Alabama thread!

stronghammer · May 21, 2018

Sorry everybody will get more Haiti posts up tomorrow been fighting a headache something fierce all afternoon so hitting the hay and gotta work tomorrow. Night all.

gixxerphil · May 21, 2018

stronghammer said: ↑

Sorry everybody will get more Haiti posts up tomorrow been fighting a headache something fierce all afternoon so hitting the hay and gotta work tomorrow. Night all.
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Hope ya feel better

whitedlite · May 21, 2018

Who wants a bushing..

New $50

whitedlite · May 21, 2018

Btw, @BamaTaco56

I got the new end. Should I just pass the tool along to @jmaack or do you want it back?

whitedlite · May 21, 2018

gixxerphil said: ↑

@Toyotacrawler @chrisrocks300 @baldridge @medic2230

Do any of you guys know a welder around here? I have a great/cheap(b/c he takes his time) welder in Thorsby. He only charged me $400(materials and his cost) to build the front section of my Comanche trailer. Just seeing if there may be someone closer. I'm not in a huge hurry.

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Thorsby is down in Chilton county where I'm from. Is your friend a welder by trade?

gixxerphil · May 21, 2018

whitedlite said: ↑

Thorsby is down in Chilton county where I'm from. Is your friend a welder by trade?
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He owns a business, my only dealings with him were for the Comanche frame he built. He did a bit of work for my folks when they moved back to Clanton(their original hometown). He did a great job on my Comanche trailer and was very well priced.
His name is Mark, I just have his number saved as Mark's Welding

Arrowshot · May 21, 2018

stronghammer said: ↑

Alright, Haiti post time.

First off, I had an amazing time. It was an incredible experience, and so humbling. The way they live is so incredibly different than ours, and yet...they were some of the happiest people I have ever dealt with.

So last Monday we met at the church at 3:45am and hit the road to ATL. The drive wasn't bad, and our flight went off with no issues. I have never traveled out of the country before so going through the different steps at the airport was interesting.

Now, when we landed in Port-Au-Prince, things were different. Obviously huge language barrier. Not only do they speak French, it's actually Haitian Creole. So it's sort of like going to the backwoods in Louisiana and hearing the Cajun Creole. Even if you speak French, understanding the Haitians is quite difficult. Example "merci" which is French for thank you is "muh-ci" down there. Not a huge difference but small example.

Going through customs was a terrifying experience there. They unload all of your bags, and then they basically want to maintain possession of it until you get to your car, but we were told by Joe (the guy running this operation for us) that we don't want to do that. So you have to be stern with them and take control of the luggage carts. To add to that, Joe bring about 6 suitcases each time he comes full of different things to give the locals. One of them being a suitcase full of medicine that our "clinic" uses for the pharmacy to give locals medicine. Joe doesn't tell us this, he just asks us to check a bag for him because it costs less to have 6 people check 1 bag each than to have 1 person check 6 bags. So we don't know what's in our suitcases we are checking. Joe handles the whole situation like a champ though, he's done it over 60 times in the last 9 years. He basically bribes the Haitians with a little extra dough to just give us our bags and let us out of the airport.

So now that we are out of the airport, we meet up with our locals that run the compound for Joe. Ricardo, is a 26 year old that speaks fluent English and acts as a translator for us and is the actual manager of the compound. Jean-Clobaire is the preacher of the church and also the truck driver for us. He speaks English as well, but only when he has to with us, it's not AS fluent.

Here's the truck we got to ride in for the week:

What an experience that is! You are up close and personal with the people and the culture. We also had a second vehicle since we had so many people that I actually road in that surprising had A/C and was comfortable. The cage truck is more fun though. You have folks walking up to the cage trying to sell you things all the time. Like this guy trying to sell fried plantains:

People drive crazy, there are hardly any road laws. Most roads are 2 lane, in terrible shape, and the locals turn them into 6 lane roads. Motorcycles are EVERYWHERE, with fearless drivers. We saw a truck hit a motorcycle, a cop was close by and checked it out, verified everyone was ok and waved both vehicles on, nothing more. Insane by America's standards. We would ride along the sidewalks and pedestrians had to move out of our way, and we were told that other vehicles HAVE to let us in when we decide to merge back. I was scared and amazed during the driving in the city.

They don't have a trash system, they simply throw in on the sides of the roads. This is a trackhoe scooping trash out of the water canals and putting the trash on the side of the street, INTENTIONALLY. There is literally trash everywhere in Haiti, and they think nothing of it.

The most common buildings are made out of tin, tarps, and cinder blocks or poured concrete. Some of the wealthier residents have nicer looking homes, but not a single residential building is even close to the standard of living we have in the US.

Art being sold on the side of the street:

This shows a typical road around Haiti:

Hiluxes run RAMPANT. 99.9% of vehicles are 4wd to survive the roads (this is if you take the motorcycles out of the conversation because they most definitely outnumber all vehicles 3:1). Most are diesel. Most are cool vehicles we can't get in the US. Sorry I don't have more photos of them, but man it was awesome. They thought nothing of the vehicles other than using them to get around and serve a survival purpose.

Some of the UN presence around Haiti:

A dog taking a dump on the side of the road:

This is the compound we stayed in. The left side of the building is the women's sleeping quarters, the right side is the men's. The center is the dining area. The extra building out in the yard is the clinic where they run the medical operations and upstairs is an apartment planned to keep a full time doctor in when they can get somebody to commit.

The giant house over the wall belongs to someone wealthy, but they don't currently live there as it isn't finished. You can see the generator in the yard that runs our compound. They only turn it on when the "Americans" come so we can have light, and fans in our rooms. When nobody is there but the locals they don't run it. No hot water unless the black tubs on the roof get heated by the sun enough. All water is provided by the two wells in the yard that have pumps in them.

That's the first part of the trip. I will continue more in other posts.
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Looking forward to the rest. Everyone needs a bit of time overseas in a country like Haiti (and not in some cocooned resort) to appreciate how good we have it!

Arrowshot · May 21, 2018

For all you kayakers out there - link.

gixxerphil · May 21, 2018

Arrowshot said: ↑

For all you kayakers out there - link.
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That's why I try to stay away from trees.

Sandytaco14 · May 21, 2018

gixxerphil said: ↑

That's why I try to stay away from trees.
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Anddddd I’m constantly under trees fishing lol

BamaTaco56 · May 22, 2018

whitedlite said: ↑

Who wants a bushing..

New $50

Click to expand...

I think @TheTacoma wants it

whitedlite said: ↑

Btw, @BamaTaco56

I got the new end. Should I just pass the tool along to @jmaack or do you want it back?
Click to expand...

Thank you sir. You can pass it along to @jmaack so he can get his done

gixxerphil · May 22, 2018

BamaTaco56 said: ↑

I think @TheTacoma wants it

Thank you sir. You can pass it along to @jmaack so he can get his done
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pat's taco said: ↑

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Mornin

baldridge · May 22, 2018

Arrowshot said: ↑

For all you kayakers out there - link.
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Yikes!

gixxerphil · May 22, 2018

baldridge said: ↑

Yikes!
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Mornin Bart

BamaTaco56 · May 22, 2018

Morning Alabama

jmaack · May 22, 2018

BamaTaco56 said: ↑

I think @TheTacoma wants it

Thank you sir. You can pass it along to @jmaack so he can get his done
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Great now I just gotta find time and have someone watch over my shoulder doing it.

gixxerphil · May 22, 2018

jmaack said: ↑

Great now I just gotta find time and have someone watch over my shoulder doing it.
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Mornin Justin

jmaack · May 22, 2018

gixxerphil said: ↑

Mornin Justin
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Good morning.

whitedlite · May 22, 2018

gixxerphil said: ↑

He owns a business, my only dealings with him were for the Comanche frame he built. He did a bit of work for my folks when they moved back to Clanton(their original hometown). He did a great job on my Comanche trailer and was very well priced.
His name is Mark, I just have his number saved as Mark's Welding
Click to expand...

Hmm, I may know the man. Does he live on a dirt road. Clanton is my hometown. If your parents have ever had garage door work done good chance I did it

whitedlite · May 22, 2018

Finally GM is improving the 1/2 tons.. I'm ready for one of these high powered 4 cylinders to make its way to the midsize

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme...ur-cylinder-in-its-full-size-silverado-pickup

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