BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN !

Two weeks ago My Gallbladder & the dime size gallstone in it decided
to try to kill me or at least that's what it felt like. After 10 hrs. of steadily
increasing pain I finally had to take myself to the E.R. at 2 A.M. on 2/19/11 Saturday morning. They quickly diagnosed the problem & doped me up, unfortunately The surgeon was not available until 9 A.M. Sunday, (thank God for Morphine) so that's when they wheeled me into the O.R. and removed the damn thing.

Fortunately with today's modern techniques my recovery only took 2 weeks & today I was able to get back in the saddle & go back to work.

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GRAB SOMETHIN & HANG ON

You should know before watchin this a tire cleaner is basically
a cattle guard on steroids .

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MY OFFICE VIEW

Sometimes the view from my office is pretty sweet !




Guy's & some of you gals, be sure to POKE THE PICS TO BIGGIE SIZE EM.













Summer's comin & we're already in the triple digits for temps. here in the Desert & the hotter it gets the better the view gets outside my office window.
Ohh Yeaaaah GIGIDY !

For those of you who may not know my office is the cab of a Truck.

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LIKE A CHEAP WHORE

Today Jesse & I met with a driver friend of mine DD who now will also be my second boss, you see DD drives for the same company I do but he also has a truck of his own that he has leased to our boss.

Unfortunately DD had to let his last driver go, and since things have been so slow with our line of work lately DD and our other boss have decided to share me like a cheap whore.

Hey I don't mind as long as I get paid for shiftin their gears and dumpin their loads...their truck gears & loads you perverts sheesh, you guys know I'm into Boobs not Bobs.

Anyway with things the way they are I'm just glad DD and the other boss thought of me for the postition. DD's truck is a straight 16 wheel Peterbilt dump truck, the other truck is an 18 wheel end dump as you all know. For now it seems I'll be driving the 16 mostly but I guess what it boils down to is I'll drive which ever truck has work.

OK enough about work it's time to talk about Jesse again. When Jesse and I met with DD today his wife was with him. Lets call her LDW (lady dog whisperer).

This was the first time I've met LDW and I learned she used to teach a dog obedience class, she immediately ask me to let Jesse out of the truck so of course I did.
As DD and I talked shop LDW was entertaining Jesse. She seemed very impressed with his intelligence and eagerness to please & of course Jess was tickled to make a new friend. LDW worked a little with Jess and showed me the right way to teach him a couple of things.

As it turned out I spent alot more time talkin with LDW about Jesse and gettin a free training lesson than I did talkin to DD about business, but that's ok cause the business part was really just a paperwork formality anyway, DD knows I know what I'm doin behind the wheel.

So now I sorta have two jobs in one and Jesse and I have a training adviser. IT'S ALL GOOD !

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TOW TRUCK NEEDS A TOW TRUCK

Somebody didn't think this thru !

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A RIDE IN THE MINE

I shot this little video last Friday in the Phelps Dodge Copper Mine in Ajo AZ. sorry I didn't get to show ya'll more of the mine...damn batteries.

P.S. I hope nobody gets car (Truck) sick its a rough ride.

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Salt River Canyon

Here's a little video I shot while drivin down

into Salt River Canyon Tuesday it's about 45 miles

N.E. of Globe AZ. it's a 7% grade witch is pretty

steep for Trucks, luckily we were empty so we

were able to do about 40 MPH , sorry the

camera battery's died just before reachin the bottom.

If you click my flicker badge you can see alot

of still shots of comin thru Payson & Pinetop

on the way to Salt River Canyon.

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IF I WAS IN CHARGE....

For those of you who don't know I have been
hauling aggregate foundation material to the
Border Patrol stations on the AZ. MX. Border.

I hauled to the border again today but this time
was to a different border station, a bit farther run.
This run was a 6 hr. round trip instead of 4 but
we still had to make two runs, To get to this
station though witch is 15 miles from the nearest
town & the last mile is rough ass dirt road you
pass through some beautiful but HOT desert.

There is a cattle guard at the end of the pavement
where the dirt road starts, as I was coming back
out from dumping my first load I was about
1/2 mile from the cattle guard and could see a
few more of our trucks coming in but they were
stopped at the guard , that's when the first driver
(Bruce) called me on the CB and asked if I could
back up to the station and tell the Border patrol
that there is a Mexican man laying in the road
and doesn't look good, so I did.

When we got to the cattle guard Bruce and the
other drivers had helped the guy (maybe in his
early 20's) off the road into the shade, he was
in pretty bad shape. Two of our drivers there
are Mexican and had asked the guy how he got there.

As I'm sure you have guessed by now the guy
is illegal, He told them that he had snuck across
the border at night and had gotten lost in the
desert and that he had been out there for 5 days
without food or water when he heard the noise
of the trucks and had CRAWLED out of the desert
brush toward the sound for help.

The Border Patrol Officers called for fire rescue
and an ambulance, now here's where you all
start to hate me. Because our tax dollars pay
for the fire rescue & ambulance and all following
medical care had I been in charge this is what
would have happened.

I would have given him plenty of water even a
Gatorade or two then put him in the back of the
Border Patrol truck & driven him to the nearest
legal Border crossing and then hand him over
to the Mexican Border Police, he's a citizen of
Mexico let them pay for his health care.

Don't get me wrong, I hope the guy is OK I just
don't think we should have to pay for his care.
My recent visit to the Hospital has an $18000
price tag on it, do ya think maybe I could get the
citizens of Mexico to pay that for me?
Yeah me either.

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BAD NEWS / GOOD NEWS very good news

BAD NEWS
I have worked for the same company for the
last 3 yrs. & 3 months.

I have been promised a raise in pay several
times but never got even one.

I only got payed from the time I got my first
load of the day to the time I dumped my last
load of the day.

The truck pictured below is the worn out piece
of shit I've been driving for the last 2 yrs. ,
driving & working on. This International truck
is 8 yrs. old, the average productive life expectancy
of this type of truck is 5 yrs. I HATE THIS TRUCK !


GOOD NEWS
August 4th. I start work for a new company,
a better company at a $3 an hr. pay increase
& below is a picture of the truck I'll be driving,
it's a Kenworth and it's only 2 yrs. old.

With this new company I'll be on the clock
from the time I get to the yard in the morning
to the time I get back to the yard at the end
of the day.

I can hardly wait for August 4th. , newer better truck,
better pay, better company and I won't have
to be the company slave anymore . Oh Happy Day!

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U.S. BORDER PATROL HAS NO SENSE OF HUMOR

All I said was "I bet I could fit at least 50
Mexicans in the back of my dump truck"

This is in Lukeville AZ. and the Border Patrol

Agents really did have a great sense of humor,

this guy couldn't stop grinning while we were

taking pictures with him.

This is the crossing into Sanoyta Mexico.

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How I spent my Easter weekend or Truck Driver by choice mechanic by necessity

This is the truck I drive for work, Friday the
radiator sprung a bad leak...lucky me, time to
grab the wrenches.
The new radiator for my work truck in the bed

of my FULL SIZE pickup, to give you an idea

how big this Bitch is.
The beginning - removal

The middle - it's out, that radiator looking

think to the left is actually for the AC

The End, back together and ready to roll.

WOO HOOOO !

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Things I've learned being a Truck Driver

Inspired by J. at The Coffee Table

Example, not my truck......Damn It !

1- I have a great view of your BOOBS...and that

ladies can make a very stressful day just a

little easier to handle.

2- The best food a Driver can get is found in

little Cafe's in small towns on little two lane hwy's. ,

if your lucky enough to find a place to park your Rig.

Most times you can get within a short walk.

3- Truck Drivers are not as well paid as

most people think.

4- It cost a small fortune to live on the road.

5- Truck Stop laundry facility's are nasty,

expensive and suck.

6- This Country DEPENDS on trucks yet the

bigger the town or city the less accommodating

they are to them.

7-Truck stops are not always safe place's

to spend the night.

8-Interstate rest area's are NOT SAFE places

to spend the night but are necessary.

9- Prostitutes [AKA] Lot Lizards disturb a

drivers much needed sleep on average 2 or 3

times a month asking {you want a date honey}.....

No I haven't.

10- The average motorist does not read or

even notice the large colorful signs on truck

trailers warning about wide turns and blind spots.

To those of you who already appreciate and

understand Trucks and the need for them

THANK YOU .

For those who don't you can help by telling

them what you know.

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THE LANDFILL vs THE DUMP

I was hauling asphalt today up Hwy. 87 to
where they are widening the road .

From the Hot Plant to the job site I made six
trips up and down the Hwy. passing the landfill
each time and on the fourth trip up it struck me .

When in hell did we start calling it the landfill ?
Sometime in the last 35 years people started
calling it the landfill instead of the dump .

When I was a kid Pop would tell me -
Before you take off to play Saturday I want you
to help me load {whatever it happened to be}
into the pick up and go to THE DUMP .

He always called it the dump , everyone we
knew called it the dump , I always called it the dump .

Until seven years ago when I came off driving
long haul and started driving local construction
[sometimes we haul dirt in to bury the trash]

I started calling it the landfill because that's
what was on the paper work .

Suddenly at that moment I felt like I had just
lost part of my childhood .

Maybe it's silly to be so sentimental about
what we call that big ass hole where we put
our trash....or maybe it's something else .

I MISS YOU POP

APRIL 1936 --- DECEMBER 2004

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Mmm Tasty

I took this picture about 15 years ago in
Las Cruces NM. the little joint was already
closed down because there was a brand new
Pilot Truck Stop across the road ...
or maybe it was just the cooking.

I know it's a little blurry but that's because
I didn't have a digital camera back then so
this is a picture of a picture .

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For HoosierGirl

Hi HoosierGirl

Well This is my blog, I haven't been spreading

it around because I don't think I'm very good

at it [yet] and I haven't posted any thing in

awhile because I've been so busy reading and

participating in other blogs plus I've been

stressed out about loosing too much work due

to the recent holidays and too much rain but

that's another story.

I drove long haul but now I drive local in the

construction industry, above is a pic. of the

truck I drive.

I don't know if your familiar with this kind of rig,

it's called a super 18. The rear extended axle

raises up and flips over into the bed and the

three axles right in front of the drives are called

pushers they raise and lower for loaded or

empty as well.

I hope you will check out my older post's and

give me any pointers you might have to make

my blog better, and yes if you read my first post

you will see that I am passionately offended

by the lack of respect we truck drivers get

EVERYDAY.

Remember howling at the moon relieves stress.

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Truck Maintenance

In my line of work when you drive for a small

mom & pop outfit [two trucks] your not just a driver .

I do the maintenance and most of the repair

work on the trucks to, this is the truck my

boss drives and while doing the routine greasing

on it I discovered this broken spring.

I'm a driver first and a mechanic second and

when the work has to be done in the boss's

back yard it can be a real pain in the ass ,

it took me a day and a half to replace the spring

then I replaced the bumper and fixed a

radiator leak.

Our line of work always slacks off this time of

year so I guess it a good thing that I can still get

hours on the clock doing truck maint. & repair,

the down side is I'm no spring chicken anymore

and all that bending over and crawling around

under the trucks takes it's tole .

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GARBAGE TRUCK BBQ

Sometimes I haul fill dirt to landfills around the

valley and Friday I was surprised to find that at

the Allied Waste Landfill out on SR 85 they had

this truck & trailer set up that had this BBQ grill

that is an exact replica of one of their garbage

trucks [except for the grill part of course] and

its about the size of a Dodge mini van .

They were serving hamburger's & smoked

sausage's free to all the commercial drivers

hauling into that landfill to say thanks because

without us including the garbage truck drivers

they would be out of business . I found out that

they go around to their different landfill sites

doing this and I thought that's pretty cool .

You may be wondering why would they need

dirt hauled into a landfill don't they just dig a

giant hole fill it with garbage and cover it with

the dirt they dug out of the hole , NO dirt has to

be hauled in because the garbage has to be

mixed with dirt as it is dumped this helps to

compact and stabilize the landfill site .

I have to say Kudos to Allied Waste Services ,

we [CDL drivers] appreciate being appreciated

especially when most people just think

were in their way .

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My First / If you bought it a truck deliverd it !

Hi everyone...anyone , well this is my first attempt at
a blog and I hope I get some response .

As a truck driver I cant help but wonder why people
have so little respect for trucks .

Almost everything people have was at some point
delivered by a truck , from the car they drive to the
food they eat , the clothes they wear , even all the
materials their house's are built out of and the roads
they drive on every day and almost everything else .

Trucks are not out there on the roads just to get in the
way or piss people off , yes trucks are big and slow but
try to remember they weigh up to 80,000 pounds and
it takes a little more time than a car to get up to speed
and when they do get going they need much more road
to stop than a car does .

It's never a good idea to be approaching a red light and
cut over in front of a truck just to be first in line .
When the light turns green even if your five cars back
in the other lane you will still be ahead of the truck
before you get through the intersection and you didn't
endanger yours or anyone else's life or property .

Trucks make wide right turns not because they want
to they have to , if you come up behind a truck at an
intersection and they are in the right lane with their
right turn signal on then they suddenly swing to the
left but the right signal is still on don't think they
changed their mind about the turn and step on the
gas to pass them on the right ,
you could be crushed to death . If they don't make that
wide swing they cant make the turn .

Yes I know there are truck drivers out there that should
not be because they really don't know what their doing
or their just plain assholes but most of us that do know
what we are doing are out there to provide goods to
outlets we all buy from and build better community's
for everyone .

So give us a break and a little extra room
and everyone stays safe .

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