Not a lot of time this week, as I have had almost almost no time at all as of late. Just to damn busy. We’ve been moving our big loads and moving around the country. One of my most recent customers, (2 loads so far, with MANY more to move) is a Natural Gas collector plant in western Colorado. This thing is to be the biggest Natural Gas plant in the U.S. and man do we need it.

With the dramatic increase in fuel prices, the cost of oil imports and the dragging economy, I find myself thinking about solutions. Oddly enough, I learned something about myself, at 47 years of age, I discovered that I found something in this society that I give a damn about.

I recently caught this ad on the Discovery Channel. I find a lot of merit in what I found on the web site. If what you see makes you even the slightest bit curious, please click the block on the right and take a look around, sign up and follow though. (Look, I’m doing it, and I’m writing this, parked on an alfalfa ranch in far North East Utah.) They are looking for numbers and participation, not donations. Take a few minutes, read about a plan that just might work, then make that decision, jump on board and help us out.

My closest friends “might” find me doing things in support of this that they never suspected I had in me.

I can’t get the damn thing to embed in wordpress… I hate computers

View the video here

When people that know me read this article, they’ll cringe. Those that know me, know what my reaction will be, those that know me well (only a few) know why.

For those that have not, Read this news article: Busch Sells Out

I’m going to have a stroke I think, perhaps an aneurism, I’ve been known to swear for 10 to 15 minutes without repeating myself, maybe I’ll do that or maybe I’ll just rant.

None of the above will help in the least I’m sure, prolly won’t even make me feel better, but I will settle for the least offensive of my many possible reactions, I’ll write.

First let me explain something about myself that is going to offend some of you:

I don’t like Europe. I don’t think it’s cool, I don’t do things because “that’s what they do in Europe”. After recent world events, I don’t believe we should even speak civilly to our so called “allies” in Europe. They don’t deserve our time, our friendship, our support, our advise, our military presence, our MONEY or our established businesses. My family came here more than 300 years ago to escape the stupid attitudes of European kings and despots, yours most likely did the same. All that’s left in Europe are the descendants of peasants that lacked the ambition to immigrate to the Americas or the courage to rise up and over throw their evil little duchies. I stole that last line from Tim Slagle, but I endorse it 100%.

I would rather see Anheuser-Busch go to Pedro and Juan down in Mexico for $2 American, than to ANY European concern for $52 billion. This take over will allow these Europeans to make decisions, based on profit margin, about AMERICAN JOBS. Thousands of JOBS, not only in the brewing industry but in transportation, warehousing, retail, etc, etc…

Please, if your comments are going to include drivel about the “global economy”, don’t. Just go have a glass of French wine and tell your friends about the writings of that American barbarian you saw online.

Our first responsibility as Americans, is TO Americans. Only when our house is clean, our children strong, well fed and educated to the tops levels of industry, only when our great nation is truly, utterly invincible, should we even consider assisting any others grow so much as a bean plant.

I accept that we do have one or two true friends in this world, and they would be the exceptions to any rule.

It should not be possible for a 4 year old European company that owns brewers, to purchase a 150 year old American brewer. It just makes no sense.

Ibev has been smart about this, they are offering LARGE incentives to stock holders to keep them from fighting this. Most will fall for it.

I think this may be far more important to the American economy and to American moral, than it seems at first glance. Is Anheuser-Busch in trouble? do they need propping up? Or is this just the board of directors counting profits?

Don’t wait for the bad decisions of greed to threaten the jobs of Americans.

Advise your lawmakers of your opinions.

Stop drinking Anheuser-Busch products, or imports owned by Ibev (Beck’s, Stella and others) Find a nice little American mirco brew.

Write a letter to Anheuser-Busch and state your opinion of American companies being bought by Europeans.

Remember this is just my opinion, it was written to make me feel better. No, no thought was given to how it might make others feel.

Terry

Well, it really sounded more like, “I’m willing to cut you some slack brother, but you got to get out of town before the mayor sees you.

Sigh… <snicker>

He was a young cop, in some small New Jersey town, I was some place I didn’t belong… nothing new there. The office had put me into shock, I had just unloaded this mess.

And was looking for that Petro in Bordertown NJ.  I got a phone call, about 3 hours sooner than expected, sending me to  Upstate New York for Tuesday morning and a 12′9″ load.  I was distracted and of course took a wrong turn. I always get lost looking for that Petro and the Pilot (my fuel stop for the beginning of the new trip) The cop was cool, I think he thought it was pretty funny.  We got out of town quick and found the truck stops, grabbed some breakfast and some  fuel and headed out.

Sitting in Gouvernuer NY right now, waiting for over size permits… why is NY so slow with these? It can take  up to 48 hours for permits to come through, and thats just for small common loads like this one (12ft 9in wide, legal all other ways) BIG loads can take weeks. Ah well.

Whats really eating at us is that we are sitting about 80 miles from Steve and Debbie, our dearest friends up in Canada, and can’t get there. We probably even have time for a quick visit. Damn you Murphy!

Grumble, grumble…

Latest big load was a 14 wide cooler to Garyville LA

On IM with Steve, playing with some web services he’s working on. Something to do while the state drags it’s feet.

Stay tuned.

Terry

So here we sit in sunny California, waiting for a crane to take this cooler off the trailer. What fun…

Just sitting in California may not sound like a problem to some, but truckers know the better of it. These idiots out here in California have put laws in place that make it illegal for a commercial vehicle to idle its engine, even for the purpose of climate control.

Am I idling my engine? It was 108 degrees here yesterday and 100 today… WTF do you think?

Its the Law… in the state of Arizona, there is a law that prohibits two consenting adults, even if married, to perform oral sex on each other. What does that have to do with a ill conceived and stupid (but not unexpected from these morons) “green law” in the state of California? Nothing.

Proves the people pass and allow the passing of STUPID laws and have for years.

These are the same citizens that flood the freeway system in LA, the bay area and that ugly dump down by Mexico, every morning, one person per car, 5 to 6 days a week. But there is NO enforcement of Mass transit laws. There are no mass transit laws that I know of. Maybe they should look into this as a solution to their little problems.

Make it impossible for trucks and truckers to work here, and soon they won’t. Not gonna break my heart, I would love to see the government in California answer to it’s growers and other industries when there is no one to move their freight. The loses will be in the billions! Lets not forget the jobs that will disappear too.

Thanks for thinking this through California. I wonder if anyone gave any thought to the possible injuries that could happen in this kind of heat? Did you know, (I’m told) that if you have a pet in your truck, there are no laws that can make you shut the truck down? Can’t have those doggies and kitties getting hot… Screw the humans that feed them. OR pay the taxes that make it possible for idiot lawmakers to accept favors from the special interest groups that buy these laws.

Perhaps when the time comes, a good solid class action suit against the state and the special interest group that paid for this law will make it all better.
ok, rant over.

Turn down loads to  California when you can.

Terry

Well its good to finally be back in the traffic lanes for heavy haul. That general freight stuff was starting to depress me. A guy can only haul so much pipe and crap.

We got that disaster of a stud load to Dallas without killing anyone. The receiver just rolled his eyes and said, “happens all the time from that shop”. It took a bit of work to get it off the trailer without killing Helen and I, or the 2 guys that ran the forklifts. Took a lot of re stacking and re banding, but we got it to the ground and got clear paper on it.

They ran us back and forth in Dallas for a bit, sent us right back to the place we unloaded at to re load for Broken Arrow OK, just to get stopped by “my” office at the last second. Heavy haul dispatch sent us bobtail to Abilene TX to grab a 3 axle SDS dropped at a construction yard and take it to one of our big customers in Tulsa. We were just supposed to drop it in the yard and wonder back to the mail terminal, but ended up doing the stretch and the preliminary load, then went to the barn.

This morning, my buddy Steve hooked us up with a pretty little double drop load to Sacramento CA. I’m writing at the load site, waiting for the unit to be removed from one of their trailers and set on mine. Toss some chains and get the permits called in and we are out of here.

Some pictures:

setting the unit, this is just a small one, we pull 18 ft wide for this company all the time.

Some final adjustments to center these guys load these things all day, they make it look easy.

The finished load, straps, chains and all the flags and signs.

As I have stated before, I care very little for taking ANYTHING to California, honestly the only thing I would truly be happy about going there for would be to light the fuse then leave. But a run is a run, over sized pays good for this run and I want the cash, plus having the double drop with me, I might just get something big coming back out.

5 Days to get this thing to it’s new home. Piece of cake.

Here’s a quick add on to this post, a proud moment Helen and I have waited for. (I found the pics in the camera) The youngest, Alex made the move and joined the ranks of high school graduates.

Alex the graduate and a very proud mom

Alex’s older brother Aaron, snaps a pic

Alex and aunt Laura

Big Sister Killla sits with the family group
All in all a good week or 2 for us.

Keep it shiney,

Terry

Well, they just do.
This run started out good enough, simple load of 1/2 inch plate from Apache Junction AZ. (about 5 miles from the house) to Fairfield OH to a company that does armor upgrades to US HUMVEES, they build the government’s big black armored Suburbans, work on and develop pilotless/driverless recon toys, ect… What a great place to work!
Anyway, we get in early and get rid of the plate at 10 PM instead of 7AM the next morning. All is going great, you don’t just get to drop at 10 PM in the flatbed game, it just doesn’t happen. We find an old beat up truck stop a few miles north on I75 in Monroe OH and settle in. For some reason I just had “that” feeling that there would not be a load right away. I was right. But we did get the dispatch for a load the next day at noon, about 4 miles from us and heading for Dallas TX. (right in the specialized traffic lanes) . My fairy god mother is with me!

Sigh, all good deeds, blah, blah, blah.

The loading goes perfectly, right on schedule and we are on the way for a nice quiet slow 900 mile ride to Dallas. This is an easy load of steel studs and track for building construction. What can go wrong? Just a hint… NEVER, EVER ask that question. Within just a few miles, I hear “ping, ping…”, a quick glance in the mirrors confirms it. The steel banding holding this shit together is breaking, in the next hundred miles a BOTTOM stack has collapsed and stuff is sliding around and in the NEXT hundred miles another has collapsed and shit is sliding out of a top stack at the very rear… OH GOD what a mess. As I write this I am 400 miles (397.9 per the GPS) from the drop, I have EVERY single usable strap I have and I carry extras, involved in this load, I have every one of my personal hand winches involved and I’m considering doing some banding with chains to keep this crap from going through some asshole’s BMW.

Look at this…

It’s under control and we will stop and make someone provide a forklift to restack this junk before it hits the pavement if it comes to it. But I can just HEAR what the receiver is gonna have to say about this shit.

Well, I finally have a few minutes to just do some writing and make a few updates and changes to this site. we’ve been pretty busy since easter, both with the job and with family issues.

For those of you that were aware of my mom’s problems, she’s fighting the good fight with the cancer but it’s a vicious enemy. Things are not looking good.

As usual, Helen and I are fat, dumb and happy, hauling the big loads and seeing the country. We had to take some time away from work over the past few weeks to help out with mom and get some services in place to help care for my dad and her while we are out of town. Speaking of dad, something fantastic “FINALLY” happened! After more than 60 years, (with some hard work and constant harassment from my sister) The US Army and the Veteran’s Administration gave him the Purple Heart he should have got in the mid 40’s.

Maybe next we can get them to cough up some of the other benefits owed to this proud old soldier.

On to other things:

Changes made to the site… Well the galleries have had some additions made to them, all software is updated, and InnFromtheNight is now PDA friendly! (I found a great little plugin for WordPress that made this part a snap) I picked up an AT&T wireless connect card just before I left home this time and have the ability to connect to the web almost anywhere. I hope to write much more often now. As some of you know, writing is very therapeutic for me.

Onwards…

Back in April, right after my last real post, the company handed me my first “major” over sized load.

This monster was 62 foot long, 12 ft 6 in wide and weighed in at very close to 60,000. Gross weight of the truck was 105,000 and we were 94 ft long. We moved this beast from Phoenix AZ. all the way to Key West Fl. Man what a trip that was, though I have to admit, Murphy was busy with someone else and for the most part it was smooth as silk. Somewhere in Louisiana or Missisippi, we sheared a retaining pin on the pin-on. (the flip up read axle you see on some of these trailers) This is a custom made, hardened steel pin that connects the flip to the rear of the trailer. Sliced through it like a good edge through a sausage. Road service out of Biloxi MS, got us up and going again that day.

The priceless help of Michelle from Louisiana Escorts made this almost a pleasure trip. I can’t thank her enough for her aggressive style and attention to detail on this ride. You can bet we ask for her every time we work in the south east.

We were met in Key West by Ed and Carol, our receivers. These folks took care of us and Carol even took us on a quick tour of the island, this is a place we will be going back to, (off season of course) When the time came to lift this thing off, because of the tight quarters in the power plant, it took 2, 90 ton cranes. This is after most of a morning of tearing down guard railings and wiggling backwards around a building.

More pics of this trip in the galleries.

THIS monstrosity was waiting for us in Oklahoma City when we got back.

This is a paint booth out of a General Motors plant on the south east edge of OK City. 20 miles of city streets to get this where it needed to be.

One more… After getting back from the city, the boss had me on this one within 30 minutes of walking through the door.

This is another style of heat exchanger unit, 18 ft wide and weighing in at about 54,000 pounds. We took this one to a refinery in Garyville Louisiana. Lots of back roads on this trip, some not even as wide as the load. Louisiana law requires a state trooper to escort something like this. (more fun than should be allowed) The trooper makes some extra cash and big loads are moved safely.

The rest is a blur, the home time broke us out of the pattern, but we are working ourselves back towards the traffic lanes for the over sized loads. At this moment we are hanging around in a truck stop in Monroe OH, waiting to load mid-day tomorrow. This load will take us to Dallas TX and back to the big loads.

Keep coming by, as I said, I hope to be able to write more now that I have internet in the truck full time.

Stay safe,

Terry

Well, here we are in Tulsa, where the hell are you? Stuck in Tulsa because of some stupid rabbit holiday and the various states won’t let the over sized loads run. So no one is shipping because of it… Oh well, we’ve been in the truck since Feb 6, so it was time for a break. Grabbed a motel room for 2 days. (Real bed for a while) Back to trucking on Monday.

Some thing to think on…

They even look a bit alike, except the mustache… Adolf’s just can’t compare with Hillery’s

Inter City violence reaches an all time, futuristic high! Something just needs to be done about this. Parents, spend more quality time with your …uh, squirrels?

You’ll never see this on a mini van…

Don’t look at me like that, this is Debbie’s fault.

(Can you tell I’m freeking bored?)

Road Warning sign I would LOVE to see!

Well, we are in Tulsa, I work for a company based in Tulsa, and you have to believe that I work with people that “fit in” here in Tulsa. That being said, the president of Arrow finally got to build that mansion he all ways wanted…

(god, if he ever sees this, I hope he forgives me…)

And finally:

The only creature truly qualified to be our next President realized he was a politician and did the only honorable thing he could do, we’ll miss him.

Stop back by sometime, maybe my medications will have kicked in by then…

Terry

We switched to the “specialized” devision at Arrow here a few weeks ago. The largest majority of loads that we haul are over sized in some way. We have been hauling over width, up to 12 feet. Below is a picture of the one I delivered yesterday in Weston MO at a new power plant. Not 100% sure what the damn things are, parts of a boiler I think. That crate at the front is most likely bolts and plates, heaviest part of the load at 6k.

It’s a good life, with lots of interesting things to do, like sit on my fat truck driver ass and wait for a load Ah well, still having fun out here. What follows is some more images we have collected in our travels.

Many years ago there was a decent little company out west, One day, the Socialist Republik of Kalifornia pissed off the owner and I’m told that with in 24 hours, the whole show was gone. Lock, stock, barrel, office equipment, mechanics tools, wrecked trucks, garbage cans, everything moved to OKC. But all things must come to an to end. This recent picture shows that Don Freymiller’s company has gone to the dogs…

 Well, time to run do some laundry while we have time,  mayhaps I’ll post a bit more later today.

Terry