Comments By The Highlight Reel

Video unrelated to the website, just fun to watch.

Classic car aficionados, or anyone who just likes the nostalgia of older vehicles still hanging around, should appreciate BarnFinds.com.

They are actually a classified ad site, as well as a pseudo-aggregator, highlighting ads from around the Interwebs from people trying to sell their out-of-the-ordinary barn finds, from square-one project cars to fully restored masterpieces. Just added: a 1981 DeLorean with 879 original miles on it, and a 1971 AMC Javelin police car.

Note: TruckingTruth.com has no affiliation with Barnfinds.com, we just think it's really cool.

Knight Transportation and Swift Transportation Announce All Stock Transaction with a Combined Enterprise Value of $6 Billion

"The combined business would own 23,000 truck-tractors and have 28,000 employees. The companies will maintain their separate branded operations but will work under a holding company structure that adds new corporate controls."

Bonus Video #2: The Infamous Cole's Express Tank-Van

Cole's Express was a Maine-based LTL company that started operations in 1917, founded by Albert J. "Allie" Cole. Like many other companies of the day, the service started with a horse pulling a wagon. They were eventually bought up by Roadway in the early 1990's, and folded into the Roadway Regional Group along with Viking Freight, Central Freight, and Spartan. In turn they were all merged into a national operation as Viking Freight, and Cole's Express as it's own entity ceased operations around 1997.

Eventually Viking was acquired by FedEx and, combined with American Freightways, became FedEx Freight in the early 2000's.

At the time, Cole's Express employed around 300 drivers. According the the video, Cole's Express was involved in some pretty eclectic freight types:

And of course, as in most films, the silent boy's name is Billy. Tommy must not have been available that day.

The film also gives a brief overview of how freight was handled at the terminals long before our modern electronic communication capabilities. Watch carefully at around the 9:50 mark as the gentleman uses a telephone with a mysterious round dial on it's base.

The video leans heavily on the beauty and majesty of the State of Maine, the quality and pride of its people, it's importance to the economy through the goods and services it provides, and the significance of I-95, the major artery through the state from which most everything else is reached. And who knew that one of Maine's major contributions was potatoes?

Bonus Video: "Winter Of '31", song about Cole's Express

These days, Galen Cole, son of the Cole's Express founder and it's former President, manages the Cole Land Transportation Museum, dedicated to the curation of the various land transportation vehicles used in the state of Maine. It is located in Cole's home town of Bangor.

The museum is also heavily involved in various causes for Maine's military combat veterans.

External Links:

Cole Land Transportation Museum

Wikipedia - Galen Cole

Daily Diesel Dose: Cole Express

The image of the Pony Express rider flying over the prairies, mountains, and deserts of the Old West has always occupied a legendary and nostalgic place in American history, though its actual existence only encompassed about a year and a half. Officially beginning operations on April 3, 1860, it was technically the first coast-to-coast rapid delivery service, mainly to support post-Gold Rush California and it's growing population, and cutting mail delivery times from a month or more to 10 days.

Until then, and long before the Interstate Highway System, and even the transcontinental railroad, mail traveled by stagecoach, puttering along the Butterfield Express overland route, over the recently completed Panama Railway, or by slow-boat, taking the long way around.

This being the days before telephones, radio, or any other speedy communication to the young state of California, from Missouri to California, over 150 individual relay stations were established The Pony Express Company, to switch out horses every 10-15 miles, and riders every 75-100. Previously California was mostly separated from the rest of the U.S. by 1,800 miles of mostly unsettled and uninhabited land. Wild West icon William Cody (Buffalo Bill) was one of the better-known young riders for the Pony Express.

By October, 1861, the Pony Express was rendered obsolete, upon the completion of the first transcontinental telegraph line. Being fairly expensive, the service had not yet turned a profit, as the company was hoping to land a government contract to deliver mail, which never materialized. Regular snail mail continued its snailiness until the Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869.

Incidentally, the first recorded instance of electronic spam was recorded in London in June, 1864, and addressed in a letter the the editor of The Times:

External Links:

History - 1860 Pony Express debuts

Wikipedia - The Pony Express

Telegraph Spam

Today's "Most Satisfying Video Ever" is brought to you by the Oregon Department Of Transportation.

A 12-foot, 200-ton rock fell onto HWY 138 east of Glide, in western Oregon last Thursday, along with several other small rocks, weighing in at only 50- to 100-tons. The rockslide completely blocked the road for several hours, and delays will continue while repairs are being done.

The large rocks were turned into a tamed pile of rubble in a surprisingly controlled explosion, with most debris not straying very far from the blast zone.

The blast was handled by a local blasting service, presumably staffed with people who jump out of bed every morning "ready to blow stuff up".

External Links:

Boulder cleared from Oregon highway using explosives

Hard to believe, but there are plenty of people out there that just don't know how to read a map, or don't want to. April 5, for reasons completely lost to time, is "National Read A Road Map Day".

Increasingly, younger drivers are incapable of reading a road map, instead relying solely on satellite navigation systems (GPS), according to a recent survey. 78% of the surveyed drivers don't concern themselves with navigating using anything other than a GPS, because they "don't need to". Coincidentally, 50% also said that they still get lost on trips, relying solely on satellite navigation.

Most experienced truck drivers will understand the benefits of not relying solely on GPS, and will almost always have access to some type of technological aids. There are still plenty of reasons to know how to navigate without GPS:

• Technology can fail at inopportune times: You never know when you might need an actual map. Signal loss, outdated maps, or total breakdown could leave you hanging. Have a backup plan.
• Trip planning: A physical map gives you a better overall perspective of the route, the "big picture". Knowing your location in space rather than relying only on given directions. For many people, visualizing details about the route serves them better than turn-by-turn instructions.
• Plan your own route: GPS/satnav is not infallible, and may be missing important information i.e. bridge heights, weight restrictions. For those traveling the same lanes repeatedly, it's a good way to imprint and reinforce those routes on your brain.
• Laminated road atlases allow for the use of dry erase markers for either trip planning or for things like noting particular truck stops, fuel stops, or your own route details that may not be available with GPS.
• Simple comparison: Human directions are also not infallible, cross-checking against the GPS and atlas will make sure you know exactly what you're in for.

Generally, you're going to want to use any tool available to you: GPS, road atlas, Google Maps for getting a good look at the actual customer layout, customer directions, etc.

More From TruckingTruth:

Forum -

Forum - About gps...and use map..

Forum - Maps or GPS

External Links:

Paper maps vs. GPS: When to go 'old school'

The paper map: Obsolete? Or old school trucker standby still?

For those of us who had no Earthly idea that this was going on, many, or even most, winemakers are relying on a specialized industry to handle their bottling needs:

Mobile bottlers are a specialty niche industry that come with their own expertise, equipment, and knowledgeable and experienced crew. These crews do most of the bottling for the wine industry, at least on the West Coast and Virginia, because it cuts out the logistical, financial, and training headaches that wineries face in running their own bottling operation. In the ultra-competitive winemaking industry, space is at a premium, especially when you're dealing with an event like bottling that only happens a couple times a year, so the portable outfits make much more sense for them.

Smaller bottlers are using straight trucks fifth-wheel trailers about the size of a medium-sized camper, while some of the larger companies employ fleets of 10-12 or more tractor-trailers, outfitted with equipment mostly imported from Europe. Not only are the bottling lines easily adjusted for changes in bottle sizes, but some bottlers also offer boxed wine packaging options.

And, of course, because California, "wine in a can" is also, oddly enough, an option that is gaining ground for mobile bottling.

External Links:

Your Wine Was Probably Bottled In A Truck

The Bottle Meister keeps the wine flowing for Central Coast wineries

Skip The Bottle, Ditch The Box — Wine In A Can Is About To Break Big

For those of us who had no Earthly idea that this was going on, many, or even most, winemakers are relying on a specialized industry to handle their bottling needs:

Mobile bottlers are a specialty niche industry that come with their own expertise, equipment, and knowledgeable and experienced crew. These crews do most of the bottling for the wine industry, at least on the West Coast and Virginia, because it cuts out the logistical, financial, and training headaches that wineries face in running their own bottling operation. In the ultra-competitive winemaking industry, space is at a premium, especially when you're dealing with an event like bottling that only happens a couple times a year, so the portable outfits make much more sense for them.

Smaller bottlers are using straight trucks fifth-wheel trailers about the size of a medium-sized camper, while some of the larger companies employ fleets of 10-12 or more tractor-trailers, outfitted with equipment mostly imported from Europe. Not only are the bottling lines easily adjusted for changes in bottle sizes, but some bottlers also offer boxed wine packaging options.

And, of course, because California, "wine in a can" is also, oddly enough, an option that is gaining ground for mobile bottling.

External Links:

Your Wine Was Probably Bottled In A Truck

The Bottle Meister keeps the wine flowing for Central Coast wineries

Skip The Bottle, Ditch The Box — Wine In A Can Is About To Break Big

Hard to believe, but there are plenty of people out there that just don't know how to read a map, or don't want to. April 5, for reasons completely lost to time, is "National Read A Road Map Day".

Increasingly, younger drivers are incapable of reading a road map, instead relying solely on satellite navigation systems (GPS), according to a recent survey. 78% of the surveyed drivers don't concern themselves with navigating using anything other than a GPS, because they "don't need to". Coincidentally, 50% also said that they still get lost on trips, relying solely on satellite navigation.

Most experienced truck drivers will understand the benefits of not relying solely on GPS, and will almost always have access to some type of technological aids. There are still plenty of reasons to know how to navigate without GPS:

• Technology can fail at inopportune times: You never know when you might need an actual map. Signal loss, outdated maps, or total breakdown could leave you hanging. Have a backup plan.
• Trip planning: A physical map gives you a better overall perspective of the route, the "big picture". Knowing your location in space rather than relying only on given directions. For many people, visualizing details about the route serves them better than turn-by-turn instructions.
• Plan your own route: GPS/satnav is not infallible, and may be missing important information i.e. bridge heights, weight restrictions. For those traveling the same lanes repeatedly, it's a good way to imprint and reinforce those routes on your brain.
• Laminated road atlases allow for the use of dry erase markers for either trip planning or for things like noting particular truck stops, fuel stops, or your own route details that may not be available with GPS.
• Simple comparison: Human directions are also not infallible, cross-checking against the GPS and atlas will make sure you know exactly what you're in for.

Generally, you're going to want to use any tool available to you: GPS, road atlas, Google Maps for getting a good look at the actual customer layout, customer directions, etc.

More From TruckingTruth:

Forum -

Forum - About gps...and use map..

Forum - Maps or GPS

External Links:

Paper maps vs. GPS: When to go 'old school'

The paper map: Obsolete? Or old school trucker standby still?