A tale of Chicken Trucks, NARROW roads and CB antennas.

[mr. cob]

Howdy All,

I have been in Arkansas, for the last week attending bike rallies and playing with my Rock Crawler.  Now I have driven on some narrow roads, some twisty roads and some hilly roads but I am here to tell you that there were places on the way to Byrds Adventure Camp, where I was certain that I could see the tail lights and the top of the trailer in my truck mirrors, up and down, round and round but all was well.  Until I drove on State Hwy #80 as I was traveling to a rally held just outside the little town of Mena Arkansas.  If it would have been safe to do so I would have stopped the truck on the road and taken a photo of it just to show how NARROW that road is, no shoulders and the edge of the old concrete pavement was at times anywhere from a few inches to a foot or more above the ground on either side of the road.  I can tell you this as I was following a truck towing a dump trailer the drives side edge of the trailer was maybe an inch or two on his side of the yellow line going down the center of the road while the outside dual tire on the passenger side of the trailer was within a inch or two of edge of the pavement and at times while going around corners that outside tire was not on pavement.

OK, now that I have set the stage, lets get on with the story.  The speed limit on this road other then in the corners was 55mph, some of the corners were marked 15mph, most were at 30mph.  I am doing 45max in the straight stretches of which there were few and about half the suggested speed in the corners as I was doing everything I could to stay on my side of the line and keep the trailer from falling off the edge.  AND THEN, as I am creeping around a 30mph left hand corner a Chicken Truck, yes remember this is Arkansas and a truck towing a trailer loaded with chickens come careening around the corner at least a foot on MY side of the yellow line.  I am doing 20mph max, I swear this other truck had to be doing 40 in a curve with a suggested speed of 30mph.  In order to keep from slapping mirrors or worse I didn't have any choice in the matter I had to put the passenger side of the truck off the pavement luckily at this point the ground on the side of the pavement was only an inch or two below the pavement. I didn't brake I just let off the throttle and allowed the truck to slow on Jake alone while steering to keep the truck as close to the pavement edge as possible until I slowed enough to steer back onto the pavement without damaging the side of the tire or loosing control.

Long story short, no damage other then the stain in my underwear AND a broken brand new CB antenna that I had just installed on the passenger side only two days before this incident, the antenna had hit the trees that were that close to the edge of the road at that point in the curve.  So be warned, if you ever travel down Hwy #80 in Arkansas, keep an eye out for Chicken Trucks, corners and untrimmed trees.  That's my story and I am stickin to it.  Tomorrow, I head up to Ceder Vale Kansas for another bike rally, then I have to find something to do for a while until the National HDT Rally, takes place before I start to wander back toward home via the southwest.

Dave

[noteven]

Stay skinny Mr. 😀

speaking of eroded shoulders, potholes, and such...anyone ever wonder what roads maintenance managers drive on that this stuff goes unnoticed for weeks and months? 

[Striper]

5 minutes ago, noteven said:

Stay skinny Mr. 😀

speaking of eroded shoulders, potholes, and such...anyone ever wonder what roads maintenance managers drive on that this stuff goes unnoticed for weeks and months? 

First you have to get them off their fat butts and out of the office away from the donuts. 

[lockmup68]

I had similar thing happen this summer as well. Thanks for reminding me I need to order "another" new CB antenna. I'm thinking I need to add a spring this time to the mount. 

[mr. cob]

57 minutes ago, lockmup68 said:

I had similar thing happen this summer as well. Thanks for reminding me I need to order "another" new CB antenna. I'm thinking I need to add a spring this time to the mount. 

Howdy lockmup68,

The next time I am at a truck stop that has CB supplies I'll be picking up springs for my antnna's, this make the second one that I have lost due to tree branches.

Dave

[Parrformance]

Soooo..... How did you like Byrd's?

[mr. cob]

7 minutes ago, Parrformance said:

Soooo..... How did you like Byrd's?

Howdy Parrformance,

Lets just say I have stained underwear from that experience also.  I really enjoyed my time there but riding there alone and just learning how to drive this new critter I unknowingly got in a bit over my head a couple of times, its a darn good thing I had decades of Jeep piloting to fall back on.

Dave

[Parrformance]

Well I am glad you survived, and had a little fun as well.

Low and slow that is my tempo.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Arkansas had a problem from many years, and it still does... corrupt politicians..... everybody lines their pockets until there is nothing left for the infrastructure.... 

[Parrformance]

When you pitch a softball like that, I want to swing for the fence.  I will restrain myself and pray this country puts the blindfold back on Justice.

Should not matter who you are, you do wrong you pay the consequence.

[Dennis M]

Getting my CB 'tuned' several years ago the tech advised losing the spring mounts. He said they interfere with performance. I said I need them to protect the antennas from tree damage. He suggest whip antennas. I put on a pair and nary a problem since. They don't look as cool as the Firestiks, but they work fine. The right one has a slight kink near the top now, but mostly I've been able to straighten them after tree contact. 

[mr. cob]

Just now, Dennis M said:

Getting my CB 'tuned' several years ago the tech advised losing the spring mounts. He said they interfere with performance. I said I need them to protect the antennas from tree damage. He suggest whip antennas. I put on a pair and nary a problem since. They don't look as cool as the Firestiks, but they work fine. The right one has a slight kink near the top now, but mostly I've been able to straighten them after tree contact. 

Howdy Dennis,

What you described is why I have stayed away from the springs, they do cause some problems if they get loose and rust gets into the threads this really messes up your CB's performance.  I agree the whips are a good solution, but as I often times seem to go into campgrounds that have low branches in my case I think the springs would be a better all around fix.  I have found that using dialectic grease on all my CB connections seems to keep the rust out, still when using springs a person just has to keep a close watch on things to make sure all the connections stay tight.

Dave

[Pete Kildow]

I had to run that road in the 80's. One trip was good for me, went a high school. Thinking it was Orak High school. Then from there to Cass. Looked at the map and headed that way. Man it was rough, Cold and snowing. Pulling a 42ft Reefer with a White/Freightliner cabover. 

I always run the Antenna that is being used. On the Drivers side, as the pass side always takes the hits..

Also lost a mirror crossing the old bridge on Hwy 62 at Ciaro IL. If you ever cross it, be warned it has room. But when you meet a Orange truck hugging the center line. Glass will be broken.

[lockmup68]

stainless steel firestick spring

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Firestik-SS-3H-Stainless-Steel-Heavy-Duty-CB-Radio-Antenna-Mount-Spring-BULK/183315325?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=582&adid=22222222227045331484&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=94320258770&wl4=pla-216565336370&wl5=9015367&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=112354210&wl11=online&wl12=183315325&wl13=&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQjwof3cBRD9ARIsAP8x70OV7HqMYtMVnyvywoMTukOwwG9U_0d_Gwlug7MhJG4LH0Y89uAeL0EaAjR9EALw_wcB

 

[mr. cob]

4 hours ago, lockmup68 said:

stainless steel firestick spring

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Firestik-SS-3H-Stainless-Steel-Heavy-Duty-CB-Radio-Antenna-Mount-Spring-BULK/183315325?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=582&adid=22222222227045331484&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=94320258770&wl4=pla-216565336370&wl5=9015367&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=112354210&wl11=online&wl12=183315325&wl13=&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQjwof3cBRD9ARIsAP8x70OV7HqMYtMVnyvywoMTukOwwG9U_0d_Gwlug7MhJG4LH0Y89uAeL0EaAjR9EALw_wcB

 

Howdy lockmup68,

While at the chrome shop in Joplin MO, today I picked up a couple antenna springs along with more lights and chrome for the Pete.

Dave

[jenandjon]

My freightliner has aftermarket mirrors on it. Whoever put them on cut the coax cable and didn't run new. Oh there were brand new antennas on the mirrors but when I installed the CB there was no coax.  I ran A single wire tot he back of the cab. It kind of looks dumb but works very well.

 

[mr. cob]

2 minutes ago, jenandjon said:

My freightliner has aftermarket mirrors on it. Whoever put them on cut the coax cable and didn't run new. Oh there were brand new antennas on the mirrors but when I installed the CB there was no coax.  I ran A single wire tot he back of the cab. It kind of looks dumb but works very well.

 

Howdy Jon,

If it works, that's what counts.  I used to get a kick out the ads some folks put up when trying to sell something, they would post a photo of a Jeep for example, tons of chrome parts, jacked up so high the U-joints couldn't possibly last more then a few miles claim some ridiculous number of horse power, have 44 inch tires and say at the bottom of the ad, "NEVER BEEN OFF ROAD".  Looking good if it isn't functional is a waste of money in my book.

Dave

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

57 minutes ago, mr. cob said:

Howdy Jon,

If it works, that's what counts.  I used to get a kick out the ads some folks put up when trying to sell something, they would post a photo of a Jeep for example, tons of chrome parts, jacked up so high the U-joints couldn't possibly last more then a few miles claim some ridiculous number of horse power, have 44 inch tires and say at the bottom of the ad, "NEVER BEEN OFF ROAD".  Looking good if it isn't functional is a waste of money in my book.

Dave

Mall Queens is what we used to call those.  Back when jacking up the Toyota and Datsun trucks was cool.