Tuesday, June 24, 2008

On the Road with the original florida kid - week37

" On the Road" with the original florida kid......
Hello again fellow truckstars ! It's week 37 and....you're on the road with the original florida kid.....
Grandma, Barbie, Pup the wonder dog and the whole gang here at the ranch give a big cowboy howdy "HEY"......
KITCHEN TABLE TALKIN"- Well come on in(don't forget to wipe your feet or Grandma'll crack ya one...we have horses...sooo...check your boots....), take a load off, grab a chair and a cup of Grandma's famous cowboy coffee(it'll straighten your hair...) and let's get down to it....First off I want to apologize for being MIA for a couple of weeks I've been out on the road doin' mostly northeast runnin', from Montauk Point(yes, all the way out...) to Cape Cod and Staten Island, all three beautiful places in their right but I still have absolutely NO desire to live there......I'm just not a big city person, never have been...so anyway there it is, I've gotten a LOT of e-mails and calls from folks wonderin' where I was or if I just quit and when the new blogsite and radio station are coming online and all I can tell you is this: the new blogsite with lots of stuff on it is coming soon, it's a money thing....and I soon will have a mobile web laptop with a Skype program and a few other things so I can blog and post from the road but I want a special kind of laptop and it ain't cheap(www.alienware.com) so.....that's where it's at. I appreciate all the cool trucker groups inviting me into their clubs, after all, I am one and it's for my fellow drivers that I do this, NOT for the trucking co. owners or anyone else....don't forget I'm a driver trying to get home in one piece, pay bills too, and all the while hoping Barbie doesn't forget what I look like.....and, Oh yeah, did I mention that I'm tired......I don't have to tell you truckstars out there how it is when you only have a day or two between runs and by the time you get your little roadshow back together and un-scramble your brains, well it's time to go............and so we go.....sometimes with a heavy heart, an eye on the weather and thoughts of where we'll be at, jobwise, in a few months or a year.
Can gas get any higher and the economy get any lower....YES......IT CAN.......Is a new president going to turn things around? I don't know, but answer me this: Is the level of greed among the big corp's, that run the show, going to lessen just because there's a new face sittin' behind the desk in the oval office? Let's be realistic..........they ALL talk a good game during these sideshow campaigns, then when they move into the white house the bullcrap picks right up where it left off......I don't know what to think anymore(not that I ever did).......I just want the kind of life I'm entitled to, bein' an American.......how bout' you truckstar?..............I'm still waitin' for Dave Sweetman's book on how to survive as an O/O to come out.....
Yeah, and before I forget.....when I was a kid me and my surf buddies used to drive all over the north american continent, this was back in the 70's, we had a cb in the car and used to rely on the truckers for real deal road info (and sometimes just to yak too...) I remember we all thought the truckers were big time and knew the road and had a lot of wisdom...we really looked up to them......but a couple of weeks ago I was goin' through Virginia and the weather was really bad, big rigs were gettin' turned over and what-not, well, I holed up for awhile at the Flying J at exit 104 there in Va., and some of us were tring to get north and southbound reports from drivers still on the road as well as trying to warn them....man I'm tellin' ya there must have been a mass escape from the local looney bin and they were all on the cb...one little girl was tryin' to drum up a little biz(if you know what I mean....), another guy wanted to talk about the joys of gay sex(in picturesque detail), and yet some other ol' boy who clearly was WAAAAAY too revved up on somethin' wanted to blab his whole life story(only problem was ya couldn't understand a word he was sayin' he was talkin' so fast....he coulda' won a fast talkin' contest or somethin'....) so....none of us could get a word in edgewise and I just sat there for a couple of hours and finally took off, northbound.......Uhhhh, excuse me I know it's a free form of communication but.....it seems like somewhere along the line the cb has just turned into some kind of a forum for bullcrap......and.....have you heard the death metal guy who talks like the singers on those records....I can't understand him either, probably just as well, but he roams the east coast and he gets on the air and just croaks and groans and roars like some kind of dyin' critter with a throat problem.....whaaaaaat-ever..........Almost every day I hear so many whackos on the cb, I wonder if that's a sign of the times in a way...I mean, there are so few real deal pros talkin' on it to each other anymore...I don't know......I just turn it off and listen to an audio book........I don't really remember too many "good" old days, but the new days sure aren't much to get up in the morning for.......Barbie says I'm almost working for nothing, just to break even....she looks after the bills and makes sure they get paid...stuff like that...a guy doesn't like to hear that from his wife...but.....maybe she's right.....I don't know what to do, I'm 53 and I can't afford to go back to school and I can't get a grant or assistance to go to helicopter pilot school either......
And before I forget - I wonder why Flying J doesn't turn their crappy(and I mean CRAPPY...) food restaurant into a Sonny's BBQ or something, I'd eat there every day.......or a retro diner with really good food like Lester's........bad food on the road is the biggest disappointment to me....well...after fuel costs, bad drivers, bein' homesick, uh, let's see what else....oh right...listening to politicians fight over the same stuff every day(they look and sound like such idiots...), watching big business close it death grip around the throats of working people, more and more sex and porn on the tv, more casinos and other ways for people to undermine their own futures......(I'm thinkin'........I'm thinkin')God being taken out of almost every way and walk of life......and did I mention fuel costs??......hell man is there anybody out there?....you know, the kind of men they don't seem to make anymore....I really miss Grandpa sometimes..I know Grandma does too...sometimes she stares out the window for awhile and I wonder if she's waiting for him to come across the pasture up to the house for dinner.........
okay that's enough bitching.......for now.....if I think of something controversial I'll throw it in when I do......
THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT- I'm leaving in the morning with a big boat to Michigan and I'm bringing my protein shakes and whole food organic vitamins and a few MetRx protein bars and spring water. It is really hard, I know, I have the same problem you do but I still try to watch what I eat and not give in to the fast food stuff that seems to be every where......I want to mention what I do to clean out my colon...I take whole physilium husk in water, a few tablespoons, then drink it down, usually at night, and it really scrubs you out down there...I do it a few times a month for a couple of days.....try it you'll feel better.....also, when guys get older the hormone production seems to dip a little and part of that isn't just bad diet but accumulation after years of sludge build up in the body, it cuts off the blood flow and deteriorates the cell structure all through the body....it's kind of like a motor that has been neglected inside, it loses power and starts to have problems. Next week I'll have more time to write further about this stuff.......remember - fresh vegetables and lean meats, whole grain breads and other baked goods...stay away from fried and fatty foods, watch the salt(switch to sea salt) and sugar....you don't have to have high blood pressure or diabetes, or strokes or alzheimers.......AND READ WHAT'S IN THE STUFF YOU'RE BUYING TO EAT !!
Don't forget to think about tryin' to help out an abused kid...every community has em'......they need heroes and truckers are heroes...still.
Before anything else happens I hope we can all get together on a National Truckers Prayer Day.....the bible says - "if God is for us - then who can be against us?"
Do you think for one second that God would be on the side of some mindlessly greedy, earth raping corporation? Do you?
I bet He's wondering why 2 or more have not gathered in HIS name and asked for HIS intervention.........
Tis' the season for Chuck Wagon Cook-offs!! (http://www.chuckwagon.org/),check their site for the 08' schedule, and truckstars if you only go to one event or take one vacation this year, and you're a fan of the old west, then you have to go to the big National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, Texas - Sept. 4-7th(http://www.cowboy.org/ ) the Chuckwagon Cook-off Championship is held there!!
Take a minute and PRAY, with me, for our troops around the world - truckstars....whether you agree with the war or not - I think we can ALL agree that these are OUR men and women over there, our KIDS, and, the politics involved is way over my head, not to mention the idea that there's probably a lot going on we DON'T know about, so......and let's not forget about GOD in this equation....it's HIS will I want done, not some profit crazed business man's, not the government's, and damn sure not my own, I'm just not capable.....how 'bout you?
Okay - I have to go and throw my gear in the truck and finish getting ready for my trip.......
Remember - NO load and NO paycheck is worth dyin' for........
Pray for us all, our nation, the world and the lost..... and try not to worry!!
God hears prayers, trust me - I know.
As always, I want you to remember - I love ya' and I'm prayin' for ya' !
Play nice, drive safe and pull it on home...........
Are you ready? Let's roll..........
......you're on the road with the original florida kid...............we gown..........