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BillyT

Pedigreed Bulldog
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Everything posted by BillyT

  1. Normally the solution to a problem lies somewhere between the two extremes! But I agree with Red Horse that sending our manufacturing to countries with zero restrictions on pollution ( like China) and to a lesser degree India, is not the answer the major cities in China are so polluted that the office workers have to wear surgical masks! A large portion of the blame goes to the greed of our corporate entities when they offshore their manufacturing! It must cause the owners of our truckload carriers actual physical pain that they haven't discovered a way to offshore the delivery of trucking commodities! It is a few years old but an excellent book on the subject is "Who Stole the American Dream" by Hyder Smith I highly recommend it!
  2. Better goin' up Sandstone than down!
  3. Every time I crossed the Cbb I thought how horrible It would be to go off the edge! Was on the news here in Tampa ! So sad!
  4. Was looking at a 3500 Dodge dually under one of those little three car haulers today,if I was just using the thing for business I'd put a used single axle tractor under it I saw a whole fleet of ex doubles tractors average 750k fleet maintained clean looking for 3500 dollars each! A new dually starts at about 60k If you picked the right truck it would go a couple years with only basic maintenance! You get less fuel economy, but the lower initial cost should defray that! It is possible in most states to lower your give to reduce license tag costs!
  5. Just saw on the news a tractor trailer ran off the Chesapeake bay bridge! Apparently the driver survived the crash and climbed up on the tractor, but drowned when it went under,before help could arrive! Very sad situation! Possibly wind or icy roadway were a factor!
  6. KSB, you make many valid points! I don't know about Australia, but one of the biggest problems in many parts of America is finding a place to park! I left the road in 2008, and it only has to be getting worse! Especially in Florida, the east coast and new England to name a few! The hours from midnight to daybreak are the worst statistically, because of your " biological clock". I don't care how many hours of sleep you get before midnight, the average person will tend to "nod off "in the wee hours of the morning! And as you suggest, each person knows when they could benefit from a couple of hours of sleep! I remember when the ATA and the insurance lobby who didn't always agree on procedure were spending millions to come up with the " new hours of service" which when finally passed didn't do one thing to alleviate the problem! I am the last, I repeat, the last person to advocate in the cab technology to tell a driver when he is too sleepy to drive!, but the technology was perfected several years ago! It couldn't be much worse than paper or electronic logs! I suspect the carriers don't really WANT the the drivers to stop driving even if they are becoming fatigued! As they are thinking about profits!
  7. Fascinating video, I used to work with a little British fellow who was a stunt man by trade, but had to leave the UK because he couldn't get insurance! Had been injured to many times! Ritchie Smith.He drove James Bonds Astin Martin between the two buildings in" Diamonds are Forever" Had a whole scrapbook of his exploits! Some guy owed him some money for stunts performed, and paid him with two " lorries" So of course he went into the trucking business! Used to run the alps thru France and Italy! Told me there is an upgrade there that is an 8hr climb! So the drivers have to have a pee jug on the floor and their lunch in a bag on the dashboard!😁 Most interesting person I've ever met! Reminded me of that little comic strip guy Andy Capp! I heard he had a used car lot in Ocala Florida!
  8. Super dog hope you're feeling better soon!
  9. Lane keeping assist and proximity assist for "professional drivers" Lol
  10. Never heard of Silkys,but when I worked at the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie RR every street corner on Island Ave had a bar,most supported by the RR! One place called Stushes was 200 yrs from our repair shop and they cut a hole in our cyclone fence so the workers could access the bar(during working hrs) one fellow worker used to disappear thru the fence for about 10 minutes (shot and a beer) and magically reappear, sometimes without being missed! I've never been in the place,but it was said to have good turtle soup ( in season) TJC I've been thru BS dozens of times,but never past the hotel thanks for the photo! Beautiful place,must have been over a hundred years old when it burned in 74! I'm glad they they rebuilt it!
  11. 66, how'd you like to have that 2 cycle on a string trimmer?Lol
  12. Small world isn't it Harry,? As late as 2008 I still used to layover at the McDonald's there!
  13. Mower man, I was running between two hillsides in Pa on a narrow two lane, a doe jumped across at windshield level! Fortunately I was driving a car hauler and she hit the headramp! If I was in a Coe or conventional she would have come right thru the windshield! It is amazing how much damage a 90 lb. Deer can do! I hit one on I 77 near Wytheville Va, she took off a quarter fender,smashed my battery box,and left 30 ft. of entrails on my rub rail!
  14. All my old haunts! OD do you remember when the famous old hotel burned down in 74 in Berkley Springs in 74? Did you run thru there that long ago?
  15. 41, is the dreaded tin worm related to the J and L termites so prevalent around Pittsburgh years ago?Lol
  16. OD the best non trucking job I ever had was at the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie RR in Mckees Rocks Pa! Their no1 customer was Jones and Laughlin Steel. When the steel industry left Pittsburgh they closed the doors! Love the Diamond Ts the 4200 Transtar wrecker and the B model!
  17. What make is that R model looking tractor with the fancy bumper?
  18. Jimmy Hoffa Lol
  19. That's fried chicken of course damn spelchek!
  20. OD I crossed the San Francisco Bay Bridge two . weeks before it fell in the bay due to the earthquake in the 90s and I crossed the I 35 bridge in Minnesota a week before it fell, must not have been " my time" Whew! Been across the " new" bridge at Point Pleasant Wv. dozens of times since they rebuilt it! That's where the so called "moth man" creature is said to have appeared before the bridge fell in 71 I think it was! I wonder how many times you and I " passed In the night"? Have you ever stopped at the little t.s. in Jackson Oh on 35? Best friend chicken in America😁
  21. Loved the old flathead caddys, The porcelain exhaust manifolds were one of a kind! My dad rebuilt a 48 wreck, I can still remember rubbing out the black lacquer! I was about 14! He wanted to keep it, but my mother said it looked too much like a hearse😁
  22. The original concept of seniority both union and non union was to reward a worker for having worked for a period of years at a company and  presumably helped them prosper.Also in a job that requires a level of physical labor and or stress(trucking) as a person becomes older,seniority enables them to earn a load or position that is easier! A straight drop in Indy,as opposed to a six way split in NYC! Lol  I support  organized labor as it was originally intended,a living wage,safe working conditions,and retirement benefits etc. To be quite honest in many cases the "benefits" have gotten out of hand! Around the time the steel industry left America for good a USW got one weeks vacation for every year worked! So a 20 year employee  Got  five months paid vacation! I think that's a bit much! I'm not saying the union drove  the steel companies out of America, those cheap third world wages (that caused China to surpass the U.S. in GNP) were the main factor,but in some cases they did contribute! Also some work rules that required an extra employee where one wasn't  needed didn't help! An in law of mine worked for Otis Elevator,any time they had an " open hole" meaning an elevator opening without an elevator rather than put a screen or barrier across the opening a man had to guard it all night when nobody was working!

  23. I bought tags for my trailer in Bangor,ate at Dysarts but I didn't have the shortcake unfortunately! Snyder's Gateway in Breezewood Pa had good Apple cobbler and homemade vegetable soup,even after they became a TA!
  24. Yep OD, Luke is the place I was trying to remember! Figured you'd been there! Just saw an article in the Tampa paper that said there are a couple of coal mines on fire in West Virginia like the one in Centralia PA, the state is trying to get some federal money to put them out! Your mention of Harrisonburg brought back some memories! In the late 70s I delivered a new Ford cab and chassis to the Ford dealer there, missed my bus back to the terminal in Pittsburgh,so I decided to hitchhike! Got a ride with a young kid in a pickup to In wood Wva,he had six pack, so of course I had a couple!, gave him my copy of Overdrive,as he was interested in trucking. Got another ride with an older fella to Snyder's Gateway in Breezewood.He had a fifth of Jack Daniels,so by the time I got there I was " feelin' no pain"😁 Got a ride in a KW pulling a dump trailer to about 1/4 of a mile from my terminal! Fortunately he had no "adult beverages" so I was in good shape to drive home!
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