After the garage told me this morning that my truck would "probably" be ready on Tuesday I decided that I should go and pick up some groceries to tide me over and save a few bucks. I had noticed there was a bus stop across the highway from my hotel so I got online and checked the bus routes and schedules. That line runs by a Wally World and has a stop there. Now, I must confess here that I have never ridden on a city bus in my life. I have always driven or taken a taxi. Taking a bus was a new...

As I have posted my truck is in a "broke down" state in Florida and I am holed up in a motel. Today the housekeeper came in to clean my room as I was smoking a bowl of Uhle's Bishop's Move. I was somewhat surprised as she said how much she likes the smell of a pipe and commenced to tell me how her grandfather smoked a pipe and how she liked the smell. Bishops Move is pretty heavy on Latakia so I am always surprised when anyone says they like the smell of it. This lady especially surprised...

This morning I spoke with the engine shop that has been working on my truck since last Wednesday. They still have the engine torn down and still have to replace the pistons and cylinder lining as the blown head gasket that started this mess caused the tops of the pistons and the cylinder walls to be burnt and pitted. Wonderful. So basically they are having to rebuild the engine. This is probably a good thing in the long run as the warranty is due to run out in less than 200,000 miles (not ...

I may have mentioned in some previous article that I am rather fond of wearing a tie on most days. While I do often wear what one may think of as a traditional tie, I am also fond of the good old, much maligned, bow tie. While killing some time at the local mall yesterday I wandered into Bloomingdale's to have a look around. I noticed they had many menswear items marked down 40%, making the prices almost reasonable. While looking at some of the sale items I came across a rack of bow...

Just to get out of the motel today I took a cab to the local mall. I had him drop me off at a corner and started walking. As I was standing and waiting for the light to change so I could walk across the street this guy stops his car and asks me "Where is Starbucks"? Hell if I know. The car behind him was honking the horn, as was the car behind that one. I decided to have a little fun and pretended I didn't hear him. I got away with it three times and numerous honks before he figured out I ...

This morning I called the engine shop to get an update on the repairs to my truck. The news was by no means good. This morning they arre pulling the head. He told me they had received some of the needed parts but were still waiting for some of them and the truck would be in the shop at least until the early part of next week. Wonderful. I'll be spending the weekend in this motel room. As I've already been here for two days, that's going to pretty much make a week of down time by the time my t...

After getting my truck out of the shop in WI I headed south with my load. I had a stop at a military base in AL, then a stop at a construction site in Palm Bay, FL, then a final stop in Miami. The stop in AL was a bear as an ice stoem had hit the place and several roadways were shut down includiing two I needed to use, forcing me to find some "intersting" detours to get where I was going. Once I left that stop my truck started giving me problems. I had a crane appointment in Palm Bay I nee...

Pretty much says it all.             Ok, note for the dense, this is humor.   My thanks to my good friend Judy who emailed these to me.  

I hauled a military vehicle out to a demonstration show in Nevada last week. The trip went pretty well on the way out except for the fact that my truck was losing more than two gallons of coolant a day. Another of our drivers was heading the same place as myself and called to meet up with me as he had no idea where the place was. It's a good thing he called me as he would have had a hard time finding it as the city name on the paperwork was wrong, it isn't in fact in any city at all, and gett...

I am still hanging around in WI. Thursday I ran some local loads using one of our spare trucks while mine was in the shop for repairs. While it was brutally cold outside I would have rather done that as to just sit around the shop doing nothing. Yesterday I ran a crash truck chassis and engine from Oshkosh to Appleton where the body and pumps will be installed. It was a whole 21 miles LOL. It took far longer for the loading and unloading than it did the actual driving. During the unloading...

I am now back in Wisconsin after a trip down to Oklahoma and Texas. Although it was raining down there the temperatures were quite pleasant for the most part. Now I am back in the freezer once again. The forecast for last night promised it would be a very cold night and since my generator was out of service, again, I checked into the hotel so as to have a nice warm place to sleep. I spent a couple of hours at the Applebee's next door having dinner a couple of drinks. I chatted for a while ...

Tonight I find myself in Hudson, WI. After delivering my load in Indiana on Monday I spent the night at a truck stop in Seymour. Yesterday I went up to North Central Indiana and picked up a construction site forklift going to Minnesota which I delivered today. Despite my giving them three hours advance notice that I was coming to pick it up by the time I got there they hadn't taken the first step towards getting it ready to load. I sat around for two hours while they worked to get the thing...

I belong to a pipe smokers forum and have gotten to "know" a number of fellow pipe smokers through it. Today I was able to actually meet one of them in person. He runs a liquor store in Kentucky and also sells some pipes and tobaccos. He has been holding a particular Dr. Grabow pipe for me for a few weeks now and I made a point of taking a little detour in order to pick it up from him. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with him, he's a true gentleman. After I had purchased the pipe he was hold...

Am in Owensboro, KY tonight. I plan to stay here over the weekend and have checked into a motel. I plan to visit a fellow pipe smoker who also sells pipes tomorrow or Saturday as his schedule allows. I'll give him a call tomorrow. He has a certain pipe that I want to buy and has been holding for me, and some others I want to look at. I had planned on spending the midnight hour on this New Year's Eve in a local bar here but after spending a couple of hours there I found that they were very loc...

I had lunch today at the Chinese buffet and am now just laying low in the hotel. It's a cold, windy, rainy day out and hardly fit weather for doing much outside. I had thought about going to see Sherlock Holmes at the theater but it doesn't show until 4:30 here. If there had been an early afternoon showing I probably would have gone after lunch. As it is, I just don't feel like going back out in the weather. I'll just remain here in my warm, dry room, drink a few beers, and smoke my pipes....