Where is everyone #5

@catalinaflyer

Probably asked you this before... what drone do you got?

 

I was "daydream" truck shopping today on truck paper, and saw one I've seen in the flesh a few times.

Just a garden variety flat top Freightshaker Colombia. 900k or so on the chassis, 330k on an in frame. No DPF, no SCR. Good shape cosmetically, and was run by a local company that I know takes care of their equipment. Headache rack already there, etc. etc. Not a show truck, not a glamour truck. A bucket of bolts, but I'd make it MY bucket of bolts.

 

Limited ability my ###.

 

We still have a season on them!

 

Man you come up with all the cool ideas.

 

Other day in the mill, one of the kids was complaining because his check was wrong. Something about his holiday pay. He just didn't know what to do. His car insurance was due the next day and because his check was wrong he didn't have the money to pay for it. Told him well I guess you are going to be late paying it. Said to him, your late 20's, have a kid and Christmas is coming up soon why don't you have any extra money? This is the busy time of year for you. Working harvest hours you should be rolling in it. Just a blank stare back. I turned around and left. Like old skool says. Can't talk horse sense to a #######. I know things can be tough sometimes but if you can't figure out how to save at least a few dollars when the past two months your check is double normal. I can't feel bad for you.

 

@Rugerfan and anybody else this might apply to.

To add to my previous post.....hold on to your big hood dreams, you never know when they will come true.

For example: I fell in love with W900’s before I ever had a drivers license, I started in this industry as a mechanic at 19 then I got to the point I didn’t even want to change a headlight. So at 24 I started driving for the fleet I’d spent the last 3 years turning wrench’s for, was pretty happy had a good co-driver (that I’d known is I started at the company). But 2 years later we were both getting fed up with the company and their customer so I had been thinking of buying a truck ( never got farther than looking at the Truck Paper (the specs and prices not just the pics). Then one morning my dad called me asking if I wanted to drive a Kenworth back and forth from OKC to Houston home every other night since I was currently driving an autoshift Freightliner Century Class on a dedicated route Irving,TX to Ligonier,IN home weekends. I said yes.

That Saturday I went to talk to a neighbor of one of my dads longtime friends that I had met just once or twice, apparently he thought enough of me from our brief meetings that when his boss told him of an upcoming vacancy due to another driver retiring he sent word to me. This happened to be around the 4th of July when my current companies customer shut down for 2 weeks so I was taking vacation anyways. So Monday I interviewed with the new company and was hired the next week started the week after that. Now that Kenworth that was mentioned wasn’t the big W9 I’d been dreaming of it was a 97 T2000 they had bought used many years before but at least it had a 475hp CAT and a 13spd so I was still pleased (it was an improvement).

As it would turn out I drove that truck for 4 months when they bought a new truck for the guy that got me hired on (which had become a good friend) I got the truck he’d been taking care of for 2 years, a 2004 CAT powered 387 Peterbilt.

Fast forward 4 years I was as happy as could be driving that same old Pete when we all got called in for a mandatory meeting on Saturday morning at which we were informed that in 2 weeks the company would be closing our department (we were a private fleet) and we would all be out of jobs and the equipment would be sold. So I done some quick hunting and found a job running a Pneumatic Tank (something else I always had a fascination with) locally. Then when I learnt that this new company wasn’t as good as I thought they were and my severance pay came in I started the search for my own truck.

Two months later I bought it, a CAT powered 96 W900L!!! She didn’t and still don’t (6 years later) look like the truck of my dreams but she’s getting there.

So just because you don’t see how it could happen right now doesn’t mean it won’t happen when the time is right.

Keep the dream of that big hood alive but do yourself a favor and don’t dwell on it too much instead relish the wife and kids.

This song sorta applies to what I’m trying to say.

Hopefully all of this makes sense.

ETA: sorry it’s so #### long !!!!

 

Your dreams can last a lifetime.
Your kid's are only young once.
Don't lose your dreams but don't let them get in the way of the joy of today.

 

Hey Ruger,

If all I knew about you was your taste in music, I'd say you're gonna be fine in life. Knowing a little more than that I'd bet money on it.

 

Don't let anybody dis you about a Columbia. I was proud of mine. If somebody's grandma hadn't made an illegal u-turn in front of me I'd probably still be driving it.