other dog

...still home,smoking cigarettes,couldn't find Captain Kangaroo on the TV. No load yet,just waiting...

not much freight to be moved this week either.Unloaded in Emporia Monday,went to Petersburg and loaded A load of beams for Chattanooga,Tn. and had to deadhead to Birmingham to reload.Got a load of 55' beams going to South Plainfield,N.J. but we unloaded them at the shop today because they didn't want them in N.J. yet.That's OK with me,I don't like going to New Jersey anyway.

The year before last I went to the ATHS show in Winchester for the first time. I saw A book there on Saturday called " 100 Years of Semi Trucks",but I didn't buy it.I kept thinking about it and decided I was going to buy it the next day,but ended up going on A side trip to Altoona,Pa. and never got back to the truck show. I ended up ordering the same book from Amazon.com,and I don't remember the price but it was money well spent.I had it out today looking through it,and this one paragraph on page 21,chapter 3,says so much about how trucking has changed from the 30's to today-" Driving trucks back in the 1930's was not easy. Although the highways were improving,riding comfort was not what it is today.Most of the roads were two-lane highways and in the mountainous regions,a driver could wear himself out by all the frequent shifting. 'The First 50 Years',a history of Consolidated Freightways,recounts a run by a C.F. driver in 1937 from San Francisco to Reno on old Route 40. From Roseville,California,to Reno,a distance of 125 miles,the driver shifted gears 844 times. On a 36-mile stretch from Roseville to Colfax , he shifted 318 times in 1 hour and 58 minutes. And on another stretch from Fox Farm to Donner Summit, a distance of 3.2 miles,the driver shifted 59 times in 18 minutes. A lot of trucks at this time had two sticks to shift,compared to one stick or an automatic today." ...WOW!

Not many good places like that to stop at anymore,at least not where I travel.All the big truckstops are the same and I try to stay away from them,except when I have to get fuel. The TA right up here at Troutville,Va. is one of the worst.It's too close to home for me to stop there anyway,but I go by it several times A week usually because I run rt. 220 a lot.It seems like everytime you go by there there's an argument about SOMETHING going on,usually about A parking space or somebody's got the parking lot blocked because there's no parking spaces. I just don't like to have to deal with all that everytime you want to stop somewhere,and look for the smaller places.

I take A lot of truck pictures on the road,and truck show pictures when I can get to A show.For years I used an old Kodak 35mm,and it took good pictures.Then I bought A Nikon 35mm from A guy near Monroeville,Oh. for $40 and it took good pictures too,but everybody said "you need to go digital,you're way behind the times". So I did,and I'm glad because it's so easy to put the pictures right on the computer,crop them,e-mail them,or whatever you want to do. I bought A Kodak digital camera from Wal-Mart for $199.99,the best I could afford.Then the price went down to $179,then $159,and the last time I was in Wal-Mart it was $149. When I had to replace my old PC I bought one for $698,the best I could afford because I figured it would be the last one I'll get.Today I saw the same PC on sale at Staples for $349.

That's great Bollweevil,there's some nice people in W.V. Many years ago I was coming south on I-79,somewhere north of Flatwoods,trying to get home,when A tire blew on the trailer.When I pulled over another truck pulled in behind me.He was A local hauler,I don't remember if he was A log hauler or pulled A coal bucket,but he had A spare tire,and I didn't.He said he would sell me his spare for $50,so I bought it,just traded wheels,and he helped me change it.I carried A jack and lug wrench but didn't have enough blocks to put under the jack to get it high enough so we "borrowed" one of the wooden blocks that go between the guard rail and post to jack it up. His spare got me back to the shop...nowadays if you're on the shoulder,it's rare for trucks going by to even move to the left lane,and they certainly don't have time to stop.

I spoke with Shirley Sponholtz on the phone recently,and she is A very nice person.You might be thinking,"so...who the heck is Shirley Sponholtz?" Well,she's the editor of "Old Time Trucks" magazine. I called to order some back issues my mixer was in,and she answered the phone! And she talked to me like A regular person,so I guess she's A regular person. When the back issues came,they were the wrong issue,but I just kept them and re-ordered the issues I wanted by mail.Yes,I paid for them!.They sent the wrong issue again,so I sent an E-mail telling them it was wrong,and she called me,but I wasn't home,so they called me today to get everything straightened out,and we did. Most people wouldn't bother to call twice if you had A problem,or once for that matter,but it really impresses me that people like Shirley,Barry,William Weatherstone-all trucking people-will go out of their way to help you with A problem,and treat you like an equal ...well,I'm just happy to know people like that. I've never met Paul VanScott,Bulldog Man,or Freighttrain,or anybody else but I like them all,and kind've feel like I know them...know what I mean? All good truckin' people. I'm just A Mr. Nobody,but A great antique truck magazine is called "Old Time Trucks"-give Shirley A call @513-573-3513,maybe she'll answer the phone.

Buster Brown stopped by here this week,and left A package with all this stuff in it...

Hi Paul,congratulations on your prize package! They are some nice looking T-shirts.Already had A black one so I told Barry I wanted A gray one,and it really looks good with the green trucks.I've never tried to sell anything on e-bay either,but I've been thinking about it for A while.I've got A lot of old NASCAR papers from the mid 80s to about '90.Used to subscribe to it,and saved them all-Grand National Scene and then it was Winston Cup Scene.They might be worth something,might not,but I've got them in two big styrofoam coolers in A spare room and they need to go somewhere!

After the funeral Tuesday I mentioned to Jeff that it was the longest funeral I'd ever been to.He said "yeah,if I go before you do,try to keep mine down to about 30 minutes,and one song-'roll on big mama'-something everybody'll like". He's very funny.Only made one round this week,it was very slow.I went to Donora,Pa. with 6 pallets of kyanite-half A load,usual load is 13 pallets,little over 46,000 lbs.Made up for it coming back though,loaded 3 coils at Beech Bottom,W.V. going to Emporia,Va. to unload Monday morning - they're A little over 50,000 lbs.Total weight of course,not 50,000 each-I'd have needed A push truck to get home.

can't believe nobody has commented on the Mack picture from Winchester last year...left everybody speechless I guess...that's A first.

See what I mean?

Tha's A good one.I don't go that far west anymore,never did much,but I like chili with beef (I use hamburger when I make it ),red kidney beans,tomatoes,onions,garlic,chili powder,cumin,maybe a green pepper,and A little more cumin,and...that's about it.

Also you can check out Hank's truck pictures-go all the way to the bottom and you can type in whatever you're looking for,he's probably got pictures of it somewhere on the site.

yeah,I had to replace A brake chamber not long ago,and had to order the 24/24 chamber because the 30/30 chamber would rub the inside of the tire.

WOW,9.05s! Now that's slow all right.I doubt if a quadruplex would give you much more road speed-it'll give you some because the duplex,if it's a ten speed and not the 9 speed overgear,is direct in high where the quad is a double overdrive. But if it only does about 35 now,I just don't know how much more the quad. would get you with those rears.My mixer has A 673 and A quadruplex and it'll only do about 55,but I don't know the rear end ratio. So I didn't really tell you anything,but that's my specialty here-B.S. and nonsense...somebody's got to do it! Meanwhile,there are some very smart people here and somebody will have A real answer for you.

It's almost time for the antique truck show in Winchester,Va.-September 20-22.I've been to the last two,and it's A good one! Saw this funny looking Mack there last year...

Saw in the paper this morning that Mrs. Moore passed away Sunday. She was the wife of H.H.Moore,mother of F.L.Moore,and Jeff and Todd's grandmother.I work for them now at F.L.Moore and sons,but I drove for H.H.for more than 25 years,started there in1979. H.H. and Evelyn started H.H.Moore trucking co. in 1946.I'll be here until tomorrow now,so I can go to the funeral.

Hello Fabian,I don't know how to put the little squiggly thing over the "a", but it is nice to see the old trucks still working.Last week I was stopped at A red light on rt. 14 in Ravenna,Oh. when A nice looking B-model tandem dump truck came up behind me and turned right when the light changed,so I couldn't get A picture.It was dark green with black fenders,nice looking truck,but still on the job-BMT member maybe?.Might have been Freighttrain,that's his neck of the woods.

OK,Iknow this isn't the recipe corner,but today I cooked some doves on the grill- Jobyna's son Billy,who lives in Glouchester,Va,had to work in the area this weekend and is spending the weekend with us.His coworker went dove hunting and he brought 16 doves home this evening.I used to go dove hunting when I was A teenager,and I don't think I had 16 total kills in my dove hunting career. My mom used to cook them,but I didn't really remember how.So I put them in some wreynolds wrap with some olive oil and the rub,put A strip of bacon over them,put them on the grill,turned them once,and I must say they came out very delicious.Whod'a thunk it?

I cooked some ribs yesterday,and I know this isn't the recipe corner,but they were so good I thought I'd share. I saw A recipe in A magazine once,two rappers had A rib cooking contest,and I kind of modified the winning recipe.First I slice the ribs into serving size pieces,then boil the ribs in beer with A little garlic,black pepper,and some of my homemade barbecue sauce,which is mostly just vinegar,red pepper,and liquid smoke. Then after they've simmered 'til they're done I put them on the charcoal grill and brown them on both sides,and they're good to go.They always come out tender and delicious.And that's the recipe of the week...tune in next week for tomater sammiches.

Interesting stuff ? Oh,I didn't notice that part before...well, congratulations Paul!

I must agree.Back when they were probably the most popular engine on the road nobody had many good things to say about them,but they've definately stood the test of time,and like A small block Chevy,definately one of the greatest engines of all time.I love to hear one now.When I went to the truck show recently in Troutman,N.C. I thought there was A lot of trucks there that weren't antiques ,but then I realized the anteater KW came out in the mid 80's so I guess it is an antique-thing of it is,it made me realize that I'M an antique now too!