other dog

I stole borrowed this from the Mack truck facebook page. I didn't know whether to put it on the Antique and Classic page or the Modern Mack page, so i'll put it here. Pretty neat picture, I thought- a B model beside a new Titan.

I don't want to drive one- the cab is 14 feet wide, the KW only 4 feet wide. That's a lot to get used to. It's probably the same 10 speed transmission, but it shifts altogether different. It has a DD15 in it, and it does pull better and has a much stronger engine brake than the Paccar engine, but other than that- I hate it. I told headquarters Thursday that "this truck will need a transmission by the time I get back, because i've scraped every gear i've tried to change since I left in this POS!" Of course they said "you're a non-truck driving m-effer!" I said "I know that"...not much of a wheel man. I told them "that quadruplex in my mixer shifts easier than this POS!"

Gee- funny you should say that- I just finished grilling some hamburgers after I just got back from the Wal Mart store after I just got back from the shop. And I did happen to pick up 24 cans of Yuengling at the Wal Mart store...yep, pretty good day!

So, I went over to the shop today to wipe a little of the grime out of that nasty Freightliner, and took my Wilson 2000 antenna that I had in the shed with me, because either the antennas on it were no good or nobody said anything on the CB from Roanoke to Erie and back last week. The mirror brackets are flat, couldn't mount it there...no grab handles to put it on, so I just mounted it on the bottom of the antenna that was already on it on the driver's side. Then I just put the coax in the door, and closed the door easy to make sure it wasn't too tight and would cut the coax...and locked myself out. Must have locked the doors accidently when I was cleaning. You can't lock yourself out of a KW, but you can lock yourself out of a Freightliner.

Slow week for pictures, i'll try to make up for it with even more gripping than usual descriptions. Like this- A boulder on the shoulder. New Fed-Ex sleeper cab? Holy mackerel! Speaking of flags on the mountain, I wonder who climbed out there and planted this one? Been there a long time, in Iron Gate, Va. Fred and Lamont. I had got to drive this on my second trip, to Erie, Pa. I have to get to drive it again to Monroeville, Pa. tomorrow. I like this pickup. Not blurry like the last picture, just a dirty windshield. I got a few items out of the red truck when I picked my trailer up in Roanoke, saw this laying in the floor... Looking at dumpsters through a Freightliner windshield...hmmmmm, ought be a country song,eh? Smoke from some power plant somewhere in Pa. going straight up, making a cloud. Taken from the top of Town Hill Mountain. I saw this girl in Winfall on the way home yesterday, so of course I screeched to a halt to enquire as to whether she needed any kind of assistance. She said no, she was just doing her daily stretching exercises beside the car.

There's all kinds of cross members and supports running every which way up in there. I've replaced a 5th. wheel plate and kingpin on a log trailer and a chip trailer before- not a fun job.The aluminum trailer I pull now has even more, we had to pull the board up to get to the wires one time when I had light problems. It's got drain holes in the corners but the whole front over the 5th. wheel plate had about 2 inches of mud and water in it from dust and dirt getting in. The light plug was completely under water. After a good rain the trailer will drip water for a couple of days. I thought about pulling the board up again and trying to hose it out, so it wouldn't fill up with water and freeze and break something, but I never did.

I went to Moneta this morning and unloaded 4 packs of lumber that I brought back from Fairview Pa. because it was supposed to have been "ground contact" but it wasn't. Then they loaded a load going to Erie, Pa. on me. I was headed up rt.220 a little south of Fincastle when I heard a loud "clunk" and the truck kind of lurched for a second. Then a few seconds later it did it again. I pulled over at the wide spot just north of town where the DOT checks trucks a lot...looked all over, under, around, and through, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I called headquarters and Jeff said to try it a little farther and see what happened. A little farther was only about 17 feet,4 1/2 inches, then it made the biggest "clunk" yet. I turned around at the next cross-over to try to get to Truck Enterprises in Roanoke. And I might have made it, I was clunking along pretty good for a while, but that last stop light before you get to I-81 caught me. Then I couldn't get up the hill. I came to a complete stop and locked the power divider in. Just managed to get it onto the shoulder, inching along, loud banging and clanging at this point, but I figured I couldn't hurt it any worse by then. I was on the phone with headquarters before I got off the road, and told them to call a wrecker. A state trooper pulled in behind me, then a deputy sheriff pulled in behind him. I told them i'd already called a wrecker, so they said "OK", put some flares behind me, and left. I'm thinking it's either the rear end or the power divider's done come undone. It looked like this waiting for the wrecker- I took a photo of the wrecker truck after we got to Truck Enterprises- nice unit. Jeff came and picked me up in his pickup, now i'm sitting at home.

Superdog might have already bought it, and is hammer down spreading with it.

All right! I'm going to forward Ken's check to you, plus 4 pennies so that I may learn even more stupid shit! Then I can start charging $29.95 for my "new and improved" stupid shit knowlege.

Saw this in the Tractor House paper. You can spread fertilizer quick with this!

I know all about stupid stuff. If you send me $19.95 i'll send you all the stupid info.

That's what I do, refill 'em with good old well water and put it in the fridge. I stopped at a store somewhere last week...might have been a Go Mart in West Virginia, anyway, they had 2 liter Pepsi products on sale for 99 cents. A 20 oz. bottle out of the cooler was $1.49.

I have been to Fairview and returned. Wasn't that far at all, just a little over 500 miles.

I didn't really drink that much myself, I had some help.

I haven't gotten it yet...or maybe I did and drank it and can't remember anything...who knows...I must be off.

Owe you a like...

I wish! I gotta get to the one up by Erie- if you see me on the ramp at exit 7, wake me up please.

It's all Vision386's fault- I wouldn't even have known about it if it weren't for him!

That was a 12 pack...i'm on no. 11 now...gonna be a long ways to Fairview, Pa. tomorrow...

Yup...i'm really liking this stuff...

Nice T shirt Vlad!

Congratulations, well done indeed!

Saw this on the facebook Mack truck page. It's on the eastern shore of Virginia.