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Luckily there was ONE spot in the community where we could get phone service ,, and everyone in the community came, it was at the edge of my property over looking the valley,, there are chairs, toys, water out there. It was the “ Cellphone Location “ people walked there for the first few days. My Daughter in law got a Starlink yesterday and it’s up, and going. Mech , sadly you’re correct, I’m sure we will be old news by the weekend.

Luckily there was ONE spot in the community where we could get phone service ,, and everyone in the community came, it was at the edge of my property over looking the valley,, there are chairs, toys, water out there. It was the “ Cellphone Location “ people walked there for the first few days. My Daughter in law got a Starlink yesterday and it’s up, and going. Mech , sadly you’re correct, I’m sure we will be old news by the weekend.

Heinz , Thank you, yes it’s been terrible, And every thing went wrong that could, over 20:inches of rain, mudslides, high winds, no power, no cell. We still don’t have any power. The FEMA rep came by today, They we were just getting information, but told me pretty much that I would not get any help for my shop ,, that I would have to call North Carolina,, We are safe and digging tools and truck parts out of the mud.

Yes hopefully they will work together, Dawson is doing good, He has plenty of support, I told him we would make a list on what LJ parts were swept away. And try to get the most done before it gets cold,, I will miss my heated shop ! That’s were I got most of my projects done, I the dead of winter. Thank You for Checking on us.

Looks great,, I remember that process, you are doing it right, looking forward to seeing you build it back.

Thank You all for the support, one of the biggest costs in this county is the water system,,, it’s trashed! I’ll keep everyone posted on my property and FEMA , if anyone knows how to cut the red tape,, I will be most grateful. . Dawson got a good visit today in my cousins hay field. And yes the LJ passed the stress test!

Yes it’s looking like we may not be getting much help because they have given ALL our Taxpayer money away,,, You can’t help not getting political, These old trucks made this nation prosperous ( especially Mack ) Our Family has made money,paid taxes for generations, now that “We the People”need help they have given it all away to people and foreigners who have never paid one tax dollar. I’m not really worried about myself, I can make it without a shop, I’m more concerned about my Grandson who lost his home and most all his belongings. That’s why he was so excited when Him and Me finally got to the shop and saw the LJ had made it through the flood, we lost some parts for it , but actually it was the least damaged thing on the property.

Perfect!

A happy face, on my best friend who lost so much during the past week. We washed most of the mud off and parked it high and dry last night. , the scratches on the bumper is where a log slammed the 2 tables I had the fenders setting on into it , one fender stayed on the table, the left one got knocked over, no dent, but a few scratches, Dawson ( Grandson) Says we’re leaving it that way, Hopefully 30 years from now he can tell the story about how they got there at a truck show!

THANK EVERYONE for your support and compassion! The Google map picture is exactly the same location I took the photo last Saturday! This whole valley is changed like that. The other picture is the scrap yard in Biltmore NC about a mile from the Biltmore House,, they got high water from all the runoff from places like here. Some helped showed up yesterday, but we have been on our own for a week, except a couple Blackhawk’s & Matt’s guys in the Chinook . You can tell by the way the government is handling it were not going to get much help, I’m unsure why they & the main stream media are hiding it ,, but it will come to light eventually. I’ll try to post some pictures of the 2 trucks in the small garage on my Sons house. My Grandson was excited yesterday, we got the LJ running and drove it 1/2 mile to my shed on the mountain, ( Through the Creek)

I changed the oil in the LJ today, the water line was about even with the dipstick, there was a few drops of clear water when I cracked the plug, so I drained it and ran some Diesel through it. New oil and started it up and moved it out of the mud, hopefully I can get it to my house tomorrow or Saturday.

It’s a work horse! Tell them Thank You , they went by a few hours back and from up at my house they were eye level. There keeping the valley going.

Hopefully they will get it smoothed out by the weekend, ( Yes I could see the hazards of a bunch of private helicopters showing up, with out a plan ) . I pushed the mud off our lot Monday,truck parking up Old Fort Rd is none existent ( I’ll explain how we are closer to Asheville than Old Fort NC some day and our road name is Old Fort,, Quick hint, Davy Crockett) , a power crew from West Virginia came last night looking for a place to set up , so we have helped slowly coming in . Thanks to everyone for all the PRAYERS.

Thank you ! And thank the Crew on the Chinook, they have worked it hard , I hear there’s some type of political glitch ( Title 10 ?.) I’m not sure. Keeping the military helicopters from helping more, they’re a Lot of private helicopters, believe me, I’ve been all over these mountains and when the roads get cut ,.. You have one choice for saving a life.. Helicopter!

Started digging the LJ out today . The community across the hill where the mountain slide was ( 16 people perished) was only accessible by 4 wheelers, So we took our old Army dump and filled it with water , food, just basic stuff and followed a forest service dozer about 4 miles down to a church. ( to the right of the dozer was a friends house, and the creek once was 200 feet to the left ) Very Sad !

Thank Y’all for all the Prayers and comments. Yes the news media and our government is hiding the worst, The Chinook is working hard along with what looks like at least 4 other medical helicopters. At least 60 dead within a 10 mile radius. We are doing ok , probably a week before power gets on ,, and there looking at a year for I40 to Knoxville . Thanks for the parts offer, I’ll get it dug out and see what’s missing. Built a” Ford “ across the creek today and got the skid steer over there.

Thank y’all so much. It’s wide spread, Only one major interstate to get supplies to the Asheville area. I 26 is Washed out in Erwin TN . I 40 has A landslide on each side of Asheville, I26 to Spartanburg SC is the only way out, last night was the first time since Friday morning I had any cell service, and I looked at some photos of the area and it’s unbelievable, There are some YouTube videos out now. I think the National Guard is here, I’ve talked to people from a lot of states now , it will probably be 2 weeks for my power to be on, I’m just trying to get my good stuff out of the shop and bring up to my smaller shed.

Thank y’all so much. It’s wide spread, Only one major interstate to get supplies to the Asheville area. I 26 is Washed out in Erwin TN . I 40 has A landslide on each side of Asheville, I26 to Spartanburg SC is the only way out, last night was the first time since Friday morning I had any cell service, and I looked at some photos of the area and it’s unbelievable, There are some YouTube videos out now. I think the National Guard is here, I’ve talked to people from a lot of states now , it will probably be 2 weeks for my power to be on, I’m just trying to get my good stuff out of the shop and bring up to my smaller shed. There home was behind the fender picture. One fender stayed on the table, the other fell on the welder , not dented but scratched, , I may just leave it that way,,,,Dawson can tell a story about the scar 50 years from now.

Just giving y’all an update,, Our County and worst our community was one of the hardest hit from the Hurricane,, My family is safe, ! My son lost his home and 2 pickup trucks , Our shop is pretty much destroyed, But at least 15 neighbors of mine have lost their lives , It’s the worst thing I’ve ever experienced watching the helicopters flying over with bodies in the basket . We got a lot away but it came so fast we could couldn’t get the stuff out of the shop and his carport. The are living in my camper,,and we’re fortunate to have a way for water and a few lights, cell service was gone until yesterday. My service truck, the Charger got flooded, Not important at this time but this is the LJ thread.. it doesn’t seem to bad, a million sticks under the frame, it didn’t get over the transmission. The water blew out the back of the shop and took the newly painted headlights, inside door panels,, lots of small parts,, all gone ,, but could have been worse. I’ll keep everyone updated.

Sorry I missed my spelling,I had the yellow 55 , thank you . I’ll try to get my chrome on the side of the hood this week , and do some more tweaking on the hood alignment. It’s much easier with the fenders off,,and I’m sure I’ll have to mess with them to get them to line up, part of having something taken apart for 30 years, and using some parts from donor trucks.

No u hade the yellow 55 LTH down at Spencer, hopefully I can get this on down next year.

Thank yall, they were pretty rough, better than my original ones but still a lot of work, , I thought about black but this is the way they painted it in the 50s so I wanted to keep it like it was . The sun was very bright so it does make it look like a bright color

Beautiful Saturday , I painted the last of the Yellow early this morning, Old paint chip says Coke Yellow) , The DuPont mix came out Atlas Orange . Any way I pushed them out in the sun this afternoon . Hopefully I’ll get them installed next week.

One more step,,,,

I got the fenders ready to paint today, I may get a chance to spray them Saturday morning, I have to do some Trucking tomorrow ( to buy more outrageously priced paint! ) after the fenders all that is left to paint is the inner door panels. My hope is to get the fenders and hood on in the next few weeks, I have to have back surgery in November,so I’m hoping to be able to do some light work on it after Christmas, wiring, door windows etc, we’ll see how it goes. I’ve made pretty good progress on it this summer so far.