Lord of the Dunes

4 hours ago, AlpineFunco said:

 

You clearly missed the sarcasm. Of course he doesn't blame the RZR or the gun, don't be an idiot.

 

 

 

 

Why in the name of God's green earth would you blame the rental agency?? I guarantee they can produce a document with the renter's signature showing that he acknowledged the importance of utilizing the safety equipment. You and people like you are what's wrong with the world when chit like this happens. Why would the rental agency be culpable at ALL if a 29 year old ADULT didn't put his freaking seat belt on???????????

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not surprised he feels that way. He has always stated that guns kill people. As many times as he's stated that illogical thought process, this concept he has that someone else is at fault falls right in line with this crazy theory. Apparently bartenders should be held accountable for how much people drink, armorers murder people, not Alec Baldwin who actually pulled the trigger and a film student (this screams libtard to me, which means moron) is obviously not responsible for buckling his own seat belt. Someone else has to be held responsible for doing it for him since his mother wasn't there to do it.

In case anybody gets confused (we know who they are) I am NOT condoning this ridiculous thought process, merely pointing out the pattern.

I honestly think that despite our gov'ts attempts to thwart Darwin and Natural Selection, the really exceptional ones still manage to exit the gene pool. Natural Selection cannot be stopped by legislation or technology. I re-watched Idiocracy last week and some of the similarities between what Biden and Camacho said are chilling. We are much closer than we think.

Look at self driving cars and self driving space capsules. Astronauts used to be highly trained aviators. Now they're celebrity passengers. If anything went wrong, they're as screwed as a libtard with a blown engine in the middle of Death Valley in August. 

RIP Wally!

11 hours ago, Money-Walkin said:

A buddy of mine and I were presented with an opportunity of buying a vendor bus and we're thinking of running it as a parts and service rig along with some merchandise as a side hustle on weekends. Was wondering if anyone could shed light on the cost of a spot and how to get one or any other information that might be helpful if we are to start this venture. Thank you 

Other vendors stock a wide variety of parts for LS powered sand rails, UTVs etc.

From what I've seen, there is a HUGE demand for Polaris and CanAm front suspension parts and a little bit less demand for rear suspension parts. The other vendors carry a wide variety of parts due to the variety of vehicles, but if you want to carry parts that are in high demand and turn over much faster than an IMI starter or an ACDelco alternator, those UTV front suspension parts will sell fast.

When we first moved to Okinawa, we discovered that it was a penal colony many years ago, so many of the descendants were kind of proud of their skills as pickpockets or home burglars. It was common knowledge to them that most military families received a travel allowances check in addition to a regular check on the first payday after they arrive. They sent a couple of small kids thru the window of my parents' bedroom and stole several thousand in cash, silver certificates, rare coin collection, Rolex right off his wrist. The only money we had left was $60 of my allowance money I saved up, under my pillow. The cops said they never catch them, nobody cooperates, so we should just get a dog.

My stepdad came home with a spool of nichrome wire, nearly invisible but super strong. we made up trip wires that snaked through the area behind the house. He also got a 120 lb German Shepherd which had failed out of the military working dog school (he couldn't ignore other dogs or cats) and they gave us 500 lb of free gov't dog food. He had been tied up behind the Chief's Club for a couple of months, so he was really mean, the waiters would tease him by leaving bones just out of reach of his chain. We got him home and he slowly settled down after a week or so. He became my dog. I fed him about 4 lbs of food/day, shoveled what seemed like 8 lb of crap a day, groomed him and he dragged me for a walk twice a day. I was a really small kid - 60 lbs, so since he weighed twice as much, he decided which way we went, I just got dragged everywhere!   LOL

We had tied the trip wires to a long waterpipe along the 30" tall retaining wall, then it was a 11' drop into the neighbor's back yard. Rudy would lay in the laundry room and if all was quiet, he would wag his tail against the dryer and we'd hear a soft "bong, bong, bong" all night long. If he heard something, he'd stop wagging and growl softly, which would wake me up. He did it one night and I woke my stepdad up. He said, "Let him out. We'll clean up in the morning." I quietly opened the door and all I could hear was dog paws on cement, then snarling and snapping, then screaming, then the loud banging of the waterpipe as he tripped over the nichrome wire and a loud scream and a thud as he went over the low wall and fell 11' down to the ground! I went out with a flashlight, but couldn't see anyone. Rudy was looking over the low wall and wagging his tail. The next morning, we saw a small puddle of blood where the burglar fell in the neighbor's yard.

The rules were if I was walking Rudy on the street, he had to stay on the leash. if I took him exploring in the rain forest, he was allowed off leash to protect me from Habu snakes, which were very common and extremely paranoid snakes, they would attack from a much longer distance than other snakes. I'd let Rudy run ahead on the trail and if he spotted a Habu, he'd trot back to me and herd me in a different direction with his shoulder. If I tried to push past him, he'd push back harder. We had a lot of fun chasing frogs into ponds, eating lunch in the forest, pretending we were Huck Finn, exploring, etc.

My sister was just beginning to crawl and she'd slowly crawl across the front yard grass. Rudy would lay in the sun, relaxing with his paws crossed. When she got close to the street, he'd casually get up, trot over to her and knock her over and she'd crawl off in a new direction. Every time she headed for the sidewalk, he'd casually knock her over and she'd crawl back.

There was another kid on our block who had a Doberman that barked all of the time. Rudy only barked when he was suspicious of someone. The other kid kept saying his Doberman was the toughest dog on the street and he could kill Rudy. One day I got tired of his yapping and let Rudy off his leash. All we heard was Rudy's jaws snapping and the Doberman yelping in pain! The kid went home with his bleeding Doberman and that evening his father came over and complained to my stepdad that Rudy had attacked his dog unprovoked. I spoke up and said that was a lie, his kid had been bragging that his dog would eat mine. So I showed him he was wrong. My stepdad said, "You can't go around letting Rudy get into dog fights! That's the wrong thing to do!" "Well, you don't want me to get into fights, so I just let Rudy prove how wrong he was! That sure shut him up!"      I still got in trouble, but it was worth it every time I saw the loudmouth kid and his Doberman started whining when he saw Rudy!   

I always thought Rudy was fearless, but one time we saw a rat in the yard, about the size of a small cat! I told Rudy to get it! He got up, took one step, got a good look at it, backed up, sat down, looked up at me with his ears up like, "Hell no! Did you see that effing thing?? You want it, you go get it!"     I later shot the thing with a .22 cal CO2 pellet rifle and the wet fur acted like body armor. It got knocked back about 4 ft and got back up, chattering like crazy! We ended up killing it when I threw a Cherry Bomb into it's hole and blew it into bits!

1 hour ago, John@Outfront said:

 thought the funniest part was that you were only 10 and was checking out the two good looking blonde boys..........

BTW im glad i dont drink  LOL

I also mentioned the ugly freckled kid, just in case you were interested...

I was almost 10 yrs old and we lived in Okinawa. We went to the beach with another family who had 3 boys. The oldest kid was the ugliest freckle faced kid you could ever imagine, the other 2 boys were very good looking blonde kids. While we were there, the parents started getting drunk and arguing. At first I wasn't paying attention, but eventually they got really loud and I could hear what they were arguing about. The wife said she never loved her husband, she was disgusted every time he touched her and she had been having an affair with his best friend for most of their marriage! I was transfixed! My parents never argued in front of us and never drank. 

I was just now learning that married people sometimes got drunk and slept with other people and my mind was trying to process it all, including just how angry they were getting! The husband yelled, "So you had an affair with him? Well that explains the ugly red headed freckled sh1t you gave birth to!" She was furious and yelled, "The ugly one is your kid! The two cute blonde ones are HIS kids!" Now my mind is REALLY expanding exponentially - realizing that not everyone in this world are actually related to both parents!!

The look on all 3 boys' face was priceless, especially the red headed kid! To hear both parents talk about him like that and realize how they really felt about him was devastating! My mom was totally aghast at all of this and was throwing our stuff in the car to get out of there! She grabbed me and threw me in the car. As we were hauling ass out of there, mom was saying to me, "That's why you never drink! People do and say really stupid things when they're drunk and then they have to live with their regrets forever!"

I asked, "do you think they're going to get a divorce?" My stepdad said, "Probably.." and my mom said simultaneously, "That's none of your business! Just forget all about them!"

Obviously that didn't happen!     

When I was young, mom could cook any meal from any country, mostly Filipino, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, American, etc. She didn't cook anything from Africa or South America, but she made great tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Once a week, she cooked 2 t-bone steaks and she always gave me the tenderloin side. When I was 8, she married my step dad and a yr later my half sister was born. After that, she cooked 4 T-bones and my sister and I ate the tenderloin side. Shortly after that, one night I wanted more meat so mom gave me some off her plate. I got really confused, because it was completely different than what I was used to. It was tougher, didn't taste as good. When I asked her what it was, she said, "T-bone steak." When I asked why she had fed me the tenderloin side, she said, "When I was your age, we were in WW II and grandma had to feed 11 of us a big pot of watery rice soup and if we were lucky, a fish head for flavor. I was always hungry and I swore my children would not eat scraps, never go hungry. That is what mothers do for their children. Now shut up and eat!!"

That was the closest she ever came to saying she loved me as a kid. I once asked her about that and she said something like, "Talk is cheap. Look around at your toys, your encyclopedias, your reference books. If you cannot tell you are loved by all that I do for you, you're even stupider than I suspected!" She wasn't a fan of snowflakes. She was more like a flame thrower.     

One day at about 6 yrs old, I decided that I needed to travel, see the world. So over breakfast, I told mom that I was going to leave and travel the world. "So you're running away from home?" "Yes, I guess you could call it that." "Great! I was getting tired of supporting you! Eat your breakfast and I'll pack your lunch for you like a hobo!"

After I ate breakfast, she told me to go outside and find a stick. She packed a sandwich and other lunch items into a bandanna and tied it to the stick. She wished me good luck and said, "don't cross the street."

I go out to the front yard and turn right. I walk to the end of the block and turn right. I keep turning right and end up back at home again. So I go further up the street and spend the morning with my gorgeous babysitter who lives halfway down the block. At lunch time, I go back to the house. Mom asks, "What are you doing here? I thought you were out seeing the world?" "You told me not to cross the street, so I walked all the way around the block and ended up back here." "Well, you might as well come in and eat your lunch at the table and tell me all about the world out there." So I came in, ate lunch with mom and forgot all about traveling for the next 17 yrs or so.

Mom sometimes got tired of me and I don't blame her. I was the most curious kid of all time, constantly asking, "Why? How? Explain it further?" and I imagine it was very tiresome. She hired a very beautiful Latina who lived halfway down the block to babysit me. She was beautiful, thin, nice big boobs and she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, she was probably 17 or 18. She had a porch swing and we would sit there in the shade and I'd lean over and rest my head on her lap, her breasts on the side of my face. She didn't seem to mind. She also had a Vato boyfriend, white tank top, khaki pants, wallet on a chain and a really nice lowrider. When he'd come over to see her, I'd ask him what he was doing there, harassing my woman? He would just laugh and say he wanted to just hang out with us.  LOL  He was a really tough looking guy, but he was actually very nice and patient with my BS about his GF being mine. She'd sit in the middle of the porch swing, I was on one side of her and he was on the other side. I'd rest my head on her lap and they'd talk about her day or his day or make plans for a date. I still can't believe how nice and patient he was with me. Maybe she told him he had to, or else!

I have a lot of memories from childhood, some good, some bad. My father died in Vietnam in Feb. '65. That hit me very hard - he was a very funny, smart guy and loved cars, music, racing, audio equipment, Hamm's beer. He bought me a tricycle with a plastic engine that looked and sounded like a Harley, thanks to batteries and a speaker.

My mom was able to keep it together and was all over me like white on rice. She knew everything, including what I was thinking of doing, before I thought of it. One time we were in a grocery store and I saw the first black man I'd ever seen, he was very dark. I said, "Mom! Look! That man is covered in grease!" He started laughing his ass off, my mom was mortified and dropped her basket and grabbed me, apologized to him and dragged me out of there! All the way home, I was asking "How? Why? Where?" and she explained the difference in skin color, including a continent called Africa and the Sun's relationship to the equator, etc. She knew better than to say, "Never mind" or "because I said so!"

Another time, about 6 or 7, I woke up and was convinced I was actually the son of Queen Elizabeth and I was the younger brother of Prince Charles. My mom wasn't convinced. She had told me long before, "If you're walking down the street and you hear a baby crying in a dumpster, don't open the dumpster and take the baby out. It will ruin your life, just like you ruined mine. I should have left you in that dumpster." So she reminded me she found me in a dumpster. I said, "Exactly! The Queen mum had an affair with an Asian member of the household, so rather than admit it, they put me in a dumpster to hide my birth." Mom said, "I don't know where you got this idea, but the Queen lives in England, and I found you in a dumpster in Oakland. Now eat your breakfast before it gets cold." 

I insisted that she call Buckingham Palace and inform them that I had been found and they needed to come get me immediately. Mom said, "I'll see what I can do." When I asked what she found out at dinnertime, she said, "I managed to get in touch with the Royal Secretary who categorically denies the existence of any illegitimate child. Sorry, you'll just have to settle for this palace."

I don't know where that idea came from, probably some wild dream. Mom didn't believe in "proportional response." Even the smallest infraction resulted in a nuclear response. 3 minutes late for dinner resulted in a belt whooping that made it impossible to sit for at least a day or two. She was only 4'11" and 94 lbs, but she could swing a belt like Babe Ruth swung a bat and she was always ready to hit a home run!

One day, I was probably 7 yrs old, she aid, "Promise me something." "What, mom?" "Promise first, then I'll tell you." "OK mom, I promise." "OK, promise me that no matter how bad things get when I get old, you will never put me in a nursing home. You will move me in your home and take care of me. If necessary, you'll change my diapers." "Why would you be wearing diapers?" "Sometimes it happens when people get really old. I changed your diapers for a couple of years, so it's only fair you change mine if needed." "Mom, I don't know if it works that way. I'm supposed to get married, have kids and change their diapers..." "SHUT UP!! YOU ALREADY PROMISED!!"

In 2010, she came down with Alzheimer's and I moved her in. For the next almost 8 yrs, we got closer than ever before. She remembered events from 40 or 50 yrs ago like yesterday, but not yesterday. She told me stories about my father from before my birth. My grandparents had disowned her when she started dating a gaijin (foreigner), but when I was born 5 or 6 yrs later, grandma had a change of heart and wanted us back in the family. Allegedly, grandpa asked grandma, "We disowned her, why do you want her back now?" She answered, "Don't be stupid! She has our first born grandchild!" Mom started reverting to speaking some Japanese, which she was still fluent. English became a little harder for her to find the correct words. She finally admitted that she loved me, I was her favorite kid and she really liked my cooking. She also laughed at all of my stupid "dad jokes" every day, because she didn't remember them from the day before.   

On 4/8/2022 at 5:06 PM, Big_Daddy_Jp said:

Well, decided to make the last trip of the season. Made it to plaster city at 6 pm last night. Weather was beautiful! Nice breeze and cool outside. Slept with the windows open and it got chilly over the night! Hung out today, did some drinking, and bam! Hot AF and the breeze is dead! Put the awning out and had awesome shade but still hot. Decided to go inside and hang in the AC. Fired up the Benny and turned on the AC. Just as the trailer starts to cool down, BAM, the genny shuts off and down goes the air. Did this game twice. Did some troubleshooting and I think the fuel pump is the culprit. No RV shops near by to pick one up. Sucks to be us! Lesson learned. I’ve got a spare carb but no spare fuel pump. Oh well, sweat it out til Sunday morning. At least I could take a cold shower!

Aww, that sucks! Too bad I didn't see this post until now.

The fuel pump isn't an RV specific fuel pump, it's just a generic 12v 2psi low volume fuel pump, like Facet. They sell them at every auto parts store in the world for about $25, including El Centro, about 19 mi away from Plaster City. Even Walmart sells them for $19. Anyways, at least now you know.

Beautiful! That looks like an amazing deal!

3 minutes ago, WLD_OTZ said:

street? Town? Ave? state?

I wasn't really paying attention, but this might help.

3 hours ago, Carwashguru said:

Following this as well! Intersted in adding a tracker to my rail and toy hauler. Do they offer a solution that only needs 12V power? has anyone seen one like that?

The Trak4 is only $48, costs about $6/mo for tracking and has a 12v input and an internal battery that lasts about 8 or 9 months. It sends a daily location report that includes battery % and temperature. If you draw a geofence around it, if it moves outside of that it will text you and/or email you that it moved and will keep sending updates until 1 hr after it stops.

Beware of trackers that cost a lot upfront or charge a lot per month. It adds up, why spend $144/yr for tracking when you can get the same or better features for 1/2 the price?

12 hours ago, DUNEFLYER said:

Installed 42 panels about 6 years ago, system paid for itself in 4.5 years. System produced approx 21k kw last year.

Palomar Solar, Andy and crew are good peeps.

Your system actually generated 21.4 Mega watt hours, which is 1,000 times more than 21.4kwh. It generated an average of 1.78 Mwh per month! Holy cow!

Fuel economy is the major reason I store my trailers out near Glamis. I can drive out there with just the coolers, food, etc. at 78 mph then hook up and tow the trailer a short distance to camp. I'm sure I'd get better mpg at a lower speed, but since I'm basically empty, I'll take the hit of 16.5 mpg instead of 18 mpg at 60 or 65 mph so.

Plus it's a lot less strain on the truck not hauling that 40' trailer back and forth over the mountains.

7 hours ago, wapawekka said:

I normally stay around 65-68 but I’m determined this summer on our 3,000 mile trip to stick around 56-57 to see if I can’t maximize the fuel economy of the Ford 7.3L. Part of me thinks I’ll find it unsafe as trucks are ignoring speed limits all the time in CA and flying by you at 65-70.

I've seen a couple of videos where guys have done testing and their results were to keep it right at the torque peak and that's where the engine is most efficient. Whatever the mfr says is the peak tq rpm, set the cruise at that. It might be 60 or 62 or 59, but that's where the engine is most efficient.

1 hour ago, Kraut_n_Rice said:

What's the name of the channel?

RVHaulers with Gregg, he's up in Canada.

Here's one video where he compared 2 identical Volvo trucks, one with stock 3.55 ratio and the other one he swapped to 2.64 ratio. He obviously wouldn't do this if he was hauling a 40 ton load, but for a 10 or 12 ton RV trailer, it works great.

I was wrong about the empty mpg in this video, but I've seen other videos (I think by him - where he does get up in the 16 mpg range empty. One pass in this video he gets over 18 mpg, but he had a tailwind. The opposite direction he got 12.8 mpg in the same truck against the wind.

There's a guy who buys used class 8 trucks, converts them to RVs for towing and changes the gear ratio to a taller one. He does YT videos showing off his fuel economy towing a 24,000 lb trailer. One truck got about 9 mpg towing and when he changed to a taller gear, it went up to 10.5 mpg. Empty, that truck got about 16.5 mpg before and about 17.5 mpg after. He got very similar results with another brand of truck. One had a 12 speed auto shift and the other had I believe a 13 speed automatic.

In addition to the obvious safety benefits, those big rigs are getting better mileage than my truck towing an estimated 19-20k. Not to mention they can carry 300 gal so you can fill up whenever you find a great deal on diesel. Regardless of where you live, you don't ever need to buy fuel in CA again. 

I haven't gone solar yet, but depending on where you are (CA?) there are some changes coming down the road that make it a lot less attractive. They're going to increase "infrastructure fees" only on customers with solar, claiming they aren't paying much for solar, thus not paying their fair share of the system wide infrastructure costs. That seems like BS to me for 2 reasons.

First, if a person had a properly sized solar system with a big enough battery bank, they could be completely self sufficient and would not need the electric company grid at all. So why should they pay for it? That's like charging people who walk to work to pay for fwy improvements. However, the politicians love to do this because the taxes NEVER go to who they claim it does. Look how many different things we pay for that supposedly pays for the schools. Yet the schools had better funding when I was a kid, they had cars to driver's ed, band instruments, orchestra instruments, athletic gear, etc.

Second, one of the bigger supporters of increased fees for solar owners (a front paid for by the electric company) actually admitted it was a "wealth redistribution" plan to shift more costs to those who could afford solar, since they are apparently wealthier, and subsidize those of low incomes. Of course if we follow the money, it will go straight to the profit margin of the electric companies.

Of the several people I know who got solar, 1 of them signed up for the HERO plan and after paying for 8 yrs and thinking he had paid off his solar system at $5,000/yr  for 8 yrs = the $40,000 he owed, it turns out they had snuck in loan paperwork and he had signed a loan at a crazy interest rate so now, he still owes the original $40,000 and the $40,000 he already paid was just interest on the loan.

Another friend of mine got a system where they installed the system for free and he had a minimal monthly electric bill from the company that installed the solar. Essentially they own the equipment for 20 yrs, he pays them for electricity which is a lot lower than current rates and after 20 yrs, they turn it all over to him and he's responsible for maintenance and whatever extra he has to pay the local electric company if he uses more than it makes. However, he told me he just got a shockingly huge bill, suppose.ldy from this new infrastructure price hike, but I didn't think it has taken affect immediately.

My next door neighbor bought a ridiculously small system (1200w output for $17,000) and the new owner added on to it, something like another 2500w for another $17,000. I think the first guy got raped, the 2nd owner got screwed.

All this to say, look over the fine print carefully, nobody I know feels they got a fair deal and CA is getting ready to really screw solar owners for more money.

From a submarine FB page...

6 hours ago, Rockwood said:

That bastard Pavlov was right...

Yes he was!

I post something...

and here comes Rockwood!   

1 hour ago, Orange_R said:

You can't tell? He still argues with you even if he agrees just because   

Actually, what's happening is I DO agree with you, and I'm adding another aspect that you didn't originally think about. BUT, since you've been conditioned to think anything I post is arguing, that's what you default to thinking. If you actually read and understood exactly what I posted, you'd see it's not arguing against you - it's bringing up a similar point that you hadn't considered.

Like this post, for example.

A long time ago I did some work for a company that operated fuel trucks for the railroad. The railroad owned the tank farm and the diesel, but they paid a vendor to fill up tanker trucks and drive them a 1/2 mi over to the tracks and fill up locomotives to the tune of something like 50,000 - 100,000 gal per day, and that was just at the one train yard, they serviced a lot of them all over the western US. They hired me to install an integrated GPS/POS computer with receipt printer, ID card reader, cellular connection to the server and fuel transfer metering system. Before, they had no idea how many gallons were pumped out of the tank farm or into any of the locomotives and they were fine with this for decades.

Then one day they noticed a large discrepancy between how many gallons were going into the tank farm and the expected fuel consumption of the locomotives. Somebody investigated and the story I was told was one of the fuel truck drivers was taking his rig out of the train yard every day with a partial load and driving to an empty lot right next to a freeway. He had made some sort of adapter that allowed him to transfer fuel into semi-truck tanks and he was selling diesel for $1/gal back when it was temporarily high - here in CA it was close to $5/gal for a short time. Th guy was selling 2,000 - 5,000 gal of diesel per day that he stole from the railroad and was pocketing $1/gal for it.

I don't know how long he did it before he got caught, but that's why they had me installing this system that tracked all of the diesel in and out of the trucks.

I wish we could find a guy selling diesel for $1/gal now!

1 hour ago, Drivehard said:

I’ve had an extremely busy week and a half.  I will not entertain your patronizing.  Do your research and don’t be a damm moron.  
 

Real information is out there.  You just have to make it important to you to learn truth.  I know it’s hard when you don’t actually want to, but when you do, it’s amazingly rewarding.   

Once again, lots of words, no information.