spring
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Paint,
chainsaw, build . . .springwork
I-55 Mississippi River . . . interstate
At top of photo is last view of my
homemade camper on 1978 Ford truck, which I used to travel, live in, to
Detroit, MI. Crossed the desert to the
Pacific Ocean and up its route 1 to San Francisco and then over the Rocky
Mountains. Later on to see/smell Old
Faithful Geyser. Also went to Santa Fe, NM then down through the Alamo and over
to Key West, FL and back. Then across the Smokey Mountains to Washington, DC to
watch the House of Representatives Subcommittee vote to Impeach Clinton. Now
that’s a Ford for you!
Weeks later I tore apart its rotten
wood and began repaint job.
I had pulled a 4'x8' UHAUL trailer
behind the 1997 GMC truck, carrying desert rock and gravel dirt, which lines my
driveway. The house brickwork I did,
mixing my own mortar, daughter Alaina D helped laid the foundation while in
between jobs.
April 06. The wood of the camper on the
bed of 1978 Ford was rotting and the paint was chipping off in many spots. So I
spent 3 weeks sanding prep-work. Tiring messy work Maybe 200 hours: Inside
doors, under hood, truck bed. Then had
MAACO paint it to original GREEN :$600.
MAACO
manager said keep new paint job out of weather for a couple weeks, so I
built a carport for it beside work sheds at bottom of hill. Four days work,
supplies from LOWE'S $500.
Original 1987 S-10 truck was entirely
blue. After seeing how nice the old
Ford looked, I decided to put a cheap paint job on the rusting fading Chevy. 3
days prep work for a modern Red/White/Blue. But it turned out so ugly I had to
change it.
Light brown chips on hood are droppings
from a black and yellow bumblebee chewing a home hole, nesting in ceiling wood.
Two coats of Semi Gloss Oil red put on
with a roller. The white stripe covers over original thin tape stripes. Original blue left under grillwork. All
chrome removed.
March 06. Two miles from my house,
woods and farmland is being developed for more subdivisions. The bulldozers knock down the trees and push
them into large piles. On the weekends
nobody works there, so I take my truck and chainsaw the logs into 30/50 lb
hunks to take home. Did 15 truck loads.
Yellow Log splitter (behind logs)
exhaust is fan blown out screen windows and open garage door. 4/5 of the logs
cut, had to be split into smaller pieces.
I unloaded the weekend logs into garage, then used the yellow log
splitter during the week.
The majority of split logs are kept at
the bottom of hill under two layers of black plastic: 25'x25'x5' on pallets.
Along outside of garage on top of
pallets on brick walkway I store the smaller logs and planks of pallets I cut
up for kindling. I use this pile only when the snow is on the driveway.
On I-55 at the Cape Girardeau, MO exit,
east side is this curious sign. My daughter, Alaina D, was born December 1976
& not a statistic.
I had passed by this sign over a dozen times,
finally decided to investigate. A frontage road has a parking lot and gazebo
full of information; anti-war. I parked and walked all around, crosses are made
of plastic pipes.
This bridge crosses Mississippi River
to IL Rte 3 at Cape Girardeau, MO
Opposite the Abortion sign (same exit
road) on the Illinois side of the river is this Flea Market Strip Mall; the
only buildings for miles in the middle of farmlands. And is only open on the
weekends.
May 2006, I usually take I-55 south
beginning at St. Louis, MO but the river bridge was being worked on, so I took
two lane Rte 3, IL. Liked it so much used it on return trip. Barge in distance
and railroad tracks hidden in trees.
Old concrete river road leading into
Chester, IL. First building in sight is
a barge granary. Road winds between river and factories
IL Rte 3, river road passes factories
and meets road to another Mississippi river bridge at this intersection. Sign
reads home of Popeye, famous cartoon sailor, but I don't know why. Many Mexicans
live/work here in snack factory (I happened to drive by a closing time).
IL Rte I-255, goes around east side of
St. Louis, MO and meets I-55 20 miles south of famous Gateway to the West Arch.
This view shows the only area of land not developed yet on IL side of river.
Very nice view of Arch
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