Classic Car Stories - My First Corvette

My 1967 Convertible

In a previous post, I talked about what a great car I had with the 1993 Z28 Camaro.  The LT1 Corvette engine that it had was fantastic and I loved that car.

My fascination with Corvettes started during my pre-teen years, thanks to my Uncle Jim. My dad’s brother had enlisted and became a US Marine back in the late 50’s. Four years later, when he got out of the service, he came home and with a bit of the cash he had saved up, bought an early 60’s jet black Corvette convertible with a red interior. He drove it over to our house and it was the most beautiful car that I that had ever seen! Being awestruck, I watched as he invited my dad to go for a ride with him.  Of course, all Corvettes are two-seaters, so there was no room for me to go along. After they got back, he asked me if I wanted to help him wash it. Alas, I was too shy to ask and he never thought about taking me for a ride!  Not too long after, he became engaged, got married and with a baby on the way, had to get rid of it. He sold it and bought a Hudson! What a letdown when I saw him in that thing!

Anyway, after that I always wanted to own a Corvette.  Along about 1973 or ‘74, I found out that a guy I went to high school with had a 1967 convertible for sale. I went over and looked at it and found it to be in decent shape. Originally, it came with a 427 cubic inch motor but the previous owner had the car stolen at some point. They recovered it a while later with the engine and transmission missing and he replaced the motor with a 327. It was a beautiful silver with a black convertible top and factory side pipes. It had the original 427 hood scoop on it and fooled a lot of people! But frankly, it wasn’t much fun to drive and I put a wheelbarrow full of money into the brake system and suspension just to get it to handle properly. In fact, returning from a vacation trip to Canada, I had a rear wheel come off on me while driving down the highway. It was due to a mechanic improperly tightening an axle retaining nut. Fortunately, the wheel came off and wedged up in the wheel well, so there was no body damage. Earlier that same day, I received a speeding ticket from a Michigan State Trooper! That was a rather lousy trip home.

It wasn't long before I grew tired of the ongoing expense and put it up for sale. I paid $2500 for it and sold it for the same amount. Wouldn't you know it, not long after, the prices on used Corvettes and muscle cars started to skyrocket? In fact, the guy I bought it from called me back a few months later and wanted to buy it back from me, if I still had it. The numbers didn't match, because of the replacement engine and transmission, but I’m sure I would have gotten a lot more for it, had I kept it another year!
So, that was my first of two Corvettes and a great classic car story. Part 2 comes later, Dan
See the Youtube video below to hear a real 400 horsepower 427 idle!

This Should Make Us Think!

kfyrtv.com

Why you should drive a little slower when it is slick. Keep your eye on the SUV in front.  Be careful out there! Click the link below:
Vidvir

8 Common Mistakes Filing Tax Returns

theblaze.com

Issue Number: Tax Tip 2012-58
Inside This Issue
Eight Tax-Time Errors To Avoid

IRS Tax Tip 2012-58, March 26, 2012
If you make a mistake on your tax return, it can take longer to process, which in turn, may delay your refund. Here are eight common errors to avoid .
1. Incorrect or missing Social Security numbers When entering SSNs for anyone listed on your tax return, be sure to enter them exactly as they appear on the Social Security cards.
2. Incorrect or misspelling of dependent’s last name When entering a dependent’s last name on your tax return, make sure to enter it exactly as it appears on their Social Security card.
3. Filing status errors Choose the correct filing status for your situation. There are five filing statuses: Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, Head of Household and Qualifying Widow(er) With Dependent Child. See Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information, to determine the filing status that best fits your situation.
4. Math errors When preparing paper returns, review all math for accuracy. Or file electronically; the software does the math for you!
5. Computation errors Take your time. Many taxpayers make mistakes when figuring their taxable income, withholding and estimated tax payments, Earned Income Tax Credit, Standard Deduction for age 65 or over or blind, the taxable amount of Social Security benefits and the Child and Dependent Care Credit.
6. Incorrect bank account numbers for direct deposit Double check your bank routing and account numbers if you are using direct deposit for your refund.
7. Forgetting to sign and date the return An unsigned tax return is like an unsigned check – it is invalid. Also, both spouses must sign a joint return.
8. Incorrect adjusted gross income If you file electronically, you must sign the return electronically using a Personal Identification Number. To verify your identity, the software will prompt you to enter your AGI from your originally filed 2010 federal income tax return or last year's PIN if you e-filed. Taxpayers should not use an AGI amount from an amended return, Form 1040X, or a math-error correction made by IRS.

Links:
• Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deductions and Filing Information

YouTube Videos:
• Tax Return Errors English | Spanish | ASL

Donald Driver

pyromaniac.com

Tune in to Dancing With the Stars to see Donald compete!  He's a been a class act and super athlete for so many years with the Green Bay Packers!  A man that is really worthy of respect. We'll see if he can dance!

Preventing Online Infidelity - Kim's Columns –

saveyourmarriageadvice.com

Something to think about, see the following article written by Kim Kommando on her site.  My wife has always had access to all of my accounts and passwords.  And I have access to her's.  Seems like this would prevent anything like this from happening!

3/24/2012

The Internet can be a marriage killer, one of my listeners told me in an email last week. He wasn't speaking philosophically. He said it almost happened to him.

This wasn't because his wife spent too much money on eBay, or the result of his fascination with streaming online sports. Instead, they had each, separately, fallen down the rabbit hole of online infidelity.

"Our counselor said the problem is growing, especially among couples that have been married more than 18 years," he said.

It's true that the Internet has made infidelity much easier. According to PsychCentral.com, the Internet is now where the majority of people go to find sex partners.

Additionally, there are numerous sites specifically devoted to helping married couples cheat online. And I know this is where you might expect me to name some of those destinations. But I'm having nothing to do with handing anyone a link to destructive temptation. Trust me, there is no shortage of examples.

The culprit in all of this is Internet anonymity. It leads to connections that wouldn't be made offline. It also encourages participants to share more about themselves with online partners than they do with their spouses, says researcher Beatriz Mileham. Her University of Florida study on Internet infidelity looked at 86 cyber-cheaters.

In almost every example, the online relationships began as curious friendships, but soon became more.

Mileham interviewed men and women who used popular chat rooms specifically geared for married-but-searching individuals. Almost a third of the study participants went on to meet the person with whom they made contact.

The study participants included stay-at-home moms, construction workers, engineers, nurses and presidents of large corporations. Her research showed that more men than women used chat rooms.

But more recently, women are catching up to men when it comes to infidelity, says Katherine Hertlein, a licensed marriage and family therapist and assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Hertlein specializes in helping those who are experiencing marital difficulties caused by online cheating. She recently told Discovery News that she blames the growth in female infidelity on social sites. She said it is a result of their anonymity - and their popularity among women.

Can technology be used for good in this situation? There are many useful tools available. Here are just two, but each is useful for a different approach:

OpenDNS and FamilyShield are prevention tools, offering protection against adult websites. The sites primarily block pornography, drug content and violence, but can be broadened to include places where spouses are likely to wander.

For those more interested in monitoring, a program like TimeSnapper can be used. It takes screenshots of a computer monitor at regular intervals and reveals how it's being used. It will record all the dirty laundry, whether it's pornography or inappropriate chatting.

But is such spying just as harmful to a marriage? Dr. Willard F. Harley Jr., author of several books on the subject and founder of marriage counseling center, Marriage Builders, believes a spouse has every right to investigate, whether it involves installing tracking software or hiring a professional.

"A husband and wife should be so transparent that any effort on the part of one to look at what the other is doing should never be considered off limits," says Harley.

Many counselors now recommend that both partners have total access to each other's sites, including Facebook and Twitter, to build accountability.

Researcher Mileham believes it's time for couples to discuss the Internet as seriously as they discuss whether or not to have children before they marry.

"To prevent future problems, young couples, as well as long-term committed couples, need to talk about what role the Internet will play in their relationship," she said.

That was the advice my listener and his wife received from the counselor they eventually consulted.

"She recommended that we both have total access to all of each other's sites and passwords," he said.

"Please warn couples about this," he urged me in his email. "It's an important part of anyone's digital life. Open access is the only solution."

Preventing online infidelity - Kim's Columns – Reviews and Advice on All Things Digital - The Kim Komando Radio Show:

'via Blog this'

World's Worst Highways #6

Thanks to www.cracked.com

#6. Lena Highway Eats Your Car and Casts You into a Hopeless Dystopia

Via Englishrussia.com 

It carries the loving nickname "Highway from Hell ," and when travelers say they're "neck-deep in mud," they're just trying to give an accurate measurement:

Via Oknation.net 
"Hon, would you mind getting out and giving us a push?"

And in fact ...

Via Englishrussia.com 

... they might be making an understatement.

2011 Goodyear Highway Hero - Truckinginfo.com

flickr.com

Trucker Who Rescued Woman From Gunman is 2011 Goodyear Highway Hero - Truckinginfo.com

Your Tax Dollars at Work!

Thanks to the Journal Sentinel and John Diedrich,

Watchdog Reports

Woman at center of massive child-care fraud to plead guilty

By John Diedrich of the Journal Sentinel
March 21, 2012 5:12 p.m.

• EMAIL
• PRINT

Cashing In On Kids

Ongoing Journal Sentinel investigation details how parents and child-care providers work in cahoots to easily scam the $350 million Wisconsin Shares program.Read the series and ongoing coverage

* Winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting

The woman who built a 7,600-square-foot mansion and bought a Jaguar convertible while collecting roughly $3 million in taxpayer subsidies from her Milwaukee child care centers has agreed to plead guilty to fraud, theft and conspiracy.
Latasha Jackson, 34, faces a maximum of 35 years in prison, but she is likely to get far less time under federal sentencing guidelines, according to a plea agreement filed this week in federal court in Milwaukee.
Prosecutors will ask that Jackson be ordered to pay $333,000 in restitution. No sentencing date has been set. Jackson most recently was living in Texas.
Jackson, who also is listed as Latasha Wilder in court documents, was charged with using two centers to defraud state and federal programs designed to help poor mothers go to work. Regulators ignored red flags for 10 years that she could be cheating the system, the Journal Sentinel's " Cashing in on Kids" investigation found.

Ryder Team 3 Driver of the Year!

 Congratulations to Luke Siler, of our Salt Lake City Ryder account.  He has been selected as Team 3 Driver of the Year!  Luke has over 2 million miles without a preventable accident and was nominated by our location.  He will have been with Ryder for 20 years this coming July!  Out of more than 700 drivers on our team he was chosen as this years “the best of the best”.  A dinner for Luke and his family was held in his honor Wednesday evening.  In addition to our local management, the dinner was attended by our Director of Logistics and a Group Logistics Manager who flew in for the occasion.  A good time was had by all and congratulations to Luke!  We have an outstanding group of drivers in Salt Lake City!  Dan

Pick-up Truck Tonneau Bed Cover Review

realtruck.com

This a GREAT product. I've had one on my 2003 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD pick-up for many years and it still looks like new.  This vinyl coated aluminum paneled cover rolls up into an aluminum housing in the front of the bed when you need to load the truck.  Works great with fifth wheel trailers because you can partially close the cover while towing to reduce turbulence in the bed of the truck.  With the bed covered, my mileage goes up almost 1.5 MPG on the highway! This is a quality product that I highly recommend.  I installed it myself (I'm not a mechanic) and it cost less than $800.00 for an 8 foot bed. You can click on the link below to right to the Amazon store. Thanks, Dan

Pace Edwards TR2032 JackRabbit Tonneau Canister

Classic Car Stories - My 1993 Camaro

One of the great cars I have been fortunate to own during my life was this 1993 Camaro. That was the first model year of the completely redesigned new car. Frankly, the previous generation of the Camaros had poor reviews and were of substandard quality. The worn out assembly lines were so bad that Chevy resorted to gluing some of the body panels together.  

In 1992 I started reading about a new model coming out that would use the LT1 Corvette motor in the high performance Z28 version. And the Z28 would cost many thousands less than the Corvette!

Well, after doing a lot of research, it took quite a few months to convince my wife that we really “needed” this vehicle! Finally, one day I got her into a dealership to look and at least sit in the car. Immediately, she complained that she couldn’t see the front of the car and would be unable to drive it. I finally wore her down. After promising her that I would put something on the front end of the car so she would know where it is, she agreed. (That’s what the antennas are for on the license plate bracket!)

Then came my wake up call!  We had stopped at a Chevrolet dealer in Green Bay, which was a much bigger city than the small town I was living in. Although our little town of Crivitz had a Chevy dealer, I believed that I could get a better price in the “big” city. I walked up to a salesman and asked what kind of a deal he could make me on a new Z28? His response was something to the effect that they were selling every Camaro that came in. I said “that's fine, I can special order one and wait”. He then said they were getting about $2000.00 over “sticker” for them!  I also said something to the effect that it would be cold day in you know where before I let anyone rip me off like that! I then turned around and headed out the door.

The next day, I went in to see our small town Chevy dealer, the salesman was also a co-owner of the dealership. Knowing that they didn’t have any new Camaros in stock, I walked up to him said hello. I just stated in a matter of fact way that I wanted to buy a new Z28 Camaro, wanted to patronize a local dealer and was willing to wait to have it built. I then stated that I knew what the invoice pricing to the dealer was and I was willing to give him $900.00 over his invoice. I about fell over when, without even hesitating, he said “sure”! If my memory serves me correctly, I think the base MSRP sticker was over $21,000. We went to his office to spec the car and about an hour later we had a deal. I ordered the T-tops with it which were a $900 option along with standard options, A/C and automatic tranny which I don't remember the prices. The total contract invoice to me with sales tax, license and shipping was right about $21,000. Elmer Banaszak of Banaszak Chevrolet retired many years ago (the dealership has been sold), but he was a good guy to buy a car from and I’ll always be grateful. He actually tried to give me another great deal a few years later on My Second Corvette, which unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to do because of GM's quota system!

As it turned out, production of the new models were behind schedule and I ended up waiting a few months for the car. They even had to halt production of the T-top cars (mine was) for a couple weeks so they could fix some issues with leaks. In fact, during this wait I had decided to transfer out to Utah with Ryder in July and the car still hadn’t been built. The dealer worked with me and we were able to change the delivery point to Salt Lake City with another dealer doing the final setup. It was a long wait, but it was worth it.

The car was a joy to drive that I could power slide through corners with ease and total confidence. No active handling suspension option needed or wanted. The 4th generation Camaros had a great powerful sound with low restriction mufflers right from the factory. The road tests that I read while researching the car claimed the LT1 Z28 had a top speed of about 156mph. After getting it broke in I took it out in the west desert on I-80 and verified it for myself. It had no problem pulling to 156 before I shut it down. Note: I did that on an open stretch of interstate that I could see a couple miles ahead with no traffic in front of me.

I did get one ticket with that car out in Nevada from a state trooper that looked like he just got out of high school. He had no sense of humor and it cost me a couple hundred dollars for about 10 over the limit. Another time on I-80 in Nevada, I was running west about 95mph and a state trooper popped up over a rise and had me dead to rights with instant-on K band radar. He had to travel out of sight to find a place to turn around through the median and came blasting up behind me. I had backed off my speed with him following for a couple miles while he probably ran my plate. But he never pulled me over and let me continue, as I breathed a big sigh of relief when he turned off.

That was a great car that I kept for 5 years and about 40000 miles. The original factory tires still had a decent amount of tread on them when I sold it to a gal for more than half of what I paid for it, about $11,000. Had a ton of fun with that Camaro, probably the most fun car for the money that I ever owned and it's a great classic car story!

Other of my Classic Car Stories:
Mom's 1961 Plymouth Valiant
1970 PontiacGTO - Dick Hands Me the Keys!
Driving My Buddy's 1968 Plymouth GTX
My Hemi Chrysler
My 1965 Buick GS 400
My Three Camaros, One Good, One Bad and One Great!
My Second Corvette
My First Corvette
My 1993 Camaro
Mopar Man to Chevrolet

My Amazon Author Link

Check out this 192 Wheeler!

Got an 800,000 pound load to move from California to Utah?  Now, this is "Extreme" trucking!
Thanks to Mack Trucks and Today'sTrucking.com
Dan

Today'sTrucking.com / One on One with Jerry Moyes

flickrhivemind.net Courtesy of Today'sTrucking.com One On One with Jerry Moyes, Swift Transportation  - by Jason Rhyno 03/16/2012

As CEO and founder of Swift Transportation — the largest trucking company in the U.S. — Jerry Moyes knows a thing or two about trucking. As the Keynote Speaker at this year's Fleet Managers' Breakfast at Truck World, we thought it was good opportunity to get to know the trucking legend, talk shop and get some business advice. When did you realize you were destined for trucking? My father used to drive for C.R. England, and as a young kid — five or six years old — I was always in the truck and driving with dad. So I've just always been around trucking my whole life. It was the direction I was going from day one. Any lessons you learned in the early days of Swift? We came up during the years of regulation, when we had to have ICC Authority and you had to do it differently or better than the existing carrier to be able to get the Authority. With that background, we always ask how do we do it differently and how do we do it better to get the business. What do you think will be the biggest challenge for trucking companies in 2012? Government regulations. We're just getting bombarded with various government regulations from CSA to different engine EPA requirements. Our costs are going up dramatically, too. I've never been in an era when costs are as high as they are — that's our number one challenge: what we are going to do from a costing side going forward?

Swift has been experimenting with LNG. Where are you now? Where we are with natural gas is one of the important things in my presentation at Truck World. We're very excited about it. We have three different test projects that we are working on today. One is the Cummins 8.9 litre that is very underpowered but we're working some dedicated operations where we don't need a lot of power. We're also testing Cummins 11.9 litre engine that has some great promise. We're also involved with a company where we are mixing CNG and diesel — a hybrid that we're getting some excellent results on. We really believe that natural gas is a thing of the future. There's probably a five-year window to get into it. The manufacturers, like Cummins, are just starting to develop their 11.9 litre engines today. I don't know exactly what their time frame is on their 15 litres — probably a year or two behind. But we really think that this industry over the next five years could be close to 50 percent natural gas. How should a carrier treat its drivers? I've been in this business for 45 years and the number one problem has always been drivers. It's not going to change. For us to solve this, we've got to give them a lot more money. It's still a very difficult job, even though I believe the job itself is getting much better because they aren't required to unload like they used to and the equipment is getting so much better. The offset of that is that we aren't getting the driver that's the old trucker anymore, it's the opposite of that: it's the new kid that's coming off the street. He wants all these different benefits and he's just not willing to work in the way that the older driver is. The industry has to look at that: number one, we have a different driver we gotta take care of — he has different attitudes and different wants — and number two, we gotta pay him more money. If you could give one piece of advice to a company that was on the cusp of taking its business to the next level, what would it be? Watch the numbers. You've got to know where you are on a daily basis as far as revenue and miles. Break everything down. If you could go on a long-haul with anyone living or dead, who would it be? Well, my dad died 25 years ago and he and I used to drive together. So if I had to select someone, it would probably be my father. It would just be fun to go trucking with him again.

Deciding on a Trucking Career, Part VII

(This is Part VII of a series, “Deciding on a Career”.  I would suggest reading Parts I through VI first, they were posted earlier in this blog.) Links provided below:

I Married a Truck Driver!
Through most of the 1990’s and into early 2000’s I had been travelling extensively with my job as Driver Trainer for Ryder.  Being gone so much was starting to take a toll on me and fortunately things started to slow down a bit.  Our local Director of Logistics left the company in 2003 and Ryder reorganized somewhat, and moved assigned areas to different teams.  Most of my travel stopped and I was able to focus more on our team of core drivers in Salt Lake City and Idaho. My primary boss was now a Senior Logistics Manager.

Along about March of 2002, we were looking to put a couple of drivers on to be ready for the busy summer season.  We had an ad in the paper and were taking applications.  One of the drivers we brought on board was a woman named Mary.  We went through the orientation and I rode with her quite a bit the first couple weeks for training. She was a good driver, did a great job and got along with everyone.  In the five months she was with us, I never heard anyone (drivers, customers or managers) say a bad word about her.  She was well liked and, when she announced that she had to resign after 5 months, it was a shock to everyone.  She was married at the time and her husband was not happy with the erratic work schedule she had.  Everyone was sorry to see her leave, including myself.  My marriage was falling apart in 2002, but I never considered making any advances towards her, as we both were still married.

About five years later, in September of 2007, I was sitting at my desk doing paperwork and I looked up to see Mary standing in the doorway.  I was quite surprised and after a short conversation, learned that she was looking for a job.  We had an opening for another driver, so she filled out an application and I got to work on it as soon as she left.  Our senior manager happened to be on vacation but I knew she would not hesitate to bring Mary back, if we could qualify her.  The other two managers were in favor also.  She had made a reference to being divorced somewhere on her application and that sure started me thinking.  I had gotten divorced in 2003 with the idea that I would never, ever be interested in getting married again. It turned out that she had the same feelings after her divorce!  Having been alone for five years, I was living in a nice fifth wheel trailer and was pretty comfortable.  I still think to this day that she is the only person that could possibly have changed my mind about marrying again!

So, it took a couple weeks to get her background info and all the paperwork done.  I rode with her the first week to refresh her on the procedures and paperwork.  This time, I was trying to find out a lot more about her.  This was pretty sneaky, but I remember asking one of our supervisors to make sure I was the only one to train her the first week!  The more I found out, the more I liked her and by the end of the week, I figured what the heck, I’m going to ask her out.  The worst that could happen was for her to say no.  And she did!!!  On a Friday afternoon, she said no.  That upcoming week-end was sure a miserable one that I spent alone.  She was scheduled to be turned loose to go by herself the following Monday, but at the last minute, they scheduled me to ride with her for two more days.
So, on Monday morning we met up and I apologized for putting her in a bad situation.  My intent was to ask her out after her training was done, so as not to put any pressure on her, but they scheduled us two extra days.  I think I ended up riding with her for most of the week and I left the issue alone and didn’t mention it again.  At the end of our last day together, she said words I’ll never forget.  They were, “I’ll go out with you, Dan”!  I remember, all I could say was “You will?” LOL. So the following Saturday was the first date with Mary!

It didn't take very long after dating her and meeting her family, to realize that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this woman.  We got married about a year later back in Wisconsin in September, 2008.  Our honeymoon was going to a Harley motorcycle rally in Tomahawk, Wisconsin.  She no longer drives professionally, the physical demands were getting to be too much for her.

Update 2018:
Unfortunately, our marriage ended in 2016. The split was amicable and I will always miss some of the great times we had along with all of my Utah step-family who welcomed me into their lives. I am now retired, moved back to my home state of Wisconsin and enjoying the last chapter of my life. All in all, I've been a very fortunate man.

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII

Lone Survivor Book Review

nopc.info

This is an incredibly good read and a true account by the only surviving member (Marcus Luttrell) of a 4 man Navy Seal team whose mission was to go after a Taliban leader in Afghanistan in the 90’s.  I bought the hard cover book several years ago and it was very hard to put down, once I started reading.  Last year, I bought the audio book and it is also available as an eBook.
I was amazed at what these soldiers go through to become Navy Seals, and the story of their mission and fight with the enemy is incredible.  They are truly the “best of the best”.  I highly recommend this book and have had a much deeper respect for the men and women in our Armed services than I ever did before reading it.  Notice how tall Marcus is (he is on the far right in the picture)? He refers to his height many times in the book, now, I know why!
It is so sad that he is the only one that survived of those four heroes, it will bring tears to your eyes.
I am such a fan of this book and that is the truth! After I read it the first time, I passed it on to my brother in Minnesota and another in Milwaukee, telling them both I wanted it back. And I did get it back, with rave reviews!
The book is available in hard or soft cover, eBook and audio book. You can click the link below to go right to the store! Thanks, Dan

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10

Deciding on a Trucking Career, Part VI

houstonryan-flickriver.com

(This is Part VI of a series, “Deciding on a Career”.  I would suggest reading Parts I through V first, they were posted earlier in this blog.)

So, it’s July of 1993, and I have just made the biggest change of my life by packing up and moving to Utah.  Being pretty certain that the opportunity with Ryder and Coke was a good one, I wasn’t too fearful.  Our customer has sales centers throughout the inter-mountain west, the drivers, I found were pretty well satisfied and all went pretty smooth.  I was able to settle in and enjoy my job traveling throughout the beautiful western states.

The early part of 1994, our Senior Logistics Manager’s responsibilities were growing.  Ryder had signed new business in Salt Lake, Las Vegas, Phoenix and other areas and those were reporting to our Senior Manager in Salt Lake.  At one of our safety meetings, he announced that he was looking for 4 drivers to step up and become Driver Trainers.  The position would involve traveling to the other locations he was responsible for whenever needed for training, emergency relief driving, what ever was needed.  While not driving, we were to help out in the recruitment, hiring and training of new drivers wherever and whenever they were needed.  I submitted a resume to be considered and after an interview, I was picked as one of the four.  So began my 18 years and counting as a trainer!

The next nine years were quite a whirlwind in my life.  Ryder’s business was growing rapidly and Craig’s responsibilities were growing with accounts in Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Seattle reporting to him.  During some extended periods, we were traveling constantly, spending weeks at a time assisting at start-ups, hiring and training drivers and backing up drivers at every location he was responsible for.  We were so busy at one point, I did a start-up at a remote location by myself and flew to Medford, OR.  I spent nearly a month meeting with the customer, hiring two drivers, equipping a couple of tractors, setting up the on board computers and training the drivers.

One of our major customers had remote locations in Alaska and Hawaii and I spent five weeks on Oahu with Craig doing a start-up.  Pretty heady stuff for a cheese-head truck driver from Wisconsin!  While working with Craig in Hawaii, he received a promotion to Director of Customer Logistics!  It was a special time and I was proud to be working for him.  The one thing I will always be grateful to Craig for, is he taught me how to work!  He was a hard man to keep up with but he was always willing to step in and do whatever he expected us to do.  I found out that when you bust your butt and do a good job, you may be drop dead tired at the end of the day, but there is a lot of satisfaction in a job well done!

So, throughout the rest of the 1990’s and into the early 2000’s, I was gone quite a bit.  In the early 2000’s, Ryder reorganized, moved teams around and Craig left for a role as Vice-President at another company.  Having spent all those years traveling, I was more than ready to spend more time at home!  Our customer has production centers in Salt Lake City and Idaho and we keep plenty busy with about 50 drivers handling their transportation needs.  We just added a couple of drivers that are domiciled in Phoenix this year.  In fact, I spent a couple weeks down there training and that was the first time in years that I had to fly anywhere.  So, life goes on and all in all, I can say that so far, I’ve had a pretty good trucking career!  In fact, it must have been good, as I married a truck driver!

You’ll have to check back for that story! Dan
Link to Part VII

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII

Kindle Product Review

Kindle Product Review
Truck Drivers need entertainment while having to lay over on the road.  If you’re not familiar with eBook readers and books, it’s time to get into them.  The deals on Kindle readers are outstanding!  If you don’t need the newest, latest and greatest full color Kindle Fire (for $200.), the price of the older black and white Kindle Keyboard with wi-fi is only $139.  There is a new, bit smaller version called Kindle with a 6” screen for only $79.00!!!
I’ve been using my Kindle Keyboard for a couple years now and have countless hours of satisfied reading time on it.  I’m so satisfied with it, I don’t see a need for the fancier versions.  One battery charge and the unit will last a couple weeks.  With these prices you can’t go wrong and eBooks are much cheaper than hard copy books!
You can click the link below to go right to Amazon.  Thanks, Dan

Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored ScreensaversKindle Keyboard 3G, 

Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers

Driver Named Highway Angel for Chain-up Help - Truckinginfo.com

truckdrivingjobsblog.com

Nice to know there are still some “good guys” in the trucking industry.  Here’s a link to an HDT’s Headline News article, Dan 

Driver Named Highway Angel for Chain-up Help - Truckinginfo.com:

'via Blog this'

Downhill Braking

tribblemancenido.blogspot.com

Within the last couple of months, I had a driver say to me “You know it’s normal to see a little smoke from your brakes on a long downgrade.”  I asked him who in the world taught him that? And he gave a vague response.  That kind of misinformation can be disastrous for a driver!

I’ve had to ride along with hundreds of drivers and I am always somewhat amazed at how many brake improperly on downgrades.  It’s been taught for many years now that steady light pressure on the brakes is not the right way to go downhill.  If your brakes are even slightly out of adjustment, on light application of the pedal, the brakes on some wheels will not be doing as much work as others.  That can cause some brakes to heat up and others not.  This can quickly get you in trouble, especially if you do not have a strong Jake brake.

Of course, the first rule of thumb is to downshift to a lower gear before you start your descent. Generally, a safe gear is one you would have to use while climbing the hill. It's extremely difficult to downshift while the truck is increasing speed due to downhill momentum. If you can't catch a lower gear, you will be stuck in neutral and could be in serious trouble.

The proper way to brake on a downgrade is a firm intermittent stab of the brake pedal to take your speed down 5 or 6 MPH.  I don’t mean “slamming on the brakes”.  Just firm pressure to insure that all the brakes are engaged and doing their share of the work.  When your speed drops down 5 or 6 MPH, release and let the Jake work until it climbs back up and your rig needs another brake application.  This has been the recommended method for many years and it does surprise me the number of drivers who do it "old school".

And please, all you newer drivers out there, if you see your brakes smoke on a downgrade, you are not braking properly!  Needing to use an emergency sand pit run off leads to short careers in the trucking industry.  Sorry if I sound like a preacher, but downhill grades are serious business.
Happy Trucking,

Dan

My Amazon Auther Link