other dog

Hi Ed, I know that you are older, wiser, and a much better person and I appreciate your friendship too.

Indeed, you're a good man Vinny.

And now... the rest of the story- I started out to go load in Lynchburg Tuesday morning. The engine light came on in the truck before I got a mile from the shop and it derated, so I turned around and went back. Once I got stopped I could turn the knob on the dash to see the fault code, and it was EGR related, some valve in it was leaking, so it had to go to Truck Enterprises. I got a spare truck, one of the black Cascadias, and went to load. I hoped the red truck would be fixed that evening but it wasn't, so I drove that fat cab Freightliner to Warren. It was like driving a cabover- I can reach down and get my camera or snack or whatever out of the passenger seat in the KW without even leaning over. I can lean over and reach the passenger side door, but I had to lean and stretch just to reach the seat in that Cascadia. Had no CB, no satellite radio, and the AM/FM wouldn't pick up a thing. But it did pull good, and had a helluva strong engine brake. It has a DD15 Detroit in it. The fat cab Freightliner- The engine light was on in the Freightliner too. I didn't have any tape to put over it, so I improvised. So after waiting around for the red truck all afternoon and wasting 3 hours I had to drive the black truck anyway. I stopped at New London and got the biggest Red Bull, a sammich, and a pack of smokes and took off. Stopped at Fairplain W.V. and got the biggest Red Bull and a ham salad sammich and took off again. Got to Warren about 2am, and got up at 6:30 and started taking tarp straps off. Pulled inside at 7, untarped, unstrapped,unloaded, loaded, strapped down, tarped, and left around 9. The nicely tarped load- Jeff Moore called as soon as I got back in the truck, him and Todd had just left Flatwoods, W.V. The plan was to meet on 79 somewhere, i'd park the truck and we'd all ride to Evans City in Todd's Lincoln Navigator. I called him back just before I got to 79 on 422, and they were in Fairmont. I told them i'd park at the rest area at the 50 mile marker, and since I had about 50 miles to go and they had about 80, we should get there at the same time. I'd been there about 10 minutes when they pulled in, and they had to go to the Bridgeville exit and make a flip to come back south. We were still early, so we got a bite to eat, and we looked at the scene of the crime. The court house was only a few miles away in Evans City. It was very small, no security checks or anything. The judge tried 2 cases, a parking ticket issue and a disorderly conduct, then we were the only ones in the court room. The judge left the room, and the officer came in a few minutes later. After the introductions, He said "what do you guys want to do? I saw the copy of the permit you sent in with your not guilty plea- unfortunately it's a type one permit, which means a copy of it must be carried in the vehicle or it's no good." And we knew that, Todd had just shown us that on the provisions sheet before we went inside. He was hoping they didn't know. Our main defense was shot down before we even got started. "So what do you guys want to do?" And he said it in a tone that said "just what the hell are you guys doing here wasting my time?" So Todd said "this fine is a bigger hit than we can afford to take, we're looking for any leniency we can get." "Yes, it is a substantial amount- how far did you guys come?" "About 400 miles" "OK, let me do some quick math" Then he said "I'll tell you what i'm going to do. If you plead guilty and take this plea agreement, i'll reduce this fine 75% and your total fine and costs will be about $1,800". This was the officer, he seemed to have more authority than the judge. So Todd said "we'll take it!" Todd's the company VP, but he pretty much runs the show, and his brother Jeff owns the truck. So I signed a document with the new figures on it for the judge, we shook the officers hand, and left. I told him "no offense, but I hope I don't meet you again." He said "that's not the first time i've heard that." Jeff and Todd were happy to make that trip, because it ended up saving them over $4,000. They took me back to the rest area to get the truck and I said "I'm gonna follow y'all back to Lynchburg", but that was the last I saw of them.

I just filled it up with fuel and parked it, so it should be full of fuel when you bring it back, or you might be hearing from my agent 41 chevy and his high powered monkey.

Some more Fords, from the interweb, and one I saw in the field a couple years ago-

thanks y'all, I hope so.

so now we've taken a turn to the rear...i'm all right with that.

yeah, I might have pumped them up a little too tight. Maybe dese are better...

I'm out again, but to all the above.

After I saw through the bars my plan is to glue some raincoats together and paddle away from Butler just as fast as I can paddle.

Thanks to Mrs. Vision. One of these should do it- Please get her to charge the battery first, and maybe send some Twinkies with extra blades inside, in case I break some.

Maybe what we need here is boobs, because everybody- well, almost everybody- likes boobage, eh?

The only TV judge I like is judge Joe Brown...he doesn't happen to work Butler, Pa. when he's not on TV does he?

Thanks again everyone.

Thanks General.

Thanks Ed. You can have the mixer, but you have to drive it back to sunny south Florida- I might even be out of the slammer by the time you get there.

I'm out again, but

Thank you.

Me too Paul, the first truck I ever drove that was bigger than a pickup was a '58 or '59 Ford F600. It belonged to our neighbors down the road and had a cattle body on it, but they'd take the sides off to haul hay. My brother, our friend, and me used to haul a little pulpwood with it too. It's not that far to Lee-Hi from here, Lexington, Va, but i've never been to the truck show they have there because it's mostly new fancied up stuff, but I would have went just to see that Ford.

If i'm not heard from for a while I should be back in 8 to 10.

Thanks Jim, Joe, and Harry.

Good luck- Bulldogman might have some helpful gym rat info, he stays in the gym...looks like superman

I just called headquarters and i've got to load in the morning for Warren, Ohio. Then I have to go to Butler, Pa. I think, to go to court on Wednesday about the $6,357 overweight ticket I got. I thought they'd get an attorney from the area to represent me, but I have to go. I hate going to court, but this is pretty serious money and Todd the VP is going and so is Bobby the safety man. I'm glad they're going because it scares me...