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Went to Barstow today to recover a deuce for Mark, BBoomerBootCamp. Twas a spur of the moment thing, all the right things happened and I had the day off, so, I buzzed out to JDToumaninans house with some fluids and such, we loaded it in his deuce with his tools and set out for MCLB, Barstow. He only lives 40 miles from there. I have seen Jons truck a few times, but, I am usually driving my junk, so I never get to just look at things for an hour. I have to say, his truck is the cleanest I have seen. Total attention to detail. He aquired all NOS, cad plated hardware. It's everywhere, the window hinges, door strikers, data plate screws, the screws for the window regulators. The thing is beautiful! The paint and bodywork are awsome. Betewwn Jon, Mike, Tony and Daves trucks, I feel like a mine is a piece of target fodder out at Ft. Irwin. I will be embarrassed the next desert trip 
It is a runner too. It is a steady climb for 30 miles out to the 40 from his house. I've pulled that grade a few times at a comfortable 42-45 mph on the steeper part of the pull. We were on one of the steep runs and I look over at the speedo, we are going 55mph. I asked him if he was flat out, so he stabs it and we pick up speed on a hill, Jon just smiled! Almost makes me wanna give mine a 1/4 turn to see what happens. Nice truck Jon!
Anyway, we get to MCLB and go thru the checks...the guard was amazed to see a deuce in civi hands, registered and insured and looking as good as Jons does. He waves us thru, then it was off to see Dave at the GL office. I have to say, I was expecting the worst. Load out is Mon.thru Thurs. It is Friday. But all was arranged yesterday, so I'm hoping all goes smooth. He comes out when he heard Jons truck, looks at it, then us, starts up a nice conversation, then invites us in. We all had a little chit-cat, then he asked us where were from, We both said we were members of the SS website. His eyes got all big, then he says "You guys don't like me out there! How come?" We all chatted for a bit, and bassically it's this. He has no issues with his regular customers or us, as collectors. He has issues with the one off guys who are just scrapping the stuff. They come out, mark trucks, steal parts off of them or when they come to pick up, they do maintenence out in the GL lot, like fluid changes and part swapping..axles, diffs, radiators...all the big stuff. I guess the guy before Dave..that would be Kevin..let this happen. It is his job to stop it. He has no objection to battery changing, fluid top offs, fluid checks, tire changing..all the little pre trip stuff, he's fine with all that. Anyway, after all that, we head over to the GL compound, found Marks truck, started in with the checking of things and found that all was good, if it started, we would drive it out. Pull started it, ran good, except for the dead batteries. Then we asked Dave if he would let us look around, He says, "Oh, I see, this a TEST! What are you interested in...you know what you're diong, go ahead." Well, there are some pretty clean M1009s comming up with a mess of radio gear in them, A sea of M35A3s, there was 1, M816 that had a bin full of snatch blocks, the spades, a bunch of what look like the travel bars for the boom, but 12 feet long, a spreader bar and the bins at the front of the bed full of stuff and it has Jakes! A mess of M105s. There was one there that had all the bows and front/backs, a two air line system and looked brand new. Some good generators too, 5 thru 30 KW, 60 Hz. Anyhow, all in all, a good day today, Mark's truck runs OK, needs a service, ran out of fuel just as we pulled into the truck stop
Jon's truck is awsome, and I got to hang with a SS guy I haven't seen in a bit and see Ferdinand..JDT's cat. He's ALMOST as cool as mine! Oh yeah, I saw Tim and Tom from the Fontana MV grave yard. They got two, 45 ft trailers full of NOS field showers with the heat units. Wonder what they want for a set up?
I have pics of Mark's truck, I'll let him post up on that after I pass them to him.
It is a runner too. It is a steady climb for 30 miles out to the 40 from his house. I've pulled that grade a few times at a comfortable 42-45 mph on the steeper part of the pull. We were on one of the steep runs and I look over at the speedo, we are going 55mph. I asked him if he was flat out, so he stabs it and we pick up speed on a hill, Jon just smiled! Almost makes me wanna give mine a 1/4 turn to see what happens. Nice truck Jon!Anyway, we get to MCLB and go thru the checks...the guard was amazed to see a deuce in civi hands, registered and insured and looking as good as Jons does. He waves us thru, then it was off to see Dave at the GL office. I have to say, I was expecting the worst. Load out is Mon.thru Thurs. It is Friday. But all was arranged yesterday, so I'm hoping all goes smooth. He comes out when he heard Jons truck, looks at it, then us, starts up a nice conversation, then invites us in. We all had a little chit-cat, then he asked us where were from, We both said we were members of the SS website. His eyes got all big, then he says "You guys don't like me out there! How come?" We all chatted for a bit, and bassically it's this. He has no issues with his regular customers or us, as collectors. He has issues with the one off guys who are just scrapping the stuff. They come out, mark trucks, steal parts off of them or when they come to pick up, they do maintenence out in the GL lot, like fluid changes and part swapping..axles, diffs, radiators...all the big stuff. I guess the guy before Dave..that would be Kevin..let this happen. It is his job to stop it. He has no objection to battery changing, fluid top offs, fluid checks, tire changing..all the little pre trip stuff, he's fine with all that. Anyway, after all that, we head over to the GL compound, found Marks truck, started in with the checking of things and found that all was good, if it started, we would drive it out. Pull started it, ran good, except for the dead batteries. Then we asked Dave if he would let us look around, He says, "Oh, I see, this a TEST! What are you interested in...you know what you're diong, go ahead." Well, there are some pretty clean M1009s comming up with a mess of radio gear in them, A sea of M35A3s, there was 1, M816 that had a bin full of snatch blocks, the spades, a bunch of what look like the travel bars for the boom, but 12 feet long, a spreader bar and the bins at the front of the bed full of stuff and it has Jakes! A mess of M105s. There was one there that had all the bows and front/backs, a two air line system and looked brand new. Some good generators too, 5 thru 30 KW, 60 Hz. Anyhow, all in all, a good day today, Mark's truck runs OK, needs a service, ran out of fuel just as we pulled into the truck stop
Jon's truck is awsome, and I got to hang with a SS guy I haven't seen in a bit and see Ferdinand..JDT's cat. He's ALMOST as cool as mine! Oh yeah, I saw Tim and Tom from the Fontana MV grave yard. They got two, 45 ft trailers full of NOS field showers with the heat units. Wonder what they want for a set up?I have pics of Mark's truck, I'll let him post up on that after I pass them to him.
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