other dog

Well, speaking of Pontiacs- that was the only Pontiac I ever owned, but I did go look at a- Bonneville maybe? Big car, '68 or '69 I think, 2 door, white interior, it was either dark green or dark blue, I don't remember now. It had a 400 Pontiac engine, clean as a pin. A doctor in Lynchburg was selling it, had right around a 100,000 miles on it, which I thought was too many at the time. This was around '83 or '84 probably. I still wish I had bought that car, it's definitely the "one that got away". He was asking $500 for it.

Me too!

I was driving a '68 Pontiac Tempest in 1979. It came with the OHC 6 cylinder and a three speed on the column. I bought it from a friend who had put a 350 out of a 73 or 74 Ventura in it. I think that's what it was - looked kind of like a Nova. Still had the 3 speed though. Pretty good old car.

I can explain- Actually, that's a 5 and I didn't really notice that it looked like "sex" until I got home from the DMV office and put it on. I would have gotten the black and white antique plates, but they didn't have any when I was there and I did not want to have to make another trip to the DMV.

What? That's my antique truck driving hat!

Me, Zina, and Roman. We left the other 2 at home, but we're going to try all 3 on a shorter run. Plenty of room for them.

Thanks Bob, I washed and waxed it yesterday. I even wore my antique truck driving hat today- if I had a pack of non-filter Camels I'd be good to go! 😁

Well, the big green truck that runs now made it to Charlotte Courthouse. We're waiting for the parade to start, which isn't until around 3 or 3:30. Lots of trucks here. The Keystone Truck and Tractor Museum guys just rolled in with about 8 trucks. I'll have more pictures later, I have nearly non-existent phone signal here.

I've read of several instances of "officials" turning help from private citizens away too, even one instance of a helicopter pilot being told that he would be arrested if he went back up. This was written by a man named Monty Fulton, who is the Director of Outreach Ministries at Christ Presbyterian Church in Huntington, West Virginia. This is a post I just saw on X, which explains why some trucks and volunteers are being refused access. It’s a bit long, yet gives some detail: If you are wondering why citizens are being turned away that are coming to help NC and TN - you'll want to hear my experience as someone who has been doing this as a private citizen for almost a decade. I was able to get into, and out of Asheville. We brought food, water, fuel and other supplies as well as helped people affected by the floods, but there are reasons why they are not allowing outside help. I cannot confirm the reasons why in NC, but i can tell you the reasons in other storms i have worked - i'll explain below. Let me share with you the first disaster area that i finally realized that this was all about money. In the FL Keys with Hurricane Irma, after Texas got hit with Harvey, we finished our efforts in Texas and were the first citizen team to make it to Key Largo. The federal agencies had US1 shut down just South of Key Largo and wouldn't let anyone in or out, even though the road was okay to pass. We explained to them that we had boats, Jet skis, food, water, chainsaws and fuel to bring these people. They didn't care and wouldn't let us in. It was night by that point and you rarely saw the lights of vehicles in the distance on the individual keys, meaning the emergency response teams from FEMA weren't even working, it was all quiet. We decided that we would go in anyways. We filled up the boats and jet skis with all that we could reasonably carry and went by water, around all their BS blockades and around their law enforcement presence on the water. It was 87 miles by water to get to our first stop, Cudjoe Key and Sugarloaf Key. When we arrived there we were greeted by a homeowner (for privacy, I won't name him, though we have video) who was elated to see us and all the supplies we brought, his house was in shambles. We started offloading supplies on the shoreline and helping to get them into what was left of his house. During that process, he explained to us that FEMA had set up a command center at a local high school on the island, but that they weren't doing anything to help the residents, not even bringing them WATER! Instead, he explained that they were driving around using a loudspeaker, telling people to stay in their homes. They weren't even helping the home owners with supplies. I was skeptical at first while he was telling me all of this, but then he said something that broke my heart.... He told us that the people of the keys were all in despair, because they had just seen, weeks before, the overwhelming support for Texas with Hurricane Harvey, by the citizens of this country. He, and his neighbors on all of the keys, felt like Americans had forgotten about them completely, because at this point, FIVE DAYS after landfall, all they had seen was FEMA, and they were of NO HELP. The residents were cut off from the outside world, no cellular, no internet, no way to contact anyone or hear of any efforts to try to help them. The ONLY communication they had was from a local radio station on Sugarloaf Key, that was broadcasting on AM to the surrounding keys. The man, after hearing that there were citizens trying to bring them help, but being refused entry by federal law enforcement was visibly upset. He, and his neighbors, really thought the country had abandoned them. He insisted that we get into his waterlogged truck and that he would take us to that radio station so that we could go live on air, to tell the citizens trapped in the Keys that we, the American people, were there to help and that the government was trying to stop our efforts. And that is exactly what we did. After that, we were determined to help as many people as we could, but we were met with red tape throughout the whole process and time we were in the keys. We finally we able to talk some authorities to let us down to the Faro Blanco Resort in Marathon towards the end of Boot Key. This was the same hotel where state and local authorities were staging their personnel and they were happy to see us. I was able to coordinate several trucks full of supplies to be brought down to the EOC in Marathon. I was privy to the EOC meeting, BUT was informed in that meeting, that all of the semi trucks full of food, water and hygiene supplies were to be turned around and not allowed to be offloaded for distribution by the EOC. THE REASON they gave us, was that these donations were not from companies on their "preferred vendors list" and that they would not accept them or give them to the residents of the keys impacted by the storm. It was at that point that I realized, this is ALL ABOUT MONEY. These 'preferred vendors" are getting part of the money being released by the state and federal govt for each disaster. In turn, some of the "vendors" make it on the list because a friend gets them on the list, and in return for getting ridiculously outlandish amounts of compensation for the services they render, they give kickbacks. So accepting outside donations, even though they are on location and can help people NOW, they would rather let people suffer so they can get their kickbacks. This meeting solidified my resolve to help these people, regardless of what the greedy officials wanted, we were going to feed the lower keys that were being neglected. I diverted ALL SEMI TRUCKS to the Faro Blanco Resort in Marathon and filled the entire first floor with pallets upon pallets of food, water and essential supplies and created a food pantry for residents to come and get anything, and however much they needed. From local state troopers to the homeless, all were given wheel barrels and free reign to get anything they needed. We also delivered supplies down to Big Pine Key. We helped establish the tent city on Big Pine Key. Big companies like Titos Vodka and Whelen just kept bringing trucks full of everything that was needed. When FEMA FINALLY started handing out boxes of canned goods (limited to one per household), we were filing cars full of food and supplies for people and pets. There is so much more to the story in the Keys and further from there in other storms we worked- the common theme though, is that the federal government always tries to keep citizens from helping and the local authorities, the ones that live and work in the area are always happy to have outside help. I call out to Elon Musk and anyone else who can monetarily help people like myself and those that work with me, who have the knowledge and the will to help those devastated by these disasters. Help us side step the red tape and get the people the relief they need. We are willing, and we are many, and we are ready.

That's right, and every day is Saturday!

Now they might get some help from the gummint.

Buffalo?.. that's a whole different world in winter, I've been going up 219 to Orchard Park and you couldn't see the road or anything else because of the lake affect effect snow. I was going to Buffalo one time, snowing like crazy. I had to stop several times to clear my windshield because the wipers kept freezing up. Road was completely covered. I finally said "screw this, I'm gonna find SOMEWHERE to stop". Except there really isn't anywhere to stop up through there, so I kept going. When I got to the job site in Buffalo it was all clear, no snow anywhere. It was about 10 degrees, but no snow.

...and Frank from American Pickers, and John Amos.

And the great Pete Rose passed away yesterday too.

That's why I have no respect for most any union. They were started for a good reason, so companies couldn't just treat employees any way they wanted. But somewhere along the line the unions got too much power, and they abuse that power at every opportunity. I drove for over 42 years and been to many ports to pick up loads many different times and I don't remember any of those times being a pleasant experience at all. I think everybody who works at every port in the U.S. is an arrogant over-paid asshole. They all treat truck drivers like dirt, and always act like they're doing you a tremendous favor just because they let you come to their port and pick up that load. Lot of steel mills were the exact same way. That's my opinion, and I could go on and on, but I won't.

I only chained up one time, ever. Somebody gave me a set of chains that fit my Ford Ranger pickup one time, so when we got a pretty good snow I decided to try them out. Put them on and drove to the beer store and back with no problems, and no shoveling. But there have been a few times that I wished I had some in the truck, because I would have sure used them. Like this time on rt. 60 in West Virginia-

I don't know, I didn't ask them. Didn't hear about her father, sad, but that's the best way you can go I guess.

Raining here now, flash flood warning until 2 am.

I talked to the couple that brought this beautiful B 53 too. I liked it because as I told them "it's nice to see a B model that's not red". I told them that I used to have a B-53S myself, it was a cement mixer, came from Roanoke- and it was red. And I sold it waaaay too cheap. They said theirs used to be a mixer too, and it came from Roanoke, so it might have come from the same place. This one still has the quadruplex transmission in it, but a friend of theirs had changed the rears for them, and it had 3.55's in it. The guy said it might be the fastest B model on the east coast, it would run 70+ with no problem. Mines had 7.?? something rears, and you had to stand on it to run 55mph.

I would love to have a little single axle flatbed like this to pull behind the big green International that runs now. The sign in the window said the owner was from New Alexandria, Pa, which is also the home of Watt's Mack. The B-71 was a 1956 and the trailer was a 1946 Fruehauf. Not sure what year the golf cart is.

Happy birthday and happy anniversary!

yeah, I was pondering the original post and somebody replied "think John Denver" and I say "oh yeah, now I get it" 🤣