GA_Dave

Engine 11, Hamlet, NC 1973 Mack CF685F12 1250/500 #1551

I recently spent almost two weeks in North Carolina, finding two more Mack fire apparatus to add here. Former Engine 7, Hamlet, NC 1968 Mack C-95F 1000/500 #1629

We trailered it from the barn where it has been stored to the fire station, after we removed a bird's next from one of the hard suctions. It has just over 27k miles on it and just over 1100 hours on the pump. The tires are the same ones that were on it when it left in 1986, so they are high on the list for replacement, possibly by the end of the week. I hosed it off yesterday afternoon, but it needs a thorough scrubbing. The pressure washer at the station is broken and the regular hose didn't have a nozzle, so I had to use my thumb..... So glad that nothing has changed since I retired!

B85F-1338, delivered to College Park, GA in 1958. It served until 1986 and became a parade apparatus for American Legion Post 50 in College Park. Post 50 relocated to Peachtree City, GA about 10-12 years ago. Today, the Mack came home to the College Park Fire Department for good!

I filled up today in Greenville, NC for $2.56/gal. The place in Durham that was $3.03/gal is now $2.94/gal. Same company!

I don't think it's just the price of gas, it's the gas taxes certain States are adding to it. When I left Georgia on Sunday, gas was $2.89/gal. I filled up in South Carolina for $2.69. I'm currently in Durham, NC and the gas is $3.01. The same place was $3.03 yesterday.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

In my 65 years, I have known one Frenchman. It's probably his........

US? Is this the same "us" as the "we" who were recently "doomed"? Again, I ask, who is us? Don't speak for me, I am neither owned nor doomed. My life is good and I am happy and content with the way things are going.

Most of them didn't start it, they just got sucked into it.........

Even more disgusting is the US Citizens who allowed this to happen (AKA the left, liberals, democrats) are the ones fighting the hardest to keep them here!

Yukon Jack - He and I go way back!

I don't find this too unexpected. A buddy of mine lives near that factory and he tells me that there are parking lots all around the area full of brand new Mack trucks they can't sell. It has been that way for the past couple years.

How did you get my number?

They threw all that away right after Sam died!

Obamacare went into effect not long before I retired. At the time, my coverage was provided by my employer and my wife's coverage, on the same plan, was paid by me, around $350/month. When I retired at the end of 2013, I opted to stay on my employer's plan, which was pretty good insurance, but I would pay the whole cost for my wife and I, which had increased to $500/month EACH. The following year, my employer changed carriers to a plan that would not cover my wife's insulin ($750/month) and you had no choice on who your doctor was, you went to their "clinic" and were seen by whoever was available. We dropped that coverage and found our own private policy at BC/BS. It was $1250/month for both of us, but that was still cheaper than $1000/month plus $750/month for her insulin. We stayed with that until the end of 2018, when BC/BS left the private market in Georgia. The premiums had increased to $1700/month and BC/BS was the LAST private health insurance provider in the State. The "Obamacare" policies available on the market were limited to a State-run program designed for the Marketplace and the same insurer available through my employer that didn't cover the insulin. No doctors in my area would accept either. At that point, we were uninsured and stayed that way until I went on Medicare in August, 2024. My wife goes on it in October. Meanwhile, we have stashed the $1700/month in our bank account, paying all health costs from it. During 2024, she had cataracts removed in both eyes and a bunch of dental work (root canals, crowns, etc.), which was paid for out of that account. There is still $30,000 in that account. Back when Obamacare was being legislated, the left claimed that there were millions of uninsured people in the US. There still are!

Not all of that video was shot at the same time. In some shots, that orange Chevy tractor is under the Campbell Express trailer and in others, it is sitting between the two buildings on the other side of the tracks.

You made the statement "Yeah we re doomed.open ur eyes" and I asked a question, yet you never answered the question. I simply expressed my view on the matter, which is the opposite of yours. I never threatened your First Amendment rights! You insinuated that anyone who doesn't agree with you must have their eyes shut. Technically, the First Amendment doesn't even apply here, as it only protects your freedom of speech from Government interference. This is not a Government website. You are free to speak your mind here, but others are also free to speak theirs!

I took a trip there on Google Maps as soon as you said firetrucks! I found five. On the other side of that Campbell Express trailer sits an open cab American LaFrance 700 Series. It saddens me to see this Seagrave just sitting in that town, in the condition it is in now, with junk piled all over it. It was a beautiful rig when I shot it in Masontown, PA.

Who is this "we" you speak of? My eyes are wide open and I am quite pleased at the way things are going right now. Not everything is perfect, but I never had expectations of perfection. I certainly do not feel "doomed". It was like we were in a raging river, being swept closer to the plunging waterfall and we finally managed to get ourselves turned around, and now we are fighting against swift currents to get back to calm waters. It isn't easy, but we are heading in the correct direction. The stock market concerns me little, I have no dependency on it whatsoever. My current financial situation is better than it has ever been. I am not worried about the tariffs as I purchase very little that is not produced in the US. Life is good and getting better. The sky is not falling!

It is possible that they were simply left off the list, like 1218, or maybe they were not pumpers. They could have been aerials built on the B-85F chassis.

B-85F-1218 was a 1957 B-85F 750/500 delivered to Bethany, CT.

Happy Birthday!