I am hanging out in Carlisle, PA this weekend waiting to pick up at the Army depot in Chambersburg, PA Monday morning. I bobtailed down to Boswell's pipe shop in Chambersburg this morning. Boswell is a world famous maker of hand carved pipes and I have wanted to visit there for a long time. I was impressed with how friendly the staff was and wound up spending a good deal of time there looking over their pipes and tasting their tobacco blends. I wound up buying two pipes and getting two ...
On Friday I picked up a military truck at a trade show in Ft Lauderdale, FL. It is going to Ft Benning, GA. Unfortunately, I can't actually deliver it until Tuesday morning. I took my time driving up here, stopping in Bradenton, FL for the night where I took a cab over to a sports pub that has the Buzztime Trivia game. Normally you use a Playmaker to play the game, but I installed a Playmaker app on my iPad that allows me to log in and play right from my iPad instead of using their machine. ...
Ok, I haven't been posting as often as I used to post. I have received a (very) few messages requesting posts. Part of the reason I haven't been posting is just work stuff, but to be honest the biggest part has just been blog ennui. Basically, I have just been bored with the whole thing. Between the time it takes to write an article, the effort it takes to track what should be noted, and the obvious lack of reader interest indicated by the number of comments, I just haven't felt compelled to ...
I'll start this off by posting a current image of myself. Yes, I am a tad disheveled. I didn't bother running a comb through my hair or beard before taking the picture. Now, on to the story. This evening I visited a little pub in Gary, Indiana. I had some dinner and a few beers. During my visit I was talking with a youngish blonde woman. At one point she said that she liked my beard. Feeling a bit facetious, I stroked my beard and said "Thanks, I forgot to shave this morning". S...
Tonight finds me in a hotel in Florida. I pulled in rather early but still only an hour away from my planned Monday morning delivery. I wanted to stop early enough to get a good viewing seat for the Super Bowl game. After checking in to the hotel I made my way a half mile up the street to a steak house that had an enclosed bar separate from the restaurant, so that I could smoke while watching the game. Before the game started a fellow came in from the sports bar next door with a ...
Tonight finds me in Stony Ridge, Ohio. I checked into the hotel and went to the lounge for some dinner and a few adult beverages. I like this place as they are actively engaging in civil disobedience and one can smoke in the bar despite the fascist law. I support any business that engages in rebellion against the nanny laws. One guy sitting next to me, a fellow trucker, asked me, politely, to put out my pipe while he was eating his dinner as the smoke was drifting in his direction...
This afternoon finds me in a hotel in Hagerstown, Maryland. I am on my way to Baltimore to deliver a fire truck and a generator. The fire truck is a wide load, and, thanks to a toll booth worker who doesn't understand the rules, I was unable to make it to Baltimore before the afternoon rush hour curfew on wide loads went into effect. I'll be delivering tomorrow morning. The toll booth worker stopped me as I was exiting the PA turnpike. Instead of taking my toll money she began bera...
I seem to have come down with a head and chest cold. Last night, after checking into a motel in Ogden, UT, I visited the saloon next door for a couple of cold ones and to watch football. I felt ok when I got there, but as the night went on I started to cough a bit and to feel a bit under the weather. By the time I left and returned to my room I was feeling a bit crappy and was coughing quite a bit. I wound up spending most of the night coughing instead of sleeping. This morning my head was...
If there is anything that gets under my skin it is elitism/snobbishness. This can be found in just about any area, including pipe smoking. Tonight, as I was relaxing in my truck parked just outside of Des Moines, IA I read a comment from a fellow pipe smoker that was most certainly snobbish and elitist, not to mention just plain insulting. The gist of the comment was that anyone who likes less expensive tobacco blends, also known as over the counter (OTC) or drugstore blends, does so because ...
Tonight finds me in Clearwater, MN. It has been an interesting and difficult couple of days of driving. Ice, snow, and roads closed down due to weather. Many bowls have been smoked while plugging along, sometimes at 15mph while trying to not run over the "four wheelers" who seem intent on getting themselves run over. Today I passed many four wheelers in the ditches and in the median. Oddly enough, but not surprisingly, every single one of them were four wheel drive vehicles. Those fol...
I picked up my load in Richland, WA this morning and set out hoping to make it to deliver in Minnesota Friday afternoon. My hopes were quickly dashed by the time I reached the Idaho panhandle. It was snowing like mad and the forecast indicates it will do so until late tonight. No way I was going to try and get across 4th of July Pass or Lookout Pass in these conditions. Guess I'll be delivering on Monday. I shot these photos about an hour ago and at least another inch and a half has ...
I am in Portland, OR tonight and it is raining. I have been in snow for a few weeks now. I am really not sure which is worse. Ok, I am just bitching about the weather. What's wrong with a nice sunny day? I am at the Jubitz truck stop, one of the world's premier truck stops. Everything one could ask, hotel, fine dining (more or less), bar, movie theater, etc. A grand place all around. I spent a couple of hours in the bar drinking beer before bringing some BBQ chicken wings back to my truck....
Tuesday I picked up some machinery out in New Hampshire to haul to a town just north of Minneapolis, MN. It was a wide load and I had to wait for the needed permits before I could leave. As it turned out, the NH and MA permits didn't arrive until just about sunset so I had to wait until Wednesday morning to depart. I spent the evening sitting at a small truck stop. It had a restaurant so it wasn't too bad. I noticed a sign on the door of the restaurant that indicated that Sunday would be thei...
Tonight finds me just South of Nashville, TN. After spending way too much time held up in a road construction related traffic jam. I checked into a motel after I got out of Nashville. I have stayed here before and know the owner, a fellow with the last name of Patel (Indian for Smith LOL). He is a nice fellow and remembered me from my previous stays here. It's a clean and comfortable place and has a Hooters night next door. I accidentally wandered over to Hooters for dinner and a few brews...
When I got to the office today there was a postal box waiting for me. A member of a pipe forum to which I belong had sent me a couple of Peterson pipes out of a lot he had purchased on eBay. They are both great looking pipes and I look forward to smoking them. They will make fine additions to my modest collection of Peterson pipes (made in Dublin, Ireland). Peterson is my favorite brand of pipe and I own more of them than any other brand. They are invariably good smokers.