Views From The Road

Believe it or not, I am enjoying some down time at the home base in Atlanta.

Turns out that my host's computer reads the card from my digital camera just fine, so I get to share with you some pictures from the road.

This first pic is of a roadrunner that walked by the passenger side window of the rig.  This is just a short distance from the industrial park in Laredo.  Roadrunners are about the size of a raven, which I wasn't really expecting.  They seem to forage all their food from the ground, hence the name.  I didn't get any pictures of them, but the cowbirds in Texas are prolific and they are pretty much a scavenger similar to seagulls.

My temporary teammate and I went to Laredo, TX.  It was my second trip there in six days. This time we had loaded some aluminum sheeting product from Fairmont, WV, and on the way there from Cumberland, MD we ran into the leading edge of that snow storm that caused all the power outages in Connecticut.

I took this pic sitting on the top rack (bunk) in the sleeper cab of the tractor.  My partner is driving.  We are headed south on I-35. This is a company truck that has been abused by some previous drivers.  It's a 2001 model Freightliner Colombia.  Notice the lovely color matching duct tape on the edge of the dash.  Not knowing how long I would be in this rig, I duct taped the mounting base for my Garmin Nuvi 465T on the dash.

I didn't see it as it was passing us, so I don't know exactly which model tank or armored artillery piece this is.  Maybe somebody out there knows?  We were almost to Little Rock, AR when I saw this.

We parked out at the farthest corner of the truck lot at Flying J, just north of Laredo, TX.  The lot probably holds about 150 rigs.  On the other side of the street just off the exit ramp is a Travel Centers of America or TA.  Why it's not TCA, I don't know.  But unless you are making a purchase of fuel or other stuff of more than $20, you have to pay to park in their lot.  It also holds about 150 rigs. 

To say that there are lots and lots of raccoons out there in the brush would be an understatement.  You have to start getting really close before they see you as a threat.

Beyond the tarmac, facing the setting sun and the Mexican border.  I am always fascinated by the various forms of plant life from region to region.  Believe it or not, as dry and desolate as most of southern Texas is, there is marsh and cattails not far from where I'm standing.  The indigenous rocks and pebbles on the farmroad are all smoothed from having spent time in a river bed.  Next time I'm there I'm going to take better close-ups of that.

There is beauty everywhere you look, if you are willing to look.

I met a husband and wife trucking team out walking their dog, "Diesel", near this spot.  They were having some time trying to get Diesel to behave.  I couldn't help myself.  I asked if I could show them some things.  They eagerly agreed.  In about ten minutes, I had Diesel walking properly at the heel position.  Ten minutes more and I had him sitting and staying.  Then I was dropping the leash and having him obey me on voice command.  This couple was stunned.  The husband offered to pay me something.  There is just something incredibly cool about doing something so well that you strike people with awe.  Yeah.  I can admit that.  And you know you feel the same way.  I explained how I did it and how they could do it and keep getting better results.  They both understood it and were grateful that somebody explained it so well.

I've heard the name "Sagebrush" but I'd never had a chance to look at it up close.  When I have the chance, I investigate as much as possible.  I picked some leaves off of this bush and crushed them in my fingers.  The smell of sage greeted my nose.  I tasted.  Something like a cross between sage and rosemary.  Interesting.  I might try to cook with some of this on the grill the next time I'm out there.  Any plants growing on the high ground that are designed (yes, I said "designed") to live more than a season, the perennials, have dense, narrow, waxy foliage, just perfect for desert conditions.  I don't know why, but there was no prickly pear in the area around the truck stop, or at least not close to where I was.

Don't know how long it will be before I get to blog again and share pictures, but now I will make it a point to take a lot more pictures and try to make this a lot more interesting.

We grilled ribeye steaks behind the truck and enjoyed our downtime while waiting on directions for a load going back east.  It's kind of a modern day version of being a cowboy on the open range.  Not many people could stand such a lifestyle.  Life as you know it in America would come to a screeching halt if trucking stopped.

Shalom, Y'all

Thanks for stopping by.  Your comments are welcome.

All You Need To Know

. . . about the Occupy Wall Street people is summed up in this picture.

I really don't need to say anything more, do I?   Hat tip to Theo Spark.

What Do I Hear?

There are times when I feel deep in my soul that I should just tell her everything.  Trust that she gets it all.

I'm tired of being judged by those who never should have been in the jury box.

Back from Laredo

It's been some grueling days out there.  Okay.  Today is the 26th of October, 2011.  The past few days have been kind of a blur trying to make up for problems on the road.  Had a major problem with a trailer axle pin in Maryland.  Had to leave that trailer in the shop and go pick up a different trailer at another location.  Go to some town south of Pittsburg and get a load headed to Laredo, TX.

I would write more, but I'm exhausted. I picked up a load of canned food coming back to Atlanta, and I have a few hours to sleep before I have to wake up and go deliver that load and head back out. 

Over the road trucking is a hard, hard life.

I've driven a couple of thousand miles in just a few days.  I've had one shower in four days.  You people have no clue how cheap your food and supplies are considering how far they have to travel.  If you like what you are paying for the most basic necessities of life, thank trucking. If you hate what you are paying for the most basic necessities of life, curse the government.

This Trip

At first I was told I was going to North Carolina.

Plans changed.  Now I am going to Tennessee and from there I will stop in Virginia and then from there I will be going all the way to New Hampshire.

Everything North of Pennsylvania will be completely new territory for me.

I'm going to actually drive through some states where the majority of the people are so incredibly stupid they voted for Ted Kennedy, Mitt Romney, Chuck Shumer, Hillary Clinton and some other power grabbing, elitist scum. 

Wish me luck.

I Took A Walk

And I wished it would make it all go away, that I would just calm down and it would all seem less important somehow.

But it isn't.

Even though I've been so careful to try and avoid anything about politics and what goes on in the world, you just can't.  You can pretend that the world is not there, but there it is.  The waves crash against the shore of your consciousness in that relentless fashion.

I say the world, but what I mean is people.  I got into an argument with an 86 year old man this evening who actually believed that rich people in the United States pay no income tax and that poor people, the bottom 50% actually pay most of the taxes.

I'm surprised that my head is not in millions of pieces scattered across a few square miles.

I guess I was supposed to have this encounter to convince me that we are definately on a sinking ship and that it's all going to fall apart and that only the prepared are going to survive.

There is far more to the whole conversation.  I can't begin to go into it all.  My antagonist has been thoroughly brainwashed to believe that "conservative" is equal to "evil."

I went for a walk. 

I'm currently in a neighborhood in South Atlanta.  It didn't take long before some slovenly black male with pants hanging down below his thighs was asking me for a handout.  I gave him some cash.  But I was in a mood that I can only describe as:  "I don't care who I piss off right now, because if God takes my life right now, I have to be better off."  So, I asked him about the pants below the butt cheeks thing.

He didn't know.

"So, why do you do it?"

"It's just the thing. Depends on who you hang with."

"No reason?"


"Whatevah."

So, what I thought was supposed to be some symbol of black rebellion against white conventional dress is nothing.  The idiots who do it just do it.  Or this guy wasn't going to tell me the truth because I was a white guy.

Truth be told, I was hoping this guy would take offense and tell me the truth.

If he told me the truth, then how freaking stupid are such black people in the United States?  I know lot's of black people who must be absolutely horrified by such stuff.  Just as I am horrified that people associate me with someone like Chris Christie or Mitt Romney when I use the term conservative to describe myself.

Really?  You wear your damned pants below your buttcheeks to do what?  What's the point of this?  To show your ass?  To show that you are asses?

Do You Think You Are Part of the 99%?

Really?

Do you consider yourself to somebody like the people you see in this video?