Cables versus Straps

I have been hauling wood for years and up until a few years ago i had only ever used straps.They work good but come the winter time they are a pain,because they will freeze to your load and are sometimes hard to free up. They are also harder to roll up in the winter time because of being stiff. Cables on the other hand will not freeze to your load and since they are usually attached to your trailer already they can be wrapped up in a figure 8 pattern and your done. I have found they cables last alot longer than the straps too. I generally only get about 3 months out of straps before they start to fray then break. Maybe in flatbed conditions straps might last longer but as far as wood goes i feel the cables are the answer. Straps hold fairly tight but they will allow wood to slide out on occation,where as cables will literally cut into the wood and bind in solidly in place. People like both but i perfer the cables over the straps anytime,just watch for the wires sticking out sometimes those can hurt lol.

Will The Rain Ever Stop HA HA!

The past week seems like all it has done is rain. For a while the weatherman said we needed some rain because it was getting dry but this is ridiculous! They said on the news the other night we had received something like 5 and a half inches of rain in like 10 days. Now the ground has soaked up all the water it can handle and pools of water are everywhere.This causes problems with work because the foresters are more likely to shut us off from hauling because we are beating up the road so bad and the cutting and yarding in the woods are effected greatly also.So far we have had 1 good day in 2 weeks but not much drying went on in that short of time. Oh well we'll just have to wait and see what next week brings, the predictions are rain half the week but what can you do.

Shirley Maine 3 Miles Instead of 35

Well this week brought a little change they moved us from township 35 over to Shirley which is next door to Greenville. The job has only 3 miles of off road to travel but the ground is very wet there and it rained almost daily this week which made the hauling shutdown on Thursday instead of Friday, next week having only a 4 day week also due to the Fourth of July is not helping the paychecks much. The truck road there has alot of loam mixed in the gravel so the more it rained the more slimy the road got, and with the short steep hills it made more of a challenge of getting up and then coming down plus turning onto the main truck road. One ruck came down the hill a little too fast and failed to make the turn,causing the crane to have to come out and almost fully unloading the truck before he could pull it back into the road. There is alot more wildlife in this area we have seen Moose, Deer,Coyotes,And a ton of Rabbits, Ruffed Grouse and Hawks. The area is nice and has alot of beautiful scenery hills, lakes, ponds, and not many houses. All in all it is a pleasant change from the studmill road.

Week 2 at T 35 MD

Week 2 went pretty smooth for a change other than picking up a few more nails in the tires but no major problems. There seem to be alot of turkeys in the area i see anywheres from 3 to 15 a trip.There is now a family of ducks living in one of the brooks in the area that runs through the Sunkhaze Meadows refuge , I see them go acrossed the road as i neared one of the brooks. Inspection time came so that took a little time up trying to get into the garage so that could be taken care of, But all in all not much happened exciting or otherwise.

Day 3 Hauling in T 35 MD ( The Day from Hell!!)

It started at 7:20am and the same routine but on my way up the studmill rd the vibration dropped the end of my load strap onto my driveline that's when old hell broke loose . The hook end of the strap cut off 2 air lines and punched a hole in the secondary air tank at mile 25 with no phone service and just out of radio range of the crane. luckily I was able to make my way the rest of the way in after freeing the driveline from the strap and get loaded,but as i got loaded my air ride needed air more air than could be produced with the hole and cut off lines. So the crane operator finished the load and we took the line to the pooched tank and plugged it off with a piece of wood laying on the ground. This allowed me to release my brakes but there was a problem that added a twist to getting started out,when the lines were broke i was in the high side of the transmission and it mangled the line so it wasn't a matter of a new fitting i needed more line also.With the aid of a skidder we got the truck rolling fast enough that i was able to get going without stalling, but i had 33 miles to go with tight corners and big hills and only the top 9 gears available. I made it down to the mouth of the road with a few tight meetings in corners and some pissed-off grader operators when i met them at 30 and dusted them out OOPS. Just as i got out from under the trailer my plug in the line let go again with just 5 miles to the repair shop i was screwed again till i made a new plug . At the shop i spent 4 hours there because none of the dealers had a tank in stock so they had to keep welding and pressure testing my tank till the hole was repaired.By the time i was fixed up i went home for a shower and a meal because it was 5 pm now. I left later that night hooked back up and headed to Verso Paper because they open 9:30pm sunday and do not close again till 8pm friday night,but on the way down there was a loud BANG ,yup another tire this time on the trailer.Well the boss had no spare for me yet and it was 1:30 am nothing was open, using the rain to my advantage i just went slower and continued to the mill with my nerves on the edge if the other tire blew i wasn't going to be happy and the boss dam sure wouldn't like that early morning distress call. 90 miles later i had made it but it was now 4:15am and i had to be back in costigan by 7:30 in order to make the 8 30 load time with a 3 hour trip back and i needed a tire.I got back to the nearest tire place at 5:30 and i thought they opened at 6 but they had 6:30 on the sign.By 7:30 i finally left but i was 2 1/2 hours late for that days load time.When i got there the operator was glad to see me and chuckled about my luck lately my load was all slashed out already so he loaded me in 30 min and i was out of there taking a shortcut that i was told about out to a diffrent route but saved alot of time, because i ended up only 45 min behind my normal time.It was smooth sailing down and back but almost 20 hours strait working to get caught up with my load count for the week combining day 3 with 4 , but it was over for the week because a big rain was coming and they shut the newly graded road down so we didn't beat it back into washboards.

Day 2 Hauling in T 35 MD

Morning 2, I could hardly wait kind of like having a tooth pulled haha.Things started about the same fuel,long ride but instead of a bear there was a hen turkey and 6 chicks beside the road hurry into the tall grass, then further up a couple of deer in the choppings of a cut area just off the road.After getting loaded i was off wondering what the day would bring.Surprisingly nothing but clear sailing all the way to Verso Paper where i was in and out and swept off in less than 30 minutes, alot quicker than an hour to load with having to slash the wood from tree length down to 8ft while loading it. It was a good ride home arriving at 5 pm, i jumped in my pickup and went home.

Day 1 Hauling in T 35 MD

Started the morning off in Costigan Maine getting fuel at Madden Enterprises then started on my journey up the graveled studmill road looking for the 31-000 rd branch. About 5 miles up a fairly big Black Bear came into the road, stopped then ran back into the bushes as i got closer. I was not sure where exactly the 31-000 rd was but after about the 12 mile marker i met up with another truck and he radioed back i still had a good half an hour ride ahead of me,so i continued to about mile 30 because the markers were few and far between and met another truck that said it was just down over the hill from where i pulled off. The road i had traveled was so dry the dust layed in the road for at least 5 minutes just like dense fog. I started in and went about 3 more miles before finding the crane that would load me with 5 tier of 8ft for Jay Maine about 4 hours ride from there if all went smoothly. After loading and strapping down i headed out for the 33 miles of rough graveled road before seeing hottop again. After the slow ride back to civilization i was cruising down the road again,but an hour into the ride i blew a drive tire with no spare on board and had to limp my way to the tire shop and get 2 new ones so they would match up. After an hour there, I was off again thankfully reaching the Verso Paper mill with no more delays. Headed home i new i had 3 hrs till i made it to our garage to park for the night . When i finally made it it was 6:30 pm i had started at 7:00 am , 12 1/2 hrs. the 1 load didn't seem worth it but oh well that's the life in the woods.