other dog

Well,I was gonna leave Sunday,but ended up leaving Saturday anyway. Afterwards I was glad I did of course-I drove to Maysville,Ky. Saturday and when I left there Sunday morning I still had 600 miles to go to Endeavor,Wisconsin. It was a good load,paid me $760. After I unloaded Monday I went to Chicago to reload for Baltimore.That paid almost $300,so I had a pretty good week in by the time I unloaded in Baltimore Wednesday morning. Then I went across the Key Bridge to Sparrows Point and loaded a couple of coils for N.B.Handy in Lynchburg,dropped them at the shop Wednesday evening,then took a van load of Kyanite to Chester,W.V. and when I unloaded there Thursday morning I went down rt. 2 a little ways and reloaded at Follansbee for Richmond,Va. I was going to drop down I-79 to 68 and over to Hancock,but since the snow was up to the bumper and still coming down at a rate of 14" an hour ( note-I may not be totally accurate in my weather reports,but that's what it seemed like to me at the time,so i'm as accurate as memory allows me to be ) I just stayed on 70 to New Stanton and ran the turnpike to Breezewood,then dropped back down 70 and 17 to 95 to Richmond.Went from Richmond back to the shop in Concord Friday,dropped the van,then hooked back up to my flat and went back to Petersburg and loaded a load of piling going to Nazareth,Pa. for Monday delivery...whew!

Yeah,I fully understand that not being made of money thing. I haven't even started the mixer in a while...not since the Christmas parade I think. I was going to start it yesterday and dump the water,but had to go to Petersburg to load and it was dark when I got back and I never did.

well good luck with that unit Joe,I hope it's for sale and the owner was just waiting for the right buyer to come along and give it a good home and he'll sell it to you so cheap you'll think you stole it.

blue ( sorry,I couldn't resist )

...did I just see Batman and Robin walking into the truckstop?

Thanks Freightrain,when my muffler rusted out I couldn't find a 4" muffler for it anywhere,it was too rotten to repair,so I just got an adaptor and put a 5" straight stack on it instead of the muffler. I didn't think it would be much louder because the muffler was straight through,no baffles in it at all,but I was way off on that theory-it's way louder for some reason.

looks a lot like the A-40 I saw in Moneta with the briar patch grown up through the floor.

all excellent ideas,but my first trip would be to the used truck parts/recycler/junk yard to see if they have a Cruiseliner. You might run across any number of parts you might need if they do,and you know they'll fit.

I had to get my road atlas out and look Littleton up- I know exactly where you're talking about. Years ago,when I was young and dumb,as opposed to now being old and dumb,I left either Martins Ferry,Oh. or maybe Beech Bottom,W.V. and decided to run 250 from Moundsville down to 79,just to check it out. I was driving an F-model Mack pulling a 42' flat bed with a load of coils. Shortly after leaving Moundsville,climbing up a steep mountain,I started to wonder if i'd made a wise decision when the road disappeared.It looked like it just ended,and if I kept going i'd just drive off the cliff into space,like Thelma and Louise. I thought " what the ...",then I looked out of the passenger side window and saw the road again,a tight hairpin curve to the right while climbing steeply at the same time. Then after a while I got to this town and had a time making that turn -a hard left the way I was going -I didn't remember the name of the town,but it was up in that area so i'm pretty sure that's the place. Once I finally got to 79 I said I wouldn't go back across there bobtailing. But as far as 250 goes,i'd say the crookedest and steepest part is between Churchville and Monterey,Va. You'd like going to Moorefield now-55 across the mountain from Baker is a four lane 65 mph superslab now. I run up 259 from Broadway then 55 to Moorefield and go 220 north pretty regularly now,and it's all good road. 259 used to be so narrow you had to hit the shoulder if you met another truck,or you'd likely get your mirror knocked off. There's still a steady stream of chicken and turkey trucks running across there to Moorefield. They have the four lane finished to Wardensville and it's supposed to eventually go to I-81,somewhere around Strasburg I think,but that parts not finished yet. You're exactly right though,everybody should experience something like that at least once. I think these guys that start out hauling coal in the hills,or logs or pulpwood out of the woods end up being the best truck drivers,unlike the swift,werner,u.s.express,etc. ( they're all pretty much the same ) that after 2 weeks of truck driving school only think they are.

I've been by a hardwood flooring plant over between Beverly and Elkins,that might be where he is.

Yes,that is correct-when I first went to work for H.H.Moore his grandsons Jeff and Todd were still in high school. When they were old enough they started driving,local at first,then long distance,so they know the deal.They realize that when they go home at 5 O'clock the drivers still have a days work to get done to deliver the next morning,something a lot of dispatchers seem to think happens by magic. A buddy of mine was a driver for awhile then went to dispatching, and said some of the people in that office talks about drivers like they are dogs.. really pisses me off. I just talked to another buddy of mine and he's in west virginia, said he got off of interstate 81 @ exit 221 then went across hwy 250 into west virginia. He said it was pretty steep hills to get across, have you been through there? I was just wondering if it was as bad as he was letting on. Glad to know your boss realizes how it is not many does. See ya Buddy. 250? from Staunton over into West Virginia? that bad? ha-ha,heck no,I've been across there a few times,it's probably worse! I mentioned going across rt. 33 a while back,250 is as bad or maybe worse than rt.33 as far as steep grades,tight turns, big hills, sharp curves, mountains,..let's see,did I leave anything out?..oh yeah,the sharp turns and mountains-otherwise a nice ride,very scenic. What the heck is he doing over in there? Nobody goes that way,except Big Jim,and he ain't right. Big Jim runs that way fairly often,even though he doesn't have to. I always suspected Big Jim wasn't exactly factory,if you know what I mean, but that's his binness if he wants to travel the road less traveled,not mines!

oh,'52 F-600-what kind of shape is that in? I ain't got no money,just curious...got any pictures of it?

Yes,that is correct-when I first went to work for H.H.Moore his grandsons Jeff and Todd were still in high school. When they were old enough they started driving,local at first,then long distance,so they know the deal.They realize that when they go home at 5 O'clock the drivers still have a days work to get done to deliver the next morning,something a lot of dispatchers seem to think happens by magic.

Hey Joe,how's it going? What's Parker and Paxton been up to,if anything? Parker called me the other day,I think it was Tuesday,and said Paxton had been picking on him. Paxton called Wednesday and said Parker had been teasing him . I told them both you'd get them straight this weekend. ( kidding of course...they called me,but didn't say anything about picking on or teasing each other ) I checked out your cabover gallery-I drove a truck like that to Chicago once. H.H.Moore had several Internationals like that,with 400 Cummins engines and 13 speeds in them. I never had one as a regular tractor,but drove one to Chicago when my truck was in the shop for something one time.

I don't know about all that locking release in the tool box beneath the sleeper,but I once stopped at a self service car wash in Buena Vista,Va. when I was on the way to Covington with a load of chips to spray my truck off. I jacked the cab up and it wouldn't go back down. I pushed on it so hard it left dents in the front of the cab,but it still wouldn't come down. Finally I called headquarters and told Teddy what the problem was,my cab wouldn't come back down. He said after you jacked it up past a certain point you couldn't just release the valve,you had to jack it back down too...oh...I put the jack handle in the jack,pumped it a few times,and it came right on down. I didn't know that. And the cold-I can deal with that. I have a sub-zero sleeping bag that I've never used, A Czechoslavakian military surplus parka I ordered from Sportsman's Guide for about $19.95,it's really warm-so warm I haven't worn it yet ( weighs about 8 lbs!). You can always put on more clothes-but i've never been a heat person. I don't particularly like driving in snow and ice,but I took an Orchard Park over a Boca Raton a while back. The heat like we had here last summer was just miserable to me...I can still remember the 114 degrees in Savanna,Ga.when I was loading something or other,and i'll take the cold anytime.

Well it's been 9 days since the last cigarette...but who's counting,right?.. and that was an ultra light-only one all day,while I was fueling up before I left for Orchard Park. Went to Zelienople and Fremont this week,loaded back to Roanoke out of Macedonia both times. Yesterday I went down to Petersburg and loaded 60' piling going about 10 miles North of Portage, Wisconsin for Monday delivery. Already got a load back to Norfolk out of Crystal Lake,Il. We had about 18-20 loads going up there,most on 53' trailers,but I pull a 48. I put about 3' hanging off the front ( we have headache racks on the trucks,no headboards on the trailers) with about a 9' rear overhang. I could get away with a little extra overhang on the front because the piling is all in one stack in the center of the trailer,so it won't hit the headache rack when I make a turn. Some guys are leaving tomorrow,some Sunday. I think I'm going with the Sunday morning departure.The return load doesn't load until Tuesday,and as the late "Hippie" used to say " everybody can't be first ". I used to leave after church on Sunday going to Boston and Chicago and be there at 7am Monday morning,but that's when I was A young man. If I leave pretty early Sunday I should be able to get it off by Monday evening anyway. And that's something that doesn't really bother me A lot anymore. Sometimes of course A customer may need or want something at 7am and I'll do my best to get it there,but for the most part when I get tired I'm looking for a wide spot and pull over and take a nap. The company I used to drive for,for over 25 years ( until the one A-hole dispatcher came along that I just couldn't get along with,and anybody'll tell ya if ya cain't get along with me,ya cain't get along with yourself! ),would fine you $25 (taken out of your safety bonus) for not delivering at 7 am,whether it needed to be or not. Todd told me when I first went to work for him " I'm more concerned about my trucks arriving somewhere safe and up on the wheels than I am about them being somewhere at 7 am". Makes sense to me. I have unloaded in Fremont,Ohio on Monday morning, sitting there when they opened,loaded back to Lynchburg,Va and was sitting back in Fremont Wednesday morning before they opened,loaded back to Lynchburg out of Sharon,Pa, and was back in Fremont Friday morning when they opened. But if I hadn't unloaded until after lunch every time,it wouldn't have made any difference at the end of the week. I would have still ran 3 Fremonts that week,and that ain't shabby.

Over to BNZ...or is it BMZ?- it's one or the other, it's over across the tracks near Frankenstein concrete,home of a nice looking Diamond Reo mixer. It might be by that Rome Metal,I don't know. There's a place close to it where I see trucks loading steel but I don't know the name of it. I have loaded at Main Steel before though,but only once. We had three trucks unloading in Zelienople Monday,so it must be a pretty busy place. Anyway,you take 19 North right into downtown Zelienople,then make a left on 288 (tight turn!),then another left just before you cross the tracks,then bear right and another right into their driveway,right across from Frankenstein's.

Very true Speed,I thought about doing just that,then I decided to try to clean it up some and see how it turns out.

Thank you Joe,I really appreciate the encouragement.

I couldn't have said it better...Wow!

VERY FUNNY! PVS yeah,I thought so too.Glad i'm 500 miles away just the same.

thanks Joe,that was very informative-I've got it soaking in Dawn and water,but no vinegar.That's what I was wondering,that article said the acid would stain the pewter,and vinegar is very acidic,that's why I thought it would work good at dissolving the concrete.

yeah,sounds like it just came out of the deep freeze!