Just because you can..........

I had an awesome post going but I lost it so I'll try to recreate it. SOB that pisses me off. I was ranting about how trashy the people in my profession are. They use their job as an excuse. Just wander through your local truckstop. I am in Houston now at the F.J. I just went in to get something to eat before I head back to my trailer. These places are like going to a fair. Its like having every state and a few Canadian provinces at your fair. As I walked out I saw a feller wearing a shirt that said, and I quote "Born to fish". It was kind of brownish, I'm sure it was white three days ago when his trip started, and it had a hole big enough for a marlin to swim through. My thought was, has he not stopped anywhere with a shower? If you were to ask him the reasons they would satisfy the un-educated traveler. To me however they would be bull. The funny thing is many drivers and companies wonder why their industry has such a bad image. How many drivers beside me would you take a hug from at any given moment? Sometimes I think you would even turn me away. There is no excuse for this lack of self-respect. I refuse to call myself a "truckdriver". As a way to kill two birds with one stone I will ask my loyal readers (you know who all three of you are) to come up with a new catchy name for my profession. The second bird is I will actually find out how many people read this selfish crap. Man the first post was sooo much better this one blows. Well since my computer is about to set my pants on fire I will call this good. Toodle-oo, don't drive drunk, don't do anything I wouldn't do, but if you must please name it after me. :-)
P.S. I know my grammar and punctuation is not perfect. Thats probably because I spent the mojarity of my senior year of english in the hall. My brain often goes fater than my finger, I struggle to get it down let alone to Mrs. Barlow's standards. Don't judge me I'm just a truckdriver :-) Pretty good huh?

People who Don't mind their business

There is an older lady that works in the office at BD where I am leased to. She is a nosy know it all who always has a better story than you. More often than not she makes herself look like an idiot. Actually a f----n idiot. One of the local drivers and I have an ongoing argument that has no point other than it gives us something to scream and holler about. We both know that we're just funnin. Last Thursday it got particularly intense. He made the mistake of telling her how wound up we got. She almost RAN to the owner of the company like a tattle tale at school to tell her how offended K. (the local hand) was. Before verifying the story S. (owner) comes to me and chews my ear. Not for a minute, but 10 minutes. She even went as far to compare me to her EX husband. Needless to say my blood pressure was so high it had white caps. All of this because a person who wasn't even there thought somebody else's feelings were hurt. AAAAGGGGHHHH when did this country get so worried about hurting feelings. That's life!! I have plenty to do worrying about my own stuff let alone somebody else's. I have yet to decide if and how to approach the old bag. I'd like to knock her teeth down her throat but I think I can get even in my own way. As many know my rep as a prankster and hell raiser is not honorary, I've earned it. Any suggestions will be considered. If your comment contains forgive or live and let live go to the ACLU or ASPCA or NAACP blog and leave it there, this is THE ROUTE. We don't give hugs and sing Kumbaya, we kick a-- and take names when we need to. Toodle-oo. Sounds kind of like Ted Nugent huh!

Busy Week

For a week that was supposed to be short and slow it got busy quick. I ended up taking a load to Longview, TX for ACE and ran back and moved a 70 ton RT crane for SME. Next week I'm loading for Michigan, then over to Sturgeon Bay, WI from there to Mobile, AL and then back home. Should take 10 days or so. I might get to ride the boat across Lake Michigan from MI to WI. Pretty cool, they charge by the length, I'm curious how much that will be. I have been struggling with a business decision. To service a new customer I need to invest in a larger trailer. I would go from eight axles to thirteen. That's the cool part, the not so cool part is the 340k bucks it takes to buy the trailer. Tough decision. But hey its only money the worst case scenario is you can't pay for it and you sell it. When I'm in WI I'll get to see my buddy PRB. He was here it Tulsa in May and broke his ankle. This load from WI to AL will be his first since his injury. I'm afraid he will be disappointed with his recovery and want to quit truckin. I hope he doesn't, the industry will loose a great heavy haul driver. Well, I've been running a loader all day, I'm gonna shower up. Tomorrow I'm gonna do some water skiing and maybe some footin. Toodle-oo.

Load Description

What makes this load harder, better or whatever is the weight and size. The average semi tractor and trailer can weigh up to 80 thousand pounds. They are 13' 6" high, 8' 6" wide and 75' long. In that picture I was 108' long, 16' 10" high, 15' 10" wide and 189K lbs gross weight. That's why they pay me the big bucks. If you look at the van trailer in the background you can get an idea of the size difference. Toodle-oo.

My occupation

After my rant about truck drivers and how I don't really like to be called such, I thought I would post a picture as a sample of my work. I think it will give you, the reader, an example of why I don't allow myself to be put in the "truck driver" group. I can assure you more photos will follow and when my website is done, I will provide a link. Comments always welcome and if you have a cool picture of a truck, load or a truck wreck I would like to see them. Toodle-oo.

Indian Sports Team Names

Maybe I'm insensitive or whatever, but what's the big deal with high school and college sports teams that have taken names from various Native American tribes? While I cannot say with certainty that they never meant anything derogatory, why would you name your team something that you were not proud of? I don't think they were trying to invoke fear, just respect of their team as a worthy adversary. How many years have theses teams had these names? Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like the last few years its become another hot button issue to get somebody attention in the media. I often wonder why people just don't do their own things and let others do as they please.


I am curious what others might think about this subject, as I am always seeking knowledge and understanding. It blows my mind sometimes when seemingly out of nowhere a person or a group that many times is the self appointed expert on a subject marches up and informs you that your actions are offensive to a person or a group and you should stop. Why? If it was that simple in life we could stop drunk driving and drug use with the snap of our fingers. Nothing is ever that easy. OK I'm off this subject I'm getting a little worked up. I was reading an article yesterday concerning the local high school team names, The Redskins and The Chieftans are the two that I recall, and how some Indian group thought they should be changed. Union has called themselves the Redskins for thirty years or longer if I'm not mistaken. Why now is it such a big deal?

Well I'm off to run a dozer for a few hours. Nothing like running over stuff to lower blood pressure and make you feel better about the world. Toodle-oo. :)-

Truckin Lingo

Although many of the phrases and words I use did not originate within the trucking profession they have become widely used for one reason or another. Truck drivers are under appreciated and very mis-understood. Please let me make some very important distinctions. First, if the truck says Swift, J B Hunt, Schneider, Covenant or Werner on the door the odds are they are not a driver. They are what we like to call a seat warmer or a steering wheel holder. Many times they are also called a loose nut behind the wheel. The large fleets have a problem keeping all the trucks filled so they will use any warm body with a CDL to fill the void. Many times these "drivers" only have 90 days of experience and were trained by someone who had 6 months experience. Scary isn't it? I sat next to a guy in Salt Lake City Utah that was training a driver getting ready to climb the mountain heading east out of SLC and he had been driving for 9 months. He had not even driven through all four seasons by himself and he was training someone! Real drivers are the kind of guys or gals who will stop and help you change a tire, they will move over so you can merge onto the hiway and they will not make vulgar statements on the CB if you happen to be listening. They are a dying breed, much like the cowboy. In some ways I feel like the cowboy drivin the herd to the cow town. It is a profession you have to love and you love to hate. More to come on the subject. And now for what will become my trademark sign off, Toodle-oo.

I am new to all things associated with the blog scene. I have only been reading them for a few weeks. Some friends and family seem to think I might have something to offer so I'll give it a shot. If you like it good, if you don't that's ok too. I now have the task of dreaming up random things to post. My mind wanders a good bit so that shouldn't be too hard. Toodle-oo for now.