other dog

Gee...where to begin? Haven't posted a blog since Dec. 22nd. Lot's been going on since then, good and bad and in between, but i've forgotten most of it. The bad news is that my nephew Bo Scruggs was one of the victims of the sorry bastard who shot and killed 8 people in Appomattox recently. 8 good people, for no apparent reason, or reasons known only to him. Then Bo's dad Ronnie had a heart attack and is now recovering at home from 5-way heart bypass surgery, so he'll be out of work for a while. Fortunately the community has rallied behind them and the other victims families with benefits for them like stews, dances, and the skating rink in Appomattox- where Bo was a regular- donated money also. The Pamplin volunteer fire department made 40 gallons of chicken stew and 40 gallons of beef stew- it was all sold in 15 minutes, along with all the cakes,pies,and desserts people donated to sell. Been running pretty good lately. Went to Mobile, Al. one week. Reloaded in Shreveport for Lynchburg and it was snowing. In Shreveport. Louisiana. Then the following week I went to Mobile and back twice. Then last week I went to Eagle Pass Texas. That's about a desolate ass place, right on the Mexican border. Nothing but brush and cactus for about 50 miles or so before you get there, for as far as you can see. Had to come all the way back to Jackson, Tn. to get a load though...going to New #@*+ing Jersey. Had to go to Wilmington, De. Monday to unload a load I picked up in Blytheville, Ar. last week. I left here Sunday and while I was driving up rt. 29 I noticed the alternator wasn't charging. Figured it was probably the belt, and I had a spare, so I pulled into the truckstop at Opal to put it on...but it wasn't the belt. So I called Jeff and he told me to call road service, so I did, and left there 6 hours later with a new alternator. I left Wilmington when I got unloaded Monday morning, headed to Petersburg to load the Eagle Pass load. Went by Peterbilt in Richmond to get the engine brake fixed-it only worked 2/3's- and I had an air bag leaking on the cab. Left there with 2 new air bags and a fully operational engine brake...6 hours later. 12 hours downtime...don't tell Rob.

yes, I probably wouldn't tell the instructor to "git in, sit down, hold on, and shut up!"

Hey Paul, just a little note here-I think you need a new keyboard for your PC. Sometimes what you type doesn't show up, but oddly enough, if someone else replies to your post and quotes the post, it does show up. They're fairly inexpensive, available at your local retailer- or maybe retaler.

I don't know where that information came from, but it only took me four tries. "...yeah,everybody funny -now you funny too "- George Thorogood

whew!..fortunately I got over it quickly. Uhhh, by the way- ain't that a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black? And, one more thing- I didn't see that in Paul's original post, are you putting words in his mouth? Just be careful, Paul can git mean...real mean (you know-New York...no telling who he might know. Some scary people i'm sure). I'd get a guard dog if I were you. Just pick a breed that doesn't taste good.

yes, like I said, there were many problems with this setup.

We had a couple of jeeps, we called them "joe dogs", and the tractor glad hands connected to the jeep, and the jeep had separate hoses and glad hands to connect to the dolly with shut off valves on them. I think it's for pulling doubles. Before they figured out you could pull one trailer behind another one, they used a pintle hook with a spreader bar to pull two trailers side by side. Thus, 2 sets of glad hands. 3 for pulling triples, obviously. This set-up was only used for a short period of time, as the problems with pulling 2 or 3 trailers side by side were many. And you couldn't see a thing in your mirrors.

I used to put a rubber strap on mine, after the spring broke one time and it ran wide open. Even after I put a new spring on it I left the rubber strap, and always did after that.

I was indeed lucky on the weather. Except for that stretch across Wyoming and part of Montana that is, but the weather was unseasonably warm out west last week.

Just doing the speed limit. Had 500 more rpms to go- I deleted the one where I WAS speeding (incriminating evidence-learnt that from nocluejoe). Jeff threatened to cut me back when he saw 75, most of the trucks are cut back to 73mph. The speed limit was 75 in Nebrasker, Wyoming, Colorader...Montanner too maybe, don't remember.

I'm tempted to say you probably don't, but I don't have enough facts so i'll be quiet

the "chick magnet" in that picture looks about 22 or 23 years old

the original photo...

naw, she looks plenty old enough to have a helper. probably been around the block more times than I have...I don't see the problem.

That's another story- I went through 2 DOT checks, had my log book checked 4 times total on this trip, but I was surprised actually at how nice and friendly the officers were at the scales and ports of entries. Guess i'm just used to Va, Pa, and Ohio where they tend to treat you like a criminal for driving a truck. I like the 11 hours you can drive now and I like the 34 hr. reset rule, without it i'd have been a day later getting in. But I do not like the fact that from whenever you start you'd better be off the road in 14 hrs. If you stop to eat, rest, or take a couple hour nap to wait out rush hour somewhere it counts against your time for the day.

Sure I would, here's a picture of myself when I got back from Puyallup, and one taken just before I left...

is UPS taking applications? I want to be her helper

I think that's you and "Momma" when you were first married, around 1967 or so?

are you saying it could have been caused by exceeding the maximum weight capacity?

the throttle response on them is very sensitive too, at least on the 237s and 300 I drove.

yes, I would certainly like to do it again, I made pretty good money. Only if I do, I hope it's in summer. I'd never been to Wyoming, Idaho, or Washington before. The only states in the lower 48 I haven't been in now are North Dakota and Oregon.

"...yeah,everybody funny -now you funny too "- George Thorogood

it's good for you,relieves stress!

I'm a weak person I forgot to tell the story in my blog about how I almost had "the big one". The right lane on I-25 in Wyoming was solid ice where the snow had been packed. The left lane offered a little more traction on the snow, and I was in the left lane just motoring along when I saw a bull rack coming up behind me. I got in the right lane to let him pass and saw a little blue car ahead of me. Didn't take long to figure out the car was barely moving. I'd look in the mirror, look at the car-look in the mirror,look at the car. It was obvious the truck wouldn't get by in time for me to fall in behind him, and I knew if I touched the brakes there was going to be a helluva crash, involving at least myself, so I hit the shoulder and passed the car on the right, by the guardrail. Shortly afterwards I got the 2 packs of Marlboros.

yeah, it's good to be home.