lookin at gettin in

Hi ya'll. I'm Reuben in TN. I live way out in the woods where there isn't much for work, a little farmin, a little sawmillin, a little mechanics, been logging a little at a time for years from our land but running low on trees to sell. Got a friend that just got his "authority" status I think they call it. And is doing well hauling cars. Looks like something worth doing for awhile. He can get me the loads if I can figure out how to get em hauled. So I'm using some of the last high grade timber on our place to finance repairing an old one ton ford we have, get it DOT approovable. Got a farm tractor worth about 6K I can swap for a trailer. Just anything to get started until I can buy a bigger truck. I don't have the CDL but getting one should be no problem. my brother and a cousin do who live here. Although I have a lot more experience driving tricky rigs than they do. I've driven a 3/4 ton 4x4 with many variations of trailers, several times I've hooked two long trailers together. Went 300 mi with a 20 ft stock trailer and a 24 ft sawmill edger on behind. Towed a jeep home from way up in KY with a 30 ft camper trailer behind the jeep. (camper brakes wired to truck) Started out years ago hauling compost from 100 miles away with several variations of trucks and trailers, sometimes seriously overloaded, sometimes heavy trailers without brakes. Yah, dangerous stuff I would never do now. Finally did it with a 2 axle strait truck, blowing tires, blowing engines, rebuilding or replacing them at home and sometimes on the road. Weak brakes on the thing, something wasn't quite right with the vacuum booster. (close call on that once) Done crazy things and learned what don't work. Like the fact that a regular auto engine doesn't last long when pulling 10 tons up a mountain. I use an old military 6x6 to haul logs. I love those old trucks but they aren't very comfortable to drive. It and the old '67 chevy dumptruck I had are both manual steering. Oh and I lost brakes with that dump truck on the mountain once, before I retired it due to rust and unreliable brakes. My neighbor also lost brakes with it once. We both survived without wrecking it, just barely. He slid it down a guard rail to get stopped, I geared down, managed to not be going too fast at the bottom of the mountain grade, pulled the corner hard and knocked a stop sign off it's post. Several rich folk have hired me to drive them, they seem to feel safe with my driving I guess. A local Dr has me doing it for her frequently. Even chauffeured a politician once. But that's minor stuff. I do have a few questions about things, but that'll be for some other time. I've already learned a lot from reading discussions here.

 

Kind of east central, an hour north of Chattanooga. Sounds interesting, might be worth trying once I can get a full size tractor going. which might not take long, I've heard of several good ones for cheap prices that just need an engine. I can rebuild an engine easy enough. a neighbor has a couple tractors in his front yard that need engines that he got for very little. Running back and forth from the coast would be an easy trip. I've driven through over near the VA/NC coast and seen a steady stream of container trucks on the road.