other dog

A few more pics. from the Florida correspondent at bike week in Daytona, Florida and from the Country Thunder music festival. Here's some wimmens eatin' some corn dogs- and some wimmens not eatin' corn dogs- A dog- I found a nest of big Mack trucks this morning- Me on my brother's Farmall M- Brookneal, Va. this morning. Yep, the redhead came to visit for my birthday.

...ain't that the truth!

The last time I was there P.L. was working in the store, which was formerly known as Duncan's Store. He was doing some paper work, I guess he used the store as his office. But anyway, he invited us into the store and showed us around. It was crammed full of stuff the American Picker guys would go crazy over. Old signs, parts, emblems off of many different kinds of trucks, oil and antifreeze cans, and more. Here's a little of what was in there-

One of my all time favorite cab styles. Saw this at Macungie last year.

I went to the beer store a few minutes ago, and passed by this logging job right down the road about a half mile from here. I can hear the chipper from here. So when I got home I grabbed my camera and went back to take a few pictures, since there was this big Mack truck there- A big Mack truck and a wood chipper. I didn't even notice the 5th. wheel on the ground when I was there. They have a lot of equipment there-

A couple more. Pretty cool- I didn't even realize what this was yesterday, I must have went over to the store and got a 12 pack and drank it.

more from sunny Florida-

''Odds and Ends".

I was almost at bike week myself. I called in yesterday. Dispatcher said "I have a Lakeland Fl, an Erie, Pa, a blah-blah-blah. I said "I'm going to take a shower, and i'll call you right back". I'd been pulling a raggedy- I meant a real fine- fiddy- tree foot trailer all week, and another driver had my trailer with a load of lumber on it. I called back, and heard "just loaded that Lakeland- It's on another truck- didn't know you wanted it." I'd been asking for a Florida load for a year. A year. Yeah, i was, and am, highly pissed off. Trying to get over it, but i'm pissed...went on the social security website yesterday. Not getting any younger, and after years of service get shit upon like this...it just sucks.

Wow... I would marry that woman in a heartbeat. Not these wimmens, but the redhead that took these pictures.

Breaking news, this just in from bike week in Fl.-

I'd buy you a beer or 12 any time my friend!

this just in, from bike week-

As we were saying, you can not over secure a load. Like the old saying, "you can go down the mountain too slow many times- but you can only go down it too fast once". There's been 2 accidents in the last 2 weeks involving loads of steel that slid forward under hard braking. The first was a fatality, killing a 26 year old driver in Minnesota. And just a few days ago this driver was air lifted to the hospital with severe injuries. I never saw all the details in any report. But all I see in this picture is straps. I am not an expert in anything. Been driving a truck since 1979, mostly hauling steel. And you can not haul steel with straps. Straps have a certain amount of stretch in them, no matter how tight you get them. If they had no stretch, you'd never even be able to get them loose. And when the steel on your trailer slides forward under extreme braking- which it will- the straps are going to be immediately cut, because they aren't as strong or as hard as steel. Then you have no restraints at all, and disaster ensues. OK, rant over for now, pictures- our Florida correspondent sent these pictures in from bike week- And she took this picture- a Florida bird right in her back yard, with a crawfish in it's mouth!..or beak...or bill...whatever you call it. Great picture though! I saw a big Mack truck- I saw this F model in Chase City but couldn't get a pic, so here's the street view of it- Saw this MB on a facebook page- And I saw this airplane in Ga.

That's brilliant!

No, not the case. I was behind him, and I was wondering myself if he was going to chain them. He did not. I was in the loading spot, and he pulled ahead out of the way to strap them and then he was out the door. They were in coil racks, but I don't know if they were off the floor. As long as they're not touching the floor you're good, but I always liked to be able to get my fingers under them.

Beer...that's the main thing!

that's the truth!

Good observations.

I saw this unit with the super expensive paint going south on 77 between Charlotte and Columbia last week. It was running a couple hunnert miles an hour, but when the torrential downpour started I think they realized pretty quick that those stupid looking "rims" were not their best wet weather option. I saw this nice looking station wagon on rt. 15 too. Load of steel I picked up in Charlotte. Lot of work to secure and tarp it, have to use lots of corner protectors, and it took 3 tarps to cover. This load I saw in Marietta, Ga. didn't take much work- not enough anyway. I was behind this guy, and I kept wondering if he was going to chain those coils. He never did, he left there with 2 straps over the top of them. Not much work here either- I left the echo truck stop and noticed that a driver had left a bag of trash right where he was parked, instead of putting it in a trash can. I saw an animal in a truck barking at me- And from Florida, we have 2 squirrels in a pine tree...

I saw some RC trucks at a truck show one time, a bunch of guys were "driving" them around in a building. They'd pull up, back up, park, do about anything. One young guy, teen aged looked like, had a Swift truck. He pulled up and backed it into a spot beside another truck, like parking at the truck stop. Didn't even have to pull up. I don't think he thought it was funny when I said "you didn't do it right, you should have hit that other truck and knocked the hood off!"

It had a bit of rust going on!

Yes it is. It looks like he had 4 straps on that center stack too, I don't know what might have caused that situation, but he had major problems.

I saw a big Mack truck. A big peach. I saw this truck on the shoulder on I-81 Friday. It was on the north bound side, just north of Harrisonburg, Va. I don't know what happened, he was about to lose the lumber though. The piece hanging off is the rub rail of the trailer. I saw this at Neville Island, Pa. Used to see them on 79 a lot, sharp looking units.