Saturday, April 30, 2005

It's Tow Show season again.........

Well, its Tow Show season and your wondering what to do with the kids whail u act like a big kid around all thoues massive Wreckers.......







i took this pic in Baltimore in 04. unfortionatly i don't know who the kids are but they sure were busy with there game boys.



with kids at tow shows it really all depends on how old they are. at alot of the smaller shows they have games for the kids like little golf cart tow trucks they can drive as well as peddle tow trucks- these pic were from the Indiana Tow show



at the Wisconsin Tow show they have a tow derby car race on a make shift ramp



Wisconsin also has a Lego tow truck contest.



some of the shows also have some child care services within the hotel or convertion center







 



a thought.....

have u ever noticed that it seems to take longer to get somewhere than it does to get back from where u were?

The homeless man living in my apartment

two nights ago an old friend stoped by. I used to work with tony in my early days of towing and recovery, when i worked for Baker transport (scum of the earth towing out fit, ranks just slightly higher than blue lightning, and thats only because baker did not scam city tows (that gives me an idea, i will rank the local towing co.s)) i also worked with him at North shore towing. we were good friends untill one day he vanished. he was then, and is now (infact just slightly more so now) very paranoid. he thinks people are out to get him and the CIA is involved and so on. the great thing is it seems like a mild case where he could function very normaly in sociaty. i also think he hits the bottle abit but i don't know that its a problem. i have not seen or heard from tony in over 5 years. he came to my moms house and asked for me and was givin my phone number. when i heard that he was back and looking for me he must be really down on his luck. i picked him up and let him stay one night. he said he just walked from oak forest to here and was living in kankakee for a few months. he was in seatle and sanDiago for a bit also. he said he just needed one night and he would be on his way. i had a feeling "one night" was just a start. i made him leave when i did for work and all day friday i tossed and turned on what to do. i got some advice from rick and he confirmed what i knew had to be done. he said he was broke, and was going to get a job, and had no place to go. after seeing the very groungy look he had when he showed up and his sleeping habits i have come to the conclusion that he has been sleeping on the streets abit longer than he is leading on. the sleeping habits are a good indication. when a person gets used to sleping a cirtin way for a long period of time, its hard to change thoes habits, and that goes for little tings like music playing in the back ground, with or with out a shirt, or going comando or not. tonys habits of sleeping in 2 layers of clothing with his jeans and the shirt over the head is a sign. on thursady night (the firts night) i said he could clean up and shave, he was in there for almost 2 hours. on friday he called me and i told him to meet me and we would go out for pizza. we did and i asked if he got a job. he said he went down to where the place was but did not go in (????) this is what i don't get, he had his comercial drivers licence ( to drive semis) and he is wasting his time trying to get a minimum wage job to stuff newspapers. at minimum, a semi driver makes $13.00 p/h. so thats another thing. so i printed out a lot of information of programs the city of chicago offers to homeless including shelters and counselers. i also printed out some info in free mentel health clinics and also a hundred or so trucking jobs that are in the newspaper. if he would have come next week (pay day) i might have givin him some money but i don't have any. so i made one of the hardest decisions of my life and told him he could not stay here and that he had to leave. i trust him, i don't think he has it in him to hurt me or steel from me. i know looking in from the outside and reading this some of you are saying, whats the big deal- throw him out. but try and imagin one of your very close friends in that situation and then throw in all the emotional feelings and then u have a more complicated problem. so thats the story now and if any thing more develups, i will let u know.

Friday, April 29, 2005

more web site!!!

this is a great web site for all the fire buffs and accident chassers. www.firehouse.com is an exelent web site with many pics, stories, and much much more

also, some of you may be wondering what happened to the hot chicks that were posted here a few days ago? well i decided to make this an even more family orented site and keep it somewhat clean- especialy because my mom, Grandma, and sisters r checking it out.

JOKE!!!

The Vibrator
As the mother passed her daughter's closed bedroom door,
she heard a strange buzzing noise coming from within. Opening
the door, she observed her daughter giving herself a real workout
with a vibrator.
Shocked, she asked, "What in the world are you doing?"
The daughter replied, "Mom, I'm thirty-five years old, unmarried, and
this thing is about as close as I'll ever get to a husband. Please, go
away and leave me alone."
The next day, the girl's father heard the same buzz coming
from the other side of the closed bedroom door. Upon entering
the room, he observed his daughter making passionate love to her vibrator.
To his query as to what she was doing, the daughter said,
"Dad, I'm thirty-five years old, unmarried, and this thing is about as
close as I'll ever get to a husband. Please, go away and leave me alone."
A couple days later, the wife and daughter came home
from a shopping trip and heard the same buzzing noise coming from,
of all places, the family room.
They entered the room and observed the father sitting on the couch,
staring at the TV. The vibrator was next to him on the couch, buzzing
like crazy.
The wife asked, "What the hell are you doing?"
The husband replied, "Please, go away and leave me alone. I'm watching the ball game
with my son-in-law

Thursday, April 28, 2005

WELCOME!!!!



picture from http://www.priceless420.com/- great site- check it out!!

i know this wil;l see many new faces so please feel free to look around and if you have any comments or questions please e-mail me at towrecovery@aol.com.



the way this site works is i post a new post however often i feel like ( daily mostly) and it post to the top of the page. so please scroll down and read from the bottom post ( my first post) and work your way up!!



thanks

SEMI V.S. CAR

Well, here we are- another day!! i am beet! not because i worked too hard but i feel abit under the weather. the doctor i told u about gave me some eardrops and instead of helping the problem, they made it worse. i woke up this morning and i could almose not hear anything!!-scarry- it was mostly just a garbled noise. i slept threw my 3 alarmclocks and was almost late(by seconds!) anyway, i am just glad this workday is over! i am looking forward to friday- last day of the week!!! we were poke trashing today. like convics we were out there with our spears picking up litter- i cant bielive how messy people are!!! i really think we should take this trash to these peoples houses and dump it on their lawns. but everytime i complain about poking i come back to this point, where else am i going to get paid almose $18 p/h + union + full benifits? especialy to walk trash!! it especialy look good when u consider convics get only $0.12 p/h! i did not post yeasterday for two reasons- one i was busy and went out to a boxing match ( i could care less about boxing) with some buddys from work. and the second reason was i wanted to leave the welcome message up ( i will post another welcome) i will post longer articals and comments as the weekend approches but i will leave u for now with 2 posts of pics!!! in this set IDOT works a serious crash- the driver did servive but he is very lucky!!!



 



 





Pickup truck V.S. Log truck

i found these at www.priceless420.com and wow!!! i don't have any details of this crash and i'll bet i can guess the outcome- hopefull im wrong. if anyone does know details please e-mail me and i eill add them to the site!!







Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Welcome to the new website!!!

thanks for comming

please scroll to the bottom of this page for the begining and work your way up to the most recent post!!!

i hope you enjoy the new site and i hope to see you again soon!!

i will be posting daily

thanks and feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments ou may have!

WELCOME To My Website Blog!!!!

I know this is the first time many of you may be visiting my new Blog and i hope it will not be the last. the way this works is i make a new post daily and every post after that is posted above the one from the day before

So

Please scroll down to the bottom for the first post and work your way up.

please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments you might have
Thanks

WELCOME To My Website Blog!!!!

I know this is the first time many of you may be visiting my new Blog and i hope it will not be the last. the way this works is i make a new post daily and every post after that is posted above the one from the day before

So

Please scroll down to the bottom for the first post and work your way up.

please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments you might have
Thanks

Doctors, Slackers, Untrained drivers, Salesmen.......

My day...well to put it in a nut shell..confusing.
today the forman did not show up and thats cool cause i don't know him that well anyway- two less eye watching me. the assistent is cool and seems to be taking a liking to me. anywho we were on conversions today. what that means is we take the hopper and spreader off the winter trucks, clean them, and put the dump bodys on for summer. well last week i was on this and the 3 of us got 2 and 3 trucks done a-day, and without breaking a sweat. even then they (the crew leader) was telling us to slow down. today we had 4 guys- and we got 1 truck done and slacked off the rest of the day. i dont get it- i dont want to sit around- lets do something! then my partner- the lazy fuck- left me to do all the paperwork- and it was about 10 times more than a usual day- and he didn't do shit all day- less than anyone on our crew.
so after work i went to the doctor- highly recomended by my buddy. i get there 15 min early just to do paperwork (its always a lot of paperwork for new custumers). they don't have a table and i have to fill out many pages on a clip board- i can't stand that- so i left. i went to the lobby and sat at a table- finished the paperwork and gave it back to the nurse at the exact time my appointment was supose to be- so im thinking- in and out right- BIG WRONG!! i have a seat after 40 min- im dozen off and i wake up and its been 50 min, im fumin and im about to say something, but then they called me in- ok, he's busy- relax. so i go in the room and the nurse does some rutine tests and said the doctor will be right in- ok.......and waiting.... and waiting.....and 20 more min go by and again im dozing off and im about to say something to the nurse when the doc walkes in with his 12 yearold student doc (alright maybe he was 20) he gives me a quick look-see gives me 2 prescriptions for minor probles that i did not even come in forand draws blood and has me make an appointment for next week. the doc was really nice and really seems like a great guy- but i sware- if i have to wait like that next week, so help me......

so now the towing enters the picture- im leabving the office and in the front lot a marathone towtruck is hooked to an SUV and he is laying undernieth doing something. no safety chains or blocks. WTF- what if the truck loses hydrolics and the car sinks down- then what ? ur trapped and killed under the car. and why- because u were too lazy to put a block of wood under the stinger? comeon- SAFETY. SAFETY!!!!!

i am going to a focus group now to talk about tv shows and they r paying me $50-75 for my opinions- i will probobly post when i get back!!!

untill then here is rollover from a month ago or so- i did not get to see the whole thing but JIM's Towing did it on the ramp from I290 E/B to lake st E/B

Monday, April 25, 2005

AWSOME WEB SITES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok- i wanto share with you 2 of my faverite websites and - don't take my blog ans anything- im not trying to compeet- i just want to share my stuff- infact- i think a lot of us recovery opperatrs and owners should keep a blog of sorts- its free and easy!!!
anywho. check out WWW.TOW411.NET
this is a forum/message board for the towing industry- this is very busy and a great way to debate and keep up on industry news

the second is: www.wreckerdriver.com
this is a great site for pics, biographys, news, all-a-round great towing reasorce

u will here me talk about these alot - there 2 of my faverites!!!!

Day 2!!!! ROLLOVER!!!!!!! X2

WOW- what a day- all in all concidering- first a small bit of backgound. i was off of work today- Maldanodo asked me to switch with him for next sat- so i was off today, and i am sure glad i was, otherwise i would have messed a 2'fr. the first rollover was a semi that was involved in an accident with a car. the car was fucked and the semi hit the median wall and lost its container into the n/b lanes of 294 at roughly- milwaukee (ABT) M3 brough out the loader and pushed it off to the sholder where Ernie's got the recovery- they get everything, WTF? anywhay im sorry the pics are not great but i could not get to a much better angle, + i got there after most of the action- with the new formen at my yard at M3 i just asume stay out of there way and not bring any more attention to my self then nessessary- at least untill i get a better feel for them- Oh did i forget to mention- I work at M3 (maintenence yard 3) for the illinois tollway and we just had a new forman and assistent transfer in- anyway- Ernie relly did a great job and had his rotator lift the front and his other heavy lift the rear and had his lowboy back under the container- -in fact the only thing i will say negitive about both recoveries is that everyone (police, company owners and workrs, towing agencies, ect...) seemed to drag there feet to get loaded and get the hell out of there- ernies seemed to hurry to open the lanes but after everything was on the sholder, they just seemed to move at snails pace- in all cases, even an accident - on the sholder and not blocking lanes cause gapers delays and put lives at risk- when will these people get it? recover- hook- and get the hell out of there- the tollway on the other hand got out of there in a fast pace- infact they were all gone b4 eveyone was gone and all lanes were open.



anyway



NOTE:----B4 we get too far along- let me say i am still learning this whole picture posting thing- i am hoping to get the ones where i can post a thumbnail type pic and you can click on it to enlarge- if i ever figure it out i will more than likly go back and do it to all the ones i have posted- untill then please bare with me





ok, the good pics!!!



on the ramp from e/b north ave to e/b I290 a major construction firm rolled a dump- they were loaded with dirt- yes- just plain ordinary dirt, anyway the driver took the ramp too fast and BAM hes on the ground. the driver was only employed with them for 2 weeks_ i guess another job hunt is inorder- he was very distraut and worried infact he was too shy to talk to anyone and he say on the hill shaking and rocking- he wasn't even shre how he was getting home. the cop was nice, he had on ly been on for a few months and he said this was his firts rollove he had to do paperwork for.- As is my job (one of many)- i regularily updated shadow (the traffic reporters) of the lane cloasers and delays in the area- the problem came at the end because my radio ran out of juice and like an idiot, i left my spare battery in the house, so i had to use the phone- what i don't like about that is if i don't talk on the radio, all the other traffic reporters don't here whats going on. i was rather serprised as there was only 1 traffic chopper around and it was ch 7, chris (ch 2) did not come by- maybe because he knew i was there- no point in 2 reporters bieng at the same place unless he needed pics or video. anyway, i heard that lindhaul (the rolledover trucking co) asked the cops if they could use there loader to upright the truck and avoid calling the towing company- CHEEP BASTARDS!!!!!! anyway the cop said no and called bloomingdales towing- they came out and worked with lindhaul to clean up the spilled dirt. infact, lindhauls loader was almost too big and its a good thig bloomingdales brough out there bobcat. Ernies towing ( no not the big ernies (red trucks) the wannabe "trying to steel name recognition ernies" (the black trucks). this is the companie owned by the Gratzianas (O'Hare Towing) it was started rite around the same time he sold out to road one) where was i - oh yea ernies towing was there- im not sure why- they did not do anything- maybe he was just watching- thats cool - just like me!!! anyway



as many of you know and many more will find out as i contenue to post- i am a very big advicate of single lane up rights and frown heavily on perpendicular up rights- but this was done nicely.





























very nicely done- and i was amazed how smothly it set on the ground and no slamming or fast movements at all. i am rather impressed with the use of a catch vehical (the rotator) it seems too often when a recovery is done in chicagoland- no catch vehical is used and thats a big NO NO!! if i may - would like to make a few small sugestions- not harsh criticizms, but mearly sugestions- as time goes by you will notice i am a bit of a perfectionest and i do a lot of nit picking



1) when u pull from the front axeldont just pull from the axel- run the chain to the frame of the truck- remember the axel is only held on by 4 bolts and the springs are flexable and not working for you- (i may have missed it but it only looked like they were hooked to the axel)



2) don't ditch your trucks, it gets them dirty!! and if your not carefull- stuck!



3)) my pet peve- when pulling- pull in the direction u want the casualtyu to move- as you can see they have a chain around the duels and are pulling - almost in a strait line- to a snatch block on there rear stiffleg- this is the righ way to hook to the tow truck!!! however, when you haave the tow truck so far away and on angles- it ends up bieing a strait line pull- now in this case its not bad-look at this pic:





this is in reference to the FRONT AXEL ONLY!!!!!!!!



look at the blue line- it is the direction they r using to pull



in the red line- u can see this accomplishes 3 things



1) u are pulling in the direction u ant the casualty to end up. in the blue line- you can only pull so far b4 u are not pulling the truck to the ground but in a strait line



2)by pulling more at a downward angle, you are jamming/driving the d/s tire and axel in to the ground and making it pivit on the tire- with the blue line u run the risk of pulling the truck sideways



3)if u use the front axel to pull at a more "red line" direction- u use the tractor as a lever and u make the tractor do the work in rolling over the trailer- easier on your wrecker



but Great job!!!!!!!!



i will be adding a post soon about Wreckmaster and how much i think every towing opperator should be required to go but for now, b4 i go so u don't think im pulling what im saying out of my ASS- i am A Wreckmaster level 6/7B- one of only 2 in illinois- i am trained in Big Rig Rescue- IDOT flagman- Traffric incident management X4- TRAA level 2 and the list goes on..........

Sunday, April 24, 2005

the Quote

i ran across this and thought it interesting:

Stories have endings. Lies go on forever."

posted by Gavagirl @ 8:45 PM

The First Post!!!! Where to begin?

I think introductions are in order. My name is James R Maurer. In short I am a towing and recovery Nut. I love the industry, all that it was, all that it is, and all that it has the potential to be. I work for the Illinois Toll Highway Authority (the Tollway), (u may be asking, why if this guy is a towing nut does this guy work for the Tollway? simple answer, the money and benefits. I will be going into much more detail as time goes by.)

at this early stage of the game (blogging) I think I will start off by posting a large introductory post to give an overview of me, some cool pics, ect... as time goes by I will have different posts for different topics and pics. But who knows, this is new to me and sky’s the limit


Yates Wrecker service, performing a flawless rollover. see more at www.yateswrecker.com

The Towing and Recovery industry, the diamond covered in motor oil. All too often, when this industry is referred to by "outsiders," unfortunately, it is in a negative way. Though my meager contributions are almost insignificant, I will never stop trying. If 1 person's prospective on our industry is changed for the better, than there is hope.


Rollover semi with large earth mover in haul

I enjoy rollovers, many uninformed people will say "towing and recovery requires no skill, any shmo can do it) and in some rare cases, that may be true. But for the most part, it takes a skilled and trained operator to pull off a flawless, Additional damage free, recovery.


Airline Towing performing a single lane upright of a trailer

I believe that a perfectly preformed rollover, one that is flawless in everyway, follows all safety guidelines and industry standards is Art. Art by its very definition: 4 a : the conscious use of skill and creative imagination also : works so produced. Unfortunately, even in our industry, things can go wrong, and when they go wrong for us, it’s much more ironic.


Flatbed Tow truck with crane rolls into water after trying to pick up more than its capacity

Fortunately this is rare and, but when it does, it gets more attention than your highly trained operator doing his work flawlessly. I have a tendency to focus on the wrecks that involve "emergency responders" not because I have a morbid curiosity or I like to see us look bad but simply because I want to learn from them


In this case there were 2 wreckers attempting to upright a cement mixer, and unfortunately, a winch line snapped and rolled the wrecker over. this pic was taken from this post on Tow411.net - http://p223.ezboard.com/ftow411frm54.showMessage?topicID=867.topic

This is one of those cases where it was unavoidable and not the operators fault. One of my favorite things about recoveries is the challenge. Each situation is completely different. If 2 semis hit the same bridge 2 hours apart, it will be 2 completely different situations, requiring 2 completely different coerces of action and different equipment.


In this case the local helicopter from CBS 2 Chicago captured this semi that was hit by a train

Let’s not forget about the magnificent machines that make this all possible. They are all different and all serve different functions. I like to focus on the Government towing operations


LA Fire department has this beast on call 24 hours a day for any rescue operation that may require some lifting

Though rare, accidents can involve situations where a semi roll onto an occupied car and often the only way to do that is to call a wrecker to lift the semi off the car. La has there own unit and in Chicago we have the IDOT Minuteman



These workhorses parole the expressways of Chicago helping anyone who has broken down or has been in an accident. There roll is the blueprint for highway incident management and quick clearance. Essentially what that means is that they get the road open from accident ASAP. This will be discussed further as this blog continues.



These were taken in the Upper Peninsula in MI

As I mentioned before, one of my favorite things is photography and though it focuses mostly on towing, it encompasses anything I think is pretty or interesting.

One of my other fascinations involves other emergency personnel, police, fire, EMS, ECT...


The Chicago Police gave an awesome show of force to the Anti war protesters in Chicago.

It is these demonstrations of power, comradely, and teamwork that show why the Chicago Police are the best.


Well, until tomorrow,
Be safe out there

James R Maurer