Tag: Roadside Attractions: Page 19

Channel 19

Cabover extra in ‘Real Steel’ film to be auctioned Dec. 8

Joyce Smith, co-owner of Ron Smith Trucking of Breckenridge, Mich., shuttered the company about a year ago, a month after her husband passed away. The small fleet’s equipment will be auctioned off on Dec. 8 at their place in nearby Wheeler. Among the 17 tractors on offer (among livestock, flatbed and other trailers as well […]

November 16, 2011

Channel 19

Stowaway diary: Keep an eye on your roof fairing in Laredo

What’s wrong with this picture? Taken by owner-operator Henry Albert, with whom we just checked in last week, it shows a desperate attempt by a couple to stow away on a rig on its way from the border zone into the U.S. interior. A testament to the value of drivers looking out for each other, […]

November 14, 2011

Channel 19

Mack Trucks on ‘Made in America’ TV Tues., Nov. 15

The Made in America series will feature Mack Trucks in an episode Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. Mack continues to build every truck it sells in North America — and every truck it exports — in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Made in America host George Motz (pictured with a Mack Pinnacle tractor) and […]

November 13, 2011

Channel 19

‘Talented truckers’ TV show looking for … talented truckers

A television production company has a rather off-the-wall idea it’s helping one of the major cable channels develop — it wants to create a talent-competition-type series (a la American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, et al) that plays out on location at, well, a truck stop. And in the spirit of radio truck driver talent […]

November 12, 2011

Channel 19

New vid for ‘I am the flag,’ by Ron Terry

On this Veteran’s Day, a new video care of owner-operator Howard Salmon — the tune, “I am the flag,” appears on his and Ron Terry’s “These Trucks Are Made of Gold” record and consists of a somber reading of the Terry poem by the poet himself. As its title suggests, it’s a poetic narrative of […]

November 11, 2011

Channel 19

Jason’s Law: Time for action is now

Yesterday, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works unanimously approved a two-year transportation authorization bill (S. 1813, or MAP-21) extending current funding levels and making other enhancements that could lead, said Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, to new jobs. Of chief interest for trucking advocates is the inclusion in this bill of Jason’s Law, intended […]

November 10, 2011

Channel 19

Want a first look at TruckersEdge’s new mobile site?

All owner-operator subscribers to the TruckersEdge.net load-board service from TransCore can look forward to a new smartphone-optimized mobile site to launch officially late this year or early next, says Transcore product manager Scott McCollister. The screenshots here from the html5 app that enables the enhanced look and feel of the board on all major smartphone […]

November 9, 2011

Channel 19

Setting the pace with owner-operator Henry Albert

Sunday’s post on Overdrive 2007 Trucker of the Year Henry Albert’s blog caught my eye with what it says about thinking outside the box to ensure success in running an independent business. In the post, Albert visits an old haunt of his, Charlotte’s Metrolina speedway (the old grandstands here pictured by Albert), shuttered long since […]

November 8, 2011

Channel 19

FCC continues hold on ‘Trucker TV’ exemption

Since 2004, missing persons advocate Marc Klaas of the Klaas Kids Foundation has been part of an effort by a company associated with Flying J travel plazas to get an FCC exemption to establish a low-power broadcasting operation at truck stops. The emphasis of the operation would be not only on entertainment but, most importantly […]

November 7, 2011

Channel 19

Tanking independent — Meet owner-operator Dan Bollinger

Hauling in a 2007 Peterbilt 379 (pictured) — “one of the legacy class editions,” he says, with a 48-inch flattop sleeper — owner-operator Dan Bollinger just got his own authority early this year. He hauls dedicated for a liquid feed supplier to feedlots in Western Kansas, where he lives. Formerly hauling under the feed company’s […]

November 6, 2011

Channel 19

Salve for your shifting hand…

And your soul, says the maker of a line of shift knobs built from precious rocks. “If I’m ever stuck in traffic or I’m stressed out by circumstances in my life, the mere acts of looking at and touching one of these shift knobs drains away the stress,” the maker notes on its website, gemstoneshiftknobs.com. […]

November 5, 2011

Channel 19

Truckers Against Trafficking: A cause we can all get behind

Truckers News Editor Randy Grider says it best in his column in this month’s issue, titled “Your most important call” in reference to the Truckers Against Trafficking national hotline number for reporting incidents of child sex trafficking witnessed on the nation’s highways. “Each year in this country,” Grider writes, “tens of thousands of kids are […]

November 4, 2011