After finally unloading the fire truck in Charleston Tuesday I ran down to Savannah, GA and picked up two backhoes heading to Richmond, MI. By the time all of the unloading and loading was done, most of the day was pretty well shot. I made it about four hours up the road and called it a day. Today I put the pedal to the metal and ran in ernest for Michigan. I did however make a quick stop in Florence, SC to visit the tobacconist. I picked up that calabash pipe I had looked at on my last v...

I felt like getting out and doing a little something today so I found a couple of tobacconists in the local phone book. Was is located in downtown Charleston and I thought "that'll be fun". I'd go check them out and see what kinds of pipes and tobacco they might have as well as just do a bit of sight seeing. I didn't count on there being some sort of crafts fair going on downtown. The place was crawling with people and vehicles. There was no way in the world I was going to find a parking s...

I just love the Malibu commercials. The whole "if we in the Carribean took life as seriously as you do we would never have invented Malibu" thing is funny as hell. I've seen several of these commercials and they are all hilarious, taking island folk and having them behave like NYC high stress or other "city folks". I just saw the one about "fisherman bootcamp". Funny stuff.

What can I say? I was bored.

I found a site for a company that sells only meershaum pipes. Their prices are excellent and I ordered one from them today. If I like the pipe and the service, I'll definately be ordering from them again. Meers just smoke so nice and, as each one is hand carved, they are all a one of a kind. This is the one I ordered. I can hardly wait to try that first bowl.

This should make our resident "blame Bush for everything" happy. WASHINGTON, DC—Characterizing the move as a "dramatic new change in the way this administration relates to the public," President Bush ordered the immediate deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops to White House media and public-relations posts throughout the country. "My fellow Americans, we are at war. I have mobilized our brave troops to a position where they can advance my policy objectives to the press and the Americ...

Yet another looney judge does it again. District Judge Kristine Cecava, Sidney, Nebraska, gave a convicted child molester probation instead of a prison sentence. Why? Because he's short! The judge stated that she was concerned that Richard W. Thompson, 50, would be especially imperiled by prison dangers because he is only 5' 1" tall and so ordered probabtion instead of the many years of prison time he richly deserves. I wonder how tall his victims were?

I filled my churchwarden (long pipe) with a house blend I picked up in Florence, KY and took a walk from my motel room. I found a nice bench in front of a fountain and sat there enjoying my smoke, watching the fountain, and basically just experiencing the peace and quiet for a bit. There were some nice flowers planted all around, the sounds of birds, people milling around, and the smells of all of these blending with my pipe tobacco to create a perfume unique to that time and place never t...

Just a couple of pics of my pipe collection so far to date. Not fancy or anything, but some pretty good smokers.

Pffft..... I had hoped to spend this holiday weekend running and making a bit of money. Unfortunately the Air Force Base here is on stand down today so everyone is gone. No way to deliver the fire truck. I can't do anything but hang out in the motel until Tuesday. Luckily, the load I was to pick up today in Savannah, GA will still be there Tuesday. They weren't very happy about it, but what can they do at this point? My dispatcher made of point of not calling them until the very last mi...

The ACLU, who have always claimed to stand primarily for freedom of speech, have finally proven themselves for the hypocrits that they are. I first heard this story on XM Satellite radio. As reported in the New York Times, the ACLU is considering a new policy in which its board members would be prohibited from publicly criticizing ACLU policies and internal administration. "You sure that didn't come out of Dick Cheney.s office?" former ACLU board member Nat Hentoff asked. "For the na...

I'm sitting here at a truck garage in the boonies of TN waiting for them to repair my truck. I got up nice and early this morning, had my coffee and did all the morning stuff so that I could get rolling right after the sun came up. Pulling an oversized load you have to make the best of the daylight. After about two hours of riding I noticed my voltmeter was only reading 12.3 volts instead of the normal 13.6 that indicates a healthy charging system. Ut oh. I quickly killed all the light...

Yesterday I found a small tobacconist shop in Florence, KY. I had stopped at the mall there as many malls have a tobbaconist in them. Just my luck, this one didn't. I asked several people if they knew where one was, explaining what a tobacconist is to a few of them, but no luck as they all said they didn't know. I guess there must be either a lot of non-smokers there or some pretty lost folks as it turns out the tobacconist shop was right across the street. It even had the word "Tobbaconis...

This is the load I am currently running down to Charleston AFB, SC

I'm back in WI. I picked up a fire rescue truck today that I'll be running down to Charleston AFB in SC and will be leaving out tomorrow morning once the permits arrive (it's over sized). I've been feeling badly since Friday, not sure if I ate some bad food or have a stomach flu, but have definately been under the weather, so I got myself a room for tonight to get some rest. After checking in to my room I wandered over to Applebys to try and eat a little bit and drink a couple of beers in ...