February 12, 2012

• Miscellaneous Stuff

   One of my favorite places is Harper's Ferry, VA, right where Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland meet.  Sometimes, when I know I'll hit traffic on the way back from my last delivery (if I take the most direct route, which takes me around the Washington D.C. beltway), I'll take the long way back to our terminal.  It adds about 15 miles, but sometimes it can save me a couple hours.  It is also a much less stressful drive, as there is very little traffic and the scenery is just gorgeous. Here are a couple shots taken over my shoulder as we were passing across the bridge from Virginia into Maryland.

   

  

  Not sure if I've posted this already, but I love the shadows of the trees on the cab of the truck.

  

  Another one I might have already shared with you.  Crossing Mt. Weather into the Shenandoah Valley one morning I grabbed this shot of an old truck as we descended into a cloud that was part way down the mountain.

  

  A friend was over and tried to take a family pic at Christmas this year, but when we got the results we realized it was too blurry.  Tina wants me to try again, but for now, this is our family.

  

  Gracie playing on the computer. (with a rainbow wig)

  

  Shenandoah River looking toward Massanutten mountain, the mountain which runs down the middle of the Valley the whole way down to Elkton, VA.

  

  The end of Massanutten Mountain had caught a bit of a cloud just after a storm passed through.

  

  My landlord had a bike he had never gotten fixed.  It's probably 8 or 10 years old, but hadn't been ridden more than just around the neighborhood, b/c something "just wasn't right".  Finally, last month, he told me if I'd get it out of his garage, I could have it.  Took me about 30 seconds to find and fix the mechanical problem, then over a couple of weeks I acquired parts to replace stuff that age had destroyed.  I had to put on a tire, handlebar tape (Danny actually put that on.  It was the first time he's ever wrapped a handlebar, and he did a fine job.  I've seen "professional" jobs that weren't done as nicely.),  a new seat stem (someone had replaced the original with one that didn't fit properly) and a new seat b/c the ones TREK put on their bikes at the store were pretty useless. They said that people always change the seat as soon as they buy the bike anyway, so for years they just put crappy ones on to save cost.

  

   Now it's as good as new.  We've decided that it's going to be Grace's.  Danny had first dibs, since he helped recondition it, but he still likes the one he's currently riding, (the red and white one in the back of the picture above) and when I asked if anyone else wanted it, Sandra and Samantha were considering the idea, and Gracie spoke up without hesitation. She's beyond excited to have her own road bike.

  

  I have one more run by myself this weekend, then for a couple months, I'm scheduled to be training a guy who came over to the trucking side of our business from the warehouse.  He has been with another trainer for a couple months already, but he has to get 400 driving hours before they'll let him out on his own, so he still has a ways to go.  Nice thing about that is that I'll be working only two days a week while he's with me, so I'll have some extra free time on my hands, for the next little while, and assuming no major delays, I'll have Sunday's with my family for a while.

  • 4:35 pm
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