Trucks are required to have red & white reflective tape on the sides & rear of a semi trailer and 3 identification lights and 2 marker lights (amber in front, red in rear) on each end of a tractor-trailer. There is also a white 'picture frame' reflective tape on the top rear corners of a semi trailer. These are the conspicuity regulations intended to increase safety by making trucks more visible.

It's a little disconcerting when you're driving along on a dark night and the hillside along the side of the road moves. That's what it's like sometimes when you suddenly realize you are driving along side a train. Trains have no conspicuity regulations. Though most use a FRED (Flashing Rear End Device), they are not required.

I wonder how many people, late on a moonless night at a rural grade crossing, have driven (or almost) right into the side of a moving freight train?

I received my tax refund yesterday. It's already gone.

I finally ordered my new radio from Universal Radio!


Check this out:
Kenwood TS-480HX 160-6M Transceiver
SO-3 High stability temperature compensated crystal oscillator
YF-107SN 1.8 kHz SSB Filter
VGS-1 Digital Voice Unit
SP-50B Mobile speaker

It should be waiting for me when I get home

OK, get your minds out of the gutter and click on THIS!
Gotta love the writer's choice of words.

If you still have some time to waste, this guy is amazing! (Thanks, Bucky)

I'll be getting back to Fontana sometime on the 22nd. Hitting the road again on March 2nd.

My favorite song right now:

Don't take it too seriously, I'll still be on the road for a little while.

This guy is pretty good.

The Canonical List of Banjo Jokes

What's the best thing to play on a banjo?
A flame-thrower.

Where do banjo players play best?
In traffic.

How is playing the banjo a lot like throwing a javelin blindfolded?
You don't have to be very good to get people's attention.

What's the best way to tune a banjo?
With wirecutters.

How is lightning like a banjo player's fingers?
Neither one strikes in the same place twice.

Mark Twian's definition of a gentleman: A man that can play the banjo and don't.

"The banjo is such a happy instrument--you can't play a sad song on the banjo, it always comes out so cheerful. Doom, dispair, & agony on high...see you just can't do it." --Steve Martin

When the say 'Keep on rolling', They don't mean rolling over

Typical winter day in Wyoming.

Just e-filed my taxes. Getting a fat refund! It'll more than put me over the top for my Kenwood TS-480HX (and all the cool options)fund. I'll be hamming it up on HF in no time!

Made a stop in Boise, ID last night. Jesse KC7SIK came up and said high, he's a fan af the camera. Jesse is the ham who showed me how to put the automatically updating map below the camera display. It's always great when I get emails, or even better, get to meet people who like the camera. Very cool!

Rough day on I-84 in Utah

I started my shift in Fargo, ND last night and proceeded to take state highways through the darkest depths of Minnesota. Drove through Brainerd, where the giant statue of Paul Bunyan is. Couldn't see it though, would have been cool to get a picture of it. Of course that would have meant getting out of the truck, and there was no way in heck that was going to happen. It was seven degrees below zero outside! Anybody see the movie Fargo? I think I hear a wood chipper.

Speaking of wood chippers, I'm dropping a load of plastic sheeting at a paper plant outside Duluth, MN. It's -9°F here. They said I should have been here the other day when it was really cold. Crazy Minnasotans...grumble...grumble...grumble...

My old boss is from Minnesota. Now it all makes sense.... Maybe I'll mail ole' Fred some Lefse.

I just had the coldest, wettest, dirtiest, unnecessary, frustrating experience of my life. All so I could drive 8 miles down Cabbage Hill (aka Deadman Pass) & undo it all. It's called Chaining Up, and it should never be done to a truck. It is only done when DOT says you have to.

We were supposed to put on 6 sets of chains, a pair on each drive axle & a pair on a trailer axle. We put on 4 sets. It took 2 hours. Each set weights 60-80 Lbs. We didn't need any, the roads were clear.

The other night was pretty rough in Wyoming. High winds (of course!) and ice everywhere. They say you can't drive on ice. If you are one of the few drivers who can keep his foot off the brake & throttle, you can get away with something that can't be done. If you have the discipline to stay slow, stay away from everybody (so you have no reason to try to use the brakes), and just get in line with the other trucks that are making it through, you can pull it off.

The icy patches will be clearly marked. Each one will have a four-wheeler (4 wheel vehicle, usually a derogatory term) in a ditch to let you know where it is.

I've been parked in the left lane of WY I-80W, mm196 for almost two hours while a jackknifed truck is cleared. Wyoming is an ice rink tonight. I'm not far behind the wreck, so it's probably one of the trucks that passed me.