answer to a question may have cost her the Miss America title. Then I heard the whole story on the news this morning. I thought she had stumbled on a reply or something, like standing there saying "well, uh... mmm, duh- d'oh!"
    That wasn't it at all-she replied to a question about gay marriage and the faggot-can you say that here?-judge that asked the question didn't like her reply that marriage should be between a man and woman. So he scored her low or not at all. She gave a good answer I thought, and her personal opinion shouldn't be held against her either way. Just my opinion.
  11. other dog

    Test Video

    By other dog,

    A little bit of video we shot coming back from the parade,headed west on rt.460 in Appomattox,Va. Don't know if this will work,never tried this before.
  12. other dog

    ...good Question...

    By other dog,

    I found out quitting smoking is ridiculously easy-all you gotta do is not do it anymore! Now that I know that,i'm gonna run over to 699 Market and get me a pack...no,can't do it. I know from past experience,having quit several times before. And I don't mean quitting for 39 minutes,I mean quitting for years-then starting back. Once I was over at the hunting cabin,hadn't smoked for years,quit- A man named Dennis got the last cigarette out of the pack,crumpled it up,dropped it on the coffee table and said " see y'all tomorrow,i'm going home" and left. I picked up the pack to throw it away,and said "this pack ain't empty,there's still one in there-i'll just smoke it". So I did...next thing ya know i'm en route to the store to get me a pack. Then Henry was over at the house one time,and said " here,have a Newpote". I said " thanks,but I don't smoke,I quit". He said "quit?! awh,come on man,smoke a Newpote with me-besides,one ain't gonna hurt 'ya!". So I did,and it wasn't long before I said "hey man-can I get another one of them Newpotes?". When somebody said ''We're going to the store-anybody need anything?",I said "yeah-pack of Newpotes!". I know you're wondering-yes,alcohol was involved. Then there was the time-well,never mind,you see what i'm saying-I've done that time after time. Must be like a recovering alcoholic I guess,when they say they're one drink away from being back-I understand what they mean. You can't smoke just one,can't take one drink,or you have to start to quit all over again. I can kind of take it or leave it when it comes to drinking,but I like a beer as much as the next guy.In fact,i'm having one now...and it would be so good with a cigarette...but ...it's been 4 days-I can't promise I won't buy a pack tomorrow,but i'm not going to tonight.
    And I went to Fremont,Oh. Wednesday...cold as a-and snowing across W.V... Turnpike was clear though.Just getting to the Turnpike,and after you get off it, can be a problem though. Loaded at Macedonia and unloaded in Roanoke Friday morning,now loaded for Zelienople,Pa. for Monday. Might even see Big Jim,he's going to Zelienople too.He's my best friend,we talk on the phone regularly,but seldom actually see each other in person.We're always on opposite ends it seems.
  13. other dog

    Home Again

    By other dog,

    went to Avon...then to Sharon,Pa. Brought 2 coils back to Lynchburg. Talked to Frankie at Handy-he got out of a Western Star with a 550 cat into one of the new 386 Petes they just got,and he was not impressed. He didn't like the slower speed,lower h.p.(485 cummins isx),and mainly the way it rides. They look good though! He said it bounced like a cabover with the set-back front axle. I'd just be whining and crying about the lower horsepower if it was me,and Jeff already has one ordered. It's supposed to be in in October. I'm happy as a monkey on a 'nana boat with my 550 now that it's running right. Just running south or the rathole of the northeast,like a lot of the guys do, it wouldn't make much difference,but running Ohio and western Pa. like I do most of the time that extra power is really nice to have.Especially loaded heavy both ways,usually 45,000+.
    Then I was off to Zelienople,Pa. with a load of kyanite and went over to Malta,Oh. and picked up a load of small cement mixers and miscelaneous equipment that went with them to deliver in Vinton,Va. Monday. This was a pretty light load,but there's no good way to get to Malta,Oh. from anywhere,and it was very tight getting to the place where I loaded.Still haven't gotten the dump valve replaced on the trailer.
  14. other dog

    It's Friday!

    By other dog,

    Went to the dentist today and Mary the tooth babe said everything was looking good.She sure was...oh,my train of thought derailed for a moment there...uh...oh,got the parts for the tiller and got it going. Planted 8 cabbage plants and a row of onions.None of it's ready to pick yet. That's probably all i'll plant for a while-saw people buying tomato plants today,but they'll probably have to cover them a few nights yet.I'll just wait a while for the tomatoes and squash,let the ground warm up some.
    Had a load of pipe at the shop going to Waddy,Ky. that Jeffrey was going to put on my trailer to deliver Monday...back to the old grind.
  15. other dog

    Workin' Like A Dawg

    By other dog,

    Well,I thought I had an easy run for Friday,but like the song says "there ain't no easy run". I left here at 4:45 this morning and got home at 7:30. All I had to do was take a load of pipes to Durham,then load something for Monday delivery. Only thing is there were 7 trucks at the same job,I was number 4 in line,and the loader operator looked like today was the first time he'd ever been on the machine. The loader was big enough to unload the whole stack at one time,but the forks weren't long enough. He could only carry 4 or 5 pipes at a time and had to go about 50 yards with them,so it was a slow process.
    Then I went to Petersburg to load beams for Masury,Ohio. Got there at 1:45 and the hateful b..,uh,woman I mean,in the scalehouse said "beat it,come back at 2:30". So I parked and waited 'til 2:30. Loaded at 3 different spots in the mill-all the beams are outside,on the ground,stacked in rows like pulpwood,exposed to the weather-and after I was loaded the loader man said "oops-forgot one,follow me back to the first spot we were at".
    I knew loads going to Masury had to be tarped in winter,but I thought maybe I wouldn't have to now...as usual I thought wrong. Had to tarp it. It was 91 degrees too. My air conditioner doesn't work either. As they say,it's a tough job-but somebody's got to do it.
    One more thing-we sometimes haul metal buildings for ABC-American Building. If they ever had a building going to Fishers,N.Y. I hope I get that load. I could give a whole new meaning to being "late with the freight".
    Here's a few more random pictures i've recently scanned from some of my photo albums- the longest load I ever pulled, a 149' 11" girder with a steerable dolly ( I just say it was 150',but I don't want to spread any false doctrine here),think it weighed about 74,000 lbs,took it from Abingdon,Va. to the route 840 bypass around Nashville,an old Chevrolet truck in the woods at my Daddy's in Cumberland,Va,and a chicken on a can cooking in my electric gas wood charcoal smoker oven.
    Speaking of dolly loads,that reminds me of the time Woodstock and myself had a couple of dolly loads going somewhere in Pa. Jeffrey Moore was riding with me,he was the dolly driver. Of course as soon as he got us out of the plant in Lynchburg and onto rt. 29 he jumped in the bunk and after about 2 minutes it sounded like a sawmill back there,as he was fast asleep. We stopped at the rest area on 81 between Staunton and Harrisonburg and I went into the bathroom,came out and got back in the truck and we left. A few minutes later one of the escorts called me on the CB and asked where Jeffrey was. I said he was asleep. She said "no he ain't,he's back at the rest area". I looked in the sleeper and sure enough-no Jeffrey. So I said "well,let's just leave him,he'll catch a ride home sometime or other". But she went back and got him anyway. He had gotten out and went to the vending machines and I didn't know he had ever woke up. When we pulled out and left he called headquarters and told them he'd gotten left,then they called the escort.
  16. other dog

    Nothing New

    By other dog,

    Well,nothing new about trucking anyway except i'm already sad that I have to work tomorrow-Memorial Day
    I've finally finished a smoker/grill that Kevin started at the shop and never finished.I offered to buy it from him and he said I could have it,and it's been in the backyard for weeks. It's made out of a 55 gallon drum,on a stand. Didn't have any grill grates for it,but I cut off some old oven racks and put them in it. They should work fine for chicken or smoking a boston butt,but smaller things will fall through pretty easy. Good thing I have 3 more grills for smaller stuff,and I still got the smoker oven too.
    Been like Elmer Fudd trying to keep a rabbit out of the garden. The beans came up,even the ones I replanted and they were looking pretty good. When I got home Thursday I looked at the garden and they looked like stems coming out of the ground-all the leaves had been eaten by a creature. Looked out the window and saw a rabbit and a squirrel in it. Last year rabbits ate the cantalopes,but didn't bother anything else. This year I didn't plant any cantolopes for them,so they ate my beans-i've been spraying the whole garden with a little hot sauce and a little dawn mixed up in a spray bottle. People tell me it works,but I don't know. I don't want to try that new grill for the first time with a roasted rabbit,but I didn't plant enough beans for me and the rabbit too. ( just kidding,PETA people )
    I've got to leave in the morning and go to Petersburg and load for Neville Island,Pa. That's just north of Pittsburgh. Last week I went to Fremont,Oh. and then over to Butler,In. and loaded steel back to Roanoke-6 coils. Then I went to Orchard Park,N.Y. and loaded at Brookfield,Oh. for Roanoke. Pennsylvania DOT nabbed me at Bald Eagle,Pa. on the way to Orchard Park. Gave me a warning ticket for my log book not being current I should have had it caught up-I had just gotten up on an exit ramp near Roaring Spring and was gonna go to the Snappy store at Bald Eagle and get a cup of coffee and get my book right. Unfortunately,the DOT was camped in the median just before you get to Snappy's.
    Rabbit is pretty tasty if you parboil it before you cook it-otherwise they're kinda tough
    might as well illustrate this entry too-the truck in the driveway, new (to me!) grill,what's left of some of the the green beans after the creature gnawed them off.
    And on a more serious note,it is Memorial Day weekend-let's not forget what Memorial Day is and remember the veterans,and those who sacrificed all so we can enjoy the freedoms we have today. May God bless this nation,and keep us all safe. This I pray in the name of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
  17. other dog
    What's left of the garden looks pretty good,lots of squash and onions,more tomatoes than we can eat,egg plant,and the hot peppers are loaded! I've been freezing them whole,and when they're all harvested i'm gonna put them in the blender,liquify 'em with some vinegar and salt,boil it for a while,then pour it into bottles-home made hot sauce! I've got ecoli-free jalapenos,tabascos,hot cherry,New Mexico Big Jims,and a Habenero.Thought I had some cayennes,but they turned out to be more jalapenos. Had 3 ears of corn on the cob last weekend-unknown creatures got the rest,most likely those squirrels. Coulda been raccoons,but I suspect the squirrels-you know how they love corn. I planted corn mainly for the pole beans to climb,rabbits ate the pole beans,cabbage, and green beans,and squirrels ate the peaches and corn,and something's started on the pears already. Apparently they don't like tomatoes,egg plant,squash,or hot peppers,or I wouldn't have gotten anything for myself. And we feed the little b@$^#s in the winter! Maybe that's the problem.
    And for pictures of the week,we've got a single axle Mack dump truck for sale in Montvale,Va, a Mack mixer on rt. 40 in Pa,my truck hooked to a van at the truckstop south of Lynchburg,(one of about 6 I took Friday just to finish the roll of film) and the black Honda car I took in Georgia last Wednesday.Guess i'm not much of a photographer after all,I cut the whole back of the car off,and it was a sharp looking Honda.
  18. other dog

    Last Of The Turkey

    By other dog,

    Since I had pictures of the whole turkey smoking process,I might as well show how it ended-with all the meat that was left pulled from it,placed in a pot with potatoes,onions,celery seed,and some thickening (flour and water),little salt and pepper...it's what Mama used to call turkey hash,and it's better than the turkey was! There's one of them sweet potato pies there too.
  19. other dog

    So-so Week

    By other dog,

    I left here Monday and had to go to Petersburg to load a Roxana, Il. load. That makes a long day. It's about 100 miles east to Petersburg. I didn't get to Roxana until about 3 o'clock Tuesday evening, and didn't get unloaded until Wednesday morning. At least I got a return load out of Granite City, only a few miles from Roxana. Bad part was it was going to Baltimore, scheduled for Friday morning delivery. Then I had a load to pick up in Sparrows Point, about 2 miles from where I unloaded. Good load too, 2 coils going to Lynchburg. Then I could deliver that tomorrow, but...they screwed around so long unloading me in Baltimore it was too late to load it and I had to come home empty and pick up a 2 stop load of lumber at the yard going to Ohio. The stops are nowhere near each other either, one's near Marion and the other's near Akron. So i'm leaving today.
    And, on top of that the tool box door on my trailer decided to come open on the way home Friday and I lost most of my beveled wood, coil racks, a roll of plastic, some corner protectors, and i'm not sure what else was in there. Usually it took a jackhammer and a crowbar to get it open, but this time it just came open on it's own. Couldn't say for sure that somebody didn't check it out to see if there was anything in there worth stealing and then didn't fasten the doors good when they saw there wasn't, but who knows.
    Got a few pictures this week too-
    the capital building in Charleston,W.V.
    driving piling in Roxana
    locomotive in Roxana
    some old tractors in Illinois by I-70
    the cut in Sideling mountain on I-68 in Maryland
    closer view of the cut
    Baltimore,from the Key Bridge
  20. other dog
    ...well,it's different from "Saturday" anyway. It's someone else's turn to use that anyhow.
    I took a load of piling to Point Marion, Pa. Monday. It's on rt.88 just across the Pa. line a little ways from W.V.,near Morgantown. Yeah,one of THOSE jobsites-you had to pull down there,back down a hill to the crane right on the riverbank,then since there was ankle-deep mud everywhere they had to pull you out with another truck after you got unloaded,then you had to back up another hill and onto the bridge while they stopped traffic for you to get out. I had to go from there to Macedonia to load,so I went up rt.88 north to rt.21,then west on 21 into West Virginia. 21 is a pretty good road across there. It runs into 250 and I took 250 to Moundsville,then rt.2 north to the interstate. First time i'd been on that part of rt.250 in years-about 27 or 28 in fact. I saw the "Thelma and Louise" turn I mentioned before was a 15 mph curve and the grade was 11%. The curve has been widened since then,i'm pretty sure. And I don't think the guardrail was there. And I know the trees weren't up over the guardrail then because it just looked like open spaces ahead when you were coming up to the curve,and the road just looked like it ended,right there. And I think it was at least a 20% grade then...and I don't think it was paved ( now i'm kidding ) I took a picture of the curve with my 35mm I keep in the truck,but haven't got it developed yet.Hope to do that today and get the picture on here.I don't have my scanner hooked up,but I can take a picture of the picture with the webcam.
    After that journey I went to Triadelphia,W.V. with a load of beams. Delivered to the West Virginia department of highways shop. After I got unloaded I asked the guy that signed the bills if they ever went down rt.250,like from Moundsville to Fairmont. "Oh yeah,all the time" he said."They didn't send you that way did they? If they did,boy you got *%#@ed! That's not a good way to go in a car,much less a tractor and trailer...'course we go on lot's of worse roads than that,-"(he liked to talk,wish I'd had longer to chat with him) . I said "oh no,I didn't come that way-I went across there in 1980 or '81 and said I wouldn't go back across there bobtailing- I was just wondering if it was still bad and those tight turns were still in Cameron and Littleton,turns I could barely make with a short wheelbase cabover Mack with a 42' trailer". He said one town,Cameron I think,had changed things and he wasn't sure about the other.I only remembered the one town,and don't even remember the name of it,but like Bollweevil said it took all the room that was there to make that turn. I came into town going south,and to stay on rt.250 I had to make a left turn right in town and the road (street) was narrow,pole on every corner it seemed,cars parked on all sides it seems. He said " well ,you must remember the hard right turn onto the bridge at the bottom of the mountain,that was a hard turn to make,a 90 dgree right onto a narrow bridge at the bottom of about a 2 or 2 and a half mile downgrade-lot of trucks wrecked right there.Lot of truck drivers got killed on that road-looks like a short cut on the map,or their dispatchers would send them that way". No,I didn't remember that turn onto the bridge at all.The two things that stuck with me was the curve coming out of Moundsville and that left turn in that town. I mean '80 or '81-that's 27 or 28 years ago any way you look at it,and it's hard for me to remember what I did last week sometimes.The road atlas shows 250 as a designated truck route today, but unless something's changed I just don't think I could get across there if I wanted to now,driving a 42' long Peterbilt pulling a 48' spread axle trailer.
    These pictures (pretty bad-I really need to hook my scanner back up,but I usually use the digital camera ) show the curve going north on rt.250 heading towards Moundsville,the 11% 1 mile sign,Moundsville down below after the sharp curve,and a load of the coils I load at I.D.S. in Macedonia,Oh. all the time for Roanoke,Va.
    As with the steepness of a hill,the pictures don't really show how steeply the road drops away to the left in the pictures-I was going to take a picture of the septic tank truck in front of me after he went around the curve to show it,but he pulled over right in the curve and stopped,so I went around him.
    I did look at this spot on Google Earth and it shows everthing very well,especially if you rotate it around until you're looking at it from the north,then tilt it towards you-awesome!
  21. other dog

    The Usual...

    By other dog,

    Went to Best Buy yesterday and bought a camcorder-since I got a tax refund, I figured i'd try to do my part to help stimulate the economy. If everybody keeps hearing on the news how bad the economy is,after a while they believe it,and then it is. Anyway,the salesman recomended that I get an extended life battery for it because the battery that came with it was only good for about 45 minutes. So after I fully charged it this morning,just like the instructions said,I tried to put it in and it was the wrong battery.Pretty much par for the course for me-nothing ever seems to work right,I don't understand why i'm basically pretty happy,maybe there's something wrong with me,I don't know. So I called Best Buy,they said they didn't have the right battery in stock,and it cost $100. $100?!!-I told them i'd bring the other one back and take my refund and take my chances with the 45 minute one that came with the camera!
    And I stopped at the wide spot where I lost my cap-no sign of it.Looked up and down the ditch,in the median,in the woods-it's like it just disappeared!
    On the lighter side-I called no clue joe when I was on the way back from Florida the other day-told him I stopped in Candor,N.C. at a little fuel stop and got a piece of chicken to eat and it had enough grease on it to deep fry a porpoise...or several spotted owls...true story.
  22. other dog
    Went to Petersburg and picked up a load of beams Monday after I unloaded in Vinton,Va. Delivered them in Bethlehem,Pa. Tuesday morning and then went to Sparrows Point,Md. and loaded one single coil for Salem,Va. that weighed about 47,000 lbs.Then I loaded kyanite for Avon,Oh. and went from Avon to Pittsburgh and loaded 2 coils at Galv-Tech going to Lynchburg.Unloaded there Friday morning and went to Dillwyn and loaded kyanite for Donora,Pa. to deliver Monday morning-only 6 pallets,about 22,000 lbs .I was supposed to go to Zelienople,but they changed it when I got to Dillwyn....
    (yawn)...geez,...so what? This is so boring (but I like it when nothing out of the ordinary happens) i'll add some pictures of my recent travels for entertainment purposes-A Super Liner dump truck,an old Ford I saw on rt. 460 near Disputanta,Va, a Mack going down the highway backwards as fast as I was going forward (...gee,hope it wasn't behind a wrecker...),traffic back-up on I-81 just north of Roanoke because of an accident, a big Mack truck in Montvale,Va, and what else? oh,I remember,a sharp looking Peterbilt at the truckstop in Newcomerstown,Oh. And a b-61 at the KW lot in Youngstown,Ohio out of the Truck Paper.Don't see them on a dealers lot much anymore.
  23. other dog

    Hard At It

    By other dog,

    Speaking of work,i'm still hard at it. I've been to Zelienople,Pa. and back twice this week. Sounds easy enough,but there ain't no easy runs. It's a titanic struggle to get 46,000 lbs. up the road several times a week. Got to Roanoke with 48,000 lbs,3 Metalsa coils, around 6:30 or 7 o'clock Thursday night and figured on getting unloaded and being home early,but sometimes it doesn't pay to figure on anything. I got unloaded about 3:30 am Friday, got to the shop at 5 am and slept until 8,then went to Dillwyn and loaded kyanite for Fremont,Oh. to leave Sunday with. Then I drove the mixer over to Stonewall and parked it. The annual Stonewall Antique Power show is this weekend,and it almost snuck up on me. Came home,after the usual grocery store stop,and cut the grass and replanted some corn and beans that didn't come up.
    Went over to Wal-Mart in Altavista and dropped a roll of film off too,so I should have pictures to post this afternoon. Took some of a Mack fire truck that's for sale near Sharon or Wheatland,Pa. and we're gonna ride over to the tractor show for a little while and look around so I might take a picture or two there. Hard to say what might be there,or what kind of turnout they'll have this year because gas is so expensive.When I left there yesterday the only antique vehicles there was a 1965 b-53 Mack concrete mixer and a Ford pickup,but lots of tractors were coming in. It's good to have a distraction from just hearing of gloom and doom all the time,so in honor of no clue joe-I must be off...film at eleven.
  24. other dog
    A few more random photos from the road...the very narrow street in Wheeling,W.V. I delivered a load of 60' beams on, a big Mack truck, Summit racing in Tallmadge,Oh, a B-model near Zelienople,Pa, A yellow fire truck near Sharon,Pa. (it's for sale!), a huge oversize load, a Swift truck that pulled over on the shoulder-except there was no shoulder there, and the old KB-5 that sat in front of the truckstop in Hubbard,Oh. Now it's parked across the road with a "for sale" sign in the window-$7500.
  25. other dog

    Stir Crazy

    By other dog,

    Sat home again today.Called Jeff this morning and he told me to stay by the phone,he'd call me back as soon as he found out something about the truck. That was the last I heard from him. I called the shop about 4:00 and Neal said Jeff had already gone home. The truck IS supposed to be ready tomorrow though.
    I even took Jo out to the Chinese buffet in Altavista because I was driving her crazy,and that's a short trip for her. The orange stuff on a stick was pretty good. Actually everything was good,even if I couldn't identify most of it.

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