Trust Land

[Chas1]

I would imagine in SD the interstates like much of Florida's interstates are pretty straight so I'm guessing here that the truck driver either dozed off a bit or who knows what. Unless it was on a curve and well you know.

In Florida there's a law that either you move over one lane or slow down to 20 mph below posted speed limit. So for example if FHP is on the shoulder with light flashing even if it's to help a stranded citizen then you move from the slow lane to the middle lane or stay in slow lane but, slow to 20 mph below posted speed limit. Most FHP fatalities are attributed to the very thing you mentioned.

Even with lots of announcment by radio and local tv before it was enacted it took a while for folks get with the program but, after enough tickets and a couple of years I now see folks moving over most of the time as I travel about 40 miles roundtrip on I-95 each day. You really can't appreciate how fast 55 let alone 70 mph is unless you've been on the shoulder like changing a flat and a semi goes by or even a car...Man it's fast. It ought to be a required field trip exercise for all new licenses but then again safety would be an issue so probably not a good idea.

Hopefully your 2003 incident was w/o injury. Take care and be careful out there.

 

[specweldtom]

A long time ago, truck drivers were the best, most conscientious drivers on the road, but that changed over the years. There are still a lot of skilled professional drivers, but there are also way too many that are not. I drove heavy oilfield trucks, mostly 18 wheelers, for 2 years in N E Texas. A lot of them were permit loads. To me all of them were deadly weapons, and I did not want to be involved in hurting or killing people, even when they did really dumb stuff. To this day, when I have to pull over on to the shoulder for any reason, I constantly look back at oncoming traffic. Depending on where it is, anybody riding with me has to get out of the vehicle and watch too. Rubberneckers and cell phone users are a serious threat, particularly to cops, but probably sleeping drivers and drunks are still the worst.

I apologize for getting preachy, but 3 years ago we had a young State Trooper killed at a stop 10 miles from my home. Nobody is better trained than they are, but it happened anyway.

Roaddog, don't let anything happen to you. Zeus would miss you for sure.

Shiny side up, rubber side down. Tom

 

[roaddog1m]

We have the same "Move over" law here. There were a lot of emergency vehicles on scene and anyone with half a brain would have slowed down long before coming to the incident area. You just want to creep through those as slow as possible.

I didn't get injured in my 2003 incident but I had a state trooper riding shotgun in my patrol car. He got a relatively minor laceration on one of his legs from bouncing around inside and coming into contact a sharp corner of an equipment mount.

The insurance company wanted to meet with me right away and nail down a statement. I met with them and we talked for a while before I realized that it was the insurance company for the truck driver. He was kind of pretending to be for the county. I guess they thought I would sue them or something. The driver got a ticket but I didn't sue.

I have to work tonight and Wednesday Night at the Range is on the Outdoor Channel. I'm glad I have a DVR! I usually come home in the middle of the night and play it back. I fall asleep in my recliner. (A little slice of heaven) gun)

 

[Chas1]

+1 w/Specweldtom. A long time ago, truck drivers were the best, most conscientious drivers on the road, but that changed over the years.

Used to be that way with just regular drivers but now forget it. I've been rear ended by a drunk that fell asleep...had a funny ending but I got to go to work so I'll share later...good for a laugh.

 

[dero30]

Hey roaddog1m, whats going on?!!! I'm looking forward to your next post, things seem to have gone quiet here, have I missed somthing?
waiting....waiting.....!!!

 

[Chas1]

You haven't missed anything but, some of us are getting worried. Hope nothings happened.

 

[winmag]

You haven't missed anything but, some of us are getting worried. Hope nothings happened.

+1 chas
I sent him a P.M. and no response yet. Hopefully he's just takin care of bad guys, and feeding his maligator, and is too tired to post a reply.
I dont know, but theres a few of us that are a little anxious to see if he's ok.

Roaddog, COME HOME!

 

[roaddog1m]

Sorry guys, I got some bad new from home and had to make an emergency trip back for a few days. My Dad has been in a nursing home since last fall and he has been going down hill fast. Got the news that his kidneys were shutting down and it would only be a few more days most likely.

The old man worked two jobs when I was a kid. He still had time to take me hunting and fishing though. We had a flat bottom river boat and used to set throw lines in the Missouri River. We tied them to pilings and we would go back and check them every day. Sometimes we'd beach up on a sand bar and swim or just wade while we ate our lunch and had a pop. We hunted ducks up and down the river and I have some pretty good stories from those days. My Dad hardly ever missed a duck, and if he did, my brother and I got a good laugh out of it for some reason. He was the first person I ever heard talk about "instinctive pistol shooting". He taught me to take a more squared stance than was popular at the time and look over the top of the barrel like a shotgun with both eyes open. Twenty-five years later, all the LE departments are teaching the same thing. LoL He was a big fan of John Browning and his shotgun of choice back in those days was an old A-5. (that was the days of lead shot) After her retired from the railroad, (I was still in the Navy) my folks moved up to SD onto Big Stone Lake. He built a single level house with 36" doorways and a 2 1/2 car attached garage. He decided that they were going to live there as long as they could. Mom is still there but it's too big (7 lake lots) for her now.
Anyway, I'll get back to the story here pretty soon. Just been a little pre-occupied. I did manage to get into a little fight Sunday with a drunk though. (He lost)

Tom

 

[Chas1]

roaddog1m, sorry to hear your Dad isn't doing well. My thoughts and prayers are with you and yours. Take care.

 

[winmag]

roaddog1m, sorry to hear your Dad isn't doing well. My thoughts and prayers are with you and yours. Take care.

What Chas said. On the lighter side, reading your P.M. you did make him smile, as he recognised his son and buddy!He said ''Sonny'' right? So aparently you both had fun fishin and huntin. Stuff like that says alot wiyhout saying anything at all.
I wish you and your family the best.

 

[LRSickle]

roaddog1m, sorry to hear your Dad isn't doing well. My thoughts and prayers are with you and yours. Take care.

+1 on what Chas1 said.

 

[dero30]

roaddog1m, sorry to hear your Dad isn't doing well. My thoughts and prayers are with you and yours. Take care.

+3 on Chas1

Take as long as you need, we're not goin any where.

 

[roaddog1m]

I know that this is not what you would normally post in the Humor section but I wanted to post this where my friends who've been following "Trust Land" would see it. My Dad passed away last night after a long illness. He was 85 years old.
My Dad worked two jobs most of his life and always had time to take us fishing or hunting. Once a year he would let me stay home from school to go duck hunting. Usually on a day when the "Mudballers" were flying. (Mudballers are mallards that have sat out in the Iowa cornfield feeding and then tried to to fly with big gumbo mud balls stuck to their feet. Not able to get more than tree top high usually and looking for the closest body of water to soak their feet)
We camped a lot during the summer and usually fished out of a 16' flat bottom river boat. He called me "Sonny" in his later years and like to hear stories of me working out on the Rez. We would have coffee and I'd tell stories as we would waste most of a morning sitting at his kitchen table. He was the original Tom Sawyer as a kid, growing up on the Missouri River during the depression and even building his own boats. He went into the Navy during WWII and became an Electricians Mate. After the Navy, he married my Mom (over 50yrs ago) and had a large brood of hellians who are my brothers and sisters. I was the last of the Mohicans, Mom and Dad getting the surprise when my Dad was 41yrs old.
I'm going to miss him.

 

[specweldtom]

I never know what to say, so I'll quote a man named Cotton Cordell (I'll bet your Dad knew of him): "Teach your children to love the Lord, teach them to love their family, teach them to love their country, and then when the time comes, no drug dealer can teach them anything".

I thought that the sun rose and set on my Dad, until he started drinking, and it got rocky after that, but I am still astonished at how much of him I find in myself and my 2 brothers, mostly the good stuff, not much of the bad. All 3 of us are veterans, like him, our families all think that we can fix anything, or make anything, just like him. We all love to hunt, shoot, and fish, like him, and he even taught us hard lessons about alcoholics. We saw enough to know we would never be alcoholics. He was 78 when he passed, had been sober for 5 yrs, and had embraced Christ as his saviour. He reconciled with some of his family, and one of my granddaughters loved him instinctively the first time she ever saw him. All in all, he could have done worse and so could we.

As time passes, some of the sting will pass also, Tom