Still Working, The Cadillac Ranch, and Devil's Slide

Two of these photos were taken at the Cadillac Ranch on the Western edge of Amarillo, Texas. If you have never seen the Cadillac Ranch, you probably thought is was only a Tall Texas Tale, and did not really exist! I don't know how long they have been there, but I know for sure at least thirty years! Thirty years ago, the Cadillacs were all pink, before it became acceptable for regular people to put graffiti on everything. I think it became acceptable for people to drive like everyone else on the road was their worst enemy at about the same time as it became acceptable to "tag" everything in sight.

The photo in the right corner is of Devil's Slide here in Utah, almost directly east of Salt Lake City on Interstate 84.

I hauled a load of dead pigs from SeaBoard Packing in Guymon, Oklahoma to down near New Orleans. The load was supposed to be ready by 4pm on Tuesday, with a "Drop Dead Time" of 10pm Tuesday nite. They woke me up at 3am Wednesday morning to let me know it was finally ready. The "Drop Dead Time" is the latest time the load can be ready and still be delivered on time. I went thru Altus, hoping I would be able to hand it off to another driver, who would be able to run from Altus to the delivery points within the allotted time frame, and do it legally. The distance from Altus to the delivery points was such that it could be done within the parameters of the rules, and still be legal. The distance from Guymon to the delivery points was far enough that a ten hour break would be needed somewhere in between to do it legally. There wasn't enough time from when the load was ready and when the first stop delivering it to be able to take a full ten hour break, even after changing the appointment times to the latest available for the first stop. They didn't have anyone available to hand it off to, and my new dispatcher had the nerve to tell me: "It has to be there." I have zero respect for her now. By the time I was East of Dallas, I was so steamed, I decided I would bail when I got back to Altus, and asked for a load of chicken going back to Altus so I could clean the truck out after I unloaded in Louisiana. When I got to Lawton to unload the chicken, they sent load information on a load going to Utah, so I called Linda and talked to her. She convinced me to go ahead and take it, then while I was home, I could look for a local job that would pay somewhere as close to as much money as I was making now, rather than be unemployed while looking for work.

Deals like this one put a driver in a bad spot. If you don't go ahead and do it, they can say you didn't make your deliveries on time. If you screw up and don't fake your logbook properly, they can reprimand you for falsification of your logbooks. If the scales are spot checking logbooks, and you don't have everything where it looks legal and believable, you can get an expensive fine. This is/was the last time I will do one of these deals, as I can't stand the stress of worrying about getting caught. If you end up in an accident, the ambulance chasers will hang you out to dry, even if you weren't at fault. They can claim that if you had been going by the rules, you wouldn't have been there, and the wreck wouldn't have happened.

The topper on the whole deal is: the people at the first stop didn't unload all their freight, and I had to go back there to let them unload the last of it. Since I hadn't been present to watch while it was being loaded, I had no clue what was supposed to come off there, and what was supposed to go to the next stop. They had scales there and I rolled across the scales to try and get a feel to be sure whether or night they had taken more than they should have. The numbers looked like they hadn't taken too much, so I wasn't overly concerned about them screwing up and not taking enough. I did get to unload it without having to have an appointment, and have the satisfaction of unloading something at a Wal Mart distribution center at a time other than when they normally receive products. I think the people at my company knew I was at the point of hauling it back to Altus, and let them deal with it if things didn't happen in a reasonable manner. I'm really getting tired of trucking.

Back to work

When I got back to Altus today, and tried to turn in my fuel cards, the guy in charge of that department wouldn't take them. He asked me what need to happen for me to keep them, and I told him I needed a different dispatcher, and regular, quality home time withLinda. He said, no problem, we can fix that. I think it is actually going to be fixed! I should've gotten serious about quitting before. See those of you who are in town over Memorial day then.

North Bound on the South Bound Side

I'm in Wytheville, VA this morning heading North on Interstate 81, which at this point is also South on Interstate 77!!! I finally got the photo posted July 9, only two months later. I'm heading for Vineland, NJ with 42,000 pounds of Mexican avocados. I've driven across the Appalachian Trail once this morning, and will cross it again later today, and again tomorrow morning. One of these years, I'll hike it, the whole thing, if I don't die first.

Saturday I put in for time off, starting May 20, 2007, and going back to work October 22, 2049. I added a note that the going back to work was after my 100th birthday. My dispatcher didn't pay much attention to my request, as she initially read it as off on May 20 and back on May 22, with no regard to the years. I sent her another message, spelling the months and including the days and years, to be sure she got the dates correct, and I would be ready to go back to work after 42 years, 5 months, and 2 days, and she replied, "Yes, it doesn't make any sense to me." I then replied, "It's called 2 weeks notice." Her lack of attention, is part of the reason I decided to bail. I had asked for a routing request from Laredo, TX to Vineland, NJ, and she told me to give her an ETA after I had the wagon loaded. If I was going to be able to give her an ETA after the wagon was loaded, I wouldn't have asked for routing! Haven't decided 100% to bail on the 19th, but I'm 99% sure. This gig is definitely geting into my flying time. I'll see if I can find gainful employment with at least one weekend day off, based in Salt Lake City. I'd prefer to find something that doesn't involve me with driving a truck. We'll see what happens.

Later, long flights, and soft landings,

GliderMike

a Swift at the Point of the Mountain

I happened to be at the North side of the Point of the Mountain one day this last week, and got to see a Swift pilot launch there. The photo isn't the best, but it beats nothing. The glider was relly pretty in the air. I bought a harness and reserve for the Firebird G Sport PG wing I have borrowed, so I have a complete flying machine I can carry in the truck, in case the opportunity arises to be able to fly when I am out.

Attempting to get some air time

I borrowed a Para Glider wing, and a Para Glider harness, and was hoping to get some air time today, but alas, the weather gods were not cooperating today. Linda took a couple of photos. The first indicates how cross the wind was with the hill, which is the main reason I didn't get any air time. The second, she took, because she thought it looked like a nice photo. I must admit, a Para Glider is much easier to lug around than a Hang Glider. The white portion of the glider framing my head is the nose of the wing, where the air enters the wing to pressurize it. The breeze was very light when this photo was taken, and there was enough air pressure to make the glider billow around me.

A Nice Lennie

As I was on the way home, I passed thru Albuquerque, NM and took these two photos of a classic Lennie over the Sandias. The one with the trucks in the foreground doesn't look as good as the other. Neither looked as good as the lennie looked twenty minutes before I took these shots. Might've been a good day for flying a glider, and launching from Sandia Peak.

Shiprock, or Rock with Wings

I took these photos of Shiprock, near Shiprock, NM on the way to Laredo, TX a couple of weeks ago. Shiprock is located in North Western New Mexico, about 6 miles Southwest of its namesake. In the top photo, you can see the telephone wires in the foreground. One of these years I will go back to some of the places I visited
when I have time to be able to stop and get better photos. I probably have photos of Shiprock somewhere, as I have been visiting this site for many years.

Members of the Sierra Club first climbed Shiprock in 1939, which did not sit well with the Navajo Nation, as Shiprock is a sacred site to them.

According to information I found at: http://www.lapahie.com/Shiprock_Peak.cfm and at: http://www.sacredsites.com/americas/united_states/shiprock.html the early Anglo-Americans called it Shiprock because of its resemblance to the Clipper sailing ships of the time. The Navajo Indians called it Rock With Wings. There are a couple of other smaller formations south of Shiprock itself, but there were no places for me to stop in the truck to take photos. I came back thru here going North last week, and there was one area where all three formations were visible. I was wanting to pull over to take another photo, but the truck isn't small or light enough to be able to park off the narrow shoulder for a photo opportunity.

Dodge City, Kansas

This is a photo I took in downtown Dodge City, Kansas. The day I took this photo, it was late in the day, and the visitor information center was already closed. Sometime when I am back in Dodge City, I'll add another post, with more photos, and maybe I can find out if "Boot Hill" is still there. Boot Hill was the pauper's cemetery where people were buried who had no money for a funeral, with most of the "residents" being outlaws, and the like.

North Texas Picnic Area with Shade Trees

This is a picnic area in the Panhandle of Texas, complete with shade trees. There is another picnic table to the right of the top photo, which only has an awning over the table, and no shade trees. The shade tree I am leaning against is the one to the left side of the photo with the three shade trees. You have to look closely for the third tree, which is between the two larger trees. Part of the reason for this post, is, my best friend Garry (aside from Linda, my wife) lives north of Charlotte, North Carolina, where they have entirely too many trees for my comfort. I wanted Garry to see what it looks like near where I have spent most of my life, so he might be able to understand why I think there are too many trees where he lives. Garry says the trees are good so you can have shade.

Gloss Mountain State Park

While on the way to Dodge City, Kansas to look for Dorothy and Toto, and also to pick up some FHC (for human consumption) dead cows to take to Florida, I came across this park. I had been looking at the bluffs for quite some time before I finally reached them, as visibility in the plains of Oklahoma is normally quite good. I am not sure what the rules for flying in state parks in Oklahoma is, so I'm not sure if I could legally launch from here or not, but some of the bluffs south of here would be launchable, as they are not in the state park. If I had a Paraglider rig, and had it with me, I would have done a sunset sledder from the location of the top photo, and claimed ignorance if anyone complained. The third photo is a slightly different view from where I would have launched from that day, if I had had gear with me. The wind was coming straight in where I shot this photo, but is probably not a common deal, as the wind was out of the north, north east the evening I shot these photos. I have seen several sites in northwestern Oklahoma since I shot these that might be flyable, under the right conditions. Most only have a max of 200 ft vertical, so launch timing would probably be critical to get a soaring flight. These are the only photos I have taken in the area, as most of the rest of the sites didn't have a good parking area close, and/or I was on too tight of a schedule to be able to stop.

The bottom photo is of the Hajjitruk in the roadside parking area at the park, looking south. The second photo is looking southwest from the west side of the bluff I could have launched from. I can say it is a Hajjitruk, as it has been to one of the hanggliding Meccas, namely the Wallaby Ranch, in Florida. I didn't get to fly the day I went, as it was too breezy to fly that day, but at least I got to relax that day.

If I can remember how to move the photos, I'll change the order, so it will be more logical.