Wheres Terry
- Thread starter 3KDXXR2
- Start date
Hey Guys!
Wow! Time really flies when you're busy ... it's funny, I finally got some time to get on line this afternoon ... went immediately to DRN-MTR and to my amazement, what catches my eye ... but a post " Where[']s Terry" ... I too wondered where/who this Terry fellow was, then I realized it was me! Nice to know that even noobs like me to this sport and this site are remembered ...
I first spent some time reading the string from Flyin' Brian ... had to post a quick response there for all the same reasons that many of you have so done. Having completed that I noticed this string and thought it deserves some attention as well ... let's see now ...
First, I did post my 02 CRF-450R for sale ... late last year I was seriously contemplating getting a new CRF-450X so I put my old bike up for sale to see if I got any bites ... got several from my local dealer where the bike was posted, but as expected, not quite what I was asking and as things turned out for me anyway, I opted to rescind the sale offering and keep the old bike for at least a couple more years due to another change that occurred this winter. I hope to run the engine one more season then send it to Forward Motion and have it completely rebuilt... that should allow me enough time to get through the rest of my life story as it unfolds somewhat to the tune of what follows. Besides, my wife said: "Your bike almost looks like new ... if you were a better rider and didn't fall so much, you wouldn't have so many scratches on the plastic parts ... why do you want [need] a new one?" Spousal logic is often the most difficult upon which to formulate any response that might merit saving face while fortifying one's position ... so, as those of you who are married can completely understand, I will keep my old bike for the foreseeable future ... besides, I am finally getting to where I can actually ride it!
That 'change' turned out to be an opportunity to become a professional truck driver for a couple of years ... seems my Brother-in-Law was in the process of expanding his specialty trucking business wherein he hauls RV, cargo, horse and camper trailers, as well as small motor homes, out of Goshen, IN to the Northwest ... he offered to buy a brand new Freightliner M2 Business class tractor and have it configured to be a "haul & tow" unit where the tractor has a 26' bed on which to haul cargo and the rear is equipped with a stinger hitch to permit pulling an additional flatbed trailer with cargo or another RV trailer on the ground. Since he has been doing this for almost 10 years now, is very successful in his particular niche, has more loads that he can ever handle ... and probably most important, because I can use the extra cash to supplement my son's education which is going to cost considerably more than my wife & I anticipated ... and if anything is left over, I have some really neat 'toys' I'd like to have in my old age ... I opted to seriously consider the offer.
The serious consideration amounted to a great deal of "away from home time" for me. I first went on a 10 day run with my Brother-in-Law in his truck where all I did was learn routes, manufacturer pickup sites, loading techniques, paperwork, off-loading sites, customer relations, Trucker's Log Book ... on, and on, and on ... and most importantly, the "ways of surviving being on the road as a truck driver" ... well, I survived and realized that despite my poor training in "real world jobs" [having a BA, MS and PhD in various fields of chemistry won't get me a cup of coffee at a truck stop, in fact, they could considerably reduce my chances under certain circumstances] I could probably learn to do this trade. Hey, I've managed to learn to ride a dirt bike starting at age 55 ... learning to drive a truck at 58 can't be much harder ... or could it ??? By the way ... with the exception of quitting smoking ... learning to ride a dirt bike has been the most difficult task I have ever undertaken!
The next step involved hitting the books for a week or so to be able to pass the written tests necessary for obtaining my Temporary Instruction Permit for a Commercial Drivers License for a Class A tractor equipped with air brakes and pulling a single, double, triple or tanker trailer. Got that done and immediately headed out on the road with another fellow who drives one of my Brother-in-Law's rigs similar to the one I will be using. This time I was expected to actually drive! I know most of you folks are probably laughing your hind ends off while reading this ... but I had never been in a semi tractor until a couple of weeks ago ... I have never tried to drive one ... I couldn't even imagine having a 53' flatbed trailer behind me and going through city traffic ... well, that's sort of the same way I started dirt biking ... jump in and give it a try ... that's what I did ... and for those who might interested, here's my story as I put it together for an email to several of my riding buddies outside DRN:
...just got back from my first driving experience in my training program ... what a nightmare! Started out to be a two week adventure where we planned on two loops from Goshen, IN to the Spokane, WA area ... it was planned to be good training for my on-road driving techniques and several different types of cargo and loading procedures as well ...
All good plans seldom work out as one would like ... this one certainly didn't! The evening before I was to leave Midland and drive down to Goshen, IN in my Jeep we got 12" of snow ... everything was totally shut down when I got ready to leave a 0600 hrs ... but, having a Jeep and all, I left anyway. Took me almost and hour to get to Saginaw which was only 25 miles away from Midland ... then things started to look better as the snow depth was decreasing the farther south I proceeded on I-75. By the time I hit Flint the snow was only about 6" deep but it was getting colder ... the road seemed good ... plowed and salted ... so I began to pick up speed ... then I hit the black ice section and nearly s**t my drawers ... at about 65 mph I went completely sideways ... across three lanes of traffic ... then recovered only to go sideways the other way and return across all three lanes of traffic ... did this three times before I scrubbed enough speed to recover directional stability and hold it straight in my own lane. Luckily I was in a section of three lane highway and the traffic was very thin ... also I restrained myself from touching the brakes which is likely the only reason I managed to stay out of the ditch. Needless to say, I brought her down to a more stable 50 mph and held her there for almost an hour until the road conditions got better. Ultimately I made it to Goshen about 10 minutes earlier than I had planned ...
We got loaded with RV trailers in Goshen and headed out for Dalles, OR via Spokane, WA ... we planned on catching 80 to 39 in WI, then north to 94 and taking it across to MT. My first chance to drive came outside Goshen ... my co driver pulls off the side of an on-ramp to the freeway and says: "You drive from here!" ... I climb behind the wheel, go through the basic start up routines, then manage to depress the accelerator and the brake pedals simultaneously, I'm not used to driving in boots yet ... amazingly, the pedals are about the same size and distance apart in a semi as in a car ... well, as you can imagine, we go about 10 feet and I manage my first stall ... traffic piles up behind us, I struggle to get the engine running again ... with near complete panic I get'er rolling and off we go [my first, and for this entire trip, my last stall] ...
All was well thereafter until we were near Jamestown, ND ... that's when one of the rear wheel bearings decided to give up the ghost resulting in complete separation of the tire, wheel, rim and disk brake rotor from the trailer at 70 mph ... we didn't even feel the episode ... another big rig pulls up along side us and waves his CB mike ... we turn ours on and he says: "Hey ... thought you might want to know that you have a flat tire on your trailer?" ... then we get another message from a different driver ... "Flat tire, hell ... you lost the tire, wheel and rim completely ... it just went sailing across the highway!"
Needless to say, the fellow who is training me is "deeply concerned" ... we stop and assess the damages ... total bearing failure ... just the axle stub and the disc brake calipers remain ... so we drive 16 miles at less than 20 mph to get to Jamestown, ND which is the nearest repair facility. The weather is really crumby ... snowing, the wind is blowing steadily at about 35 mph and the temperature is in the teens. At that point it is determined we cannot repair the problem and only a complete replacement axle assembly can return us to the road. After checking, only one is available in the US ... guess what, it's in Goshen, IN ... so we park the trailer and bobtail back to Goshen to pick and return with the replacement axle ... this takes 3 days of very hard driving ... then it is two more days getting the axle installed and the bearings all replaced on the other trailer axle. We took two stabs at looking for the wheel that came off ... since it could have happened anywhere between Fargo and 16 miles east of Jamestown, ND we had a considerable area to survey ... neither one of us had the sense to ask the truck driver where he saw our wheel come off when we first got news of the predicament. Anyway, the first day we tried we drove all the way to Fargo and never saw it ... the second time we opted to look farther out from the highway and I'll be damned if I didn't spot it lying out in a farm field about 250 meters from the roadway ... we stopped and rolled it through foot deep snow back to the tractor, got it strapped on to the deck behind the cab and later discovered the wheel and tire had survived in decent condition. Guess that finding "a lost tire in North Dakota" sure beats "a needle in a haystack" ... ???
After about 5 days we are ready to proceed west again ... we drive into Montana and get stopped at the Billings DOT inspection station where we are selected to undergo a Level 1 inspection ... after about an hour of studying our paperwork, our load, our trailer, and our tractor we get shut down ... seems we have developed a hole in the air supply line for the brakes on one of our front steer tires. Now, we are basically near the middle of nowhere ... 25 miles from Billings, MT and we have to park the truck and get it fixed before we can move it! Man I am beginning to think that all my connotations about truck driving are really wrong ... this has got to be the toughest job I could ever imagine! Amazingly for us, there were at least 5 other trucks shut down at this station and a local truck repair shop had dispatched a repair wagon to the site to fix trucks and sell parts at exorbitant prices to 'stranded truck drivers' ... we manage to buy the exact part we need [typical cost $12 ... on site cost $40, cash only] and in less than 15 minutes we are back in the inspection station getting our "shut down" classification lifted and we are on our way!
At this point my co-driver/trainer is behind the wheel and we are about 10 miles west of Billings, MT heading up the first of a series of large hills that precede the mountain passes ... everything is going great ... then suddenly the truck develops a severe vibration ... I ask my co-driver: "is that the road?" ... he has this puzzled look on his face and responds that he thinks so, but for some reason we seem to have lost all our power and we may not make it up this hill ... !!! That got my attention ... we had to downshift all the way to 3 gear from 6th just to make it up to the top of the hill where luckily there was a rest area ... so we pull off and assess the situation. After stopping the motor and allowing it to cool for several minutes we restart it and it is still making a terrible vibration and knocking noise ... this is "very bad news" !!! After discussions with the truck owner via cell phone it is decided we will have to get towed back to Billings and have the folks at a local Freightliner shop investigate our engine problems. We call the Billings Towing Facility and in about 45 minutes they show up with two of the worlds largest tow trucks [at least in my personal opinion] ... seems they can't tow the tractor with the trailer attached in MT ... so one of the tow trucks hauls our tractor and the other takes our trailer and we're off ... back to Billings. Tow bill: $430.
At the Freightliner shop we find out that our engine dropped an intake valve in the third cylinder ... really bad news! It should be noted that our truck has a 500,000 mile motor and we are at current mileage of 410,000 miles and we are beyond any warranty. Further assessment indicates three options:
1) Least expensive fix = $5000 and four days minimum
2) Next level repair is a complete 'in frame' rebuild = $10,000 and 5 days minimum
3) Cadillac repair is to completely replace the motor with a reconditioned unit [only one available in US and it is located in Denver, CO] = $14,000 and 7 days minimum, plus shipping.
Well, we opt for option #2 ... and it wound up taking us 6 days to get it done. Did spend some time wandering around the Billings, MT area ... rented a car and drove down to Cody, WY for a couple of days to visit the Buffalo Bill Heritage Museum located there. My co-driver/trainer had to borrow the 10 K-bucks from his mom who agreed to help him out or I think we might still be there! My wife gave me $200 for the trip!
When the engine gets fixed we're off like a herd of turtles and make it all the way to Spokane without further problems ... we complete our deliveries about a week late ... pick up some new cargo trailers in OR and head off to Post Falls, ID where we drop them off ... then back to Spokane where we pick up a car to haul back to Chicago and we're off again.
No problems on the return voyage ... dropped the car off with only minor problems ... we were going up 294 towards O'Hare on Friday night at 1730 hrs local time ... luckily I was just riding ... the traffic was about the worst I have ever experienced in my entire life! Got back to Goshen, IN where I stayed overnight to help my co-driver load up then I said goodbye and headed home. Total time just over 3 weeks ... only one loop of the US completed ... so, I have to go again as I want as much actual driving experience as I can get before I have to take my official CDL [commercial driver's license] driving exam ... also I still need a lot of 'backing' practice with 53' trailers ... as you can imagine, I stink at that operation ... but I am finally getting better!
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! So far I can only tell you that it is much harder to ride a dirt bike than to drive a semi ... excepting 'backing' that is. I am about to return to the road once more for my final loop across America ... hope this one only takes a little more than a week and all goes well with the rig. After that, I have some free time this spring before my new truck is ready in June so I hope to get in some riding soon!
I do hope to have a portable computer with me on the road for the next couple of years ... one with a wireless phone card for high speed internet which will allow me to stay current with our site and keep up with all your doin's. That may have to wait for a while until I start making some income on a regular basis ... got a few other things that must come first ... like tire chains, tie downs, chains, binders, tools, jacks, stands, clothes, CBs, XM radio ... etc, etc, etc ...
In the mean time I am trying to design a special rack behind my cab to permit carrying my dirt bike with me on the road ... the folks building the trailer seem to think it can be done for a reasonable price and it shouldn't interfere with load space as the trailer tongues will slide beneath the rack. However, this is a Good New / Bad News situation. The Bad News is that I'll have to ride up a double ramp composed of both my load ramps hooked together in order to reach the rack deck which will be about 6 to 7 feet in the air ... then stop on a dime to prevent plunging off the opposite side of the truck ... I know, you guys are already grumbling: "Man, this is so cool ... I wish loading my bike was that exciting!" The Good News is that I get to ride down the ramp to get off the truck which means every ride will begin with a 'down hill run' !!! Anyway, if this bike rack becomes a reality, I may get to do some riding in several places out west [Utah, Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota] where I might never have gotten to ride otherwise. Keep your fingers crossed ...
Hope this rambling story brings you up to date on my situation ... I hope to keep up better when I finish my training and get my CDL ... I can't wait for the snow to be gone so I can start riding again and see some of you folks on the trails ... started my bike today and it ran like a top from the first kick after setting in the garage for nearly 3 months ... gotta be a good omen!
terry nestrick :blah:
Wow! Time really flies when you're busy ... it's funny, I finally got some time to get on line this afternoon ... went immediately to DRN-MTR and to my amazement, what catches my eye ... but a post " Where[']s Terry" ... I too wondered where/who this Terry fellow was, then I realized it was me! Nice to know that even noobs like me to this sport and this site are remembered ...
I first spent some time reading the string from Flyin' Brian ... had to post a quick response there for all the same reasons that many of you have so done. Having completed that I noticed this string and thought it deserves some attention as well ... let's see now ...
First, I did post my 02 CRF-450R for sale ... late last year I was seriously contemplating getting a new CRF-450X so I put my old bike up for sale to see if I got any bites ... got several from my local dealer where the bike was posted, but as expected, not quite what I was asking and as things turned out for me anyway, I opted to rescind the sale offering and keep the old bike for at least a couple more years due to another change that occurred this winter. I hope to run the engine one more season then send it to Forward Motion and have it completely rebuilt... that should allow me enough time to get through the rest of my life story as it unfolds somewhat to the tune of what follows. Besides, my wife said: "Your bike almost looks like new ... if you were a better rider and didn't fall so much, you wouldn't have so many scratches on the plastic parts ... why do you want [need] a new one?" Spousal logic is often the most difficult upon which to formulate any response that might merit saving face while fortifying one's position ... so, as those of you who are married can completely understand, I will keep my old bike for the foreseeable future ... besides, I am finally getting to where I can actually ride it!
That 'change' turned out to be an opportunity to become a professional truck driver for a couple of years ... seems my Brother-in-Law was in the process of expanding his specialty trucking business wherein he hauls RV, cargo, horse and camper trailers, as well as small motor homes, out of Goshen, IN to the Northwest ... he offered to buy a brand new Freightliner M2 Business class tractor and have it configured to be a "haul & tow" unit where the tractor has a 26' bed on which to haul cargo and the rear is equipped with a stinger hitch to permit pulling an additional flatbed trailer with cargo or another RV trailer on the ground. Since he has been doing this for almost 10 years now, is very successful in his particular niche, has more loads that he can ever handle ... and probably most important, because I can use the extra cash to supplement my son's education which is going to cost considerably more than my wife & I anticipated ... and if anything is left over, I have some really neat 'toys' I'd like to have in my old age ... I opted to seriously consider the offer.
The serious consideration amounted to a great deal of "away from home time" for me. I first went on a 10 day run with my Brother-in-Law in his truck where all I did was learn routes, manufacturer pickup sites, loading techniques, paperwork, off-loading sites, customer relations, Trucker's Log Book ... on, and on, and on ... and most importantly, the "ways of surviving being on the road as a truck driver" ... well, I survived and realized that despite my poor training in "real world jobs" [having a BA, MS and PhD in various fields of chemistry won't get me a cup of coffee at a truck stop, in fact, they could considerably reduce my chances under certain circumstances] I could probably learn to do this trade. Hey, I've managed to learn to ride a dirt bike starting at age 55 ... learning to drive a truck at 58 can't be much harder ... or could it ??? By the way ... with the exception of quitting smoking ... learning to ride a dirt bike has been the most difficult task I have ever undertaken!
The next step involved hitting the books for a week or so to be able to pass the written tests necessary for obtaining my Temporary Instruction Permit for a Commercial Drivers License for a Class A tractor equipped with air brakes and pulling a single, double, triple or tanker trailer. Got that done and immediately headed out on the road with another fellow who drives one of my Brother-in-Law's rigs similar to the one I will be using. This time I was expected to actually drive! I know most of you folks are probably laughing your hind ends off while reading this ... but I had never been in a semi tractor until a couple of weeks ago ... I have never tried to drive one ... I couldn't even imagine having a 53' flatbed trailer behind me and going through city traffic ... well, that's sort of the same way I started dirt biking ... jump in and give it a try ... that's what I did ... and for those who might interested, here's my story as I put it together for an email to several of my riding buddies outside DRN:
...just got back from my first driving experience in my training program ... what a nightmare! Started out to be a two week adventure where we planned on two loops from Goshen, IN to the Spokane, WA area ... it was planned to be good training for my on-road driving techniques and several different types of cargo and loading procedures as well ...
All good plans seldom work out as one would like ... this one certainly didn't! The evening before I was to leave Midland and drive down to Goshen, IN in my Jeep we got 12" of snow ... everything was totally shut down when I got ready to leave a 0600 hrs ... but, having a Jeep and all, I left anyway. Took me almost and hour to get to Saginaw which was only 25 miles away from Midland ... then things started to look better as the snow depth was decreasing the farther south I proceeded on I-75. By the time I hit Flint the snow was only about 6" deep but it was getting colder ... the road seemed good ... plowed and salted ... so I began to pick up speed ... then I hit the black ice section and nearly s**t my drawers ... at about 65 mph I went completely sideways ... across three lanes of traffic ... then recovered only to go sideways the other way and return across all three lanes of traffic ... did this three times before I scrubbed enough speed to recover directional stability and hold it straight in my own lane. Luckily I was in a section of three lane highway and the traffic was very thin ... also I restrained myself from touching the brakes which is likely the only reason I managed to stay out of the ditch. Needless to say, I brought her down to a more stable 50 mph and held her there for almost an hour until the road conditions got better. Ultimately I made it to Goshen about 10 minutes earlier than I had planned ...
We got loaded with RV trailers in Goshen and headed out for Dalles, OR via Spokane, WA ... we planned on catching 80 to 39 in WI, then north to 94 and taking it across to MT. My first chance to drive came outside Goshen ... my co driver pulls off the side of an on-ramp to the freeway and says: "You drive from here!" ... I climb behind the wheel, go through the basic start up routines, then manage to depress the accelerator and the brake pedals simultaneously, I'm not used to driving in boots yet ... amazingly, the pedals are about the same size and distance apart in a semi as in a car ... well, as you can imagine, we go about 10 feet and I manage my first stall ... traffic piles up behind us, I struggle to get the engine running again ... with near complete panic I get'er rolling and off we go [my first, and for this entire trip, my last stall] ...
All was well thereafter until we were near Jamestown, ND ... that's when one of the rear wheel bearings decided to give up the ghost resulting in complete separation of the tire, wheel, rim and disk brake rotor from the trailer at 70 mph ... we didn't even feel the episode ... another big rig pulls up along side us and waves his CB mike ... we turn ours on and he says: "Hey ... thought you might want to know that you have a flat tire on your trailer?" ... then we get another message from a different driver ... "Flat tire, hell ... you lost the tire, wheel and rim completely ... it just went sailing across the highway!"
Needless to say, the fellow who is training me is "deeply concerned" ... we stop and assess the damages ... total bearing failure ... just the axle stub and the disc brake calipers remain ... so we drive 16 miles at less than 20 mph to get to Jamestown, ND which is the nearest repair facility. The weather is really crumby ... snowing, the wind is blowing steadily at about 35 mph and the temperature is in the teens. At that point it is determined we cannot repair the problem and only a complete replacement axle assembly can return us to the road. After checking, only one is available in the US ... guess what, it's in Goshen, IN ... so we park the trailer and bobtail back to Goshen to pick and return with the replacement axle ... this takes 3 days of very hard driving ... then it is two more days getting the axle installed and the bearings all replaced on the other trailer axle. We took two stabs at looking for the wheel that came off ... since it could have happened anywhere between Fargo and 16 miles east of Jamestown, ND we had a considerable area to survey ... neither one of us had the sense to ask the truck driver where he saw our wheel come off when we first got news of the predicament. Anyway, the first day we tried we drove all the way to Fargo and never saw it ... the second time we opted to look farther out from the highway and I'll be damned if I didn't spot it lying out in a farm field about 250 meters from the roadway ... we stopped and rolled it through foot deep snow back to the tractor, got it strapped on to the deck behind the cab and later discovered the wheel and tire had survived in decent condition. Guess that finding "a lost tire in North Dakota" sure beats "a needle in a haystack" ... ???
After about 5 days we are ready to proceed west again ... we drive into Montana and get stopped at the Billings DOT inspection station where we are selected to undergo a Level 1 inspection ... after about an hour of studying our paperwork, our load, our trailer, and our tractor we get shut down ... seems we have developed a hole in the air supply line for the brakes on one of our front steer tires. Now, we are basically near the middle of nowhere ... 25 miles from Billings, MT and we have to park the truck and get it fixed before we can move it! Man I am beginning to think that all my connotations about truck driving are really wrong ... this has got to be the toughest job I could ever imagine! Amazingly for us, there were at least 5 other trucks shut down at this station and a local truck repair shop had dispatched a repair wagon to the site to fix trucks and sell parts at exorbitant prices to 'stranded truck drivers' ... we manage to buy the exact part we need [typical cost $12 ... on site cost $40, cash only] and in less than 15 minutes we are back in the inspection station getting our "shut down" classification lifted and we are on our way!
At this point my co-driver/trainer is behind the wheel and we are about 10 miles west of Billings, MT heading up the first of a series of large hills that precede the mountain passes ... everything is going great ... then suddenly the truck develops a severe vibration ... I ask my co-driver: "is that the road?" ... he has this puzzled look on his face and responds that he thinks so, but for some reason we seem to have lost all our power and we may not make it up this hill ... !!! That got my attention ... we had to downshift all the way to 3 gear from 6th just to make it up to the top of the hill where luckily there was a rest area ... so we pull off and assess the situation. After stopping the motor and allowing it to cool for several minutes we restart it and it is still making a terrible vibration and knocking noise ... this is "very bad news" !!! After discussions with the truck owner via cell phone it is decided we will have to get towed back to Billings and have the folks at a local Freightliner shop investigate our engine problems. We call the Billings Towing Facility and in about 45 minutes they show up with two of the worlds largest tow trucks [at least in my personal opinion] ... seems they can't tow the tractor with the trailer attached in MT ... so one of the tow trucks hauls our tractor and the other takes our trailer and we're off ... back to Billings. Tow bill: $430.
At the Freightliner shop we find out that our engine dropped an intake valve in the third cylinder ... really bad news! It should be noted that our truck has a 500,000 mile motor and we are at current mileage of 410,000 miles and we are beyond any warranty. Further assessment indicates three options:
1) Least expensive fix = $5000 and four days minimum
2) Next level repair is a complete 'in frame' rebuild = $10,000 and 5 days minimum
3) Cadillac repair is to completely replace the motor with a reconditioned unit [only one available in US and it is located in Denver, CO] = $14,000 and 7 days minimum, plus shipping.
Well, we opt for option #2 ... and it wound up taking us 6 days to get it done. Did spend some time wandering around the Billings, MT area ... rented a car and drove down to Cody, WY for a couple of days to visit the Buffalo Bill Heritage Museum located there. My co-driver/trainer had to borrow the 10 K-bucks from his mom who agreed to help him out or I think we might still be there! My wife gave me $200 for the trip!
When the engine gets fixed we're off like a herd of turtles and make it all the way to Spokane without further problems ... we complete our deliveries about a week late ... pick up some new cargo trailers in OR and head off to Post Falls, ID where we drop them off ... then back to Spokane where we pick up a car to haul back to Chicago and we're off again.
No problems on the return voyage ... dropped the car off with only minor problems ... we were going up 294 towards O'Hare on Friday night at 1730 hrs local time ... luckily I was just riding ... the traffic was about the worst I have ever experienced in my entire life! Got back to Goshen, IN where I stayed overnight to help my co-driver load up then I said goodbye and headed home. Total time just over 3 weeks ... only one loop of the US completed ... so, I have to go again as I want as much actual driving experience as I can get before I have to take my official CDL [commercial driver's license] driving exam ... also I still need a lot of 'backing' practice with 53' trailers ... as you can imagine, I stink at that operation ... but I am finally getting better!
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! So far I can only tell you that it is much harder to ride a dirt bike than to drive a semi ... excepting 'backing' that is. I am about to return to the road once more for my final loop across America ... hope this one only takes a little more than a week and all goes well with the rig. After that, I have some free time this spring before my new truck is ready in June so I hope to get in some riding soon!
I do hope to have a portable computer with me on the road for the next couple of years ... one with a wireless phone card for high speed internet which will allow me to stay current with our site and keep up with all your doin's. That may have to wait for a while until I start making some income on a regular basis ... got a few other things that must come first ... like tire chains, tie downs, chains, binders, tools, jacks, stands, clothes, CBs, XM radio ... etc, etc, etc ...
In the mean time I am trying to design a special rack behind my cab to permit carrying my dirt bike with me on the road ... the folks building the trailer seem to think it can be done for a reasonable price and it shouldn't interfere with load space as the trailer tongues will slide beneath the rack. However, this is a Good New / Bad News situation. The Bad News is that I'll have to ride up a double ramp composed of both my load ramps hooked together in order to reach the rack deck which will be about 6 to 7 feet in the air ... then stop on a dime to prevent plunging off the opposite side of the truck ... I know, you guys are already grumbling: "Man, this is so cool ... I wish loading my bike was that exciting!" The Good News is that I get to ride down the ramp to get off the truck which means every ride will begin with a 'down hill run' !!! Anyway, if this bike rack becomes a reality, I may get to do some riding in several places out west [Utah, Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota] where I might never have gotten to ride otherwise. Keep your fingers crossed ...
Hope this rambling story brings you up to date on my situation ... I hope to keep up better when I finish my training and get my CDL ... I can't wait for the snow to be gone so I can start riding again and see some of you folks on the trails ... started my bike today and it ran like a top from the first kick after setting in the garage for nearly 3 months ... gotta be a good omen!
terry nestrick :blah:
ahhhh, breaker 1 - 9 , how bout cha broken axle - ya got cha ears on good buddy - break?? Breaker Breaker this is the ol Woodsy out on 80 going double nickel... Got a cab over pete with reefer on haulin grub out of the windy city - hey broken axle if you can hear me how's it lookin over your shoulder good buddy... Mercy sakes alive - 10-4 good buddy - your clean clear to the big blue!! ahh yea good buddie, glad to hear you guys got that axle taking care of - you rookies gotta be more careful en at - those cows were already a little dizzy from sniffin diesel fumes but having that set o' 16's go tween em bout got fully neurotic... Cow crap was so deep going cross that south 500 acres that I doubt the famer will ever get that Wendys beef out of there... You fellers sure gave em scare - :rotfl:
WELCOME BACK NEZ!!! We missed you!! I have asked about you several times but heard you were pretty busy.. I REALLY enjoyed the "book" and it has been forwarded as requested - (you fellow DRNers will find out about this soon enough.. - thats all I am saying)..
Glad to be reading some more of your "trail tales" even though they are not about biking.. You are part of the fam you know and we stick together thru it all!! I dont know if you knew it or not but I actually ran Fleet for 5 years for a big food distribution center out of Milwaukee - had a branch here locally.. I can REALLY relate to your highway adventures and truely look forward to hearing more as you get going!! One of things I did before I left the company was setup a new driver training operation within the company (schools got WAYYYYY costly).. I was the first one to actually go thru the system and ended up with a CDL of my own.. I only tell you this because it may not be a bad idea for you to double the width on the bike ramp and invite someone (hahahahah - no one in particular) to do a western tour with you during "riding season"... I could buddy drive with you for nothing more then food, a hot shower, a turn in the sleeper and some AWESOME trail time with a friend!!!
Oh yea, heres something that just popped into my head.. Our trucks at the company I worked for were - of all things - WHITE!! No, I dont mean they were the "'White" brand Nez, I mean they were the color of WHITE!! I ALWAYS worried about my drivers going out into blizzards with those white trucks!! As you well know now, 40 ton of food is the same as 40 ton of steel - when it comes to stopping it DONT!!!!!! I fought with Corporate for 5 years over changing our colors but it never happened...
Sounds like you are into a REAL fun retirement!!
Well I gotta back on down here good buddy.. I see a greasy spoon on the trail ahead and I gotta go 10-100.. Catch ya on the flip side good buddy!! Keep the bugs off your glass and the bears bears off your - backside Nez..
We're gone - bye bye
Woodsy
WELCOME BACK NEZ!!! We missed you!! I have asked about you several times but heard you were pretty busy.. I REALLY enjoyed the "book" and it has been forwarded as requested - (you fellow DRNers will find out about this soon enough.. - thats all I am saying)..
Glad to be reading some more of your "trail tales" even though they are not about biking.. You are part of the fam you know and we stick together thru it all!! I dont know if you knew it or not but I actually ran Fleet for 5 years for a big food distribution center out of Milwaukee - had a branch here locally.. I can REALLY relate to your highway adventures and truely look forward to hearing more as you get going!! One of things I did before I left the company was setup a new driver training operation within the company (schools got WAYYYYY costly).. I was the first one to actually go thru the system and ended up with a CDL of my own.. I only tell you this because it may not be a bad idea for you to double the width on the bike ramp and invite someone (hahahahah - no one in particular) to do a western tour with you during "riding season"... I could buddy drive with you for nothing more then food, a hot shower, a turn in the sleeper and some AWESOME trail time with a friend!!!
Oh yea, heres something that just popped into my head.. Our trucks at the company I worked for were - of all things - WHITE!! No, I dont mean they were the "'White" brand Nez, I mean they were the color of WHITE!! I ALWAYS worried about my drivers going out into blizzards with those white trucks!! As you well know now, 40 ton of food is the same as 40 ton of steel - when it comes to stopping it DONT!!!!!! I fought with Corporate for 5 years over changing our colors but it never happened...
Sounds like you are into a REAL fun retirement!!
Well I gotta back on down here good buddy.. I see a greasy spoon on the trail ahead and I gotta go 10-100.. Catch ya on the flip side good buddy!! Keep the bugs off your glass and the bears bears off your - backside Nez..
We're gone - bye bye
Woodsy
And we have to have pictures of your 1st attempt of riding up and down that ramp.
Are you going to get a dual sport kit for your CRF. would make life much easier when riding in other states I would imaging. www.electrexusa.com makes a nice Dakar kit for your bike.
Are you going to get a dual sport kit for your CRF. would make life much easier when riding in other states I would imaging. www.electrexusa.com makes a nice Dakar kit for your bike.
Hey Guys
Good to be back at home ... glad to hear from you all and look forward to riding with some of you this spring.
Woodsy ... interesting that you too drive semi's ... especially interesting that your company had white trucks ... guess what, that's the color my Brother-in-Law prefers for his fleet. Even weirder, I spent almost 10 days riding around trying to convince him that white is the absolute worst color he could select for a truck ... all to no avail ... my new truck will arrive with a shiny new coat of Freightliner white on its skin and I can take it or leave it ... perhaps those who persist in a "management state" for sufficient time suffer an obscure form of genetic disruption leading to a proclivity for the absence of color in the spectral region? This is even more amazing when one considers that the spectrum is composed of ROYGBIV ... nowhere in there is a W hiding !!! As far as setting up driver training for the your old company ... I can totally understand ... the local school in Midland charges almost 8 grand for their three week course ... I am doing it for considerably less via the Over The Road school ... but very soon this route may no longer be viable due to increasing regulation of commercial licensing by Homeland Security. Even now there are many layers of security checks necessary for obtaining a CDL even sans HazMat ratings. I am going to change my residence to the state of WA for the time I will be driving as setting up my company ... MTtruckLLC ... [empty truck ... actually MaggieTerry] ... and obtaining the appropriate licenses is considerably easier out there than in MI. If I do manage to get the rack system installed ... I'll be sure to let you know if it'll handle two bikes ... sure would enjoy having a co driver who also rides along for those long western jaunts this summer.
Don ... yea right ... I'll be sure to get a photo of that event ... my wife would probably like one for the insurance company as attempting to explain how I was killed trying to load my bike might be rather difficult ... but as we all know, 1 pic is worth a 1000 words! This whole ramp idea gives me the 'willys' ... I do think I could handle getting it off ... but riding on is still problematic, even in thought!
Curtis ... hope we cross paths this spring, or maybe later. Regardless, keep riding up here in MI and we're bound to meet.
terry nestrick :cool:
Good to be back at home ... glad to hear from you all and look forward to riding with some of you this spring.
Woodsy ... interesting that you too drive semi's ... especially interesting that your company had white trucks ... guess what, that's the color my Brother-in-Law prefers for his fleet. Even weirder, I spent almost 10 days riding around trying to convince him that white is the absolute worst color he could select for a truck ... all to no avail ... my new truck will arrive with a shiny new coat of Freightliner white on its skin and I can take it or leave it ... perhaps those who persist in a "management state" for sufficient time suffer an obscure form of genetic disruption leading to a proclivity for the absence of color in the spectral region? This is even more amazing when one considers that the spectrum is composed of ROYGBIV ... nowhere in there is a W hiding !!! As far as setting up driver training for the your old company ... I can totally understand ... the local school in Midland charges almost 8 grand for their three week course ... I am doing it for considerably less via the Over The Road school ... but very soon this route may no longer be viable due to increasing regulation of commercial licensing by Homeland Security. Even now there are many layers of security checks necessary for obtaining a CDL even sans HazMat ratings. I am going to change my residence to the state of WA for the time I will be driving as setting up my company ... MTtruckLLC ... [empty truck ... actually MaggieTerry] ... and obtaining the appropriate licenses is considerably easier out there than in MI. If I do manage to get the rack system installed ... I'll be sure to let you know if it'll handle two bikes ... sure would enjoy having a co driver who also rides along for those long western jaunts this summer.
Don ... yea right ... I'll be sure to get a photo of that event ... my wife would probably like one for the insurance company as attempting to explain how I was killed trying to load my bike might be rather difficult ... but as we all know, 1 pic is worth a 1000 words! This whole ramp idea gives me the 'willys' ... I do think I could handle getting it off ... but riding on is still problematic, even in thought!
Curtis ... hope we cross paths this spring, or maybe later. Regardless, keep riding up here in MI and we're bound to meet.
terry nestrick :cool:
Terry life is always one big adventure. And with that, take your camera along and get some good scenic pics for us. As for your ramp thing. Once you get to know the road everything else will come easy for you! By the way we on WTR's have a resident bike rack maker “Tall1”. That man has some great designs! Maybe you can run some ideas past him? As always good luck and have fun!
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