road trip OCT 22 through NOV 05

The yard I was at is on the southbound side of the road. It's the same exit as Red River Army Depot.. I dont remember the name, but Im sure the locals know it. It's HUGE, and been there for many years.

done! OK the vibration I was speaking of seems now in the light of day to be only the late night heebie-jeebies caused by hilly terrain, a deserted unlit narrow road full of twists and spooky places, and my imagination. Maybe I kept hearing the 'deliverance' banjo tune and thinking about a breakdown. "You shore got a pretty truck, boy.. you'uns aint from around here are yeh? hee heeee!!"

Present location is Hopkinsville, about an hour from Greenville KY.

Cranetruck -do you have an arrangement there with the proprietor? as far as taking orders for members goes, payment and such..

Ok, so I am going to get some dinner and will be back, so anyone having something in mind sound off!
I hope it does not rain.

If you make it down to Atlanta, I'll buy you lunch...I'm interested in your perspective on the M109. If not, happy journey's!

Andy

I love the M109. Despite the possible issues, it's really a fine solution for a permanent arrangement for sheltered space. And I have always wanted a window or two in the S-280, alas. Let's see how the week goes, I am open to changes in routing. I hope to find more electronics surplus places and wierd junkpiles as well.

Do you have an M109? anyway the lure of a free lunch..

It drizzled a bit here but so far no real rain. Hope it will be clear for tomorrow's explorations.

Patrick, no arrangement with Buddy, who you will be dealing with.

If anybody needs something from Howard's, this is the time to chime in, but you have to work out the method of payment with Patrick.

Today I took a side trip to Grinders, TN. The home town of Minnie Pearl. From I-40, I took HWY 50 southeast, and then north 1/4 mile to the city square. It's an olde-tyme city square for sure, with a huge bronze statue of Minnie right there. I didn't take the time to explore, since the 18 miles of highway from I-40 to Grinders took almost 40 minutes.

The reason this might be of interest to MV'ers, especially M35 and other large vehicle owners, is the very steep grades on HWY 50. Not to be satisfied with this, take HWY 100 from town and then HWY 48 back northeast to I-40. Throw 6000LBS of top-heavy load in the bed of your truck and this route is sure to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, with its snaking banked hairpin turns going up and down thrilling steep grades, engine braking was a must and I spent most of this in 3rd. There is literally nothing to the right, no guard rail, just a steep drop into the woods! Oncoming traffic has a rock face for their passenger's entertainment. The lanes were very narrow and the few bridges way too narrow for two trucks to pass. Maybe this is business as usual for some, but we have nothing like it in Texas. I wish I had been rolling video for this ride, it was very much like an amusement park thrill ride but for keeps and my knuckles were white. And I thought it would be easy when the clerk at the store said "It's all downhill".

Heading north at all? Sam Weiners is in Northern Ohio. I am in S. Ohio and offer food and shelter(maybe an adult beverage too) if you make it through these parts.

I kept the "scenic" routes to a minimum on my trip since there is no place to go in case of a breakdown. Did encounter some interesting highway going North towards Joplin MO from Arkansas that kind of fit your description. There were rock overhangs that made the road seem like a tunnel cut in half (Hwy 59).
A few hours later, I was at the Flying J in Joplin with a dead engine (hydraulic head failure), could have happend on this road, but the truck ran like a champ here.

emmado22 said:

The yard I was at is on the southbound side of the road. It's the same exit as Red River Army Depot.. I dont remember the name, but Im sure the locals know it. It's HUGE, and been there for many years.

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Are you thinking of Red River Parts & Equipment? www.redriverparts.com (903) 547-2226. I have been there and it is on the North side of I-30 at Highway 86. Lots of good stuff. I think their main business is export. Google earth indicates coordinates as 33 28' 11.30" N, 94 20' 13.38"W. Check it out on your GPS.

Yep, thats the place... Walking thru there is a history lession in all the units that have been at Ft Hood.

TXSG_19_commo said:

done! OK the vibration I was speaking of seems now in the light of day to be only the late night heebie-jeebies caused by hilly terrain, a deserted unlit narrow road full of twists and spooky places, and my imagination. Maybe I kept hearing the 'deliverance' banjo tune and thinking about a breakdown. "You shore got a pretty truck, boy.. you'uns ain't from around here are yeh? hee heeee!!"

Click to expand...

Boy isn't that the truth! Alone on the road with a 30 year old/15,000 lb. vehicle you start to imagine all sorts of thing that are about to go wrong! I envy you, looks/sounds like a great trip! I loved the Sonic picture!

There is always:

Shirley's Surplus & Sales
411 Highway 36 West, Barnesville, GA 30204
(770) 358-9555

He has a number of different MV's and other MV related items on his lot. I've visited once a few months back. If you do decide to head this way...holla and lunch is a sure thing

Andy

Patrick, I haven't posted on your trip yet .(but, I am excitedly reading and looking forward to each update from you) I do want to say I really envy you as you take this road-trip. It is a Real Adventure and you must be enjoying yourself. Also , I noticed today that there is a place in Virginia Beach Va. called Commo Central tel# 757-373-6161 that sells surplus electronics and communications equipment.(call them?)

Pat, even though i'm along way away, I love to read about your visits to the various MV resting places and your adventures from day to day. Someday I wanna do something like you are doing out here in the west. Like I said b4, How come all the good stuff happens EAST of the Mississippi???!!! Drive safe, take lots of pictures and have fun!

Will, all the good stuff except the dirt cheap gasser bridge trucks at the Sierra Depot that were rust free. Man I would love to have one of those. Patrick, truck on brother, I'm missing taking deuce trips. Hopefully I'll get to do the east coast convoy this year. 1100 miles one way, WooHoo!

Thank you guys for all your support here. This is the most fun I have had since 1986. Shirley's and Commo Central both seem like good ideas.

I stopped by Howard's and talked with Buddy. The report is that nearly all the military vehicles are gone to scrap. What is left is junk and piece parts. There are some conex's full of parts, and a few hulks, but due to pouring rain, I didn't go too far. I only investigated back about 100 yards on the east side of the road. Also the rain, no pictures.. As a reward for getting wet and muddy, I found 4 LS-454 speakers (VRC-12) and 4 of the short 2'? VHF antennas, two of which fit a sugar scoop, hummer mount, or equivalent, and two of which are the kind with the ceramic insulator. Also some kind of fuel-fired personnel heater, maybe 8" diameterand 18" long, with sort of a 1" diameter tube running halfway down its length, and a box full of electrical stuff on top. There looks like an exhaust pipe on the bottom, not sure. I has a motor inside and says it draws 8 amps while running and is 20,000 BTU. Buddy has alot of hummer seat cushions, offered them to me for $5 each in quantity but I was low on cash after buying the electronic stuff. Someone should go by there and make some deals on what's left, I can't really describe it all, not sure what most of it is for. There was a load of what looked like 28V 400A power supplies on a trailer, supposedly someone is coming to get them.

It rained all day. After leaving Buddy's, I went north on 189 to Uncle Lee's hardware. nice big store with sporting goods too. looks like wal-mart has not got him yet! www.unclelees.com

Drove on out intending to make Charleston for Clark's, but the rain slowed travel. It got dark, and with the poring rain I had to take it slow and easy. The deuce windshield wipers are terrible. I used rain-x and it helped alot. Had to stop every 100 miles or so and put more on.

There is some kind of predator that is not afraid to fly at night in the cold rain. whatever it is, looked like a huge bat or something. It smaked into the passenger side window and busted the wiper balde off the arm. It's a good thing it was the passenger side or I would have been skee-rewed! there's no place to pull off on the what it is I believe the blue ridge parkway which goes up to Lexington.

After making it through Lexington, stopped at the "95 truck stop" in Winchester for dinner at 11PM. To my surprise the wiper blade was lying on the hood of the deuce. The little clip that holds it on the arm was busted off. How a wiper blade can be smashed off by a dragon in the middle of a storm and not fall off the vibrating hood of a deuce for 50 miles or more is beyond me.

The 95 truck stop in Winchester is a classic piece of olde-tyme America. You can smoke in the diner, there are truckers and rednecks and former military guys and some bikers (maybe from the concrete? plant across the street) and the food is great, surly/sweet waitesses, home style cookin', real tough lookin guys talking about Jesus at the next table, a great atmosphere. Maybe this is part of the America I am looking for. I don't want to inject politics or religion, I am just glad I happened to stop there.

Deuce ran good all day, post turbo pyro held at 900 for quite a few of the interstate hills. Would not go higher. I think I will leave things as they are unless anyone objects. Hope the rain is gone in the morning.

Sounds like a hell of a trip. Too bad about Howards, I really wanted to see that! Are you headed to SECO's in Augusta GA? I just saw on their web site that there were no more M75'S. That might be one more good place to see before it's too late.

TXSG_19_commo said:

going up and down thrilling steep grades, engine braking was a must and I spent most of this in 3rd.

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Patrick,

Do you have an engine brake installed? Where did you get it?
A short description and/or picture would be appreciated.

As with Cranetruck's road trip I now follow yours and let my imagination be the video. Thanks for keeping a log of your travels and sharing it with us. Safe driving to you.

Patrick, glad you found a few goodies at least at Howard's.
The weather doesn't look too good for the rest of the week, a lot of rain for the whole area, But if you make it to Clarks in Polka before they close today, they have large indoor storage facilities where you can "shop".

I'm about 200 miles from Clarks, pretty much straight South on I-77. Have a guest house ready for you. Tomorrow?

Take it easy in the rain!

This morning has been a miserable start to the day for me (personal issues). As I fired up the computer, I only had one thought," Where is TSXG 19 Commo today and what happened yesterday. (as there was no report from you on the 26th) To my pleasant surprise there is a lengthy report posted for me to read ( I realize it was not posted only for me but, I enjoy following the trip so much that it seems like it is). I nearly spit my coffee all over the keyboard as I read this" How a wiper blade can be smashed off by a dragon" -now that's funny, I don't care who you are! And as far as them diners are concerned, they are one of the best places to" Really Experience America"! The new avitar is cool also! Thanks once again for keeping us "in the loop" with your road trip. You have really brightened my day, I hope you enjoy your day! Be safe