cadillac forklift......

i've always wanted to run the forklift.....thru the years i've become convinced that trucking isn't really about the movement of goods across the country.....around the world, even......what's it's really all about is creating a playing field for the millions of operators who spend an eight hour shift shuttling stuff from warehouse shelving to trailers that move it on so the next person can play......
it did nothing to help my "forklift wanderlust" to spot this little beauty yesterday in fremont, california.........now this area has reasonable mild weather year round but being california, they do have winds....and rains.....and winds......and i think this guy took all that into account with his design....he shrink-wrapped over the cardboard cab!!.......
i was really impressed with his efforts.....how meticulously he cut out for the windows and lights.....how neat everything fit together......i think he's onto something here.....he could market this design......this cadillac of forklifts!

hole in the rock.....

yesterday i showed you a little bit of the scenery from our run up thru colorado and utah on us 491 and us 191......it's a gorgeous drive, and what would any self-respecting gorgeous drive be without a few tourist traps along the way?????there are more than a few along the ride up this way.....mostly native american's selling blankets, and pottery, and jewelry,....the turquoise selection alone is worth the drive thru here.....one of the largest and possibly best known tho, is the "hole in the rock"........just below moab, utah.......





pretty much the first thing you see when you enter is this jeep....the body of the jeep is covered with license plates from all the states.....and everything else is welded tools and hardware.....i cannot begin to imagine how long it took the artist to even collect the materials for this project, let along the hours welding it all together......(babygirl didn't give a rat's derriere about the work involved, she just tried to figure our how to get that bone on top from the jeep to our truck!)





the seats of the jeep are also made of tools and hardware.......



and this is a closeup of the "tires".......talk about a "rough ride".....



and this is brad with a bull by the same artist......

and a golfer made entirely of clubs........

a cute little tow truck that should have had a bit part in the movie, "cars"......

fdr.....

i loved this.....notice the pantaloons showing at the bottom of the top door and the men's boots and trousers at the bottom door????.....who says it's a man's world????.....

if you find yourself out this way, be sure to stop......in addition to all this art, there is a tour of the house built back into the rock...a gift shop and a general store....and a sighting of big foot!....you just never know what you're gonna find along the road.

rock on.....

last week we came up from gallop, new mexico on us 491.......crossing thru the southwestern corner of colorado and then into utah and going north on us 191 ......we were headed to portland, oregon....by way of the "backroads"......lol......i probably took a thousand pictures.....the scenery is just amazing......wide flat valleys, ensconced on both sides by volumous mountains....the snow-covered western slope of the rockies to the east and the la sal range to the west....i'd have to blog at least 10 times to show you all the beauty along this drive....so i picked out a few of my favorites to share.....


crossing the colorado river just above moab, utah.....

balancing rock........there's even a motel named for it at the base of this mountain......i'm not sure i'd get a good nite's sleep there, as i tend to "unbalance" things at times.....

brad and babygirl in the wilson arch....brad is a lover of all things rocky.....he loves to climb and babygirl's always ready for an adventure with dad......

wilson arch.....named after joe wilson, a pioneer who had a cabin nearby....this formation is known as entrada sandstone.....over time, the superficial cracks, joints and folds of these layers were saturated with water....ice formed in the fissures, then melted in the extreme desert heat and winds cleaned out the loose particles......over the years many have crumbled, but some, such as the wilson arch, seen here, hardened and survived.....i didn't make this up, there's a sign at the base of the arch.......

this is just one of my other favorites.......i don't know what this one is named.....it sits near the highway in a long sweeping valley, majestically overseeing the area.......beaten by the wind and rain over the years, it's almost impossible to think it wasn't sculpted.....if you look closely at the southern base, there appears to be an opening into the bottom of it.......hmmmmm......

oh lord, won't ya buy me a new western star......

a couple of friends on facebook are always posting first lines or verses to songs on their status and most of the time, other friends will fill in the rest of the tune.....some of them are fresh and modern....others take you on a trip down memory lane........tonite my friend, jody's status was the janis joplin hit.....oh lord, won't you buy me a mercedez benz........took me straight back to the mid america truck show in louisville, ky......1999, i think....or maybe 98.......

western star's booth was doing a promotion and giving away free prizes and perhaps even a chance to be featured in an ad campaign....and all you had to do was get up on stage and give them a slogan idea, sing a song or act something out...........

well, always having prided myself on being a quick thinker on my feet.....and never having been particularily shy.....and aided by enormous prodding, coaching and even a little double-dog-daring from the bunch i was with.....i found myself on stage......and this was my contribution.....

oh lord, won't ya buy me a new western star

my friends all drive volvo's

i need a new large car

worked hard all my lifetime

drove near and drove far

oh lord, won't you buy me

a new western star.......

well, i did get a hat...a couple of them....and a t-shirt.....but no recording contract....not even a discount on a new star.........

get up! ethel, you ain't gonna believe this.......

coming thru amarillo on i-40 we found ourselves in a big ole backup that took forever to get thru......even tho truckdrivers are alot like nascar drivers and don't like to think about someone else's wreck and how it could happen to them, they also can be as bad as four-wheel drivers when it come to slowin things down to do some rubber-neckin......you can enlarge the photos and get a better look....please note that we're headed east.....and the trailer is across the west-bound lanes.......

at first i thought the tractor was hidden behind the firetruck or the tow truck.....but i was wrong....

as i got closer, there was the tractor in the far left lane of the east bound side......he'd obviously jumped the jersey barrier .........as we passed, it was set upright, but from the looks of it, it wasn't always that way......it's hard to see them in the pictures, but there were a couple of cars involved too.....cars on the east bound side......cars that probably never expected that big blue truck to jump the concrete wall and tangle with them......any ambulances that had been there were long gone and we never had any information about injuries......just goes to show ya, nothin is set in stone....not even when there's a four foot wall of stone between ya......be safe out there!

not all cleavage is created equal

brad and i stopped in oregon to empty our porta potty at the rv station in the rest area.....i couldn't help but notice the person working on their camper a couple of lanes over from us.....i think it was that massive expanse of white that drew my attention.....you know how it is.....you see a butt crack.....you don't wanna look......you even find it distasteful.......and yet, in just the same way you can't keep your fingers off a pimple on your face, you just can't seem to divert your eyes entirely from the cleavage before you.......you find youself wondering why alot of men can't seem to get a pair of jeans that simply "fits" them.......and then the guy stands up and turns around and........it's a woman!......

bg and the horses

we have about 12 acres of unused pasture & a barn at the house and so we let a guy from down the road board a few of his horses there......they're always happy to see us come home and always head straight for the fence, hoping for some petting and a treat or two......they just can't decide what to think about babygirl tho.......she goes flyin at them all barky and puffed up like she's gonna ride herd and just about the time she has them a little skitterish.......she stops short and turns to her dad and says "dad, those are the biggest freakin dogs i have ever seen!"