Geez, what a curse! This was said to me after a slight altercation at a convenience store tonight involving myself and a guy who was trying to pick my pocket for the measly few bucks I had in my wallet. I caught the guy dead to rights and could have pounded him into oblivion but instead just grabbed his wrist and told him I didn't think there was anything in my back pocket that belonged to him. That's when he uttered his curse. As he ran out the door. I am pretty sure that my spirit ( sou...

Washing the dishes. It's a pretty mundane task. I can't say I especially enjoy it, but after being out on the road for a few weeks eating in truckstops or heating canned soups in tin pans, somehow just the simple chore of washing the dishes makes me feel at home. I have always enjoyed cooking for myself, but have never liked doing the dishes. When I am home, like now, I refuse to eat out. I go shopping for meal ingredients and cook my meals at home. Somehow even the laborious chore of wash...

I just got back from the grocery where I picked up a few things for dinner and a few brews. The cashier noticed the cycling helmet I was wearing. Kind of hard not to as it's bright red. She asked if I ride my bike everywhere I go and I replied that yes, when I'm home from the road I ride it everywhere as I choose to not own a car. She looked pleased and related how she also lives car-free and cycles everywhere. We chatted about our bikes and riding for a couple of minutes but had to cut ...

This was inspired by a thread I read on a forum which has a large number of PC folks who attacked a member for making a humorous comment they decided was somehow racist even though it was a comment in the context of the conversation and was, in my opinion, in no way racist. What follows is a portion of my comment on that thread: The PC crowd today seem to be entrenched in a mirror image of Mccarthyism. They seem to see evil offenders everywhere and are so focused on their campaign and take...

Last night I received a call informing me of two deaths. The first, one of my cousins died Monday of the same type of cancer which killed his father just a few years ago. He was in his mid 30s. The second is even more tragic. My younger brother, who lives in Ohio, has been renting a place to a 20 year old single mother. One of her two children an infant. It seems that she had the baby in bed with her, feeding it. The baby fell asleep and then she dozed off as well. When she awoke the ba...

I recently decided to let my beard grow. This is partly due to the fact that I hate shaving, and I especially hate shaving in the public restroom of a trucktop. It's also partly due to the fact that I have come to think that shaving is a silly modern day affectation and show of vanity. The beard is natural, and scraping it off with a piece of sharp metal is unnatural and a bit silly. It's been growing about a month now, and is coming along ok. It's past that initial itchy stage and I have ...

I first heard about this on XM radio this week. Mitsubishi Motors recently sponsored a poll on the Web site www.TheCarConnection.com and more than 2,500 voters cast their ballots during a week of voting that ended this month. The poll asked people to send in weird, unusual, and funny road names/intersections. Winners were announced Friday. The complete top 10 list: 10. Tater Peeler Road in Lebanon, Texas 9. The intersection of Count and Basie in Richmond, Va. 8....

I like having my morning coffee. I always start my day with a few cups before I get going. When on the road I never know how the coffee is going to be that morning. Sometimes a place has pretty good coffee, more often it's less than ideal. It's always a bit like opening a birthday gift every mornng. Will it be something that I really like? Or will it be a let down? The major truckstop chains are pretty easy. You learn which ones have good coffee and which ones serve throat strangling, stomach...

I was really looking forward to going for a ride on my bicycle after almost a month on the road. When I got home I jumped on my bike and headed for the store for a twelve pack. I was less than a block from the store when some moron in a car came barrelling around a corner and slammed right in to me. I wasn't hurt too badly, just a scraped elbow. The bike is ok. But I was pretty pissed. The asshole didn't even stop. I know what his car looks like, and even got a glimpse of him If I run a...

I see and hear some interesting tings when I'm on the road. People, places, and sights that just sometimes defy description. I see wrecks, natural disasters, crimes, personal conflicts, and just plain silly stuff on a regular basis. One common sight for me in truckstops is the guy who's wearing a cowboy hat and tennis shoes. Ummm, sorry, those two just do not go together. I get a good laugh every time I see this. I laugh at them and the guys wearing driving gloves. Obvious rookies. Run...

I am on my way to Florida from Wisconsin. I am currently just North of Indianapolis and as I pulled into the truckstop the Comfort Inn across the street looked very appealing. I decided to get a room for the night and get some civilized rest. While I normally don't mind sleeping the the truck, it has a very roomy and comfortable sleeper, sometimes I just want to get out of the truck for a little while. I could have just waited until I got home on Tuesday afternoon, but the idea of a comfortab...

Ok, today kept in theme with the week so far as things didn't go exactly as planned. I got up early, hit the lumber yard for the boards I needed for the load I was to pick up. Then I went to the welding shop where I bought some over priced pipe stakes, and proceeded to the place where I was to pick up the steel pipe headed for Utah. When I got there I spent about 30 minutes getting checked in and directed to the yard where I was to load this pipe. The guy there took one look at my paperwor...

After getting stuck in the mud at a delivery in Ennis, TX yesterday and paying a wrecker $200 to pull me out, I was hoping today would go better. No such luck. The day started out with my arriving at the airport fire station in Austin, right on time, to deliver their supplies. It took over an hour for them to get a forklift there to start the unloading. This caused me to be running late for Houston. I decided to try a short cut to Houston, only to find it under construction. No help there....

After spending last night at the bar celebrating St. Paddy's day with a number of other drivers and office people from work, and sleeping it off, I am now headed for Texas. This load is a real hodgepodge. There is a generator on a trailer, a large air compressor, a "wet cutter" which is some kind of machine for cutting concrete, a large industrial saw for a factory, and a whole bunch of military fire fighting/supression stuff including a large tank of halon, a couple of skids of Purple K, ...

Another beautiful day for driving. A tad chilly but not bad at all. Clear sunny skies and no wind. After several days of driving in very heavy cross winds it's a nice change of pace. I'll be in WIsconisn this evening and unload the truck first thing tomorrow morning. And then, who knows? I'm hoping for a nice Texas run, but will have to wait and see. The trucck I am hauling just returned from overseas and is going back to the factory for refurbishment. I don't think it came from the Mid...