swisschris62

That's sounds like one hell of an offer ! Man is it pretty up there. Very cool mountains and rocks. I take 60/70 over to thatcher ( copper mine) all the time. Looks like you might be modifying your itinerary yet again

I can't believe this is real. But there's a web site...tells you the history of the game and about the "inventers" and how it came to be. So I still think I'm being taken for a ride...but it tells me where I can even buy this "game". So I go to the stores web site ...and ol and behold , there's the game, and for 21 bucks I can have it shipped to my house. Big suprise here....Walmart is selling it! If these guys become millionaires behind this game I will seriously consider throwing in the towel on this hard work stuff. If these guys become millionaires from this I will feel like a complete dunce for having busted my butt all these years and not having reached millionaire status. Any inventors/financiers want to help me get the next hot new game launched? The name of the game will be "Road Kill". Players will have the option to either be the good guy or the bad guy. The bad guy will hunt these fury little creatures down and run them over, the good guy will come in and try to rescue them. Any takers?

I don't like seeing anyone have it hard and be lonely either....especially during the holidays. That being said, going on craigslist looking to rent a family and crying a sad song looks like a pitch for hand outs. If this girl really had it hard, went to prison, got out, turned it all around blah blah blah, you would tend to think that there was some sort of support group helping her succeed. Otherwise she probably would have ended up going back to what she knew and the people she knew. To think she did it all on her own and has not a single person to turn to seems like a little bit of a stretch. Ill tell you, truckstops are magnets for hustlers with sad stories. They prey on truckers and travelers. It's always the same story...they broke down traveling cross country with their babies in the car and need money to get the car fixed, they ran out of gas ...with their babies in the car, women will tell you their husbands beat them up and drove off without them... I could go on and on. They use their kids as props,... You feel bad because somewhere along the line I'm sure someone really did need help but when you hear the same stories day in and day out you get numb to them. I think unless your a complete screw up, everyone has someone they can call for help. If your a woman, standing in a truck stop parking lot, and your story is your boy friend just beat you up and left you stranded and your only option is to knock on truck doors begging for money then I think it's pretty safe to say there's more to the story. I guess well just have to wait to see how this one plays out....

One other thing...your right about the time being almost equal on either route. On 10 you'd most likely shut the door and get 'er done whereas on 90 your going to stop along the way. Once your west of Sanderson you'll go through a couple small towns that you might want to stop at. Marfa ( small town on 90), just west of town there on the south side of the road they have one of those balloons tied down. It's one of those "weather" balloons that might also catch people sneaking across the border. In any case it looks like a little mini blimp and lives there. If it's not up you can easily see it. If it's up and it's a clear night you can see the lights. More times then not, I've gone by there and it's tied down.

I'll tell you, there's a part of me that almost feels guilty for thinking like this but you hear so many bs stories these days. Scammers pulling on people's heart strings to get over. Gay waitress story comes to mind. Why would I not be suprised if she comes from a good home, dads a dentist, brothers and sisters and she's the only one who went astray. Maybe this story won't turn out that way...

I'm telling you, you won't regret it. I run up through there when I'm coming out of Laredo...everytime is like a first time. It's really beautiful, rugged and about as in the middle of nowhere that you can get in the US. This time of year you won't have the 130* temps either. A couple words of advice... Not sure what you do recreationally as far as partying goes ( don't care either) but, it might be a good idea not to have anything illegal in the car. Me personally, I usually call my wife when I'm in del rio. I tell her when I'm leaving and call her again when I get to the 285 (Sanderson, Tx). I just think its a good idea to let someone know your out there and when they can expect to hear from you again. There's some dead areas out there even with verizon and some of the other carriers are worse. Wild life....once it starts getting dark, there's a lot of it. Have a blast!

If you want to add a little adventure and go a route that very few travel I would suggest getting off the 10 when you come out of San Antonio and jump on the 90 ( Texas/pecos trail). You can run that right into El Paso. The only town along the way is del rio otherwise your looking at about 500 miles of loneliness. It's beautiful down there...lots of wild life, the rio grande, and a couple interesting tiny towns. Doesn't really add too much time to the trip and would be a neat experience.

Apparently these systems are already being used. In Europe it is widely used. I read that even the Long Island rail road has this system on some of their lines. Seems a little crazy not to have a back up system to stop a train in case something were to happen to the engineer. So basically on the metro north, if say the engineer had a heart attack, the only way that train could be stopped is if it ran out of track or came in contact with something big and stationary. I'll bet they start retrofitting their locomotives now....

I'm suprised he didn't ask you for your routing number and maybe social security number just to make absolutely sure you'd get your money. Then you'd know for sure for sure that he's serious.

It would be a good back up system in the event something happened to the engineer or something mechanically failed on the train. It's crazy to think that the way it's set up now the train would just keep hurtling down the track, gaining speed going through stations with nothing to stop it but air and whatever else is in its path. There are safety features in elevators to keep them from free falling to the ground also. Comparing a plane to a train as far as operating them is vastly different when it comes to the operator and his job.

You wouldn't care to elaborate on your experience instead of us just taking your word for it...would you? I'm not trying to be too personal but I figure since you didn't have a problem asking me about going to the bathroom in my truck and I was more then accomodating with my answer, it's only fair

Being that he was in the kitchen, maybe he was leaving the oven door open...

I thought trains had something that prevented them from going way faster then the track was meant for. With electric trains it could be done just by reducing power in the area I would think. I read somewhere this isn't the first train to roll it in that curve although the other one was freight not people. If there is a way to slow the train automatically then it would probably be worth using that sort of system...at least on commuter trains with hundreds of people in them.

I wasn't quite sure how to write it in the "subject" line

http://youtu.be/cr9zNznYd98 This guy has to be the luckiest guy on the planet!! He's a cook on a ship that sinks. Boat is at the bottom ( 100') for 3 days! Divers are down there looking to bring up the dead when they see a hand. It's at about the 5:45 min mark on the video.

My brothers farm is right on the German border in a very small town called tagerwilen. It is on Lake Constance. I think it would be an awesome experience for her. I know the people that have stayed on my brothers farm are treated just like family. They all eat together, on Sundays they go down to the lake and swim, he takes them to Konstanz to see things... There's no doubt they work hard, but everyone works hard. It's a group/family effort. I would love to hear how it goes.

Being that you guys cross regularly could be part of the reason it's easier also. I guess you could compare it to getting on a military base. When I/we show up we usually get through the gate pretty quick whereas some trucks get held up and it takes longer. Even though we are all owner ops, our company has a good reputation and our safety scores are good. Like your company, we are known to run good equipment, I think it would be safe to say we have a reputation of having some of the nicest trucks on the road. Other then the incident with the dog I always got across without any problems. For a while they made crossing a little more of a p.i.a. and then the dog thing happened. Between rates, available freight, weather, road conditions, speed limits etc. I decided to keep it in the states. Be safe out there and hope you get to the house for the holidays...

Speaking only for myself...I am not racist. I have no reason to say I'm not because I have an agenda or need people to like me. I don't judge people based on the color of their skin. If I feel a situation could be dangerous I try to avoid having to find out for sure, color having nothing to do with it. I a neither the smartest guy in the planet or the dumbest. I think this is about using your common sense. Such a touchy subject because regardless of what you say you come across as though your singling out blacks. That is so not the case, in my case anyway. I also believe if someone really wants to better themselves and really wants to work then the opportunities are there for anyone.

That would be stupid and a waste of energy for when you really needed it. So let me see if I understand you...when you walk down the street everyone is the same/equal and no one ever makes you put up a cautious eye? Personally, I don't put myself on a heightened state of alert regardless of who is approaching me. Color of skin or whether it be one person or a group have nothing to do with how I base my decisions. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it just might be a ....duck! Is that racist?

Probably not...but if a certain " group" of white people started attacking people you'd be smart to be wary of people that look like they could belong to that group. Isn't that how you would handle it? As for them wanting jobs...last i checked there are jobs to be had ( if you want one)...but for argument sake, what sorts of jobs do you think they'd like to be handed to them, how hard are they willing to work ( LOL), and how much money you think they would like?

The farms that participate in this do it year after year. On my brothers farm they've been getting help for 50+ years. All the other farms in the area get help too. Very tight knit communities, they all know each other and help each other and lend each other equipment in my experience. I don't blame you for being careful but I don't think you have anything to worry about. She might be living in a room with no electricity and going 1 and 2 in a little stone out house but hell, that just adds to the story!

Do we really need another Lowes? This is how they build them...each piece is numbered and goes together like a big puzzle. Anybody have an opinion on when 3d printing will become the way things are done eliminating the need to have it built off site?

So you like cranes .... I've hauled lots of cranes over the years, or maybe I should say, I've hauled pieces of these monsters. This crane was set up in queens, NY for a new facility the power company was building. These cranes are set up only for the heaviest of lifts. This particular crane took well over 100 trucks to move. We brought it to NY from GA and from there it went to the Bay Area to a refinery. That's what I'm doing here...picking up my part of it. This is one of the bigger crawler cranes I've been apart of hauling. The crane itself was huge. The piece you see here ( on wheels) is the additional counter weight they set up and then attach to the crane itself in order to be able to lift more weight...LOTS more weight. The guy standing on it gives you an idea how big it is. Each one of those " plates" and "blocks" are added to increase the work load. Each one of those plates and blocks weighs anywhere from 20,000 - 30,000 lb a piece. Most of the extra weight has already been taken off in this picture. It's quite an impressive piece of machinery and it's massiveness gets lost in pictures.

Suggested speed limit in the curve there is 15mph. I'm not an accident investigator, but I'd say its safe to say he was going just a little faster.

In china the best and brightest minds got some magnets and built a train that can go 300mph. In the uk they got magnets and built a better bra.