Im good. The whole family is good actually. Thats all in Alabama and Im in VA so Im a good 700 miles away from it all. Parents basically sit around twiddling their thumbs after 35+ years dealing with the Fed Govt. I go over and all I see is my dad on his tractor riding around and mom is on the lil Cub Cadet planting flowers!

You deserve a little celebration! Im very happy for you and J-L!

 

Heya everyone.
Jim I am pumped for ya, but in all honesty, Im not surprised at all! Im glad its finalized though, legally!

My first car was a 68ish vauxhall 2 door, I had it and never even had it plated. My first truck was a 78 datsun that my uncle (rip) had and let me work for four days to get it from him. My first plateable car was a 77 toyota corrola. My first v8 car that was somewhat of a "hotrod" was a 78 pontiac grand lemans, with a mild souped up 350 that used to hammer on stock 5 liter mustangs!

 

Jim that's AWESOME.

How many minutes (note: Minutes not hours) did it take to get that decision?

Ed: That's more like Jake's song than mine. I don't work on the farm any more.

Here's a song my brother sent me a while ago.

YouTube - drive-by truckers-bulldozers and dirt-justin sullivan

 

Pete, In case you get tired of the "pink" vehicle maybe you could get this as a back up.

free samari

 

Is today national break Pete's ***** day?

 

yes, yes it is.


mark it down on calender April 28th, bust Pete's ***** day.

 

Sorry Pete. I saw that and IMMEDIATELY thought of you!

Where in the world do you come up with all this stuff Ed? You are hilarious!

 

Come on 4 o'clock......

YouTube - Elvis Presley Viva Las Vegas

 

If that Jeep was to die I'd be jumping up and down excited.

Then I could be in the SD a lot sooner.

 

That plow boy vid is awesome Mark.

Pete, my song is amarillo sky by Jason Aldean.

 

I just like messing with Pete.

he is a good kid, just dont let him know it. shhhhh

Ed

 

First off, Jim, congrats brother, so very well deserved! Hearing the great news just turned my very crappy day into an awesome one!

Ed, your sister is very hot!!

Pete, I'll chime in, yeah, maybe you could drive around the pink Jeep a little longer LOL

My first car, 1968 Mercury Commuter Station Wagon w/ 2bbl 390. Even w/ a 2 bbl, I could power brake it all day and scare the hell outta people that didn't wouldn't let me merge when I hit the blinker!!

And of course everyone GOOD MORNING!! Hold on, gotta pop in a dip, gettin' tired....OK, I'm good now. I'll toss this following story into my next (#4) Letter from Iraq, but I gotta tell ya anyways. Yesterday, we drive about 35 clicks south to Border Fort 7. About 2 clicks (kilometers) before we get there, my truck (#3 of 3) dies just after driving over some real bad "farmers fields" as we call them. Basically its an anomoly out here in open desert where the wind form what looks like plowed fields, about 2-6 inches high. Well, as truck 2 comes back around, I see that that one has oil dripping from the front. I pop the hood on mine, open the fuel drain line, kinda like what we got, and as we crank the engine (GM 6.5L T has mech lift pump like gas engine) there's no fuel coming out so we figure the pump died. I pop the hood on the other truck, and there's a hairline crack on the oil line fitting coming off the oil / ps / tranny cooler, so I wrap some duct tape over it, put a couple of zip ties on it, and we make it to BF7 where me and the other mech swap oil coolers with the busted fuel pump truck, and then later tow the down truck back 30 clicks over rough terrain....
So today, same mission, anothe 30 clicks back out. We make it there no problem, but I notice that truck 1 has a damn oil leak. Of course it's coming from the damn same hard line (soldered to the cooler) but a different cooler. SO, no big deal, we rig it for tow, and now I'm towing this thing back at like 330pm. My VC (vehicle commander) doesn't really show me what road to take, as it's open desert, multiple paths, and he has the GPS, I don't. SO we just follow the nearest road headed north, as they all eventually meet together. About 5 miniutes into the drive, we're cruising along at 30 mph on totally flat ground when what should pop up in front of me towing a combined 22,000 lbs of steel? A huge planters field... with no time to turn (and get jack knifed) I take my foot off the gas to slow down and the damn humvee starts bucking like a wild horse. The poor guys I'm towing can't even see it coming LOL, as they instantly get beat up hehehe... Within 50 feet, I see green stuff flying on my windscreen, and I slam on the brakes, shut her down, and get out all kinds of pissed. What had happened was the damn hood / grill combination was loose and broken, so the first hard bump pretty much severed my coolant return line, whereupon I gushed anitfreeze for a good 100 yards. So now we're still about 25 miles from home right near a Syrian border fort, and with 2 broken trucks. I am so pissed!!! Thinking straight, I decide to pull my good oil cooler, swap it with the bad one on the towed truck, and then reverse towing roles. As I'm doing this, the damn Syrians start piling on the roof of thier fort about 300 yards away, watching us, with rifles. To add to the fun, a really bad sand storm decides to start whipping up, and soon I can't hardly see 30 feet in front of me....I finally get it done in a record time of 1/2 an hour, put up the tools, and we take off. THEN to add to my misery, the guy pulling me with a 2 point tow bar, turns to damn tight to the right, causing my wheels to turn left. In my head I have visions of tie rods snapping, the Syrians laughing at us, and me wanting to choke someone, anyone... We get it straight, and I tell himthat you must make WIDE turns while towing in soft sand....and THEN the dummy starts driving SOUTH, when home is NORTH by now I'm boiling, and to make it even worse, he turns real tight to the right to go north, and of course my wheels get bound up and go left. We end up having to un hitch him, get a better angle on the towbar cause I'm sunk to my axles from him dragging me instead of pulling, get into a pissing contest with a Captain over who is giving the driver directions to get re-hitched.... aw man, it was so painfull!! But, we got rolling, I popped in a pinch, and about 630pm we made it home. We all had a few good laughs, so it's all good, just part of the life for us. PHEW, my fingers hurt LOL. Hope ya'll enjoyed my misery!

 

I enjoyed you misery Danny! Haha J/K That sux people cannot think!

 

Not to long Pete. She didn't show. She still can contest it through the divorce, but by doing that she risks all the crap that has gone on being dragged into the court and I'm sure that she dosen't want that to happen.


Danny I'm glad that we brough some happiness to your day! Did you get your package yet? J-L was just asking me the other night.

 

Congrats Jim!