Big Loads - Post Photos Number 2

It was a much tougher job. Armstrong steering, spring ride, 2 stick tranny, no ac in the daycabs,....talk about getting a severe beating. My first week otr felt like I went 15 rounds with a body puncher.

Air ride came in soon after i started, then the condo sleeper, and the spread axle. My favorite time was the mid to late 90s when the horsepower wars started. It was like the muscle car era in the 60s. Some of the drivetrains between 1997 and 2002 are absolutely ferocious. Between 1990 and 2000, I went from a 300 hp 2 stick spring ride to 500 hp air ride and a 13.

The best thing about truckin when I started was the drivers. It was a tough life. Long haul trucking, run all week like a demon in heat and home on the weekend. Met alot of good hands on the road.

Its funny because now we have internet and smart phones, aftermarket seats, but instead of appreciating an easier job, we are instead bombarded with sissies and crybabies. What the heck are they crying about? Compared to the "good ol days" they have it great, YET they weep and lament over everything. Dont want to roam the country? Find you a local gig. Dont like trucking? Get the F out and do something else. Go flip your burger. Want biche and moan? Go get you a Caitlyn Jenner. Perhaps you too can be "woman" of the year.

 

Not a lot I'd go back to from the old days right off hand, it was a hard(er) life- but I learned a lot. I like my RoadRanger, big power CAT, electric wipers, hydraulics, auto slacks, etc.

I did like it more before instant communications. "I've been trying to call you and you don't answer"......."I'm driving"......."where are you, how long before you get here, blah, blah, blah, blah". Always could find someone on the radio to lend a hand if you needed it or drop a dime down the road for help, not so much now. I like the cell & data outgoing, just not incoming.

I remember my first pager- "What's this? You want me to find a phone and call the number when it goes off?!?!? Are you nuts! Back in the old days we...."

 

First 2 trucks I drove, a 73 narrow-nose KW & an 81 GMC Astro cabover, neither had power steering, I was all of about 120 lbs soaking wet & had to plant my feet in the floor & pretty much stand up as I cranked the steering wheel with everything I had to make a turn when I was going slow. Both were when I was hauling gasoline to the corner stop & robs & they all seemed tight as h3ll to get in & out of.

Wouldn't trade anything for the experience though.

 

Unloaded that last excavator last Wednesday in Houston, finally got a load out of there earlier today, heading to Indiana once curfew ends in morning

 

Next time you are down here for a few days give me a shout. Always up for meeting members from here if time permits. Live on the south side.

 

Dropped off the load of pipe this morning. Get back to the shop and I get sent to move a 330. Almost forgot to take a photo.

 

Dropped that forklift this morning back in Indiana then went up to Cincinnati and loaded this D7H up bound for Florida.

 

I see the corner bits have been removed, most likely to keep it under a certain width; I hope they ran a bolt through them to keep them there!

 

You can see the bolt, Ohio makes is remove the corner bits.

 

Yep there are bolts ran through them