There
has been somewhat of a "hole" in my photo log, but the truth is
that not everything that you see is worthy of a photo. We
left our friends John and Alice in Warrenton and headed to meet
Kathleen's brother in Milford, PA. From there, we went to
see one of Kathleen's lifelong friends at her place in New
Jersey. Deby had schedule constraints, so to allow us to
meet and be sensitive to her schedule, we put the pedal to the
metal and headed toward New Jersey. We had a pretty long
travel day, but met our objective. From NJ, we headed out to
Long Island to visit Kathleen's relatives.
The photos below are what we saw.
Most
of our travels have been on back roads, but for this segment we
had to boogie from point A to point B. While on the freeway,
we spotted something unique. Kathleen saw him first through
her rear view mirror. When he got close enough, she got the
photo above. We could tell from the profile that it was a
military truck, but the specific type was not clear. And, we
were going 60 mph, and he was overtaking us.
As
he passed us, we got a better view of the cab area. The cab
appears to be armored with suicide doors. Note the massive
hinges on the door. What appears to be slashes or
disruptions in the tread of the spare tire are actually straps
that are used to hold the tire in place. Finally, note the
mount for an HF antenna.
The
truck had a European style bed with side boards that folded
down. Just like the mog and Thor. A rather small fuel
tank.
From
the rear, the rig does not look that stout. Perhaps 2.5 ton
capacity? Thor is a 5 ton truck in the same form factor.
A
closeup of the rear shows that there are no plates or ID markings
of any kind. Note the wimpy hinges for the tailgate. I
am not sure what this truck is exactly, but I will guess it is an
LMTV, armored.
We
arrived at Kathleen's brother's place in Milford, PA. Eddie
and Amy were traveling from Long Island and we arrived before
them. We went to dinner at a very nice restaurant in
Milford called Hotel Fauchere. Next morning, we were put to
work. Eddie had home improvement actions and ordered a load
of supplies from the local Lowe's. He had several pallets of
stuff, so the delivery guy showed up in a full-sized 18-wheeler
with forklift.
The
forklift was fascinating. Small and agile but quite powerful.
The
lift was designed for very close quarters and could nearly fold
itself in half.
Everything
on the lift is hydraulically powered. Each wheel has its own
hydraulic motor and each wheel is steerable.
The
large number of degrees of freedom required lots of hydraulic
plumbing to control it.
Part
of the remodel effort was to repair dry wall and add
insulation. Note the walls. Above is Sal, Eddie's son;
Sal was leading the effort.
This
is an external wall and was under insulated..
Some
of the electrical work was just plain scary. Aside from
non-connection of the ground wires, this connection was not in a
junction box.
The
breaker box was cleaned up and a few extra lines were added to
support the ad hoc wiring that we discovered under the walls.
Insulation
was inserted and routes were added for audio cables.
Dry
wall was installed and spackle was applied in preparation for
painting.
The
ceiling was going to be covered in dry wall as well, but that
would happen the following week. We ended our visit and
headed toward New Jersey to visit a life-long friend of Kathleen.
We
spent several days with Kathleen's friend Deby and then headed
north again to visit a fellow mogger, Bob, in Highland
Lakes. En route, we encountered this large draw bridge.
Ah,
metropolitan New York City. What I miss least about living
there: traffic. This was bumper-to-bumper for miles and
miles due to construction.
Most
of our route to Highland Lakes was via freeway, toll roads and
expressways, but we needed a bio-break. Our exit took us
past this restoration business with some nice specimens.
An interesting 1955 Pontiac. The yellow car is an
older Volvo coupe. I remember that body style because that
model car was a prize for a Playboy Bunny "back in the day".
Bob still has his U1300L, but it is sold and awaiting
shipment pending resolution of some financial issues. This
truck is in great shape and has an overdrive and working gears.
Bob fabricated a nice mount for his front winch out of
3/8" plate.
After a very pleasant stay with Bob and Joann, we headed
back to the NYC area en route to Long Island. On the
approach to the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River, we
got a clear view of Manhattan. Note the Empire State
Building to the left of center in the photo above. Freedom
Tower is still under construction and is at the right.
The George Washington Bridge is a double deck suspension
bridge and is quite a work of art. And heavily used.
Houston, we have a problem. The westbound side of
the bridge just suffered a vehicle fire with a full response from
relevant local authorities. Vehicles facing the wrong way on
heavily used roads is never a good sign.
The truck was still smoldering when we went past.
Water was pouring out of the access hatches on the rear of the
cab. Since the fire was in the cab and not the engine
compartment, I am assuming that it was either an electrical fire
or due to the driver smoking.
The traffic jab behind the fire was epic. It
stretched over the bridge and all the way across the north end of
Manhattan.
The GW bridge is an engineering marvel. The
suspension cables are encased within a steel shell and are visible
above.
We finally reached our preliminary goal and happily the
traffic on our side of the road was light. Note the signage
and graffiti on the back of the truck in front of us.
Clearly from Chinatown.
The other side of the road was a parking lot for miles
and miles.
Because of Thor's height, our path was restricted to the
expressways on Long Island. Therefore, we had to enter the
island via Throgs Neck Bridge, show above. This is a
good-sized suspension bridge that crosses over a narrow portion of
Long Island Sound.
The Bronx-Whitestone Bridge as seen from the approach to the Throgs Neck Bridge. This bridge also goes over the Sound.
We finally arrived at our destination on Long Island. We got settled in and parked Thor on the street. Needless to say, the neighbors got very curious very fast.
Tomorrow, we would start another remodeling effort.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2012, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.