I Didn't Think Pelicans Came This Far Inshore?

I live in Florida.  So besides all the weird news, strange people, and insanely hot weather, we have a lot of wildlife.  Anything and everything you can think of we have.  For bird watchers it's a perfect place. 

Years ago the Pelican was on the endangered species list.  I had no idea how since every time I went near water there were hundreds of them.  It just seems they are bunched up here in Florida, and nowhere else.  Which brings me to something strange that happened to me today.

I walked out to my truck, and yelled, "Oh crap!"  Namely because a bird took a giant crap on it.  This was no mere seagull.  Although, it might have been a sandhill crane.  It was so large that I knew it had to be a pelican.  Which is funny since I live 30 miles east of the ocean, and 20 miles north of the bay.

Pelicans usually hang near the saltwater, but as long as there is water they can land in it.  Let's go to the photos!

I know you can't tell from the photos, but "it" is all the way down my windshield.  It's also on the hood.  So I took my waterhose and sponge and cleaned everything off.

I know this isn't exactly big new.  Birds poop on vehicles all the time.  But I haven't had this truck for even a year now, and I'm a bit protective of her.  I have to keep her for at least another 11 and a half years so I try to keep every little thing perfect on my truck.

Go Truck Myself! Part 3, Urban Warfare

Here's a little light reading before you read this blog.  Since this is part three, I will post the previous chapters.

Go Truck Myself!

Go Truck Myself! Part 2

When I bought my truck I knew I was going to have to upgrade it.  The first thing I did was add a trailer hitch.  That wasn't hard since Dad had an extra one he bought at a yard sale.  I just needed to buy the hitch pin.

The second thing I did was buy and install new tires.  Even though the existing tires only had 33,000 miles on them, they looked like they would only run for another 5,000 miles tops.  So new tires were bought and installed.

The third thing I did was purchase a toolbox.  Since my truck is a single cab I didn't have a backseat to hold things.  So I really needed a toolbox.  I managed to find a great Husky brand toolbox on Craigslist.

Now comes my final addition, a brush guard.  I had been searching Craigslist for a while for the perfect brush guard.  Ford F-150 trucks from 2009 to 2014 could use the same model of brush guard.  While I had seen a fair amount of brush guards for sale, I hadn't seen one that would exactly fit my truck.

I had checked Craigslist, again with no luck.  I kept scrolling down to the (nearby items) section.  I couldn't believe what I saw.  In Arcadia, Fl., roughly 100 miles from me, a seller had the perfect brush guard.  It was Chrome, and made by "Go Industries."  When I looked them up, I found out that the guard normally cost $650 plus tax.  The seller was selling it for $250.

Long story short, I gave him a call and told him I'd meet him the next day.  I drove to Arcadia, and made it to his house fifteen minutes early.  He had a small cow farm on lots of land.  His wife was the Ford truck driver.  She had sold her truck, and aimed to install the brush guard on her new truck.  However, since her new truck was a 2017 the guard wouldn't fit.

Since I didn't try to argue or dick him over on price he offered to install the brush guard on my truck.  He said he had power (air) tools, and I told him,  "I was no glutton for punishment.  I would gladly accept the help."  I'm glad I did.  It took him, his wife, and me to install that thing.  I'll tell you this though, I'm really happy with the air powered drill.

When you tighten metal bolts, you have to do it bit by bit.  You tighten one, then the next, and do it all over again.  So we went around a few times tightening all the bolts with the air gun.  Once everything was repeatedly tightened down it was completely locked down.

So onto the photos!

You can see just how thick the metal bars of the brush guard are.  They are heavy duty.

Honestly, it looks like my truck is wearing glasses.

Down at the bottom it has tow hooks for towing someone, or someone towing me out the mud or sugar sand.

I feel better having the brush guard on my truck.  Not for country driving, but for city driving.  They drive like crazy here in Tampa.  So if they want to hit me from behind they have to go through my trailer hitch.  If they want to go through the front of my truck, they have to go through my brush guard.

I never felt safe on the roads when driving my Saturn or Ford Focus.  I've noticed folks tend to take you a little more serious when you are driving a truck.  Seriously, it's like urban warfare out there on the roads.  But now I feel pretty good.  I've managed to upgrade my truck how I wanted, and keep the price very reasonable.  Now, the good part.  I get to drive it the next twelve years.

Go Truck Myself!

For the last three months I have visited or talked to twelve different auto dealers.  Well, I finally decided on a vehicle.  It's a 2014 Ford F-150 STX.  It is a regular cab/short bed.  And the funny thing is that I found it in the same color as my Mother's Ford Escape, Lightening Blue.

I searched far and wide for the perfect truck.  How wide?  Well, I set Autotrader's search out to 200 miles.  160 miles away in Fort Pierce, Fl. was Arrigo Dodge, and they had this perfect truck for sale.  While most dealers were $3,000 above KBB price, Arrigo actually lowered their price of the truck to $1,000 below KBB value.  So I jumped on that deal.

Let's go to the pictures!

Pretty awesome right?  The funny thing is I hadn't bought a vehicle in 22 years.  That's right.  I bought my Saturn in 1995, and inherited my Grandmother's Ford Focus in 2005.  So I had not bought a vehicle for over two decades.

The STX comes with the side steps and 18 inch tires.  Although, I will have to replace three of them.  One is new, but the other three are only going to be good for another 5,000 miles or so.

This one came with a bedliner so I don't have to worry about adding one.

It also had the receiver for a trailer hitch.  I did have to provide said hitch and hitch pin.

My first vehicle was a 1985 Ford Ranger.  It was pretty burnt out by the time I got it, but I loved that truck.  I was only able to drive it for three years before it was unfixable.  Ever since getting rid of it I have wanted to return to truck ownership, but finances held me back.  So I am glad to own my very own F-150.

Here's an old photo of me with my Ford Ranger.  Remember, it was scanned from an actual photo taken on 9mm film.  It's not a great picture, but it's alright.  It was taken in 1993.

I'm still looking for a toolbox and a brush guard for my F-150.  I'm taking my time to see what good deals are out there.  As I posted earlier, at least I have started my upgrades with the trailer hitch.

The funny thing was I actually managed to buy the truck on my birthday.  Weird, right?  I didn't plan it that way, but the deal was too good to pass up.  Especially when the truck comes standard equipped with Sirius XM radio.

Crushed!

So something lousy happened the other day.  I was trying to do routine maintenance on my Dad's Ford F-150.  In other words, this monstrosity:

 

I did the usual thing I had done before, put the truck up on my ramps, and that's when I had a serious problem.  In other words, it crushed my ramps.

 

As you can see, it just started to bend.  My Dad yelled at me when he saw the ramps starting to bend, and I got off them fast.  But the damage was done.  They are all but scrap metal now. 

I thought about when I bought those ramps.  I bought them used at a pawn shop for $15.  I had been having trouble changing the oil in my Saturn at that time.  Since it was only four inches off the ground I couldn't get under it to change the oil.  So the ramps helped a great deal.  I used them for my next car, a Ford Focus, as well as my Mother's cars, a Ford Windstar and an Escape.  I'd even used them for my Dad's truck for the two times that I ended up changing his oil.

But this third time, the ramps couldn't take it.  They just started to bend.  And it's not like I did anything different.  I had the ramps lined up perfectly, and crept up them as always.  But they just ended up buckling for some reason.

So I ended up searching Craigslist, and found the same kind for sale.  They weren't in as good condition, but they were $25, and I wasn't going to beat that.  So here they are:

As you can see, they are a bit rusted.  I will most likely sand off the rust and re-paint them.  That way, hopefully they will last longer.  Hopefully, they can withstand my little Ford Focus.  I'm definitely going to have someone watch me when I put my car up on these new ramps.  I'll also make sure to put a safety jack under there too.  But one things for sure.  I'm not going to be putting the truck up on these ramps any time at all.

Letting Go A Piece Of Myself

I feel a little roughed up today.  I got to thinking about something that happened last week.  With my birthday coming up that meant it was time to renew my driver's license.  After a lot of thought I gave up my Class A (trucking) license.  After Carroll Fulmer essentially blackballed me from the trucking industry, I knew I would never drive a semi again.  So it didn't make much sense to carry the endorsement on my license.  Here's why.

If I were to get a ticket of any sort, I can't take the classes to get the points off my license.  And due to the way insurance companies will jack up your rates for any points, I thought it was best to give up my Class A.  Especially if I'm not going to use it. 

If you go to some of the first of my blogs on this site you will see they are about trucking school and trucking in general.  It has been a part of me since 2008.  It like, "how do I not be a truck driver?"  Some of my best songs for my band are about truck driving.  In fact, I think my best song is, in part, about truck driving.  It's such a part of me, and I feel like I've just killed it off.

Despite all the crap that I went through with Covenant, I liked the job.  I had a few great runs, and a great co-driver in Eric.  It was all the paperwork, and things that got screwed up at the front office that I didn't like with them.

Going to Carroll Fulmer was the worst mistake I could have made.  It was one lie after another, and they sent me to some of the shittyist places I've ever been.  There's no way they should have sent me to some of those places.  And all the crap they put on my DAC report just killed any chance I could get on with another company.  In the end it just wasn't worth what any trucking company was paying.  There's a reason they always need truckers. 

So like a lot of things in life, the world isn't split into perfect and awful things (or jobs in this case.)  There was a lot I liked about it.  And there was a lot I didn't like about it.  But regardless it was a piece of me.  And that I will miss.

And for memory's sake, here's a picture of my last truck with Covenant:

And here is a picture of my favorite truck, Trouble.  She was the first one I got after training.

Carcass

When I worked for Covenant Transport out of Chattanooga, TN., there was one thing that really bothered me.  They had a policy that stated that drivers had to bring back a tire carcass to a terminal if they had a tire replaced on the road.  If the driver didn't do that, they would then charge the driver $300 for a new tire.

Even I had this happen to me.  I actually had two tires die on me while driving out on the road.  I had to bring those tires to a terminal, and get a receipt for two dead tires.  Actually, they had me drive empty from Atlanta to Chattanooga to drop off those two tire carcasses. 

Why they have this policy in place I have no idea.  I burned up $100 in diesel just to drop off dead tires.  When tires are repaired at a T.A. or Petro, they take digital pictures of the tires and send them to the breakdown department at Covenant.  That way, breakdown can make sure the repairs are necessary, and okay them at that moment.  So why would I need to bring in the tire carcasses?

It got me to thinking... (Note: While driving I have a bunch of time to think.  A dangerous habit, I know.)  What if I hit a deer?  Would I need to bring in a deer carcass?

(In all fairness, I wasn't going to show a real deer carcass.  That would just be awful.)

This would lead to all sorts of odd questions.

1.  How much of the carcass would I need to bring in?
2.  Would a head be okay, or would I need to bring the whole thing in?
3.  Is it okay if I field dress (gut) it before I bring it in?
4.  Can I come in soon?  The buzzards keep following me down the interstate.
5.  It's summer.  This thing is really starting to smell.
6.  It's winter.  This thing is frozen to the back of the truck.
7.  Actually, where would I put it?  I have a tire rack on the back of the semi, but should I just strap the deer to the hood?
8.  If I hit the deer in one state, am I allowed to cross state lines with a dead deer?
9.  When I go through the agricultural stations, will they let me pass or will I need a permit to carry dead deer on my hood?
10.  Say, what are you all going to do with that carcass once you have it? 

Again, I spend way too much time thinking.  But then again, with Covenant Transport you never know.