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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Whack Whack Whack

Today's Thoughts 12/26/11 Whack Whack Whack
Here we go again, whack, whack, whack on the heads of those killers truck drivers once again. Good grief when will these folks give up. Again with this sleep apnea crap. Last week it was cell phones. Then the week before that, we had the TSA in Tennessee looking for it to go nationwide and the week before that another something else someplace else. Nationwide Brake Checks, inspections, background checks, Dot Physicals, on and on and on. AARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH….

When will it freaking end. Look here folks, in the thirty odd years I have sat behind the wheel of a truck I have not killed anyone. I've had millions worth of freight on my wagon and not stolen a dime. I've carried radioactive and destroyed not one city. I've been in five wrecks and not caused a one of them. When the hell are they finally going to get around to understanding that the only thing causing stress on my life and taking my mind off of that highway is their continued insistence about interfering in my life? That if they do not add just one more thing to my life to make sure I'm not a killer truck driver after thirty years of not killing any one is them, the government and special interest groups out to make a buck off politically correct thinking. And now once again, the big wigs that own sleep apnea crap are whack whack whacking on the governments door trying to get them to force truck drivers to buy their crap so that you the general public can feel safe from killer truck drivers that are only a small percentage of the cause of wrecks out on that highway. When are they finally going to get around to telling the voters that they actually need to pay attention when driving around trucks?

Why am I so pissed? Because I just signed a three year note to get my truck fixed thinking that it would be quite some time before they came back with this again, and after just one run, whack, there it is again. I got news for you, before I let the government force me into buying into this politically correct BS I'll walk away from the industry. No matter how many hoops we jump through they will just come up with more and more until they get their final wish. Those wishes being the American trucker not causing one death out on that highway. Of course that means that Americans will no longer be out on that road. They will bring in drivers from other countries to do the job because as they will claim, no American will do it. Of course we will not do it. After they make it impossible for us to do it ourselves, after they have striped us of every right we have as American citizens. Already several of the programs set up for foreign drives release them from having to meet American standards or following our laws. They are cutting our throats one vocal cord at a time.

Here's a clue folks, it's not just us, the trucking industry that is. It is this whole country that is being attacked and destroyed from within. Why do you think our American industry refuses to build jobs in this country? To fix our industry's problem we must stand up for all American jobs. So in the process of kicking this sleep apnea crap in the butt again, we need to stand up for all industry. We must look beyond ourselves and save our country. We must get our representatives up on the hill to stand up for us. We must demand that we be represented as we pay taxes and deserve to be represented.

There is just one more thing that I want to know from my representatives that are supposed to be looking out for me. If I spend all my time, at least once a week up there in some committee meeting on capitol hill, and I have to log this as time worked but not driving because it is in fact time I'm spending on my job, how the heck an I supposed to deliver the fright that keeps America fed? At the speed they are coming out with whack after whack after whack, I could never make my first delivery. When the American people have to stop producing and spend all their time on Capitol Hill ensuring that some fruit cake politician is not cutting their legs out from under them, then that folks in my opinion is nothing less than Tyranny. Yup, I used the "T" word.

No more. Period this crap has to stop. Not just this newest attempt from the medical profession to suck dollars out of the trucking industry. But the continuous whack whack wahck on hard working Americans that have shown especially over the last ten years that we have taking the lead from this tyrannical government and made the highways safer on our own. Just once I would like to see someone up there announce to the world just how much the truckers of America have sacrificed and made the highways safer. Just once I wish someone would put a dollar amount on what it has coast us in jobs, freight, family and time telling not only big companies but big government "hell no" when it was not safe or legal to put that load through. They sure as heck have no problem telling the world when some driver that they let in that had no business behind the wheel of a big truck screws up. But they never just quite get around to telling everything that we as an industry have accomplished.

Well folks, clue number two for today. What the heck are we waiting for? Surely not the folks that are using us as stepping stones to advance their career or line their bank accounts. If we want this done, If we want stand up and protect our jobs and our freedom out on that highway, if we want to continue to take the lead on safe and legal truck driving instead of being forced to comply with regulations that will force us off the road, then it is time to stand up and tell those morons where to stick it. (Boy is I in a mood tonight)

Ok, enough from me. If you want this, go fight for it. Best I can do is keep on doing my part. To make a difference you and you and yes, even you are going to have to look deep down in yourselves and decide to get it done. It's going to cost you something. Time for sure, maybe lost wages. I know myself what the cost has been for me over the years. Friends lost I think has been the hardest on me. But think back to those that first fought for our freedom. Our forefathers lost land, life and liberty. Our freedom has never been free and will always have a cost. The time is now to start this countries turn around. What part will you play in that?
Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Now Wait A Minute

Today's Thoughts 12/24/11 Now Wait A minute

Yippee, I home for Christmas. What does that mean? It means that I have time to look back over all my leads and find the things that I missed over the last couple of weeks out there on the road. A chance at a decent internet connection so I can view some of the videos that I've been wanting to watch. And that folks gives me the chances to become very confused at just what in the frick they want us to do this time. After Ray La Hood and the NTSB spend the last year telling the world just how dangerous an eighteen wheeler is with a cell phone in it, The TSA and Homeland Security come out and start harassing big trucks and tell them to start calling in on the general public with their cell phones, again.

If you have not heard yet, Tennessee has partnered with the TSA and was stopping trucks at the weigh stations and without probable cause or retaining search warrants, then going through trucks looking for any signs of terrorist's activity. Is there no end to government stupidity?

First off, I don't care what the government thinks or better yet what either end of the government thinks, truck drivers since the beginning of time have been reporting drunk drivers and fires and anything else that the law needs to know about out there on that highway. Cells phones have made that just a little bit easier and a whole lot quicker. So why are they now handing out literature to truck drivers explaining to us how to be good little tattle tales in our travels on our neighbors using our phones? We have never had a problem partnering with the proper authorities in helping keep our highways safe. What we do have is a problem getting the proper authorities' to understand that we need our cell phones in our possession at all times so that we can do this.

But beyond that fact they are searching our trucks for terrorist activities and inspecting our loads trying to find that next little piece of terrorist activity. Well let me clue them in a little about this. They are the ones; the government that is that gave that terrorist a license to drive a big truck. As the trucking industry begs the government for better standards as to who can be allowed to sit behind the wheel of a big truck, that government continues to allow just any warm body behind the wheel. In fact the more grants that they can hand out to train people the closer they get to looking at the grave registration rolls trying to find more candidates. Job creation and all that you know.

But now let's just suppose that I'm a big bad terrorist with a load of terroristic thingys in the back of my wagon headed to blow something up. I would have to be a complete idiot to go rolling through a scale house knowing that they are inspecting trucks. Especially with the CB radios and cell phones lit up with all the details of the TSA being involved in the searches. I just simply wait them out and go through the next day. Put them in there permanent and I just transfer the load to multiple pickup trucks and I just wave at them on the way by. Of course with all the millions of other highways, I'm guessing choosing a route without a scale house might be a thing to do. You could harass eighteen wheelers till the end of time and the terrorist with all the time and money in the world will just use that as a way to keep them busy as they work around the problem.

So here's the deal big government, take away my cell phone and you will hear about the bad things going on out there on that highway the next time I get a chance to pull over and send up smoke signals. You keep unnecessarily detaining me for politically correct BS and the "keep your job" tactics telling the public how safe you are keeping them and I'm going to do what it takes to make up that lost time out on that highway so that I can keep my job. Because if I don't after you have wasted my time, the real world will just find some renegade truck driver that will.
Once again the solution that the government comes up with to fix the problem only creates more dangerous trucks out on the highway. Why they think they can first shackle us with time restraints and then detain us for an unlimited amount of time to look good in the news is beyond me. I keep hearing the claim that a truck was used in the Oklahoma City bombing. If I recall that was a rental truck and in case you don't know, in most states rental trucks are not required to go through the scale house where they are setting up the TSA inspections. In short folks they have created something that does not exist and then spent millions of our tax dollars protecting us from it.

Will a terrorist eventually get around to using an eighteen wheeler to do something? You can bet your last dollar that they will if they are already not doing so. But can you imagine the cost involved to check each and every truck each and every day on each and every highway? Can you imagine how many detained drivers will then have to do what it takes to get that load through after the searches? We already have enough of that problem with shippers and receivers and now the government wants to jump in and detain us even more. I thought the object here was to save lives on the highway, not put drivers in the position that they have to run like heck and cause more deaths. And of course I wish they would make up their minds, is the use of a cell phone a good thing or not? The TSA end of the government seems to thinks so while FMCSA and NTSB seem to think not. Or is it we can if they say so but if we think it's a good idea it's not.

Have Merry Christmas Folks and a Happy New Years too. Let us all pray for common sense to overcome our government real soon.
Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Flushing The Subject

Today's Thoughts 12/21/11 Flushing The Subject
I did a good thing today. A good deed you might say. At least I think so. A simple request was made from one of our friends in the traveling public that just happened to be driving a four wheeler or a car as most people would call them. It was not a hard thing to do and a service that I was most happy to provide for this young man as he seemed most animated that the individuals in the trucking industry as he seen the word should be doing anyway. Just a simple thing you see, taking one's finger and applying it to a lever and thus giving that lever a quick downward push. Let me explain so you can see just how willing truckers are to meet the wishes of those that know just what a trucker really is.

For the first time in what seems like five years, I've actually booked a load that will put me at the house on Christmas Day. So instead of once again being stuck at some truck stop waiting to deliver the goods that keep America alive, I get to wake up next to my wife of twenty eight years and actually see my kid on a holiday for a change. Of course as normal the load only works if I hump, hump and hump to get it there. Legally of course as you know I insist on but three days at seven hundred miles a piece have to be accomplished. Not so much a problem for a old timer like me, but you push your limits and squeeze a little longer then you should and you make those miles.

Well, along about the time I figured I squeezed as long as I was about to squeeze, I swing into a rest area for a what I call a fourteen point two second pit stop. Hard to make miles sitting around looking at the grass growing under your truck so I jump out and follow two young men that get out of a pickup truck into the restroom. As it works out, the first young man through the door walks up to the only urinal in the place while the second finds the first stall and enters into it to do his business. I'm left with the far right stall that just happens to be the handicap stall. I love telling bathroom stories as you can see.

Anyway, the second young man in the stall besides me and knowing that I just got out of my big rig and that I'm a truck driver; is already complaining that truck drivers are filthy pigs. Those nasty truckers should learn how to flush a toilet and clean up after themselves. I listen to all of this (leaving out his use of profanity) as I grab a wad of toilet paper to use as I lift the seat so that I can do my business without leaving a mess for the next guy. I find it very interesting the fact that as he is complaining about this public restroom that he is leaving out the fact that it is open to everyone. I'm thinking he must believe that not a single driver of a car has ever ventured in here without leaving behind anything but the fresh fragrance of a rose garden.

So as he is pronouncing for about the third time that truckers really need to flush a toilet after they have used it and I'm just finishing up and noticing the floor drain that just happens to be between his feet which are now facing the door. I'm also looking at the fact that I've left out so far here; the toilet in front of me just happens to be stopped up and full to the brim with clear water except for what I just added to it. What a big smile that just happens to appeared on my face.

Ok, I did it. I grab another hunk of TP as you never want to touch anything in a public restroom that you don't have to and I did as my friend next door was asking me to do. I a truck driver for the first time in history flushed a toilet. Then I turned trying my best not to break out in laughter and waved at the first guy that just finished up as I headed for the door. I wondered what he was thinking about me being so happy waving at him but oh well.

About the time I opened the door for a quick exit, my friend sitting in the stall receives his wish and pronounces extremely loud, "G…… D….." and I'm out of there. I'm not very proud that as a Christian I made someone use the Lord's name in vein. But I am extremely tickled pink that I was once again able to improve the image of the trucking industry by helping a member of the general public receive his wish. I guess the moral of the story tonight is you need to watch what you ask for, you might just get it.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Shackles

Today's Thoughts 12/17/11 Shackles

BINGO….. They have done it again. Truckers once again explain exactly what is needed to help keep us safe on the highways, and the government shackles us with new regulations that work against what we ask for. What am I talking about, the new cell phone regulations for drivers of commercial motor vehicles or CMV for short. Let me bring you up to date just so that we are on the same page about this. A couple of bad actors get themselves into wrecks due to the fact that they were using their cell phones for texting and other unsafe practices and the FMCSA decides that every truck driver must be punished so that no truck driver will ever be involved in a wreck again. So they decide that all cell phone use in a CMV should be banned…….

The problem with that is the study that they had done on cell phone use in a big truck showed that just the drivers that where using their cell phone in a unsafe manner were found to be involved in more wrecks. Drivers that used their cell phone in a safe manner were found to actually be more alert and involved in less wrecks. None the less, big government moved to remove all cell phone from trucks. Unfortunately for them and luckily for all highway users Safe Truck Drivers Of America stepped in and raised holy heck explaining to the world how unsafe our government was acting. They were putting being politically correct over what was saving lives on the highway…..

What we ended up with is a set of rules that basically takes a safety tool that safety conscience drivers use and shackles them by the way that they have to use that tool. One button is all that can be pushed to either make or accept a call. This my friend is all good and well but only if you can explain to me how it stops the renegade driver from pushing as many buttons as they were before the new regulation. They have already shackled us with a mandatory fourteen hour rule and new proposed rules are about to shackle us with mandatory breaks even if we are not tired. Electronic On Board Recorders (EOBR) was just thrown out by the courts and already they are up there trying to figure out how to shackle us with them again going around what the court's decision was.

I've said it many times before and I'll say it again. Truck drivers have taking the lead in highway safety over our government. We have asked them many times to partner with us on safety issues but they simply refuse to even acknowledge that safe truck drivers even exist. Instead they pull whatever out of the hat that sounds the most politically correct but hard to defend and they tell the general public that they are trying to save them from those rascally killer truck drivers once again. They picked one storey about one truck driver that was involved in a fatality wreck while he was texting and from that they decided that every truck driver out there needed to be shackled so that this never happens again. The thing is like I mentioned earlier, the renegades will just continue to text and the safe drive just lost a safety tool.

Texting while driving to my knowledge is illegal in any state in any vehicle. So is distracted driving as well. So what was accomplished by this latest shacklement on safety minded truck drivers. A tool used to keep their mind awake and alert made into an object that could shut them down. Large fines and temporary loss of their drivers license has been attached so now instead of doing the right thing, the driver may choose to just continue on while half asleep behind the wheel. Stopping is out of the question due to the fact of time restrictions placed on the driver and the plain real world fact that if that driver will not put that load through on time, another driver will be found that will leaving they safety minded driver starved out of the industry once again.

And speaking of once again, truck drivers are once again put in the very precarious position of deciding between running safe as opposed to running legal. Do they chance picking up that phone and engaging in a conversation that will keep them alert and awake as the studies show a phone conversation will do; or do they decide to play it safe from the law and drive drowsy down the highway putting everyone's life at stake. For me that answer is an easy one. I would rather do what is safe and be labeled a killer truck driver then to allow an over regulated and over bearing government to put me in a position that might kill an innocent family. Political correctness is not only killing our country but our families as well.

Just to let you know, for those of you that have not thought this through. That one button push thingy that they have pronounced upon us, well forget that. Every truck driver out there is now figuring out just how many buttons need to be pushed and where they are so they can clear their call list after each and every call so that the law cannot prove on the side of the road how that call was made. Whatever procedures might be necessary to obtain records from the cell phone company will have to be gone through before much can be done. Simply holding the phone down below the dash conceals from view anything a driver might be doing with the phone from the law and takes the drivers attention off the road. But as many of you all ready know, truck drivers have explained this fact to the government already, it's nothing new.

When will they start figuring out that humans are a very crafty bunch? No matter how many regulations they shackle us with, no matter how many millions of our tax payer's dollars they spend trying to enforce those shackles, about ten bucks and ten minutes is all it takes to work around those shackles. Until the government stops letting just any warm body behind the wheel, they will always be letting unsafe drivers out there. The answer to safe cell phone use is not more shackles but better truck drivers with better training and throw in some morals and ethics and decent pay so that we can deliver our loads safely without starving our families. But you see folks; these things are beyond the comprehension of the powers that be. Until such a time as they decide to start looking at the true cause of killer truck drivers behind the wheel of trucks instead of just the politically correct reasons for them being there, the best we can expect from out government is more just politically correct shackles.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Friday, December 16, 2011

That's Your Problem

Today's Thoughts 12/16/11 That's Your Problem
CARB. For those of you that might be unfamiliar with the term, California Air Resource Board. This upcoming year is the year from my understanding that those of us with older trucks must register with the state if we are to continue running out here with the deadline being January 31st, 2012 as I understand it. This of course only gives us a couple of more years to run in this state before we have to either throw our trucks away and buy new equipment or pay thousands of dollars to upgrade them to standards that CARB in its infinite wisdom says it's ok for us to run. Next year of course is the year that older trailers have to be upgraded before we can run them out here. Easily for me I'm looking at over ten thousand dollars out of my pocket to do these upgrades unless of course I decide to buy new equipment and that could run me as high as one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for both truck and trailer. CARB's reaction to that little problem of course is the same as most new regulations place upon the common citizen "That's Your Problem"

Well let's take a look at the last time I spent a bunch of money to comply with CARB so I could run in the state of California. APU or Auxiliary Power Unit. California decided that no longer would drivers be allowed to idle their trucks while in the state so drivers were forced to take their mandatory ten hour rest break with no heat or air unless they purchased an APU for around eight thousand dollars a pop. Of course you were not required to do so but that meant that you would have to sleep out in the middle of the desert or in the dead of winter up in the mountains without any heat or air. Better they thought that you did not produce a bit of smog then you actually got some decent rest before you drove your eighty thousand pound truck around and run over someone due to lack of proper rest.

So I run out like a good little trucker and kick out over eight grand for an APU. Of course the technology was still new back then and I wind up with a lemon. Eight thousand more dollars not counting for time lost for installation and continuing trips to the shop to get the things repaired and I have well over twenty thousand dollars invested so that I am legal to run in the state of California. What a well respected good little trucker I am for doing so and trust me, for every dollar I saved not idling my truck I've spent two keeping the APU's up and running. And to reward me for spending all that cash, as I sit here tonight in a California truck stop with all of the trucks that did not invest in APU's sitting here idling and California is not doing a thing about it. In other words I threw away over twenty grand of my hard earned cash to do the right thing and my competition is out their keeping the freight rates low because they can run the freight cheaper then I can skirting the law. Yes I know, this is my problem.

So I'm sitting here thinking, "Do I go ahead and register then plan on once again kicking out thousands of dollars to keep compliant in this state?" And the only response I can think of is "Why should I". If CARB does as they did with the APU's, I'm just tossing money out the window to comply where most people will just ignore and the state of California will do nothing about it. Face it, California is about broke and they have absolutely no cash to pay for enforcement of just about anything. The governor was in the news just the other day saying he was going for over two billion (that’s with a "B") in cuts. And the way I see it, these folks out here are not going to like that not one bit, not at all. I'm guessing that they will remove CARB before they remove entitlements to illegal immigrants with their left coast thinking. It's going to fun for me to watch California in its infinite wisdom try to stay as socialist as they are without going broke or getting a handout form the rest of us. And trust me, if my representatives vote to hand this state even a penny, it will be the last time they get my vote.

Hence you can see my dilemma tonight, to register or to not register. And the longer I sit here and listen to all these idling trucks around me, the more I'm leaning towards not registering. I'm already down twenty thousand dollars that I would love to of had for other things in life. As I see it, we have them over a barrel and if we do not allow them to bend us over it, they will have to push these new regulations down the line or drop them completely. It's time that We The People stand up for ourselves and let a over bearing government know that we will not bend over that barrel any more. Let the state a California figure out how to feed its population without our trucks. Let them figure out how to keep even more companies from moving to Texas because the freight rates or to high due to lack of trucks being legal to run in their state. And when they up and complain that no one will run out here, we simply tell them, "That’s Your Problem".

See Ya' California. May the good lord bring to you politicians with common sense real soon.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Russell Built

Today's Thoughts 12/10/11 Russell Built

It's finally done and she's purring as pretty as a kitten. As many of you already know I've been shut down since before Thanksgiving because after one point four million miles on my engine, she went to loosing water to fast for comfort. It was time to take her over to Russell and get her rebuilt. I know that three weeks seems like a long time on a rebuild. But if you think about it, the first week was spent on the Holiday and Holidays are family time and I would have been home that week anyway.

So only the last two weeks have been spent in the shop getting the work done. That shop and the work they done is what I want to talk about today. It's so hard out on the road to find a shop that is as interested in you getting a job done well as they are in you being able to take your truck when they are done and be able to go make a living with it. Finding a shop and a mechanic where they actually take pride in the work that they put out. Not only in how well will the repair perform for you, but how it looks under your hood when it is done. Adding the personal touch you might say.

Right up front I want to tell you that I was not asked to write this article. Nor was I paid or asked to take any of the pictures that are now on my FaceBook profile. This was my own idea, and the reason I came up with it is what you read in the first paragraph above. As an Owner Operator it is very important to me to know about a shop with these values and expertise and I thought I would share my little secrete with the rest of my friends so they could maybe stop by and check out for themselves this little jewel of a find. So let's fill in some of the blanks so you know who's who.

Bobby Allen, aka Blinky is the shop manager. Blinky drove trucks himself for many years so he knows by personal experience just how hard it is for drivers to get decent work done out on that highway. I spent a little time talking with him and watching him interact with different customers and I have to tell you, I think it would be hard to find a person that conducts business more honestly then Blinky does. "You have to be honest with your customers and explain to them exactly what needs to be done and why" Blinky told me. "So spending a little time talking with them is something that I always do"

That’s Blinky in a nutshell. As you talk to him and explain your problem, He will from years of experience explain back to you the most probable cause and exactly what it is that will fix your problem. You will walk away from that conversation or at least I did, more educated about just how it is your truck runs and what it needs to run properly. I think the thing that impressed me most about Blinky and his shop is the fact that when other major shops in the area cannot fix a truck or their mechanics mess up the repair, they tow the truck down to Blinky to get the job done right. Last week a major trucking company towed in a truck that their mechanics replaced the kingpins on the steering axel so well that the wheels would not even turn. After a lot of effort was made to tear down what they had done, Blinky called in the shop manager from the trucking company and went over piece by piece what his mechanics had done wrong. Then Brian and Slim did the repairs as they should have been done in a couple of hours and returned the truck to the company.

Russell is the mechanic that rebuilt my engine. The pride he takes in a job well done is something that I believe is hard to find in this world anymore. Russell learned his craft, and I call it a craft because as you watch Russell work and see the pride he takes in every step, it can be called nothing less; but he learned his craft the old fashioned way. Not by going to school and sitting behind a desk but by growing up in the trucking industry and from a very young age working besides mechanics on actual trucks as they worked in the real world. It's this years of real world experience that has giving Russell his unique ability to pin point with great accuracy exactly what needs to be repaired and the knowledge and skills to do the repairs.

"I've built so many truck engines that you could bring me any engine in a box and I could take those pieces out of that box and build that engine where it sits." Russell told me one day. "A customer needed his truck back one time. I had it torn completely down, nothing but a block sitting in the frame. John and I completely rebuilt that engine over night and had it ready to roll first thing the next day." Russell told me and to my knowledge, that engine is still running today.

But that’s not the way Russell likes to work. Each piece is methodically removed and positioned around your truck so that he knows exactly where it is when it is time for him to revisit it. Every bolt, every washer, every nut and every part is removed, cleaned and inspected before it is painted and replaced. After the tear down the shop area is cleaned so that no dust is present as he builds your engine back. Old bolts in certain key positions or thrown out and replaced lowering the possibility of a parts failure. Your head that comes in completely assembled is torn down and inspected by Russell, then reassembled to Russell's standards before he installs it on your engine. In fact for me to go over each and every step and explain the TLC that Russell takes and the pride in his work would take up a lot of space here. Let's just suffice to say that it is not uncommon for Russell to hear back that one of his engines just passed the million mile mark again. And the normal time a shop takes to rebuild an engine is about half the time that Russell takes. The thing about that last statement is that the price is usually about the same if not cheaper. The little extras that are usually found are thrown in to make sure the job is done right, not used as a ploy to jack up your bill. Remember that honesty thing I was talking about?

Besides they great rebuild job that I'm sure I received as many of my friends currently run Russell Built engines, I also received one heck of an education about my engine and what makes her run. I have a much better understanding about how things work and even how to fix them myself now. Russell is a natural teacher even if he does not know it. That in itself was worth the time and money I spent these last couple of weeks. My new found knowledge will serve me well one day out on that highway.

Well, I guess that’s all I have to say for now. I hope that someone out there that has been looking for an honest someone to help keep their truck on the road with expertise will find this information useful. I want to thank Blinky and Russell for the great job they did, and for making me feel like I was one of the family while I worked beside them out in the shop. The pictures of Russells work and the pride he takes can be found on my Facebook profile. And if you are thinking about giving these folks a call, here is their number. Just tell them Jeff sent you.

"First Diesel Service, Attalla, AL, 256-538-1911
Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Home Time

Today's Thoughts 12/1/11 Home TIme

What exactly is that? Home time that is. It's been so long since I've had more than just a day or two at a time that I think I've plum forgot just what it is like to have the time to do more than just a small quick project around the house. My usual average time at the house is about a day and a half. Thirty six hours to come in, wash my clothes, fix the truck, spend time with the family and fix the major item around the house that broke while I was gone; and leave again on another two to three week turn. Such is the life of a traveling man. This time is different though. While my truck is in the expert care of my favorite mechanic Russell over in Alabama, I have about a week and a half to do, well, nothing if that’s what I want to do.

Anyone that knows me knows that nothing is the last thing that is going to happen. I have to be doing something or the something I'm going to be doing is going nuts. So I have years of backed logged work that needs to be done around the house to keep me busy. The cool thing about that is I have to save every dollar for the engine rebuild so there is not a dime to spend on the honey do's until the truck is done and I'm off and running again. That of course means that I have to figure out how to make all that needs to happen around the house happen without spending any cash to make it happen. I love a good challenge though and I figure that I can do this. I have lots of things stored and piled around to work with.

Today I finally got around to cutting up that tree that fell on my shed out in the back yard last winter. I have an electric chain saw so that was easy enough. Then came stacking the wood and out came the leaf blower and we cleaned the yard. I love doing chores with my wife, working as a team, wearing ourselves out and then crashing together totally worn out for an afternoon nap. I'm finding though that years of sitting behind that wheel has me a little soft when it comes to doing this hard labor stuff. Thinking I might just be a little too old, fat and lazy for tree cutting anymore, and for that fact, yard work.

Tomorrow I have planned an old broken mirror that has been sitting in a trash can waiting for proper safe disposal. No way do I want my family taken a chance on something like that while I'm out on the road. Then on to a few minor sheet rock repairs and then finally getting around to finishing that trim that needs painting in the hall way. I guess it's been about a year ago that we painted the walls and the trim has been sitting there waiting for me to find the time to finish it off. That’s the thing about being a truck driver running over the road. There is never a shortage of things that need your attention and there is never enough time to attend to those things. That truck and that load always come first. That’s if you like eating that is.

Anyway it does feel good to be out from behind that wheel for a while. But the big road is just beyond the trees on the other side of the railroad tracks. I can hear the trucks running up and down that highway and it's calling me. That's where I belong and I know it. That’s who I am. I think that if I was to be here for too long I would really start to miss running that open highway. Going places and seeing things that most people only dream of. But at last, my honey do list does need a little attention every now and then and so does my family. Finding a decent balance between the two is always a welcome discovery.

So its family this week and I have every intention of getting the most out of this time spent at home. I'll be spending lots of time with the wife and kid. Spending Sunday mornings at the church I've come to enjoy being a part of and most of most of all of course just feeling like a normal person with a normal home and normal life for a change. I'm not going to rush these things because I know that before too long, it will be years before I can enjoy them for any length of time at once again. Life in a big truck I guess. You have to love it and it has to be in your blood or you will never make it as a truck driver. It's a good thing I love what I do. That’s the only way I'm able to do it.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Within Ourselves

Today's Thoughts 11/26/11 Within Ourselves

Here's hoping everyone had a great Thanksgiving this week. I know that for me, just actually being home on a major holiday for a change was an awesome thing in its self. That being so, it's been quite awhile since I've been out in the real world instead of being stuck at some truck stop away from the real world and it's real people. I often wonder just how I will survive when the time finally comes for me to rejoin normal society after I am no longer able to drive my truck.

I got a little taste of that yesterday as my wife and I made a trip down to the auto parts store to buy a new light bulb for the tail light on our T-bird. We were the first of several cars to pull into the parking lot and as all the spots close to the store filled up, the last car was left with only the row away from the store. There are only two rows, one facing the store and the row facing the road so the extra distance needed to make it to the door really only amounted to a few extra steps.

Anyway, I backed in against the road and the last car as I watched the two occupants looking for a decent spot to park in; they choose the handicap parking spot right in front of the door instead of the several empty parking spots next to me. I really did not think too much of this until my wife and I approached their car and we watched as they pulled out their handicapped permit and threw it up on the dash. SO one of them must be handicapped I'm thinking and I take an extra second to hold the door open for a man and a woman in perfect health to walk right on by without as much as saying thank you for my effort to hold the door open for a handicap person.

They proceed to buy a quart of oil, walk back outside, lift the hood and add it to the engine. As they leave, they grab the handicap permit from the dash were they had laid it and placed it back in the glove compartment where they keep it stored for quick access I guess. I'm going to leave the rest of this paragraph empty for these of you that might want to add a few of your own words.

Morals and Ethics. It's hard for those of us that have them to watch as these sorts of things go on in the world. What's even harder is not jerking a knot in their butt like their momma and papa should have done so many years ago. I mean in reality what is it that we can do about these types of people?

Talk bad about them for one but that’s about it.They kind of frown on us shooting them. Beating them with a stick I guess might work if you don’t mind spending a little time in the pokey over it. Nope, really all we can do is talk about them and I had just about the whole store in laughter as I pointed out what was going on.

When all is said and done though, the best way to combat these sorts of things is by the way we live our own lives. We have to look within ourselves as we live our daily lives and find the morals and ethics that we know to be right and apply them to our everyday activities. I know it’s hard sometimes especially when it cost you something like little extra time or perhaps some cash. But it’s the only real weapon we have against those that would have us dealing with each other as if we still lived in the animal world. We need to pass these things on to our children ourselves instead of letting the village teach them as they see fit. As for the rest of the world, all we can do is look within ourselves and lead by example and hope they see just how big of an arse they are when they do these things.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
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Monday, November 21, 2011

Left Sided Truck Wash

Today's Thoughts 11/22/11 Left Sided Truck Wash

Sometimes in this world, even the simplest things turn weird. This happens a lot I suppose in the world between sleep and becoming wide awake to the knowledge that something just is not right. I have an early morning appointment tomorrow, well; I guess that’s today now. So I went to bed early hoping to get a good night's rest. After I unload, it's only about a three hour drive back home to the house. Anyhow, after an hour or so of sleeping, my mind started wondering and worrying about how things are going to turn out with my truck and the expensive repairs I have to make, I was not doing a very good job of sleeping.

But then the rain comes. I'm lying here in the sleeper berth with my curtain closed. Its pitch dark and the rain starts to fall on the roof of my truck. I cannot see out but the sound of the water gently falling on the roof is quite relaxing. It comes in waves sort of like some of the hurricanes I sat through back a few years ago. Wave after wave of water that you could watch moving across the land until it finally washes over your truck.

And that’s when in my half way between sleep and wide awake state of mind, I started to realize that something just was not right with this rain. When a rain cloud moves over you, it normally moves in one direction. But the rain I was experiencing in my half asleep world would first hit the front of my truck and wash over to the rear. Then the next wave would start at the rear and then wash out over the hood.

As settling as the sound of rain is on a tin roof as most of you I'm sure know, each pass found me more and more awake. Finally to the point that I'm lying in the dark timing each pass and guessing with great accuracy the direction and timing of the next wave of rain. And then the rain stops. I lay there wondering if it's going to start again. I'm awake now as you can see. I just had to know. So I get up out of my bunk and I go sit in the driver's seat for a few minutes.

This is where reality sits in for me. I'm backed in with the left side of my truck up against the curb. The parking lot all around my truck is soaked with water with streams of it still running towards the drain. The sprinklers have not only done a fine job of watering the grass, but of also washing the left side of my truck.

Ok, all is right with the world again. I can now go back to sleep knowing that the rain when it does come again, will move in the direction it is supposed to. Well at least I hope it will. Good Night Peeps. Sleep well.

Be safe peeps …

Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Trucking Santa's

Today's Thoughts 11/20/11 Trucking Santa's

All throughout the year I'm mean and grouchy. On a good day I can be a total, well, you know. But come Christmas time I become a complete sap. My little Grinch heart grows bigger and bigger and I fill up a special made Santa Clause bag and find a bunch of kids and let them take turns reaching in and grab whatever gift they wish. Eyes closed of course. And watching their faces light up pretty much makes my whole year. This tradition started for me a few years back when it became near impossible to buy a gift for so many nieces and nephews. And as they grew up and moved away, well, the kids next door work just fine. Even when I'm stuck out on the road, my wife and son pick up the duties and my Santa Clause bag makes the rounds without me.

It's been several years now since I've actually been home to do the job myself. With any luck I'm going to remedy that this year. Another thing I like to do is send out a few books to Trucking Santa's wish list. It's something easy and simple for me to do and it makes my little Grinch heart just a little bit bigger too. I'm not sure just what it is about Christmas, but it seems to me the more involved I get into it, the more I give, the more each and every smile that I see does for me. Just knowing that the things I do with my wife brings so much joy to some child somewhere brings us closer together as a couple. It's who we are.

Anyway, before I get all long winded, sappy and start crying in my egg nog. How about you? Are you planning to share a little Christmas Spirit this year? I certainly hope so. Not only does it make your own Holidays go so much better, but it really makes the day of child that otherwise would have nothing. That’s part of what started my Christmas Grab Bag. Once a child showed up unexpectedly and the look on his little face as he stood there without a present, heart wrenching to say the least. Not going to happen again if I can help it.

Trucking Santa's is a great way for drivers to help keep those sad faces tucked away on Christmas Day. Families that need a little help are already found and all that is needed now is for a trucker to donate a little time to provide the presents that these families need for their children. Then on Christmas day when you're at your own home or perhaps out on the road once again, you will know that you put the smile on a child's face. Put a little love and hope in their little Grinch hearts.
Last time I looked there were still about forty four families that needed a trucker to help out this year. With about three million truck drivers out there, we should be able to cover this. I added the link below for those of you that might be interested. Let's make this a very Trucking Christmas for every child we can this year. Let's put a smile on the face of children all across our wonderful nation. From truckers that care, a gift from Santa Clause to you.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/groups/232519576806281/?notif_t=group_activity

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Blind Spots And Skid Marks

Today's Thoughts 11/19/11 Blind Spots And Skid Marks

Well, it looks like we are back into the Holliday season again. Personally, I'm going to try and be home this year on the major travel days. Looking back, I cannot remember just when the last time I was home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. This year would be a good year to remedy that I think. As for the rest of you that will be out there wandering around, I thought I would just throw in a little something I wrote because I would like to see everybody back next year. So here goes.

I was pulled up at a stop sign one day doing what I was supposed to be doing. That is looking both ways before turning left out onto the highway. Each truck has just a bit different set up when it comes to the positioning of windows and mirrors and such things. With my truck that day, I leaned forward and looked out my passenger window past my right side mirror. The road looked clear but to be safe I leaned back and look to the right past the other side of the mirror one more time, still clear.

A quick look to the left at a clear highway and I started to roll forward to make my left turn onto the highway. As I make that last look to the right to make sure I had not missed anything, a complete sixty five foot long eighteen wheeler goes right in front of me at highway speed. Where did he come from I'm thinking. I know I look not only once, but twice around that mirror and still I missed a complete eighteen wheeler. WOW.

How did I do that? The answer might just keep you alive no matter what you drive. Remember that out there on the road, you not only have to watch what you are doing, but you have to know and understand what the other guy is doing. That will help you see their mistakes as they happen so you can adjust and keep yourself out of an accident.

Here's what happened as I looked to the right past that mirror. Objects as I'm sure you know always look smaller the further they are away from you. So as I leaned forward and looked down that highway, the far away truck was small enough and at such an angle that it was hid behind the mirror that I was looking around.

Keeping in mind that that truck was traveling at about sixty miles an hour, as I leaned back to look around the back side of that mirror, the truck traveled forward in a path that kept it hid from my view behind the mirror as it moved toward me. So in essence, I lost a whole eighteen wheeler behind a ten inch wide mirror. Imagine trying to find something as small as a car.

It's a good thing I'm in the habit of checking three or four times before I pull out onto a road. That could have been the end of not only my career right there, but the end of me too. Lessons we learn as we move through life.

Blind spots are on every vehicle that is out there on the road. You cannot count on the driver of another vehicle to know and understand those blinds spots. Yes they should know them I'll give you that. It is just not going to happen all the time is all that I am saying.
For one thing, people rent cars and drive them. It takes time and experience with any new vehicle to learn the blind spots. Truckers, especially company drivers are all the time swapping trucks. It takes time to learn that vehicle and its particular blind spots. So that leaves you and your ability to see what they cannot. Right off I think everyone knows the old saying "If you cannot see a driver in their mirror, they cannot see you". I think that is very true in most cases but not all.

The biggest blind spot I see in most cases is people just not looking far enough in advanced for a sudden situation. Always know where traffic is around you so that when you need to move out of the way fast, you already know where to go. Know your escape route in advance.

Truckers I think have a lot more blind spots the most people think they do. And most of them are not on the truck itself. I received a ticket one day from an officer that told me that I made a car put on its brakes as I pulled out from a side road. I was wondering just what car that was because as far as I could see, there was nothing on the road I was pulling onto. Or was there?

When a car driver pulls up to a intersection, any stop sign or other traffic device is usually above the head of the driver of the car. A very good idea our government has in doing this. Unfortunately for truck drivers, above the head of car drivers means right in a truck drivers face. The traffic device actually blocks a trucker's view of oncoming traffic. And as I described earlier, you can lose a whole eighteen wheeler behind an ten wide inch mirror.

As if this was not enough, at this intersection that I received my ticket at, the city decided to make the area look pretty by planting trees. Of course all the lower branches were trimmed back so car drivers could see under them, but the truck drivers were left to look through the leave covered branches. A major blind spot built in by the city.
This is where team work out on the road comes in. If you're coming up on an intersection that in itself creates a blind spot for the traffic pulling out in front of you, then you need to take the time to slow down and allow for the fact that you are probably not going to be seen by the people pulling out.

One of the best signs that this has been happing at this intersection is by the number of skid marks on the road in front of you. The more skids marks, the more you can bet your butt you had better slow down because you know it happens a lot at this intersection. Skid marks show us lots of things depending on where they are. Like a red light that is quick to change or just a turn off of the highway. Wherever you see them, figure out why they are there and be ready so that you do not add a new set of skid marks of your own, on the road or in your shorts.

Anyway, be safe out there this holiday season. Take the time and the patience when the other guy screws up. And they will, you can bet on that. Then you be the one that avoids the accident. Remember, it's a whole lot easier to tell them that they are number one if you're not eating your air bags.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Feeding Our Children

Today's Thoughts 11/13/11 Feeding Our Children

We watched again this last week as our Commander And Chief once again destroyed more American jobs. As he put at the forefront his chance at reelection and politics over what is best for America. As you may already know, he canceled the oil pipeline that was to bring cheap oil from Canada down to the Gulf States where it would be refined and distributed throughout our great land providing not only jobs, but cheap fuel so that America's industry could begin to grow strong again. All this was done to please the environmentalist and gain support for the upcoming elections. And I must say, this really shows his leadership ability and his willingness to take one for the team.

You see, after awhile, you come to the understanding that the goal of the far left is not to build America strong, but to bring her down to her knees and with one final swift blow, destroy her completely. By saving the owl and our environment as they say they are doing, they are actually destroying our ability to grow strong as a nation. Take away our ability to stand on our own two feet and feed our families without having to stand in line and take the handouts that they will now have to provide us with. The very handouts that they will then stand up and take the opportunity to tell us how they care for us and we should vote for them because they are giving us the food we need to survive. They want us to be proud as Americans as we sit on our arse and vote for our new providers and the free things they are providing us with.

Screw them I say. And screw that owl and the environmentalist they rode in on. No I not saying we should destroy our country or our environment, not at all. What I'm saying is that there comes a point that we need to stop the garbage they are dumping on us and demand to stand up proud as Americans. Demand that we should be allowed the ability to provide for our own families as we stand on our own two feet. Let them know that we will not become a nation of worthless welfare recipients voting for the politician that gives us the most as we waist our lives away sitting on the couch. There are indeed people and families that need this kind of help and we as a nation have always been generous in providing the truly needed with the things they need. But what is being shoved done our throats is a nation of everyone being needy because they took away our ability to provide for ourselves. They are creating a socialist nation. Our great leader is doing one heck of a job as you can see once you realize his true goals.

As we approach this next election you will see and hear things that will make you take notice of each respective politician and what they can do for you and this country. Our economy will indeed get better and jobs will start appearing over this next year. Each and every politician and special interest group will take credit for this. All of them will be full of crap as they do. You have to be smarter than they are. Before you take what they say at face value, look back into history at not only what they voted for, but who it was that supported them. Learn their true agenda before you make your decision. This next election will determine if we will stay a free nation or descend into the depths of socialism and eventually communism.

Myself personally, if it means that we stay free as a nation. That we can stand proud as we provide for our own families instead of sucking of the government teat. I really do not care if some owl somewhere has to pack it's bags and fly off to whatever awaits it. Working jobs that feed our families is a much more important thing at this time in our history. Pipelines run all over this country as we already know. They are buried under ever street in every town and when one does decide to bust. We simply turn of a vale and clean up the mess and life goes on. Shutting this pipe line down had nothing to do with saving the environment. It all boils down to the destruction of our American way of life. It’s time to stop the bull and put leaders in our government that will make America strong again. It's time to tell the environmentalist to go ride that owl out of town and do with it as they will someplace else. We have children to feed and a free nation to build, again. We can only do this if they allow us to be proud hardworking individuals. Saving the owl needs to take a back seat to feeding humns.
Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
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Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Butts

Today's Thoughts 11/09/11 Butts
That’s what I said. Talking out your butt and as everyone knows that means saying things that you could not possibly have any proof of. Yet people will put things out there and actually expect that people will take it as actual truth. Now I could be wrong on this, so I'm going let you take a look at the comment I came across today and let you make your own decision. "Did you know bisexuality is found in over 450 different animal species? Homophobia is only found in one."
And of course you know I had to add my two cents in on this well thought out and I'm sure scientifically proven fact. "Very cool.... and just wondering, how in the world do you know that? Are you saying that you can speak the language of 450 different animals? Don't take this wrong, it's not about what you dig in the bedroom, that's between you and your partner; it is an honest attempt to try to understand how this conclusion was reached."
And I really do want to know how they came up with this fact. One could speculate such a thing I'm sure. But to actually with complete honesty be able to say that, I don't think so. The statement as I see it is an attempt to promote one's life style and nothing more. And of course everyone has the right to do so. I'm sure that I do the same thing from time to time. I hope though that I choose statements that have a little more substance to them.
But there is something good that can be learned from statements such as these. And that lesson is never accepting anything at face value. Always look beyond the statement and learn the agenda of the person or group making the statement. By doing a little research of your own, you can find out if the statement is actually true or is someone actually just talking out of their butt again. Then you can make your own educated opinion on the subject at hand.
On today's statement about how different animals feel about the subject of homophobia, its way beyond me to understand how anyone can tell me how any particular animal feels about the subject. All that can be done is too interpret how the animal reacts. That's just an opinion and we all know what opinions are associated with. Butts. And we all have one of those, don’t we?

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
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Sunday, November 6, 2011

Sabotage

Today's Thoughts 11/07/11 Sabotage
Sabotage, what a funny sounding word and one that I heard a democratic pundit use describing what the republicans were doing to all of Presidents Obama's efforts to straighten out America. I heard this today as I listened to all the Sunday talk shows. I thought how funny it was that sabotage was the word that that I use to describe what President Obama is doing to America himself. Again this pundit put forth the fact that the republicans were the party of no as they stopped the president newest jobs bill. Well, let me take just a moment to explain this so that not only the president himself understands, but all of his pundits as well.
No. Not only no but hell fricking no. From Obama care to just about anything he has done in the name of saving this country and the air we breathe has been done with a socialist outcome. Every fix that he has laid his hands on has been designed with the basic intent of bankrupting this country and delivering it on a silver platter to the one world order. In his own words given in a speech, he is bankrupting every industry he dislikes and the biggest thing he dislikes is freedom. This man is pure socialist and his intent is to bring down our constitution and the freedom our forefathers fought and died for.
So I'll say it again. Not only No, But hell fricking no. Sabotage is not a bad thing when freedom loving Americans use it against our enemies. One would think foreign but in this particular case, domestic. It is the job of every American citizen to protect our way of life and if sabotage is what it takes to kick socialism out of our free country, so be it. Now let's go sabotage some socialist butt.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"
http://runninglegalblues.blogspot.com/

Friday, November 4, 2011

Screwed Again

Do I understand this correctly? President Obama is trying to get the student loans reworked so that they pay less and if they default, the banks that made the loan and the student themselves are no longer responsible for the balance of the loan. The balance due then becomes the responsibility of me, the tax payer. Lets take this step by step.

Years ago as I watched the world push for everyone to go to college, I could see a future of a over population of college graduate with not enough jobs for them to work. I made the decision not to go to college and instead work a trade.

Working my trade I spent over one hundred thousands dollars to start my business and the same atmosphere that has todays college graduates unable to find work to pay for their college loans, has my business at a lack of funds for me to continue on much longer.

So my question is, if the college graduate made the wrong decision and made loans that they will never be able to pay for. Why is it that I, having chosen a path that did not leave my financially broke, now have to pay for their mistake when I can barley keep my own head above water?

Most importantly I would like to know, when did we start paying ransom to people that hold property illegally and break any law they wish including fighting our police forces. If I walked into a bank and demanded money, my butt would be on the way to jail.

It is time to bring law and order back to this country. Stop making those the did the right thing pay for those that made bad choices. And most importantly, Stop the buying of votes by any politician. That sir is all this bailout is all about.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Hope

Today's Thoughts 10/30/11 Hope
I met Hope today. A pretty little girl that I held the door open for. I'm not sure what her real name was or much of anything else about her for that matter. But there she was on her way out of the truck stop in her Sunday best dress all ready for church. Her Grandpa, close behind her with a smile ear to ear on his face because Hope once again made him a proud Grandpa. Hope you see was only about knee high to a grass hopper as they say. Only about as tall as my knee cap for sure. And as I stood there holding the door open for her and her grandpa to come on out of the store, she pops out in that squeaky voice that belongs to most little girls about her size, "Thank you Sir".
It took me a few seconds because I was so astounded to meet such a polite child like her out on the road, but I finally reminded myself to say, "Your welcome young lady". That was it. And then she was gone. As I thought about that short moment of my day today as I went about keeping myself busy before my delivery tomorrow, I was thinking that there might just be a little Hope for this world if people were actually  still teaching their children a few manners like that. That’s a good thing I guess. Maybe Hope will rub off on a few people as she travels through life and those people will rub off on even more people and before long once again it will be a more common thing to say please and thank you to strangers that we meet along the way. Well, one can always Hope I guess.
I guess that’s it for me today. Tomorrow starts another busy day getting cut off in traffic and dealing with the real world. I think though, as I'm being told that I'm number one once again by that gesture through the rear window of the vehicle that cut me off. I'm just going to sit back and smile and remember Hope, The little girl that showed me that people can be nice. That people can be courteous to strangers. And that maybe, if we are lucky, that there still is a little Hope for mankind.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"
http://runninglegalblues.blogspot.com/

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Jailbird

Today's Thoughts 10/15/11 Jailbird
YAWN …Yup, it's getting old listening to these Occupy Wall Street crowd or OWS as I'm starting to hear them called. Channel after channel and OWS this and OWS that. The entire same thing on every channel and the same complaint over and over, "Life is just too damn hard because no one will hand me what I think I deserve". Well I've been thinking about that complaint over the last few days. I picked up in Texas and I'm on my way down to Florida with the load. Somewhere in my past back years ago I know that I have heard this before. Now let me see, where was that? Oh, I remember.
Back about twelve or fifteen years ago back during my gas hauling days. I was somewhere around the Atlanta Georgia area and I had drawn a load of gas to be taken to one of the local prisons. After being checked out and allowed onto the prison compound a trustee escorted my to the fuel drops. I pulled up to where he showed me and went about dropping the fuel into the underground storage tank. I had ninety two hundred gallons of unleaded gas divided up into five different compartments on the trailer. All this was going into just one tank so this was going to take a few minutes. After doing up my paper work, we spent a little time in conversation. My newly found prison inmate friend was just a little bit upset you see.
It seems that his brother was at home according to his girlfriend stripping down and selling the parts off of his pickup truck. His brother according to him had no right to those parts. After all, he had went out and stole that damn truck and had went through all the trouble of hiding it so the police could not find it during his trial. And now, his brother decided that that truck was his and he was going to do what he wanted to with it even though my prison friend had went and did all the work to steal it from the guy who went out and busted his butt to earn it. When I asked about the guy who had originally owned the truck, well, that guy lived in a nice neighborhood and he probably didn’t need it anyway.
Back to today's world, this OWS crowd is even too lazy to go steal it for themselves. They want the government to take if from those that made it and give it to them because the rich guy probably doesn't need it anyway. All that extra cash is just laying there and if the rich guy is not going to use it, well then it belongs to me and my brother had better keep his damn hands off of it.
Here's a little clue for some folks, OWS in particular. No one owes you a damn thing in this country. You either work or you starve. If you think these big rich banks are screwing you and everyone else around you, then go start your own bank and put the bad guy out of business. Uncle Sam is just about bankrupting this country with all the free grants it is giving out trying to create jobs. All you have to do is put together a business plan and submit the proper forms. You could choose not to use government money and instead just sit down at your kitchen table and come up with a plan to make you and your friend's rich thereby putting all these other bad rich guys out of business. You could choose to do it yourself instead of demanding the government do it for you. What a unique idea her in the land of opportunity.
I'm going to say this again. I'm a high school dropout and I figured out how to feed my family. Your supposed to be college educated. Besides being too damned lazy to breathe, what the heck is your problem? Get up off your lazy butt and go conquer the world, your giving Americans a bad name

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"
http://runninglegalblues.blogspot.com/

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Herbalife

Today's Thoughts 10/13/11 Herbalife
Hey Folks, Jeff here. I just wanted to take a moment to fill you in on Hebalife and my experience with using it in the truck as I travel around America. I have to tell you, when that crazy blond wife I love so much decided that she was going to start selling this stuff and that I was going to be one of her first customers, I really was not much into it. Personally I'm a meat and potato kind of guy. Rabbit food and I never really had much in common. But I'm thinking my thinking on this is changing real fast.
Starting out, she loaded me up with all kinds of different stuff that I was kicking around the truck. I think I had been out about two weeks when I finally ended up stuck at a dock and about half starved to death waiting to get out of there; I decided to try making myself one of the shakes. About four hours later and a hundred miles down the road, I finally started getting hungry again. So I reached over into the box of Herbalife supplies and grabbed a protein bar snack and I eased on into a truck stop for the night. That was pretty cool I thought as I walked in to the restaurant and sat down for a decent meal. Even though I was tired from a long day at the dock, that shake and protein bar really did the trick for me. I never even stopped in for my usual soda pop and candy bar fix.
So after thinking it over for a few days, I decided to actually give it a try. I set everything up in the truck so all I had to do is grab a Herbalife shake or a snack while I was going down the road, and I basically started going all day with about half of the normal stopping time I used to waist. And after looking into the Liftoff energy drinks and finding out that they did not even come close to what some of these other energy drinks have in them. I decided to try one of them. I'm in no way a fan a replacing rest with anything especially a energy drink, but I did find the Liftoff tablets just enough to make me feel normal. They only seem as strong as a cup of coffee and with no hard ups are downs to worry about. Looking into them I found that they had no thousands of above daily recommended allowances of any ingredient like most energy drinks have. The Liftoffs are designed to go along with the diet plan making sure you get enough of the proper vitamins that your body naturally should have.
Anyway, I'm a man that likes to get the job done. Herbalife as my wife decided I was going to start using really surprised me. Easy to use, easy to keep clean and I have to tell you, saving me big bucks at some of these truck stop restaurants. And that's a big thing for me, restaurants that is. Like I said, I'm a meat and potato kind of guy. Once a day you are supposed to stop and get you a real meal. So even though she tried, I still get to stop in and flirt with a waitress or two along the way. It's a good thing she loves me. It's our twenty-eighth anniversary in a few days. With this Herbalife thing, I think she is actually trying to keep me around a little longer. Go figure.
Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"
http://www.runninglegalblues.com/Truckers-Weight-Loss.html

Sunday, October 9, 2011

A Man Named Jeff

Today's Thoughts 10/10/11 A Man Named Jeff
I figured out the other day as I was driving down the road listening to a radio talk show why it is that they mandate seatbelts in motor vehicles. It is so when someone on the radio says something so far out that you do not fall out of your seat at highway speeds.  A caller from California had called in and was explaining to the host why he thought it was that the Occupy Wall Street crowd was right in their line of thinking. His point of view was simply this. That because his parents had paid for his college education and he took the time out of his busy life to go get that education, that the social contract guaranteed him a high paying job without him having to put any effort at all into getting it. He went on to explain that every student should get a college education for free and be given a lucrative job just because the world owes it to them. What prey tell are our kids being taught in college today. Sure does not seem to be how to stand on your own two feet.
I want to tell you a story about a man named Jeff. Just like millions of Americans before him, he found himself looking out into the world with no money, no credit, no experience and most of all, no clue. He dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen and went to working three full time jobs at the same time. Not long after that he joined with a few of his brothers and started a roofing company. All this was done before the age of eighteen when he decided to give the army a try where he learned to drive a truck.
After the Army gig was up and Jeff found himself sitting back home at Momma's house, basically where he was just a few short years before, he set out to conquer the world. What Jeff wanted was a trucking career. To one day own his own truck strolling across America's beautiful highways. Have you any clue what a truck cost. Just a basic one back in those days was one hundred thousand dollars. So with nothing but Jeff's Army truck driving experience, he set out to make that dream come true.
The first road block Jeff bounced into was his age. To be an over the road trucker you had to be twenty five years old. Only time was going to fix that so instead of giving up, Jeff worked on other aspects of what he would need to one day realize his dream. Experience was needed before anyone would give him a job. Ok, let's see how many raise your hand because you have had to deal with this yourself. Before we can give you the job, you need one year of on the job experience. Well you ask, how can I get that experience if you do not hire me? Back in those days truck driving schools were few and far between. So Jeff found himself quitting job after job as he moved from small six wheeled milk delivery trucks on up into ten wheeled dump trucks. While everyone was telling him he was screwing up his work record, Jeff finally worked his way into a single axle truck pulling a single axel trailer. Jeff picked up furniture in state for a gentleman that was screwing him out of over time because federal regulations state that truck drivers do not get overtime pay. What Jeff did get though is his one year over the road in state experience in a tractor trailer combination. He just had to figure his unique way into solving the no experience problem. No one did it for him; he had to do it himself and at age twenty five, he walks in and for the next eight years he drives a full grown eighteen wheeler as a chicken hauler.
But Jeff is not satisfied just as yet. He still wants to own and operate his own truck. Trucks cost big bucks and company drivers make little bucks. No credit and no idea as to what to do to make this happen. But Jeff if nothing else according to him (some would beg to differ) has half a brain. He starts researching every possible way of buying a truck. First he tries getting a loan. Funny thing about that, if you do not have money, that won't loan you money. Let's not let a little thing like that get us down though. Looking at other options Jeff finds that he can go to the big trucking companies and do a lease purchase. So he starts investigating that aspect and learns that most people that try this avenue fail and lose the truck. But he keeps digging and asking questions and formulates a little plan in his half of a brain.
Walk in and lease the truck, then when they start cutting your miles and starving you out, instead of giving them the truck back, just move it to another company. It's all there in black and white in all the information Jeff gathered. But when he went out and talked to more drivers to see if his plan was feasible, everyone told him that it could not be done. It had never been done as far as anyone knew. As far as Jeff could see though, if he was going to own his own truck, there was no other way. So he took that big step, a huge risk and he went down to sign the lease on a brand new truck for one hundred and two thousand dollars payable in a five year time period. All he needed was a five hundred dollar down payment with no credit check. Like I said before, these leases are set up to fail. The companies make money reselling that truck time and time again.
And six months into the lease, just like Jeff's research had showed him, the company started to drop the miles he could run and made it very difficult to make the truck payments. This was expected though and Jeff had been working very hard to overcome this when it did happen. Working the system, once you're in a truck and it starts showing a decent cash flow, credit cards companies are very much interested in you having their credit card in your pocket. Remember Jeff's earlier problem, you have to have money before you can get money. Well there is a lot of money floating around big trucks and this big company trying to scam drivers into leases put big bucks into Jeff's pocket. So now Jeff has two credit cards to put his fuel on and a maintenance account that has been growing because it was never used and now Jeff has a fifteen thousand dollar down payment.
The contract with the leasing company says that if you make a fifteen thousand dollar down payment, you can move the truck to whatever company you want to. So Jeff did what everyone told him could not be done. He was making payments to one trucking company leasing their truck and took that truck and leased it on to another trucking company and was pulling their freight. Instead of being starved out, Jeff was making big bucks with his new truck.
But Jeff is not done here. The new company had deals where you could lease purchase trailers for just one hundred and fifty dollars down. Jeff jumped right on that and now he was driving a brand new truck pulling a brand new trailer for only six hundred and fifty dollars of his own money. A year before and he could not get a loan for a soda pop. But now that he had this nice equipment with a nice cash flow, he went back to the banks that told him that he needed money to get money, got a loan and paid off both the truck and trailer making them his own. Just two and a half years later, Jeff paid off the bank and they were his own.
So, that’s my story about a man named Jeff. As for our Occupy Wall Street crowed, I'm not sure who it was that said you had a social contract with me that makes me take all the hard work I did to make it and give it to you. I don't recall signing any such paper. This is America. It is what you make off it. I'm quite sure that once you stop crying about how hard the word is and apply your college educated brain to actually accomplishing something for yourself; you should be able to do much better than this high school dropout did. Personally I think you can do it. Well the most of you any way. There is no guarantee of success in anything we do in life. Unless that is if you plan to fail. That works just about every time.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"
http://runninglegalblues.blogspot.com/

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Breathing Banned

Today's Thoughts 10/08/11 Dateline 2020 Breathing Banned
The FMCSA declared today in a bid to end every distraction that drivers of commercial motor vehicles vehicles out on the highway might be distracted by, that breathing was the last thing on the agenda that needed to be addressed. In 2015, distractions such radios and any sort of gauge on the dashboard had already been removed. Just a year later the FMSCA outlawed side mirrors due to the fact that they took the drivers attention away from the traffic outside the windshield. That seemed a funny thing to many because soon after that the FMSCA outlawed windshields due to the fact that drivers were distracted by the mountains and lakes and other such scenery that one might pass in their travels.
When asked why the FMCSA was banning breathing behind the wheel of commercial motor vehicles. The director explained that they found the main cause of distraction to be a living human being with a life behind the wheel of the vehicle. If they could push the breathing amendment through, then all that would be left driving the trucks would be cadavers. That no matter what may happen; a cadaver simply cannot be distracted from their main goal of driving the truck.
The director was also asked as to why the FMCSA simply did not insist on higher standards as to who can become a truck driver or perhaps actually training a driver properly so that they knew and understood how to handle distractions behind the wheel of their eighteen wheeler truck. At this point the interview had to be called to an end as the director was unable form any intelligible remarks. It is this reporter's opinion that the sensible option offered simply short circuited the government employees' brain and he was no longer able to function as a unit.
Ok…  enough picking on the big guy up top. My point is that no matter how safe we become. No matter how many lives we save. They will never admit that truck drivers are the number one key to safer highways. If you regulate them to the point that they cannot breath, safe and legal truck drivers will simply die and go away leaving only the renegades that ignore the laws out on the highway. Please help safe and legal truck drivers survive in this industry. I promise you, it will save lives.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"
http://runninglegalblues.blogspot.com/

Monday, October 3, 2011

Taking The Lead

Today's Thoughts 10/03/11 Taking The Lead
Ok peeps, time to take another look at the wonderful world of trucking according to me. I know, I know. Is this guy ever going to shut his yap up? No. That's probably never going to happen. But that’s ok, because every now and then I actually hit on something worth talking about. Like today's subject. "Taking the lead", but from whom? Well from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) of course. Remember those guys, the ones that were supposed to be making the highways safe from us truck drivers.
I was sitting there at the breakfast table today looking through some of the trucking rags when one particular story from the "The Trucker" caught my eye. The story relates how Representative Peter DeFazio has written a letter to the FMCSA asking basically just how it was that they justified skirting around the law and were now allowing Mexican trucks into America. Just about everyone in trucking can sit here and tell you about ten different ways the FMCSA did this illegally so I won't go into them. That’s not the point I'm trying to reach here. My point is that if the very government organization that is demanding the truckers it regulates follows the laws and regulations set forth for them, why is it that they can ignore the laws and regulations set forth for them, The FMCSA.
NAFTA has very clearly marked out a path that must be followed before the Mexican trucks can cross our borders and start traveling our highways. That’s clear enough for anyone to see. The FMCSA simply ignored them to do what they wanted to do. So my question is this, why should we not take a lesson from them and just do what we want to do. Why bother to follow any law that they might want to impose on us? Seems to me that if I simply justify my running unsafe and illegal because I think that making a profit as a small businessman is for the greater good of the country, I did the same thing the FMCSA  did and should not suffer any consequences for my actions. After all, if the FMCSA can toss the rules out, why should the people they regulate not be able to toss out the rules also?
Because truckers are better than they are, the FMCSA that is. That's the answer. Because when it comes to highway safety and running legal we truckers have taking the lead. That's the simple truth to it. While the FMCSA has been sitting up there on their duffs trying to play politics and gather power from anywhere they can, we the drivers of the trucking industry have taking the lead on such issues as highway safety and drivers being able to run our trucks legal.
Since the invention of Social Media we have been able to come together and put together not only the true and actual concerns that need to be addressed for safer highways and drivers, but also are now in the process of putting forth actual fixes for these concerns that will work in the real world that the truckers have to live in. The FMCSA is still sitting up there trying to figure out that we have to live and work in a real world. We Have taken the lead form them.  
So what do we do with that lead? Well it ours to lose for sure, that much I know. Unfortunately for America and her highways, the FMCSA is still in charge. I honestly do not believe that we need to get rid of them. Could you imagine what the trucking industry would be like if we did not have the FMCSA and all it has done in the past for us drivers? Could you imagine what you would be doing if the log book did not exist? What shape your trucks would be in? No, I'm quite convinced that the FMCSA is a very necessary thing to have about.
But change is needed. We need to Partner with the FMCSA and bring them back to where they actually help drivers in their quest to be safe and legal out on that highway. We need them to help us with better training for the industry, not only the drivers, but those that direct the driver's daily movements. We need the FMCSA to partner with us on educating the general public as to how to share the roads with us safely, the need  to respect our size and weight, not use our size and weight to scare them for political gains.
So yes, that's my opinion, we have taking the lead right out from under the very people that were supposed to be improving highway safety for all of America, the FMCSA. The very fact that we as an industry are begging to be allowed to follow the laws while they insist on breaking them proves that. But I'm a nice guy, willing to share. If the FMCSA is willing to actually start following the laws just like they demand that we truckers follow them, then I am perfectly willing to work alongside of them and let them share in taking the lead to highway safety.
I know and I truly hope that the FMCSA comes to understand that the answer to highway safety is in a partnership between them and the drivers it regulates. We have to come to know each other on a more personal level. We have to be able to trust that each is doing their job not only in committing to safety, but to each others survival. United as a team we will create out on that highway a top notch safety environment that no other can match. Divided, well that answer will be found in unemployed American truck drivers and whatever Mexico and the FMCSA allow to take our place.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"
http://runninglegalblues.blogspot.com/

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Hey You

Today's Thoughts 10/01/11 Hey You
Hey You, hello, how ya doing? Thanks for reading my stuff. I want to say that right up front. Now that I've said all I'm going to say today, how about getting off of your face book or twitter or whatever you're sitting on and write your representatives some letters.
Hey, don't look at me as to what to say; you have your own ideas. You tell them in your own words to the folks that need to hear them the things they need to know. Letters do work, I know. I've had some success with some that I've written.
So give it a try and see what you can accomplish. Even if it is to say that the letters that I wrote were full of crap, at least they know that people are interested in the subject and they need to get educated on what that subject might be.
There are lots of different ways to contact your representatives, my favorite on the web being congress.org. Don't forget to hit the let everyone read button if you want everyone to be able to read. And even if they ignore your letter, they know you are there. That you are watching and paying attention and come time to vote, they had better be getting it right.
Ok, I've done my part for today. Guess its back to watching reruns of reruns. Sure wish they would go back to making decent TV again. Wonder who I need to write that letter to?

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"