other dog

I went up to Troy and unloaded those two coils today. When I was on the way back I might have seen Paul moving some things down to Fork Union, but I can't say for sure. Saw a colorful mixer too.

This is a B 53 too. I've seen it at a lot of shows- looks great, but it's got late model running gear.

He has some great stories- my all time trucking hero. Driving all across Canada and the U.S. in a B model Mack, no sleeper. I sent him a comment on his site years ago, and to my surprise he replied, and we've been friends ever since.

I think he has family or friends in Florida, he might be coming that way! He held up a can to the camera, but I forgot what it was-it was a blue and white can. I asked about Molsen, because that was the only Canadian beer I could think of- he doesn't drink Molsen. I think it's pretty good, but it's hard to find. He said after a couple of his beers I would be face down on the ground.

I know - I mean "I heard"- that we some people used to get a "prescription only" in the U.S. diet pill called Ionamin over the counter in Mexico. One of the side affects was that you would stay awake for a long time, and feel good going it...or so I heard. You could get it around here without a prescription at certain truckstops for $1.50 a pill...or so I heard. And go to El Paso and cross the border and buy all you wanted cheap as aspirin...or so I heard- all hearsay, I know nothing. Hey, I was in my 20's then, cut me some slack- kind of what I was talking about when I said I wished now how I should have taken care of myself more in my 20's and thirty's, when I thought I was invincible, and getting that load there was the most important thing...come to find out it's not.

I talked to Old Bill (http://www.thedieselgypsy.com/) on skype this morning. His wife of 51 years, Muriel, passed away last night. She was diagnosed with alzheimer's disease 8 years ago and has been in a nursing home in Blind River, Ontario for several years. He said he will move back to Elliott Lake now. He said he might come to see me some day too- I told him if he did I would pay for his gas to get here, and I certainly would. You might think that will never happen, but he told me last week that he got "cabin fever" and drove to Vancouver, by himself, just for the hell of it, at 79 years old. He said he wanted me to barbecue, and that he would bring me some "good beer", which according to him i've never had.

Come to think of it, I did smell something fishy when I walked by- maybe the black and white thing in her cart was a killer whale, eh?

I do not know. I don't even know what kind it is, some people said it was a Rex, others said McNeilus- i've looked all over it and haven't seen a plate, sticker, or name on it anywhere.

miscellaneous pictures- I went up to the shop in Concord today to put a bumper on a Dodge pickup. I got a piece of 3" square tubing Monday from Moore's Machine in Spout Spring, Va. They cut it to length, capped the ends, ground everything smooth for me, loaded it in my pickup, and only charged me $39. I told them you couldn't beat that with a stick. They're the same folks that made a lid and put an offset smoker box on my grill last year and charged me $50. Looks like 4" tubing would have looked a little better, but it's thick wall tubing and pretty heavy so I was trying to save weight so I wouldn't have to put a counter weight on the front...this looks better than the "no bumper at all" I had at first anyway. I cut some brackets out of a piece of plate and bolted them on, then I was just going to weld the tubing to the brackets and paint everything black. I could have finished it today but I couldn't get the stupid welder to work. The wire wouldn't feed at all so I unscrewed the tip...still nothing...pulled on it with pliers...still nothing. The thing-a-ma-jig- or is it a thing-a-ma-bob?..I don't remember- anyhow, the thing in the machine was just spinning on the wire but it just wouldn't go through. Had plenty of wire. They should have the old fool-proof stick welder there, but they don't. I put the license plate on the front too, but I didn't put one on the back because there's no bumper to put it on yet. The truck washer guy took my truck to wash it too. He was just getting back when I was leaving so I went down to where he was hooking back up to the trailer and said "how am I supposed to be in Minneapolis at 7 in the morning when you're out riding around?" He started apologizing, then I told him I couldn't deliver in Troy, Va. until Tuesday. He said "man, that truck runs good- I left the stop light down here and it felt like somebody hit me in the ass!" The difference in the way it runs and pulls compared to the Paccar engine is like night and day. It almost- almost- makes me look forward to getting in it and going up the road. And, I saw this girl in Winfall on the way home. She appeared to be broke down, but I didn't have time to stop and investigate the situation.

I think this one was in Cleveland. I delivered a load of pipes there and this was at the job site. They still used it every day, and it looked like new.

I got some pictures-

Mark and his wife are at Macado's in Roanoke right now celebrating her impending birthday with "some fabulous drinks"...she just posted that on facebook. Mark is the designated driver, "being the professional driver that he is". Randyp shows up on facebook periodically too.

Took this from Canatol Steel in Roanoke. Saw the Joe Montana bridges in Pa. Stopped at the grocery store in Winfall on the way home- ...OK, I got nuthin' this week- is it too early for this?

That was one of my concerns- I'm expected to take a 10 hour break if my 14 hours are up and i'm a half hour from the yard on a Friday night?..what a crock! My 14 was over at 9:00 last night. Got to the shop at 8:50. I unloaded in Erie, Pa. yesterday morning, then went to Galv-Tech in Pittsburgh to load and saw 7 trucks in line to get loaded in front of me. Didn't leave there until 1:30, and it's a good 7 hours back to Lynchburg, plus a little more to Concord. Hadn't eaten a thing all day except a cinnamon roll out of the vending machine until I stopped in Rupert, W.V. and got a cold meatloaf sammich at the store and ate while riding. I did pull over on a ramp to pee one time too.

That is very true, I wish I had realized it when I was in my 20's and thirty's. Hope you're doing well Mike, take care of yourself!

I've seen this on facebook many times, makes me wonder if somebody, somewhere, would actually do it...probably!

Nice looking unit!

No, they usually trade them around every 4 years or so. The last 2 trucks I drove for Jeff, a W900L and the Peterbilt, both had almost 700,000 miles on them, so he didn't keep the T660 near as long as he did those. The T660 only had about 455,000 on it, but i'm glad he did trade it in. I liked it- I liked the way it rode and drove, and it turns shorter than the T800- but I never liked the 10 speed and 3.36 rears, it's just not a good set up for hauling lumber and steel across W.V. and Pa. It was a good flat ground truck, not so much in the hills.

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I don't have many this week, good thing AppleDog did. I only made one trip, because of the holiday. The new truck did fine, I took a load of mullite to Chester, W.V.with it. Saw some big Mack trucks going south on rt.2. Then I saw a train in McKees Rocks. I saw the moon when I got to Lynchburg Tuesday night. Saw another load of coils sitting there too. When he pulled his tarps off Wednesday morning I noticed he chains his coils altogether different than I do.

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A-ha!..I thought i'd seen her somewhere besides Winfall before!

Maybe a shed just like this one off the side of your house would work?..just a thought.

Nice!