other dog

I've only got the one, and it's a tremendous financial scrain.

Like Mackdaddy said, i've always had to take a DOT physical every 2 years. I thought it was nationwide. I know at a DOT inspection you'd better have that physical card.

OK, I'll take a look at 'em.

Just got a bill today to renew the insurance on that cement mixer truck. It actually went down, only $301 for a year. Not too bad!

Here's the Jifflox manual, comic book style http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/jifflox.htm

This is true Mike. I know the feeling. I have to be nice to customers even when they treat me like an a-hole because I drive a truck, and it can be tough to do. Regardless of how they treat me, if i'm not nice to them they might call and complain, we might lose a haul, I might be looking for a new job.

Well said!

I think you hit the nail on the head with the "just another money grab". At least that's the impression I got. I've been cleared to enter nuclear power plants, but couldn't enter the Port of Wilmington with a load of piling? Sounds like b.s. to me too.

photos of a couple of Mack posters Old Bill sent me

from 700WLW's website...wonder if this is payback? and then there's this other one-

Or as Paul would say "I thought i'd try this blog thing too". Kind of a short week. I thought things were picking up- were for a while anyway. Last Friday I motored down to Petersburg and picked up a load of beams going to Neville Island, Pa. I delivered there Monday and went to Sugar Creek, Ohio and got a load of bricks going to Williamsburg, Va. Then I went back to Petersburg and got a load of piling going to Wilmington, N.C, but I couldn't go into the port because I don't have a card that says I can go into the port. I am certified to haul steel coils in Alabama though. The last time I went to the state port at Wilmington you didn't need a card. Now you've got to have the card, which costs 130-some dollars, or pay an escort to take you in. I talked to one of the escorts that was hanging around outside the gate and asked what he charged-he said $20 at the gate, plus $20 an hour for however long you're in there. That could get expensive too. We had 5 or 6 trucks there, and one of the other drivers that had the proper card took my truck in and unloaded it after he got unloaded. He only charged me $10. That was OK-I sat in his truck with the AC on while he was unloading mine (it was miserably hot!) and stole 2 CD's, a pair of gloves, a flashlight, roll of tape, some tools, ate all his snacks, and drank 2 of his Pepsi colas. (kidding) I was the last truck to leave of course, being the only one without proper credentials, but I got a return load of lumber in Dudley, N.C. going to Moneta, Va. A whole load of 8' 4x4's. Left Dudley 120 lbs. over gross. I was afraid they'd make me take a pack off, but they didn't. Dispatcher Neal called me yesterday morning while I was sitting at the truckstop south of Lynchburg-had to park there Wednesday night because the store lot 2 miles from here was full of chip trailers. He wanted to know if I was en-route to Moneta. I said "almost", which sorta meant the same thing as "no". He said there was a load in Moneta going to Fredericksburg that I could deliver that evening, then head to Petersburg and pick up something at the mill. By the time I got to Moneta and unstrapped the 32 packs of lumber and got unloaded and reloaded it was almost 11:30, and I had to be in Fredericksburg by 3:30 to get unloaded, or i'd sit there all night. I didn't stop anywhere and pulled in at 3 o'clock. Got unloaded OK, but there was nothing at the mill to load and dispatcher Randy said we'd try it again Monday so I came on to Concord. I wasn't real enthused about going to Wilmington, but it was all they had, and I wasn't enthused about going to Fredericksburg yesterday. I was afraid I wouldn't get there in time to get unloaded and have to wait until this morning. I wanted to get to the mill in Petersburg yesterday and get another trip in this week, a little longer, like a Birmingham or another Pittsburgh. But, since there was nothing i'm glad I made those short runs or I wouldn't have made enough money to keep the lights burning another month. Insurance on the mixer is due August 31st. too. That's about $400 dollars, and they don't give you the option to pay on the installment plan. Always something.

That's an excellent idea.

Paul gives a very good description of his restorations in his blog.

yes, it's getting hard to come up with new blog entry titles, so now there's more to steal from

I stopped at the Iowa 80 once on the way to South Dakota. Well worth stopping at, if just to see all the antique trucks and models, and toys, and chrome stuff, and- well, you get the idea. You could spend all day there just looking around.

nobody lets me use power tools.

1500' deep?..geez-and I wear a life jacket in the shower! I went to Puyallup once.

I do not know. I'll ax Paul. If there's anything Rob don't know, he do. Oh..hey Rob...never mind.

Now that's just funny right there-quite possibly the most funniest thing i've ever seen...or read! Excellent title Paul, way better than mine! I have lots of thoughts (Paul VanScott) and ideers, but I can't think of a title to post them, that's why i'm always waiting on you so I can copy yours. That show sounds a lot like the Stonewall (Va.) antique power show, where they have old trucks, cars, tractors, equipment, hit and miss engines, old time rock crushers, hay balers, saw mills, flea market, and on and on...i'm still mad that I missed it this year because they never bothered to put the sign out on rt. 460. I asked about it at the bank in Concord and I was too late- it's only a few miles from F.L.Moore and Sons shop. That IH cab looks pretty good on the Pete chassis doesn't it? I'd be proud to drive that. What if truck manufacturers went with the retro look like auto makers with the Mustangs, PT Cruisers, Dodge Challengers, and soon to debut Camaro?..could you imagine that cab with late model everything? or a B-model cab on a new Mack-bigger of course- or a Cannonball GMC cab with todays running gear behind it?

shoot!..good answer...foiled again-my theory doesn't hold water...Rob is truly one of the greatest living Americans.

maybe the corn in Illinois is so big you do need a knuckle boom to lift it. We're not getting any younger, eh? (that's Canadian). When I was in high school and it was corn picking time in the fall Daddy would have 2 wagon loads of corn setting at the barn for me and my older brother to unload when we got home from school. He would unload one, i'd unload the other one. Off the wagon and into a little door in the side of the barn- with a shovel. Not even a grain scoop, a big shovel. All true. It was great.

wow, what a find! and I thought I had the only one around.

don't pay any attention to Rob, he wants everything he sees- they don't even have logs in Illinois anyway, just corn.

Just got a call from Old Bill...thought maybe I was in trouble again, but he just wanted to know about some character named Mike-whew!

3500?!! might've put a hot rod a 903 in it. Lot of people called them 9-o-nothings, but they did all right...or so I thought. You should go take a look-maybe it's still there, with flowers planted in it. I was very surprised to see that one at Mr. Duncan's. It was one of the ones parked in the power line across the road from his shop that I didn't look at the first time I went. It's actually a tandem straight truck with a pintle hook to pull a trailer. He said he got it from Oregon, but it was originally from California. I think they made another model that the cab sat higher than this on. I've seen a picture on Hank's and 3 guys were standing in front of one and their heads weren't as high as the top of the radiator. I always thought they were just a neat looking truck, so I replaced that Peterbilt cab with it. I can hang a lot of steel off the front of the trailer now-no rear overhang with a 60' load!