other dog

It's got to be on the rear axle somewhere, or at least every one i've ever seen was. Some are electric shift and some are vacuum shifted (usually the older ones were vacuum shifted). There has to be a motor somewhere on the rear axle to change the ratio from hi to lo and vice versa. I'm not up to snuff on newer stuff but unless it's actually inside the rear end housing it's got to be there somewhere. Sure it's not an 8LL trans, or a super 10- which you shift like a 2 speed-and doesn't have a 2 spd. rear? I don't know...

I've heard that the owner is one of the greatest living Americans, but I have no first hand knowlege of this, or even who he is, except apparently his name is Rob. He's rumored to also be a rocket scientist for NASA and has a body shop for a hobby...everybody needs a hobby.

A new truck dealership recently opened in Farmington, Il. First pictures seen here...

Made a couple of trips this week, to Chillicothe Oh. with lumber, reloaded coils in Franklin coming back to Suffolk, Va. then took a load of beams to Neville Island, Pa. in a Conestoga and reloaded coils at the dreaded AK Steel in Butler, Pa. to unload in Chesapeake Monday. Took a few pictures along the way of course. I went over to the produce stand this morning and bought some squash and green beans so I can tell Paul it came out of my garden. I planted green, purple, and yellow green beans. Saw a strange sight this morning-we were standing in the front yard minding our own bidness and an ostrich came trotting down the highway. No, really-it was about 7am and I hadn't drank anything but coffee. Otherdog took off chasing it and it made a right and turned into the driveway next door and fell down. I figured it had killed itself, but it was up and running again in a second. Headed to our back yard. I immediately thought since it didn't kill itself when it fell i'd do it myself when it crashed into my anti-rabbit defense fence and destroyed my garden...was already thinking about how to cook it...but it missed everything and went crashing into the woods. We saw it come out a couple houses down, it ran through their back yard and back to the road, took a left and trotted right back by here towards wherever it came from. Strange! I didn't know anyone around here had ostriches, never seen any near here. Still wondering what the dog would have done with it if he'd caught it. photos are a big Mack mixer a big Mack truck car hauler in Crewe, Va. ...looks like a nocluejoemobile... old Mack on rt. 422 in Pa. a rhinocerous on rt. 422 self explanatory Otherdog taking a break-he's got to rest in case he has to fend off an ostrich attack vegetables I picked...bought, I mean...this morning

Tonka. That's the only kind i've ever operated

sent via e-mail, from James- A Russian arrives in New York City as a new immigrant to the United States . He stops the first person he sees walking down the street and says, "Thank you Mr. American for letting me into this country, giving me housing, food stamps, free medical care, and a free education!" The passerby says, "You are mistaken, I am a Mexican." The man goes on and encounters another passerby. "Thank you for having such a beautiful country here in America .." The person says, "I not American, I Vietnamese." The new arrival walks farther, and the next person he sees he stops, shakes his hand, and says, "Thank you for wonderful America !" That person puts up his hand and says, "I am from Middle East . I am not American." He finally sees a nice lady and asks, "Are you an American?" She says, "No, I am from Africa ." Puzzled, he asks her, "Where are all the Americans?" The African lady checks her watch and says, "Probably at work."

Another one from Old Bill- A man in the Florida supermarket tries to buy half a head of lettuce. The very young produce assistant tells him that they sell only whole heads of lettuce. The man persists and asks to see the manager. The boy says he’ll ask his manager about it. Walking into the back room, the boy said to his manager, Some asshole wants to buy half a head of lettuce.” As he finished his sentence, he turned to find the man standing right behind him, so he added, “And this gentleman has kindly offered to buy the other half.” The manager approved the deal, and the man went on his way. Later the manager said to the boy, “I was impressed with the way you got yourself out of that situation earlier. We like people who think on their feet here. Where are you from, son?” “Canada, sir,” the boy replied. “Well, why did you leave Canada?” the manager asked. The boy said, “Sir, there’s nothing but whores and hockey players up there.” “Really?” said the manager. “My wife is from Canada.” “No shit?” replied the boy. “Who’d she play for?”

fixin' that post

they only taught the "three r's" when I was in school.

uh...actually she doesn't know.

not at all, that's just what I learned in school.

Got back to work this week, after having no paycheck last week. Shoulda got AFLAC I guess. I went to Metals USA in Ambridge, Pa. Monday with a 60' load of beams then loaded almost 49,000 lbs. of angle and channel in North Jackson, Oh. going to Petersburg, Va. Reloaded another 60' load of beams going to Oneal Steel in Ambridge, Pa. to deliver Friday morning, then brought a load of firebrick back from Alliance, Ohio to deliver in Madison Heights tomorrow. Should all be pretty good paying loads. Picked the first produce out of the garden today. Cut a head of cabbage to make cole slaw-delicious on that venison barbecue I made yesterday! took some pictures this week- this is what I saw walking in the front yard when I got up Saturday morning-Jo in a robe, her Snoopy pajamas, and wearing my steel toed work boots. a truck on a pole... and some pictures taken on Sandstone mountain in West Virginia, showing both runaway ramps.

damn!.. woulda took me all day to write that!

gee...and I thought I knew it all because I learned " i before e except after c", and e=mc squared.

I've got one of those too. My Ma gave me a plant-she paid $4.95 for 10 seeds and started them in paper cups. 9 out of the 10 came up though.

thanks for translating that into plain english!

Oh no, I won't be going Greyhound- I'll use the down time to go to the truck and tractor pull. That's why I won't be able to afford a hotdog.

I probably won't be, but ya' never know. If I did make it, could you buy me a hotdog and a pepsi?

Thanks Double L, i'm just a nobody, but i've been right where Bill is now, and it's a tough thing to have to deal with. I'm just doing what I can to help the man because I do have a great deal of respect and admiration for the man. I don't know if you've been following the whole situation or not, but it really hit close to home for me. My situation wasn't that long ago and it's still painful, and i've been friends with Bill for about 5 or 6 years now. We used to talk on skype every weekend, (we can see each other on the webcam, it's just like being there). If you've never checked out his website (one of the three best trucking sites on the web, along with BMT and http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/trucks.htm) it's http://www.thedieselgypsy.com/ If I just get 30 more dollars, i'd put the $30 or so that Ice Road DVD would cost with the only donation i've gotten so far and send him a hundred bucks. ...and thank you again Mike for your generous contribution.

That's exactly right. I was just re-reading this post after I talked to Bill. I was watching "Ice Road Truckers" last Sunday and complaining about all the commercials. Jo said "why don't you just get the DVD?". I said "can't afford it". She said "you can afford $30 can't you?". Well, I probably could afford $30, but since it comes on TV and I can watch it for free (at least as long as I pay the Directv bill) i'm not gonna buy the DVD, and complaining about the commercials just seems stupid now. Bill's got real problems, and i'm gonna whine about commercials?

Just a reminder- just heard from Old Bill. He thanked me again for the assistance, and said Murt was getting worse. Said his 24 hour days now are much harder than hauling freight ever was. If anyone wanted to help him out a little, I know he'd appreciate it tremendously. He's got it pretty rough right now.

the story...

Great googly-moogly!..wow!

Some more old trailers i've seen...the Rude Carriers, out of Falling Waters, W.V, is in Keyser, W.V. The Transcon pup is on rt. 50 in Junction, W.V. There's an old Dixie-Ohio Express trailer on rt. 224 on Ohio a little ways east of rt. 250, and there used to be 2 McLean trailers in Roanoke, don't know if they're still sitting there or not.

I remember a trucking co. called Art Pape, but everybody called them "part ape" on the radio.