vision386

Found this picture of what may be our next president.............

Back when i was still doing shows for clark,i was assigned to the "jessica simpson reality tour" the MTV film crew wanted to do a segment about what its like to be a tour driver,being on the road 3-7 months at a time,how glamourous it was to be a part of "showbusiness" etc. well when they did talk to me,they changed their minds! i apparently did'ntt tell them what they wanted to hear,so they deleted my part...instead they made basically a recruiting video,left my part out,saying my language was it little too "colorful" for TV LOL!...........Mark

Thats a pretty good place to kill some time! i haven'nt been out that way in quite awhile,most of what i'm doing now is east of the miss. river, personally i've just about had my fill of running out west, i had my chains on more last winter than i think i have in my entire 28 years on the road! got caught up in that blizzard last winter,spent christmas at bosselmans (pilot now) in grand island,NE....first time ever i could'nt get home.......not gonna' do that shit anymore!.....Mark

MY,MY! now that is something to be thankful for!

Ralph g. smith was based in west chester,PA for around 100 years,they transported race and show horses almost exclusively,ran macks pretty much the whole time,their trademark was the big aluminum horseshoe on the grille surround on all their truck,they also used the same color scheme,cream and maroon. From what i have heard they recently went out of business due to the fact the last generation did not want the hassle of running such a fickle business,which is a real shame they were around seems like forever,nice clean equipment,good place to work...not many outfits like that left anymore!.........Mark

Tom was having some difficulty with his turkey last i heard.......MINE however turned out great! my wife outdid herself once again! when i learned of otherdogs ordeal i thought about a quote from one of my favorite movies (a christmas story,where the little boy wants the red ryder BB gun) when the hillbilly neighbors'dogs eat their turkey and the dad has a fit! "The heavenly aroma still hung in the house. But it was gone, all gone! No turkey! No turkey sandwiches! No turkey salad! No turkey gravy! Turkey Hash! Turkey a la King! Or gallons of turkey soup! Gone, ALL GONE" heres how our came out,wife did me proud as usual!

Good find! you shoulda' got them to leave the "horseshoe" on it! Ralph g. smiths trucks had a big horseshoe around the grille for many,many years before the truck types made it impractical....quite an interresting company, with a unique history....they used that color scheme for as long as i can remember,trucks were'rt the flashiest/fanciest on the road, but were always clean and well taken care of...should be a good one!........Mark

Well i hope you manage to salvage something! red button just popped out on ours,won't be long now.........or maybe it just wants to park?

Yup,that was pretty much the conversation as far as the pies go! she did make me a "sample" pie which has dropped from 8 to 3 slices since yesterday! punkin',sweet tater,apple (my favorite) gingerbread etc......i'm expecting to leave with my fridge full of sammmiches too!.......hope all is well with Jo, i know something about sciatica,my wife has a touch of that not a whole lot can be done about it from what i'm told...anyway,hope you guys have a good day! and don't eat too much!.........Mark

I may be a bit jaded,but i don't like to see the words "american craftsmanship" and VO*VO used in the same paragraph! i do appreacieate the work and effort involved with building something like this,but personally think the time and money would have been better spent elsewhere............Mark

Goofing off? wish i had that kinda time LOL! i liked that sightliner too,thats only the second one i ever saw in person,when i lived in jersey there was a schoolbus company a few towns over that had one,it was a small wrecker,really short wheelbase like this one, i never was able to get a picture of it,last time i was by there it wasn't in the yard anymore,mighta' got sold or scrapped by now!.........Mark

I always heard UPS was a real good outfit to work for,only problem i ever had with them was something i saw many years ago,i came across a bad accident involving a UPS truck (back when they were using F-models) the truck had hit a bridge abutment trying to avoid a car that had swerved in front of him,the car came to rest in a ditch,no one was seriously injured,but the truckdriver was killed instantly,i was one of the first to get there,not much i could do.....after the EMS,police,etc. showed up a few minutes later the UPS "safety man" showed up,his main concern was painting that shit brown paint over all the UPS decals,so UPS would not be "embarassed" or shown in a bad light by the media......which i thought was a pretty chickenshit attitude under the circumstances, i have'nt looked at UPS the same way since then,and that had to be 20+ years ago..........Mark

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy turkey day! i myself have spent more than a few on the road,so it is a real treat for me to be home and have off a few days to boot!.....lookin' forward to the cold turkey sammiches (rye bread & plenty of mayo) expect to load up pretty good before i go back out! wife has allready made some homemade pies,real hard for me to stay outta' them (she just left for work) anyway,hope everyone has a real good safe holiday!..........Mark

I got a cousin that drives a wrecker................. just kiddin' good luck with it!.........Mark

Know you've probably heard this before,but pratice does make perfect! LOL!.....Herb (HK trucking) has given you some good sound advice,pretty much what i was going to say,just stay with it,pratice when you can,once you get the hang of it,its like riding a bike,just comes naturally!........Mark

Hey bud,i just got home and learned of your situation,sorry to hear that news.....don't really know what to say other than that you guys are in my thoughts,and i hope things will get better for you and your family,i know you're a lot like me,proud of your ride,but family comes first,always...voice of experience talking here....anything i can do,dont hesitate to give me a holler!..........Mark

No need to send "spot" out lookin' for me, I HAVE RETURNED! been out almost 3 weeks,covered 44 stops,19 states,have'nt yet figuered out the total mileage,but my ass is plum wore out! i think this new account is about to work my ass half to death! finished out yesterday up in northern VA manassas,X3,springfield,X2,alexandria,1 seems the faster i get done one week,the more stops they put on me the next week!.....but,i am home for a few days with the holiday,chance to relax a little,maybe rest up a bit....plant is closed most of this week anyway,so i probably won't go back out till mon.or tues.next week.supposed to be 17 stops,starting in the pittsburgh area,ending up in upstate NY......anyway,whats new? what did i miss? who's doing what to who?....did get to go to the ATHS truckshow in colfax,NC before i left,got to meet Tom (otherdog) and his wife,pretty small show,but there was some real nice "iron" there nontheless,really interesting corbitt cabover (check out otherdogs pictures,i think he has one of it,mine did not come out for some reason) other than that same old same old,just workin' my ass off! guess i should'nt bitch too much,in this economy,should be damn lucky to be working!......looking forward to turkey day,and the big dinner! martha stewarts' got nothing on my wife! between her and my mother,should be quite the feast! and me,i love the cold turkey sammiches!.....Mark

I agree,its always nice to hear a positive comment about someone,or their services connected with this website! i have no real dealings with tidewater mack,other than the fact some years ago,they were about the only people selling older parts,they once had a "B-model store" similar to what watts is doing now,we ordered a great many things from them,and were always happy with the quality and level of service we recieved,how they are now i would'nt hazzard a guess,as there are VERY few service dealers that i will even let touch my truck anymore...maybe 3 in the entire country! i know that puts me in kind of a bad spot,but its my money,and i want things done right,and the way they should be,period!.......Mark

No doubt! my only problem was that there were 2 people in the truck,and it was the "trainer" that took down the lightpole!

AAAHH the good ol days! this is EXACTLY the fix my grandad used on the same problem! he was also a big proponent of "square" shift patterns! sometimes,he would (seemingly) let the RPM'S drop so low,you would think he was going to scratch gears! but i dont ever remember him doing so,this is the same way i learned to drive a duplex,triplex,etc.and always had good results....a lot can be learned just by paying attention!........Mark

I find safeguard has just the right "resistance" not too hard not too soft! does'nt taste all that bad either!....a few more weeks of therapy and they have told me they will give me back the keys to my truck!.......gonna try and be home the weekend of the 6th,but the way i been running i cant guarantee anything,been a rough last couple weeks,workin' me half to death! i'll leave out tomm. with 18 stops,starting in northern VA (my favorite!) up through PA,Jersey,end up in upstate NY,im really glad this deal pays as well as it does,its been REAL hard to find any backhauls out of new england (not that it was ever easy) just everthing i find is either 45-46,000 lbs,or pays next to nothing! i just loaded a load of scrap-paper out of conneticut,to winston/salem for $1.15 per mile,but it got me home,so i guess i should'nt bitch!............Mark

When i was a kid,we went on a school trip to the Philadelphia zoo,(i was busy looking for trucks)when here comes an old diamond reo dump truck up girard avenue,strangely enough with the body going up as he drove! gets to the railroad overpass, then WHAM!!!! off comes the dump body and about 5 ton of crushed stone!guy probly did'nt have a job for very long after that!.......Mark

Neat post! glad you are having fun with it! not many things in life (in my opinion) that are much more fun than driving a two stick mack! once you get the hang of it,it kinda comes naturally. I learned to drive a truck on a B-model,some of the best times of my life were spent in that truck! where ya' at around milton? i get through there quite a bit,just stayed at what used to be the petro just last week. If you ever see the vision in my avatar,give me a holler!....Mark

Figuered i was overdue for a rant,was just wondering do they still teach people how to drive? or do trucking companies hire people,show them how to fill out a logbook and cut them loose on the world? was up in eastern new york state earlier this week,got off my exit on route 17,sucessfully navagated a right turn,made my delivery,and was returning to the highway towards my next stop......low and behold,here comes a werner truck,that had just made the same right turn i just did,with one noted exception,he had taken down the traffic light,had it hanging from the top of the trailer! headed right for my tractor/windshield! i stopped as hard as i could,jumped out of my truck,was pointing up at his trailer.........he did stop,but was oblivious to the fact he now had a traffic light in tow! did'nt see or hear anything? with drivers of this caliber on the road,i just hope i live long enough to retire!.........all done now,back to my padded room,where i will entertain myself by carving ducks out of bars of soap with a popsicle stick,mebbe eat a little paste..............Mark

Some nice pictures there! i've seen the blue "serafin" truck up close and personal,the quality,craftsmanship,fit and finish on this one is phenominal! i don't know when i've seen another restoration with this level of detail!............Mark