other dog

Back in the mid '80s we hauled structural steel from Montague-Betts in Lynchburg,Va. to Boston and the surrounding areas like mad. Sometimes we would load lumber in Palmer,Ma. to bring back but if we were real busy we'd unload and come straight back to Lynchburg as quick as we could to get another load of steel to go straight back to Boston. As you could imagine, the jobsites were a real pain in the ass to get into,the traffic was horrible,and all the ironworkers were assholes when you got there. We had a dropsite for a couple of jobs,and that wasn't quite as bad. It was in Everette or Chelsea I believe-I know you had to go by the big produce market to get there. I was driving a 1984 Kenworth K100 with a 400 Cummins in it-big horse at the time. I left one Sunday right after church going up and got to the drop yard a little after midnight. I stopped in the street and went to open the gate but it was locked.Sunday night...hmmmm...I sure didn't want to wait until morning when all the traffic was out trying to run over me,still felt good-I was young then-so I got my tools out and took the gate off the hinges. The truck was in the street with the flashers on and I was taking the gate off the hinges after midnight at a trucking company's yard. But apparently I didn't look suspicious. Got the gate off and out of the way,pulled in the yard and dropped the trailer,took my chains off,hooked to an empty and pulled it out into the street,put the gate back on,and hauled ass out of there. I stopped at the 7-11 store in Gainesville,Va. Monday morning to call headquarters,and was back at the shop in Appomattox,Va. by lunchtime. Didn't even have to go back out until Tuesday. We also used a different drop yard just down the street before we started dropping trailers at the trucking co.-or maybe it was a construction company where I took the gate off,I don't remember. Anyway,I got to this yard late one evening,around 4:30 or something to 5 o'clock. I dropped the trailer as fast as I could, found an empty, then pulled around to the load i'd just dropped to take my chains off and throw them on the empty trailer. About then some hateful bitch- I mean, a woman- came out of the office and pretty much told me to pack sand. I told her all I needed to do was snatch the chains off real quick,and I was done...out of there...gone.Oh, hell no you're not-"you're leaving this yard right effin' now,if not sooner" she said. "But all I gotta do is get these chains off-" "You're not doing anything but leaving,it's 5 o'clock and my guys get off at 5,and i'm not paying them overtime to wait on you,now beat it!". So I had to lay over and wait until the next morning just to pull 5 or 6 chains off the load i'd busted my ass to get there before 5 the day before. So I went over to King Arthur's Bar and motel and got a room,reserved enough money to pay the tolls to get home,and invested the rest in beer. And then there was the time I picked up a load of steel in Lynchburg,and when I chained it down I got up on top of the load to make sure my chains were in the right place-sometimes there might be a short piece you couldn't see from the ground that a chain wasn't over,so you always climbed up on top to check everything before you tightened the chains. All my chains were fine, but I did notice a dead possum laying in one of the beams. Obviously been dead for several days, because it had already swollen up and had a swarm of flies around it. I tightened the chains and went up 29 to the Tye River Truckstop,backed up to the edge of the lot,and looked around until I found a long stick in the edge of the woods. Figured i'd climb up there and push that dead possum off the end of the beam and into the woods-but it was gone. I looked at the beam it was on and there was a big rectangular hole cut into the web of the beam,and the possum had fell down onto the next beam down. Hmmmm....nothing I can do for it now without having to touch it. So I let it ride on to Boston and dropped the load,dead possum and all,at the drop yard. To this day I wonder what those a-hole ironworkers reaction was when they were unloading that load and got down to the possum-already well "ripe" when it left Lynchburg!

That's not as bad as Jo hitting a tree in the front yard with the pickup. She was backing up, no trailer involved, and put a big dent right in the rear corner of the cab on the right side. The tree has always been there by the way.

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I pulled into the fuel stop in Woodbine,Ga. Tuesday and saw a Dodge Bighorn parked off to the side. I was going to take a picture of it but as soon as I paid for the fuel and got parked it was pulling out. Got one bad picture of it leaving. First one i've seen on the road instead of at an antique truck show in years. First single axle one i've ever seen. Had a big sleeper too,and it was pulling a single axle van trailer. Maybe i'll run across it again.

hmmmmm...ya' got me,I have no idea.

I taped "Ice Road Truckers" for Old Bill again. Been doing it every year because they can't even get it in Canada,or if they do it's a year behind. Today,or one day,I just got home-I got a package with all this stuff in it. Some pictures, A coffee mug from Hay River,NWT. a beer glass, an Australian Bulldog-Mack 25 year anniversary medallion, an Australian boomerang ash tray,some decals from Australia and a sign. And a couple of Canadian trucking magazines- Pretty neat stuff there,eh?.

That's way better than what the ancient Inca's used to do. They would carry perfectly good R-model cabs to the top of an active volcano and throw them in for a sacrifice.

Thank you-also looks great!

I couldn't see the B-81 but the DM and RM look great!

I wish we could have, but it was in Pamplin and we took the back roads home. Only 37 miles I think, but narrow, crooked roads,no lines,Jo was driving,I was hanging on. They did have some Steely Dan going before we left.

Thanks Herb,they said everyone had a great time at the reception,some more so than others! We left kind of early,got to turn in early nowadays. Only had 1 cup of beer from the keg.

Yeah, that was the first part of the country that I traveled that had the no-idle law.

Now, aren't you guys ashamed?

I can talk about it now, the case is over. The tomater can people hired some big shot city slicker ambulance chasing attorney from New Jersey who now lives in Virginia. He said I didn't have a leg to stand on because the can had a warning label on it just for dumbasses like me. I can not prove it didn't because the can has since been disposed of.

I remember that truckstop, and their bumper stickers-"where in the hell is the Mass 10?". There was another one where you got on the Mass Pike where you could "spin the wheel" if you got fuel,and I missed getting the big prize-full price of your fuel back-by one peg one time.

Heard you talk about riding a bike on the "dragon" before. just happened to see this when I was looking for a picture of a Swift truck- http://www.tailofthedragon.com/news_swift.html

My youngest son got married yesterday. I thought they were going to wear the top hat and veil thing with the mickey mouse ears that they wore at the rehearsal, but they didn't. Check out the suit and tie-that's Jo and I. Lot different from my usual weekend look,eh? Me and Becky's sister Donna ...one of her other sisters, Kim with the happy and snoozing couple daughter Karla-I told her I would not have this all over facebook or something today,didn't say anything about BMT though!

I can feel your pain there. All during the '80s we hauled structural steel from Montague-Betts in Lynchburg to Boston and the surrounding area. Not a truck friendly place to be then, I would dread the thought of having to go there now.

Got this in an e-mail, thought it was worth repeating- 545 vs. 300,000,000 Read this slowly, let it sink in, VOTE in November This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. please read the entire article. The article below is completely neutral, not anti republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day. It's a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering! 545 vs. 300,000,000 EVERY CITIZEN NEEDS TO READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS JOURNALIST HAS SCRIPTED IN THIS MESSAGE. READ IT AND THEN REALLY THINK ABOUT OUR CURRENT POLITICAL DEBACLE. Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years. 545 PEOPLE -- By Charlie Reese Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does. One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank. I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes. Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.... . The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to. It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist. If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red .. If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ . If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way. There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do. Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power.. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees... We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess! Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper. What you do with this article now that you have read it......... Is up to you. Sales Tax School Tax Liquor Tax Luxury Tax Excise Taxes Property Tax Cigarette Tax Medicare Tax Inventory Tax Real Estate Tax Well Permit Tax Fuel Permit Tax Inheritance Tax Road Usage Tax CDL license Tax Dog License Tax State Income Tax Food License Tax Vehicle Sales Tax Gross Receipts Tax Social Security Tax Service Charge Tax Fishing License Tax Federal Income Tax Building Permit Tax IRS Interest Charges Hunting License Tax Marriage License Tax Corporate Income Tax Personal Property Tax Accounts Receivable Tax Recreational Vehicle Tax Workers Compensation Tax Watercraft Registration Tax Telephone Usage Charge Tax Telephone Federal Excise Tax Telephone State and Local Tax IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax) State Unemployment Tax (SUTA) Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon) Utility Taxes Vehicle License Registration Tax Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids. What in the hell happened? Can you spell 'politicians? ' I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times!!! YOU can help it get there!!! GO AHEAD - - - BE AN AMERICAN!!! Go Green - Recycle CONGRESS!!

I need to practice-only got 27 of 88.

Art Reed might have just what you're looking for. He had a big red steel nose Mack, I couldn't get a picture. http://www.allbusiness.com/companyprofile/Art_Reed_Equipment/CD581A0DA7AE3D16D26F2372A09B0F8D-1.html

sometimes things aren't what they seem...

http://www.resist.com/other/border_patrol.swf

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