The Indy 500

The Indy 500 is far and away my favorite diversion from the
road. Actually it’s not something I took advantage of during downtime on the
road. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is in my back yard, 50 miles away. For
many years I made it a point to be here for race week.  







Our first race was around 1972; we had heard the fun way to
do it was go down the day before. We had a pickup with a

Outpouring of support welcomed, sometimes warned against

Millions of Americans watched towns in Missouri, Oklahoma,
Arkansas, Kansas and even Minnesota be hit and destroyed by tornadoes this
week.



As we see children and families suffering on TV and in news,
the first thing many of us did was donate money, gather clothing and give some
non-perishable cans of food to organizers in our towns and cities. The word
from places like Joplin is this: please

For what we pay, we deserve the best

With the White House reluctant to raise fuel taxes, the
question on a lot of people’s minds is “how the heck are we going to pay for
the next surface transportation bill?”



Is the nation headed for a tax based on vehicle miles
traveled, or VMT? We’ve seen headlines recently saying “Forget the fuel tax”
and “Mileage tax could replace gas tax.”



But these are just headlines for now, and even

Oregon speeds are a joke

Oregon lawmakers sure do know how to stand out in a crowd. No.
I’m not saying you are sure to spot them because they all wear rain ponchos.
And I’m not saying you can pick them out wearing their flannel shirts.



I think it is fair to say they stick out like a sore thumb
in how they view speed limits.



While the benefits of setting uniform speeds for cars and
trucks are being touted in states

‘This land is my land’

Photo by Bob Martin


“This land is my land, this land is your land … from
California to the New York Island.” Woody Guthrie wrote it; Peter, Paul and Mary
recorded my favorite rendition.



Early on in a long trucking career I could see right off that
one of the perks in the business was the nontaxable bonus of simply enjoying
the scenery as I traveled all over this country. I never got tired

Lawmakers need some serious cover fire

Stopping a cross-border trucking program isn’t insurmountable.
With the help of OOIDA members and other highway users, the Association has
successfully fought off opening the border to long-haul trucks from Mexico for
more than a decade.



Through the course of that battle, we’ve learned one thing:
Those wanting to open the border are well-funded and aren’t giving up.



Make no mistake. This is

South of the border, down Mexico way

Photo by Gary Bricken


Let me see if I’m understanding this right. The U.S. and
Mexico are working toward fully opening the border for both U.S. and Mexican
trucks. The Mexican trucks are going to have to stand up to our rules, meeting
the U.S. safety standards. To name a few things, they’ll be using black boxes
(well, EOBRs), which U.S. taxpayers will pay for. There will be driver
background

Hope it was worth it, TomTom

One of the world’s largest GPS manufacturers is taking some heat after it was revealed they sold user data to law enforcement agencies, including motorist speeds and locations.

TomTom, which makes GPS devices for motorists, recently confirmed that it has sold user data to police.

The data, in turn, was used by Dutch police to drum up new speed trap locations.

In all fairness, TomTom says the

Ultimate choice

That should have a familiar ring to it to anyone who’s been
involved in truck shows in the past 18 years or so and to so many more truckers
who have pride in their ride and just want to enhance its appearance.

For those who don't, that's the advertising motto for Rockwood Products.





Bob Martin's Pick of the Litter trophy.

I first met Carl Carstens, owner and founder of Rockwood, at the