other dog

It's good to hear things are looking up for you,have a good Christmas!

I know what you mean about that mirror. I feel pretty much the same as I always did, but see an old gray haired fellow in the mirror all the time.

Actually Larry and Bonnie gave me this one when i'd been driving for H.H.Moore for 25 years. I was driving a 9900I at the time. Jeff gave me the Peterbilt jacket for driving a Peterbilt. He said it cost him over $100,000 but he got a free truck with it.

yeah, the fur part is the exact same color as my hair, looks natural

I have a Navistar International jacket just like it...except it says Navistar,instead of Peterbilt.

that is so true,I never thought of that. She'd make my Peterbilt look way better! Oh well, I never claimed to be the smartest person here.

Just watched "Bruce Almighty" - good movie, but it got a discussion ( if you want to call it that! ) started about Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Jennifer Anniston. So, who do you think is hotter, Angelina or Jennifer? I'm going with Jennifer, because she at least seems more down to earth and real anyway. Never mind, this has question absolutely nothing to do with trucks, Macks or otherwise, so just don't pay any attention to it...

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.

This is true. Of course we have no choice in the matter, but I told Jeff i'd rather go out like Gary or my best friend David,who died of a heart attack at the wheel several years ago (also 49!), than like my wife died, suffering with cancer for 2 years. Gary and I hadn't been real close or anything over the years,but we went back a long ways, and I had just stopped to see him and took a couple of pictures of the Diamond-T a couple of months ago. ...and he was 3 years younger than myself.

Thanks for the pictures, that's a fine looking collection of R-models right there!

Same here, I saw Gulfway's ad in a "Wheels of Time" magazine and now I pay about half as much as I did before. They specialize in racecar and antique vehicle insurance.

Thanks Rob.

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!

Hey, good thinking! I'm up and down 77 in Ohio a lot,except I usually run 21 through Massillon to bypass Akron and Canton.

Ya know,you might be onto something there.Sounds like a good plan anyway.

That's good,glad you liked it,and I appreciate the info on the paint. I'm thinking of taking the hood off and sending it to Illnois to have it buffessionally redone by a master. Gotta look into shipping charges first,but i've gotta do something with it,i'd hate for it to rust. Rob kinda got me worried about the moisture seeping into it.

I hoped you wouldn't have a worry in the world today, but I didn't match a single number in the mega million drawing last night. Oh well, maybe next time.

Thank you...and send me that recipe, in case I find a hound.

I cain't, don't have a shipping address. I think you just dont want me to show up for Christmas dinner!

on second thought, i'll just have to drive the mixer over there because it's too high to haul and I can't afford the over height permit. If I leave right now I can be there for Christmas!

you're right,i'm sure there's more to come!

Got some film developed the other day, some pictures so old they were taken this summer. My scanner still won't work so I took a picture of the 35mm pictures I wanted to post with the digital camera. Tried it all at once this time instead of individually, so you'll probably have to biggerize it to see anything. This is an experimental process, thought i'd try it here instead of the test forum...we'll see. not too bad- the pictures are, top row L to R- the Areva trailer I bobtailed to Florida to pick up, unloading Kyanite in Negley,Oh, loaded with coils in Masury,Oh. middle row- log truck in Rustburg,Va, an old GMC I spotted in Concord,Va. this summer, Navaho truck in Food Lion parking lot in Altavista,Va. a few weeks ago. bottom- what it would look like if you were following a coal bucket on rt. 20 in West Virginia.

only 4? I don't know, i'd better do more research and plan my route so there'll be one about every 50 or 60 miles, just in case... wish I could find a good straight hood so cheap i'd think I stole it, then i'd go ahead and paint the top of it black too, like I wanted to do at first.

peel the clear coat off and krylon it you mean?

thanks Rob,looks like paint in the future,as I have no place to store it inside.It's been sitting outdoors for the last 4 or 5 yrs. at least.