Don't forget your truck "tags"

Going a little off subject today. A few days ago Jan received an email from one of her "blog friends" stating that she had been "memed" or tagged. Her task was to put up six comments about herself, and then tag at least one other person to do the same - kinda like that kids game we used to play! I got tagged ----

Well, after a lot of whining, I have decided to go along with it - she says it might help me get more readers. So, here goes ------

1. Born in September of 1952, my first ride was in a truck. To be more specific, it was a Willy's Jeep pick-up. I have no recollection of that - I was just a baby.

2. I am a collector of models. My wife says we have a virtual museum. My collection includes cars, airplanes, and of course trucks. My airplane collection is the largest and includes both 1/48
1/32 and one 1/16 scale aircraft mostly of WWII era with the exception of a few jets. Currently
this collection numbers over 85. I have always been fascinated by flight, remembering my grandfathers stories about his remembrance of the Wright brothers early flight and how I, years latter watched man fly into space through the early X-15 flights, then Mercury, Appolo, Gemmini, and to the moon.

3. This blog was started on a whim. I'm sorry for that confession because this blog has become an obsession. It got started when my father-in-law wanted to set up a blog himself. I had to talk him through the steps over the phone, so we both set up "Google Blogs". I have come across some interesting people through this blog, and found some interesting trucks for my ever expanding collection of photos. Since this blog is about trucks, mention of my truck model collection would be appropriate here - it includes semi trucks with trailers, and pick-up trucks.
I collect both plastic kit models and die-cast. My current collection of trucks numbers 20 - includes trucks with trailers.

4. Both my wife and I used to ride bicycles a lot! When I went away to college in Oklahoma City,
my first purchase was a Schwin Varsity 10spd. It was to be the first of many bikes I had in that time period as many of them were stolen - I actually trusted people back then. During my second year at college, Jan attended also. One of our first rides together was to go to visit one of her friends in Ponca City, Oklahoma. I planned out a route knowing little about Oklahoma roads and terrain. Our trip took us through the center of the Oklahoma Indian Nation - on a road that was often dirt. It was hot, and we both learned about what are called "goat heads", the hard way.
These are hard thorny seeds, and you don't want to sit on them. We stopped in a town that looked like something out of Stienbecks "THE GRAPES OF WRATH", picked up some Cokes out of an old style Coke water cooler, and headed north. We saw few cars, and Jan was beat. What comes to our rescue was an old Chevy pick-up (remember this is a blog about trucks) who takes us to the highway leading into Ponca City - we still had about 25 miles to go. With wind to our backs, that is still one of the most pleasant rides I remember through the gentle hills and plains of northern Ohlahoma. Then it happened, just in sight of Ponca City, I was not paying attention and my front wheel came too close to the kick stand on Jan's bike - it was then that I fell "head over heals" in love with the woman who would latter be my wife.

5. I married Jan at the age of 19, just a month before my 20th birthday. We were married in her house in Interlaken, N.Y. We returned to Oklahoma City where I had a job driving a school bus. After a year of driving a bus, I quit and found a job as an optical lab technician - finish person. We lived in Oklahoma almost 5 years, moving back to New York in 1975. I worked in three different optical labs, ending up in Horseheads. Ten years ago I quit my job in the optical business, and went back to driving a school bus - a lot had changed since I first drove a bus at 19.

6. Finally!!! The elementary children on my morning bus run all call me, "Mr. Nuts". This is all my fault. When I first started this run, I had this very talkative first grade girl that sat behind me in the first seat. Early on I told her that it was her job to watch out for squirrels, that whenever she saw one she had to tell me. Of course her curiosity kicked in and she asked me why she needed to watch for squirrels. I told her that nothing scares me more than squirrels. Again she asked me, " why?" I said, "What do squirrels eat"? And of course she said, "nuts". ----------------

And I said, "I'M NUTS"!!!!!

Thanks Jan - this was a fun little exercise, and yes, I love you -----