Railsplitter's Crazy "Trucking Daze" thread...

Alright, that latest tequila shot worked wonders, lol... let's finish tonight's pics, aye? Truck camping on Mt. Shasta...




I walked the ground in Vicksburg, same way I walked the ground on other Civil War battlefields, and I stumbled upon the USS Cairo, a Union ironclad which was sunk in the Yazoo River and spent a century underwater before being salvaged. BTW, that's pronounced "CARE-O"---not Cairo like in Egypt---an old trick, using a different pronunciation for towns like Cairo, IL, that way the locals knew who the foreign kooks were, lol. Anyway, the ship was classic, even with partial restoration... there's a walkway which allows visitors to "step aboard" and see the guns. You ex-military personnel should like these shots...





This postcard shows a 'City Class' ironclad in service during the Civil War...



Ah, here are some killer pics you won't see every day, these are the Mohawk Mountains of Arizona and this is the story behind the pics...

sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/tales-adventure/2011/feb/27/mohawk-mountain-madness/




And a couple o' pics from Williams, AZ, where the Grand Canyon Railway Depot is located... best way to see the Grand Canyon while trucking, just park at or near the depot and ride the rails to the South Rim. Some "outlaws" will even rob the train en route... or they did back in the day, lol.

 

Gettin' late, only got a few pics left for tonight... hope y'all are enjoying the whirlwind tour. To me, this was what trucking was all about, seeing the country like I had NEVER seen it before... and I was fully committed too, lol. Here we have truck camping in the Alabama Hills outside Lone Pine, CA, I spent a glorious weekend here and up in Horseshoe Meadow. The Alabama Hills are famous for all the Westerns filmed here in the shadow of Mt. Whitney... a few other films too, but mostly Westerns. Clint Eastwood in 'JOE KIDD' comes to mind... that's a great movie with awesome scenery, lol.







On my way up to Horseshoe Meadow for my second night of truck camping, I came around a bend and discovered these glider pilots all making ready to launch from a point roughly 9000' in elevation. I took a shot of the steep canyon they used as a launch point, but of course the cheesy camera didn't do it justice, so it looks all pinner, lol. It was actually quite steep, all the glider pilots had to do was simply step off and they were immediately airborne...




And here's Horseshoe Meadow at roughly 10,000' elevation...

 

Here's the trail I hiked toward a primo granite crag high above Horseshoe Meadow... pulled a "tribute solo" to a deceased friend & climbing partner on this crag, it was perfect weather and the holds were bombproof. That friend died of unrelated causes out in the South Pacific... he would've liked this crag, it was nice, and the views were magnificent! Alright, here we go, starting with the forked tree on the trail, lol...









I was eating lunch in the scenic turnout above when this Dutch couple rolled up and started checking out the truck... even though this tractor was NOT a big ol' hood, they had never seen a truck as large in Holland, so they were trippin' on it, lol. I let 'em climb aboard and took photos of 'em sitting behind the wheel and grabbing the air horn... using their camera, I mean. They were all stoked, they'd never been aboard a truck this large, and I'm not sure whether they believed me when I told 'em about huge Freightshaker Super Condos and custom sleepers on Petes & KWs, lol... meh, no big deal, once they departed I finished my lunch and started rolling again, that turnout was on US-180 some distance NW of Silver City, NM.

 

Gotta be gettin' close to the end for tonight, lol... here's the view from the M/V Miss Green River near Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, storms upriver had turned the water muddy & brown.



Here's a redneck ferry on the same flooded river...




Since we're on a nautical kick, here's the USS Texas, Darth Vader battleship, lol...





Echo Canyon in Utah... felt like stretching my legs after pulling into this rest area, 10-4?





Okay, I can't remember if I already posted this one of the log grabber at a lumber mill... so it's time to knock off for tonight, I'm gettin' tired, lol. The beer & tequila shots are catching up to me as well, time to eat and crash, aye? I like this lumber mill shot, it looks like the log grabber is gonna devour the truck, lol...

 

"Illustrious driving career?"

You've clearly mistaken me for Super Trucker, lol... I'm just a hand who liked running long, literally coast to coast in big ol' triangles, or from the Left Coast to the Midwest and back. And sometimes while I was en route, an opportunity would present itself and I would check out some place I wanted to see, 10-4? Here's the perfect example, I drove past this spectacular place a hundred times before things finally worked out and I was able to shut down there overnight in perfect fall weather. Had a blast, as usual, but I was also prepared, with all that field gear & solo climbing gear aboard my truck. I have shots of this venue, but I'll have to post 'em later today, I have an appointment in town this morning... for now, the story will suffice. Great place to visit, right off I-80 too, you can see the outcrops and the views are magnificent! Here's the link...

sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/tales-adventure/2011/apr/09/vision-quest-at-vedauwoo/

Whoa, there are some trippy emojis in this other set, whaddya suppose THIS guy has to do with TRUCKING? I might have felt like doing that to some ignorant 4-wheeler, or even to a dispatcher or broker, but ya gotta watch that jail time & court-ordered anger management, lol... no future in that, aye?

 

Well, that took all goldurned day... and I gotta go back tomorrow, due to a glitch in the process. Dealing with gubmint bureaucracy has become such a chore lately, it just reinforces my desire to absolutely minimize all interaction, lol. Meh, hopefully it's cleared up tomorrow and I'll have a New Mexico license instead of my Arizona CDL-A. I'd like my license to list my current home address, ya know? I swapped plates right away when I moved here, as I like to blend in with the local population wherever I go, but I let the license issue ride for awhile, since my AZ license was still valid. Anyway, I'm just gonna relax here with a cold beer, no photo posting this afternoon, it can wait till later. I do have a few links to share, these are some of my 'Tales From The Road'---18 short stories written about my trucking adventures, lol. I may have related pics to post, particularly of the San Rafael Swell, but it won't hurt to post the links now and catch up to the photos later... I always loved "truck camping" on the Swell, those view areas are great places to shut down as long as you're fully rigged and ya have everything ya need, 10-4? So here we go with the links, you newer hands or prospective truck drivers might get a kick out of 'em, as well as some insight with regard to the industry and what it means to be an OTR truck driver...

sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/tales-adventure/2011/feb/28/affirmative-action-on-the-san-rafael-swell/

That one was written pre-BLM era, dunno if I'd bother helping 'em now...

sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/tales-adventure/2011/apr/02/the-blue-angels-of-truck-driving/

Here's a funny one on 'The $300 Gnat'---pesky little critter was expensive, lol.

sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/tales-adventure/2011/oct/12/the-300-gnat/

A food review on a national scale...

sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/tales-adventure/2011/apr/03/and-ill-take-some-to-go/

The one & only time I drove while high on weed... my advice to newer hands is don't push your luck, lol.

sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/tales-adventure/2011/apr/01/flyin-high/

Alright, that's enough for now, I'm still feeling the ill effects of dealing with gubmint bureaucracy today, and cold beer is the antidote, lol... and though I'm no big pothead, I stopped at a local dispensary and bought a gram of something called 'ChemFuego' (28% THC, lol), and I might just load a hit in the glass bong I keep on my bar. That should take my mind off gubmint bureaucracy, aye? A shot or two of tequila might also help... I dunno how you modern Owner-Operators keep up with all the BS, seems like it just gets worse every year.

Meh, in another hour I won't have a care in the world, lol... might be a good night for some entertainment on the 65" curved screen. CHEERS!!!

P.S. Here's a shot of the "cure" for gubmint bureaucracy, lol... it's that or a bullet, and I'm feeling mellow tonight, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

 

Haha, you got that right... and last night, I was ripped from that bong hit I took, lol. I was LMAO while watching a movie on the 65" curved screen, I have a nice home theater setup with a leather reclining sofa opposite the TV. And I'm not a big smoker, you understand, so a little weed goes a long way.

Well, I bit the bullet today and I actually surrendered my Arizona CDL-A for a standard New Mexico Class D driver's license... I thought about it long and hard, and the truth is that I no longer need it, 10-4? Unlike so many hands starting out on their trucking journey, I'm at the other end, and I'm basically gonna plane out and die here in the boondocks, lol. So I swapped my license... which brought back a ton of good memories, I certainly got my use out of that CDL-A, and I saw the country like I NEVER would've seen it had I NOT gone trucking. I have no regrets, but a standard license with motorcycle endorsement is all I need now to operate 'The Mighty Camry' and my KLR 650... no more physicals, no more Hazmat endorsement, no more TWIC BS, none of it. Kind of a milestone, I reckon, but as I said, I no longer need the Class A license.

I'll keep the old CDL-A (with hole punched) in my wallet till I die, in case I ever need to explain that I once drove a truck or prove that I had a Class A license. And speaking of death, there are actually some positive aspects to it: for starters, no more taxes and no more scumbag politicians... it's a win-win situation, lol. Having said that, wouldn't it be a drag to wind up in the hot place and find that EVERYTHING is taxed (especially cold beer), and the joint is FILLED to capacity with scumbag politicians, lol. Scumbag politicians in every direction, as far as the eye can see... kinda makes me think about cleaning up my act, lol. Meh, as an old school party animal, I'm an unrepentant sinner... and a man has to have at least ONE vice, otherwise he gets too weird. I'm no meth head, wife beater, child abuser or pedo, so ALCOHOL it is, lol. Maybe the occasional bong hit too, now that it's legal and I'm no longer driving a truck.

So, that was the big news of the day for me, swapping out my license... but as I said, I have no regrets, I had too much fun back in the day and pulled some cool recons and adventures! For me, trucking was a lifestyle, not a job or a chore, and I had a blast with certain outfits, running long in big ol' fast trucks... I still have that framed citation for going 85 m.p.h. with a wagonload of lead solder waste, that'll go on my wall here shortly, lol. I'll probably hang it in one of the bathrooms so folks can trip on it while they're handling their business... I just gotta paint the bathrooms first, lol. That's all happening this spring, so no worries. I have a new lifestyle now, just chillin' out and ridin' my bike on trails in the mountains. Paved roads too, there are radical twisties in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico... heaps of wildlife up there too, gotta watch the deer & elk now that I'm on a 2-wheeler, lol. I'm back to my cold beer... Cheers!

 

Got some more pics for this thread, I had to resize 'em with the Canon cam and cull the shots with too much glare, but I have a nice assortment of trucking pics to post this evening. First I gotta cover the fruit trees and feed the goldurned cats, but I'll be back like a bad rash to throw down some cool trucking pics taken back in the day. Hang loose, alla youse modern trucking heroes, I reckon you'll enjoy some of tonight's pics... got some material for the old hands as well, including a bad boy '53 bull-nose KW, lol. Back in a bit, gotta knock out these tasks first... maybe set up a double shot of tequila to go with this cold beer I'm drinking, AYE? I've gone easy on the blue agave juice this week, so I reckon it's time to cut loose... CHEERS!!!