Where is everyone #5

Last nights supper. 1st sweet corn of the year.

 

Used to be swarms of them. That’s the device right there that filled your cab full of dust when you were sitting in Yard “F” at Bud Antle Coolers somewhere.

 

Like those. I remembered those tractors showing up. They were the first tractors I ever saw with turf tires on them, and they were also the first tractors I ever saw with roll-over protection. Just a simple hoop but they were on there when they were delivered.

 

Every time I think of maybe trading it off, a customer calls needing a flat. Well, it ain’t eating nothing so….

Let’s head to Marathon refinery in Kentucky…..

 

I bet you do. That’s the sort of thing that would have warning labels all over it these days. I’ve had a few fights with pup motors in -30, dont even want to think about starting one by hand. I think one of the pups had provision for rope start if the electric start went south. I learned on a couple of different 7’s. One I can’t remember the prefix of, a 17A and a couple of 48A’s. Between them I had a bunch of different flavours. Pup start mechanical drive winch, Pup start power shift winch and electric start power shift hydraulic. Dad had 2 8H’s too, both 46A’s. That’s probably my favourite machine to run, but I liked running the crane too. 35ton P+H. I was dredging along docks clamming into trucks with the thing when I still had to stand in front of the seat to reach the brakes. May end up with another 7 before long. We’ve been looking for a 6C but it’s starting to look like we could buy an older 7 a lot cheaper. We’re going to start filling the ancient part of the pit and need a machine to push it off. My cousins kids are all starting to look for building lots. Locally people are charging $85 a triaxle load to dump clean fill and Cousin saw an opportunity in that.

 

Is the steel mill you were hauling for still on strike?

 

There’s money in confusion, and I always found lots of it in refinery jobs. You might be able to buy a couple more tractors by the time you get home.

 

Well, this has been an eventful last 4 days. We went on vacation to Mexico. The day we left was my birthday and the day my license expired. That was a Sunday so I figured I would renew it when I got home. Boy was I wrong. I forgot to renew it when we got back. I had too many things on my mind I guess and I hit the road. I did not realize it until I got to Fort Polk Louisiana last Wednesday to pick up my load. The gate guard reminded me that it was expired but since I had been there several times before and my TWIC was still current they let me in the gate. No big deal. So, I take off driving and I make it to the Loves in Charleston, TN and check in with my delivery in East Lyme, CT and the Lieutentant reminds me that I have to have a valid, non-expired drivers license to get on post. I had some extra time to get my load there so I drove back to Nashville and flew home Thursday morning thinking it was going to be a quick process to renew my CDL. Like I said, boy, was I wrong. I normally dont check the Texas Drivers License Eligibility website very often but now after what has transpired I will be checking monthly and after every single inspection.

Back in February of 2019, I was doing some contract work for a company in Dallas to make some extra money. I took a load from Dallas, TX to Portland, OR and on the way there I had an issue in the snow and slid off of the road. I got the trailer tires in the muddy, snow covered shoulder and slid down into the snow. I screwed up. Took my medicine, got towed out and got a Level 1 inspection to go along with it. I was cited for failure to maintain my lane and for the ODOT Weight permit being expired and I was cited for it too. Got back from Oregon, finished the contract work and went on about my way. I turned the inspection in to the carrier and they never did their due dilligence and never sent the inspection back to the State of Oregon showing that they had remedied the issue. I found this out on Friday when I found out that Oregon had suspended my license back on June 2nd, 2022. The only way I would have known was by checking the Texas Drivers License Eligibility webpage. I also found out that a traffic citation I had received in May of 2019 in my personal vehicle was keeping me from renewal becuase the municipality never reported that I paid the fine and I received two different failure to appear citations. Great. Just great.

What I found out from the State of Oregon is that any driver that is involved in a traffic accident/incident with damage over $2500 or if a vehicle is towed you must fill out an Accident Report and send it to the Crash Reporting Unit in Oregon. I never knew that. The Oregon DMV told me it was my responsibility to follow up with the state to see if there was anything else to do on my part to remain in compliance. The Accident Report form is supposed to be filled out by the carrier and the driver. Well, this happened 3 1/2 years ago and I was darn luck to be able to get in touch with the company becuase I had to have the old insurance company name and policy number that covered the liability insurance on the truck. I also had to have it signed by the carrier too. I didnt think they would even be in business anymore when I tried to make contact with them. I thought I would be screwed trying to get information from them. Luckily, the lady who ran the office kept a very detailed driver file and company records and she was able to give me the information that I needed as well a sign the form. Whew, what a break.

Well, then comes the fines and getting the suspension cleared from the State of Oregon. I had to pay $2,000.00 in fines and administration fees to the Harney County Justice Court on Friday and they sent the court clearance to the state of Oregon this morning showing my fine had been paid. Then I called the Oregon DMV to see if I needed to do anything to get them to release the suspension to the State of Texas and she took care of it over the phone. Then, I called my State of Texas Drivers License department in Austin, TX to make sure they had received clearance from Oregon and the person who was helping me took care of everything over the phone. She told me the traffic citation in my personal vehicle had not been cleared by the local municipality and she got them to send over the court clearance showing the fine was paid in 2019.

Now, I can finally renew my CDL after 1:00AM when the website gets updated showing my license it eligible for renewal. Since COVID all of the state of Texas drivers license offices have been dang near by appointment only and alot of them are not accepting walk-ins. I am having to drive from Waxahachie, TX where I live to Livingston, TX which is east of Huntsville for an appointment tomorrow morning. 400+ miles round trip to renew my CDL because all of the drivers license offices in my surrounding area are backed up to the moon.

My main point of typing this long novel is this: remember all of those times you have seen other drivers making post and talking about protecting your CDL? Well, this is an examply of why you have to protect your CDL. You cannot expect anyone to do their job or due dilligence when your drivers license is involved. You have to follow up with the states or courts or municipalites to make sure there is nothing that you need to do to remain in compliance with the other states. You may receive a notice in the mail too so make sure you check your mail becuase I never saw a notice from the State of Oregon saying my license was going to be suspended.

Just in case there are any Texas drivers who want to check your license eligibility here is the website...

Welcome | Official Texas Driver License Eligibility System | Texas.gov

Scroll down and enter the informtation to log in and you will see your eligibility and if there is anything that is keeping you from renewing your license. You can also go to this site and make sure the state of Texas has your medical card on file as it is listed here. Sorry for the novel. Hope you all are having a good day on the roads and be safe and I will finally have my license back tomorrow with a fresh renewal.

Edit: I also forgot to put in my novel that I was cited for failure to maintain liability insurance and then a failure to appear for it as well. I was told that the reason for being cited for failure to maintain liability insurance, even though the state trooper had my insurance info on the accident report and my Level 1 Inspection, is because I nor the carrier filled out the accident reporting form and subsequently sent it to the Crash Unit. You are required to fill it out withing 72hrs or as soon as humanly possible. If you do not fill it out with the proper insurance info your license will be suspended because the Crash Unit cannot verify your insurance.

 

Good evening from Ga...to think east Ga will have 30000 plus more residents in the near future.