Category: The Early Days

Aging, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

Do What? Dodge Used To Build A Truck/Tractor

lewisotr

It’s difficult to have a conversation with my sons about trucking in the old days, when the type of truck I’m trying to describe can’t even be found on the World Wide Web. (I’m still looking – I don’t give up easy. I am speaking of a long broad nosed Dodge Heavy Haul Truck, that probably was discontinued in the early to mid 1970s. Neither of these trucks below are the one, but at least speaks to Dodge at least building a Heavy Truck Tractor at one time. Anyone know the truck I’m talking about? They weren’t very popular and … Continue reading Do What? Dodge Used To Build A Truck/Tractor

Another Daily Happening, Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The GMC Toro-Flow

lewisotr

Back in about 1967 Cecil Lewis, my dad, went off somewhere, probably Austin or San Antonio and bought a 1964 GMC truck. That GMC had perhaps the weakest engine ever put in a truck. It was a single axle with a winch that he paired up with a single axle float type trailer that he had recently purchased. Now here’s the deal, that float trailer was an oil field float. You knew that because it had a rolling tail bar on it and it was built extra heavy duty. Anything going into the oil field needed to be built strong. … Continue reading The GMC Toro-Flow

Cecil Lewis, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

My Old Daddy Saved Me From Myself

lewisotr

I was fresh out of high school in1970. I knew I wanted to drive a truck, and felt I’d be better suited driving for myself, rather than hiring on to drive for someone else. Cecil Lewis knew trucks. By that time he had owned a bunch of them, every type you could ever think of. We went to Austin pretty regularly, with many of the trips ending up over at Searcey GMC just south of Ben White Blvd on I-35. There was a new cabover GMC Astro Truck/Tractor sitting out front. It really looked good to me. The price seemed … Continue reading My Old Daddy Saved Me From Myself

Amazing Things, Texas History, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings, TravelsLeave a comment

The Best Resource There Is For Texas History

lewisotr

I know most of you love history, Texas History for sure. This is a list of some of the very best FB Groups on Texas History. One thing all these groups have in common are their Creators/Administrators. My FB friends, Bob Dunn and Will Beauchamp have done a wonderful job of bringing us just about anything you can think of when it comes to Texas History. Browse through the list below and find something you are interested in and take a look. Many of you belong to these fine groups but you may not realize how many others there are. … Continue reading The Best Resource There Is For Texas History

Crazy Times, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Making Money At Black Jack (well not exactly)

lewisotr

UPDATE: This is a post from a couple of weeks ago. My son Jason questioned me about it. We even set down and simulated it at the kitchen table. A little while later he sent me a text with the following link. Seems that when I first thought about it, I was a couple of centuries too late. It even has name, The Martindale System – named that in 1939. Oh well, I should have looked it up on Wikipedia back in the 80s. Wait, we didn’t have such a thing, now did we. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martingale_(probability_theory) I was sitting around one … Continue reading Making Money At Black Jack (well not exactly)

Amazing Things, Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

I Always Wanted To Do The Right Things, But Circumstances Can Get In The Way

lewisotr

Back in the early part of the 70s we had a project relocating a water line on South 1st Street where a big “S” in Williamson Creek. (as shown in the photo below). Three new bridges were be built. We were on the tail end of that job, cleaning up and pressure testing. The City of Austin had a crew that performed the pressure tests and they came out twice and each time the line failed. The General Contractor that was building the bridges had already started work and it was imperative that we get that line approved or it … Continue reading I Always Wanted To Do The Right Things, But Circumstances Can Get In The Way

Crazy Times, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

It Can Get Hot In May

lewisotr

Looks like we have a fairly nice week coming up. Well after today it shouldn’t be just oppressively hot. Of course today’s 96° won’t be bad after those 100°+ stuff the past few of days. I remember back in the early 80s, I bid a wastewater project in Laredo, right down along the Rio Grande River. My old bookkeeper Woody went down with me to look at it. He dumped me out up on the upper end and drove about five miles down the river to a predetermined location where I’d be coming up out of the bottoms. I headed … Continue reading It Can Get Hot In May

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

I Was Always The Tag Along Little Brother

lewisotr

Kenny and his friends always had something going on, which would have them loaded up going some place or the other. This incident I’m fixin to tell you about was most likely after football practice. A full carload were jammed in, with me being in the back seat, on the passengers side next to the door. I was probably a Freshman in high school with most of them being a couple of years older. I always ended up being picked on constantly, which could have been caused by my own habit of picking on all of them. We had been … Continue reading I Was Always The Tag Along Little Brother

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Cecil Lewis and the Spare Tire Rack

lewisotr

Back in “68” Cec bought a new 1/2 Ford Pickup down at Truck City Ford on Ben White Blvd in Austin. There was a brand new thing that he couldn’t do without. Back in those days pickups never came with a rear bumper from the factory. They were all installed by the dealer and most of the time in this area they were supplied by D&D Bumper in Seguin, Tx. The dealership name would be imprinted in it, so when you bought a bumper you paid for the privilege of advertising where you bought your truck everywhere you went. This … Continue reading Cecil Lewis and the Spare Tire Rack

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

I Really Didn’t Want To Go To The Army

lewisotr

I was 19 years old and had a low draft number. We got on a bus in Lampasas early in the morning for a trip up to Abilene for our physical, some time in the spring of 1972. I had many reasons that made me think I wasn’t cut out for Military Life. First off I had been hearing back from my brother about how miserable life was in Vietnam. Secondly I had been watching the television news at night and they were saying what a terrible situation we were in over there and how there didn’t seem to be … Continue reading I Really Didn’t Want To Go To The Army